“People have had babies in their homes forever, Daddy. Many still insist on it and don’t want doctors. They have midwives. I’ve done some research on it. Unless there are reasons for complications, giving birth in a hospital isn’t any safer than at home. Birthing is really a natural process. It doesn’t need all this medical paraphernalia. That’s just window dressing so doctors can charge large fees.”
“I’m not risking Semantha’s life,” Daddy said firmly. “Tomorrow, we’re taking her to see Dr. Moffet, and he’ll refer us to an obstetrician. And that’s that!” His words fell like thunder.
Cassie didn’t wince. She held her ground. “You’ll be making a big mistake, Daddy. First, you’ll be branding Semantha a whore for the rest of her life. No matter how you get people to swear to secrecy, it will leak out. A secretary, a nurse, Dr. Moffet’s own wife or the OB’s might let it slip, and you know how quickly any story about a Heavenstone will be spread. What are you going to do, send her away, maybe to Europe? How can she return to school and face other girls and boys her age?
“No, the best way to do this is to involve only one person besides me. We’ll get a midwife from out of the area to oversee this, and we’ll pay her enough to shut her mouth about it forever. As I told you, until then, I’ll stay with Semantha here in the house, and she won’t be seen by anyone. No one will see me, either.”
“What does that do for us?” he asked skeptically.
Cassie actually smiled.“We can tell people it’s my baby,” she said.
Even I gasped with surprise
“Your baby?”
“Many women don’t show until the late months. You didn’t realize Semantha was pregnant. The same thing could easily be true for me.”
“But why—”
“I’m not rushing back to school, and I’m much, much stronger than Semantha. I can carry the burden of having given birth. Semantha, as Mother often said, is much more fragile than I am. You know it’s true. So, she gives birth. No one knows about it, and very soon afterward, we enroll her in the private school.”
“What about the baby?”
“The baby has Heavenstone blood in him. He belongs with us. I’ll care for him as well as any mother could. He is, despite everything, your grandson, Daddy.”
“But your own life, your future …”
“Is here, with you, with our business. It always has been. I just didn’t realize it as clearly as I do now, thanks to Semantha,” she said, nodding at me.
“I don’t know,” he said, but I could feel the resistance lowering in his voice. He turned to me. “What about the father of this child? Who is he?”
“What difference does that make now, Daddy?” Cassie quickly responded. “If we involve him or another family, we’ll defeat ourselves. The truth is that the boy involved doesn’t even know Semantha is pregnant.”
“Really?” he asked me.
I couldn’t answer. I just looked at him.
“I don’t know,” he said. “He should bear some responsibility here. He—”
“We don’t know who he is,” Cassie added quickly.
“What?”
“There was more than one,” she said, “in a very close period of time.”
He looked at me sharply. Despite my new size, I felt as if I were shrinking beneath his outraged and disgusted gaze. He got up quickly. “I’m sick about this,” he said.
“Of course you are,” Cassie said. “Semantha is sorrier about that than anything. That’s why she insisted we keep this from you so long.”
I know my mouth fell open. I had insisted?
“Well … I still wish you hadn’t, Semantha,” he said, looking back at me. “I can trust Dr. Moffet. I’ll speak with him about this and see what he recommends. I’m sure I can get him to deliver the child here in the house.”
“If you’re absolutely confident about that, then speak to him. But if there is even the slightest doubt, Daddy—”
“Enough! I think I know whom to talk to and whom not to, Cassie.”
“Okay, Daddy. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to be extra careful now.”