Ella Kennedy Hedgecock stared out the window with envy. She was glancing outside in jealousy, because the proper thing to do in her situation was not to be seen. Ella was a widow, her husband dying barely 8 months previous, because of this, Ella couldn't go outside. Ella also was pregnant, another reason that she was kept inside her house.
Ella wished she could go for a walk down the streets of New Orleans, she wished she could go to the stores, look around, enjoy herself, but she was trapped inside her house. Ella looked out the window, then turned around, and decided to look upstairs in her small library. By now, she had gone through each of the books at least twice, with no one in the house to talk to except for servants, but the servants, except for a few looked at Ella as though she was a fragile piece of china.
Ella was in her ninth month. She was going to have the baby before too long. According to one of the servants, Azalea, who Ella was certain was going to be her baby's mammy, she was carrying low, so she was with a girl. Azalea had been through quite a few births, and had been a mammy before. Ella did feel confident in trusting Azalea, even though in New Orleans she had heard whispers of murderous servants, Azalea didn't seem to be one of them.
Ella grabbed David Copperfield from her shelf, and decided to read through it again. This would be the third time that Ella read through the book, but Ella had nothing else to do.
Ella took David Copperfield into her room, it was more comfortable to read on the bed than it was on the chair right now. Ella read through the pages, and Ella found she couldn't concentrate. She had a hard time getting comfortable, and there was this odd feeling in her back. She closed the book and placed it on the table next to her bed, and she decided that she should lay down to help her back.
Ella closed her eyes, and she hoped it would help, but it didn't seem to. The pain became more intense, and it went through more than her back. Ella then realized what was happening when she received several sharp pains in her lower mid-section. "Azalea!" Ella screamed. Almost instantly, Azalea burst into the room. Azalea saw Ella laying in the position and she instantly knew. "Hang on, Miss Ella." She said quite calmly. "Patsy! Get in here this instant!" Patsy was a 16 year old girl, Patsy came into the room almost lazily. "Patsy, go down and get Mrs. Barrett, and tell her that Miss Ella is having her baby." Patsy's eyes widened and surprised, and she took off from the room.
Ella had a sharp pain in her back, and she threw her back up in a vain attempt to relieve the pain. Azalea went to her side, and helped Ella up. Azalea took Ella and helped her get into a nightgown. Ella's pains were increasing. Mrs. Barrett came into the door with Mrs. Dodd. Mrs. Barrett lived down the street from Ella. She was an older woman, her husband had died in the war, and she was friendly with most everyone in the neighborhood. Mrs. Barrett was an experienced midwife, and had been through many births. Mrs. Dodd was Mrs. Barrett's friend, she lived a ways away from Mrs. Barrett, and she had delivered as many babies as Mrs. Barrett.
Mrs. Barrett looked at Ella and then sharply yelled something at Azalea, but Ella was too distracted to hear or even care what she said. She was going through a particular moment of sharp pain in her pelvis area.
Mrs. Barrett, Mrs. Dodd, and Azalea all were in the room with Ella. Her body ached and went through pain. They all did various things and told her to do various things, but they might as well have been speaking in a foreign language that Ella heard and cared to hear.
Ella went through pain, horrible pain, which felt as though searing-hot pincers had attached themselves all over her midsection. After awhile, Mrs. Barrett and Mrs. Dodd kept on yapping on about something that it irritated her so much as to scream "Quiet!" They stopped talking so much after that.
After an enormous amount of pain, Ella was sweating terribly, but after one final push and a piercing scream, Mrs. Barrett handed Ella a tiny little baby boy. Ella looked at him, wondering how something so beautiful could've caused her so much pain. Ella had gone through terrible pain, and now, all of it was gone, with a joy of ecstasy. Ella recalled Aunt Suellen saying in the past that there was no joy greater than a mother holding her newborn baby.
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Ella had intended on naming her baby if it was boy Frank after her father, who she knew must've been a gentleman. However once Ella took a look at her newborn son, Frank somehow just didn't suit him. She thought hard about what to name her son, and she decided upon Simon. Simon Frank Hedgecock was Ella's baby's name.
Author's Note: I am sorry that this took so long to get up, but I've been terribly busy, and have just finished writing this chapter, and planning the rest of the story. Let me ask you something that I cannot decide for myself, should Ella, A. Have a little relationship with Beau Wilkes, B. Have a little relationship with someone else, at this point I'm thinking someone along the lines of Rhett, or C. No one at all.
Also: Here's a little foreshadowing of the next chapter, what you have all been BUGGING ME ABOUT: Scarlett will be coming into the next chapter.