“It’s a person who acts as an advocate for a birthing mother. They help provide a calming atmosphere and tend to any needs of the woman in labor. Also, they can communicate the mother’s wishes to the medical staff in the event that she can’t. For example, many women want to have an unmedicated birth but sometimes they are pressured to be induced with medications by hospital staff that might be overworked and just want to deliver the baby to get it over with. The doula steps in so mom doesn’t feel pressured to make a decision she doesn’t want.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. There’s a lot more that goes into it also, but those are some of the basics.”

“Sounds interesting. Would you need to go to school for this?”

I nodded. “There is no strict requirement for certification, but I would get certified and registered with one of the major doula organizations. While it takes some up to two years to get through all of the courses and become certified, my medical background would allow me to be fast tracked so it wouldn’t take as long.”

Josh glanced from the papers in his hand up to my face. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”

“I have. Every time I looked at Victoria over the last few months, I kept thinking about the mothers who never make it home, or who die in the months after their baby is born, leaving them motherless. It makes my heart ache.” I rubbed the left side of my chest, feeling that ache again from just talking about the subject.

Joshua placed the files down on my desk before moving to me, wrapping his strong arms around me. Melting into his body, I wrapped my arms around him and inhaled deeply.

“You know I’m with you a hundred percent of the way for anything you want to do. I’ll move heaven and earth to get you whatever it is you need.”

I smiled against his shoulder before pulling back. “Right now I need you to finish what we started a few minutes ago.”

He sighed and his green eyes lit up in excitement. “God, I was so hoping you’d say that.”

My laughter was cut short when Joshua pulled my mouth to his, covering it with his lips.

Mortality rates, doula certifications, and everything else could wait.

Chapter Thirteen

Present

Joshua

“So you’ve known Buddy for a long time then, huh?” I questioned my father, just after we entered the dark basement area of the seemingly abandoned building. The sounds of the cheering crowd could be heard as soon as we stepped over the threshold of the metal door. We were in the underground fighting ring, simply known as The Underground. My father, of all people, had introduced me to fighting nearly nine years earlier, though he rarely came to these matches with me.