Carol was in the kitchen making a new batch of sourdough for the day's fresh bread loaves when she saw the portal shimmering outside by the three willows.
Raphael Summer stepped through, alone.
Dropping everything, she went outside to meet him and saw the blood spattered cloak.
Immediately, her nurse-mode kicked into gear.
"Oh my gawd! Ralphie, you're bleeding everywhere!" Carol cried and reached out to touch him.
Raphael Summer shook his head and brushed her hand away.
"What happened? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No, no." He gestured for them to step inside.
They had barely set foot inside the kitchen when something tiny cried within the folds of his cloak.
He pulled the folds away to reveal a newborn, its umbilical cord still attached.
Carol's gasped.
She immediately took the child and without a word, went to the kitchen sink where she began running a warm bath.
