June 11th- Be Fruitful and Multiply by Dawnwind

Click here to read the first story- A Woman’s Work is Never Done

Click here to read the second story- If There Had Been Wise Women, They Would Have Brought Food–And Diapers

Click here to read the third story- Merger and Acquisition

It was the miracle she’d never expected to have in her lifetime, pregnant for the second time. When she’d mated—hopefully for life—with Linda, Minnie hadn’t given a thought to motherhood. Linda had, and over the course of their first year together, Linda managed to convince her that it was possible.

Their daughter Noel was living proof. She toddled across the floor dragging a basket of nearly bald dollies behind her. Why all her dolls were bald, Minnie had no idea, but it kept Noel busy while her mothers were at work.

Minnie rubbed her rounded belly, trying to sooth the baby swimming inside. The little one had been more restless than usual all morning. Combined with a crampy pain in her lower back, Minnie was really uncomfortable. But she’d done this before and knew that there were always odd pangs with pregnancy.

“Hutch is at the Homestead,” Linda said, pointing out their south facing window at the formerly empty lot planted with vegetables. “He said he’d come in after he picks the lemons and plants another crop of spinach.”

“The spinach is that popular?” Minnie marveled. Not her favorite by half. “That trashy partner of his with him?” She gazed at her lover from across their office. She adored the way Linda’s curved abdomen filled out her green and white striped maternity dress. The color beautifully set off the long red ponytail that flipped behind her whenever she turned her head. Next to Linda, Minnie felt like an elephant stuffed into a denim muumuu.

“Don’t see him, but I’ll take Noel out for a walk when I finish with the invoices.” Linda smiled, watching their daughter put the baby dolls to bed in a milk crate. “Did you get the grant proposals written?”

Minnie scowled, mentally telling her little passenger to get some sleep for a while. This one was destined to be an Olympic level swimmer. “Told you that you should be the one writing those. You went to college!”

“For two semesters.” Linda rolled her eyes. “Before the police academy. We need that grant money to pay office staff while we’re both on maternity leave.”

“I remember, I remember,” Minnie groused, well aware she was being what her old grandma used to call peevish. The baby took that moment to punch hard on her bladder. Once more, and she’d have to run for the toilet.

She and Linda had conceived on the same day, at the same time. Sure, they’d basically stacked the deck each time they tried: syncing their cycles and inseminating on the same day. Yet, even that hadn’t worked the first time around.

Only she had gotten pregnant two years ago.

One year ago, only Linda had been with child—miscarrying eight weeks later.

They’d waited after that, grief surrounding their little family like a fence. Minnie could still feel the pain of loss, especially when holding Noel close, Linda’s arms wrapped around both of them, as if she could pull them inside her where the fetus had so briefly lived.

Linda’s conception issues had scuppered their remaining ties with the Bay City Police Department. It had been difficult enough fielding questions from their fellow cops on how Minnie had an “out of wedlock” baby and chose to live with Linda. It had been quite another when Linda lost a baby while living with Minnie—nary a man in sight, as far as anyone knew.

Except for a handful of staunch friends, Noel’s fathers included. Not that she biologically had two daddies, but technically she did. Starsky might have contributed the sperm that inseminated the egg to create her life, but Hutch gave her equally as much love as his partner did.

Minnie jolted out of her reverie when the phone jangled.

“Mama!” Noel said urgently, holding her Fisher Price phone with the googly eyes aloft. “Ring ring!”

Minnie reached for the receiver on her desk but Linda beat her to it, answering the communal line from her desk.

“Bay City All United Social Enterprise,” Linda said briskly into the telephone. “How may we help you?” She pursed her pretty lips, listening intently to the caller on the other end of the line. “That’s wonderful!” she enthused. “We appreciate all donations, as well as knitted items and crafts for the children. You know our address?” She nodded, repeating the caller’s information and writing it on her intake pad.

Minnie and Linda had worked with the Child Protection Unit for more than a year before they’d quit the force. It could be both heartbreaking and joyful, sometimes in equal measure, on the same day. They’d helped separate children from abusive parents, aided in finding homes for children whose parents had died, and championed foster parents wanting to adopt the child they’d cared for. All of which had proven how vital supportive services were to families in need.

Then Noel had dropped into their lives ahead of schedule.

After a marathon session of what do we do now, BCAUSE was formed. They could bridge the gap between the CPS and the social programs provided by the state: part social activism, guiding families to the programs that could help them, and part neighborhood guild, offering everything from a food pantry, community garden, caregiving services, and more.

Little passenger bounced on Minnie’s bladder, causing a leak onto her undies. She ran for the toilet with all speed.

“Out, Mom-mom,” Noel tugged on Linda’s arm, causing her to smear the B in her signature.

“Just a minute, lovey,” Linda promised, writing the rest of her surname. A little crooked but legible. “All right, you have your sweater on!” She chuckled. Noel had it on upside down and backwards but Linda wasn’t about to correct that. Noel could throw quite a temper tantrum when provoked. Which certainly gave Linda pause thinking ahead to when they’d essentially have twin babies, plus a two and a half year old at the same time. Good thing Starsky and Hutch had promised to babysit—regularly.

No one had been quite sure who fathered Noel at her birth, but after only a couple weeks, definite Starsky traits had shown up. She had her daddy’s deep blue eyes, crooked grin, and mischievous nature. Combined with her dark curls and café latte skin tone, she was a beauty.

Noel shoved two dollies into a tote bag for their walk.

“Min?” Linda listened to the toilet flushing in the bathroom. “We’re going out now.”

“I’ll hold down the fort,” Minnie called back.

A disheveled man with long shaggy hair pulled into a messy ponytail, wearing a shirt and jeans that hung off his skinny frame, came up the stairs. “This the place where I get assistance?” he asked with a curl of his lip.

“Sure thing!” Minnie closed the bathroom door, pressing a hand to her belly. “Sit on down. I can help you.” She waved at Linda and Noel. “Have fun, you two.”

“You want to help your poppy with the lemons or the spinach?” Linda took her daughter’s hand to lead her down the front steps. The other major life change they’d made six months ago was the purchase of a four bedroom house, combining their home space and office space in one. The day they moved in, Starsky and Hutch had manhandled furniture and boxes inside. At lunchtime, while eating sandwiches with chips and cokes on the front porch, Hutch had noticed a for sale sign on the vacant lot next door.

Less than a week later, he’d been out there, planting the first crop. She hadn’t asked where he’d got the money for the land, but graciously accepted his generosity. Linda grinned, seeing him then—clearing out rocks, old beer bottles and a few discarded syringes before sowing beans and potatoes—and now, reaching up to pluck winter lemons from a tree. Amazingly, the tree had already been there, neglected and forgotten in the tangle of weeds and debris. It, and all the other plantings, had flourished with Hutch’s care. People from every corner of the neighborhood started showing up to help, bringing seeds, cuttings, and bags of fertilizer. Like the story of stone soup, where one stone and some water had been the beginnings of a pot of soup, the garden had emerged from the outpouring of strangers.    

“Poppy!” Noel ran over, hopping from one foot to the other.  “I can eat?”

“Nope.” Hutch hoisted her onto his hip, handing her a large yellow lemon. “Very sour. But smells great.”

“You remember that song?” Linda shivered slightly. It was colder than she’d expected. “Lemon tree very pretty…” she sang, knowing full well Hutch would join in. Took very little to get him to sing when he was surrounded by growing things.

“And the lemon flower is sweet.” Hutch crooned in his mellow tenor. “But the fruit of the—“

“Poor lemon is impossible to eat,” Linda harmonized. The infant in her womb seemed to sway to the music.

“Lemon tree!” Noel sang along, nodding her head in time.

“I have a great recipe for salmon using lemon juice and Dijon mustard,” Linda said, inhaling the wonderful scent of the fruit. “Interested in sharing dinner with us?”

“You always knew how to seduce me,” Hutch laughed. “Starsky will be here soon. He had some stops to make, and I asked him to pick up –“

“Daddy!” Noel launched herself out of Hutch’s arms as a bright red Pontiac Firebird pulled into the driveway that divided Hutch’s Homestead from the Baylor/Kaplan residence.

“Noel! Don’t run close to the car,” Linda cautioned, trotting after her. Damned pregnant belly, like a whale attached to her front hips. Made her feel clumsy, and left her breathing heavily after only a short distance. There’d been a time she could run down a perp—wearing heels—in nothing flat.

“Pipsqueak!” Starsky grabbed Noel around the ribs, swinging her into the air like a mini airplane.

“Gimme all your money,” the man demanded, holding the pistol like it was an extension of his hand.

Minnie’s police brain identified the weapon as a Viet Nam era Smith and Wesson model 10, a six shooter similar to what cowboys in westerns used. Her heart pounded against her rib cage, terror racing through her body. This was not at all what she’d expected when he came through the door.

They got their share of indigent people needing the basics: food, clothing, and a roof. She’d mentally lined up the relevant paperwork for him while opening her desk drawer, and looked up straight into the gaping maw of the pistol.

“Honey, we don’t keep any cash here,” she said as calmly as possible. She’d been a cop, for God’s sake, she should know how to handle this. Except it had been over two years, closer to three, since she’d worked vice. “We facilitate getting you into the system. You need something to eat…”

“Bitch, I just want cash,” he snarled, leaning into her. “Where is it?” He inclined his head at her drawer.

The little passenger inside her lurched against her hipbones, shoving hard into her bladder. A sudden contraction seized her abdomen, paralyzing her in a painful spasm. Minnie panted, leaning back in the chair. No! Baby, not the time.

There was no way she could have this baby now! Noel had insisted on coming over two weeks early. She wasn’t due to deliver this baby for a month and a half. Stay in, she silently implored the infant, knowing it would have little effect. Her children were willful, impulsive beings, no doubt about it. Bent on being born at the most inopportune times.

“We don’t keep…”

“Rickey said you gave him money,” the man snarled, obviously angered by her deterrence.

Rickey, Rickey. They had so many needy people come through. Minnie tried to recall who Rickey might be, hearing a car pull into the driveway and Noel call out to her Daddy.

Minnie did her Lamaze breathing to work through the worst of the contraction. Starsky was here! She was sincerely grateful that Linda and Noel were safe in the yard with the men. That alleviated most of her worries. Now, how to save this baby, and herself, of course.

“Rickey Conover?” She finally put the name to a face. Tall, spindly guy with twitchy eyes. “We gave him a voucher for the transient hotel. Not cash.” The contraction was dwindling away, leaving her wasted.

“You preggers?” the man asked suspiciously, eyeing her gravid belly.

“Observant, aren’t you?” she commented, vainly trying to keep the sarcasm at a minimum. “Why don’t we start over? I’m Minnie. If you put away your gun—“

“No can do. You’ll call the cops on me.” He looked out the window at the red car. “Who’s that?”

“Gardeners,” Minnie lied blandly. “Taking care of the vegetables. Listen, what’s your name? I can get you a voucher—“ Tightness griped her abdomen, pushing down toward her vagina. She gasped, clenching her teeth. This one was coming far faster than Noel. Not good at all.

“I don’t fucking want a voucher.” He pushed the pistol up to her belly.

“No!” Minnie cried, terrified, wrapping both arms around her large abdomen as if that alone could protect the baby. “Please, tell me your name, how I can help you!”

“Ain’t nuthing you can do, bitch—“

“Miss Kaplan?” Starsky pushed through the front door. “Lemons all picked. You want us to—“ He stopped short as if seeing the intruder for the first time.

Minnie wasn’t fooled and apparently neither was her captor.

“Get outta here, we’re having a private conversation,” the gunman said, swinging around to point his weapon at Starsky.

Minnie snatched the stapler sitting on top of the forms in her drawer and swung it hard against the man’s head. “Cops came,” she said triumphantly.

“What the hell?” he shouted, raising a hand to fend off her blows.

Starsky shoved his gun arm sideways, wrenching the pistol out of his grasp. “Hands behind your head, turkey. You are under arrest, and have the right to remain silent, etcetera, etcetera,” Starsky commanded, pushing him against a wall to subdue him. “Min? You all right?”

“Hangin’ in there.” She blinked away the tears, not quite sure she was furious or terrified. “But we have more than one complication.” A strong contraction ripped through her belly and she knew for certain that urgent need to go pee earlier had not been urine. Her water had broken.

“Starsk?” Hutch called from the front step.

“All clear, Hutch,” Starsky replied, pressing a knee into the back of his prisoner’s legs. “You got handcuffs? Have Linda call for backup.”

“This is police brutality!” the man whined, twisting his neck to sneer at Starsky.

“Grabbed them from your car.” Hutch rushed in, thrusting the cuffs at his partner. “Linda’s on the police band now. Min?”

“Guys,” she said, dragging her concentration away from her own bodily functions. “I got some action over here.”

Starsky yanked the cuffed prisoner upright, staring at Minnie.

On any other day, she might have laughed at the twin horrified expressions on her friends’ faces. As it was, she spread her legs, aware of a very familiar sensation. There was a baby’s head practically between her thighs. What had the doctor called it last time?

Crowning.

“Minnie, are you in labor?” Hutch asked, coming closer.

“Prince or princess already got their crown on and ready to make an entrance,” she said, panting to hold this inpatient child in for a bit longer. At least until someone with a medical license arrived. Paramedic, maybe?

“Hutch!” Starsky gasped. “I got—“ He gulped a panicked breath. “I got a first aid kit in the car. I’ll go get it.” He dragged his prisoner out the door as if fleeing a burning building.

“Uh—“ Hutch inched closer, bending down to look directly at Minnie. “You want to stay here or lie on the couch?”

“Don’t make no difference at this juncture.” Minnie grit her teeth. How did this keep happening? She and Linda had planned everything—when and where to have the babies—together. Babies could sure screw up a schedule! “This one is halfway out.”

“Minnie?” Linda dashed in, her ponytail swinging wildly. “Starsky said—“ She stopped at the edge of the desk, going pale. “Oh, doll—“

“Where’s Noel?” Minnie didn’t want a two-year-old witnessing this. This was too early. What if the baby didn’t survive?

“With the Saeturns,” Linda said distractedly. “Don’t push! The ambulance is coming.”

“Believe it or not,” Hutch said, his voice a bit shaky. “I have delivered a baby before. Linda, get some towels?”

“Don’t have time to boil water, honey,” Minnie said softly, her entire body bent on shoving this baby out. Felt like everything in her was rushing madly toward that tiny opening. Logic said a baby shouldn’t fit through that hole. “I have to push—“

Linda ran to the bathroom, emerging seconds later with an armload of terrycloth. Hutch just had time to tuck them below Minnie’s chair when bloody fluid gushed out, heralding the newborn.

Minnie moaned, the pressure and force near to ripping her stem to stern. Butt half off the seat, she clasped the arms of the chair, bracing her feet on the floor for support.

“I can see the head!” Linda marveled. She pressed a kiss on Minnie’s sweaty forehead before stooping between her bent knees to push her dress up.

The squalling cry came first, as Linda scooped both hands around the emerging head. “You’re amazing, Min!”

Happened in seconds: one moment the baby was part of her, and the next it was separate. Minnie sobbed, unable to control a single emotion. The baby’s lung power was astounding. It was shrieking.

“Is it alright?“ She craned her head to see Linda wrapping the infant in a blue towel, umbilical cord trailing down to the afterbirth still inside.

“She’s beautiful!” Linda said in awe. “She’s—“

“Blond,” Minnie and Hutch said at the same time as Linda rubbed a towel over the tiny girl’s hair.

A corona of wispy blonde hair framed her face. Round blue eyes, and a surprisingly long, straight nose for such a tiny being. She was far paler than Noel had been. Minnie wasn’t sure if it was because she was early, or because it was abundantly clear that Hutch was her father.

“Like a fairy.” Minnie reached for her daughter, craving to hold her. The baby cuddled into her, cries diminishing as Minnie hugged her close.  The chair was no longer an uncomfortable perch, now it felt like a throne.

“She’s your daughter, Hutch,” Linda said smugly, rubbing her own rotund belly. “Couldn’t be any other.”

“I—“ He hitched a breath, touching her flailing hand. She wrapped miniscule fingers around his forefinger, holding on tightly. “A fairy.”

The door slammed open. “Got the first aid—“ Starsky dropped the red plastic bin with a loud bang. “I missed it?”

“Meet Fairy—“ Linda said.

“Faerianne,” Minnie corrected.

In direct contrast to her sister’s dramatic entrance, Linda’s baby arrived on a cool, gray day midmorning, without fanfare or histrionics. Cherry trees around the hospital were bursting with fluffy pink blossoms, and spring was in the air. Linda felt a weird, almost out of body zen gazing down at the chubby face of her newborn. This one had come on her due date, sliding out like a slippery eel to land in the obstetrician’s gloved hands.

She was perfect, from the top of her sweet head to the tips of her ten pink toes. Process of elimination pegged her as Starsky’s daughter—even without the obvious dark swirl of curls.

“You’re one of triplets?” the nurse, Esther, marveled after she finished a quick set of vitals and a mildly uncomfortable check of Linda’s lower regions. “The two women waiting outside are identical to you.”

“My sisters, Iris and Francine,” Linda corroborated with a laugh. “Send them in.”

The door pushed open, hitting the wall with a bang. “We beat them.” Starsky marched in carrying a huge a bouquet of red and yellow tulips.

Balancing Faerianne on one hip, Minnie shoved the flowers into the nearest plastic water pitcher.

“I say you had her on the first day of Passover, Hutch tells me it’s Maundy Thursday,” Starsky proclaimed.

“Either way, congratulations.” Hutch bent to give her a kiss as her sisters, and Iris’ husband, squeezed into the hospital room, all anxious to see the new arrival.

“Make room for Francine and Iris.” Linda beckoned her sisters. “They’re going to take Noel and Faerianne home soon.“

Starsky and Hutch let the women through, corralling Noel for a moment.

“Baby sister?” Noel pointed, trying to get to the bedside once more.

“Yep.” Hutch grinned, holding onto her little hand. “Another sister.”

“You did it, Linda,” Francine, the mother of twins, said with an indulgent nod. “I’m so proud of you.”

Her red curls were cut almost as short and frothy as Starsky’s, while Iris wore hers in a stylish French twist. Linda felt a bit bedraggled with her long hair shoved back into a blue scrunchie, which only coincidently matched the hospital gown.

“What a Christmas this will be—“ Iris chuckled, tapping a finger on her protruding belly. Her husband Chad peeked around her shoulder. “Mine’s due in the summer. Then there’ll be ten kids under five between the three of us, waiting for Santa.”

“That’ll put us in debt for sure!” Minnie commented, eyes wide at the thought of it.

“Christmas savings club, doll,” Linda reminded with a chuckle. The little one was nuzzling her breast. The feeling of milk dripping from one nipple was unnerving and awesome at the same time.

“We’ll leave you guys alone now,” Francine promised, grabbing the water pitcher full of tulips from Noel before she poured it on the floor. “What do you think about your youngest sister, Noel?”

“Qual’ty,” Noel said decisively, having managed to liberate two dripping flowers.

“Weren’t watching her very closely,” Starsky teased.

Hutch didn’t look particularly sorry about it.

“She’s been learning a word for every letter of the alphabet,” Minnie said as Faerianne let out a wail. “Yesterday was P for potty training.”

“I’ll take this one.” Chad grinned, scooping up the babe Linda had all but christened Princess Cries a Lot. “C’mon, gang. Leave the mamas and daddies with their newest addition.” He shepherded Francine, Iris, and Noel out of the room, the flowers leaving a dripping trail behind them.

Linda pushed aside the neckline of her hospital gown. The newborn clamped onto the nearest nipple as if she’d read the manual and knew exactly how to suck out maximum quantities of milk.

“My girl knows what she wants,” Starsky said admiringly, a goofy grin on his face. He was clearly in love all over again with his last daughter.

“That is some quality nursing, Lin,” Minnie approved, snuggling onto the hospital bed beside her. She leaned her head on Linda’s left shoulder to watch the baby suck.

“Seems to me Faery took much longer to get the hang of it.” Hutch nodded.

“Yeah, our Princess Cries a Lot was a mite lazy at first, but she had to make up time,” Minnie agreed. “Those two weeks with her in the intensive care nursery were harsh. So blessed that she’s loud and proud at home, now.”

Linda let their easy chatter wash over her, astonished at the fierce love she felt for this little girl. It was not less than her love for Noel and Faerianne, just somehow different. As each daughter was different, unique in her own way. Breastfeeding was a trip, however, both bonding and quite uncomfortable.

“Ow.” She grit her teeth when the baby gave one last hard pull before she abruptly let go. Her wide eyes looked glazed, a satisfied grin transforming her face into an almost carbon copy of her daddy. “And you did this until after Noel had teeth, Minnie?”

“It gets easier, believe me.” Minnie kissed Linda on the lips and then her daughter on the forehead. She took the sleepy baby and expertly burped her.

“Can I hold her?” Starsky asked, putting out his hands.

Linda and Hutch peered at the black around his fingernails and thumbs. “What were you doing? Changing the oil in the Firebird?” Linda chastised. “Go wash your hands first.”

“Actually,” Hutch said with a chuckle as Starsky ducked into the tiny adjoining bathroom. “He was helping me at the Homestead. Those tulips are the ones we planted the week Faery was born.”

“All clean.” Starsky reappeared with slightly damp palms, and was rewarded with an armload of baby. The third go-around, they were all experienced with cuddling babies. “She’s heavier than Faerianne was.”

“By a lot,” Linda said. “Noel was six pounds nine ounces.”

“The Princess was five pounds five ounces and this one–” Minnie touched her dark curls again.

“Eight pounds on the nose,” Linda gloated, reclining against her woman.

“That is quality, Lin.” Minnie put both arms around her, humming softly.

“Repeating yourself, Minnie,” Hutch teased, crowding in close to Starsky to encircle him and the infant. He craned his neck to kiss Starsky on the mouth.

“Quality,” Linda echoed.

“Hmm, babe?” Minnie said, grabbing a camera from the bedside cabinet to take pictures of the two daddies.

“Quality Baylor,” Linda proclaimed, clasping her hands together. They hadn’t planned names for any of the girls, yet each time, the correct right names had come up when they least expected it.

“The one and only.” Starsky held her upright and her bright eyes popped open. “Police cadet at the Bay City Academy in—“ He frowned, as if figuring out the date in his head.

“Two thousand and seven,” Hutch and Minnie whispered at the same time.

Quality farted.