* * *
A few minutes later Daisy was headed to her office to call Margaret when her son-in-law opened the tea garden door. Foster Cranshaw let Violet precede him inside. His russet brown hair was mussed from the wind and his rimless glasses fell low on his nose.
Daisy felt empathy and sympathy for her daughter, who was counting days at the end of her pregnancy. Daisy remembered those last few weeks of her pregnancy well. She hadn’t been able to see her feet, and fatigue interspersed with moments of high energy prodded her to do everything she had to do before the baby was born.
Daisy didn’t waste any time in showing the couple to the spillover tearoom. Foster wasn’t slated to work until tomorrow. He had classes this morning. Her daughter was supposed to be at home resting.
As soon as Foster pulled out Vi’s chair and helped her remove her black-and-white color-blocked wool cape, Violet said, “I wish I hadn’t stopped working so soon. I’m so bored I don’t know what to do.” Vi’s honey blond hair had grown a ways down her back. Its natural wave was wind-tossed this morning. Her cheeks were fuller than they’d been before her pregnancy.
Foster looked frustrated as he sat at the table with his wife. “Otis misses her at Pirated Treasures. Even though she’s kept his inventory list and his bookwork up-to-date, as well as Arden Botterill’s bookkeeping, she doesn’t know what to do with herself.”
Vi ticked off tasks with her fingers one at a time. “I have the baby’s area ready. I have receiving blankets and clothes all washed. Clean sheets are on the crib mattress, and I dusted our whole apartment until I can’t dust anymore. I wanted to take a walk farther than from our apartment to your house, but Foster won’t let me.”
“Not when she’s alone,” Foster confirmed to Daisy. “I’m not taking any chances.”
“When do you see the midwife again?” Daisy ventured.
Vi shifted, trying to arrange herself more comfortably in the chair. “Tonight. You’re welcome to be there. Willa knows you’re worried.”
Daisy thought she’d hidden her concern about Violet having a midwife deliver her baby in their apartment. Apparently, one woman to another, Willa knew how Daisy felt. She was a Mennonite woman who was a nurse practitioner as well as a midwife and well-qualified for her profession.
“Yes, I’d like to be there,” Daisy assured her daughter.
“Vi asked me to bring her here so she’d have a change of scene,” Foster explained. “I need to meet with my professor at the college this afternoon.”
“Anything wrong?” Daisy asked, then thought maybe she shouldn’t have. She really tried to let her daughters make their own choices, and let Foster guide where he wanted his family to go.
Foster pushed his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose and answered easily. “No problem. Actually, we’re talking about independent study after the baby’s born. It would make my hours more flexible.”
“Rooibos iced tea with a scone?” Under Daisy’s direction, Vi had learned what teas were safe for her to drink during pregnancy. The herbal tea with ginger and mint had helped her morning sickness. There were teas that were unsafe during pregnancy like cleansing and detoxification teas as well as those with certain herbs such as black cohosh. Daisy had also counseled Vi that she should limit her tea intake to one cup a day. Two or three cups were supposed to be safe, but as with everything else, since a pregnancy scare back in August, Vi wanted to go in the direction of caution. She stayed away from any drink with caffeine.
Violet looked almost like the little girl Daisy remembered when she asked, “Can I come back to the kitchen and visit with Tessa? It will give me something to do. Then I just want to sit here and watch your customers. Can I do that, Mom?”
Daisy would do anything to help the last few days of Vi’s pregnancy go smoothly. Her older daughter was welcome to watch passersby and tea drinkers if that would help her occupy herself. “I’m sure everybody in the kitchen would be glad to see you.”
Foster raised a brow. “You’ll watch over her?”
“Of course. If I don’t, Iris will, or Cora Sue, or Eva.”
Looking relieved, Foster stood and he helped Vi to stand too.
Vi sighed. “I don’t think I ever realized that pregnancy would be like carrying around four bags of sugar or flour. I’ve gained twenty pounds,” she bemoaned.
“And you look beautiful,” Daisy reminded her. “You’re healthy and strong, and according to your OB/GYN, the baby is too.” Willa had a gynecologist backing her up just in case she needed one. Fortunately, Vi’s doctor was on board with everything they were doing.
“You have to say that,” Vi murmured. “You’re my mother.”
Daisy could tell Foster was suppressing a smile.
“She doesn’t believe it when I tell her she’s beautiful either,” he said. Then he kissed Violet and left the tea garden.
Daisy walked with Vi to the kitchen, where everyone welcomed her. Before Vi had had a scare with her pregnancy, she’d worked at the tea garden beside everyone who was working there now.
The aromas that wafted from the kitchen were cinnamon and chocolate, vanilla and sugar. There was a yeasty smell too, which meant Tessa was baking cinnamon rolls.
Vi caught the scent right away. She said to Tessa, “If any of those cinnamon rolls are baked, I’ll have one.”
“They’re almost baked.” Tessa looked Vi over. “You’re glowing. Pregnancy becomes you.”
Vi just shook her head. “You all made a pact to make me feel good, didn’t you?”
As Tessa laughed, and she and Vi began talking, Daisy said, “I have a call to make. I’ll be back in five minutes.”
She hoped it would be five minutes.
In her office, Daisy called Margaret from the handset on her desk.
“Vaughn residence,” someone answered on the other end of the line.
“This is Daisy Swanson from Daisy’s Tea Garden,” Daisy explained. “Is Mrs. Vaughn in?”
“This is Tamlyn Pittenger, Mrs. Swanson. Mrs. Vaughn is in
