The Promise of Rain by Vasundra Tailor

Author:Vasundra Tailor [Tailor, Vasundra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Women, Family Life, General, Cultural Heritage
ISBN: 9781542039413
Google: qn4O0AEACAAJ
Amazon: B0CB1XG717
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2024-04-01T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

‘What do we do now?’ asked Dominic before starting the car engine.

Anna was staring out of the window, her mind focused on what they’d just been told. She visualised the scene of a baby being delivered by a midwife in the nearby village, in a house with brick walls, a tin roof, and a gate, similar to the one they had seen earlier in Umzuma.

‘We have to go there,’ she murmured. ‘To Umzuma.’

‘You think the rumour about the midwife is true?’

‘It makes sense, Dominic. The baby was left at this church early in the morning, so the birthplace was probably close by. A midwife from the next village could have delivered the baby then brought him here to the church.’

Dominic pondered for a moment. ‘But Umzuma is at least half an hour away by car. How would a local midwife transport a newborn baby such a long distance? It’s unlikely she would have a car.’

‘Maybe it wasn’t the midwife. Maybe it was the father.’

They both fell silent, imagining the fateful event. Anna pictured a pregnant woman coming to Umzuma just for the delivery of the baby. This area in the bushlands was ideal for an Indian couple to hide from everyone they knew. A local midwife, sworn to secrecy, could have been found beforehand. Everything would have been planned and preparations made before they came.

Anna allowed the scenario to play out in her medical head: the midwife encouraging the mother through labour, delivering the baby, cutting the cord, checking that mother and baby were healthy, then wrapping the newborn first in a clean sheet, then a red shawl and a soft white blanket.

Anna’s heart began to race as she considered what might have happened next. Someone, maybe the midwife, placed the baby on the soft cushion inside the basket, then covered him with the blanket. Perhaps at that point, the mother removed the gold necklace from her neck and gave it to the midwife to place under the blanket. After that, someone, possibly the father, took the basket and drove to Rukuvoko Church.

If that was what happened, it must have been heart-breaking for him to leave the baby and drive away. Did he wait until the nun opened the door in the early morning? And what about the mother? How did she feel? Anna refused to believe that it was the parents’ decision to give up their baby. Someone must have forced them to do it or their circumstances had made it impossible for them to keep him.

Anna played with the chain and pendant around her neck. It must have belonged to Mathew’s birth mother. But what were the circumstances? One thing she was certain of was the parents’ intention for the baby to survive. He had been left in a safe place where he was bound to be found and taken care of.

Dominic’s voice shook her out of her reverie. ‘We’re nearly there.’ She’d been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn’t even realised he’d started driving.

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