Authors: June Ahern
The nurse’s wide body knocked June out of the way as she tried to squeeze past. She took hold of Maggie’s wrist and checked her watch. After returning her patient’s hand to the bed, she turned, and with one hand on each hip, announced, “You’ll be notified when the situation changes.”
Pleadingly, Cathy said,
“Please, this is her first, and she’s frightened to be alone. I’m her mother and these girls are…”
“
Where’s the husband?” the nurse queried, her lips pulling into a tight line. Her narrow eyes roved around each family member.
In no coherent order, the three sisters burst forth with the tale of Maggie
’s husband’s whereabouts.
“
He joined the army?” Maggie asked faintly.
Cathy shushed her.
“You know how they are at this stage.” She smiled hopefully at the nurse.
Annoyed by her mother
’s kowtowing to the nurse, June intervened. In her mind’s eye she conjured up an imaginary wand that she could wave to dismiss the irritating nurse.
The nurse ignored Cathy
’s comment and turned to Maggie. “You haven’t signed the necessary forms to receive a saddle block. That’s what you asked for, right Mrs.…?”
No one offered up a last name.
Maggie gurgled some response between gritted teeth.
“
Well, I better get that going,” the nurse said pulling a sheet tight over Maggie’s protruding belly. “She’s got hours to go. There’s coffee in the cafeteria, second floor,” she informed the others. She then bustled out of the room, leaving the door wide open as a reminder that the family must leave.
Scooting back to Maggie
’s side, Cathy tried unsuccessfully to force her wedding band onto her daughter’s swollen finger. “This baby will be born within an hour,” she predicted.
“
Mom, I think the nurse knows better about these things,” Annie said crisply. She wanted to become a nurse. Dave promised that she could go to nursing school as soon as he completed one year with the police force.
“
I think I know the signs after seven babies,” Cathy responded. She gave up on the wedding ring and dropped it into her coat pocket.
Perplexed by what her mother had said, June corrected her.
“Six babies,” she said.
A riveting scream followed by wretched groaning took the attention from June. Mother and sisters quickly clustered around Maggie to offer soothing and helpful advice.
“Breathe.” “Be brave.” Cathy brushed back Maggie’s hair and Annie wiped perspiration from her forehead.
Another contraction brought forth horrific screams, accompanied by a string of cussing.
The scene disturbed June. She felt helpless to stop her sister’s pain. Moving away from the bed, she pressed her back into the wall and tucked her head down low between her shoulders.
The nurse swept into the room and gruffly reprimanded Maggie for being so loud. Following her was a nun.
“Hello Mrs. MacDonald,” the nun sang cheerfully. “I’m Sister Mary Dorothea.”
June
’s head popped up at the sound of the gentle, accented voice to find an angelic ebony face enshrouded in a winged headdress and round glasses framing her bright black eyes.
“
Sister,” Cathy bowed her head slightly.
“
Mom, she’s talking to Maggie,” Annie whispered.
“
Now, let’s see how Baby MacDonald is doing,” the nun said to the whimpering patient.
In one quick motion, the nurse pulled off the sheet and pushed up the hospital gown, exposing Maggie
’s nakedness to everyone in the room. The family turned their heads away in embarrassment.
The nun
’s gloved hand examined her patient.
“
Oh my! The little head has dropped. Baby is raring to get here,” the nun said joyfully. “By the time your husband arrives, he’ll get to hold his baby right away.”
“
She’s not married,” Cathy spoke out boldly and then reverently added, “Sister.”
Both nun and nurse stared at her with mouths opened in a silent O.
The old nurse dropped the sheet and tsked-tsked loudly.
“
If that is the way it is, so be it,” the young nun said with a kind smile. “Margaret, you are blessed to have your women folk here with you.” She pulled up the side rail on the bed and said, “Off we go to the delivery room.”
The nurse yanked up the other railing and helped the nun to wheel Maggie out of the room.
“Visitor’s lounge,” the nurse said dramatically as she clicked off the light.
“
Meanie,” June said, wondering why her telepathic message of, “Be nice to us,” hadn’t worked. Must be too much going on, she concluded.
“
Yeah, the old bat,” Mary said supportively.
“
We should go to the waiting room,” said Annie standing at the opened door.
Cathy moved to the window and parted a slat in the blinds to peek outside.
“I think we’ll wait here.”
June noticed how pale and tired Annie looked against the harsh light of the hallway. She called to her, motioning to the lone chair in the room. Annie happily plunked down and sighed loudly.
Milling around the room looking for a place of comfort, Mary finally chose to slide slowly down a wall to sit Indian style on the floor. She delved into her big leather handbag and fished around in it. She pulled out a half-eaten bologna sandwich wrapped in wax paper and offered it to Annie, who gratefully accepted it.
Leaning against a wall, June watched Mary nervously tap her foot. She knew her sister was in need of a nicotine fix. She was curious about what else Mary had in that big bag.
Mary delved back into her bag and took out a pack of Wrigley’s chewing gum. She popped a fresh stick into her mouth and vigorously chomped it.
Cathy tugged up the blinds and stood looking out the window. Dusk was slowly turning into nightfall. Across the street in Golden Gate Park, she could see tiny pink flowers beginning to bloom on the tree branches. Soon, spring flowers would adorn the park and the days would be longer. A crescent moon drifted onto the night horizon, casting a mere slit of light across the darkened room.
“Look, it’s waxing.” She beckoned the girls to the window.
Before joining her mother, June closed the door to give her family privacy. Mary scrambled up from the floor to stand at the window by her mother.
Grunting, Annie rose from the chair and waddled over. Tucking her hair behind her ears, she squinted out the window and asked, “What does that mean?”
June noted how luxuriously healthy Annie
’s hair had looked since her pregnancy. Finally she’s happy, June thought. Aloud, she said, “That’s the time when the moon is growing rounder until it becomes full. Now is the best time to think of things you want to grow––like getting a bigger place before the baby comes.”
“
For the love of God, not now, June,” Annie objected, rubbing her eyes and yawning.
“
The crescent moon is a female symbol,” Cathy said.
“
Maggie’s going to have a girl,” June announced. They looked at her. She gazed trance-like at the silver-white moon shining in the heavens.
“
Fortune-teller,” Mary said with a hint of laughter. She knew her sister hated that name and instead preferred to think of herself as being “aware of the unseen world around her.”
“
Let’s make a wish for our new baby. Hold hands,” Cathy said. She held up her palms. June and Mary each took one.
“
Falling under June’s pagan influences?” Annie questioned her mother.
“
It’s a wish for your sister and her baby. Is that a bad thing to do?” Cathy asked.
Annie lowered her eyes and gave her mother a mini-smile to show she was willing to be part of their ritual.
“Long ago, the first time I called down the power of the moon, I stood on a hilltop in Scotland. I wished for a life full of happiness with many children and with a man I loved deeply. At least half of my wish came true.” Cathy looked at each daughter.
“
Is this like a story where we learn a lesson?” Mary asked.
“
I hope so. I learned a very important lesson today,” Cathy said. “Keeping secrets in a family doesn’t necessarily mean we will be happier.” Her eyes glistened with tears. “Girls, I need to talk.”
Haltingly, at first, she retold her secret story, starting with her journey from the Glasgow train station where she had met Malcolm, the love of her life. She ended by confessing her pagan practices on the Isle of Skye.
Annie slumped back into the chair with her mouth agape. “You’re kidding, right?”
Mary kept repeating,
“damn” over and over.
Annie was too shocked to r
eprimand her for swearing. Cathy was too focused on telling her story.
Then she came to the part of her story when her words became bitter.
“Granny and Granda B said I could only return home to Glasgow if I agreed to marry your father. They didn’t care how I felt. They were only worried about how I’d look in the eyes of the Church.”
Protesting their mother
’s criticism of their beloved grandparents, Annie and Mary reminded her how well Granny B had taken care of them all, especially with the cooking and cleaning. And Granda B had been great fun, especially at Hogmanay.
Cathy thought of what they had said.
“I know Granny thought she was helping me. She wanted me to have a good marriage. To her, cooking a good meal and going to Mass together on Sundays was a good life. My Daddy, your Granda, fought hard to keep his family taken care of. I know he wanted just the best for his family. And he wanted me to stay his wee pet forever. He couldn’t accept that I had grown up and become a woman. And besides, I did a terrible thing. I ruined his Hogmanay that year when he came to Skye. Granny had told me it was a time of hope for him that life would be better in the New Year. We all knew how badly he needed hope, especially after the deaths of my two brothers. He hardly spoke to me after we returned from Skye. Aye, they did the best they could, considering the alternative; to leave me in Skye half crazed with grief, with an old woman.”
The revelation of their mother
’s rift with her parents seemed to stun the girls, for they said no more after seeing the great pain that showed on her face.
“
You’ve been angry at them all these years. Is that why you didn’t answer Granny’s letters?” Annie asked gently.
Cathy nodded
“yes,” and tears formed in her tired eyes. “I wasn’t very forgiving. I was unhappy and wanted to punish her. I realize now how much she must have missed me when I left Scotland for America. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of my parents and hope they forgave me.” She looked sadly at June. “I only wish that I had Dr. Weissman to help me a long time ago. Because of him I now understand I’ve been suffering from depression for all these years.”
June put an arm around her mother
’s shoulders and said, “Granda and Granny loved you. They forgave you a long time ago.”
Cathy smiled at her shyly. She still felt guilty for her years of emotional separation from her daughters.
“Did you know that Granny B believed you had special powers with Helen?” Cathy asked June. “When she was sick it was you who helped her rest. Maybe it was your angel guiding you.”
“
My angel didn’t speak to me in Scotland,” June told her. “I remember the very first time I heard her. It was when we were on the plane to America. Daddy was reading me a book with a picture of a big boat. I heard a girl’s voice saying we had fallen off of it and were in the water. I asked Daddy if I fell off a boat. He said no and kept reading to me.”
June didn
’t mention her father had slapped her leg hard for asking too many questions. She pretended to fall asleep so he wouldn’t do it again.
“Man, you give me the heebie jeeb
ies when you say you hear voices. It’s kinda spooky, huh?” Mary said, looking to Annie for an agreement.
“
I thought you believed in my psychic abilities,” June said, surprised by her comment.
“
Thought it was the tarot cards,” Mary shrugged.
“
Gee, thanks a lot,” June said.
Annie interrupted their bantering with her sniffles.
“I couldn’t imagine Dave dying and not having you to comfort me, Mom. Or worse, having to marry somebody I didn’t love. Then losing two children. I’m so sad for you. You’re braver than I thought.” She gave her mother a woeful stare.
“
Annie, I’m so grateful to you for all the years you took care of the family,” Cathy said sorrowfully. “I’m sorry for all the years I wasn’t the kind of mother you needed. Maybe I can make it up to you when you have your baby.”
“
No one’s perfect. Let’s leave the past behind us,” Annie said, wanly as she rubbed her belly.
“
Do you feel okay?” June walked over to Annie and gently put an arm around her sister’s shoulder and a hand on her belly.