by Zina Abbott
Once the room was cleared and it appeared that Lulu was starting on her next hard contraction, Beth handed her the cloth-wrapped stick of wood.
“Bite down. Try to breathe shallow and slow to help the pain. I’m goin’ to take a look-see.”
As Lulu spread her knees and braced her body for the contraction, Beth lifted the bottom of the blanket over the hump of Lulu’s knees. She had never seen a human baby come through the birth canal, but she had seen enough puppies born and a calf once that she knew what she was seeing. She heaved a sigh of relief. Dark strands of hair plastered to a rounded surface between Lulu’s legs told her the baby was coming head first.
Lulu gasped as she convulsed into a full body cramp. She mumbled around the stick. “I can’t stop!”
“Baby’s almost here,” Beth reassured her. “If you can’t keep from bearin’ down, it won’t be long. Daisy, get me some of them cloths to go underneath her then fetch that slop bucket from over yonder.”
Daisy scurried to do what Beth directed. With the wood clutched in her teeth, Lulu’s face turned scarlet with a grimace as she again bore down. Keeping an eye on Lulu, Beth poured some of the hot water in the wash basin and then enough cold from the pitcher to render it the right temperature. She grabbed a few more bath sheets, and keeping one folded to about the right size to wrap a baby, she laid it flat on the foot of the bed.
Beth barely caught the baby’s head to support its neck as it broke free. She grabbed a corner of the cloth Daisy had placed under Lulu and began to wipe away the film coating the newborn’s face and head. While she patiently waited for the baby to turn, she stuck her finger in the baby’s mouth to make sure it was free of mucous.
Lulu, straining with the effort of childbirth, pushed out first one shoulder, then the other. One more hard push, and the baby flew into Beth’s hands. Beth lifted the baby face-down, using one hand to support its head and chest while she rubbed the back with her other hand, until the infant began squalling at the indignity of being thrust into a world outside its mother’s womb.
Daisy inhaled with breathless excitement. “Is it a boy?”
“Ain’t no boy. That’s the cord. Don’t see no problems with her. You got you a right comely little girl, Lulu.”
Lulu struggled to prop herself on her elbows as Beth held up the newborn for her mother’s appraisal. Tears of joy spilled from Lulu’s eyes.
“She’s beautiful.”
“I’ll clean her up a mite afore you put her to the breast. Daisy, help her unbutton.”
Beth blew out her breath in frustration.
“Got me a knife, but don’t have no string. Got to tie her off first.”
Daisy jerked a yellow bow from her hair and pulled the ends straight. After removing the hairpin, she handed it to Beth.
“Will this do? It’s clean. I bought it just yesterday morning.”
Beth took the ribbon with a grateful smile.
“Reckon it’ll do.”
Beth pulled the knife from its sheath strapped to her leg. After considering where it had been last, she hurried over to the wash stand and soaped it good, then wiped it dry. After cutting the ribbon in half, she tied each piece on the umbilical cord about three inches apart, the one closest to the baby only being about an inch from her stomach.
Daisy sucked in her breath once she realized that Beth intended to cut the cord between the two ribbons.
“Won’t that hurt the baby?”
“Ain’t goin’ to hurt the baby none. She’s been born, so she don’t need this no more.”
Beth finished cutting the cord, wrapped the baby in a cloth and handed her to the new mother.
“You need to put her to the breast again so you can finish up the birthin’.”
Perplexed, both Lulu and Daisy turned to stare at Beth.
“Finish up?” asked Lulu. “But I already have the baby.”
“Got to get the afterbirth out,” Beth explained. “It’s on the other end of that cord we done cut. She needed it when she was inside you, but don’t need it now. You hold that baby close and let her nurse. Daisy, help me turn Lulu so she’s close to the edge of the bed. You stay behind her like a chair back. I’ll get the slop bucket.”
Once the afterbirth came and she set it aside out of sight of Daisy and the new mother, Beth retrieved the little one to give her a bath.
“What you goin’ to name her?”
“Miss Flora said I shouldn’t name her. She said when we find a new mama for her, the new mama will want to name her.”
Shocked, Beth dropped the washcloth she was using and turned around to face Lulu.
“You’re givin’ this baby away?”
Lulu burst into tears and buried her face in her hands. She rolled on her side and curled in a fetal position. Between her sobs, she explained her situation while an uncomfortable Daisy looked on.
“I don’t want to give her away. But, Miss Flora says I can’t keep her here, that this is no place to raise a baby. Besides, it’s not good for business.”
Beth slowly turned back to the wash bowl and continued to give the squalling infant her bath.
“Reckon it ain’t.”
“But, I don’t want to give her away! She’s my only family. I want to name her Sophie Ann after my mother, and raise her myself. But, if I leave here, I got nowhere else to go and no way to take care of her. Whoring is all I know how to do.”
Daisy wrapped her arms around Lulu in an effort to comfort the sobbing new mother. Beth could hardly comprehend a mother being willing to give away her child. Try as she might, Beth did her best to see the situation from Lulu’s point of view. Then, she realized it was not Lulu’s point of view, but that of Flora, the madam.
Beth dried the baby and wrapped her tightly in a blanket. After the effort of being born and surviving her first bath, the infant fell into an exhausted sleep. Holding the baby, Beth stood in the middle of the floor between the wash stand, the bed and the dresser as she studied the deep pink, healthy face of this child with an uncertain future.
Next thing she knew, all Beth could see was her Thomas. He had been beautiful to Beth, just like this baby was. He’d had the same little pointed head like this baby. But, unlike her, his skin had not been a healthy pink, but pale and tinged with blue.
The trembling erupted. Beth could feel herself tearing apart inside as her eyes began to water. Her distress became obvious enough that Daisy left Lulu’s side and walked over to her, hesitantly touching her arm.
“Mrs. Dodd, you doing okay?”
Ain’t going to cry.
“Best get Lulu in a fresh nightshift. I’ll be back directly to clean up her birthin’ bed.”
Beth gently slid the bundle into Daisy’s arms, making sure that the baby’s head was supported in the crook of Daisy’s elbow. She fled out of the bedroom, closing the door tightly behind her.
In the hallway, Beth looked down the hall she had used to reach Lulu’s room. One of the girls stood by her door, hand on the doorknob, an eager miner impatiently waiting behind her. Surprised to see the stranger coming from Lulu’s room, she stared at Beth for a moment.
“Is the baby here?”
Beth nodded. She couldn’t talk. She couldn’t go back downstairs. She had to get somewhere where she could breathe. She turned toward the door that opened to the outside.
No doubt for them customers who’d rather sneak in and out so folks don’t know they’re whoremongering.
Beth found a key on a nail in the doorjamb. She unlocked the door, then slipped the key in her pocket so she wouldn’t be locked out once she closed the door. She stood on a landing that, on one end, had steps leading down toward the back of the building. Behind the brothel, Beth saw the edge of a pole barn. In the other direction, the landing with its safety rail extended toward the front of the building. Beth suspected that perhaps the girls occasionally came outside to enjoy a few quiet moments or to chat privately with one another.
Beth tightened her arms around her midd
le, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, lifting her face to the sky. The sun beat down on her.
She slowly opened her eyes and looked ahead of her. The building next door blocked most of her view. By walking toward the front of the brothel, through a crack created by the street cutting between the buildings, she could see part of the shoreline of Lundy Lake. Somewhere down there was the place where Val had taken her the night before.
Further down on the other end of the lake, he and the others were burying Jim Dodd and others who had died in Lundy this past winter. Jim Dodd might be at risk of thawing, but at that moment, Beth realized that her heart had yet to thaw over the matter of him leaving her and Thomas behind.
The door quietly opened and closed behind her. Beth turned to find that Flora had joined her on the landing.
“Mrs. Dodd, how are you doing? The girls said you looked upset and rushed out in a hurry.”
“I’m discomfited a mite, but reckon I’ll be all right. It’s just—well, I ain’t held no baby since my Thomas. Didn’t reckon it would hit me this hard.”
“Your Thomas?”
“My baby I had with Jim Dodd.”
“I had no idea Mr. Dodd had a child.”
“He knowed it was comin’, but he left me afore the birth. Nary checked back to see if I done give him a boy or girl or how the babe fared. Had no way to tell him his son come early and died.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that. Jim Dodd had his faults, but I never would have guessed he’d stoop to something like that.”
“He wasn’t no family man, that’s for certain.”
“Some of us aren’t. Was he physically violent with you, Mrs. Dodd? I saw no evidence that he was of that inclination, but you never know.”
“No. Just neglectful. Didn’t want no farm, no wife or no babies to care for, so he run off back to the mining camps to where he could work hard in the day and spend his nights at the saloons—and at places like yours. He wasn’t one to look after no one but himself.”
Obviously, you are a family woman, Mrs. Dodd. I hope you grab onto that handsome cowboy I understand is still interested in you. Marry him. You would make him a good wife. I suspect you would be a good mother.”
Beth wondered if it made any difference how good a wife and mother she could be. In spite of his neglect and insulting comments toward her during their marriage, she had done her best to be a good wife to Jim Dodd. She had taken care of his home, cooked his food, submitted to him in bed and not complained when he spent his evenings in town. It had not done her one bit of good. Once her pa died, he ignored his contract with the man and sold the farm. He dropped her off with his aunt before he disappeared. Although Agnes Dodd willingly took the money from Jim for one year’s worth of keep for her and her sister, Mrs. Dodd had resented Beth from the moment she, at seven months pregnant, had stepped through her door.
As for being a good mother, Beth had done everything the midwife told her to do and been the best mother she knew to be. But, after twenty-seven hours, Thomas had died.
Flora’s words brought Beth back to the present.
“I’m sorry to hear of your troubles, Mrs. Dodd. If you want to go now, I think we will be able to manage from here. Tell me what I owe you for taking care of Lulu and I’ll see that you get it.”
Beth turned to face Flora.
“Thank you kindly. Best I get back to her make sure she ain’t havin’ no trouble. I need to clean up her room a mite.”
“I can get Albert to help.”
“Albert don’t need to clean up after no birth. Ain’t fittin’ for a man.”
Beth pushed past Flora and opened the door. The raucous music and stench of pipe and cigar smoke assaulted her senses, but she stepped into the hallway and held the door for Flora. Once both were inside, Beth locked the door behind them and hooked the key on the nail on the doorjamb while ignoring Flora’s cryptic smile. She knocked on the door to Lulu’s room. Once Daisy answered, Beth entered with Flora on her heels to find Lulu flat on the bed with the sleeping baby in the crook of her arm.
“You can go now, Daisy. It’s time for you to get back to work.”
“Yes, Miss Flora,” the young woman said before she slipped out the door and closed it.
Beth turned to the mother and daughter resting in the bed. The pile of dirty laundry in the far corner showed evidence that Daisy had helped clean the bed and she had settled in Lulu and her child.
“How’s Sophie Ann doin’, Lulu?”
“She’s doing fine. I’m a little hungry, but more than that, I’m so tired I can hardly stay awake.”
“Lulu, we talked about this, remember?” Flora gently chided the new mother. “You shouldn’t name the baby or get too attached to her. You will have to find someone you can give the baby to so you can get back to work in a couple of weeks.”
“It ain’t fittin’ she be with no man for at least four to six weeks,” Beth cut off the madam. “She’ll still be bleedin’ heavy in two weeks. Besides, she done told me she wants to keep her baby.”
“This isn’t a foundling home, Mrs. Dodd,” Flora responded with an edge to her voice. “Lulu can’t keep the baby, not and work here. I tried to help her out by letting her pay a little for her room and stay here these past two months even though she wasn’t bringing in any money. This room isn’t earning me anything unless she is working. The baby must be gone in a couple of weeks.”
“Most women already got more young’uns than they can figure what to do with. Ain’t no one goin’ to take that baby and love her like Lulu.”
“You could take the baby, Mrs. Dodd.”
Beth shook her head.
“Ain’t takin’ no baby away from a mother who wants to keep it.”
Flora scowled, her growing impatience with Beth obvious. She spoke through gritted teeth.
“She can’t keep it. I have allowed her to keep the room until the end of the month to recover, Mrs. Dodd. She is quite popular with several of the men and I want her to work as soon as she is able. By then, the baby must be gone.”
Beth ignored Flora and turned to Lulu.
“You know how to cook?”
“I used to cook for my father before he was killed. Nothing fancy, but he always told me I did a good job.”
“You want to cook instead of whore, then when you done got to leave here, come over to the chop shop at the Arcade Saloon and ask for me. With all these here miners comin’ in town, Gus’ll need more help cookin’. I’ll teach you what you don’t know.”
“Now, wait just a minute, Mrs. Dodd,” Flora broke in, her voice strident. “It’s bad enough you wouldn’t come work for me, but I won’t have you trying to take away one of my more popular girls. If I knew you would try something like this, I never would have sent for you.”
“I ain’t takin’ away no one who wants to work here,” Beth snapped back. “When we was outside, you done asked me what you owe me. Here’s what I want. If Lulu’s fixin’ to keep her baby and walk away from this here place, you let her go and don’t give her no grief about it.”
Incredulous, Flora shook her head.
“Do you have any idea where she was when I found her and took her in? Her former lover who promised to marry her in order to get his way with her had beaten her and left her once she told him she was pregnant. She nearly died from the miscarriage. But, I found her and took care of her until she was well enough to work for me. I saw what she could become and how much more money she could earn doing this kind of work than any other jobs available for women. I’m already short on girls. I can’t afford to have her go.”
“There’s plenty of women willin’ to whore in mining camps. You’ll find someone else to take her place.”
Disgusted, Flora snapped back. “I don’t hire any whore off the street. I worked hard to build a good brothel with the best girls around. After the gold runs out in Lundy and the mines fold, I’ll have enough money to go to either Sacramento or Reno, one of the state capitols, and set up a parlor ho
use. I’ll be able to attract customers from the highest levels in government and business. That is what you are asking her to give up—a chance to work in a high-class place like that and have the best clothes, food and jewelry money can buy.”
“She don’t need to work in no place like that, not with no baby to raise. You’ll find someone else for your fancy parlor house.”
“That should be up to her.”
“Yes, ma’am. That’s what I’m askin’ from you.”
“Do you honestly think that stubborn old German will give her a job cooking? And, what about the two Germans who own the saloon? I know how they feel about there being no upstairs girls in the Arcade. Not that I’m complaining, you understand. It means more business for me.”
“Reckon I’ll talk to Gus and the others. She’ll stay in back in the kitchen. Don’t no one need know she’s there.”
Flora shook her head.
“How can she work as a cook and take care of a baby?”
“Reckon same way my ma and all women I know done it,” Beth grew impatient. “Tend the baby when they have to and work when the baby’s sleepin’. Gus can pay her for only the time she works.”
“What if things don’t work out? How do you know she won’t end up in worse shape than when I found her? Because, if she leaves me, I won’t take her back.”
“I’ll see to her. If Gus don’t hire her, I’ll take her on with my bakin’.”
“And where will she live? No one is going to rent a room to a prostitute.”
“I aim to have her stay with me.”
“And you honestly think Mrs. Ford will allow a working girl to stay there?”
“She won’t be no workin’ girl if she brings that baby and goes to work with me. Reckon I’ll take it up with Mrs. Ford. If she don’t see fit to give us a room, reckon I’ll find someone not too uppity to do their Christian duty.”
Beth’s comment earned a snort of derision from Flora.
“And what about when some of her former customers from here come calling?”
“She ain’t goin’ to see them no more. I won’t abide it. Ain’t no one goin’ to bother her none with me.”