Miss Julia Knows a Thing or Two: A Novel by Ann B. Ross

Author:Ann B. Ross [Ross, Ann B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-04-14T00:00:00+00:00

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Daylight came too early as it always does after a night of interrupted sleep. But I heard Lillian downstairs, so I left Penelope sleeping and hurried to dress and go down to tell her of the night’s events and to prepare her for our houseguest. If anybody could calm a child’s fears of abandonment, Lillian could.

“Oh, that poor little thing,” she said after I’d brought her up to date, filling in what Sam had left out before he’d headed for the Bluebird. “I’m glad you brought her home with you, Miss Julia, a baby like that don’t need to be in all that turmoil. You jus’ go on an’ do whatever Miss Mildred need you to do, an’ I’ll look after our little Honey. An’ Latisha’ll be here after school so we’ll be fine.”

“Thank you, Lillian. I don’t know if Tonya has been contacted about her mother yet, or if Ida Lee is waiting for Mildred to tell her to call. I guess it’ll depend on Mildred’s condition, don’t you? Which is another thing to worry about—just what kind of attack was it and will she still be able to look after a child?” I did a little handwringing over my friend’s condition and the possible limits it could impose on her activities. “I declare, I shudder to think of Penelope—I mean, Honey—being carted off to those dens of iniquity in California and put in a crowded daycare center so Tonya can concentrate on show business. But I’ll tell you this, Lillian, when you have a child, that child should come first before anything else—especially when you didn’t get it by mistake or miscalculation, but got it deliberately by adoption. I mean, if you don’t have time to raise a child, why in the world would you go out of your way to have one?”

“Here, Miss Julia,” Lillian said, pulling out a chair, “why don’t you set down and have some coffee? You jus’ rest a few minutes, while I go up and see if Honey’s awake. She need to see a friendly face when she open her eyes.”

“Yes, good, that’s fine, Lillian,” I said, gratefully sitting down. “And I need to run back over and get her some more clothes. We just grabbed a few things last night, but I’m thinking we may have her for several days. And it may be that Ida Lee has heard something by now.”

She hadn’t, for as soon as Lillian left the kitchen I got up and called Ida Lee. She’d heard nothing from the hospital or from Dr. Hargrove, Mildred’s primary physician.

“But, Miss Julia,” Ida Lee said, worriedly, “I may not hear anything. You know how they are about giving out information on patients. The patient has to give permission as to whom to give information, and as far as I know, Mrs. Allen has only given Mr. Allen’s name. And, well, you know that he won’t even know to ask.” Then she hurriedly added, “I don’t mean to pass judgment on his condition, but I don’t quite know what to do.

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