The house wasquiet when we walked through the front door. For a moment, I froze, fearing the worst. Then I heard a faint cry, hardly louder than a kitten's mew, coming from the back bedroom. Fiona, perhaps hearing us come in, popped out into the hallway and ran to greet us. “The baby came already. It was the most perfectly perfect thing I ever witnessed. Shannon hardly even perspired. She was outstanding.”
“Is she all right? The baby?” Mama asked.
“They're perfectly perfect too,” Fiona said. “You only barely missed the excitement. She arrived about fifteen minutes ago.”
“What a blessing,” Mama said. “A short birth is the best you can hope for.”
“Mrs. Cassidy and Nora are in with her now,” Fiona said. “Helping Louisa get Shannon and the baby cleaned up. They sent me out to make tea, but I think it was because I was in the way.” She shook her head. “It was like witnessing a miracle. One second, there was no baby and the next there she was. She's beautiful, too, with a shock of black hair.”
The teakettle whistled, and Fiona dashed away to help Gilda put everything together. Mama and I hung up our coats and went to wait in the sitting room. A minute later, Sally appeared with little Pearl on her hip. She squealed when she saw Mama. Sally let her down, and the baby wobbled on chubby legs to climb into Mama’s lap.
Mama kissed the top of Pearl’s head and closed her eyes. What should have been a happy occasion had only made Mama's burdens heavier. I knew without her saying so that she was thinking about this dear little family and whether Shannon and Flynn could come through the hurt and betrayal intact.