Rise (Alfie Solomons)

Chapter 18

Shirley was getting better. As she moved along in her pregnancy, her humiliation and degradation ceased and was replaced with the joy of welcoming her new child. Even though she still had nightmares about Luca, they were starting to become less frequent.

Five months into her pregnancy, Shirley noticed she was getting big, a little too big for her taste. Her tummy stuck out half a foot, and it was taking a toll on her confidence. However, every day Alfie would tell her she was even more beautiful than the first time he met her. To which she would reply in a joking manner that he was lying. He wasn't, though; he meant every word.

With the baby fast approaching, Alfie rushed to find the right doctor to take care of his woman when the time came. He found one not too far from their house.

"My stretch marks are enormous, Alfie. I'm disgusting." she would tell him.

"An exquisite thing of beauty you are, love," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist. "And don't you forget it."

They talked about baby names during her long pregnancy. At night, they would hold each other and debate back and forth.

"I think Italian names are charming." she chimed in one day.

"Yeah, well, we ain't Italians, we're Jews. They should have proper Jewish names or proper British names."

"I'm not British, though."

"American, British, all the same. Speak the same language, don't we?"

"Barely. Sometimes it sounds like you're throwing up in my ear."

He would reply by tickling her endlessly until she begged him to stop.

"I like Ingrid if it's a girl and Ezra if it's a boy."

"Why don't I compromise? Since I want a daddy's girl, right, we'll name her after me mum, Lizabeta, and if it's a boy, you choose."

Shirley nodded; she could live with that.

The day the baby came, she was scared out of her mind. She suddenly wet herself, not being able to hold it in, similar to having her period but instead of blood, it was a clear liquid.

She started to cramp up, gripping Alfie's arm to prevent her from falling.

"The baby," she gasped, holding her stomach.

Being the kind and courteous husband he was, he helped her to the car, where he drove them straight to the hospital. She did the breathing exercise she practiced with the doctor, but that did nothing for her.

The look on Alfie's face would have made her laugh on any typical day if it weren't for the kid trying to jump out of her uterus. Horror and worry were all she could read from the curve of his eyebrows and the shape of his lips.

The hospital wasn't far. Alfie made sure of that ahead of time. He helped her from the car and brought her a wheelchair, cursing now and then, expressing his frustration.

Shirley was in labor for about eight hours. She was exhausted and in pain but refused an epidural. Her mother pushed out all six of her children naturally without any pain relief, and she would do the same. Alfie almost begged her to take it, but she had already explained this to him weeks prior.

When it came time to push, Shirley felt like she was being ripped apart. It was like losing her virginity times a hundred. When the head started to peak, she felt like she wasn't going to be able to make it all the way. She wasn't strong enough, but the doctors pushed her to finish.

She welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world that day, but she wasn't finished yet. Another one was still in there. That's why she was so big so early on and had an enormous appetite. It all made sense now.

At this moment, she wanted to call it quits. Just give up and call it a day. Perhaps they could schedule her for a later date.

The next baby's head peaked again. She was still in pain, but it didn't hurt as bad as the first one. She came out with more ease than her older brother.

With all the pain Shirley was in, she could confirm that she could never be pregnant again. It just hurt too much for her. However, as soon as the nurse handed her babies to her, she thought again.

Shirley was getting emotional, crying at the sight of her newborns. She had never seen anything so beautiful. Birthfluid, blood and all, she kissed their little heads, wiping the fluids from their gorgeous faces.

She handed them to Alfie, letting him hold his children. He took them ever so gently, smiling down at little Ezra and Lizabeta.

Parenthood would surely change Alfie and Shirley. It was no longer about the two of them anymore, but the well-being of their children. Even though Shirley had endured much through her twenty-five years of life and she wasn't the same person she used to be, she liked to think she was better for it.