The Importance of Sons by Keira Morgan

Author:Keira Morgan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical novel, fiction novel, france, recent, renaissance
Publisher: French Renaissance Renaissance française
Published: 2022-06-24T00:00:00+00:00

NEITHER MADAME LA GRANDE nor her Father Confessor agreed she should take the raspberry tea leaf tisane or the castor bean oil.

“In another sennight,” Madame la Grande finally agreed. “If you have not delivered by then, we shall see.”

Two days later, the pains came hard and suddenly, with a flow of black blood. The birth happened fast, and Anne went through it in a daze. The saddest part of the whole awful birth, Anne thought, was the silence after her final push when she felt that sensation, as if a plug had popped from a blocked jar.

No thin infant wail rose to her ears. No cheerful voices rose in excitement to chatter in delight about the appearance of a beautiful, healthy baby.

Instead, the midwife said, “You have a girl. What is her name?”

Madame la Grande replied, “Anne,” before Anne could say a word, before her frozen mind could comprehend the question.

Instantly, the midwife baptized her with the sign of the cross on her forehead and a quick blessing.

A nurse fussed over her baby, wrapping her, as Anne slumped in the birthing chair, tears running down her cheeks. Then Madame la Grande took the tiny bundle and came to Anne clasping her.

“Do you want to hold your daughter before I take her to the chapel?”

Her throat too tight to speak, Anne nodded and held out her arms. Her sister placed the infant gently into them. For the first few moments Anne could do nothing more than rock the tiny, almost weightless bundle, as sobs shock her. Then she opened the blanket to gaze on the perfect, pearly face. “She looks as if she is sleeping. She is so peaceful.”

With a fingertip, she touched the blue-veined eyelids as delicate as butterfly wings and moved on to the white silk ribbon tied in her hair. “She has so much hair. It is soft as the silk. Her mouth—” She could not speak any more. Her tear drops fell onto her daughter’s sweet face, and she wiped them away with her thumb.

Opening the cloth wider, to take her daughter’s hand, she saw that baby Anne wore a long silk and lace robe that covered her completely. When she tried to unlace it, Madame la Grande gently pulled her hands away.

“Close her blanket again, dear sister. Say your goodbyes.”

“So soon.” Anne was moaning now. “Can I not keep her with me longer?”

“You know you cannot. It will only become harder. Kiss her and let her go.”

Anne had never known her sister-in-law to be so understanding. She wished she could appreciate it more, but there was no room in her heart for anything but grief. Lifting her baby, she kissed her daughter on her forehead. Letting Madame la Grande take her was the hardest thing she had ever done.

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