Silt, Denver Cereal Volume 8 Read Online Free

here or missing a
party. She was doing the hard work of building babies and needed
her rest.
    That was before Honey needed her.
    She didn’t know how she knew Honey needed
her. She just did. She’d gained this “ability” when she became
pregnant with her twins. And, for the record, the whole psychic
thing sucked. Jill was at the place where she couldn’t wait to have
two gloriously healthy boys, to be able to see her feet again, and
to be rid forever of this psychic curse.
    There was a tap on her apartment door. Jill
stopped pacing, thought for a moment, and then opened the door. MJ
was standing on the top landing of the stairwell. Unable to speak
under stress due to his traumatic brain injury, he held out a sheet
of paper with a message in Blane’s handwriting.
     
    Blane asked me to come to get you.
Honey needs help.
     
    “ H-h-h-on-n . . .” MJ looked so desperate that
Jill hugged him.
    “ You get the water,” Jill
said. “It’s too heavy for me to carry.”
    MJ gestured that he would carry Jill.
    “ My brother’s right behind
you.” Jill pointed. Mike was standing on the landing of the stairs.
“If you carry the water, Mike can carry me.”
    “ A-a-a-n-n-n-y-y . . .”
    “ No,” Jill said. “I don’t
need anything else. Mike will be there to help and so will Steve.
If we need more help then we’ll call my Mom.”
    “ Sh-sh-she’s . . .”
    “ Really?” Jill curled her
lip. “She’s waiting with Sam and Delphie?”
    “ G-gr-r-a-an-n-n . . .”
    “ She’s there to see the
birth of her grandchild?” Jill groaned. “But Honey’s not her
daughter.”
    “ I-i-s-s-s
n-n-n . . .”
    “ She’s adopted Honey too?”
Jill asked. “Oh God, I hope that doesn’t mean she’ll be around
for . . .”
    Jill nodded behind MJ.
    “ Hi Mom,” Jill
said.
    “ I heard that,” Anjelika
said. “And you’d better believe I will be there. Your father
too.”
    MJ gave Jill a knowing look, and Jill
scowled.
    “ Now be very careful,
Mikhail,” Anjelika started.
    “ MOM!” Jill
groaned.
    Anjelika laughed.
    “ You have to come down for
me to come up,” Mike said.
    Jill started toward the stairwell.
    “ Not you,” Mike
said.
    “ You can’t take the
stairs!” Anjelika gasped.
    “ The soldier,” Mike said.
“MJ come down.”
    MJ turned in place and jogged down the
stairwell. Mike came up and picked up Jill. He gave an exaggerated
groan when she was in his arms.
    “ Jeez, are you gaining
weight?” Mike asked.
    Jill double tapped the top of his head, and
he laughed.
    “ Come along,” Mike said.
“We’re on baby duty.”
    Mike carried Jill down the stairs, through
the main kitchen where the caterers were working on food for the
party, and up the stairs on the other side. They passed Delphie’s
apartment and the one Mike shared with Valerie before coming to the
entrance to what Valerie dubbed “The Birthing Zone.”
    “ You ready?” Mike asked in
a low tone.
    Jill gave a quick nod.
    “ You’ll let me know if
it’s too much?” Mike asked in the same low tone.
    Jill nodded, and he pushed the door open.
They walked through a short hallway and into the office space. In
the time since Valerie had her baby, the space had gone from a
1950s doctor’s office to a beautifully restored, clean,
state-of-the-art medical office.
    Mike set down Jill. MJ pointed to a stack of
clean scrubs. Jill, Mike, and Anjelika dressed in scrubs as well.
They followed MJ to the room where Honey was in labor. Honey was
connected to a heart rate monitor for herself and the baby. Steve,
Honey’s nurse and Jill’s brother, was moving an ultrasound wand
around so they could see the baby on the screen. Camille, the
midwife, was standing between Honey’s knees. Colin Hargreaves was
standing at her head. Blane was moving around Honey to twist an
acupuncture needle on her chest and remove one from her wrist. He
looked up and smiled when they came in.
    Jill leaned down to kiss Honey’s cheek.
    “ How are