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things next to her and sat by the woman’s head. She gripped his hand tightly.
    “OK, tell her I can see the head.”
    “Already?” he asked, though rather relieved as that explained what he’d seen, however swift the glimpse had been.
    “Yes, now tell her.”
    Micah translated as Jael delivered the baby. He couldn’t believe the amount of energy it took, or the way the woman crunched the bones in his hand.
    “It’s a girl.” Jael wrapped the baby and offered her to the woman who accepted the child.
    Micah rubbed his hand. “That it?”
    “Have to wait for the placenta, but…” Jael broke off as Mrs. Franz screamed again. “Take the baby and put her in the crib. Something’s wrong.”
    Micah did so and looked at her. “What’s up?”
    “I don’t know…” Jael put a hand on Mrs. Franz’s stomach. “Another contraction…”
    “Twins?” he asked.
    “Looks that way.” Jael glanced at him. “Translate for me?”
    He nodded, doing as she asked as she delivered not one more baby, but another two.
    She glanced at him again as finally Mrs. Franz leaned back exhausted, surrounded by three tiny babies all swaddled in the clean linen. “That’s why it was so fast. Want to go and find Mr. Franz and tell him he’s a father of three? Give me a few minutes to clean up in here?”
    Only too grateful to escape the overheated room filled with the stench of sweat and blood, Micah stood and hurried to the door. He ran downstairs and out onto the porch. He rubbed his sleeve over his damp brow and sucked in several deep breaths. If he never saw another birth again it’d be too soon. But, wow, that girl was cool under pressure when it came down to it. She seemed to be coming into her own. He leaned against the railing, a new found respect for her growing within him.
    “Well?”
    He looked up into the anguish and anxious gaze of Mr. Franz. “All girls,” he said holding up three fingers. “Triplets.”
    “Is Sybil all right? Can I go and see her?”
    Micah nodded. He headed over to the plane and sank wearily into the pilot’s seat. He picked up the mic. “Achor base, this is Micah, come in.”
    “How’s it going?” Danny asked.
    “Triplets—three girls. Jael was amazing, but I’m not an assistant. Next time we’ll need two of the medics. Give us another half hour or so and we’ll be ready to continue as scheduled. But we don’t have time for the full list.” He grabbed the clipboard, checking off numbers. “We’ll do one, five, seven, eight, ten and eleven on the list and call it a day. Let them know for me.”
    “Jael won’t like it.”
    “I don’t care. She was the one who insisted we prioritize. Out.” He leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes for a moment.
    The plane beneath him moved ever so slightly. His eyes jerked open. Then Jael appeared beside him.
    “Are you sleeping?”
    He shook his head then reasoned the movement that startled him was simply her climbing aboard and closing the door.
    “I revised the list,” he said giving her the clipboard as she sat down.
    “What?” she snapped. “We have the whole list to do yet.”
    “We don’t have time, barely half a day if that. Those two emergencies ate into the schedule and kyboshed it. Besides, you were the one who wanted to prioritize yesterday. So do it.”
    “Fine.” She looked down the list and marked some off in pencil. “These.”
    Micah looked and grinned as her marks exactly matched his alterations. Another plus for her. She was finally on the same wavelength as him. “That’s the one’s I already gave Danny.”
    “You already radioed?”
    “I did.” He saw irritation flare in her gaze, but he ignored her and instead chose to concentrate on taking off without hitting either house or trees. As he flew towards the next visit, he noticed a section of dying trees covering the hillside to his left. Strange. They’d had the usual amount of rainfall.
    “I don’t get you.” Jael’s voice dragged his mind back to