That did not leave Essex much time.
“Did I ask for your wretched opinion?” She moved to slap me but I sidestepped it, then dropped down to the floor as if I were searching for her shoes. Bruises already paraded up and down my arms from her constant hits and pinches. Gave me a mind to push her down the stairs to help get rid of the baby, and all of Essex’s problems with it.
Lovie appeared in the doorway. “Missus.”
“Maybe you can help me change, since Ninny does not know her head from a doorknob.” She pursed her lips.
“Somethin’ wrong…”
“What is it?”
“There been an accident. Parrott had to leave Massa at the doctor’s house nearin’ your parents’ farm.”
“Is Jacob all right?” Missus stood wringing her hands like she did not know what to do next. Lovie took Missus by the elbow and ushered her down into a chair, then started fanning her. I poured a glass of water from the pitcher, but Missus would not take it. If Master suffered an injury, then what about Mama?
“Go ask Aunt Hope to make Missus a cuppa strong tea.” Lovie made her eyes big at me and mouthed, “It’s Ruth.”
On my toes was the best way to run through the house without producing a sound that would further wreck Missus’s nerves. I flew from the front door and down the stairs. When I got to the carriage, Parrott had Mama in his arms and was carrying her across the lawn toward the loom house.
“Mama?”
“She hurt,” Parrott called over his shoulder. He heaved Mama up the ladder and placed her on the bed.
“Tell me what happened,” I urged Parrott. He looked like the trip had aged him. A fistful of gray had sprouted in his beard. He lowered himself down in Mama’s chair.
“We were coming through Jamestown and out of nowhere came two wild horses. Spook’t our horses and they took off runnin’. We hit a ditch and the wheel pop off. Massa and Ruth thrown from the carriage. I held on by the streng’t a God. Happened so fast.”
“Tell me what to do.” I leaned down to Mama, her face twisted in pain.
“Give me a sip from the brown jar.”
The brown jar was Mama’s strongest medicine. The thought of giving it to her scared me, but then I noticed the smell. The scent of infected flesh burned through my nose and turned my stomach over. Mama’s right leg was cut from the top of her thigh to below her knee. I covered my mouth to keep from choking.
“How long she been like this?”
“Two days. Rode as fast I could after fixin’ the wagon.”
“Feel like gangrene,” Mama breathed. “Get camphor from the shelf.” I left Mama’s side long enough to locate the bottle.
“Pour till it bubble.”
Once the wound was cleaned, I remembered what I needed to wrap it with.
“Be back directly.”
There was yarrow growing alongside the stone fence in Missus’s garden. Mama had told me the plant worked wonders in drawing out infection. I stuffed as many as I could in my pocket and had two fistfuls in my hands when I heard Lovie shouting my name. I looked up, and she had pushed her head through Missus’s bedroom window.
“Make haste!”
I dropped the yarrow that did not fit in my pockets and sprinted up to Missus Delphina’s bedroom. Lovie stood over Missus with a cloth to her head as she squirmed in the bed.
“Baby coming early. Needin’ you to help deliver it.”
“What about the doctor?”
“Missus said she ain’t want a doctor. Gotta be you,” Lovie said, and narrowed her eyes in a way that let me know she was aware of the trouble.
I had attended many births with Mama but had never delivered one alone without her help. I tried to ease the panic growing in my chest. If I stayed here delivering Missus’s baby, then who would care for Mama? Her wound was wide open. Missus moaned, and I had no choice but to wash my hands and feel for the baby. I shoved my fingers and then my arm inside of her but did not touch the head.
She groaned louder. “Get it out.”
“Soon, Missus,” I assured her.
Lovie rubbed Missus Delphina’s forehead with a damp cloth and forced her to drink a little wine to dull the pain. I had never seen Missus so helpless, and would have felt sorry for her if not for Mama lying in the loom house equally distraught. Aunt Hope appeared in the doorway with a bowl.
“Brought soup, ma’am.”
But Missus could only stomach a few spoonfuls before she threw it all up.
“Got to get something down in her stomach for streng’t,” Aunt Hope said, and then tried a little more. “Missus, you wantin’ to write Essex a pass to ride out to the doctor’s house and get a word on Massa’s condition?”
Missus Delphina clenched her teeth as pain ripped through her.
“Hand me my stationery.” Sweat dampened her forehead as she scribbled a note that she gave to Aunt Hope.
“Pheby, come get clean water and towels.” Aunt Hope gestured for me to follow her out.
When we reached the bottom of the stairs, I asked, “You see about Mama?”
“She sleepin’ now.”
I handed her the yarrow. “Pack this loosely over her wounds. She getting any better?”
“I’s doin’ what I can.” She looked at me, and her eyes told me what her mouth would not. My head started spinning on what herbs and remedies I could mix up for her, but all the chatter stopped when I opened the kitchen door and saw Essex standing with a bag tossed over his shoulders. He moved toward me and grabbed my face. Even though I had planned his run, I could not believe it was really happening. My lips parted but the words did not follow.
Aunt Hope closed the door firmly behind her. “Time is now with all the commotion.”
“Come on, beautiful. We gotta go.”
My heart sank. “Essex… I cannot leave. Mama is in bad shape and Missus expecting me to deliver her baby.”
Aunt Hope poured hot water in a basin. “Now be best. You have to take what God gives.”
“Please, Pheby.” Essex’s eyes darkened.
It was not supposed to be like this. To have to choose between Essex and Mama.
My lips trembled, and tears clouded my eyes. I pulled Essex to my chest and squeezed my love into him. I tried memorizing everything; the curve of his back, the way his stubble felt when he brushed it across my cheek, the hardness of his muscles, his calloused hands.
“We will meet up in Massachusetts. I will find you.”
He shook his head.
“You must go on. You are the one in danger.” I caressed his hand.
“Gotta hurry ’fore Snitch get wind of Missus in labor.” Aunt Hope gave Essex the pass that Missus Delphina wrote. “Give him the travel satchel,” she said to me.
Under one of the bricks of the stove, I had hidden a small bag for Essex. I removed the piece of paper on top.
“This is a pass to Baltimore. Says you are going to work for Missus’s uncle.”
“You rippin’ out my heart.”
“This is harder on me than you know.”
I kept my face brave as I explained the other items in the bag. “Rub this red onion on the soles of your feet and the horses’ hooves every few hours. Whenever you see pine or spruce, rub it on your hands, face, and clothes. It is how you keep the hounds from picking up your scent.”