A LADY NAMED ROSE
Chapter Ten
"The what???" Rose shot up in bed,
and flinched at the glare from the lantern Richard held in her face.
"You have to come now," Lucy
pleaded. She was near hysterics. "R-Randolph tried to call the doctor and
couldn't get through--"
"It's all right, Lucy, I'll be right
down. You go tell your mother I'm coming." Rose's voice was calm, but
inwardly, she was quaking. This couldn't be happening. Victoria's baby wasn't
due for another two weeks!
Lucy spun around and ran downstairs, her
nightgown billowing behind her. Richard and Josephine hesitated, looking to
Rose for comfort. She turned away instead, wringing her hands and attempting to
get her breathing under control. What did they expect her to do, for God's
sake?
She was facing the tiny window; raindrops
glistened on the panes, but it appeared as though the downpour had stopped. She
drew closer to be sure--and saw Jack's face reflected in the glass.
Rose suddenly couldn't draw enough air into
her lungs. The room tilted and, in desperation, she grasped the edge of the
night table.
"Rose!" Richard cried out.
"What's wrong with her?" Josephine's panic-filled voice came to Rose
as if from a great distance. "She has to help Mama."
"I can't," Rose wheezed. She
gripped the table so hard, a splinter cut into her palm; she pulled her hand
away and stared in horror at the thin trickle of blood.
"You can, Rose," came a familiar
voice.
You're not there, you're not there. She
repeated the mantra in her mind. It was just a trick of the light.
"If I wasn't here, you wouldn't have to
pretend you can't see or hear me, now would ya?" Footsteps echoed in the
attic space, and she caught a glimpse of him in the corner of an eye, but she
refused to turn her head in his direction. Instead she focused on the children;
Richard was now holding her arm, helping her to keep her balance, and Josephine
was sobbing.
Neither of them noticed that anyone else was
in the room.
"Hurry," Richard begged.
"Send them downstairs," Jack
instructed. "Tell them to fill a bucket with hot water and bring it to
their mother's room."
Rose did as he said. Richard gave her a
quizzical look. "Go!" she snapped at him. "I'll be there when
you get there."
He took his sister's hand and pulled her
towards the stairs, glancing back at Rose once before leaving. As soon as they
were gone, Jack stepped in front of her. He was offering her something; she was
amazed to see it was one of her own handkerchiefs. "Press this against
your hand. It'll stop bleeding in a minute." She took it.
"Listen, Rose, this is very important.
Victoria's in trouble. But I know how you can help her. I had to help my Pop
deliver calves on our farm--"
"Calves?" Rose spoke directly to
him for the first time since he made his appearance. "Victoria's not a
farm animal, Jack!"
"Rose, you can be so stubborn! Don't you
know by now that you can trust me?"
"You know I trust you," she said,
after a moment's hesitation.
The charming, crooked grin was back.
"Well, then, get ready to become a midwife. Now here's what you have to
do..."
*****
While Rose rocked the newborn girl in her
arms, trying to stop her squalling, Lucy mopped her mother's damp forehead with
a towel. The birth had been mercifully fast, but it had still been a terrible
ordeal for Victoria, who was half-delirious throughout, and had not yet seen
her baby. Now she lay still, her breathing erratic. Rose had made Richard and
Josephine go to their room, so they wouldn't see the state she was in.
"Please don't die," Lucy prayed
over her mother's bed. There was no sign that Victoria heard.
Rose spoke soothingly. "She's not dying,
Lucy. The doctor will be here soon, and he'll make her well."
"Don't talk to me like I'm
Josephine!" Lucy shouted at her. "The doctor's not coming!"
Her raised voice did nothing to calm the
infant, who only cried louder. Rose wrapped the receiving blanket Lucy found in
the nursery tighter around her.
"Is that him?" Josephine asked.
Rose jumped; she hadn't known the little girl
was standing there. "It's a she, Josie," she said, forcing a smile.
"You have a little sister."
"Can I hold her?" Josephine's hazel
eyes were bright with excitement. She hadn't heard Lucy's outburst.
Before Rose could answer, there were voices
downstairs, and Richard came running. "They're here, they're here!"
It was like stepping out of a dream into real
life. As soon as Dr. Wells, a businesslike little man who always warmed up in
the presence of the children, entered the room and relieved Rose's arms, she
felt as if none of the incredible events of that night had happened. The doctor
delivered the baby, not her. There was no such thing as ghosts who knew the
secrets of childbirth. Not even when Dr. Wells commended her courage and quick
thinking did Rose fully comprehend what she had done. She only watched in shock
as Randolph and William gently lifted Victoria from the bed and carried her out
to the motor car.
"The flooding's gone down," Rose
heard Randolph say. "We'll make it in plenty of time."
Josephine ran behind them. "Where are
you taking Mama?" Rose had the presence of mind to grab her as the three
men left with the two patients for the hospital.
The children were too tired to protest when
Rose told them to go to bed. She sat with Josephine until the little girl had
been asleep for some time, then wearily climbed the attic stairs to her own
room. She stretched out on top of the bedcovers and closed her eyes.
"She'll be fine, Rose," Jack spoke
from behind her head. "They'll both be all right, thanks to you."
Rose was too exhausted to even bother to wish
him away. Hallucinations were nothing compared to what Victoria had just gone
through.
"What do you mean, thanks to me?"
she said. "You're the one who birthed cattle on his farm."
Jack laughed heartily. "I hate to say I
told you so..."
"Go ahead, say it."
"No, I'm not about to gloat. But I do
have a piece of advice for you."
Rose opened her eyes and looked at him
curiously. He was now sitting at her feet.
"They're going to be very grateful to
you."
"I only did what I had to."
"Not everyone could have done what you
did, Rose. The Scotts are going to want to repay you. Be ready for that."
"Jack! I don't want money for what I
did."
"I'm not talking about money."
"Then what--"
"Think about it, Rose. Think about how
you want to live your life. Do you want to spend it cooped up in this attic,
with no one but those little brats for company? Or do you want to be out in the
world, doing the things we talked about?"
His last comment made Rose's eyes water. She
turned her head so he wouldn't see. "But we can't do them, Jack."
"No, I can't do them. You can. You can
do them on your own, Rose."
She didn't respond. Her eyelids were growing
heavy, but even on the verge of oblivion his words lingered and danced in her
brain.
His lips brushed against her forehead. In her
sleep, she shuddered.