L'amore e la guerra - Love and war

Ch. 12

Felicia was in the shelter. The bombs had destroyed the electrical cables, so it was pitch – black there. She hated to admit it, but she was still scared of the dark. And being there without knowing if Ludwig was fine was making her fear increase tenfold. Plus, her stomach was still killing her. It was a sharp pain that went from her back to her belly. And it was never leaving for more than five minutes. The baby was scared and kicking away. She was trying to calm the kid down by rubbing her belly, but it didn't seem to work. This was the scariest night of her life.
She wanted to talk to someone, but there was complete silence in the room. She tried to keep her mind off Ludwig and the pain by thinking of her family back home. She wondered how they were doing. Did Lovi find himself a girl yet? Did grandpa still work or did he retire? Were they fighting in the Italian resistance? When would she be able to see them again?
Her train of thought was disrupted when she felt a strange, faint popping inside her. Then she felt a gush of something that seemed hot water leave her.
Holy shit!, she thought. Did her water break just now! ? Oh man. Talk about timing!
The guy (or girl) that was standing next to her jumped. "What the hell!"
Oh. It was a guy. "Hey you! Did you just pee?" said the guy, annoyed.
Feli felt a strong pain (now she recognized it: it was a contraction) and answered through gritted teeth "I didn't pee, asshole! My water just broke!"
In the once silent room there was a small uproar. The soldier groaned and complained "Not on my watch..."
The guy seemed genuinely sorry for his remark. "Oh... sorry, I had no idea... hey, is there a midwife or something here?"
The room went silent again. Then a female voice answered "Alright, since no one can help I guess it'll have to be me." there were some other sounds, and then the voice sounded much closer. "Come on girl, you'll be fine. I'm not a midwife, but I gave birth to four kids. I think I can help."
Feli mumbled a breathless "thank you". She was very scared. She had no idea as to what was going to happen, just that it would hurt a lot and be very dangerous. The fact that she was in a pitch black place and that she could hear explosions coming from above did little to improve her mood.
The woman said "You sound young. Is this your first kid?"
Feli answered with a faint voice "Yes."
The woman let out a sigh. "Perfect. Alright then, let's see what we can do. Hey, is there anyone in here that has something close to clean towels?"
A young, male voice that came from the other side of the room answered "Uhm, I have a clean blanket. Is that ok?"
The woman said "Sounds good enough. Bring it here, kid."
Then a girl's voice said "I have some matches, if someone has a candle..."
An old man said "I have a candle, but it's small... I hope it will do..."
Feli was somewhat moved. She was in a room full of faceless strangers who were forfeiting important things such as candles and blankets to help her out. It brightened her mood a bit.
The improvised midwife said "Alright child, what's your name?"
"F – Felicia..."
"Felicia, then. I'm Frida. Don't be scared, it'll be fine. We'll manage. Stay calm and listen to everything I say, ok?"
"...ok..." then she groaned. A new contraction made her double over in pain. While the pain got stronger and stronger, she wished Ludwig were with her.

Colonel Reiter shouted "They're retreating! We made it! Good job, guys! You didn't die on me!"
It was nearing dawn. Ludwig collapsed on the ground, his breath ragged. He had had to stay up all night shouting orders and receiving them, and in the end they had managed to make the airplanes go back with medium damages to the city and a relatively low amount of casualties.
Ludwig stretched, making his back crack. He hoped Feli was alright and that she had not been worrying herself sick.
Colonel Reiter clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "Alright kids, we're done here. The guys that don't have a shift right now can go home. The others will stay. I know that you're tired, but I don't give a damn."
Ludwig got up. He was lucky to not have the morning shift right now, 'cause he felt like throwing himself in bed and not get up for a week. He said goodbye to Reiter and went to the shelter. If his calculations were right, the area where he lived had been mostly unharmed.
When he arrived there, the soldier on shift was helping people getting out of the shelter. Ludwig noticed he wasn't wearing his uniform jacket.
"Captain." he saluted.
"At ease, private. What's the situation here?" he inquired.
"No casualties whatsoever, Captain."
He sighed in relief. "Very well."
"Actually, there was one. A baby was born tonight, right here in the shelter. Had to give the kid my jacket to keep him warm!"
Ludwig was surprised, but didn't make the connection right away. After all, Feli was still pretty far from her due date.
"A kid? Really? Who's the mother?"
"An Italian girl, Captain. Gave birth to a healthy baby boy."
Ludwig's eyes widened. "An Italian girl? Felicia?"
"Right, Captain! That's her name!"
"Holy shit, that's my wife!"
The soldier looked pretty stunned. "Oh, really? Congratulations, then!"
Ludwig didn't even bother to say thank you. "Where is she? Is she still inside?"
"Yes sir, she's still the..."
He didn't even wait for the private to finish his sentence. He dashed inside.
He found Feli sitting there, with a tiny baby wrapped in a military jacket in her arms. She looked very tired, but was she beaming and cooing at the sleeping baby. A middle – aged woman was sitting by her, giving her some kind of instructions on what to do in case the kid got colicky.
"Feli!"
Feli looked up. She smiled widely and said "It's a boy, Ludwig! Look, isn't he just beautiful? You're a daddy now!"
Ludwig sat down by her, his gaze full of awe. The woman coughed and excused herself, leaving the new parents on their own.
He looked at the sleeping baby. He was tiny and had a little tuft of blond hair, the exact same color of his own. His skin looked fair, or maybe it was just because of the contrast with Feli's olive complexion. He also noticed that he had a single curly hair sticking out.
Feli snapped him out of his thought. "Aw, come on Ludwig. Don't cry."
Ludwig's hand flew to his cheek. He hadn't realised that he was crying. He blushed and wiped the tears, ruefully defending himself with a half – hearted "I'm not crying!"
Feli chuckled but said no more. Ludwig relaxed a bit and asked her if he could hold the little one.
"Of course! Here, gently..." she said while carefully handing the boy over to his father.
Ludwig was holding him as if he might break, but he had a beautiful, sweet smile on his face.
"So, is he Friedrich, Joseph or Joo – sap – pay?"
Feli simply said "The woman who helped me tonight was named Frida. I guess that's just destiny. Besides, he looks like a Friedrich."
Ludwig smiled and kissed her forehead. Then he looked closely at the baby's tiny face.
"He looks like me..."
Feli couldn't help but agree. The boy was still too young to tell if he looked like his mom or dad, but she could already see that he did remind her of Ludwig.
But he had her trademark curl in his hair. Smiling at that thought, she rested her head on his shoulder. Ludwig lifted his arm to circle Feli's shoulders and whispered in her hear.
"I'm proud of you. I love you both."
Feli closed her eyes and sleepily answered "Me too..."