Page 40 of Pierre
“I said, I’m Frank Robicheaux, and I held out my hand for him to shake it. He was happy to do that, then looked behind me, seeing Pierre. I said that’s my son, Pierre Robicheaux. He looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘you’re lyin’.’ I said, ‘no, sir, I am not.’ He gave that poor little girl the look of death. Slammed the door in our face.”
“Oh no,” frowned Marjorie. “What did you do?”
“I asked Pierre to wait in the car, I texted the boys back home, and within minutes, a dozen of my family members were at the door with me. Let’s just say we had a conversation about respect and who we were. I politely told him that our family didn’t believe in such things, and there was nothing wrong with two children attending a dance together. I couldn’t force him to allow that, but I can tell you that he moved at the end of the school year. Packed everything up and moved to another state.”
“That’s awful!” said Ambry.
“No,” said Pierre. “It was better that I find out about people like him early in my life. It’s funny. I’d never experienced that kind of hatred or discrimination until then. I think people saw my last name and just ignored everything else. Maybe he did too, when Eloise told him my name.
“You can’t change the way people feel about you because of the color of your skin or your religion or even your political affiliations. What you can hope for is that they’re intelligent enough to have productive, healthy conversations about it.”
“As my grandmother always says, we’re more alike than we are different,” smirked Frank.
“Do you really believe that?” asked Fish. Frank stared at him and then nodded.
“I do, son. Cut us open, and we all look the same inside. Nothing is different. Not one damn thing.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“I hate to ask this,” said Cruz, standing at the dinner table, “but we’ve had a request for a home visit. It’s a woman in labor, in trouble with a possible multiples birth.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Butch.
“I’ll go as well,” said Jane.
“Is three enough?” frowned Pierre.
“I think if you send any more than that, they’re going to be suspicious. We’ll keep our comms open and let you know where we are. The driver says it’s only a short distance. Ideally, we could walk, but given the nature of everything happening, he’ll take us.”
“Okay,” nodded Pierre.
Cruz, Jane, and Butch took off with their packs of supplies and followed the man to his truck. He kept thanking them for helping, praying that they would make it in time.
The woman in labor wasn’t his wife; instead, his younger sister, and this was her first child, or perhaps children. The moment they pulled up to the house, they heard the screams of her labor pains.
The home was so dark, they moved to open the windows to let what little light was coming from outside in. They then ordered as many candles lit as possible. Jane did the examination to help comfort the woman. As it turned out, this was the first examination she’d had during her pregnancy.
“How old is she?” asked Jane.
“Twenty,” said her brother.
“Twenty,” muttered Cruz. “She’s a baby. Where is the father?” Her brother stared at him, not saying anything. Cruz knew. He was either dead or a criminal roaming the streets.
“She’s definitely got twins in there,” said Jane. “Butch? I know it sounds old-fashioned, but I do need hot water, and I need you to find something that’s clean or at least close to clean. A table, chair, anything with a flat top to it.”
“Will this work, miss?” asked the brother. He pushed a small tray toward her, and she nodded.
“That works, thank you. Butch, clean it with the alcohol, and I need you to lay out the instruments once you’ve gloved up.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, nodding at Jane. Cruz took care of the other things that were needed, prepping for a possible emergency cesarean section.
“You should have brought her to the ship,” said Jane.
“I couldn’t,” said the brother. “It was too dangerous to take her out. They would have taken her and the babies.” Jane looked at the man, then back at Cruz and Butch.
“We deliver these babies, and then we get them on that damn ship,” she said.
As her labor pains increased, the contractions coming closer and closer together, Jane saw the first head of dark hair.
