Xinye's view

I had not thought of the cat since we had left, but it appears it had both thought of and missed us as it had travelled with Fergus sitting on top of the palanquin until it had stopped. It then followed Fergus to our home, wrapping itself around my feet as soon as it saw me.

I spent time patting it later, it purring up a needy storm, not letting me out of its sight. Which was fine, except come night time when I was sleeping, I had shut it out. It did not mind too much to start, as it was busy sniffing out the house and yard, but at what seemed like 2 am, it started meowing at our closed door, wanting to be let in.

Xin let him in, and it jumped up and immediately sat on my belly, kneading it. It seemed my stomach jumped in reaction to the kneading, but as it did not hurt, I ignored it.

"Looks like we won't be doing anything more tonight," Xin commented with a chuckle, "the cat has taken up residence on your belly."

"Do you mind?" I asked as Xin had been needy himself once I had started being a bit healthier.

"No, I am surprised it followed Fergus of its own accord. It is not something cats usually do."

"You're right. It is the first time I have heard of a cat doing that. Perhaps its home was us, not the house?" I questioned.

"Mhmm, perhaps," replied Xin thoughtfully before taking me in his arms again, "but he will have to get used to not being in here. I dislike this sharing business."

I could not help but laugh at him, "Surely you are not jealous of a cat?"

Xin did not reply only tightened his hold on me, so perhaps he was.

The following day, I bathed, as was my custom since Xin had returned home, and got ready for the day. Breakfast was served, and I almost gave into temptation and ate, but I remembered Dr. Hack was coming, and if he needed to operate, I must not eat. There was little point putting off for another day if it was necessary today. Besides, due to Dr. Hack's age, it would be better to operate immediately. The longer it was left, the harder it would be for him.

We were cleaning up the breakfast things from the hungry horde when Dr. Hack and his "apprentice" arrived. I hurried out to greet them, "Hello, Dr. Hack! It's good to see you again."

"Hello Karen, good to see you too. How have you been?" he inquired.

"Most days, I feel like I am dying," I replied, knowing he was asking from a professional point of view.

"I see. Are you vomiting? Are you peeing and pooing, alright?"

I shook my head, "Yes, I am vomiting. No, I have urinary frequency like I have a UTI, and most days I have diarrhea."

"Hmmm," Dr. Hack said, holding his hand up to his chin as he thought, "that does not sound good. Do you have an area for me to check you over?"

"We prepared the living room for you to look at me," I said, shooing the unwanted men that were still hanging around out the door and shutting it behind them, leaving the Dr, the apothecary, Ying, and Xin behind.

Dr. Hack seeing the operating table that Xin had made behind me, gave his approval, "I see, that looks good. Can you hop up on it?"

I nodded and did so. I had not removed anything as I saw no need until I was asked. Dr. Hack felt around, alarm filling his features.

"Karen, I need to check your belly undressed. Did you not have four caesareans? I think I remember your mother saying that you had caesareans," he asked, flustered.

"Ah, sure," I replied, thinking I was glad I was wearing the clean bra I had specially made for me and matching underwear. I would have felt really embarrassed had I not had them on.

Dr. Hack inspected the cesarean mark, "As I thought," he murmured before looking up at me, "Your scar is tearing. At the rate you are going, you will end up with a ruptured uterus. We need to operate as soon as possible. Did you have anything to eat or drink this morning?"

"No, I did not. I have not eaten or drunk since dinner yesterday, and that was only a light dinner. I was afraid that this would happen," I informed him.

"Good...Good," he nodded, "Let's get set up then. Do you have anything clean to drape you with, as I am pretty sure your husband would not like you exposed when we cut you open?"

Xin replied, "We do. Xinye organised them."

Dr. Hack asked Ying, "Can you get a pile of towels and several basins of warm water ready?"

"Yes," she nodded and hurried off to do just that, bringing the towels in, "Is there somewhere, in particular, you would like these?"

"Yes, do you have a tall table we can put them on nearby?"

"No, but we can bring over the sideboard over there. Would that do?" she indicated to the sideboard, and Dr. Hack looked at it.

"Yes, that will do, dear," he smiled at the girl, "I will use this end for my tools, and you can use that end for cleaning the child up."

"Child?" Ying said, not believing her ears, I, too, was confused by his statement, but things had just added up for me as soon as he did. Xin was clearly not listening as he and the apothecary moved the sideboard over as requested.

"Yes, dear," he nodded, preparing his instruments ready to move them onto the sideboard, and he looked at me sitting up, "Do you have any allergies I need to know of?"

"Stemital, Maxolon, Panadol, Panadiene, codeine, morphine, erythromycin..."I started my list before he interrupted me.

"I get it. Thankfully all of those are not invented yet, but it does cause a problem for your recovery. There is nothing I can give you for pain. I am unwilling to use more chloroform that I made for operating purposes on you. I am sorry, there is nothing I can do."

I put my hand on his, "It is ok, Dr. Hack. I was expecting this. I know what to expect, too, as post-op for 3 of my four children, I was without pain relief as they would not give me pethidine, the only strong drug I can take without reacting badly."

"What about marijuana?" the apothecary asked Dr. Hack.

"Good question!" he said before asking me, "What do you think? Did you want to give it a try? I am guessing you have not before being from your upbringing."

"I have not tried it, but I'll give it a go if the pain is unbearable," I said.

"Good, then let's start," he said, seeing that everything was prepared. The first bowl of warm water was out. "Sorry, I forgot. Do you have another bowl I can pour alcohol in to clean us?"

Ying nodded and hurried to bring the bowl. The apothecary put the alcohol on the sideboard that they had brought with them. It was an enormous container, far bigger than I would have thought needed.

Once the alcohol was poured and Dr. Hack had cleaned both his hands and my belly, I was covered with the drapes before being knocked out with the chloroform that had been made.

I knew nothing more until I woke with a burning pain along my scar line, which I assumed was another suture line.

"Welcome back," Dr. Hack said tiredly from my chair they had bought in for him, "The operation went well. I had to remove your uterus and ovaries as we could not risk you falling pregnant again. My apprentice has only been taught to sew people up, not cut them open, as it would interfere with the timeline, and we cannot do that. This is most likely the last operation I will be able to do."

"Is the baby alright?" I asked him, worried that there would be a problem.

"The babies are alright," he smiled, "You had a healthy boy and a healthy girl."

"Can I go to my room now and sleep on my bed?" I asked. The table, although built especially for this, was uncomfortable.

"Yes, you can go if you think you can make it. You have lost a lot of blood that we can't recover," he warned me.

I nodded, as indeed it felt like I was missing something. My head was no dizzier than when I was pregnant, so I thought I was right. Although I was in a lot of pain, I did think I could walk that far, but I could not. I was lucky, no blessed, that Xin was on hand, and he scooped me up like a child their ragdoll and took me to our bed.

"Call me if you need anything," he said with a smile and a look of wonder on his face before leaning in to kiss my forehead, "You did an amazing job, my love. I never expected in a million years to have a child, never mind two, with you. Thank you, my love, for giving me such a gift."

"Do not thank me," I answered, "Thank my God, he was the one who gave us these lives. I was sure that I was too old to fall pregnant. How are we going to look after the babies? I am too old to spend time breastfeeding them."

"Ying says there is a new mum in the village who might come and help. Otherwise, we can use goat's milk. Do not worry. I will look after them. You get better from the operation."

I nodded and went to sleep, trying to block out the pain I was in. I was not particularly successful, but I was getting better each day. It took two weeks before I could walk around freely; by then, everything that could be done for the twins was done. The village girl came and helped, bringing her child with her, feeding the babies during the day, and returning to her home in the evening. When she returned, the babies would be fed goat's milk. They usually would only take one bottle of the goat's milk and sleep the rest of the night peacefully.

A crib was bought, and the two would sleep together in it. Apparently, when they looked at cribs, they tried to separate the twins, but they screamed blue murder until they were together again. So, seeing they would not be separated, only one crib was bought.

I finally got to see my children correctly three weeks later. My girl looked like Xin with fair skin, and my boy looked like me with Xin's dark hair, dark eyes, and skin. Neither had my eyes. I could not say I was surprised, but I had hoped nevertheless. I loved them immediately and held them for as long as I could each day (this, unfortunately, was not very long at all)

I called the boy Juan, meaning gift from God, and the girl Li Wei meaning beautiful and graceful. Xin would go mad at me as we were supposed to wait a hundred days to see if the babies would live or not. I had no doubt that being blessings from God that they would survive.

Unfortunately for the young girl who was feeding our children for me, she was not so lucky. Her girl child died 20 days after birth.

🍀A/N If you enjoyed this chapter, please take the time to vote by pressing the star. Please let me know if you see any errors, as this is unedited.