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Hiroko’s baby came late. She was born not in March, but on the third of April. Crystal had gone to see Hiroko that afternoon, and she was tired and uncomfortable, but unlike Becky, she never complained about it. She was always friendly and warm and anxious to welcome Crystal. It had been six weeks since her father died, and she had come to see Hiroko almost every day. She felt at loose ends at the ranch, and her mother was always quick to criticize and to snap at her. More than ever, it made Crystal feel lonely. She suspected that there was something more bothering her mother, or maybe she was just lonely without Tad, and didn’t know how else to express it. She said that to Hiroko one day and her friend thought it possible, but Boyd told her privately that Olivia had always resented Crystal, even as a child, he remembered times when she had slapped her for the slightest offense, while always visibly cosseting Rebecca. He suspected it was why Tad had made a favorite of Crystal, even the
children’s friends had been aware of it. It was an open secret in the valley.

Hiroko and Crystal spent a quiet afternoon, and at dusk, Crystal went home. Her mother was out, she had gone into town with Becky, and Crystal helped her grandmother put dinner on the table. She had lost weight since her father died. She was never hungry, and that night she went to bed, and at sunrise, she saddled her father’s horse, and decided to ride over and see the Websters. It was Saturday and she didn’t have to go to school, and she knew her friend was an early riser. But when she got there, Boyd met her at the door. He looked worried and exhausted. Hiroko had been in labor since the night before, and the baby still wasn’t coming. He had called the doctor in town, but he had refused to come, saying that Mrs. Webster wasn’t his patient. He was the same man who had refused to treat her eight months before, and he hadn’t changed his mind since then. And Boyd knew he would have to deliver her himself. There was no way he could get her to San Francisco. Dr. Yoshikawa had given him a book to read just in case, but things weren’t going as expected. Hiroko was in so much pain, and he could see the baby’s head, but with each push it refused to move forward. He explained it quickly to Crystal, and she could hear Hiroko moaning in the bedroom.

“What about old Dr. Chandler?” He had retired years before and he was almost blind, but at least he was someone. There was a midwife in Calistoga, too, but she had long since refused to treat Hiroko.

“He’s in Texas, visiting his daughter. I tried to call him last night from the gas station.” He was thinking seriously of driving her to San Francisco, but he was afraid they might lose the baby.

“Can I see her?” She had delivered livestock before, but she had never even seen a woman in labor, and she
was aware of a tremor of terror running down her spine as she followed Boyd to the bedroom. Hiroko was crouched on the bed, squatting and panting furiously, as though desperate to get the baby out of her, but she looked helplessly up at Crystal as she sank back against the pillows.

“Baby won’t come …” Another pain ripped through her as Crystal watched, and Boyd went to hold her hands, and Crystal felt pity for her friend, struggling helplessly. She wondered if the baby would die, or worse … Hiroko.

Without thinking, Crystal went to wash her hands in the kitchen, and came back with a handful of clean towels. The bed was bloodstained and Hiroko’s long black hair fell over her face as she crouched again, to no avail. And with a confidence she didn’t feel, Crystal spoke gently to her.

“Hiroko, let us help you. …” She looked into her friend’s eyes, willing her to live, and silently praying for their baby. She remembered the horses she had delivered, struggling silently, and prayed that her knowledge might be useful. There was no one else to turn to anyway. No one in town would come, there were only Boyd and Crystal, and the shuddering little Japanese girl. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but no sound emerged from her, as Crystal looked and saw the baby’s head. It had reddish brown hair, halfway between the color of Boyd’s and Hiroko’s.

“Baby won’t come …” She sobbed in anguish as Boyd told her to bear down again, and this time when she did, Crystal saw the baby’s head inch slowly forward.

“Come on, Hiroko … it’s coming now … push again …” But she was too weak to try as the pain subsided, and then Crystal realized what was wrong. The baby was facing up instead of down. They would have to
turn it. She had done it with animals, but the thought of doing it to her friend was terrifying as she glanced at Boyd and quietly explained it. She knew then that if they didn’t turn the baby, it might die, or Hiroko would. It might already be too late for the baby now. Crystal knew they had to hurry. Another pain ripped into her friend, and this time she didn’t tell her to push, instead she gently pressed her own hands into her and felt the baby in Hiroko’s womb, and barely daring to breathe herself, she turned the baby carefully as Hiroko cried out and Boyd held her. Another pain came and she pushed again, as though to force Crystal from her, but as Crystal withdrew her hands, the head moved forward again, and suddenly Hiroko pushed as she had never thought she could have. The pain was blinding as the baby began to emerge and Crystal gave a shout of victory as the head came out, and with its body still inside the mother, it was already crying. Tears streamed down Crystal’s cheeks as she worked to free Hiroko of her baby, and there was a tense silence in the room as Hiroko pushed again, but this time she was laughing and crying all at once as she listened to her baby cry, and then suddenly with a whoosh, the baby was free of her. It was a little girl, and the three of them looked down at her in amazement. The placenta came afterward and Boyd disposed of it, as the book had described. But the book had been useless until then. It was Crystal who had saved the baby’s life, and she looked down at the tiny child in awe. She looked just like her mother, and Hiroko cried with joy as she held her.

“Thank you … thank you …” She was too tired to say more, and she closed her eyes as she held the little girl, and Boyd cried watching them. He looked lovingly at his wife, and softly touched the baby’s cheek before glancing back at Crystal.

“You saved her … both of them …” His tears
were born of relief, and Crystal left the room, quietly. The sun was high in the sky by then, and she was startled to realize how long she’d been there. The hours had flown by as she worked to save her friend, and the tiny baby.

Boyd came out to see her after a while. She was sitting on the grass, and thinking how remarkable nature was. She had never seen anything as beautiful as their baby. Like Hiroko, she seemed to be carved out of ivory, and her eyes had the same Oriental slant as her mother’s, but there was something of Boyd’s look about her, too, and smiling to herself, Crystal wondered if one day she would have freckles like her father. He looked very grown up suddenly as he stared down at his wife’s friend, grateful beyond anything he could tell her.

“How is she?” Crystal was still worried, and wished that they could have called a doctor. There was always the risk of infection.

“They’re both asleep.” He smiled, as he sat down next to Crystal. “They look so beautiful.”

Crystal smiled at him. They were two children who had just grown up that morning. Life would never be quite the same again, and having seen the miracle of the baby’s birth, at that moment it seemed infinitely precious to them. “What are you going to call her?”

“Jane Keiko Webster. I wanted to just call her Keiko. But Hiroko wanted her to have an American name. Maybe she’s right.” He looked sad as he said it, and then looked out over the valley where they had both grown up. “Keiko was her sister, she died in Hiroshima.” Crystal nodded, she knew about it from Hiroko.

“She’s a beautiful little girl, Boyd. Be good to her.” It was an odd thing to say to him as she looked at him. He was twenty-four years old and they had known each other since they were children. Becky had had a crush on him once, and nothing had ever come of it, and Crystal
had always been sorry. He was a kind, decent man, and a lot different from Tom Parker. She looked dreamily out at the hills as she talked to him, it was a beautiful spring day and the sun was shining brightly. “My daddy was always so good to me. He was the best person I ever knew.” Her eyes were filled with tears as she looked back at Boyd and wiped them with a corner of her work shirt.

“You must miss him a lot.”

“I do. And … well, things are so different now. Mama and I have never been close. She’s always favored Becky.” She said it matter-of-factly with a small sigh as she lay back on the warm grass. And then she smiled, remembering again, “I guess she always thought Daddy spoiled me. He did, I guess. But I can’t say I ever minded.” She laughed then, and for a moment she seemed young again, but he was sorry for her.

“I guess I better go back in to them. Should I fix her something to eat?” He wasn’t sure what to do, and Crystal smiled up at him.

“When she’s hungry. Mama says Becky ate like a horse afterward, but she had an easy time having Willie. Tell her to take it easy.” She stood up too. “I’ll come back this afternoon or tomorrow, if I can get away.” Her mother was always finding chores for her. And now, with Becky expecting, she was always telling Crystal to clean her house for her, or help her with the laundry. She felt like a slave sometimes, as she scrubbed Becky’s front room while she and her mother sat in the kitchen drinking coffee.

“Take care of yourself,” he stood looking awkward for a moment as she went to untie her horse, and then blushing self-consciously he kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you, Crystal,” his voice was hoarse with emotion, “I’ll never forget this.”

“Neither will I.” She looked at him honestly, almost as
tall as he was, as she held the reins of her old pinto. “Give Jane a kiss from me.” She swung herself into the saddle then, and looked down at him again, and for an odd moment she thought of Spencer. She felt so close to Boyd after delivering the baby that she almost wanted to tell him. But tell him what? That she was in love with a man who’d almost surely forgotten her? They’d only seen each other twice after all, and yet as she rode home, smiling to herself, thinking of the baby sleeping in Hiroko’s arms, she found herself dreaming of him again. It was all she had, dreams of him, and memories of her father, and pictures of movie stars tacked up in her bedroom.

“Where’ve you been all day? I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” Her mother was waiting for her in the kitchen when she got back after delivering Hiroko’s baby. And for a crazy moment she felt like telling her what had happened. It had been beautiful and exciting, and very, very scary. For a girl not yet seventeen, she suddenly understood what it meant to be a woman.

“I was out riding. I didn’t think you’d need me.”

“Your sister’s not feeling well. I wanted you to go over and help her.” Crystal nodded. Becky was never feeling well, not that she admitted to anyway. “She wants you to take care of Willie.” Same old story.

“Okay.”

There were dishes in the sink that Olivia had left for her, and after she did those, she walked across the fields to the cottage. Tom was listening to the radio and the room smelled of beer, as little Willie tottered around the room in an undershirt and a diaper. The room was a mess, and Becky was reading a magazine and smoking a
cigarette in bed, in their bedroom. Crystal offered to make her lunch, and she nodded without ever looking up, as Crystal went back to the kitchen to make her a sandwich.

“Make me one, too, will you, hon?” Tom called out beerily. “And hand me another bottle from the fridge, will you?” She walked into the front room to give him his beer and scooped Willie up in her arms. He had been making a mudpie in the ashtray with the milk in his half-empty bottle. He cooed happily as Crystal cuddled him. He smelled foul, and Crystal knew no one had bothered to change his diapers since the morning. “Where’ve you been? I hear your ma was looking all over for you.” He was wearing an undershirt with two half-moons of sweat under the arms, and everything about him was pungent as he eyed her. She looked mighty good to him. His own wife was fat and tired and always complaining, and the two girls didn’t even look as though they were related.