Time flew by quickly, and one day in the early part of spring I woke up before dawn to the sound of Liliana groaning. Alarmed, I jumped out of bed and ran to the door of the master bedroom.

"Liliana, are you alright?" I called out through the door, which was then opened by Master Trevor.

"Go to Liliana's mother. Tell her that the baby is coming", he ordered.

I ran back to my room to put on my boots and then raced out the door. On the way to madam Meredith's house it occurred to me that father should also be informed. He and Trevor both put their business on hold for the past few weeks to make sure to be home during the delivery. I decided on my own initiative to go to his house, which was on the other side of the village. I hoped that master Trevor wouldn't punish me for being late to return.

When I arrived at madam Meredith's house I pounded on the front door until madam Renata, Liliana's younger sister, opened it.

"What's all the commotion about? Did something happen to Liliana?" she asked when she saw it was me.

"Yes, the baby is coming!" I exclaimed excitedly. "Master sent me to call madam Meredith".

Renata's eyes, which were previously half-closed from drowsiness, opened wide. She left the door open and ran upstairs to inform her mother. I could hear a commotion inside as they got ready to go.

"I'm going to inform master's father", I told them when the mother and daughter came down a few minutes later. They nodded and briskly walked away. I turned and ran in the opposite direction, past the center of town all the way to the western end, where father's house was. By that time the sky already began to brighten in the east. I entered directly into the house and found mother starting breakfast in the kitchen. She frowned at me in confusion.

"Good morning. How come you're here at this hour?", she greeted me. Usually I only came after sunset, on Saturday, or on an errand.

"Good morning mother. Please inform master that Liliana is about to give birth", I requested of her. I didn't dare to do something as rude as knocking on his door when he slept, let alone to enter uninvited. Of all of father's slaves, only mother held such a privilege, although even she had to be careful with its use.

Mother left the breakfast preparations in my care while she went upstairs. By now I've had a few months of being the sole cook in my home so I was more used to the responsibility, but father had twice as many people under his roof and so the amount was greater than I was used to dealing with alone. Still, I think I did a fine job filling in for mother until she returned downstairs.

"Master will be coming down shortly", she informed me. "Please accompany him back".

I helped mother in the kitchen for a few minutes more until I could hear father coming down, then silently followed him by his side while he walked to master Trevor's house, using my superior eyesight to make sure he didn't stumble on any obstacle or step into any hole in the ground in the dim light of early dawn.

We reached Trevor's house after sunrise. Father told me to stay outside while he entered. It was an old human superstition, the belief that having a beast-kin under the same roof during the delivery would cause a human mother to give birth to a beast-kin child. It has been disproved long ago and likely originated from human women having affairs with beast-kin slaves who then attended the birth of their own child, but keeping the beast-kin out of the house during childbirth had persisted anyway as a custom.

I could hear shouts and screams coming from the master bedroom, and recognized the voices of Liliana, her mother, and the midwife. I guessed that by the time I woke up Liliana's contractions had already been going on for a while and that she waited to be sure before sending for help, because it sounded like the delivery was already in a fairly advanced stage. It still took a fair while longer, and the sun had fully risen by the time the baby was out and I could finally enter the house. By that time Mark and Emma, father's other 2 human children, as well as Liliana's father and older sister had joined us as well. I wondered who minded the general store while the whole family was gone, but they probably just left it closed.

Liliana was half lying, half sitting in bed and feeding the baby. The midwife must have already cleaned him, because all the blood and other dirt and fluids were gone. He had a full head of short, thin, black hair. Both of his little fists were up near his face, as if he was trying to hug his mother. Liliana looked exhausted but radiantly happy.

The midwife and her assistant were cleaning up while giving instructions to the happy parents about the proper care of the baby and mother. Liliana's mother and sister stood a little ways off, giving them space. The other men were waiting in the hallway outside the room out of respect for Liliana's privacy.

After the baby finished eating Trevor took him and carefully burped him. The midwife then dressed the baby, who until then was only wrapped in a blanket, rocked him in her arms and cooed at him for a few moments, and then laid him down in the cradle and covered him with a blanket. He was already asleep.

"I want to sleep", Liliana said.

Trevor ordered everyone out of the room and closed the door behind us. I went to my room and brought my chair to sit by the door in case Liliana or the baby needed anything. The human family members went downstairs to the sitting room and the midwife and her assistant went home.

"Congratulations, son", I heard my father say. "So, are you finally going to tell us what you're going to name him?"

"Father, you know that we can't say anything until the naming ceremony. You're just going to have to wait", Trevor replied.

"You could at least give us a hint", father grumbled. Liliana's father laughed.

"Come on George, you're just going to have to be patient like the rest of. Liliana wouldn't tell me anything either", Liliana's father said.

The family stood around chatting for a long while. Of course, it was not my place to participate in the family's celebration, so I went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for everyone.

It was mid-morning when the guests left. The pair of grandfathers each patted Trevor on the back before departing.