“But you were still a child. Why did he push you so hard? I never got that impression from him when we went to visit.”
“Because when we went to visit, I was a successful man. I had surpassed even his wildest expectations for wealth and accomplishment.” He was whispering now, the community story having moved to private conversations. He lay back down but turned his head to look at her. “He was proud of me and of himself. He figured pushing me so hard from an early age had paid off.”
“Did it?”
“I don’t know. It’s hard to say. Part of me thinks I would have ended up the same, and the other part thinks I would have gone to college and then stayed in Rockport. Started my own business like my father. But then I wouldn’t have met you. So, that alternate reality is unacceptable,” he whispered.
The resolution in his voice and the sincerity of his eyes made Ava warm and content, despite the apartment’s chill.
January 9th 1930
Thursday evening, Arianna stood at the sink, peeling potatoes and hating every one she put into the pot of boiling water. When this is over, when things are better, I never want to see another potato again. She then remembered the fish in the oven and pulled it out, only slightly burned, and set it next to the sad, crooked little loaf of brown bread and went back to the potatoes.
Caleb came through the door with his usual chipper tone.
“I’m home, Ahna,” he called. She turned and her smile was mostly from relief that she had help now. He glanced over at the saggy rope in front of the fireplace, with clothes thrown over it in careless clumps and the small puddles of water under each on the floor. “You’ve done a lot around here today,” he complimented.
Secretly, he used the same tactic with Arianna that he’d used with a stubborn dog he’d had as a teenager. He would praise and reward the scruffy mongrel for the tiniest bit of obedience or effort, and just like with the old dog, he was beginning to see progress with Arianna.
“Dinner’s going to be late,” she huffed. “I think I did it out of order again.” She glanced at the over cooked fish and the still-hard potatoes.
“That’s fine,” he said, grinning as he walked toward her.
“What?” Her eyes narrowed at his wily smile.
“I just realized something on the way home from work today. Can’t believe I didn’t think of it before.”
“What’s that?” She turned back to the sink.
He closed in behind her, wrapped his arms around her, and placed his hands over the now obvious bulge of her stomach.
“We don’t have to worry about getting pregnant anymore,” he whispered in her ear. Before she could answer, he gasped.
“What was that?” he asked soberly.
“You felt that, too?” she whispered.
“Uh-huh. Was that . . . him?”
“I think so.”
Another flutter and Arianna’s eyes grew wide. They both stood statuesque, waiting for another kick. It happened and Arianna laughed a hard, quick laugh and turned to Caleb, who was ghost white with a startled expression.
“I guess that’s a good sign, right?” she asked.
He didn’t answer, his eyes just flickering from her face down to her stomach and back.
“What’s wrong, Caleb?”
“Nothing. I guess that is a good sign. You better go see that midwife soon.” His voice was quiet and monotone. He shoved a hand through his hair. “You said dinner would be a while?”
“Yes,” she answered, still staring down at her stomach waiting for another bump.
“Okay, then, I’ll be right back.” He walked calmly to the door, closing it softly behind him and then tore down the hallway, nearly tripping over his own feet and banged on Jonathan’s door.
He answered it with a smile that faded slightly when he saw Caleb, visibly shaken; leaning on the doorway with one arm and holding his stomach with the other.
“It’s moving,” he said in a deep voice.
Jonathan looked him over. He was pale and sweating with a slight tremor.
“Did you eat something bad?” he asked.
“No.” Caleb shook his head. “The baby,” he whispered.
“She felt it move? Well, that’s great . . . What’s wrong, Caleb? That’s a good thing,” Jonathan reminded him. Caleb had a very serious and dazed look on his face.
“Nothing’s wrong with it, it’s just–”
“It’s just that it’s real now,” Jonathan assumed. Jonathan knew Caleb better than he knew himself. On more than one occasion, he had witnessed Caleb’s somewhat innocent perception of things throw him for a loop once the reality of a situation truly hit him. Like with the tenements.
“Caleb. It’s going to be fine, okay? We have the building to look forward to, and there’s still plenty of time to get everything you guys are going to need. We're all going to pitch in.”
Ava stood at the stove, eavesdropping with a smile. She loved hearing Jonathan in a better mood; to hear him reassuring Caleb was even more wonderful to hear.
“I don’t know, Jon, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea?”
“Well, there’s nothing you can do about it now. Besides work your tail off to get ready for that kid. Go home. Eat dinner. Spend some time with Arianna. You’ll feel better about this in the morning, I promise. Cards tomorrow night, right?”
Caleb mechanically walked back down the hall, his mind buzzing with worries.
Jonathan closed the door, smiling again. “Well, I can’t say I didn’t see that coming. He’ll be fine, though,” he said aloud. “You might want to go see Arianna tomorrow,” he told Ava.
“Why? What’s going on?” she asked, pretending she hadn’t heard every word.
“She felt the baby move and Caleb’s a little overwhelmed with the reality of it, I think,” he said and grinned.
She put a plate in front of him with a heap of diced potatoes with pepper gravy and a side of beets.
“Well, this is interesting,” he said.
“More importantly, it’s cheap.”
Their meals had gotten progressively smaller, meatless and starch laden over the last few weeks.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked.
“Your childhood. I was thinking back to the story Caleb told when we all slept here the other night. I was thinking that there’s a lot about your childhood that I don’t know about.”
“There’s not a lot to talk about really. Just a normal childhood,” he said, shrugging it off.
He preferred the questions and conversations that bordered racy topics and caused repetitive blushing on her part.
“What was your favorite thing to do as a child?” she asked.
He thought about it for a moment before he answered. “Probably exploring with Aryl. He always discovered neat places and met interesting people. I learned a lot of my people skills from him. It just came naturally. Everybody in and around town knew him.”
“What about Caleb? What did you learn from him?”
“How to birth a calf. Messy and unpleasant stuff. Made me glad to go into business. One Saturday, I walked over to his place to work on the tree house we were building, but he had to tend to a calf that was being born. The mommy cow–”
“The mommy cow?” Ava interrupted, laughing.
“Well, yeah, I don’t know what you call it, but she was having a hard time, and it was taking forever. So, I stayed with Caleb that day, and it was finally born by dusk. I remember that Caleb, even though he was a kid, was so serious and concerned about that cow.”
“Like how he’s concerned about the baby moving?”
Jonathan almost choked on his dinner, laughing. “I hadn't thought of that, but yeah, it was that same pallid, anxious face he had tonight that he had back then.” He dropped his head and laughed even harder as he recalled another memory from that day. “And you should have seen his face when it was born. He was so proud that you’d have thought he had fathered the damned thing himself!” he howled.
; Ava laughed and it crossed her mind that she couldn’t remember being happier. Regardless of dismal surroundings, less than appetizing food, sirens and babies wailing in the background, Jonathan was laughing, his gorgeous blue eyes were shining, and it was easy to forget about the rest when the most important thing in the world to her was right again.
A knock at the door settled Jonathan’s hysterics, and he tossed his napkin on the table as he rose to answer it.
“It’s probably the proud papa again,” he snickered.
Ava let out a quiet “Moo . . .” and he snorted, suppressing a laugh as he swung open the door, but in one fluid movement began to close it again.
“Jonathan, wait!” Ava recognized Ruth’s voice and was up out of her chair.
“It’s about Victor,” she quickly spit out just before the door was about to be slammed in her face. Jonathan paused, the door open only an inch. He looked back at Ava, as she pushed past him and pulled the door open.
“What do you want?” Ava growled.
“I came here to warn you,” Ruth said, ignoring Ava’s presence.
“Warn us about what?” Jonathan asked.
“About Victor. He’s planning something–some type of revenge. I don’t know what yet, I haven’t been able to find out. But it’s serious, Jon. He hasn’t been right in the head since he was attacked that night, and he is positive you had something to do with it. He’s been acting funny for weeks. He’s hardly working, he’s been drinking a lot and goes off on tirades about you. And sometimes you, Ava,” she said, looking at her for the first time. “He knows about the other times I came here,” she said grimly. “He was paying his driver to report my every move to him.”
“If you know he’s going to find out, then why would you come back?” Jonathan asked.
“I’m supposed to be playing bridge with friends. I took the trolley. They’ll keep my secret.”
Ava looked nervously at Jonathan. He had a heavily worried look about him, and all traces of happiness in his eyes and smile were now gone. That caused Ava to panic much more than news of Victor plotting revenge. He could plot and plan all he wanted, but she couldn’t let Jonathan go back to that dark, distant place she had just gotten him back from.
“Thank you for taking the time to warn us,” Ava said, turning to Ruth again and reached for the handle to close the door.
“I came to warn Jonathan,” she said coldly, looking her in the eyes. “I know it bothers you that I still care for him, but that’s the truth, Ava,” she said curtly.
“Thank you, Ruth, for warning us,” he said, and placed his arm around Ava and closed the door.
“Jonathan–” Ava watched him walk to the couch and sit, preoccupied. She followed him, sat near him, and watched, waiting.
January 15th 1930
After breakfast, Ava walked down the hall to Arianna’s as Jonathan suggested and found her closing and locking her own door.
“Hey, I was just coming down to see you. Where are you headed?”
“To see the midwife Dr. Westley suggested. Will you come with me?” Arianna asked. “I’m kind of nervous meeting her for the first time.”
“Sure. I heard you felt the baby move,” Ava said as they headed out of the tenement.
“It’s so strange,” Arianna said. “It’s not at all like what I expected. And I’ve felt it again twice this morning.”
“It must be the greatest thing,” Ava said, smiling at her. “Jon’s been talking a lot about just letting fate decide when we have one. I’m not so sure, though.”
“Oh, you should!” Arianna gushed. “That way our kids will be playmates!”
They began down the street, doing their best to ignore their surroundings.
“There’s a little more to consider than that. Aren’t you worried? I mean, there’s so much to think about and so many things that should be in place beforehand.”
“I was worried. I cried every day for a few weeks after I found out. But honestly, I’m not so worried now,” she said, patting her noticeable bump. “Everything will work out. Caleb promised me.”
“Well, Jon just wants to throw caution to the wind so you guys won’t get too much of a head start on us. How silly,” Ava said, shaking her head. “It's irresponsible.”
“I think Jon just wants all of our kids to grow up together in the same way they did. I think they envision little miniature versions of themselves palling around, causing trouble and sticking together the way they have.”
“Well, that’s assuming that we all three have boys first and fast. Who knows? Maybe we’ll all have girls?”
“Here it is,” Arianna said, looking the small building over.
The midwife operated out of her home, dedicating a few back rooms to her practice. Arianna knocked on the front door and a much older woman with hair piled on her head in Victorian style answered the door.
“Can I help you?” she asked, looking Arianna and Ava up and down.
“I’m looking for Mrs. Hauge.”
“That’s me. What can I do for you?” the old woman said and smiled.
“Well, my doctor recommended you. You see, I’m, well, I’m going to be–”
“You’re with child, and you are looking for someone to care for you through it,” old Mrs. Hauge interrupted.
“Yes, please.”
“Come in then. I’m with a woman now, but I can speak with you shortly.”
They followed her inside a modest but clean home decorated in much the same era that Mrs. Hauge appeared to have directly stepped out of. She pointed to chairs in the hallway and excused herself behind a wooden, sliding door. They could vaguely hear chattering and occasional laughter from inside the room.
A few moments later, Mrs. Hauge emerged, followed by a woman whose stomach was so large she waddled with considerable effort.
“Now, have your husband come for me the second you think it’s time. I don’t want you having another one before I get there,” she teased.
The woman shuffled past, her enormous stomach causing her to arch her back to keep her balance as she left.
Arianna’s eyes grew wide, and her head whipped to Mrs. Hauge, who was closing the door.
“Am I going to be that big?” Arianna asked, horrified.
The midwife laughed. “Most likely not that big unless you’re having twins, but you’ll be big enough. Come in and let’s get to know each other, shall we?”
Arianna followed her behind the door to a parlor-like room. She sat on an old but comfortable settee, and the midwife took a fresh sheet of stationery and began asking her questions. She wrote down all of Arianna’s answers and began asking her questions about her health. She pulled out a chart, looked it over, and turned to Arianna.
“Well, it appears that you’ll be due in late June. But being as this is your first one, I wouldn’t expect anything until July.” She motioned for Arianna to lie back.
“You’re skin and bones, child!” Mrs. Hauge said, afterward. “You’d better put on some weight. Potatoes are good for that. You need to be eating lots of potatoes and as much meat as you can manage.”
“I hate potatoes,” she whispered aloud, rolling her eyes.
“Well, hate them or not, you’ll need to be eating them for the baby. Now, I’ll take you on and help you through the delivery, but you have to do exactly as I say. I’ve been delivering babies for thirty years, and I can count on one hand how many babies I’ve lost, and it was mostly due to the mother not following my instructions.”
Arianna was wide-eyed hearing babies I’ve lost.
“Your instructions are to start putting on some weight. I understand circumstances are probably harsh, or you’d be at a regular doctor. But you must do whatever you can to see to a healthy baby and that includes plenty of rest and eating as much as you can with as much variety as you can. I can see to it that you have more iron supplements, and I trust you’ve ceased all relations with your husband?”
“Ceased rela – what?” Arianna looked
stunned.
“Yes, dear. I have seen more deaf and dumb babies born than I ever cared to see because mothers did not stop having relations.”
“Deaf and dumb?” Arianna squeaked.
“It truly amazes me how many women come through my door...” She leaned toward Arianna and lowered her voice. “To put it bluntly, my dear, it has been proven that intrusive and repetitive motions of that nature put a baby at great risk of being born retarded. You must bring to a halt your marital obligations if you are to have a healthy baby.”
“Retarded?”
“Now, if your husband gives you any guff about it, bring him to me. I’ll set him straight. He may tell you he will die, but I have yet to come across a husband’s corpse at the foot of the bed come the time of delivery,” she said with a smile and a wink.
She handed Arianna a piece of paper listing the charges for her services. Arianna paid her for the appointment and asked when she should come back.
“If all is going well, I can see you a few months from now,” she said casually. Arianna left the room.
“Everything okay?” Ava was instantly concerned, seeing the expressions of shock and agony.
“Yes and no. Mostly no,” Arianna whispered back.
She explained everything to Ava on the walk home.
“Are you sure she’s right?” Ava asked. “I’ve never heard of that.”
“She seemed very smart. And she’s been doing this for a long time,” Arianna said cautiously.
“Then forget it,” Ava said. “You guys can get ahead of us. We’re adopting,” she said, not entirely joking.
Arianna stopped by the grocery on the way home and bought a ten-pound bag of potatoes, a pound of butter, and several cans of sardines.
Later that evening, Caleb came home and stopped abruptly inside the door. He sniffed twice and looked to see Arianna flitting about the kitchen, which smelled of perfectly baked bread, a spicy meaty smell and something sweet he couldn’t put his finger on.
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