Page 86 of The Enchanted Land

Morgan smiled at him. “Lupita, you know what I’d really like to have? Strawberries. I can taste them, so red and juicy. In Kentucky, we used to have the sweetest strawberries. And peaches! The juice would run down your arm. I think I could eat a bushel basket of peaches. And—”

“See! That’s what I mean. It just ain’t healthy for a woman to eat that much, or even a man to eat that much. She’s so fat now somebody has to help her in and out of the chair. That baby’s going to smother to death. Lord! If that baby ain’t born soon, I’m goin’ to go crazy.” He grabbed his coat and stormed out into the cold air.

As Paul watched him go, pipe in hand, he heard Morgan. “And blackberries. I’d risk a body covered in chiggers for a pint of blackberries right now.” He laughed to himself.

Lupita had begun to sleep in the big house. When she heard Morgan stirring in the bedroom, she was quickly in the room with her. Morgan was trying to change the bedclothes.

At the sight of Lupita, she began her explanation. “I guess Jake is right—I do eat too much. My stomach hurts and when I finally did go to sleep, I woke up again to find I’d wet the bed. I hope you won’t tell him; he’ll worry even more.”

Lupita went to Morgan and guided her to a chair. “Now sit down and I’ll change the bed. Does your stomach still hurt?”

“Yes, it … oh… Lupita. The baby! Lupita, it’s the baby, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Very soon now you will have a new baby.”

“I’m so glad. Victoria. How about Victoria?”

“What the hell’s going on in here? I suppose she got up to get something to eat.”

“Out! We are going to have a baby.”

“Oh.” Jake’s face became somber. “I’ll get the doctor.” He turned toward the door.

“I need no doctor meddling in this. I have felt the baby and he is in the right position. I’ve delivered too many to let some man tell me what to do. Now get out, both of you,” she said as Paul came in the front door. “I’ll call you when we have a new little Colter.”

The delivery was easy. It seemed only minutes before Lupita was saying, “There’s the head. Push again. Good. Slowly … ah.”

Morgan fell back on the pillows, her hair damp with sweat. “Victoria. Let me see my little girl.”

“Morgan, little madonna, your little girl is a boy. A very large and healthy boy.”

Quickly she finished washing the baby and wrapped him in a clean cotton blanket. Morgan put her arms out to the baby. Lupita finished cleaning the mother and checking to make sure there were no complications with the afterbirth.

She could hear Jake and Paul in the next room. “They’ll want to see you, now. Is it all right?”

“Yes. He’s beautiful, isn’t he, Lupita? Lots of hair, too. Look at his little hands.”

Quietly, Jake and Paul looked down on Morgan and her new son. “He’s going to be as big as his pa.”

“What’s his name? Cecilia?” Paul laughed.

Morgan smiled up at him. “Adam. My own sweet little Adam.” As she said the name, Adam screwed up his face, opened his mouth and let out a lusty yell.

“The baby is hungry. You will have to leave now and we will quiet him.”

“Hungry!” Jake was indignant. “He’s been eating like a pig for nine months and now he’s not ten minutes old and he’s hungry!”

They all laughed while Lupita shooed the men out. Morgan and Lupita were alone with the baby. It was some time before Morgan’s milk was enough for Adam’s huge appetite.

In the morning, Jake was relieved to see that Morgan ate only a normal breakfast. Lupita laughed at him. “You think your little girl is going to look like me? No. It was only the baby wanting so much to eat. She will soon be as slim as she was before. You will see. Already Adam gives her much exercise. He is a healthy baby.”

From the day of Adam’s birth, he never lacked for someone to give him attention. It seemed to Morgan that sometimes she had to fight to get to hold her own son. At first she had been almost afraid of him, but she soon realized his strength. He loved water and happily drenched his mother when she bathed him.

For the first three months, Morgan was content to stay in the house and see to the needs of her young son. But after a while, she began to grow restless. Gone was the placidity of her pregnancy. She began to ride for a short time each day and the weight she had gained melted off her, leaving her body smooth and slim once again.

As she studied her body at night, she found very little change. Her breasts were fuller because she was still nursing him, but her stomach was again flat and her legs were slim. She remembered her pregnancy as if it were a long dream, and she shuddered to remember the enormous amount of weight she had gained. “Oh well,” she murmured aloud, “at least there won’t be any more children.” The thought brought Seth to mind, and for the first time in months, she again felt anger and resentment. He had treated her unforgivably.

Lupita’s cottons once again swallowed Morgan. So, on one of his trips into Santa Fe for supplies, Paul returned with Mrs. Sanchez and several bolts of fabric. For three weeks Mrs. Sanchez stayed at the Colter ranch, and the three women sewed constantly on Morgan’s new wardrobe. There were two riding habits, several day dresses, and more dresses for shopping or visiting. Morgan had brought evening gowns from San Francisco.

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