The Noble Ladies' Orphanage

Chapter 10

"Zdenka, run and find Dr. Palacký. Hurry!" Susana said. Zdenka grabbed her shawl and ran out into the busy street. It was morning, and the street was filled with carriages, horses, and people walking quickly. Zdenka disappeared into the bustle, and Susana ran back up the stairs to her mother's bedroom.

The midwife was standing over Susana's mother who lay in the bed shaking.

"He'll be here soon, Mother," Susana said. "Zdenka just left to get Dr. Palacký."

Susana's mother didn't seem to register the words. Her eyes were closed, her brow furrowed, and her jaw clenched. When the next round of contractions began, she rolled painfully to her side and groaned. Susana pulled her mother's thin hair out of her face and wiped her pale forehead with a damp cloth. The midwife kneaded her back with her sturdy fists until the contractions subsided. A long exhale escaped Susana's mother, but she didn't open her eyes. She seemed to be concentrating her efforts in preparation for the next assault.

Susana tried everything she could think of to ease her mother's pain. She placed warmed towels on her mother's back, brushed her hair, got her cool water to sip, and held her hands, but nothing seemed to make a difference. But most of all she debated.

In her mind, she had gone back and forth about whether or not to show her mother the letter. In the eleven days since she'd found out about her father's being in debtor's prison, Susana had visited him six times. It broke her heart to see her father sitting on a wooden bucket in a damp cell. He said he didn't understand why he was there, that he didn't have any debts to his name, that there had been some terrible mistake. He said his bookkeeper was going through all the records, making reports, and working with an attorney to prove that they had the wrong man. He was sure that it would all be cleared up soon and that he would be home. But he didn't want his fragile wife to worry, so he asked Susana to continue to let her believe that he was in Vienna.

After the initial shock of finding her wealthy and respected father in a squalid cellar of a prison, she had focused all of her energies on helping her mother to get through childbirth. She knew it wouldn't do to give her mother a shock at such a time. It would be better to explain that her father's trip had run into unexpected delays and that he would be back as soon as possible. Her father hadn't wanted to deceive his wife. He had never done anything to deceive or mislead her and didn't want to do it now, but Susana convinced him that it might help to have an encouraging note from him with a promise to be back soon.

The letter was in Susana's bedroom, in the drawer of her nightstand. She could run and get it and read it to her mother now. Her mother clearly needed strength. At the same time, would it really help? If it didn't help, she would have to explain things later, and her mother would definitely not like being lied to.

Another round of contractions came and went. Susana's mother seemed to hold her breath through this one. At one point, she was so still and pale that Susana shook her to make sure she was still breathing. When it was over, Susana stood up and walked to the window. Her eyes darted around the street searching for any sign of Zdenka or Dr. Palacký. Nothing.

"Now," Susana's mother said weakly. "I have to push now." She made a growling sound, and the midwife helped her move onto her side. Susana leapt to her mother's side and grabbed her around the shoulders. Susana began crying when she heard the sound her mother made. It sounded like agony had been unleashed from all the previous hours of suffering. But in the next moment, her mother made a gasping, laughing sound at the same moment a baby's cry was heard in the room.

The midwife waited for one more contraction to push the baby's shoulders out, and then the baby slipped out effortlessly. She placed the squirming pink infant onto Susana's mother's chest. It was covered in whitish-gray wax and squished up its little eyes as it howled its protests. Tears rolled down her mother's cheeks. She seemed too weak to hold the baby. Susana wiped the baby clean with a towel while the midwife let the umbilical cord cease pulsing.