Heavenstone 01 - The Heavenstone Secrets

fact, about my baby. In them, I had heard him cry. Was that impossible? Did babies cry in the womb? Did the baby inside me know he was being denied? Did he want to announce his existence, demand to be recognized?
    The avalanche of emotions that had begun when I entered Cassie’s room and heard the truth exhausted me. I couldn’t keep my eyes open and soon fell asleep. I woke to the sounds of Cassie’s and Daddy’s voices in the hallway. Daddy was very upset. I had never heard him speak so sharply and angrily to Cassie. And I had never heard her words so muffled by sobs. That was something usually reserved for me.
    Moments later, Daddy entered my room. He stood gaping at me. Cassie drew up gingerly beside him.
    “Then this is true?” he asked me.
    Lying there without the girdle and my hands still on my abdomen, I was sure I presented a clear picture of a pregnant girl. He approached slowly, his lips pulled back tightly, looking like someone who had just swallowed something very rotten. He grimaced with pain and disgust. I looked past him at Cassie. She wasn’t looking devastated or even upset. She wore a slight smile and nodded to tell me that all was as she had planned.

    “If you would have had the courage to tell me about this immediately, Semantha, I would have done something. Now look at the mess we’re in.”
    “We’re not in any mess, Daddy,” Cassie insisted, stepping up beside him again. “I told you what we’ll do, and we’ll do it.”
    “How could you have done this, Semantha? How could you have been so stupid, and so soon after … so soon?”
    Everything in me wanted to burst out with the truth. I couldn’t stand to see the pain on my father’s face, pain he believed was solely and wholly my fault, all my fault. All I could think was that he was going to stop loving me or would never ever love me the same way he had.
    “I didn’t …” I started to say, but Cassie stepped up quickly.
    “She didn’t mean for it to happen, Daddy. No girl actually plans such a thing. It happened. She was in a precarious emotional state, as we all were after Mother’s tragic death. People do unexpected and foolish things when they’re like that. Things they can’t explain afterward or defend. Surely, you understand.”
    He wilted and sat at the foot of my bed, lowering his head into his hands. “I let you girls down,” he muttered. “I let Arianna down by not stepping up to be twice the parent when it was necessary.”
    “Oh, no, don’t blame yourself, Daddy. You were under great emotional strain as well. Neither of us blames you for anything, right, Semantha?” she said, looking intently at me.

    I shook my head, but Daddy didn’t see.
    “Right?” she repeated.
    “Yes, right. This is all my fault, Daddy. I’m sorry.”
    He sighed deeply and lifted his head from his hands.
    “Please don’t worry, Daddy. I’ll handle all of this,” Cassie told him.
    “How can you handle all of this?” he snapped at her. The immediate expression on her face told me how shocked and disappointed she was. “She needs medical attention now. She has to see an OB and be set up for a delivery this late in the pregnancy.”
    “People have had babies in their homes forever, Daddy. Many still insist on it and don’t want doctors. They have midwives. I’ve done some research on it. Unless there are reasons for complications, giving birth in a hospital isn’t any safer than at home. Birthing is really a natural process. It doesn’t need all this medical paraphernalia. That’s just window dressing so doctors can charge large fees.”
    “I’m not risking Semantha’s life,” Daddy said firmly. “Tomorrow, we’re taking her to see Dr. Moffet, and he’ll refer us to an obstetrician. And that’s that!” His words fell like thunder.
    Cassie didn’t wince. She held her ground. “You’ll be making a big mistake, Daddy. First, you’ll be branding Semantha a whore for the rest of her life. No matter how you get people to swear to secrecy, it will leak out. A secretary, a nurse, Dr. Moffet’s own wife or the OB’s might let it slip, and you know how quickly any story about a Heavenstone will bespread. What are you going to do, send her away, maybe to Europe? How can she return to school and face other girls and boys her age?
    “No, the best way to do this is to involve only one person besides me. We’ll get a midwife from out of the area to oversee this, and we’ll pay her enough to shut her mouth