“Aye, I remember,” mused Jody with a grin of satisfaction. He remembered it well: waking up alive, whole, and with his wife lying next to him, ready, willing, wanting, and now that he recalled it with his newfound information, more wet than normal. Her menopause had caused her to have vaginal dryness, but she was certainly moist and ready that warm afternoon two months ago.
“So, we made a baby that day?” he asked. “How can ye be sure it was that day? I mean, it isna as if we havena been together more than a few times since then…”
“I, I’ve been taking the wild carrot seeds since the day after. Evie warned me that enhanced fertility might result with the elixir. I didn’t know if it was even possible, but I didn’t think we needed to have a baby this late in our lives. I’m sorry; I should have discussed it with you first. It’s just I thought of it more as a health issue, for both me and the baby. I mean, after the difficult pregnancies with Hope and Ramona… I mean, the only reason I was able to carry Mona to term was because of modern medicine. I didn’t want to go through another loss like we had with Hope.”
“Ach,” Jody cajoled, “if the good Lord meant fer ye to be with child, I dinna think He means to take him away before he even has the chance to draw a breath.”
“Well, that’s the other thing,” Sarah explained reluctantly. “According to my good sister Evie, it’s going to be twins,” she huffed and added with a smirk, “at least.”
“Weel, I think we can handle as many bairns as the Lord sees fit to bless us with. I mean, we do have land, crops, and animals, a house, and family here to help us. It’s more than we ever had before, aye?”
“Yes, that’s true. If I can just keep the baby in me until term…”
“Babies,” Jody corrected using the foreign name, to him, for bairns. “Ye’ll be fine whether ye have one or two or, may the Lord bless us, three bairns in ye. Now, dinna despair, but remember the words ye gave yer sister: eat well, drink plenty of water, and put yer feet up several times during the day. Evie did fine, and so will we, I mean ye.”
“We is right: you’re just as pregnant as I am. It’s just that I get the pleasure,” Sarah rolled her eyes at the word, “of carrying the next generation of Pomeroys.”
Jody gave his glowing wife a kiss then sighed in utter contentment. The Lord did work miracles, and Evie hadn’t even had to sing for this one. “I’d better get back to work. If I stay here, I’ll be kissing on ye all day, and then, weel, ye ken how I tend to get carried away…” he said with a glint in his eye.
“Well, at least I won’t have to worry about getting pregnant,” Sarah snorted. “I’ll give all my wild carrot seeds to Evie.” Sarah saw the shock in Jody’s eyes. “I know, I know,” she explained. “You want Wallace to have his own biological children, but Evie needs a break, both physiologically and mentally, from being around so many babies. She’s young enough, or at least her body is, that she has time to have at least a dozen more children, even if she has only one at a time.”
“Aye, yer right, and it isna any of our business. Jest because ye give her the seeds fer birth control, doesna mean she has to take them. But yer wrong,” Jody said then paused, waiting for the argument he was sure would come. But, Sarah was mute, and only dipped her head to him to suggest he finish his remark. “Wallace doesna care about the biological part. He jest likes havin’ more children. Havin’ five of them in the space of three months, and one of them fully grown, was a gift, he said. I’m happy with havin’ so many bairns around, too. And, me a father again at nearly sixty!”
“Yeah, well, remember, I’m older than you. Just don’t go making jokes about Sarah and Abraham,” she remarked, and patted him on his back, urging him out the door.
Ж
Jody left the house with a spring to his step, almost skipping. He was making loud, almost scary, noises as he made his way to the barn. It was obviously his attempt at singing a psalm of praise. The words of thanksgiving were recognizable, but any semblance to a song was nonexistent. Jody knew he couldn’t carry a tune, but was letting the Lord, and everyone else in a two-mile radius, know how happy he was.
“So, what am I going to do now?” Sarah whined when I reentered the house.
“Well, I suggest you eat right, drink lots of fluids, get plenty of rest, and stop wearing that corset! No, really, we probably have at least a few weeks before you need to find better clothes, or at least more appropriate to your condition, but the corset can’t be good.”
“Hmph,” Sarah answered and turned toward the window, as if the sky held the answer to her new condition.
My flip explanation at what to do about her condition didn’t remedy her bitter mood. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I’ve been pregnant twice before. The first one didn’t turn out well; I mean I didn’t—couldn’t—carry Hope to term. She, she…” Sarah started to get choked up. She held up her hand when I started to tell her that she didn’t have to continue. “Mona came out just fine, but they had to give me meds to relax my uterus so I wouldn’t go into pre-term labor. Evie, what am I going to do? I’m already inadequate as a baby-bearing female, plus I’m old enough to be this child’s, or these children’s, great-grandmother! And that’s the other concern. Twins cause extra stress on the womb and are often born early. How, what, I mean…”
Sarah’s steely demeanor had buckled. “Hey,” I counseled, “you forgot to add the equalizer into your unbalanced equation. Both you and I were enhanced, repaired, rejuvenated, all of the above…” I put my index finger under her chin, lifted her face, and looked into her bleary red and amber eyes. “I was fine and had three babies. You’ll be fine with two. And remember, you’ve got lots of help now.”
Sarah sniffed and wiped her eyes then ran her fingers through her hair in her classic gesture of trying to compose herself and her hair at the same time. “Besides,” I threw in, “what are you going to do about it? I still believe that if God didn’t want me to have these three babies, and you to have those two, at least,” I grinned, “then you wouldn’t be in this condition. Babies may be surprises at times, but they are NOT accidents, capisce?”
“Capisce,” she said, slightly humbled, but no longer depressed.
Ж
“Sarah, where did you stash the FOY water?” I asked. We were alone, and I had a theory I wanted to investigate.
Sarah looked around and made sure Jenny hadn’t sneaked in. “Yes, we’re alone,” I verified.
She reached up and pulled out a piece of the stone façade on the fireplace, almost dead center above the fire pit. “Here,” she said as she put the blue facet cut bottle containing the Fountain of Youth water in my hand. “You don’t want to take any more, do you?” she asked.
“Hell, no! I mean, heaven’s no,” I said, and then brought my sound level down a few dozen decibels. “It’s just that I know approximately how much I initially consumed, at least from what Master Simon told me. He said I sucked down almost a whole bottle. I only dosed you and Jody with a few drops each. However, I’d swear this bottle was almost full when I had you put aside for safekeeping last summer when I came back from my hospital trip to 2013.”
“Yes, at least that’s what I remember,” Sarah confirmed.
“Look, it’s almost gone now. I think that storing it near the heat concentrated the elixir. That would explain why the small dose I gave you and Jody had such profound results. I only meant to heal him, but your dose was so if he got younger, then you would, too.” I opened the bottle that was barely one quarter full and pulled out the little glass rod I had used as a dropper. “See, it’s almost caramel-colored now. I think you’d better find a more temperate hiding place. I don’t want it to freeze either.”
Sarah sighed, then grinned, happy that she had an answer to her own dilemma. “I had Jody make a hollow spot in the footboard of our bed for some of his, um, precious items. Only he and I know about it, but I think someone else should know, too. I’ll put this in here. I don’t think our bedroom area will get down
to freezing. Or at least I hope it doesn’t.”
“Okay; here, you’re the keeper of the juice again,” I said and handed back the youth and health enhancing elixir.
“And you, dear sister, are the keeper of the secret of the coins and nuggets. Jody managed to obtain some rare coins and a few sizable gold nuggets a while back. We’ve managed to turn them over in the last ten years or so. Sometimes there are more, like if he makes a good wager or profits in some other way. Other times, we’ve been essentially wiped out. We use them for emergencies, like to buy arms or someone’s freedom, or for major purchases.” Sarah shirked her shoulder and admitted, “Well, that’s how we got this place. If Jody is ever held hostage, he told me to let him have a moderate amount of time to get himself out of his predicament, but if it looked dire, I was to use my own judgment on how much to use to keep him from the gallows.” Sarah shuddered at the thought.
“The nuggets are nice because they’re different sizes, and their value is pretty straightforward. The coins, well,” Sarah looked at my pendent, the one Wallace had made from an ancient Greek silver drachma, the token that had allowed me to travel forward to the 21st century, and then back to my family in the 18th, “we didn’t know at the time that they had other merits. We have a few more just like those, and they’re not going anywhere, at least in that format. Jody would melt them down and use them as teaspoons before he’d allow just anyone to have one. But regardless, unless something horrible happens, they’re safe where they are. We’re fine with the goods that God has allowed us to have. We work hard and He rewards us. And, that’s how it should be.”
8 What’s a Woman To Do?
Late spring, 1782
T he months went by quickly for the lady in waiting. Sarah never puked once, although she admitted she got queasy when she smelled bacon or sausage cooking. “Okay, we’re having grits and eggs in deference to the babies,” I announced then laughed. I added, “I wouldn’t doubt that those kids—I mean children—you’re carrying will want a pet pig instead of a dog. The smell of cooked pork seems to upset them.”
I designed and constructed a day coat, sort of a dress, for Sarah. “See,” I bragged as I pointed out the extra seams. “This will grow as you grow. Just a few snip, snips, and the gown will be one size larger. I’ve allowed for four increases. I hope it won’t be too bulky in the side seams for now, but I guarantee it’s going to make you feel better later. Shoot, you probably won’t even have to cut the seams—they’ll probably pop apart by themselves. I only used basting stitches.
Ж
Sarah was now well into her eighth month. She asked me several times a week, sometimes even a couple of times a day, to listen for the babies’ heartbeats. Of course, I always obliged her. I knew all was well with the physical aspects of her pregnancy, but her mental health was just as important. Her confidence level was definitely under the influence of hormones. “Would you check again,” Sarah would ask, always using the same words and same gestures, a nod to the rolled up parchment, then a weak, insecure smile.
“Okay,” I replied again this morning. I spent the next five minutes playing submarine hunter, using the improvised stethoscope as a sonar detector. “I can hear two rapid heartbeats, clear as a bell. They’re both strong, but about half a beat off of each other in rhythm. That one little guy sure moves around a lot. You ought to name him Neptune. He’s sure at home in the water. And no, one of the beats isn’t yours. I checked your pulse, and it isn’t nearly as fast as theirs.”
“Well, it least that part’s normal,” she said with reliefignation, her own custom mixed emotion of relief and resignation.
“Duh! Everything is normal and healthy with this pregnancy. Now, your body was ‘rewound’ enough to get pregnant,” I began again with the same speech I gave every time…
“And stay pregnant,” Sarah added with a voice of confidence, her lines spoken like a pro.
“And stay pregnant,” I continued my part of the speech, “so I’m sure the delivery will be a snap. Come on,” I said, taking a break from my ‘it’s all going to be fine’ routine, “do you feel good enough to take a walk? It’s a beautiful day out.”
“Sure,” she replied as she put her hands on the arms of the new rocking chair Jody had crafted for her. She leaned forward and I remained at her elbow, ready to help her stand. “Uh, I feel a draft,” she said as she stood up all the way. “Oh crap, I think my water broke.”
“No, it’s too early,” I argued, “I mean, it’s only March, right?”
“It’s April first,” replied Sarah dismally.
“Right,” I said, “April Fool’s Day, hardy har har…”
“No, really,” she explained, “I have the lower back ache and…”
I moved behind her to look at the back of her skirt. “Oh shit, I mean, oh amniotic fluid,” I said, and then started to giggle.
“I can’t have the babies yet—it’s too soon!” Sarah whined, as if she begged me for it not to be so, then it wouldn’t be.
“Let’s see, you got pregnant about August 20th. Subtract three months and add five days so…May 25th due date and crap, Sarah: today is the last day of April, not the last day of March. You’re only about three and a half weeks early. That’s not too bad for twins. But, you stay put, just the same, and I’ll get you some clouts. I remember how irritating, I mean frustrating, it was to have that mess dribbling down between your legs…”
“Is Grannie gonna have her babies today?” Jenny asked as she popped in the door, “’cause if she is, I want to help. I never saw people babies comin’ out, just dogs and goats and baby chicks.”
“Chickens are hatched, not born,” I corrected.
“Well, they sure come out makin’ a lot of noise, more than baby dogs…”
“Puppies,” I interrupted in order to correct her.
“Uh, huh, that’s right. I forgots. Hey, can Grannie have the babies without Grandpa? Isn’t he supposed to be here? I mean, I’m sure he’d want to be here…”
“Well, he was here for the most important part,” Sarah said, softly enough for me to hear, but hopefully not by my little Miss Perception.
“Did he share his present with you?” Jenny asked. “Is that why you’re gonna have the babies?”
The look of innocent awe and wonder on her face was priceless. Sarah took a deep breath, hoping to say something profound, or at least convincingly evasive. She looked into Jenny’s inquisitive eyes, and was deflated by her pure and undemanding curiosity. “Yes,” she said simply. “Now, would you get me a drink of water?” she asked. “I’m real thirsty all of a sudden.”
“Yes, Grannnie,” Jenny trilled, then grabbed a cup from the sideboard, and filled it from the ewer. “I’ll get some more water, too.” She hustled out of the room, but paused once outside and carefully shut the door behind her so she didn’t wake the babies.
“How long do you think it would take you to ride to Julian’s?” Sarah asked, “I mean, if you rode as fast as you could?”
“Shoot, I don’t know, an hour and a half, why?” I looked at Sarah, but she wouldn’t lift her head to look at me. “Why?” I repeated firmly. Now I was playing the role of doctor and big sister.
“Because I think he can be of help here. He did great with you when I burned my hands and, and…”
“And you don’t think I can handle delivering you of twins while watching out for my three plus Jenny? Duh! Remember, Jenny is the helper in this. She can do just about anything I can with those babies but nurse them. And, they all can sip from a cup, and are doing a great job with eating solid food. Shoot, I only nurse them three times a day anymore. And, that’s for birth control as much as anything. I mean, I gotta admit, I like the way it feels, and the bonding is nice and, crap, I’m rambling. Sorry. What I can do is have Jenny ride over to get Leah and James. I don’t think he wanted to go into town with the other men since she’s so close to her time, too. If she can ride in the wagon, she can be here in fifteen minutes, tops. Now do you feel be
tter?” I asked, although I could already see that she did.
“That damned town hall meeting!” Sarah cursed. “Why did it have to be now? I swear those, those, assholes,” she whispered the designation, “set up the election for now. They knew we were having a baby.”
“Babies,” I corrected with a grin.
“Well, Jody didn’t let on that we were having twins…”
“At least,” I interrupted with a laugh at the slim possibility she was having triplets, then backed it down a notch. “No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t make light of it. I’m positive everything will be fine. And, I doubt the next generation of Pomeroys will be here too soon. I mean, I would guess you’re going to have at least six hours or more of labor. You haven’t even started the real thing yet, have you?” I asked, although I was pretty sure I was correct. I could see her belly firming up with fairly regular contractions, but she didn’t look miserable enough to be in true labor yet.
“No,” she said crossly. “I want to get it over with, but I want Jody here, too. He wasn’t able to be with me with the first two…”
And then Sarah broke into a thousand pieces, each one wetter and more trembling than the other.
“All I can do is help with the clinical aspects, but I’ll send Jenny to the Melbourne’s right away,” I said. “If James believes that Leah can ride in the wagon with Jenny for assistance, then he can go into town and get Jody. I’m sure Wallace can speak for the two of them, if needed. I doubt there is any political issue in this new America, or in the world, or anyone or, or anything, that would keep Jody from being here with you for the delivery, capisce?”
“Capisce,” Sarah agreed then started to compose herself, wiping and sniffing away her outward signs of weakness.
“What’s capisce?” asked Jenny as she walked in with fresh water and a basket of eggs. She set them on the sideboard and waited for our answer.
The Great Big Fairy Page 5
