A good home birth usually left Sophie Jordan with a sense of calm. This last one was a little different. The mother was healthy, the pregnancy had been fantastic, but the labor was difficult. Right when Sophie had been ready to call it, tell her patient and her husband they needed to head to the hospital, the tiny little head crowned. Twelve hours of labor before the baby decided to come. Relief flooded through her and now, sitting on the L-train, she was having a hard time calming her nerves. She tapped her right foot in the air, remembering the joy of the beautiful little girls first hours of life. Sophie had been present at hundreds of births, each one special in its own right, each child a miracle. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
She pictured the older sister as she cupped her newborn baby sister's head and kissed the tiny forehead and Sophie's heart surged. As usual, Sophie cursed her mother. Brigette Jordan had not wanted children, she was too selfish, which turned out to be the exact reason she gave birth. When a rich and handsome director showed some interest, Brigette did exactly what any B-List actress would do...she got pregnant. It didn't keep the director around, it did land Brigette a part in a medical television drama and Sophie's older sister Nanette had been in a few commercials. To be fair, Nanette's birth kept the handsome director around for five years, but when Brigette got pregnant again, he wasn't happy and left before Sophie made her debut.
In the beginning, Brigette had been able to afford a nanny, but by the time Sophie was three, the money was gone, the apartment was gone, and the handsome director was in hiding, taking his child support with him. Nanette at eight years old became Sophie's nanny. Brigette stayed out all night and slept all day. It was put on Nanette's small shoulders to make sure Sophie made it to day care in the morning and picked her up after school, walking her home. The non-traditional sister relationship eventually became straining to both of them and when Nanette was old enough, she ran away. Sophie blamed herself. She had been hard on Nanette, even cruel sometimes. Becoming an adult made her realize that.
It was because of their estrangement that Sophie hadn't been present at the birth of her niece and nephew. Stubbornness kept the sisters from apologizing, well and the distance didn't help. Nanette had gone abroad and never came back. She fell in love in Ireland and decided to stay. Sophie hadn't spoken with her sister in years, but once a month she got a letter from Nanette. She always told Sophie how much she loved her.
Sophie opened her eyes reluctantly when the train stopped, and people walked sleepily on. At least she wasn't the only one ready to pass out then and there. All the new passengers sat, a portly middle-aged man with a unibrow sat across from her. Sophie leaned her head back again and thought about the birth. Even though it took so much longer than Sophie expected, the baby was healthy, the mother was healthy, and the family was happy. The four of them snuggling on the bed as she left was the image in the forefront of her mind. It was something Nanette may have experienced, but Sophie couldn't even remember her mother tucking her in, much less a family cuddle pile.
She opened her eyes and scanned the train car, mostly to keep from falling asleep. The portly man opened a newspaper and was reading it. The caption caught Sophie's eye, "Royal Couple Dies in Airplane Accident over the Bay of Biscay". Sophie was musing about where the Bay of Biscay was when she noticed the picture. The woman staring back at her had lovely blue eyes, Sophie only ever knew one person with that aqua color of blue. Her hands turned to ice, or maybe it was the blood in her veins. Without thinking, the lump in her throat throbbing, Sophie stood up and ripped the newspaper from the man's hands.
"Hey!" He objected, irritated, "What's your problem lady?"
Sophie didn't answer. It had to be a mistake, some sort of joke. Surely Nanette would have mentioned she was a queen in one of the hundreds of letters she'd sent over the past 15 years. It couldn't be Nanette. As Sophie hungrily read the article, tears poured down her cheeks and her head began to spin. It was Nanette, her beautiful sister, the only mother she'd ever really had.
"It's my sister..." Sophie said more to herself than anyone else.
"Who? That queen who died near Ireland?" The man asked, seeming to soften.
"She was a queen..." Sophie repeated, "And she's...dead."
The words were more than Sophie could handle and she began to sob. The man caught her, patting her back awkwardly. Sophie crumpled the newspaper to her chest and cried until the train stopped. Her stop was announced, so she pulled herself off the man and ignored the stares from the other passengers. She stepped off the train in a daze. Looking back on that night, Sophie couldn't tell anyone how she made it home, but she did. She fell into her bed, clutching the newspaper and crying for her sister.