The Reverend stayed for some tea and cakes afterward, offering a blessing on all present and saying a special prayer for the sick over Sonia. When Megan moved to leave as well, Sonia begged her to stay for supper. “After all, you’ll be leaving in a few days and who knows when I’ll see you again!”
“But with all this excitement today, Sonia, aren’t you too tired?”
“This is the best kind of excitement and as good for me as a tonic, my dear Megan.”
Looking up, Megan saw Anna nodding her encouragement. “Miss Sonia was counting on you staying tonight. I’ve already prepared the meal for the two of you.”
Borrowing pen and paper, Megan scrawled a quick note to her brother, advising him of her plans.
“I’ll just have my boy Toby run this over to your house,” Anna assured her.
The meal was a light repast, chicken in lemon sauce and capers, preceded by a light beef broth and followed by a trifle, and even Sonia ate well, to Anna’s evident pleasure.
“It does you good to have the company, Miss Sonia!”
Camellia started fussing in the corner.
“It’s time for her bottle! Would you like to give it to her, Megan?” offered Sonia.
Although over the last several months she’d become comfortable with holding the infant, Megan had never been entrusted with feeding her and glowed at the honor being bestowed.
“The doctor has us boil the bottles so she won’t take sick,” confided Anna. “And we boils the milk, too, and puts it in the bottle to cool, and then tests it to be sure it isn’t too hot,” she continued, demonstrating by shaking a few drops from the rubber teat onto the inside of her wrist. “It shouldn’t feel hot or cold but the same as your skin.”
Megan watched all this intently, absorbing this arcane knowledge. She’d never thought about bottles. Most of the women she knew either fed their babies themselves or had a wet nurse. But her doctor had recommended against Sonia trying to feed Camellia to avoid affecting the infant with her lethargy.
Cradling Camellia in her left arm, Anna demonstrated bringing the bottle to her lips without spraying milk about, then withdrew the bottle, to Camellia’s instant dismay, in order to transfer first the baby and then the bottle to Megan’s care. Megan only splashed a little milk as she carefully positioned the teat in Camellia’s mouth and watched in awe as she started sucking mightily.
“You are going to want to burp her every ounce or two, to bring up any air she swallows,” cautioned Anna. “Just watch those marks and don’t let her get past two of them without a burp.”
Her eyes rounded as she thought of the rude sounds for which her brother had been soundly thrashed when he’d made them in his mother’s hearing.
“You want her to burp?”
Peals of laughter rang from Anna and Sonia.
“Oh, yes, Miss! Otherwise she’ll spit up and that can be a rare mess. Now here’s a cloth for your shoulder in case a bit leaks out with the belch. If you look down you’ll see she’s already had almost two ounces.”
Helping place the cloth and then the child, Anna showed Megan how to burp a baby. She jumped at the noise issuing forth from the infant in response to the soft tapping on her back, to Sonia’s continued amusement.
“Well, yes, you’ve had months to get used to this but until your daughter was born I’d never had much to do with youngsters!” Megan strove to make herself sound put upon but was too much enjoying herself and all the novel experiences to sound severe.
Bottle finished and final burping session complete, Megan realized the little bundle was getting damp, and looked up at Anna with dismay!
More giggles ensued at the horrified look on Megan’s face as she learned that babies did not make use of the water closet. She watched, fascinated, as Anna removed the offending garment, washed little Camellia’s bottom, and re-diapered her, carefully pinning the cloth with safety pins.
“When you put them down, you have to make sure they are somewhere they can’t roll off. These critters are faster than you would think, so never turn your back on them. Of course girls aren’t as troublesome as boys. Boys you need to keep covered up at all times or they will drench you. Don’t worry,” Anna laughed at Megan’s baffled expression, and even Sonia looked intrigued, “you’ll understand when you have a boy child.”
“I had no idea it was all so complicated,” admitted Megan.
“Were it not for Anna, I would have had no clue how to go on. I’ve never really been around children either, except the other girls at school, and although we may not have always acted like it, we were—marginally—more mature than Camellia!” Sonia pointed at her daughter with her chin. “And besides, think of it as practice for when you have your own!”
More peals of laughter as Megan blushed furiously. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had this much fun.
Warm, dry, and fed, Camellia soon dropped off to sleep as the women all looked on tenderly and with love. But a glance at Sonia showed her fading fast and Megan thanked her for “the best night of my life!” as she hugged her and wished her good night.
Anna called Toby to escort her home, grasping her hand and thanking her for giving Miss Sonia such a wonderful evening. In her
