"What happened?", asked Tusker, although it wasn't clear to whom he was asking the question.
I tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to face Marilyn and me. "Focus, Tusker, focus!"
Marilyn said, "From what Tessa says, Anna Lee thinks she started going into labor this morning, even before the wedding. She's been having contractions for a few hours. Her water just broke, though."
"What do we do? Do I need to boil water? They always do that on TV?", he said, dumbfounded.
"Only if you're making soup, Tusker!", I answered. "What you need to do is go over there and hold her hand. She's scared."
"Uh, yeah, right." He moved over to the women on the floor and Anna Lee directed him to sit down next to Tessa's head.
Tessa immediately grabbed his hand and clamped down on it, causing it to whiten. "You sonofabitch! You're never touching me again!" By now the girls had Tessa undressed and covered with another tablecloth.
I grinned at Marilyn. "Ah, the miracle of childbirth. Warms the cockles of your heart, doesn't it"
Tessa gave another groan, and Marilyn's face got even paler. "You better not be so happy when this happens to us!"
"I hope you're not trying to tell me something."
That got a smile from her. "No, not that!"
"Good. You stay here and play traffic cop. Nobody comes in but me and the ambulance guys, got it?"
Marilyn gave me a salute, and I saluted her back and headed back out to the reception. By now several other people were milling about wondering what was going on. I just kept saying everything was fine and under control, not that anybody believed me. A few minutes later, although it seemed like hours at the time, a siren sounded in the distance and you could hear the Doppler Effect raise the pitch as it got closer. I went out the front door to flag them down and direct them inside. By now, everybody in the room knew something was happening.
I followed the ambulance crew into the lounge. Tessa was moaning and groaning, and cursing Tusker to boot, but she didn't look like she was about to have the baby on the spot. The ambulance crew brought in their gurney and dropped it down to the floor and took over from Anna Lee and Suzie. I grabbed Tusker and pulled him aside. "Listen, everything is going to be just fine. You ride with Tessa to the hospital. You can catch a cab from there back to the Sheraton later. You going to be okay?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess. This wasn't supposed to happen, you know?" For such a big and tough biker, Tusker was totally bewildered by what was happening to Tessa.
If I was calm and cool, it was because this had happened to Marilyn and me, sort of. Maggie, who managed to do her own thing her entire life, even before that life started, decided she wanted to see the sights early. At eight in the evening, Marilyn announced we needed to call her parents to come and watch over the kids, because she was starting her contractions. Fifteen minutes later she announced, "Carl, call the emergency squad, we're having this baby NOW!"
So I called the emergency squad, and then I called some friends in town and got somebody to watch Alison and Parker. The first three people to show up were the postmistress, the garbageman, and the bartender. After that, about another dozen people showed up to look up Marilyn's skirt. Still, I was holding it together fairly well, right up to the point where one of the eager young EMT types said, "Don't worry, Mister Buckman. We've never done this before, but we've all seen the movies!"
That was when I started worrying!
That was then. Now I smiled. "Hey, shit happens. You're going to do fine. Listen, Joe and Harlan and Anna Lee and I went over to Toys R Us last night and picked you up a few things for the baby. Make sure you get them from us."
He looked a little stunned. "Wow! Really? Thanks, thanks a lot!"
I shooed him back over to Tessa, now loaded on the gurney, with a blood pressure collar on her arm. He hovered around while they worked on her, with Anna Lee helping and Suzie watching. She came over and stood next to Marilyn and me, and I put my arm around her shoulder. "Still want to be a nurse?", I asked.
"You bet!", she gushed. I just laughed and kissed my baby sister on her cheek.
When they were ready to transport her, I led the way out the door and we simply asked everybody to clear the way. We followed them out the door, and waved farewell as Tusker and Tessa were loaded in the back. I stood there with my arm around Marilyn, as Anna Lee and Suzie came up, with Harlan and Joe right behind them. "You two did great.", I told Anna Lee and her assistant. "I don't know how to thank you enough!"
"That was so cool!", exclaimed Suzie.
Anna Lee laughed at that, as Harlan hugged her from behind. "You still want to be a nurse?", she asked.
"Absolutely!"
I gave her another kiss on the cheek. "Go tell Mom and Dad about it. They're going to be very proud of you, just like me."
Suzie scampered off, looking just like the little girl she really was. I turned to Marilyn. "Well, this makes for a wedding we'll never forget."
"Oh my God! I can't believe it!"
"At some point, we're going to have to change and go over to the hospital and check on them before we go.", I mentioned.
That sort of surprised her. "What! Now?"
I wrapped my arms around her and said, "Maybe in a little while, but you know we should do this. They're our friends. We'll just leave early and go to the hospital before heading out to Syracuse. Did anybody find out where they were taking her?"
Anna Lee commented, "I think it was the driver, he said St. Luke's. Where's that? Is it any good?"
I just nodded, as Marilyn answered the question. Utica has two hospitals, St. Luke's and Faxton, while Rome, to the west of us, has Rome Memorial. We were probably still closer to Utica. Any of them should be able to handle what seemed, at least to my eyes, to be a fairly normal birth.
"Let's go in and make an announcement.", I said.
Marilyn's eyes opened wide at that. "You can make the announcement! I have had more than enough excitement for one day!" I laughed at that and we walked back inside with an arm around each other.
The band had finished setting up, but had delayed getting into gear while all the hubbub was going on. Now I walked over to them and asked if they had a live mike. The band leader, the keyboard player, and I talked for a moment about the plans, and then he handed me a mike and flipped a switch on his mixing board. "You're live.", he said.
I tapped the mike a couple of times and heard the thump through the speakers, and then walked out into the middle of the dance floor. "Hello, hello, can everybody hear me?", I asked.
"A little louder please?, came a voice from the back. I looked over at the keyboardist and he turned a knob.
"Is this better?" I could tell it was decidedly louder now, and got approval from the rear of the room. I motioned Marilyn over, and she came cautiously. I simply put my arm around her shoulder before talking.
"Okay, let me make the official announcement, then. In case anybody doesn't know already, today is going to be a double celebration. Jim Tusk, the big red headed guy who was one of my ushers, and his girlfriend Tessa Harper, are having a baby. Tusker and Tessa are some of my oldest friends in the world, and this is their first. They hadn't expected this to happen so suddenly, but hey, life happens. They're going over to St. Luke's right now. That's what the ambulance was for."