Page 85 of The Enchanted Land

“But, Jake, I can’t stay here. What if Seth comes back? I don’t want to see him. I don’t ever want to see him. Not after what he did. I begged him, Jake, begged him to listen to me.”

“Now, girl, don’t get so riled up. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. First thing you need is for someone to help you with the baby. Who else you got?”

There was no one. She couldn’t go back to her Uncle Horace and Aunt Lacey. Seth’s parents would take her in, but that would be the same as staying on the Colter ranch.

“You see, you know there’s nothing else to do. So stop worrying and eat somethin’ for that boy.”

“Girl,” Morgan added absent-mindedly.

After the first few days on the ranch she began to relax. The house was familiar and the people cared for her. She began to think more about her baby. Her stomach seemed to stretch a little each day. She rubbed the mound often, glad of its presence.

“Cecilia. What do you think of that name, Lupita? I’m going to name her something very feminine. I get so tired of people’s comments about my name.”

“Cecilia is a good name. Another tortilla? They’re hot.”

“I don’t know why I’m so hungry. It seems that no matter how much I eat, I just get hungrier.”

Lupita smiled as Morgan coated the tortilla with freshly made butter. She poured her glass full of milk. “You’re eating for two now.”

“Yes, I guess so.” Morgan’s mouth was full. “I guess I should worry about getting fat, but somehow, I don’t care. I feel sort of like a … a big pillow, just content to do nothing. I don’t even worry about Seth coming. It seems nothing matters to me. I just want to have Cecilia.”

Morgan looked up as Jake came into the kitchen from outside. “Are you still eating, girl? Did you know it’s time for the noon meal and you’re still eating breakfast?” He turned to Lupita. “She’s going to pop her skin. Why do you let her eat so much?”

Morgan held up her arm and looked at it. Jake was right. The skin was tight and almost shiny. Her ankles and legs were the same way. Somehow she didn’t care. She smiled up at Jake. “I’m glad it’s lunchtime, because I’m hungry.”

Jake watched her with growing concern as she ate constantly throughout the meal. After lunch, Morgan announced that she planned to take a walk. Jake was relieved to see her get away from Lupita’s stove.

Later, as Jake was in the barn, he saw Morgan make her way slowly past the open door. “Morgan,” he heard Lupita call. He watched in disbelief as Lupita fastened a cloth bag to Morgan’s back. “In case you get hungry,” he heard Lupita tell her.

Jake started to give his opinion of Morgan’s food needs, but thought better of it. Whenever he spoke out, Lupita ignored him and Morgan smiled sweetly at him and then went on eating. She already ate more than the other three of them put together.

As Morgan’s size increased, so did her placidity. She had not been so calm since she’d left Trahern House. Nothing bothered her. The emotions that had once raged inside her no longer concerned her. She thought of nothing but food and the baby’s name. All of them were names for girls.

She spent mornings with Lupita. Whenever she forgot what she was supposed to be doing, and stared into space, Lupita quietly finished her task for her. After lunch, she walked. She walked for hours, very slowly and awkwardly. She never had a definite path in mind or even seemed to remember later where she’d been. Lupita always made sure her knapsack was filled with food, and Morgan always returned the sack empty.

As the weather grew colder, Jake tried to stop her from her long walks, but she never seemed to hear him. He couldn’t understand her dreaminess, and he was worried about the way she looked.

Morgan’s entire body swelled and stretched. After the first few months, she could no longer get her feet into her own shoes. Lupita brought her an old pair ofhuarachesto wear. Morgan still wore Lupita’s clothes. The Mexican cotton blouse that had once swallowed her tiny frame now nearly burst at the seams. Her plump shoulders and bosom strained against the embroidered fabric.

One day as Jake and Paul watched her heading toward the trees for her daily walk, Paul commented, “A duck. She looks just like a duck.” They both laughed at the apt comparison. Morgan heard their laughter and waved.

“She’s somethin’.” Jake watched her go. “Even if you told her to her face she looked like a duck, she wouldn’t care. Sometimes when you talk to her, she don’t even hear you.”

“Women! I never understood them, especially one that changes as much as Morgan. She’s all sweet when Seth’s here and then she comes back spittin’ fire. Now she’s like one of the hens, just settin’ on her eggs.”

Jake grinned, showing his near-toothless gums. “That she is, a hen on her nest.”

January of 1851 was very cold, and there were some days when Lupita made Morgan stay in the house and forget her walk. Morgan was just as content to sit by the fire, nibbling onbizcochitosandempañaditas, as she was walking.

The baby became more and more active. Morgan rubbed her enormous stomach and was pleased with each kick. She never thought of the actual birth, only of the time when she’d hold her daughter in her arms.

In the ninth month, Morgan stopped her walks altogether. Her hands were swollen too badly to sew and her feet no longer fit the oldhuaraches.

Jake became more nervous with every passing day. “When’s that baby going to be born?” he demanded.

Neither Morgan nor Lupita paid any attention to him.

“You women don’t seem to understand that that child is very close to being my grandchild. I’m worried. I’ve seen lots of women going to have babies, but never one to gain as much weight as her.”

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