Yellow Wife(13)

Aunt Hope sent me to the smokehouse to fetch the pork drippings, right after I had finished bathing and washing my own clothes. Now I would have the smell of smoke in my hair. I had just placed a small sample of meat between my lips when I heard the plantation bell. One. Two.

I lifted the left side of my skirt while balancing the meat in my right palm, walking swiftly past the garden and over to the side of the house to hear the announcement. When I got there, I saw that Lovie had rung the bell. She beckoned me over and whispered.

“Pheby, Missus needin’ you directly. Massa’s carriage been spotted. He on his way home.” She beamed.

I tucked the meat under a cloth and dropped it off in the scullery. My heart thudded against my chest as I bounded quickly up the narrow steps, then took three seconds at Missus’s bedroom door to steady my breath before entering. When I walked in, she threw a fork at me and it hit me in the arm. I bit my lip so as to not yell out.

“Why are you always moving to your own time? Get down my green dress now.”

“I do not think that one still fits.” I gestured to her protruding belly. According to Lovie’s calculation, Missus had about another month and a half to go before the baby would arrive.

That did not leave Essex much time.

“Did I ask for your wretched opinion?” She moved to slap me but I sidestepped it, then dropped down to the floor as if I were searching for her shoes. Bruises already paraded up and down my arms from her constant hits and pinches. Gave me a mind to push her down the stairs to help get rid of the baby, and all of Essex’s problems with it.

Lovie appeared in the doorway. “Missus.”

“Maybe you can help me change, since Ninny does not know her head from a doorknob.” She pursed her lips.

“Somethin’ wrong…”

“What is it?”

“There been an accident. Parrott had to leave Massa at the doctor’s house nearin’ your parents’ farm.”

“Is Jacob all right?” Missus stood wringing her hands like she did not know what to do next. Lovie took Missus by the elbow and ushered her down into a chair, then started fanning her. I poured a glass of water from the pitcher, but Missus would not take it. If Master suffered an injury, then what about Mama?

“Go ask Aunt Hope to make Missus a cuppa strong tea.” Lovie made her eyes big at me and mouthed, “It’s Ruth.”

On my toes was the best way to run through the house without producing a sound that would further wreck Missus’s nerves. I flew from the front door and down the stairs. When I got to the carriage, Parrott had Mama in his arms and was carrying her across the lawn toward the loom house.

“Mama?”

“She hurt,” Parrott called over his shoulder. He heaved Mama up the ladder and placed her on the bed.

“Tell me what happened,” I urged Parrott. He looked like the trip had aged him. A fistful of gray had sprouted in his beard. He lowered himself down in Mama’s chair.

“We were coming through Jamestown and out of nowhere came two wild horses. Spook’t our horses and they took off runnin’. We hit a ditch and the wheel pop off. Massa and Ruth thrown from the carriage. I held on by the streng’t a God. Happened so fast.”

“Tell me what to do.” I leaned down to Mama, her face twisted in pain.

“Give me a sip from the brown jar.”

The brown jar was Mama’s strongest medicine. The thought of giving it to her scared me, but then I noticed the smell. The scent of infected flesh burned through my nose and turned my stomach over. Mama’s right leg was cut from the top of her thigh to below her knee. I covered my mouth to keep from choking.

“How long she been like this?”

“Two days. Rode as fast I could after fixin’ the wagon.”

“Feel like gangrene,” Mama breathed. “Get camphor from the shelf.” I left Mama’s side long enough to locate the bottle.

“Pour till it bubble.”

Once the wound was cleaned, I remembered what I needed to wrap it with.

“Be back directly.”

There was yarrow growing alongside the stone fence in Missus’s garden. Mama had told me the plant worked wonders in drawing out infection. I stuffed as many as I could in my pocket and had two fistfuls in my hands when I heard Lovie shouting my name. I looked up, and she had pushed her head through Missus’s bedroom window.

“Make haste!”

I dropped the yarrow that did not fit in my pockets and sprinted up to Missus Delphina’s bedroom. Lovie stood over Missus with a cloth to her head as she squirmed in the bed.

“Baby coming early. Needin’ you to help deliver it.”

“What about the doctor?”

“Missus said she ain’t want a doctor. Gotta be you,” Lovie said, and narrowed her eyes in a way that let me know she was aware of the trouble.

I had attended many births with Mama but had never delivered one alone without her help. I tried to ease the panic growing in my chest. If I stayed here delivering Missus’s baby, then who would care for Mama? Her wound was wide open. Missus moaned, and I had no choice but to wash my hands and feel for the baby. I shoved my fingers and then my arm inside of her but did not touch the head.

She groaned louder. “Get it out.”

“Soon, Missus,” I assured her.