The Midwife's Dilemma Read Free

Bird,” she admitted.
    â€œCome if you can. There’ll be plenty,” Fancy said as they reached the fork in the path where they would part ways.
    â€œI’ll try,” she promised and started alone down the path thatled through the woods to the cemetery on the eastern side of town. “Time to be quiet now,” she cautioned, but Bird had not uttered a peep for a good long while and was probably asleep.
    By the time she crossed through the cemetery, she was too tired and too hungry to pay any attention to the progress the builder was making on the new brick church. The last she had noticed, he had still been working on the foundation.
    The thought of the cot waiting for her in her room in the newly renovated confectionery spurred her onward. She was also tempted by thoughts of the basket of food she had brought back with her from the groaning party, a feast she had shared with all the women who had stayed with Belinda during her labor and helped Martha during the birthing.
    An even better thought prompted her to take the food and eat it in bed, lest she fall asleep at the table eating it. She paused for a moment to catch her breath and checked her watch again. It was nearly nine o’clock. At this hour, Victoria was probably still at Aunt Hilda’s, where she usually slept whenever Martha was called away overnight while the Lynn sisters were gone.
    Until they returned, Victoria’s daily routine would not change whether Martha was home or not. She helped Aunt Hilda and her husband with their chores in the morning. After dinner, she spent her afternoons working a bit for Dr. McMillan in his office before spending a few hours writing her poems and stories in his study. In late afternoon, she would check on Aunt Hilda again.
    All of which meant Victoria would not be there to witness Martha’s utterly silly plan to have breakfast in bed and sleep away the day.
    But Martha found she could not face eating a thing or finding a wink of rest until she took care of a difficult task she had been deliberately avoiding for the past two weeks.

2
    W ith tears welling anew, Martha entered the stable behind Dr. McMillan’s house, where she used to keep Grace. Rather than rush through her task, she took her time, hoping she might give Grace the final farewell she deserved.
    She passed by the other two horses stabled there and kept one eye open for Leech, the nasty stable cat who preferred horses to humans, but he had disappeared the day Grace died. She could see no sign he had returned, but when she set the basket down, she made sure the lid was latched good and tight just in case he made an appearance and decided Bird would make a tasty meal.
    With Bird properly settled, she gathered up the leather tackle she no longer needed for Grace. Confident that God would provide another horse for her, one way or another, she decided to place everything in the loft next to the saddle already stored there and prayed for the patience to wait.
    With the reins looped over her shoulder to prevent her from tripping, she climbed up the ladder to the loft as best she couldwithout stepping on her skirts. The heat in the loft was already growing unbearable, and she managed to plop down on the saddle before a band of grief tightened around her chest and her tears overflowed.
    Unable to even choke out the mare’s name, she clutched at the reins and dissolved into tears. She had never had the desire or the courage to think about continuing her work as a midwife without Grace. Now that she was gone, the reality of losing her was far worse than she’d imagined.
    Her heart ached as one memory after another flashed through her mind’s eye—those early first days when she and Grace butted heads; how Grace mastered her responsibility to carry the birthing stool, Martha’s bag of simples, and a travel bag; the times they’d traveled nearly fifty miles, which meant staying away for weeks at a time; and finally,