22 Halimath, S.R. 1290

Belladonna crossed her arms over her swollen belly, and gave an angry snort.  She felt bloated and uncomfortable.  Her feet hurt, her back hurt, and she had no intention of being reasonable!  "It's your fault, you know!" she snapped at her husband.

Bungo sighed, and hung his head.  "I'm sorry, my love.  Is there anything I can do to help?"

She pursed her lips and turned her head away.  "Just leave me alone."

He didn't say anything else.  She waited, but the silence hung in the air, and then there was the softest of snicks as the door closed.  "Bungo?" she said meekly.

But when she turned her head, he was gone.  

Miserable, she burst into tears.  Her abominable temper had got the best of her once again. You would think I would learn, she thought. He won't fight with me at all!  We can't have a good argument, even when he knows I'm being a complete fool!

No, Bungo would simply retreat when she was angry, and by the time he returned she was always contrite and sorry.  

She wept for a long time.  It truly was her fault she was so uncomfortable.  It was she who had insisted on this visit to the Great Smials this close to her time, and it was she who insisted they take the pothole-ridden  post road instead of the longer road by way of Michel Delving.  Finally she was wept out.  She started to get up to go to the washbasin and splash water on her face, and a sudden pang made her sit right back down again.

Oh.

Oh dear.  She drew in a deep breath, and stood up again.  Carefully, she made her way to the door of her room and opened it, clutching it and leaning against the frame.  "Mother?" she called plaintively. "Mother!"

***

Adamanta Chubb Took had watched the silent and dejected figure of her son-in-law pass her like a ghost as went on his way.  He was probably headed outside to walk in the gardens.  She often marveled at the match between the level-headed and humble Baggins and her fiery daughter who was as Tookish as they came. But, she smiled, time will tell.  When we first wed, Gerontius was the high-strung and temperamental Took and I was the level-headed and predictable Chubb-- but after all these years we've rubbed off on one another.  Now he is level-headed and practical, too, and I am occasionally as unreasonable and foolish as a born Took!

"Mother?  Mother!"  

The alarm in her daughter's voice brought Adamanta up sharply.  That was not simply the misery of a lass who's had a row with her husband!

She made her way quickly to her daughter's side, noting the puffy face and red eyes.  But those eyes were touched with fear, not sorrow.

"Mother?  I think I had a pang.  But it's a little soon..."

"Only by a couple of weeks, dear.  And it may be false labour."

"How can I tell?"  

Adamanta shook her head at the frightened face.  It was hard to cast her mind back all the way to her first time, and how frightened she was-- eleven other children, most of whom had made their way into the world much more easily than the first, had rather dimmed the memory of that first difficult time.  She placed an arm around her daughter's shoulders, and led her back into the room.  "We won't know for a while, until the pangs begin to come more closely together.  If you have a few more, I will send for Mistress Posy and Mistress Matilda."  Mistress Posy was the Great Smial's resident midwife, and Mistress Matilda was the family healer.

"Thank you, Mother," Bella whispered, as her mother tucked her into the bed.  "I was horrid to Bungo," she confessed in a sad little voice.

"I know, dear.  But you can be sorry later."  She smoothed her daughter's dark chestnut curls away from her forehead.  "Would you like Mother to sing to you?"

"Yes, please."

Adamanta began to sing in a soft sweet voice an ancient Shire lullaby:

“Evening has fallen, the Sun’s in the West.
The nightbirds are calling, the Shire is at rest.
Peaceful the night and gentle the breeze,
In cot and in smial, the folk take their ease.
High above the Stars are kindled,
Kith and kin within are nestled,
Safe from harm
In loving arms,
Find slumber deep,
Fall into sleep,
May joy find all your dreams,
May only joy find your dreams…”

Belladonna began to relax.  Her mother finished the lullaby, and began to sing another song, and then another, and then she just hummed sweetly for a while as she stroked her daughter's head.

Suddenly, Bella gave another cry.  "Oh dear!"

Adamanta nodded, and rose from her chair.  "Where are you going Mother?" Bella asked sharply.

"Nowhere, dear."  She took an hourglass from the mantelpiece and brought it over to the nightstand, where she turned it before placing it there.  Then she sat down once more by her daughter's side, and held her hand.

Belladonna had two more pangs before the sands ran out.

"I think I shall send for Mistress Posy and Mistress Matilda now."  Adamanta rose and went to the door.  "Gerontius!" she called.

"Yes, Addie?" came her husband's voice.

"Would you please send Clover to fetch Posy and Matilda?"

***

Gerontius raised an eyebrow.  "Bella?" he asked.

"Yes, dear.  I think we are about to become grandparents once more."

It was but a moment's task to find Addie's chambermaid Clover, who was sitting in her mistress's room doing some mending.  At the master's request, she gave a grin and jumped up to run her errand.

Gerontius watched her leave, and then after a moment's thought, he fetched his jacket.  He had seen his son-in-law leave earlier; the lad needed to know if his wife was in labour!

He poked his head into Belladonna's room, where Addie sat by their daughter's bed.  "Addie, I'm off to fetch Bungo."

His wife nodded.  Bella gave a little moan.  "Father?  Tell him I'm sorry?"

Gerontius smiled.  "I'm sure he knows that, child!"  Indeed, others marveled at Bungo's patience with his volatile wife, but Gerontius knew the lad adored her and that he knew she loved him no matter what she said or how.  

***

Mistress Posy arrived first.  When Clover had brought the message, she woke her apprentice Lily.  "Wake up, lass!  Mrs. Belladonna looks to be in labour; I'm going now.  As soon as you get dressed, come along and bring the birthing stool and swaddling cloths!  You'll be needed to help and to boil water and so forth."  

Lily was a new apprentice, only twenty-six, and this would be her first time to attend a birth.  Her brown eyes grew wide.

"Don't fret!  And Mistress Matilda will be there as well."

Lily nodded, and hopped out of bed.  Her clothing was nearby, all laid out, as her Mistress had taught her.  Satisfied that the lass was awake enough to do as she was bid, Posy hurried off.  The Thain's family quarters were all the way on the other side of the Great Smials.

"Hullo, Miss Bella!" she said cheerily and bracingly as she entered the room.  She gave a bob of her head to Adamanta.  "Lady Adamanta".

Adamanta grinned at the midwife, who had delivered five of her twelve children.  They were good friends in spite of the formalities of address.

***

Gerontius had to search a while before he found his son-in-law standing by the duck pond morosely chucking stones into the water.  He shook his head.

"Bungo!"

Bungo gave a startled yelp.  "What is it?" he asked.

"You are wanted. It seems this little Baggins has suddenly decided to be impatient to enter the world."  He studied the hobbit's face, and watched as gloom was replaced with a mixture of joy and alarm.

"Why didn't you say so?" he said, somewhat illogically, as he began to hurry back, all his annoyance with his wife forgotten in his worry.  

Gerontius chuckled. "I've been through this twelve times. It never gets any easier."  He followed at a slightly more leisurely pace, and Bungo was forced to slow down out of courtesy.  He was still champing to go.

The Old Took put his arm about Bungo's shoulders.  "It's only just begun, son.  The first one always takes hours and hours.  We have plenty of time."

By the time they arrived, so had Mistress Matilda.  Bungo went in for just a moment, to see Mistress Posy and Adamanta each holding one of his wife's arms and walking her about the room.  The apprentice was busy at the hearth with a kettle and a basin. He was only there long enough for him to find his wife's eyes and see the apology there.  But there was no time to speak, for at that moment, her water broke.

"What's wrong?" he cried.

Mistress Matilda turned and gave him an exasperated look.  "It's perfectly normal, young hobbit!  You don't belong in here right now!  Your wife is in good hands. Shoo!"

Belladonna turned. "Bungo?" she called plaintively.

"This is women's work, dearie," said Mistress Posy.  "Now, take another step."

Bungo gave an agonized look at his wife, and then, feeling Gerontius' hand upon his shoulder, he allowed himself to be drawn away.  The healer closed the door behind them firmly.

***

Hours later, Belladonna had completely lost track of the time.  As the contractions came more closely together, they had ceased to turn the hourglass.  Now they had moved her from the bed to the birthing stool, and her occasional cries as the pangs hit had become yells and screams.  She was holding her mother's hand tightly, and now the midwife was telling her to push, as she knelt before the birthing stool.  Lily was holding a tray with scissors and clean cloths, while Mistress Matilda stood nearby.

Bella gave a great shout as she pushed, and she felt something give way.  With an abruptness she was unprepared for, she could feel the child leave her, and see it being received into Mistress Posy's waiting hands.  The midwife grinned. "It's a lad!"

And then he was being held upside down, and the midwife gave him a smack on his little bottom.  His cries were healthy and loud, and Belladonna found herself weeping and laughing at the same time.  "It's a lad! It's a lad!" she whispered hoarsely to her mother, who was leaning over her shoulder.

The apprentice assisted as the midwife cut the cord, and the child was cleaned.  He was handed up to the healer, who examined him carefully.  She smiled at the new mother.  "He has all his proper fingers and toes, dear!  I think he is perfectly healthy."  She leaned over and placed Bella's son into her arms.

Belladonna leaned over him.  "Oh, you are! You are perfect!"

Now it was her turn to be cleaned up and to be put into a clean nightgown, and to be helped back to the bed.  She felt weak and wobbly, and lay back gratefully among clean linens, for the apprentice had changed the sheets while she was on the birthing stool.  When they place the little one back into her waiting arms, he was all nicely swaddled, and wrapped in the lovely pale green blanket traditional for lads.

With a smile, Adamanta went over to the door and cracked it open: "Bungo, you have a son. Mother and child are well. Come in and meet your lad."

He entered the room timidly, and made his way to the bed.  There was an expression of awe on his face that Belladonna had never seen before.

Bungo bent and dropped a kiss on her brow, and then looked at the baby.  Bella saw the love for this new son dawning in his face, and felt tears sparking.

Suddenly she felt like laughing. "I don't believe 'Bertha' is at all suitable. So I suppose it will have to be the other name we decided on."

Bungo grinned. "Hello, Bilbo Baggins," he said.