Chapter Eighteen:

          Janet was busy frying blueberry pancakes on the griddle and the smell wafted pleasantly throughout the house. It was Daniel's tenth birthday and she had decided to surprise him with his favorite treat, although blueberries were difficult to come by on Prince Edward Island in February of 1916. Alec had his own surprise waiting for Daniel out in the barn--a beautiful new sled that he had been working at whenever he had a free moment and Daniel was away at school. Felix appeared at the bottom of the stairs and opened the cupboard where he found an apple pie and broke a piece off, much to the distress of Janet. "Felix King!" she exclaimed as she swatted him with a dish towel.

          "Don't worry, Mother. I'll soon be gone and out of your way again," he laughed. "I'm leaving in two weeks, you know."

           "Oh, now you're trying to make me feel guilty. Felix...are you sure you're ready to return to the navy? I don't know..."

           "Mother! I should have been back already. Someone's got to beat the Huns and I've shirked my duty for far too long."

          Janet pressed her lips together and went back to work, pouring little circles of batter onto the sizzling metal. Alec and all of his ridiculous talk about the war ending this year! It certainly doesn't look as though that's going to happen! she told herself. Bubbles were clustering on top of the cakes and she flipped them over neatly, while Felix helped himself to more pie from the larder. A clatter on the stairs preceeded Daniel, who came tumbling into the steamy kitchen with his sweater on backwards. "Mother! It's my birthday! I'm ten years old today!" he announced joyfully.

          "I know, Daniel! You don't think I'd forget your birthday, do you? Look here, what am I making?"

          "Blueberry pancakes! Thank-you, Mother! Where's Father?"

          "He's out in the barn milking the cows, but Daniel--wait!" She grabbed him before he could run outside. "Your sweater is the wrong way around. Here, let me fix it."

          "No, I can do it," Daniel told her as he backed up and pulled the red woolen garment over his head. Janet watched him a little wistfully. At least the war would be over before Daniel was old enough to fight. When he was done, he took off again and snatched his coat off the hook as Janet called out a reminder. Outside, the ground was covered with a soft, sparkling powder, but the path had been shoveled clear and Daniel ran quickly, dodging the scattered patches of ice.

          Later that afternoon, Janet, Felicity, Cecily, and Sara were in the parlor having tea and watching the men outside from the window. Felix, Gus, and Alec were all at work creating some kind of elaborate racing course for Daniel to test his new sled on, while Daniel was engaged in a snowball fight with Monty who had come over earlier. His parents would be arriving at King Farm to collect him soon, having gone to Carmody for the day to settle some matters with the bank.

          Sara's baby was due in ten days and she looked rather uncomfortable sitting in her chair, shifting her weight from time to time. Felicity held Elizabeth on her lap and Alicia was playing a game (which involved several of Cecily's old dolls) with Emily at the other end of the room. Janet found great amusement in the antics of the menfolk, especially her own husband who was all of fifty-three years old and still behaving like a boy. Suddenly Monty screeched as Daniel dropped a snowball down his back and ran at his cousin with his hands balled into fists. "Slow down there, now," Gus ordered the boy as he extracted as much snow from his shirt as he could and turned an angry face to Daniel.

          The dispute ended when Hetty King came driving up the path in her cutter as quickly as she could, in a state of excessive agitation. She clambered out and impatiently tugged at her long coat which had caught on a sharp edge, while Alec approached without too much alarm. Hetty had always been prone to work herself into a dither at the slightest provocation. "Hetty, what's all the excitement about?" he asked with a grin.

          "Wipe that smile off your face, Alec King!" she ordered sharply. "Oh, heavens to Molly, what am I going to do?"

          "Aunt Hetty, what's going on?" Felicity and Cecily cried together as they came running out to meet her.

          "Just this--the Avonlea Foundling Home is being seized by the military and will be used to house soldiers in training. A regiment camped right here in Avonlea! Good Lord! Cecily, fetch me the smelling salts." Hetty scurried into the house wringing her hands. As soon as she had been revived, the whole story came out and a number of anxious faces turned to each other around the room.

          "Oh, dear..." Janet began. "Where will they all go?"

          "Hillsdale, I assume," Felicity answered for her aunt. "But what about the Deans? Belle-Marie and Callie are nineteen and seventeen. They can't stay at Hillsdale--they're old enough to take care of themselves, but what about Duffy and Edgar?"

          "Lissie, none of the Deans are gonna have ta leave Avonlea," Gus assured her with a hug. "They can live with us, just like we lived with them right after the weddin'."

          "Oh, Gus!" Felicity kissed him.

          "Davey, Dora, and I will return to Rose Cottage," Hetty sighed. "But I have seven more children and I hate to see them go. Avonlea is their home now...their home!" she gestured with her hands.

          "I wish our house was larger," Felcity murmured, but Janet cut her off.

          "No, no, dear! You'll have enough work with two babies and the Deans. I'm sure Belle-Marie and Callie will be helpful, but any more children would be too much."

          Just then, Olivia and Jasper arrived and Cecily ran to answer the door. "Olivia!" Hetty greeted her younger sister agitatedly, before launching into the story all over again. When she had finished, Olivia began with her own news.

          "Hetty, I wish I could help, but I'm going to have my hands full. Jasper is returning to England--there's a special project for the military that he's to work on. I'm staying here alone with the children."

          "Jasper! You'd leave your wife all alone with two small children and go galivanting off to England? Right after you've returned home?"

          "Hetty King...Jasper has known about this for some time. It's very important to the war effort and he brought us back here so we would be safe," she explained in exasperation.

          "It's much too d-d-d-dangerous in London," Jasper added, finding his voice. "Surely you've heard about the zeppelins. There have even been aeroplane raids on P-P-P-Paris."

          "Oh, don't remind me," Olivia sighed, taking his hand.

          "Yes, I've heard," Hetty conceeded as she waved her hand about distractedly. "I just don't know what I'm going to do about this!"

          "Hetty, there's nothing you can do!" Olivia declared. "You've done your best with the children, but this is an event we didn't forsee." Hetty shook her head and bit her lip, but she knew that there were no more options. The children would have to go and the foundling home would be closed for an indefinite period of time.

          That week flew by, with the closing of the foundling home and Jasper's travel preparations. He left on Friday and Olivia burst into tears as he sailed away. Ocean travel, even aboard civilian ships, was risky and the threat of German U-boats ever-present. Meanwhile, Sara was waiting for the trial that lay ahead. She wished with all her heart for Jean Paul, but there was no hope of him returning anytime soon. Her letters flew to him almost daily and he wrote back beautiful, ardent epistles...sometimes in French, sometimes in English, and sometimes in a combination of both. The Dean children settled in at Lissie's Landing and Felicity began to feel sorry that she hadn't asked them to come sooner. She especially enjoyed the company of Belle-Marie, whose personality was similar to her own in many ways. They understood each other well and Felicity appreciated having another woman to talk to, aside from her moody, pregnant cousin who was given to whimsical reflections on life.

Chapter Nineteen:

          "Felicity!" Sara called urgently. She bit her lip and tried again, biting the word off a little harshly. "Felicity!"

          "What is it?" Felicity asked, running into the room with a mixing bowl in her hand.

          "I think..." Sara stopped, obviously grappling with her first labor pains. After the agony had passed, she struggled to her feet. "I have to get upstairs." Felicity checked the clock, before running back into the kitchen to set down her bowl. It was a quarter past ten in the morning and the two of them were alone in the house with Emily and Elizabeth. The younger Deans were at school and Belle-Marie had gone with Callie to visit Cecily at King Farm. Felicity gritted her teeth and helped Sara to her room, waiting tensely for another contraction which would mean the baby was on its way. After twenty minutes, she decided it would be safe to wait awhile before calling the doctor. She knew from her own experience that King women were subject to lengthy labors. Emily had taken eight hours.

          At nine o'clock that night, they were still waiting. Dr. Blair had come as quickly as he could, but his haste was useless. Felicity tied a sheet to Sara's bedpost and told her to pull on it whenever she needed to. After several hours, Felicity's hands were sore and bruised from Sara's frantic squeezing and it was a relief to simply sit nearby with comforting words. Janet had arrived, along with the girls, but Edgar and Duffy had been sent to King Farm after school.

          Downstairs, Gus was playing his fiddle for Emily and Elizabeth who were still awake and undoubtedly would have been scolded by their mother if she weren't otherwise engaged. "What's wrong with Cousin Sara?" Emily asked, sitting on her father's knee as he finished up the first verse of "She's Like the Swallow".

          "Ain't nothin' wrong with her, exactly. Her new baby's comin'."

          "When?"

          "I don't know, Em."

          "Did it take this long wh--"

          "I think that's enough questions for now," Gus interrupted good-naturedly. "It's gettin' along toward your bedtime, don't you think girls?" he added, chucking Elizabeth (whose eyes were almost closed) under her chin. Belle-Marie came in offering to help and Gus handed the children off. Cecily smiled at Gus as Emily left, sleepily clutching her rag doll.

          "She certainly is precocious!" she laughed.

          "Sure is! Must've got it from her Ma."

          "From both of her parents."

          "Go on," Gus said, waving her off. "I sure wish Sara's baby would come. I'm gettin' kind of worried.

*          *          *          *

          "Please!" Sara wailed. "Oh, please let it come! Please, please, please!" Felicity shot a look of distaste at Dr. Blair who was sitting in a chair, unperturbed.

          "Isn't there anything you can do, Doctor?"

          "I'm afraid not, Felicity. The baby will come when it's ready and not a moment sooner."

          You old fool! Felicity thought. She wished she had continued her medical studies. It galled her to feel so helpless when she was usually on top of everything. By four in the morning, the contractions were close together and Sara was finally coming close to delivery. The others were exhausted, but kept going. Dr. Blair looked as if he were about to nod off when Felicity pinched him angrily. "Wake up!" she insisted.

          He gave her a shocked look. "Felicity Pike, is that how you were taught to behave toward your elders?"

          "Oh, Dr. Blair, let's not argue over formalities at the moment," Janet urged him, while Sara turned red and beads of sweat rolled down her face.

          "Right," he agreed. "Now, Sara!" he directed her. He started laughing and Felicity wondered if he were hysterical from fatigue. "Janet King! I remember when I delivered your first son, Felix. I was just a young fellow at the time...so nervous..."

          "For the love of God!" Felicity interjected. Sara had dropped the sheet and was reaching out her hands.

          "Felicity.." she whispered. "If anything happens to me...both of my parents died when I was so young..." She wasn't sure how to continue.

          "Hush!" Felicity scolded. "You'll be fine."

          "Here it comes!" Dr. Blair announced, pulling the child out. A bloody ball came out in his hands and after cutting the cord, he held it up for Janet to wash. Sara collapsed onto her pillow, heaving a sigh of relief.

          "It's a boy!" Janet said joyfully. She cleaned the screaming child, wrapped him in a blanket, and carried him over to Sara who was lying with her eyes closed. She opened them as the little bundle was placed in her arms and a light came into her face. Janet, Felicity, and Dr. Blair were all smiling.

          "He's so beautiful," Sara murmured, touching his cheek with her finger and then fingering the downy blonde hair on his head. "Jean..." she said softly.

          "Are you going to name him after his father?" Janet asked.

          "No," Sara smiled faintly. "His name will be Blair Maximilian Courtier."

          "After me!" Dr. Blair was pleased.

          "No, after her father!" Felicity told him, entirely exasperated.

          "We'll call him Max, though," Sara decided. "Yes, Max."

          "Max," the three echoed. There was a knock at the door downstairs and they heard Gus answer it.

          "Look, it's nearly six o'clock!" Janet dried her hands on her apron and went out to see who had come.

          "Felicity?"

          "Yes, Sara?"

          "How did you do this twice? I'm never having another child as long as I live."

          "You might change your mind. Here, let me take Max and put him to bed so you can get some rest," she offered and Sara looked a little wistful as he was taken away from her.

          "No, I won't change my mind. But it was worth it." She sighed and held out a hand. "No, let me hold him again. I feel as if I could write my loveliest poem yet about little Max. He is handsome, isn't he? Oh, I wish Jean would come home!"

          Janet found Felix downstairs, engaged in a fervent conversation with Gus and clutching a newspaper. When he saw her coming, he looked up and waved it. "Mother! The Germans have begun their offensive on Verdun!"

          "We better say our prayers they don't capture her," Gus remarked gravely. Janet nodded as she reached for the paper.

          "You've got a new cousin, Gus and Felix." She smiled faintly through her worry and touched her son on the arm. He had four days left in Avonlea before his return to the sea. She went to the kitchen and greeted Belle-Marie and Callie, who were at work preparing breakfast for the crowd. The house was already swarming with people and Gus took a moment to survey the scene contentedly. He had always wanted a family and here he was in his own house on his own farm with his loving relatives all around.

To Be Continued...

Index