Maude by Donna Mabry

anything to discourage James
about it being a boy. All men wanted sons, especially
the firstborn, but in my heart I already knew it would
be a girl. I hoped it would look like my mother and
share Faith’s blonde curls.
That night, when I undressed, I held my palm
against my stomach. I closed my eyes and imagined
my baby could hear my voice. “I’m going to love you
and take care of you the best I know how. I’m going to
make you little dresses and gowns with flowers
stitched on them, and when your hair gets long
enough, if it doesn’t curl on its own, I’m going to wind
it up in curls every night.” I patted my tummy and the
precious life inside it and smiled to myself. I was so
happy.
The morning sickness passed in a few weeks. I
was grateful I didn’t suffer with it the way Helen had,
almost until the end of her time. After a while, my
clothes began to tug across my middle. I had taken to
lifting the waistline a little to ease the pull. James’s
mother brought me some big aprons and some new
fabric.
“If you wear an apron you don’t have to button
your dress in the middle, and that will get you through
part of the time. I brought you this fabric for an early
birthday present. There’s enough here that you can
make yourself two dresses to wear for later, when you
get too big for the ones you have. After the baby
comes, you can cut them over to make regular
dresses.”
I was so thankful. I had never in my life had two
new dresses at one time. I would have one to wear and
one to wash. I hugged my mother-in-law with a tear in
my eye. “You’re so good to me. Thank you so much.”
Mom Connor patted me on the back, “You’re a
good girl, Maude. I can see that James is happy with
you. You keep a clean house, and you’re a good cook,
and my boy goes around with a smile on his face. I
couldn’t ask for more than that from any daughter-inlaw.”
I couldn’t help but grin from ear-to-ear. It felt
good to be appreciated. I’d heard how some girls hated
their husband’s mother. I felt I must be the luckiest
wife in the world.
It was a mild winter that year. Snow dusted the
ground but didn’t stay long. It didn’t take much to heat
the cabin, but James kept the firewood bin filled
anyway. One day he brought home a smooth, wide
plank about eight feet long. He propped it up on the
front porch while he unfolded a brown paper pattern
and drew the outline of it on the wood, then he cut
around the lines, sanded the edges, and put the pieces
together. I’d wrapped myself with a blanket over my
coat so I could sit outside and watch him. He wouldn’t
tell me what he was up to, but it wasn’t long before I
figured it out. It was a cradle for the baby. I was so
proud of him. I’d had no idea he could do such a thing.
He held it up in front of me. “That ought to hold him
for a while.”
“It’s wonderful!” I said. “I love it.”
James took his time smoothing out the rough
edges of the wood and then carried the cradle in the
cabin and placed it in the corner by our bed. He gave
one corner of it a push and it rocked for a long time
before it stopped.
“That’s how you can tell the bottom is even on
both ends, it rocks smooth,” James said, obviously
proud of his work. I wrapped my arms around him and
leaned my head on his shoulder. The baby was turning
around in my growing tummy. He could feel it kicking
against his side.
“He’s about to bust out of there now. It’s a good
thing we got a bed to put him in.”
I just smiled. Yes, it was a good thing we had a
bed for my little girl. I was so happy, so very, very
happy.

Chapter 5
    It was almost spring, the way Mrs. Connor said it
would be, when I felt the first labor pains. It was early
in the afternoon, and the pains were mild and about a
half-hour apart. I’d talked with some of the women at
the church about their deliveries and had seen Helen
deliver her babies, so I wasn’t worried. There was
plenty of time before the baby would be born.
    When James