For some reason, Rosa’s second delivery was more troublesome than her first but luckily the doctor happened to be in the area when she went into labor and thus was able to attend her.
Joshua paced nervously on the porch while the doctor and the midwife helped Rosa through a protracted and painful delivery. Emma kept John distracted while keeping an eye on Joshua as well.
The baby…a plump girl with eyes and hair both as dark as her mother’s…finally quit Rosa’s womb after hours of labor. The baby’s cry was full and healthy and Rosa’s pain melted instantly away as she cradled her new child.
Joshua heard the cry too and felt relief wash over him. He waited anxiously to be allowed egress into the bedroom and rushed in once the midwife opened the door. Rosa, who was obviously tired but beaming just the same, introduced him to his daughter and Joshua felt his heart melt into a warm puddle.
Mary…named for her maternal grandmother…turned out to be an active, happy baby with bright, inquisitive eyes and an engaging smile. Mary quickly charmed the men in her life…Joshua and John…though Joshua refused opportunities to hold her for fear of hurting the child.
Mary’s birth left Rosa weak for a few weeks. The doctor had advised her to take it easy but Rosa insisted on trying to get up and take care of her children and her house just the same. But eventually she had to reluctantly concede that she needed to cut back in order to heal. Rosa focused on taking care of Mary while Emma took on a greater share of responsibility for the housework and for John.
Rosa’s greatest fear was that this weakness meant that she might not be able to bear any more children. Joshua was worried about that too…though that was overshadowed by a fear that Rosa might not recover at all.
Joshua stayed close to home, working in the forge in the barn, for the next couple of weeks. He regarded his wife warily, feeling helpless and unable to do anything to make things better. Joshua was enormously grateful for Emma’s presence in his home as he would have not the first clue about taking care of two children and an ailing wife.
Emma’s duties expanded to include most of the cooking as well as taking care of Rosa’s needs as the days passed.
And then Rosa rallied. Her strength returned and her spirits rose in kind. Her family needed her, she told herself, and that thought seemed to be enough to bring the healing that she had been praying for since Mary’s birth. Even as she resumed her place as woman of the house, Rosa found that she too was grateful that Emma was there to help her take care of the house.
Joshua cautiously ventured the opinion that they should keep Emma on even though Rosa was back up to speed and he was surprised when Rosa agreed without hesitation.
Emma kept her own counsel…rarely smiling but seemingly pleased to be somewhere she was needed and wanted.
Joshua was extremely solicitous to Rosa for weeks after she had recovered…not wanting to tax her despite her insistence that she was feeling completely up to snuff. Having seen her grow so weak after giving birth, Joshua found that he was quite reluctant to lay with her as a husband for fear of making Rosa pregnant again.
Rosa, for her part, had some misgivings as well…but despite these she longed to feel her husband’s passion once more.
As the weeks went on, Joshua found that his eyes lingered on Emma’s lithe body and golden hair longer than he, as a married man, should have. Rosa, her hands full with the two children, seemed not to notice this. And if Emma noticed she gave no sign of it.
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