The House of Eve (93)
On Saturday, we were loaded into the white van and driven a short distance to the Catholic church. There we waxed the floors, polished the pews and cleaned the bathrooms, readying the space for Sunday Mass. When we were finished, we had to get back down on our sore knees and pray for our sins. I prayed for Grace.
Because I was the only Negro girl in the basement, I slept apart from the other lifers, on a cot in the damp hallway where the pipes hissed all night. I imagined it was where Georgia Mae had slept during her sentence. I hoped the man she worked for wouldn’t touch her again, but I also knew that hope had never gotten any of us very far.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO GREEN
Eleanor
The moment they stepped foot in the kitchen, Wilhelmina’s cries went from a fuss to an all-out wail.
“She must be hungry.” Eleanor handed the baby over to William. “I’ll make up the formula.”
Wilhelmina stretched out in William’s arms. He glanced at Eleanor with a look that said he had no idea what to do with her.
“Just walk and rock her,” she called over her shoulder.
The movement settled Wilhelmina for a few minutes but then she would howl again. Already, the sound of her hunger had stirred an instinct in Eleanor to soothe her, and she moved swiftly throughout the kitchen. She got to work mixing thirteen ounces of evaporated milk with nineteen ounces of water. She then spooned in one tablespoon of corn syrup. After it was all mixed together, she divided the formula into several bottles that she stored in the refrigerator. She placed the remaining bottle in the Evenflo baby warmer that she had purchased for one dollar and eighty-nine cents through the mail-order catalogue. All the reviews had called the warmer a lifesaver.
Eleanor tested the milk on the back of her hand and then reached for the baby, who was red in the face from hollering. She put the nipple in her mouth, and in a matter of seconds, Wilhelmina had settled down. Eleanor’s shoulders relaxed as she moved into the den and nestled into the pillows on the settee.
“I better get some sleep since I have to report to the hospital in a few hours. You two going to be all right?”
Eleanor didn’t glance up at him, but she mumbled that they would be fine.
* * *
William seemed to work even longer hours once Wilhelmina arrived. He said because he was only a resident, his request for time off had been denied. Eleanor filed his deception in the back of her mind; keeping up with the care of her new daughter took all her mental fortitude.
Willa, as Eleanor had dubbed her, cried constantly, no matter what Eleanor did to soothe her. Forty-eight hours in, Eleanor already felt like she was failing at motherhood. When Willa bawled, it took everything in Eleanor not to sit down on the floor and cry, too. Eleanor worried that Willa knew that she was not her mother, and was shouting out for “Eve,” the woman whom she belonged to.
* * *
Gifts had started to arrive as the news spread of Willa’s birth. Mrs. Porter had sent over a hand-knitted quilt with matching baby booties. Nadine sent a fussy dress for Willa and a bottle of perfume for Eleanor, with a note that said, “Don’t sit around smelling like throw up, Ohio. Remember your man!”
Eleanor’s mother was over the moon about the birth of the baby, but she and Eleanor’s father would have to put off their trip to D.C. for a few weeks. On Sunday she had phoned to tell Eleanor that there was a shortage of employees at her father’s factory, and he couldn’t take off until February at best.
Caring for the house and a baby was more exhausting than Eleanor had imagined, and by their third afternoon together, coffee no longer had an effect on her. Eleanor was hanging on by a thread. The phone rang and she rocked the baby to her chest while she answered it.
“How’s my favorite girls?” William asked.
“She’s just quieting down after another crying spell. You think she’s colicky?”
“I’ll take a look at her when I get home.”
“When will that be?” Eleanor asked, knowing she needed a shower.
“Soon. My parents just returned from their medical conference in Baltimore. They’re dropping by with dinner for us.”
Eleanor’s jaw tightened. “The house is in shambles.”
“They don’t care about the mess. No one expects everything to be spotless with a newborn at home.”
Rose did.
“They’re just anxious to spend time with Wilhelmina. We’ve been keeping her all to ourselves.”
“It’s only been three days.”
“Elly, they want to bond with her, too.”
“All of a sudden you can make it home in time for dinner?” she retorted.
William paused. “Babe, don’t be like that. I’m leaving the hospital by five. I’ll help you soon as I get home.”
Eleanor wanted to protest, but she simply didn’t have it in her. She had not even combed her hair since Wilhelmina arrived. The last thing she wanted to do was host William’s parents, but she had little choice in the matter. They were set to arrive at five thirty, and when Willa finally settled down for an afternoon nap, it was four fifteen.
Deciding that a shower was more important than tidying up, Eleanor hauled the baby’s basket into the bathroom with her and turned on the hot water. When she was clean, she stepped out of the bathroom with a towel tucked around her body and the basket with Willa in her arms. She dressed in a simple pair of black slacks with a beige button-down blouse.