Maude by Donna Foley Mabry

Author:Donna Foley Mabry [Mabry, Donna Foley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-10-17T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

Life was pleasant enough for me. George didn’t ask as often for the painful relations. I enjoyed cooking and cleaning the house. It was a more comfortable place, now that his mother wasn’t in it. I’d painted and papered the downstairs rooms without help from George.

Since his mother died, I finally came to think of the place as my home, and I was sometimes able to coax George into spending some of his money for a new piece of furniture. I made curtains for all the downstairs windows and changed the paper and curtains in the old woman’s bedroom to make it more of a boy’s room for Bud.

Bud grew taller and lankier, and Gene thrived. A happy, sturdy boy, he preferred my company to George’s and Bud’s, and would sit at the kitchen table and play with his toys, chatting away while I cooked.

Betty Sue got prettier every day, with plump, full features, and dimples on her cheeks, knees and elbows. She was another one who was going to look like her father, with thick black hair that grew quickly and had a soft wave to it. She was a pleasant child, smiling and gurgling as an infant, later, sitting happily, singing and playing on her blanket in the corner of the kitchen. I had my precious children, my home, my best friend, Clara, and my church. My life was happy, and my heart was full.

I realized in March of 1928, at the age of thirty-six, that I was expecting again. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea. I was satisfied with the way things were and didn’t want them changed. I didn’t even tell George for a long time. I’d had what I assumed were miscarriages twice since Betty Sue was born and preferred to keep it to myself, except, of course, for Clara.

I could see George looking at my growing stomach, but it was well into half-way through the time before he finally asked me about it. “Are you in a family way again, Maude?”

“I guess so, George. It’ll come in the fall, if I figure right.” No more was said about it, and I couldn’t tell if George was happy with the news or not.

It was early October and I was changing the sheets on the bed one morning. I picked up the corner of the mattress and a gush of warm water ran down my legs. I cleaned myself from the mess, and made the bed ready for the delivery. When Clara came home from working at the store, I had Bud run over and fetch her. Clara was there in only a few minutes.

“How is it, Maude? Should I get the doctor?”

“It’s not bad yet, Clara, just regular pains. Let’s wait and see how it goes. I hate to spend money on a doctor if I don’t have to. Betty Sue came so easy I expect this one will do the same.”

That’s not how it happened. My labor went on and on and got worse all the time.

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