Little by little, their relationship soured. He yelled at the children, she complained about him not coming home, they hauled out the old complaints they’d once forgotten, and found reasons to dislike one another. While the children were what made Eliza happy, they were Martin’s nemesis. After almost nine years together, she saw him as foul-tempered and belligerent, not at all like the man she thought she’d married.
There were times when she regretted not having stuck to her guns and left him in the early months of their marriage, before Oliver, back when she still had other options. Now with five children and a sixth on the way, she had no alternative but to stay.
——————
MARGARET ROSE WAS BORN ON the day Dewey celebrated his fifth birthday. On March 6th, Eliza felt the onset of labor and sent for the midwife. With this being her sixth baby, it was expected to be an easy delivery. Before lunch the midwife settled in, began massaging Eliza’s stomach, and preparing for delivery.
“It won’t be long now,” she said confidently.
John Paul, born thirteen months earlier, had taken less than an hour to make his entrance into the world, but this baby proved far more stubborn. Eliza labored all that day, and by time the moon crested in the night sky the midwife was frantic. She’d never lost a mother or baby but feared this would be her first. Moments before the clock struck midnight, she roused Oliver, Eliza’s eldest.
“Do you know where Doc Perkins lives?” she asked the boy.
He looked at her, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and nodded. “Down by the bend in—”
“Then get dressed quick. I’m gonna need you to fetch the doc. Your mama’s in a bad way.”
Before the lad had time to pull on his britches and scoot out the door, the clock chimed. Seconds later Eliza screamed, and Margaret Rose slid into the world. It was March 7th.
The midwife stayed for two days to help out. On the second day, she took Eliza aside and told her that two babies having the same birthday was a sure sign.
“A sign of what?” Eliza asked.
“Unity. Those two babies are joined together the same as if they’d been born twins. The boy will be her protector for as long as they live.”
Not given to the belief of such superstitions, Eliza pooh-poohed the thought.
Before the week was out, she knew what the midwife had said was true. While the other children went about their day ignoring the new arrival, Dewey did not. Right from the start, he seemed to take ownership of the new baby. A dozen times a day he peeked inside the cradle, and if the infant so much as whimpered he’d call for Eliza to come and check on her. Once Margaret Rose was fed and diapered, he’d stand there and ease the cradle back and forth until she was sound asleep. Before the baby was two weeks old, he knew how to lift her from the cradle and quiet her crying.
——————
A WEEK BEFORE MARGARET ROSE was born, the company Martin had been with for 10 years lost the electrical installation contract they’d counted on. Then they laid off nine men and stopped paying for overtime. Martin was one of the few who still had a job, but it meant he was expected to do more work with no extra pay. For six straight weeks he had to work a full day on Saturday and a half-day on Sunday, which put him in a mood blacker than a coal miner’s face.
During that time, he wrote just one letter to tell Eliza he was working his ass off and didn’t know when he’d have a chance to come home. Instead of asking about her or the new baby, he wrote three paragraphs about how he had half a mind to report the company to the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union. He then signed it “Love, Martin” and enclosed money enough for her to buy groceries.
When he finally made it back to Coal Creek, Margaret Rose was over a month old and already starting to smile. Instead of hurrying back to take a peek at his new daughter, he stomped around the kitchen complaining about the unfairness of his situation and how hard he had to work.
Having grown accustomed to the angry outbursts that could come or go in the blink of an eye, Eliza figured he needed a bit of time to simmer down