Gift from Above, Thank You God

Sent straight from heaven up above

Came an angel for me to love

To hold and rock and kiss good night

To wrap my arms around real tight…

- Shirley J. Stankiewicz

Inside of a cabin in the middle of a village, a young woman screamed in pain and clutched the hand of her midwife so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She was in labour, and having gone through it several times had not eased the pains that seized her now.

"Calm, Esther, calm!" Ayana urged her friend from beside the bed, where she sat reclined on blankets and furs, breathing heavily as the contractions that had caused her screams receded slowly. The young woman, with her long blond hair and deep brown eyes, simply grimaced and howled again as pain washed over her.

"Ayana," Esther's husband spoke quietly from the doorway. Esther seemed not to notice her husband standing there as she concentrated on the soothing words of her midwife, and Ayana quickly made her way over to the man, who towered over her. He seemed nervous, but Ayana was well-practiced at ignoring the plights of men. She squared her shoulders – she would not show concern for this man.

"Mikael."

"Is the baby healthy?"

"Of course. It will be time soon enough." Ayana replied coolly. Mikael let out a sigh of relief and nodded, letting the women return to her dear friend's side before leaving the room, shutting the door behind him. After a few seconds, Esther let out another scream and doubled over, cursing every single deity known to their people. Ayana could not help but smile at Esther's unrestrained vulgarity, glad that her marriage to Mikael had not yet robbed her of that fiery spirit of hers.

The baby came just then, so quickly that Ayana barely had time to react. Another scream pierced the air, but this time it came from the throat of the newborn child, covered in blood and other fluids, but mercifully alive. Ayana and Esther laughed, the latter much more tiredly than the other, but laughing all the same. The cord was cut within moments, and Esther laid back into her bed, watching eagerly as her friend cleaned the baby off in a stone tub.

"She looks just like you," Ayana murmured warmly, wrapping up the infant in the softest blanket the couple had before passing it to its mother.

It was true. The tiny baby girl staring up at her mother had a small patch of blond hair on her head, although her eyes were a bright blue that reminded Ayana of the man waiting on the other side of the door. Esther just smiled down at her newborn daughter and cooed quietly to the tiny bundle in her arms, thumbing her nose affectionately as she took in the world around her.

Tired as she was, Ayana could not suppress a smile at the sight of a healthy, lively baby having been delivered.

"Have you chosen a name?"

Esther looked up at her old friend, tears brimming in her eyes as she cradled her daughter, and smiled.

"Emma."