The Secret Wife of Aaron Burr by Susan Holloway Scott

Author:Susan Holloway Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2019-08-05T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Albany

State of New York

June 1783

No matter how much Mistress wished otherwise, a resolute mind cannot overcome the frail body that contains it. From those early days onward, her pregnancy was a difficult one. She had some days, particularly in the middle months, when she felt better, and was able to rise and dress and go about her day’s business and the Colonel’s as well, and even make calls and receive others, but for much of the last month she remained in her bed.

It had not taken the Colonel long to discover her secret, though I do not know if he guessed it himself or she finally told him. Whichever was the case, he was as proud and happy as could be expected, but also much worried for the health of both his wife and their unborn child. It was all a mystery to him, as it always is for men, and he brought both midwives and physicians to her bed for consultations. It had taken so long for Mistress to agree to marry him, and they’d now been wed for such a short time, that he could not bear the thought of losing her.

But Mistress’s entire concern was for the child growing within her, its health and hardiness. Haunted by the two infants she’d lost long before, she was terrified that her inhospitable womb would somehow produce another who was too weak to survive. She heeded every single suggestion that her midwife and the others made, from sipping French brandy and beef-heart broth to wearing two pairs of woolen stockings and a little bag of fragrant herbs tied around her neck.

On days when she was too weary to sit at her desk to compose letters, she’d have me write down her words for her. I read to her, too, though she became impatient when I could not decipher a word, or pronounced it how it looked, rather than how it was written; still, while her pleasure might have been diminished, my reading and my knowledge improved by her corrections, though that was surely not her intention.

The longer Mistress kept to her bed, the mound of her belly growing larger beneath the sheets, the more I began to assume the household’s affairs and responsibilities. This had increased with the arrival in late May of Mrs. DeVisme from New Jersey, who intended to remain with her daughter until after the birth. I was sent on errands about the city, to shops and to the market in Mistress’s place. I was trusted with both small amounts of money to spend on purchases and the right to sign for credit in the Colonel’s name. When we’d first come to Albany, I’d been a cook who’d also served as a lady’s maid to Mistress. Now, in addition, I served as housekeeper to Colonel and Mrs. Burr, a significant accomplishment for someone of twenty-four years.

Neither the Colonel nor Mistress said anything of my increasing responsibilities, being so occupied with their own affairs and concerns, nor did it make any real difference in my own situation.

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