Page 6 of A Groom for Lauren
Five years of marriage. No husband. A small child that depended on her for everything and no means of income.
Dear Lord, what was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she get out of this perpetual sadness that seemed to creep upon her?
Even her friend, Heather, who was the midwife in town, simply told her it was melancholy and most of the women in town were suffering from it. All Lauren needed to do was walk and breathe in the fresh air. Now the women were remarried or being courted by men from the East. Their stories were changing, and the melancholy seemed to lift from the town.
But not for her.
She turned to see if the man was still behind her. He was standing under the tree, chewing on a blade of grass. She needed to move further down. There was another tree a few yards ahead, and she pulled Esther closer and scurried to the shade darkening the ground.
As she stood in the shade, she looked at the water once more and contemplated her fate.
She glanced around and could finally see all the things she had missed before, when she was determined to take that irrevocable step. Now, she could see roots breaking through the bank and curl into the water.
Voices carried by the light breeze tickled her ears and she froze, waiting to see how close they were. Besides the man, she didn’t think anyone else was here. She thought this was a private enough spot, behind the graveyard and a hedge of scraggly bushes.
Pastor Collins and Beatrice.
The clergyman and his sister were arguing about something, but the words didn’t reach her ears.
Pastor Collins was the man who married her and Jonah. He was a prominent fixture in town, and right now, his primary purpose was to see the young women of Last Chance happily remarried. In the past, she knew if she talked to him about the heaviness on her heart, then he would insist that she remarry immediately or return home to Philadelphia.
Neither of those was an option for her.
As the voices faded, Lauren released her breath and looked at her beautiful baby once more. Brushing away the fat tears falling onto the baby’s cheeks, she kissed her daughter on the cheeks. She’d spoken the truth to the man. The small child had the rest of her life ahead of her. It wouldn’t be fair for Lauren to end it because her mother was emotionally unwell.
That’s it!She thought with a sudden excitement rare in her for the past several months. There are plenty of women in town that can take care of a baby.
She stood. Could she really do it, though? Give her child over to another woman? The only part of Jonah left in the world. Lauren let out a long sigh. She’d already destroyed her husband and her marriage. She couldn’t give up her child. With that resolve, such as it was, she turned to head back to town instead, wondering if the man would still accompany her, but the toe of her boot caught on a root peeking out of the dirt.
“Oh, no!” she cried as she tried to grab something to hold on to. Holding Esther in one arm, her fingers grasped at the empty air. Her boot slid down the edge of the embankment towards the murky water below. Esther, feeling her mother’s distress, started wailing, high-pitched screams that pierced the air.
Grasping onto the root poking towards the water, Lauren tried to pull herself up, but her boots were slipping on the slimy shore. She would need both hands to climb back up. Grunting, she straightened her legs and pushed herself up, the mud sucking at her ankles.
The water, which she had seen as some sort of watery salvation, now took on a darkness she didn’t want.
She needed to get Esther onto the muddy bank. With a heave, she pulled herself up on the wet root and released her grip on the baby basket, dropping it into the wet grass. The baby shrieked louder.
“I’m coming, little one,” Lauren cried as she tried to pull one boot from the sticky mud and placed it gingerly on a rock. The second foot released with a resounding pop that rocked Lauren backward and caused her to release her grip on the thick root.
She closed her eyes, as she knew she was about to fall into the river.
She didn’t want to die. She knew that, now.
Her fingers scraped at the mud, as she slid down the bank.
“Jesus, save me! Help me!” she cried as the water enveloped her in darkness.
Christopher knew he shouldn’t have left the woman! Despite her pleas, he should have stayed there and made sure she was all right.
Now, while his back was turned, she had—
He saw the baby basket on its side, dangerously close to the edge of the embankment. Running to the baby and righted the basket. The baby appeared angry, but fine. Christopher decided he would look at her after he found her mother. Kneeling at the edge of the river, he leaned over and looked along the shore.
A tree had fallen into the water. A large clump of roots was the only thing holding it to the embankment. He spied the woman clinging to the muddy trunk. He could tell she had gone under the water. Wet brown hair clung to her skin. The linen shirtwaist she wore was translucent, and the fabric clung to her skin. She was submerged from the waist down, and the water was tugging at her skirts, trying to push her downstream.
“Miss, are you alright?” he asked, reaching his hand down.
“Do I look alright?” the woman asked. “Help Esther.”
