Mittman, Stephanie (47 page)

Noah
had set her up on the living room sofa, pillows propping her up, two coverlets
keeping her warm. Dr. Emma Randall had proclaimed it one of the easiest
deliveries she'd ever seen for a first-time mother, surprising no one.

The
baby, Grace, slept soundly in a cradle by the fire, Ethan rocking it gently
with his toe every now and then. On her hip, Willa balanced Rory, now a
strapping seven-month-old who would obviously grow to his father's size. He
already seemed nearly twice as big as his cousin Lucia, Charlie and Risa's
newest daughter.

The
cookies Hannah had managed to bake herself, with Annie giving directions from
her perch on the couch, smelled ready, and Noah and the children ran to the
kitchen to remove them from the oven before they burned.

"Don't
you want to help them?" she asked James. It worried her that he appeared
to still be grieving for his brother. And it didn't help that Della was so
preoccupied with her own misery she hardly paid attention to the child. Nor did
Peter, who had buried himself in his work and was rising quickly at the bank.

James
refused to leave his place over the furnace register, as if he couldn't get
warm enough no matter what he tried.

Cara,
newly enrolled in school and anxious to show off her numbers, asked for a show
of hands for coffee, tea, or milk and skipped back to the kitchen to report her
findings to Noah.

"This
one's Mama's," Julia said, as she came back into the room with a steaming
mug of milk laced with honey. Noah always served it to her that way, claiming
he loved the taste of honey on her lips. "I'm being real careful with the cup,"
she explained to her audience. "It's her mama's mama's mama's,
right?"

"Yes,
sweetheart, that's right," Noah said, his eyes full of pride as he looked
over his whole family.

"And
she'll be mad if I break it," Julia added.

"I
could never be mad at you," Annie said, surprised that Julia would even
think so.

"Oh,
not you, Mama," she said as she handed her the cup. "Her!" She
jerked her head in Hannah's direction, and Annie had to agree, silently, with
Julia's assessment. Her great grandmother's dishes would be in good hands for
another generation.

Annie
put the cup down on the table with exaggerated care and opened her arms for
Julia to clamber up for a hug, which she did just as regularly as everything
else wonderful that seemed to take place in the Eastman house.

"Oh,
look! Here come Reverend and Tessie Winestock," Risa said, looking out the
window. "They must want to see the new baby."

As
if on cue, Grace began to cry and Ethan, looking somewhat overwhelmed, picked
her up and carried her to Annie, who cradled her and cooed until the infant
quieted down. She knew she only had a few minutes before Grace demanded the
sweet milk that was all her own.

Tessie
and Miller kissed the girls and made their way to the couch.

"Oh,
but she's beautiful!" Tessie exclaimed. "And Grace. What a perfect
name."

"Well,"
Annie admitted, "it falls between Francie and Hannah in the
alphabet."

"I
guess you'll have to have another one to name with an I," Charlie said,
nudging Noah gently in the ribs.

"I
plan to start work on that just as soon as Annie is up to it," he said
with a smile, looking so intently at his wife and his newest daughter that
Annie could feel the love from across the room.

Grace
balked in her arms, opened her tiny bow mouth, and let out a loud bawl that
demanded attention. Discreetly Annie tucked her under a little blanket and let
the baby latch on to her breast.

"So,"
Risa said when she deduced what Grace was doing beneath the cover of the cloth,
"how does it feel to finally have one of your own?"

Annie
looked around the room. Bart, gruff and quarrelsome as ever, was there with his
wife and baby. Charlie was there with Risa, as much a sister now as he was a
brother. Lucia was on his hip, Cara by her mother's side. Della was there, much
the worse for wear, along with Peter and James. Ethan was staring at the
picture they had just received from Francie, who stood with a man she had
pointedly remarked was not a beau, in front of a tall building in New York
City. The man, well dressed and bespectacled, had his hand on Francie's
shoulder.

Hannah
and Julia were on the couch with Annie and Grace, huddled up tight as ever a
family could be.

Tears
slipped down her cheeks, which the relatives attributed to the emotions of a
new mother. But she and Noah knew better.

"They're
all my own," Annie answered Risa. "They've always been my own."

Author's Note

Van
Wert still sits peacefully in the western part of Ohio, still having an annual
county fair that is one of the best in the state.

According
to a History of Van Wert County published in 1906, "Dr. Miss Emma Pearson
[Randall] had a large practice here, but gave it up for a man and moved to
Michigan." Much later it was reported that she was living on North
Jefferson Street, so at some point she returned to her practice in Van Wert.
Both Dr. R. J. Morgan and Dr. John K. Woods had their practices there.

And
while it was true that George H. Marsh, Esq., did own one of the town's many
saloons, he also was a great philanthropist who was responsible for the first
County Hospital and the YWCA, among other gifts to the city, and following his
death the Marsh Foundation was set up with funds provided for in his will.
Peter Gibbs was hardly alone in his admiration for Mr. Marsh's good deeds, and
even Annie would have had to admit that the attorney was a wonderful man who
gave a great deal back to his community.

In
1890, electricity did indeed come to Van Wert, though whether its timing was as
meaningful to anyone as it was to Annie and Miller is questionable. It was
found in about two hundred homes that first year.

As
to the Library Association, Hattie Brotherton and Clara Cavett were only two of
many women who saw the need for a public library and canvassed the town for
subscriptions, and by the end of 1890, the first year of the Association, they
had a collection of 600 books and had to hire a librarian and rent a room.
Readers might like to know that in 1897, J. S. Brumback left to the people of
Van Wert the funds to build a public library, which was dedicated in 1901. By
then Annie must have been reading well enough to make use of the library for
herself as well as her children.

And
while I can't be certain it was
Romeo and Juliet
that Annie was able to
see in Van Wert, Waverly Hall played host as early as 1876 to outside companies
that performed
Hamlet, Rip Van Winkle, Lucrezia Borgia,
and
The
Gilded Lady.
In 1879, when Annie would have been eleven, there was an
exhibition of Edison's phonograph, followed a week later by a production of
H.M.S.
Pinafore.

The
town could boast at the time an Ahern steam engine, kept in City Hall on
Central Avenue and used to fight fires. Jake Fronfield, the actual fire chief
at the time, had good reason to be as proud of his men as he was of his
equipment.

One
other note: Multiple sclerosis, a disease for which there is still no cure, was
discovered in 1885. Until recently its diagnosis was difficult, and on occasion
its sufferers are still mistaken for people who have had too much to drink.
Tessie was one of the lucky ones who went into remission and was able to live a
somewhat normal life.

STEPHANIE MlTTMAN lives in Syosset, New York,
with her husband and two children.