Jo and Beth arrived for their visit with Meg to find a red-haired woman sitting on the sofa, holding two infants. The woman looked up as they entered the house, and Jo gasped as she saw that she had a black eye.
"These are my sisters, Jo and Beth," said Meg. "And this is Rosalyn McFerrin. She and her children are staying with us until they can find a place of their own."
Jo saw that five children, ranging in age from about seven to about two, were raising a ruckus in the living room. The one girl, who looked to be maybe three or four and had red hair like her mother, was playing patty cake with Johnny and Daisy.
"Your babies are adorable!" Beth said to Rosalyn. "How old are they?"
Rosalyn smiled.
"Three months. This is Jeremy, and this is Jonathan. Would you like to hold one of them?"
"Oh, yes!" Gingerly, Beth gathered Jeremy into her arms without awakening him.
"Come on, sit down." Meg sat beside the woman on the sofa, and Jo and Beth sat on her other side. "As you know, I volunteer at the shelter for battered women on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was helping with the laundry when Rosalyn came in with her kids. They didn't have extra beds for them, so I offered to let them stay with us."
Awfully nice of you! Since when did you start taking in strays? Jo thought to herself, but then she remembered the Metzgers hiding behind the wall and instantly felt guily for her thoughts.
"It's awfully nice of you to help, but where are you gonna put all these kids?" she asked instead.
Meg nodded toward several inflatable mattresses lined up against the living room wall.
"Rosalyn and the babies sleep on one, and the older kids share the others."
"Since I breastfeed the twins, I can reach them easily throughout the night," Rosalyn explained.
"Isn't it amazing?" Meg added. "Your body produces just the right amount of milk you need, so even if you have twins, there's plenty for both of them."
Jo had to blink back tears as she remembered nursing Paul and Freddy.
"I just can't wait to have a baby of my own!" Beth enthused.
Can a woman with a heart transplant carry a baby to term and give birth? Jo wondered to herself, but said nothing.
Rosalyn got a dreamy look in her eyes. "It's the most wonderful experience there is."
Just then, the two oldest boys began to fight.
"Aidan! Brennan! Stop that right now!" Rosalyn ordered.
"Make me," Aidan sneered.
"I'm gonna get Daddy to beat you up," Brennan added.
"Don't you talk to Mommy that way!" his sister protested.
Rosalyn handed Jonathan to Meg and stood up.
"All right, both of you in the corner, right now!" she barked. Grabbing each little boy by one arm, she led first Aidan, then Brennan, to opposite corners.
Dieter would have spanked both boys, Jo reflected, marveling at how child discipline had changed over seventy years.
Returning to her seat, Rosalyn retrieved Jonathan, who let out a thin wail. Jeremy awakened at about the same time, and Beth handed him to his mother, who began to nurse both boys.
Jo and Beth stayed with Meg and her guests most of that day. After a few hours, John arrived home and greeted his sisters-in-law and children, then disappeared into the yard.
Jo listened, captivated, as Rosalyn related her story while all the children were napping.
"I was born to a single mother," she said. "My older sister Sabrina is from my Mom's first marriage, but I don't know who my father is. Mom once told me it could have been any of seven different guys."
"Wow!" What a slut! Jo thought to herself, remembering Dieter's sermons on sexual sins.
"That must have been difficult for you," she said.
"Oh, it was!" Rosalyn paired baby booties and folded burping cloths as she talked. "I've always wanted to know who my father is more than anything else in the world. I've always been so jealous of Sabrina. Her Dad would come pick her up every other weekend, and they'd do something special together, but I'd be left there alone with Mom. I used to just cry and cry."
"How awful." Jo felt terrible for Rosalyn.
"How about you?" asked Rosalyn. "Did you grow up with both parents?"
"Yes. There were three of us girls. I'm in the middle. Meg's the oldest, and Beth's the youngest."
Rosalyn gave a wistful smile.
"That must have been nice."
"We were blessed." Jo felt awkward, unsure of how to relate to this obviously troubled young woman. "So you have seven kids!"
"Yeah. Six boys and one girl."
"And their Dad's not around anymore." Jo was curious about Rosayn's situation but didn't want to sound nosy.
Rosalyn rolled her eyes.
"Oh, he's around, all right. He gave me this shiner. That's when I left him and went to the shelter. I'm going to court to see about getting a restraining order against him."
"But don't you have any family who can help you?" asked Jo.
Rosalyn shook her head.
"Mom and Sabrina are still in California. We moved here to be near Doug's aunt and uncle after he lost his job. I don't know anybody else here. Your sister seems so sweet. I don't know what I would have done if it hadn't been for her."
Looking into the other woman's pale blue eyes, Jo was swept back in time to the memory of Elsa, the forlorn housewife crippled by the bombing in Berlin.
Suddenly the sound of a tussle, followed by a scream, came from just outside the house. A wave of panic swept over Rosalyn's face as she began to search for a hiding place.