A birthday present for our friend Victoria, actually based on her own family.
Jamie sat as comfortable as he could on the hard chairs of the waiting room. The old school nuns who ruled the hispital still had a rule against fathers going into the labour rooms but, as much as he’d love been beside Claire on that magical moment, he’ll comply with the rules. After all it was the same team who had basically saved the lifes of his wife and firstborn daughter after a complcated birth, he would never argue with them after that.
There were only other father-to-be with him on the room, a young lad pacing nervously the length of the room.
‘Ye are goin’ to drill a hole through the floor.’ Jamie said, trying to calm the man.
'Aye, I ken, but I canna keep still.’ The man answered, 'Why they dinna let us in, 'tis bloody 2018.’
'I ken, right?’ Jamie said, gesturing for the man to sit on the next chair. 'Mother Hildegard still thinks birth is a women’s only affair. First bairn?’
'Aye, we didna plan it so soon.’ Said the man 'We were fool on our honeymoon.’
'Mine is the seventh.’ Jamie said proudly, the eyes of the lad growing three sizes bigger.
'Seventh? I still canna imagine myself being father of one bairn, let alone seven. Ally would probably kill me if I told her about have more than three.’
'Well, Claire and I didna plan it either.’ Jamie said, taking his phone put of his jacket and looking for his family photos. 'We just decided to let God give us all the bairns he felt convenient. Here you have my bairns.’
'All of them are lasses?’ The man asked at seeing the photo of six girls, three brown haired, three red haired, expanding from teen to toddlerhood.
'Och, aye. We’re good at making them for what it looks.’ Jamie proudly answered him.
Faith was fifteen, in the photo, clutching Adso, the family’s cat. The spit of her mother in both looks and temperament. She already had expressed her desires of follow Claire’s steps on the medical field and dotted on her sisters with a sense of responsability and nurture Jamie wished he had had at her age, even when it could look a bit bossy sometimes with her sisters, or that is what they thought.
Brianna, Bree, was next, at barely thirteen she was almost as tall as her elder sister and the living image of her late grandmother, also inheriting her artistic skills. She was stubborn as only a Fraser could be but also fiercely loyal to her family and friends. As it showed the photo of her, supporting her best friend Roger, on his first day as the captain of the school’s football team.
Number three was Morag, 10 years old at the moment and another stubborn ginger Scot since the day she was born, crying louder than any of their sister ever had done. She was the tomboy of the family, prefering short hair and sport clothes to her sisters’ dresses. The photo showed her after one of competitions, gold medal hanging on her neck, she had a talent for Athletics and her trainer was even sure she could make into profesionalism one day.
After the boisterous Faith, Bree and Morag, Julia, almost eight-years-old, was the shyest and more quiet, always nose deep a book, as the photo showed, embracing her favourite Harry Potter book while dressed as Hermione for a Halloween party past year, her mother’s brown curls on full swing.
Elizabeth’s special talent and love seemed to be music. Barely six-years-old, her birthday had been just the week before, was already receiving piano classes. Claire suspected the talent came from her mother, who had passed away when she was barely Lizzie’s, the family nickname, age but of whom she got a photo of her playing the piano just like the girl was doing on Jamie’s picture of her.
The youngest, up to this day, was Iona, just two and half years old. The ginger apple on her godfather’s eye, being born even on the same day Murtagh had been, was all giggles and smiles and loving nothing else as get tickles, her stuffed animals and being read by her parents, sisters or Murtagh. Jamie loved specially the photo he had of her smearing cake all over Murtagh’s face on their shared birthday.
'They look lovely, mate, ye’re a lucky man.’ The man said to him.
'I dinna ken how yon wife and ye still have energy to try for more. People must make ye a lot of 'go for the boy’ jokes.’
'Ye canna imagine the amount of jokes, aye.’ Jamie said with a laugh. 'Ten years worth of them.’
Of course Jamie would’ve loved to have a son, he thought on that sometimes, above all watching his brother-in-law with his sons, but at the same time, he would never change his lasses for all the riches in the World. They, and Claire, were his life, and the new lass would provide even more love to the family.
'Jamie!’ Sister Marta, a young nun from a sister convent on Nicaragua who was living and studying at the Glasgow hospital. The man thought it weird she had used his first name, before remember he had done this six times already and he must be known in the place. 'Claire sends me for you.’
'The bairn has finally been born.’ Jamie said standing up and going to join the sister. 'The lass took her time this time. Morag and Lizzie basically dropped down after less than an hour.
'Yes, Claire wants to see you now.’ Sister Marta answered him with a cheeky smile.
'Congratulations are in order then man.’ The man said to him, shaking his hand.
'To ye too, I hope yon bairn is born soon.’
Jamie followed Sister Marta to one of the rooms where Claire and the bairn had been installed after the birth.
'A Dhia’ Jamie gasped after see Claire with not one but two small bundles at her arms, each one of them with a tuft of red hair showing through their baby caps.
'We were commenting now about our little surprise here.’ Sister Hildegard said to him.
'One of the boys decided to play hide and seek using his brother.’ Claire said, smiling widely at the babies on her arms.
The information seemed to be sinking slowly into Jamie’s mind 'Did ye just say…?
'Yes, Jamie, we finally did it.’ Claire said to him 'Come here to meet your sons.’
