All the Stars in the Heavens Read Free Page B

up the walls in thick clusters of orange and purple. You could not see in or out, and the cascading water of the fountains helped drown outthe street sounds. The novices grew roses that bloomed bountifully in shades of blood red, the exact color of the leather that bound their missals.
    A statue of the Blessed Mother Mary was positioned in the center of the garden, surrounded by benches. In a corner, a fountain of Saint Elizabeth carved from Italian marble attracted birds and penitents who knelt and prayed at a wrought iron kneeler.
    Serious contemplation, daily mass, the celebration of feast days, and holy days of obligation took place inside in the chapel on the main floor. Votive candles made by the nuns from fresh sheets of beeswax were replenished at the shrine daily, as the girls burned through them, petitioning God and the saints to grant them forgiveness for the act that had brought them here, or a reprieve for what lay ahead. A gold vase at the foot of the altar was filled with fresh roses from the garden.
    There was order to life inside Saint Elizabeth’s, and a certain serene beauty.
    As much as the nuns attempted to make the place warm and inviting, this was a home for unwed mothers. It wasn’t a place to be young and socialize, nor was it meant to live on in their memories. This was a place to hide.
    Over time, Alda observed that there were ultimately two kinds of girls at Saint Elizabeth’s: those who were eager to please, and the rest, who were already jaded, turned hard-hearted by fate. The latter carried their stories in their souls, of their innocence lost or taken without their consent. They handled the long nine months like a prison sentence, knowing there was nothing to look forward to once they were free to go. Others, despite their predicament, remained cheerful, completing their schoolwork and reading the latest pulp novels, which were passed around the ward until the bindings fell away from use.
    Many girls had been abandoned in the outside world, shunned by their families, so they found Saint Elizabeth’s on their own. Mother Superior had a soft spot for desperate girls who knocked on the door, and would find a way to take them in. Other girls had been sent by their parents, who were forced to remove their daughters from their homes lest they taint the family name. The girls wrestled with theloss of their reputations, their dreams, and their babies. At night, the self-recrimination would find a voice, and the wailing from the beds became so loud and mournful that Alda would escape to the garden to collect herself.
    While they had months to think about what brought them here, the girls dared not think too much about what would happen after the birth of their babies. They had been treated well at this halfway house, and if that was any indication of the way the order handled the adoptions, they trusted that their babies were going to good homes. However, once they signed in for their stay at Saint Elizabeth’s, they had no choice in their babies’ future.
    The girls had each other, and while there were moments of camaraderie and seeds of true friendship, there was nothing carefree about their days in the home. The mood was generally somber. Once the girls went into labor and delivered, they left soon after, without good-byes or a celebration or an exchange of addresses to keep in touch.
    Before lights-out, the novices handed out tall glasses of fresh milk to the girls. Despite the want of the Great Depression, the girls were well fed. Much of the food was donated, some left in baskets on the stoop of the convent. Local farmers delivered fresh eggs, cheese, and milk. The nuns made bread. There was plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. The nuns served fish from the local wharf, and sometimes on Sundays, there was a beef stew or a pork roast.
    At night Alda sat with the girls and read aloud to them. A few would turn away, wishing for a radio instead, but Alda persisted. She read