The Wedding Gift (22 page)

“Bessie, please go see if you can find somebody to bring a tea service with three pots and some very hot boiled water. And I’m going to need some clean linen cloths,” Emmeline said.

“Miss Clarissa, I’m going to need you to try to stay awake, all right, just until I ask you a few things. Can you understand me, Miss Clarissa?”

“Yes, Emmeline. Emmeline, having you here is like I’m back at home….”

“Miss Clarissa, the doctor took blood from your arms, right?”

“Papa. Where is Papa? Is he here?” She closed her eyes and went to sleep.

“Sarah, do you know if the doctor gave her laudanum?”

“Yes, Mama, he did. He gives it to her every time he comes.”

“How do you know that?”

“I have to clean up after him.”

“All right, Sarah. I have some other questions for you. Try to remember back to when Miss Clarissa first got sick. Did she have any bleeding?”

“Yes, Mama. She called me in the middle of the night. She was screaming.”

“Was it a lot of blood, like during your monthly, when it’s heavy?”

“No, Mama. It wasn’t that heavy.”

“Did it get on the bed linen?”

“No, ma’am. It was only on her undergarments.”

“Did she say if her belly hurt too?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And her back, did she say if it hurt?”

“Yes, ma’am, that too.”

Bessie returned with the tea service and linen cloths. Emmeline withdrew three dried herbs from her baggage and allowed them to steep in the pots for about ten minutes. She strained the teas and poured them in cups.

“All right, we’re all going to help to wake Miss Clarissa and sit her up so she can start drinking the teas. Sarah, so you know what to do after we go back home, the teas I made are ginger root to make her stomach feel better and make her want to eat, red raspberry to make her strong, and alfalfa to stop the bleeding. Before it gets dark outside, Sarah, me and you is going to look for dandelion root that you will boil for Miss Clarissa to eat, or at least to drink mixed with beef broth. She’s going to feel better too because she won’t be getting bled or taking laudanum.”

When Clarissa had finished drinking the ginger tea, we let her rest. In the meantime, Emmeline asked for more hot water, which she used to brew calendula to make poultices to heal the wounds and ease the pain on Clarissa’s arms caused by the physician’s bleeding. We followed Emmeline’s instructions, and the third day after our arrival, Clarissa was markedly improved. Her cheeks were rosy and she spent more time awake. Sarah and Bessie helped Clarissa bathe and washed her hair. The afternoon of the fourth day, the physician arrived, and Mrs. Cromwell took him to Clarissa’s bedroom. I was in the adjoining room with Bessie. Emmeline was with Clarissa, and Sarah was in the kitchen.

“Ma’am, the doctor is here,” Emmeline alerted me.

I went to Clarissa’s bedroom.

“Ma’am, you are looking very well,” he was saying to Clarissa.

Mrs. Cromwell presented the physician to me. “Yes, Dr. Walker, my daughter is much better because she is eating and taking tonics that my servant has prepared for her, and she is feeling much better because you have not recently bled her and given her laudanum. Because of your mistreatment of my daughter, your services are no longer needed.”

“Mrs. Allen, Dr. Walker is the physician for all the ladies in Talladega County and has safely delivered all their babies, including my grandchildren.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Cromwell. I am certain we will rely on Dr. Walker for the delivery, if he agrees that he will stop bleeding my daughter and giving her laudanum.”

“Mrs. Allen, these are standard medical practices.”

“They are not effective for my daughter. You will not bleed her or give her laudanum again. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Mrs. Allen.”

“When I return to my home, Sarah, my daughter’s maid who lives here with her, will see to all her needs. This is Sarah’s mother, Emmeline. She has learned midwifery and, in fact, assisted the physician who delivered my children. Emmeline has taught Sarah how to care for women who are expecting. You will be available, then, to deliver the child? Or shall I request a physician in Benton County to attend to my daughter?”

“I will be available for the delivery.”

“Thank you, Dr. Walker.”

“Should I examine Mrs. Cromwell today?”

“That will not be necessary.”

We remained in Talladega for three weeks, until Clarissa was able to sit and to take short walks in the garden. She and I joined Mrs. Cromwell and her guests at supper several times. The Cromwell gentlemen returned from their travels two days before we departed for home. The evening before we left, Mrs. Cromwell asked to speak with me privately.

“My husband asked me to discuss a delicate matter with you. He believes that a gentleman should not have this conversation with a lady. I told him that you objected that Sarah works in the kitchen. He said that I should explain to you that he had to send four of the servants that your husband gave to my son to the fields. He asked whether you and your husband would consider giving my son an advance on the twenty field hands that are promised to him upon the birth of the child.”

“Mrs. Cromwell, my husband does not involve me in any aspect of his financial matters. As mistress of my household, my only concerns are domestic.”

“I see. Well, this is a domestic concern. How shall I say this? Mrs. Allen, I have a sister who married into a family in Montgomery. Perhaps you know them? The Andersons? My sister informed me that, months ago, while my son was courting Clarissa, she frequently visited another young gentleman in Montgomery.”

“Clarissa’s paternal extended family lives in Montgomery, and that is who she was visiting. Your sister should not have repeated such a baseless allegation.”

“Mrs. Allen, one cannot characterize this knowledge as baseless when your daughter was expecting a child on her wedding day. And please understand that I am not trying to be callous.”

“That may not have been your intent, but it is the result.”

“I apologize to you. But you do understand my son’s predicament? He will be expected to acknowledge a child that may not be his.”

“Mrs. Cromwell, you may tell your husband and son this: Your son did not merely take my daughter’s honor but forced her to surrender it. No amount of unsubstantiated claims concerning my daughter’s visits to her grandparents will negate your son’s unlawful conduct. You may also tell them that my husband read law at the University of Virginia and has informed me that, once a child is born in wedlock, he is presumed to be legitimate and the child of the mother’s husband. The only reason my husband consented to the financial arrangement whereby your son will receive twenty field hands is because he did not want you and your family to spread lies about our daughter and destroy our name, but if that is what you nevertheless plan to do, I am certain that my husband will retract his offer.”

“No, no, Mrs. Allen, I assure you that this conversation is only between us. I will tell my husband your reply immediately. Please wait for me here. I won’t be long.”

She returned in about five minutes. “My husband apologizes for our misunderstanding. He did not know that Clarissa was visiting her grandparents when she went to Montgomery. Please, let us forget this conversation, shall we? There is no need for Mr. Allen to hear of this, do you think?”

CHAPTER TWELVE

SARAH CAMPBELL

OUR CABIN ON THE CROMWELL PLANTATION WAS near the stables and smelled like horse manure. There was no garden. Isaac replaced a piece of wood that was missing from the shutters, and he put more nails on the walls so that we could hang our clothes. Isaac’s first uniform belonged to a prior coachman. The length of the trousers fit Isaac, but the other man apparently was wider and heavier. I asked the overseer whether a carpenter could make repairs in my cabin and build us furniture, but he said that he could not spare someone until Mr. Cromwell’s house was completed. When we had been in Talladega about a week, I asked him for maid’s uniforms, but he said I would not need those, as I was going to spend most of the time in the kitchen.

“Sir, I beg your pardon, but I am Mrs. Clarissa Cromwell’s maid.”

“I have instructions from Mrs. Cromwell, the mistress of this household that, as of this coming Monday, you will work in the kitchen during the day. You can attend to Mrs. Clarissa in the morning and evening.”

“But I also have to clean Mr. and Mrs. Julius Cromwell’s quarters and do their washing and ironing.”

“And?”

I found Clarissa in the garden. She was alone.

“Miss Clarissa, I need to speak with you.”

“We may speak here. Just keep your voice low.”

I told her what the overseer said.

“Tell him to come here immediately.”

“But he may be angry at me for telling you.”

“Nonsense.”

“Miss Clarissa, I know how these overseers are.”

“I will speak with Mrs. Cromwell. Wait for me in my bedroom.”

I was dusting when she returned.

“How dare she? How dare that woman?”

“What did she say?”

“I’m writing Papa and Mama a letter right now.”

She sat at her desk and began writing while she spoke to me. “She said that, because her husband sent four of the house servants that Papa gave them to the fields, you are needed in the kitchen. She said that it was her husband’s decision, which she cannot overrule. I’m telling you, this will not stand. That is not how my parents raised me. I need a maid who will devote all of her time to me. And I will tell Papa that they have you washing and ironing for Julius and that Isaac is no longer my coachman but his. Here, tell the overseer to send this letter.”

There were only four servants who worked in the kitchen, including me, whereas at the Allen house, there were ten. At the Allen house, once I became Clarissa’s maid, I only helped Mama when there were guests, but here, I would only be able to attend to Clarissa between many other tasks. Isaac’s life also changed because there were fewer stable hands helping him than at Allen Estates. He was gone more often and told me that he drove Julius to town, where Julius spent a week at a time with his mistress. He cautioned me not to repeat that information to anyone, as Julius warned him that he expected not to hear anything about it from Clarissa.