Chapter 14 - A Seed of An Idea
"Jane? Jane?" the voice called out, all weak and tired. Jane turned from the fireplace, a jug filled with hot water in her hands.
"I'm coming!" she called out and ran to the tall four-poster bed at the other end of the room, draped with rich brocade curtains. She could not see the woman in the bed for it was surrounded by women, young and old, a midwife and a doctor. She heard the doctor shout for forceps as she managed to push her way through the throng. "I'm here," she cried as she grasped the young woman's hand, "I'm here Hettie!"
The woman lying in the bed looked as a pale as a corpse. Her hair damply clung to her face, her skin possessing a waxy tinge and the skin under her eyes a dark purple, almost black with fatigue. "Jane," the woman said pitifully, "it hurts so much. Please make it stop, please, please make it stop."
"You're going to be fine Hettie," Jane insisted as she squeezed the cold, almost lifeless hand, "it will be over soon and you will be holding your baby in your arms any minute."
The girl's eyelids slowly fluttered and her breathing became laboured and raspy. "Hettie!" Jane cried as the girl's face relaxed and the rasped breathing stopped.
"I'm so sorry Mrs Stanford, I'm afraid that the baby is dead too," she heard the doctor tell the sobbing older woman sitting on the other side of the bed. Jane's eyes widened as she turned to see that the doctor's forearms and hands were red with blood! She looked down and screamed as the whole bed and its white cotton sheets were drenched in blood and dripping into puddles on the floor! Blood …so much blood!
"Jane! Jane!" Tarzan cried as Jane suddenly sat bolt upright, her eyes wide open and her heart pounding wildly in her chest!
"What's the matter? What's wrong?" he exclaimed anxiously, cupping her face in his hands, "You were screaming in your sleep!" Jane rubbed her eyes and looked around and recognised the quiet and peaceful jungle surrounding their nest.
"I'm, I'm fine. I just had a bad dream that's all. A little nightmare, nothing to worry about."
"Are you sure? What you were you dreaming about?"
"Oh I just dreamt that I was riding my old horse Samson," she lied quickly, "he tripped over a mole hill and I took a nasty tumble. Landed in a ditch and broke my neck."
"I know what will cheer you up," Tarzan said later on as they were having breakfast. Jane shook her head as he offered her some fruit; the dream had completely killed her appetite. "Terk and Gobu have asked me to teach Keke how to vine swing today. You haven't done it in a while so I thought you might want join in, get a refresher lesson."
"I'm sorry darling," Jane smiled as she wiped the sticky fruit juice off his face, "I promised Daddy that I would help him in starting his memoirs today."
"Memoirs? What are memoirs?"
"Memoirs are records of life events. Daddy is writing his life story, before and after he decided to live here in the jungle."
"Sounds fascinating! Maybe I should write my own memoirs! Do you think people will read them Jane?"
"My dear you would be a best seller in a heartbeat!" Jane laughed, "Who wouldn't want to read the tales of a handsome wild ape-man!"
"Handsome?" Tarzan raised an eyebrow in mock suspicion, "Are the men in England handsome Jane?"
"Oh yes," she teased him, "but none of them compare to you by a country mile my love."
"Jane is the most beautiful woman in the world!" Tarzan proclaimed as he puffed out his chest in pride.
"In the whole world! Tarzan you have never even seen another woman! There are countless women who are more beautiful than me!"
"No," Tarzan's face suddenly became serious, "Jane is the most beautiful. Jane is the best." Jane couldn't help her heart melting by his sweet and innocent accolade.
"My dear sweet husband, you are the most stubborn man I have ever met!" Jane leaned in and the young couple shared a long and affectionate kiss.
"Ah Janey-Jane! You're here!" Archimedes hugged his daughter as she entered the treehouse later that morning.
"Morning Daddy, I see that you have everything set up." Jane smiled as she saw that on the rosewood desk was a pile of neatly stacked paper alongside a pot of ink, pens and the typewriter.
"Righty ho, let's get this ship sailing!" Archimedes enthused as he pulled out the chair for his daughter. Jane slotted a piece of paper into the typewriter and stretched her fingers. She often helped her father take down records of his experiments and typed up countless reports when they lived in England, so these memoirs should be a doddle.
Archimedes cleared his throat and began dictating the opening of his memoirs. Jane typed away, her fingers nimbly hitting the keys, words flowing easily onto the paper. When she slid the carriage across she looked up and saw that the woman from her dream was standing in the doorway. "Jane, Jane," the woman moaned pitifully as she held out a cold limp hand, "help me, help me please!" Jane's eyes widened as she saw that the bottom of the girl's lace trimmed nightgown was soaked with blood!
"Jane?" Archimedes had noticed that there was no longer a clacking sound and turned round to see that his daughter had stopped typing, her eyes staring into space. "Jane?" he placed a hand on her shoulder, making her jump out of her skin!
"Oh sorry Daddy," Jane shook her head and saw that the woman had vanished. "I must have slipped into a daydream."
"Jane, is something you want to tell me?" Archimedes knelt down beside her and put his hands on hers. "How long have you known?" his keen eye noticed Jane looking down anxiously at her belly.
"I have missed two of my courses," Jane finally admitted, "my breasts are tender but have no sickness to speak of." It seemed so odd, almost funny to her that she waited for over a year for the first baby which she miscarried and then got pregnant straight after making love with her husband for the first time after their loss. Jane didn't know whether it was meant to be, a joy to celebrate or some dreadful trick to fear. A cruel joke that would turn on her when she least expected it. She was a whirlwind of emotions, ecstatic that she was with child again but deathly afraid that it would be untimely snatched away from her like with her poor little boy, her poor lost son.
"Oh Jane you must be so happy," Archimedes enthused but then saw her face. "You are, aren't you?"
"Oh yes, yes I am," Jane quickly nodded, "I want this more than anything. I haven't told Tarzan yet, I didn't want to get his hopes up in case... it happens again."
"Jane dear, there is no evidence to suggest that you cannot carry a baby to full term after a miscarriage."
"No, it's not just that Daddy. What about the birth itself? It will be life or death for me and the odds are not stacked in my favour!"
"Jane, we will take good care of you. I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you."
"I dreamt about Hettie last night," Jane suddenly blurted out. "She was one of my dearest friends, she had one of the finest doctors in London attending her and she bled to death! I am in the jungle alone with nothing!" Archimedes didn't know what to say. Jane was right; too many women died in childbirth and their unusual circumstances probably did not aid their situation.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now let's just concentrate on you having a healthy pregnancy." Jane twisted her fingers together before nodding reluctantly.
"I won't tell Tarzan just yet. I'll wait and see if I miss a third course, just to be sure."
A while later, Jane and Archimedes were sitting out on the balcony enjoying a well-earned rest as the sun slowly lowered in the sky. They had accomplished a lot that day; they had finished typing up the first chapter and also nearly finished drafting the second. Archimedes decided that this called for a treat and made them a pot of tea, using some of the tea leaves that they carefully rationed.
"You know dear," Archimedes said wistfully as they sipped their tea, "I have always thought that a game of croquet and a spot of afternoon tea in a garden on an English summer's day cannot be beaten…but boy was I wrong!" Jane nodded as she swallowed the soothing hot liquid. Her father was right, despite her concerns over the baby and the birth; she had absolutely no regrets over choosing to stay in Africa.
"You're right Daddy," she sighed happily, "who needs heaven when we are in this paradise on earth!"
A moment later they heard a swishing sound and a second later Tarzan landed on the balcony rail. "Good evening Tarzan!" Archimedes beamed as Jane got up and greeted her husband with a peck on the lips.
"Good evening Professor, how are the memoirs coming along?"
"Oh splendidly my boy! We have made a lot of headway! Jane has been amazing, couldn't have done it without her." Jane couldn't help but blush at her father's praise. Tarzan put his arm around her waist and gave her an affectionate squeeze. He loved it when she blushed, she looked so adorable with her flushed pink cheeks.
"I have a surprise for you," he said to Jane, pulling a sack style bag off his back and took out a large red crab. "I thought you two would be hungry so I caught some food after Keke's lesson," he said proudly as he put it back in the bag with the others.
"Why thank you Tarzan," Jane smiled, touched at his thoughtful gesture, "I'll go and cook these now."
"That's most kind of you Tarzan," Archimedes added with a wicked grin, "it's not every day a husband gives his wife crabs!" Tarzan's face furrowed in confusion as his wife and father-in-law almost collapsed with hysterical laughter, unaware that Archimedes had made a rather saucy joke!
Jane placed the crabs confidently into the pot of water boiling on the range whilst Tarzan and her father chatted away at the dining table. As a daughter of a highly respected professor Jane grew up having to live and breathe the qualities and attributes expected for a fine lady. Her life with her husband Tarzan in the jungle had certainly killed off any squeamishness. "If my English friends could see me now, they would have a fit!" she thought. As she served the hot steaming crabs, Jane noticed that the men were looking at maps of the area and a bud of an idea formed in her mind. Even though the crabmeat was succulent and sweet, Jane wished that they had some melted butter to go on top and she couldn't keep her idea to herself any longer.
"Daddy, how far away is the nearest port?" she asked whilst stopping Tarzan from accidentally eating the dead man's fingers.
"Umm I say about 200 miles north up the coast," Archimedes replied, looking at the map with a magnifying glass.
"Why?" Tarzan teased, "Are you sick of the jungle already?" Even though he was jesting, his heart pounded nervously at the thought of Jane wanting to leave.
"I was thinking of going there to get some supplies. It would be good to get more tea, coffee, sugar, stationery, medicine etcetera. I also thought we could get some seeds."
"Seeds?"
"To grow fruits and vegetables. I thought I could grow some of the things that Daddy and I ate back in England. You know potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, beans and so on. I also thought we could get some chickens and goats, and then we can have eggs, milk, cheese and butter."
"Jane that is a most splendid idea!" Archimedes enthused, "No offence Tarzan as much as I love eating fruit and termites it would be nice to have a boiled egg now and again!"
Tarzan nodded understandably. He had noticed that the Professor and Jane were slowly running out of their 'English' supplies, Jane trying to find more and more creative ways of making their food go a lot further. He wanted to make Jane happy and if that meant getting things that reminded her of her old home then he would travel a thousand miles to get them for her.
"We can take Tantor," he suggested, "then we don't have to walk most of the time and he can help carry the stuff back."
"Fantastic!" Archimedes exclaimed excitedly, "When were you thinking of going Jane?"
"As soon as possible, before the bab- before the supplies completely run out." Jane held in a sigh of relief as her husband continued to eat, completely unaware of her deception. She hated lying to Tarzan but she wanted to be absolutely sure of her condition before telling him.