Prologue 2

William came barreling out of the living room, a look of horror on his face when he saw Lucene. 'Do we have time to drive to the hospital in Regina?' he questioned her. "Probably", she replied. There was no point in calling an ambulance, as it would have to drive in from either Fort Qu'appelle or Regina, and even though it was free to see a doctor in Canada, ambulances cost a lot of money, so they would need to drive their old car down to Regina. 'I'll pack some bags for us, you just sit tight' he said as he left the room. Lucene grabbed a the tiny towel she kept for drying dishes and threw it down on the wet spot on the floor, and did her best to mop it up with her foot. after about 10 minutes, William came down the creaky old steps to the upstairs area of their 100 year old home, which sat near a large lake in the Qu'Appelle Valley, Echo Lake. Lucene started out the door ahead of William, and waited as he unlocked the drivers door and reached over to unlock the passenger side. Lucene got inside and tugged her seatbelt on. a few seconds later they were off, bracing themselves for the 30 minute drive to the city.

As they came upon the city, William was keeping a keen look out for the exit to the hospital. "There it is!" he exclaimed as he shoulder checked and moved into the exit lane when it was safe. They finally arrived at the Regina General Hospital, and parked in the emergency area of the parking lot. Lucene was going through painful contractions at this point, and Will helped her out of the car and through the doors, inside there were wheelchairs to use inside the hospital, Will grabbed one and held it as she carefully sat down. He wheeled her over to the receptionist and told her, 'my wife is in labour'. she eyed the pair and looked at Lucene, "may I see your health card?" Lucene pulled her care card out and handed it to the receptionist. The receptionist typed the information into the computer system and handed it back. 'Now I just need to ask you some quick questions, starting with age.' "30" said Lucene. 'do you use drugs?' Lucene paused and scowled, 'No', she said sharply. The receptionist frowned, 'just routine questions, we have to ask everybody, what about alcohol?' Lucene answered, 'occasionally, but not since I got pregnant.' The receptionist raised a suspicious brow and went on, ' How many children do you have?'

"this is my first" said Lucene. 'okay, and when did your water break?' she asked. 'about 40 minutes ago', answered Lucene. 'okay, do you live in the city here?'

'We live near Echo Lake' William piped up. 'okay, please go to your left and wait for a short time until you are called.' William wheeled Lucene to the next waiting room. There they waited ten minutes until a man in a lab coat called them. William followed the man, with Lucene in the chair, to the maternity ward where they were directed to a room. The man looked at Lucene and explained 'you rest in that bed, and nurses will check on you periodically to see if the baby's ready to come out'. He then left Lucene and William alone in the room. Lucene got into the bed and Will sat in a chair beside her, holding her hand. Not long after, a nurse came in, and helped Lucene put her legs into the stirrups on either side of the bed. She took a peek under the blanket and felt around down there. Lucene winced at the feeling of the nurses hand. There was a smile on her face as she glanced at both Lucene, then William and exclaimed, 'Your baby's ready to come into the world, I'll alert the doctor'. Minutes later a doctor and two nurses came into the room, the doctor taking his position and the nurses on standby, ready to help. Upon the doctor's instruction, Lucene started to push, it was extremely painful, but Lucene was a strong woman, and within 10 minutes the baby was out. The doctors and nurses cleaned the baby and clipped the cord. The baby was then handed to Lucene, as the doctor exclaimed 'Congratulations, on a beautiful baby girl'.

William leaned over and cooed at the sight of his new daughter. She was bright pinkish red in the skin, with black hair and blue eyes. Just then, a woman and two unknown men entered the room. The woman looked at Lucene and William and said bluntly 'sir, ma'am, we are from the Ministry of child family services, and I regret to inform you we have to take the baby until we can confirm you both are fit to parent'.