Part VII

Helen would be leaving in another week and they were no closer now to getting her mother to liking John than they were the day her mother arrived. As Anna hung some clothes to dry on the line in the yard she wondered if it would be better to just tell her about the pregnancy now. Maybe if she knew she was going to be a grandmother soon, she would be so overcome with excitement, she would forget all about her misgivings towards John. It was a long shot, but it might be worth a try. Anna bent over to pick up another piece of laundry from the basket and removed one of the clothespins from her apron and reached up to put John's shirt on the line. As she went to grab the second clothespin to hang the other sleeve she felt a sharp pain shoot through her back. The pain was so overwhelming she dropped the clothespin in the grass to touch her hand to her back. But just as quickly as it happened the pain disappeared.

Anna wiped at her brow, finished the load, and went back indoors to have a seat, thinking she had worked herself too hard. She pulled a rubber ice cap bottle from the ice box in the kitchen and set it against her back as she sat in her rocking chair. Her mother sat on the settee sewing something for herself; Anna removed a small blanket she had been working on for the baby from her knitting basket. How ironic that in such a tiny sitting room there seemed to be all this space that kept them apart.

"Are you feeling alright?" her mother asked with concern etched on her face.

"A little tired, but I'll be fine. Why?" Anna asked.

Her mother took in her daughter's appearance. "You look very pale and you look as though you are running a fever," Helen noticed.

"It was warm outside. I just over did it with the chores this morning," Anna explained with a smile.

"Is that a blanket you are working on?" she inquired.

"Yes," Anna answered with a hint of pride. "Do you like it?"

"I do. But why are you working on a blanket? It's not exactly cold this time of year," her mother pointed out

Maybe now was the time to break the news to her mother. "No, it's not. But…" Anna stopped mid-sentence and her brows furrowed together as her eyes screwed shut. This time the pain seemed to travel from her back to her lower abdomen. She let out a small whoosh of air from her lips and felt the pain pass. She had become accustomed to morning sickness but this was a new sensation that she had not yet experienced.

"Anna, I've been meaning to speak with you about our disagreement the other day," Helen said as she set her knitting down and scooted closer to Anna. She placed her hand on Anna's knee and tried to talk some sense into her only daughter. "It's not that John isn't a good man. But you deserve more." The silence was deafening as Anna sat there staring at her mother in shock. "Consider your options."

"Options?" Anna asked, repeating her mother's words. She couldn't believe she was being pulled into this conversation.

"You don't have children tying you to him and he's already divorced. So divorcing John wouldn't hurt your status or name any more than it already has been." Her daughter stared at her blankly. "You could start over somewhere else. Maybe meet a nice, young man with a steady job."

Anna sat there quietly, processing everything her mother had just said. Still reeling from the idea that her mother would even suggest a divorce was an option. Her mother prattled on a little longer before Anna burst out of her chair. "That's enough! I love him mother. Nothing you say or do will change that. I wish you could see him the way I do. I wanted so badly for father to be around to give me away and for you and David to bear witness to our wedding day."

"Your father? Give you away? Anna your father is probably rolling in his grave right now!" her mother raised her voice.

Anna's lip began to tremble at her mother's words but she stood her ground and continued where she had left off. "Your absence didn't make it any less special. The man who loves me more than anyone or anything in the world was there. If you will not give me your blessing I will be heartbroken but I will not be alone. John and I are each other's family now." Anna grabbed the ice pack and went up to her room to lie down. Once she was behind closed doors she cried until there were no more tears; until sleep took hold of her.

The next thing Anna knew she was being shaken awake by her mother. There was a dark haze in her peripheral vision and her mother standing before her, appeared fuzzy. She could barely make out what she was saying until she heard, "Anna? Anna, sweetheart, are you alright?"

"Moth-, mother?" Anna asked but her voice was barely audible even to her. Her vision sharpened and her mother came into focus and suddenly Anna had become very aware of the stabbing pain in her abdomen. She wasn't sure what it was her mother was looking at, but the terror on Helen's face was evident and it made Anna panic. She was huddled into a ball on the mattress and clutching at the sheets as the pain was becoming more persistent. As she did so, she felt something damp beneath her; when she looked down she realized she was bleeding badly. "The...the baby…" Anna said as her face contorted in pain.

"What?" her mother asked unsure if she had heard Anna correctly. Her daughter appeared pale and her eyes glazed over as she spoke to her.

"John. I need John," Anna replied in a ragged voice as another stabbing pain surged through her.

John was sorting through his Lordship's collars to send to the poor in Africa when he heard a rather abrupt and arrhythmic knock at the back door. He was about to rise from his chair to answer it when he remembered that Thomas had just gotten up to take his usual smoking break in the courtyard; he could see to the visitor. Thomas's voice echoed from down the corridor that led from the door to the servants hall, "What do you want pipsqueak?"

"Is Mr. Bates here?" the boy asked.

"Who wants to know?" Thomas questioned the boy further.

"Please, it's about Mrs. Bates," he answered back sounding winded. "My mother is calling on the doctor, she told me to run here as fast as I could to fetch him."

No sooner had the words left his mouth that the news was regarding Anna, had John jumped from his chair to get to the door. Thomas heard the familiar tapping of John's cane against the cobblestone tiles and turned his attention to the valet with a look of concern. He flicked his barely lit cigarette outdoors and said to Mr. Bates, "I'll have them bring the car around and try ringing up Dr. Clarkson."

John's heart was beating rapidly as he considered every possible scenario that could have occurred. He searched the boys eyes for any indication of what had gone wrong, but young Timothy Chirk looked just as clueless as he did. Was it worth waiting on the car? Perhaps he could get to the cottage faster if he left now. He heard Mrs. Hughes pass Thomas in the hallway and exchange some words. Before he could process what was happening, the housekeeper was offering to come back with him to the cottage. As the car pulled around to the front of the house he heard Mr. Carson say that Dr. Clarkson would meet them there if he hadn't already reached Anna. John nodded automatically, but in truth he couldn't think of anything but Anna and the baby.

John entered the cottage with a boom. He was like a caged animal searching frantically for anything that looked familiar that would give him some sign of comfort. He saw their neighbor, Mrs. Chirk standing there with her other son, Paul. He wanted to ask what everyone was standing around for and what had happened to Anna, but the sound of his wife's moans quickly filled the air. Without hesitation John began to ascend the stairs with Mrs. Hughes following in his wake.

When they arrived upstairs Anna was almost unrecognizable and their bed looked like it was covered in blood. She hadn't even registered John and Mrs. Hughes presence in the room as they walked in. Her mother emerged from the washroom with some towels and attempted to hold Anna's hand, but his wife simply shoved her hand away. The action did not go unnoticed by John, but he didn't have the time to deal with Anna's mother. He watched as Mrs. Smith sank back against the wall shaking her head in horror, "I didn't even know she was with child."

He sat on the side of the bed, "Anna, love? What happened my darling? Tell me what to do." Anna couldn't even answer him, instead she squeezed his hand and continued to cry. John placed a kiss on his wife's forehead and cheek and felt a stray tear from her eyes mix with his own. Her face was so pale and her eyes didn't have the same light to them that he had seen only a few hours earlier when he set off for work. "It'll be alright, the doctor will be here soon," he said unsure of himself as the minutes ticked by. John was no doctor but he was certain that this wasn't normal and he knew that the longer it went on the less chance there was that this would end well. He tried to remain calm as he felt her squeeze his hand more tightly and she cried more hysterically telling him something wasn't right. His voice was bordering on frantic as he tried to grasp for any words that might make the situation easier. "What could possibly be taking the doctor so long to arrive?" he asked himself.

John sat there helplessly taking the towels from the stack Helen had brought in and attempted to clean Anna up as best he could. Mrs. Hughes set about filling a pitcher with some warm water and brought it back upstairs. She smoothed Anna's mussed up hair from her face and told her to take deep breaths and drink some water. A few minutes later Doctor Clarkson arrived with an attending nurse and shooed John from the room.

John stood in the hallway and was surprised a few seconds later when Helen came out to join him. They both headed down stairs and noticed that Mrs. Chirk had already left. John continued to stand and listen to Anna's moans as they ripped through the walls and shattered his heart bit by bit. He feared that she was losing the baby, but worst of all he feared he was losing her. John never had much use for faith, but as he stood there in his empty sitting room listening to the painful cries of the woman he loved he prayed to any god that would listen. He rubbed at the back of his neck nervously as he paced a hole into the floorboards for what seemed like hours until he heard silence and then the click of the door. John wished harder than he ever had before for his wife and child to come through this unscathed...for all of their sakes.