April 1880
Spring arrived early and painted the countryside in waves of bluebonnets splattered with the reds of Indian Paint Brush. The heifers calved in such numbers that the men spent most days roaming the fields checking on the births. Amelia had finished hanging the sheets on the line when Al and Hébert returned from their morning search for calves.
“Are you going to tell, or do I have to do it?” Al’s face flushed like he might burst with excitement.
Hébert took off his floppy felt hat and held it at his waist, bowing slowly. “You are looking at a man who will become a father. About October.”
Amelia flung her arms around the enormous shoulders. “Papa Hébert. I’ll visit Regina after school’s out. Is she feeling well?”
A frown flicked Hébert’s brow. “She won’t own up to it, but she’s a little poorly. Can’t keep her morning food.”
“I’ll be glad to substitute for her. Give her a chance to get stronger.”
Hébert shook his head. “I’ve begged her to ask you. She says her students need her.”
Al hooked his arm over Hébert’s shoulder. “Let’s move the cradle to your house. Surprise Regina.”
Hébert took a step back, looked at Al like a man not believing what he heard. “That’s the Waters family cradle.”
“Sure as hell is. Your child’s a Waters just the same as Toby. Come on. Help me get the thing downstairs.”
Amelia followed the men down the road smiling at her husband as he and Hébert anchored the cradle between them. “Having a baby is going to liven up the place. I need to unpack Toby’s little saddle.”
She tried not to show her surprise at how thin Regina had become in the last few weeks. She clung to Hébert’s hand for support as she knelt to stroke the polished walnut cradle. “I never dreamed we’d have something so beautiful for our baby.”
“It’s a tradition. All the Waters babies get started right here.” Al patted the cradle and nodded to Hébert. “Some of us got left out, but we’re changing that. Starting now.”
“Call me when you need time off,” Amelia said. “It’s been years since I taught school, but I always loved it.”
“I wish for Mama Zoé so often. She could tell me if all this...” Regina ran a hand across her middle, “...is the way it’s supposed to be.”
“She would have known how to make you feel better.” Amelia didn’t mention her own easy pregnancy. It did not count when a baby was born dead.
Amelia dropped by each afternoon with something to help with supper. On Saturday, the men had not come back from the fields when she arrived with a pot roast.
Regina lay on their bed, a cloth over her eyes. “Do you think Toby would come see me? I don’t feel like the bouncy ride into town.”
“We’ll go get him tonight.” Amelia started to the kitchen with the food.
“Wait until morning,” Regina called.
“We’ll have a full moon. Enjoy a romantic ride.” Amelia tried to make her voice sound carefree.
“You and Al are such lovers.” Regina laughed.
Sometimes I’m not so sure. Amelia smiled to herself.
By the time the men returned from the field, she had hitched the mare to the buggy. They rode in silence while Al wolfed down his supper and then he took the reins.
“I hope we can find Tob. I’ve heard babies get born under a full moon. No telling where he’ll be.”
Amelia slipped her arm around Al’s grimy shirt sleeve and wondered if her husband had ever gone to town smelling like the cattle he had worked all day.
Lamps lit all the windows across the upstairs front of the store. “Looks like Toby and Ella are both working tonight,” Al said.
They climbed the outside stairs and started down the hall when first Toby and then Ella came out of the apartment.
“We just finished eating.” Toby smiled at Ella. “She shared leftover chicken.”
While they explained about Regina, Toby packed his medical bag.
“I’ll let your patients know you’ll return as soon as you can,” Ella said.
Toby rode ahead on his mare disappearing into the darkness. “I guess you noticed that Ella spoke like someone familiar with the routine?” Al said.
Amelia laughed. “I noticed.”
“You think Tob’s gotten over Caroline? He hasn’t mentioned her in a coon’s age. Of course, we’ve not held a conversation that’s been more than two paragraphs.”
“Maybe he doesn’t think you need to be informed.” Amelia was immediately sorry for her snippy tone. She snuggled against her husband’s shoulder. “I believe we’re about to have another romance.”
Al leaned his cheek against her head, and they rode without talking.
When they came around the bend in the road, the lamps burned in Regina’s and Hébert’s house. They waited on the front porch until Toby came out shaking his head. “She’s so frail. Her heart’s too weak to be carrying a child. She’s got to rest. No more teaching until this baby comes.”
“She knows I’ll help,” Amelia said.
“She asked if you could be there on Monday.”
“Tell her I’ll come by tomorrow to get her instructions.” Amelia took a deep breath. Were the bubbles she felt caused by excitement over her new job or terror at the prospect of facing students after so many years?
Summer arrived with such heat that cotton bolls began bursting early, which emptied half Amelia’s classroom, leaving only the girls and the boys who were too young. She thrived on seeing their reading improve almost daily, and she trooped to Regina’s every afternoon to cheer her with tales of their progress. She continued to distribute Al’s newspapers, which Regina had made a regular reading routine for the class.
Amelia stopped by Regina’s one afternoon with the story of a little girl who had read in the newspaper about Alexander Graham Bell’s new telephone. The child said, “I wish Mr. Alexander would bring his telephones to Washington County. We could call Toby to come see us when we’re sick.”
Regina and Amelia had a good laugh, and then Regina reached for Amelia’s hand. “I don’t think Toby could get here this time even if we had a telephone.” Her eyes edged with tears. “I don’t feel right about this baby. I think something’s wrong with it and with me.”
Amelia bent close. “I can get Toby tonight.”
“No. It’s too soon.” Regina’s lungs filled and then her chest collapsed as though breathing took too much effort.
The huge cotton crop should have sent the entire community into jubilation. Instead, with Regina confined to her bed, the days rolled into silent watches. Women took turns bringing food and spending the day. Hébert hurried in every night, haggard from lack of sleep, his eyes a frightened question until he sank beside her bed and kissed her cheek.
Al led the procession of wagons to Brenham and returned each evening eager to report on what he called the Toby and Ella story. “I wish that boy would give me a hint about what’s going on. Ella’s always around, helping him with patients, bringing in their supper.”
“Is she cleaning and ironing, too,” Amelia laughed.
“Nope. He’s doing that himself. I know because he leaves his iron on the back of his stove. Never puts the ironing board away. Hangs his washing next to the stove to dry. In this heat, he could put it out of sight, and it would dry.”
“Maybe being tidy isn’t high on his list.” Amelia stroked Al’s sleeve that was still crisp with starch despite a long day on the road hauling loads of cotton.
Al, not appearing to catch the irony said, “Tidy is a word that boy has forgotten. He pulls a quilt over his bed. The sheets hang to the floor, which is thick with dust balls.”
“So, he’s not having Ella wait on him?”
“He told me yesterday that he’s doing his housekeeping. I guess he noticed that I noticed the way the place looked. He said his patients didn’t come in the apartment. Only in his office. He keeps that as clean as my dinner plate.”
October ended with large cotton profits for every family in the co-op. No one mentioned the usual celebration. Hébert hurried through the business of distributing the final shares and quickly left for home. Al stripped naked on the back porch and started up the stairs to their big bathtub. He grinned down at Amelia watching him. “I’m too tired to eat supper, but I probably can manage some loving when I get clean.”
“Why don’t I bring up a tray of cold meat and bread for later this evening,” Amelia called after him.
“Like the old days. It would be perfect.”
Al had climbed out of the tub when the pounding started on the front door. “Damnation,” he muttered as Amelia hurried downstairs.
One of the older students stood at the door breathing hard, her eyes like black walnuts. “Mister Hébert says go for Toby.”
Al went to saddle the mare while Amelia hurried along the road with the girl whose voice shook. “My mama brought them some supper. She said that woman’s not doing no good.”
A lamp spread an orange glow in the silent house. Hébert crouched over his unresponsive wife stroking her face with a wet cloth.
“She’s been like this since I came in. I think the baby wants to come, but nothing’s working.”
Amelia examined the motionless young woman. “The head’s crowning. I’ll try to take the baby. She can’t wait for Toby.” Amelia directed Hébert to get hot water and plenty of rags while she slipped her fingers around the little head remembering how Dr. Stein reached for babies that weren’t coming on their own: Do it quickly. The baby must breathe. She gripped the little head and eased it forward with each involuntary thrust of Regina’s body. The shoulder, rotate the shoulder. “Regina, please push. Your baby’s almost here. It’s coming.” Guide the head carefully. It’s as still as Regina. Amelia lifted the slick little body, wiped the tiny face and blew into its nose and mouth, pressed its chest, grabbed a wet rag and stroked its body. The perfectly formed little boy did not respond.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Hébert stared at the blue ball of wetness and then cradled Regina in his arms. “Come on, my love. You’ve got to live, Regina. Breathe for me, Regina. I need you to breathe.” He rocked the lifeless form and called her name over and over.
Amelia washed the boy and wrapped him in one of the soft flannel blankets Regina had sewn. She placed him in the Waters crib and scooted it near the bed.
Hébert did not lift his head from Regina’s mass of black hair, swaying with her in a steady rhythm, a silent dance.
Amelia went to the kitchen, cleared away the food laid out for their supper and made coffee. She heard a soft knock at the front door and opened it to a yard filled with neighbors all waiting for the news. The singing started then, low hymns of pain, of words she could not understand. The soft moans of prayer pulled tears to the surface.
Toby and Al dismounted in a cloud of dust, and the crowd opened a corridor for the two men to approach Amelia sitting on the front porch.
“Too late?” Toby touched Amelia’s shoulder and stepped in the front door.
Hébert still held his dead wife in his arms when Toby reached down to lay his hand on the man’s hunched shoulders. Hébert lifted his head. “I can’t keep her warm, Tob.”
Al scooped the baby out of the crib and gazed at the round face and lips that puckered to nurse. Amelia’s heart lurched. Their baby Albert’s lips had formed that same hungry shape.
At sunrise, the sound of distant hammering––the harsh creation of her coffin––moved Hébert to release Regina and allow Amelia to wash her for burial. When the carpenters brought in the pine box, sanded to a soft gloss, they laid the baby atop his mama. The grave next to Mama Zoé’s and Ezra’s filled with the steady thud of dirt. Al spoke of Regina’s influence on all the children. Some of her students read poems composed for their teacher. Voices that tried to lift in song choked and fell silent.
Amelia waited four days before finding the strength to call the classes back to school. The night before the children returned, she lay with her head on Al’s shoulder listening to the steady pounding of rain. “What are we going to do for a permanent teacher?”
“Toby told me about a widow with two little kids. Her husband came to Brenham with the railroad. He says she’s bright and well-spoken. She tried to pay him for seeing to her husband by offering some well-worn books. I’ll go see her.”
When the children left for the day, Hébert stood on the school porch, proffering the cradle like it was the Holy Grail. “I know Al’s looking for a teacher. I’ve been moving our things out.”
“You don’t need to return the cradle. Don’t disrupt your life. A teacher can live in Mama Zoé’s house.”
“I can’t stay around here. Regina’s everywhere. All her students coming and going. Everything I touch makes me remember.”
“Come eat supper with us. Al should be back, and we’ll talk.”
“All the food people brought is rotting on the table. Makes me want to puke.” Hébert walked home with Amelia and carried the cradle upstairs to the extra bedroom.
When Al arrived, Hébert went out to the stable, and they argued as they approached the house.
“He’s insisting on moving back to his old place. It’s a shack, Hébert. You’ve stored hay in it for years. It’s alive with rats.”
“At least they’re alive. I cleaned it out. Hauled Ezra’s bed down there. It’ll do for me.”
“Why don’t you move into your mama’s house?”
“No.” Hébert stood, his fist clenched, his eyes rimmed red. “Just let me be. Quit fixing me.” His shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry, man. I don’t mean to be ungrateful. I need breathing room, or I’ll burst wide open.”
Al jumped from the bench, threw his arms around the trembling man. “I’m sorry I wrangled you so hard. You want me to help you move?”
Hébert grinned and shook his head. “No, Al. I want to be by myself for a while.”
Al nodded and backed away. “I got it. Yell when you want some company.”
“I’ll do that.” Hébert patted Amelia’s shoulder. “Thank you for everything. You two are my only family. I love you.” He turned, slapped Al’s shoulder, and walked out the back door.
Al paced the kitchen and finally flopped down on his bench at the table. “You think I’ve been acting like an old maid, bossing everybody around?”
“You don’t want anyone to suffer, so you try to fix it. People don’t want you deciding for them. Sometimes, suffering’s the best medicine.”
He bent over the table holding his head in both hands. “That goes for Toby, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, Al.” Her heart ached at the sight of him, hurting in a misery of his own making.
Finally, he lifted his head. “I may have met our next teacher. She’s that widow Tob mentioned. When I got to town this morning, she was cleaning the apartment. Paying for her husband’s care. She had strapped a baby girl to her back, and a boy about two sat in the corner reading a book out loud.”
“A two-year-old reading?”
“That’s what I asked. It seems she reads to him, then he holds the book and parrots it back. The kid’s got a memory like a bear trap.”
“Did you hire her?”
Al grinned. “No, I did not. I’ll pick her up next Saturday and bring her out here to meet all the parents. If they like her, and she likes the place, then we’ll talk about hiring.”
Amelia took a deep breath and then raised both eyebrows. “How old is this teacher?’
Al shrugged. “I don’t know. She’s plenty old enough to manage a one-room school.”
“No. I’m thinking about her cleaning for Toby. You think he might be attracted to her?”
Al frowned. Stared into space as though he were trying to see the girl. “She is pretty. Damn, you don’t think she’ll horn in on Ella?”
“She can’t horn in unless he’s willing. I’ve been hoping his friendship with Ella would blossom.
Every family in the community, not just the parents, arrived before noon to meet the prospective teacher. They spread food on tables in the schoolyard.
A hush fell over the crowd when Al’s buggy rounded the bend and drew close enough for all to see Nancy Bailey whose yellow bonnet framed a face as sweet as milk chocolate. She turned her baby girl to face the eager hosts, and the little boy waved from his perch between his mama and Al.
Al made a dramatic entrance by halting the carriage and standing to introduce each of his passengers. “Miss Nancy tells me that young Austin was so delighted to have a new baby that he called her his dolly. That’s how she got her name.”
Nancy Bailey moved easily from one person to the next. After the food disappeared, she stood––tall as Al––on the school porch and told her story. “My father taught in colored schools in Illinois. When he passed, I took his place. My late husband worked for the Santa Fe Railroad, and we came to Brenham last year when the line opened to Chicago.” She stopped and for the first time looked ill-at-ease. “I’m hoping I can be your new teacher.”
People began to clap, and then everyone joined in offering their vote of confidence.
The morning after the men finished moving Nancy and the children into the teacherage, Al paced the kitchen, obviously in a stew. Finally, he blew out a long breath. “This has been one of our best years. The cattle business surprised us all. Cotton and corn couldn’t have been better. What do you think about giving Toby a little buggy for Christmas? Nothing fancy. Just a good doctor carriage.”
“Only if he’s willing to take it.”
“Am I sounding like an old maid, bossing again?” Al settled at the table and held his fork midair, his face a mask of concern.
“No. You sound like a father who wants to share his good fortune.”
“Let’s go to town this morning. He’ll never expect me back so soon. Besides, it gives us a chance to check on Ella. See how that’s going.”
Toby and Ella were in his quarters having lunch. Just like the last time we surprised them, Amelia thought. She looked at Al who returned a sly grin as Toby hustled extra chairs in from the hall.
Al feels like we’ve intruded Amelia thought as her husband stumbled through their offer of a new doctor buggy.
Toby’s shoulders sagged. He began shaking his head. “I can’t accept something so expensive. You’re giving me free rent. I’ve taken over the apartment.” He stood. “I appreciate the offer.” He started to the door. “I just heard some patients in the hall. I better check on them.”
Al stared at the door that Toby had closed very softly behind him.
Ella touched his coat sleeve. “Tob’s awful proud Mister Al. It’s hurting him real bad that he can’t get his medical practice growing like...like everybody expected.”
Al nodded. “I guess we better get along home, Amelia.”