"That's excellent!" the doctor exclaimed. "As long as you are eating a little something, I'm happy. And, I'm sure your baby's happy, Kathy."
"About that, ma'am..." Kathy said in a low voice. "I think something is wrong. I felt... I feel... I don't know... funny."
"What do you mean 'funny'?"
"I don't know how to describe it. Just... funny. And, I'm bloating up."
"Kathy, you aren't bloating," Dr. Thorne told her, smiling. "I think you see yourself as 'bloating', because the baby has turned. And, he's getting so big that you can feel him when he moves. I promise you, it's perfectly normal."
"He's moving inside me?"
"It's all right, Kathy. I swear. And, if you rub your tummy sometimes he'll move for you. This is a very good sign. It's a blessing. You can actually feel life inside you," Victoria said seriously. "That's your baby."
Kathy held her little belly gently, and repeated, "My baby."
Lynn blurted, "Oh, Kathy. That's exciting. You can feel your baby." She turned to the doctor and asked, "Will I be able to hold it, once it's born. I'm not too young to help. Am I?"
"No, you aren't too young. And, I'm sure you'll be a big help after the baby's born."
"So when will it be here?" Lynn asked excitedly.
"About Easter, I think," Victoria told her. "But, I might be wrong. Babies come on their own schedules."
"Why?"
"No one knows, Lynn. No one knows," Dr. Thorne said, shaking her head and smiling again.
"But we don't have anything ready. We don't have a cradle, or diapers, or anything."
"Well," Victoria answered, "once you are feeling better, I think Miss Meg is going to show you how to sew baby clothes, and Eva will teach you how to knit and crochet. And I'm sure Mr. Stratton will make you a cradle.
"Don't worry. We still have plenty of time. Everything will be ready by the time he arrives."
"Is it a boy?" Lynn asked. "How do you know?"
"No, we don't know. But, as long as we don't know, we're just referring to the baby as 'he'."
"Why?"
Victoria thought for a moment, and then answered, "Because we can't call him 'it'. I bet you wouldn't want to find out you were referred to as 'it', now, would you?"
"Well, no. 'It' doesn't sound very nice."
"Good, now try to eat a bit of toast with your tea."
"I'll try, Miss. But, I don't feel too hungry. In fact," Kathy admitted, "I don't feel well. I feel like if I eat, I'll be sick."
"Well," Miranda told the young girl, "just try to sip on some sweet tea. And, perhaps, if that stays down, you could try a few bites of toast."
"Yes, ma'am."
"I know we're continually trying to get you to eat. And, I'm sure you both find it annoying, but in another couple of days, you won't want to eat anything, at all. So, please try to understand."
"I do ma'am. I mean, we do. It's just that I'm not hungry. And, I don't think Lynn is either. Besides, sometimes, even water doesn't seem to sit well."
"I know. I understand. We all understand. We're just trying to get as much nourishment into you as we can. Besides, it's very important that you eat a bite or two of eggs and toast a couple times a day for your baby's sake."
"Yes, ma'am."
Chapter Twelve
True to her word, Victoria didn't stay at Miranda's long. She saw she needed to keep Meg on track, who was becoming more and more nervous, the closer Sunday came. Once she'd reassured herself that the girls were as well as could be expected, she returned to town and to Margaret.
She'd already told Neil that she and Meg would have an early dinner at the hotel and then return to the residence behind the workshop together. She was sure Meg would need her help in packing the trunk as well as for moral support.
Sure enough, she found Meg sitting on her bed, staring at the piles of clothing spread around her.
"Having difficulties in deciding what to pack?" the doctor asked, smiling.
"Yes. And, I am still concerned about taking a trunk. Really, we're only going to Chicago, not Paris, and even then, only for three or four days."
"And I told you, you need the space. Gus will want to show you off at dinner in restaurants. Perhaps, even at the theatre."
If Victoria thought Meg looked pale, she'd been wrong, for all the color drained from her face until it was ghostly white. "Margaret, what are you so worried about?" Then, after several moments of complete silence, she asked, "Have you never been to a play before?"
"Good heavens, no!" Meg said, in all seriousness. "Why, even if there had been such things in North Brookfield, my father would never have permitted me to go."
"So you've never even seen a Shakespearean play? Surely he couldn't have any objection to that?"
"Oh yes he could."
"Then," Victoria said with mock seriousness, "I think it is a good thing you are here and not in North Brookfield. Thank goodness you're out of there and free from your father's archaic notions. Aren't you glad you're marrying a reasonable thinking man?"
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing to worry over. I just don't believe Gus will be so restrictive with you, or even your children.
"Plays are wonderful. You sit there in the dark, and just allow yourself to see and hear what's acted before you. You place yourself in the middle of it and just let it happen around you. I think you'll enjoy a play.
"In fact, I'm going to do my best to remember to say something to Gus about it in the morning. Now, come along. Let's go eat dinner. We have a lot to do tonight."
"It's so early. Surely, it can't take so very long to pack a trunk, can it?"
"No, of course not. But, I assumed you'd want to wash your hair, and I've some very nice bath salts in my room at the hotel for you to use. I'll run up and fetch them with the rest of my things, as soon as we order."
"Well," Meg admitted, "I had planned on washing my hair tonight. But, I thought I'd bathe in the morning. That is if I get up early enough. I don’t want to be late for church."
"Oh, I'll make sure you're up in plenty of time," Victoria said, grinning. "And, as frightening as this might be, I intend to make you breakfast."
Ann showed them to a table in the corner of the hotel restaurant, told them what the specials were and disappeared.
"I'll take the meat loaf, Meg. Will you tell Ann if I'm not back downstairs by the time she comes for our orders, please," Victoria said before she left the dining room.
She returned a few minutes later, to find a pot of tea steeping, and Ann already bringing their food to the table. But she noticed how anxious Meg seemed. She asked, "What's the matter?"
"Nothing. I just... I don't know. I thought Gus might come into town this afternoon. Perhaps, see if I wanted to have dinner with him."
"Margaret! Please tell me you aren't going all 'weak and delicate female' on me. You've always been able to hold your own. Besides, don't you suppose he also has things to do? After all, beginning tomorrow you'll be eating together every night."
"Don't remind me," Meg said, paling. "Oh, Victoria, what am I doing?"
"You're about to marry the man you love, the man who loves you," her friend told her." Victoria looked at Meg and asked, "You aren't worried about tomorrow night, are you?”
"No... not exactly. I remember what my father told me. I must obey my husband and do whatever he says. Gus is a good man. I trust him. I don't believe he would be unkind."
"Of course, he won't be unkind. But perhaps," the doctor looked around and, though there was no one near them, dropping her voice to just above a whisper, she ended, "we should finish this conversation later?"
"Yes, I think that's a good idea."
After they finished their dinner and had several cups of tea, they walked back to Meg’s house. There they found that Neil had brought over the trunk, leaving it in Meg's bedroom along with a note saying he would pick it up well before it was time for church the next morning.
Once inside, Meg set a kettle on to
boil, and fetched a teapot and cups and saucers. Meanwhile, Victoria dragged the trunk closer to the bed and opened it. She then pulled more clothes from the closet and drawers.
Meg peeked in and said, "What are you doing? I won't need all those things."
Gesturing towards the kitchen, Victoria shooed her away, and said, "Go finish making us tea. I'll be out in a moment."
The doctor came out to the kitchen, just as she promised, in only a few minutes. She went to the door and locked it, before she took her place at the table, and poured herself some tea.
"What on earth are you doing?"
"I'm just making sure we aren't interrupted or overheard."
"For heaven's sake, why?"
"Because we need absolute privacy."
"I believe," Meg said, "you're enjoying all this mystery."
Laughing, Victoria admitted, "You know, I think I am." Then lowering her voice she leaned close to Meg, she said, "Now, what I'm going to tell you, I have never told another living soul." Then dropping her voice even lower, she added, "And, should you ever divulge what I'm about to say, I swear I'll deny ever telling you or even admit to knowing what you are going on about."
"Whatever are you going on about?"
"After my grandfather died and before I came out here, I had to clean out the house. I was selling it and some of the furniture was included in the sale. Anyway, I'd always known about a secret compartment in my grandfather’s desk. So, of course, I looked into it, before I just left the desk. In it I found an extremely old book from the Orient."
"Yes..."
"Well, it wasn't an ordinary book. It was a book about... about... men and women."
"I don't understand."
"It illustrated men and women... in congress, so to speak."
"What?" Meg gasped her eyes wide with disbelief.
"Please, Meg, this isn't easy for me and I'm a doctor! It was a book of engravings, diagrams, really."
"Diagrams?"
"Meg, you aren't making this any easier for me," she sighed, and then rushed on. "It was a book that showed, demonstrated in drawings, relations between a man and woman in various positions."
"Victoria, you aren't saying you read this... this book, are you?"
Blushing, she confessed, "Yes, twice. And then, after I made a few abbreviated notes, I burned it."
"But you read it and made notes?"
"Of course, I did! It was very informative."
"But, if it was as informative as you said, how could you? I mean, if it was so edifying, why did you burn it?"
"I had to. As much as I hated to, I just had to. Please don't reprimand me. I felt so guilty afterwards. I still do. It was very old and probably very valuable. Perhaps, even priceless.
"But, what else could I do? I could never have left it in the desk in the secret compartment, or sold it, or brought it with me. I couldn't think of any other option, so I had to burn it."
"And why," Meg asked, in an alarmed voice, asked, "are you telling me this?"
"Because we've been lied to. Well, if the sin of omission is a lie, then we both have been." She took a sip of tea before she continued, "Didn't you ever feel that you weren't being told everything about marriage?
"Sometimes in medical school I got the impression women were being lied to, that we weren't being told everything. Well, perhaps I should say I wasn't being told everything. And I was right. My grandfather's book proved it!
"I don't know why we are lied to our entire lives. But we are. We've always been told that 'men have needs' and that 'we, as women, must accept this and give in to their baser instincts'. And, that's not even counting the claptrap about how 'we're above such things'.
"Even your father told you to always submit to your husband's will. Exactly what did you think he meant by that?"
Blushing, Meg nodded, but said nothing.
"Meg, it's all lies. We might be slower to become aroused, but it doesn't mean we can't become aroused. And, personally, I have some theories about that, as well. But, well, we can discuss that further at a later date.
"The thing is, we've been duped!"
"I don't understand. Why would our mothers lie to us? Why wouldn't they or someone, anyone, tell us the truth? If it is the truth."
"I swear to you, Margaret, I'm telling you the truth. We can feel desire. There's pleasure for us in the marriage bed, too."
"What?"
"Tomorrow night, if Gus is the man I believe him to be, he will make love to you, and you will feel pleasure. What's more, you will make love to him. You will both find joy in your marriage bed."
Meg's face had gone bloodless. "We shouldn't be speaking of this. It's not proper. It's wrong. It's unseemly, unwomanly."
"But why, Meg? What's wrong with it? How is it any more unseemly or unwomanly than my being a doctor? It's probably a lot less 'inappropriate' than me being a doctor."
"But..."
"There's nothing wrong with women discussing this, or knowing about it. If it's the truth, why is it wrong?"
"Because... because... it... it just is."
"Go ahead! Tell me why is it unseemly or unwomanly? Didn't God make both men and women? If He created us with the ability to find pleasure in each other, how can it be wrong?
"No! I'll tell you what's wrong. It is this cotton batting of ignorance we're wrapped in from birth. Our mothers start early on... we have to be demure. We have to be submissive. We have to yield to men.
"And, what do the men say? That they're trying to protect us, to keep us pure, because they're so flawed. Except they don't seem to make any attempt to behave any better, do they?"
"I don't know. How can we be so sure God gave us this ability? Perhaps, it was the devil, instead."
"Margaret Sarah Strong! Stop reverting to your father's teachings of a cruel, vengeful God. Think of what Reverend Cleary preaches. He always speaks of a loving God. In fact, isn't that the reason you wanted him to marry you? Because you find his God so much more appealing than your father's God."
"Yes," Meg said. "I have to admit that is the exact reason."
"Then why should a loving God give only men the capacity for getting pleasure from sex?"
At the term 'sex', Meg paled even more. She poured herself another cup of tea and sat and staring into it, digesting what Victoria had just told her.
Chapter Thirteen
The doctor and Neil strolled with the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Gunderson towards the train station. Neil looked up and down the street and, seeing no one about, said, "Get on inside you two. You'll be able to slip onboard with no one being the wiser. Just pull the window shades down, and no one will even see your decampment."
Victoria kissed Meg's cheek and said, "Have a wonderful time in Chicago." Then dropping her voice to a whisper, added, "And remember what we spoke about last night."
Meg looked at her and in wide-eyed innocence asked, "You mean about plays?"
"No! And you know very well that was not what I was referring to!" the doctor answered, with a barely audible giggle. Then wearing a triumphant look added, "But I did speak to Gus about the theatre."
"Now, what's the official word? Are we allowed to tell anyone? Everyone?" Neil asked.
Gus laughed. "If I hadn't told Ma in no uncertain terms, she was not to come into town until tomorrow, you'd be too late. She would be spreading the word, even as we speak.
"However, I took the precaution of telling her she was not even to come to church this morning. She'd never have been able to keep it a secret.
"As it is, she might take out an ad in the paper, just to make sure she didn't miss telling anyone her news."
"Ah..." Victoria confessed, "Well, I'm afraid I told Miranda. But she's sworn she won't tell the girls until we get out there to pick up Eva. And, don't worry about Eva. I'll take her to stay with me in the hotel. She'll be properly chaperoned. I promised Ma that I'd watch over her."
*****
Miranda was standing at the back door, peering out th
e window when Neil drove them into the yard. He'd not even gotten down, let alone helped Victoria down, when she was out on the porch. "Well?"
"Everything went just as planned. Now, get back inside before you get sick!"
Miranda turned around to find that all four girls were hanging out the door. Once she was back inside, she shooed them away, saying, "Go on. Kit, please take Kathy upstairs and sponge her off again while I make tea. Colleen, could you please fetch the cake I made after all of you went to bed last night?"
"What's going on?" Lynn asked
"Maybe it's someone's birthday," Kathy suggested.
Even Kit and Colleen were at a loss as to why Miranda had baked a cake after they went to sleep, and added, "Is it your birthday? Or, maybe the doctor's?"
"You'll all find out soon enough," Miranda told them, as Victoria and Neil stood outside the door, doing their best to stomp off as much snow as they could from their boots before they came inside.
Neil took the doctor's cloak and hung it up. Then he asked, "What about Jake? Can't he have cake, too?" And, without waiting for an answer, he rushed back out and headed for the barn.
Meanwhile, Victoria gathered up cups and saucers, plates, cream and sugar, and forks and spoons and deftly set them around the table. Colleen brought in a cake so tall if had to have at least three layers, covered in butter cream frosting.
It must have been a very long time since the girls had seen anything so deliciously decadent, for they quickly took their places at the table, and waited anxiously. The doctor was pleased, since it was evident, from the way they sat eyeing the confection that both Kathy and Lynn were planning on eating some.
Neil returned, closely followed by Jake. Once they hung their coats up and were also sitting at the table, Miranda looked at the doctor, and asked, "Would you like to do the honors?"
Victoria stood up and, as Miranda cut the cake into wedges and Colleen filled cups with steaming hot tea, she announced, "Meg and Gus were married today, right after Sunday services. Mrs. Cleary, Neil, and I were the only witnesses. They are now on their way to Chicago for a few days."
Eva said, "So that's why I'm supervising the workshop tomorrow."
Miranda Takes a Stand Page 9