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Baby Arreini is “christened”! Jewel pregnant again!

FeaturesBaby Arreini is “christened”! Jewel pregnant again!

Chapter 45
Gertrude’s frank opening comment on arrival that she thought these people had money, “but look how the building looks dull and dilapidated like they are poor,” had marked our introduction to the Bertram property. I had already heard that the timber siding, originally finished with a sealer, had been allowed to age and become ash-coloured, presenting a cave-like appearance. In contrast, however, since its construction the window trimming and the veranda flooring, originally white and battleship grey, respectively, had been re-painted annually, underlining local opinion about Teacher Bertram being a law unto himself who operated according to his whims alone, in total disregard of what others thought of him.

I had therefore been prepared to see an extraordinary structure, and had not been disappointed when viewing Matron and Miss Millicent’s home for the first time. What had surprised me had been the house’s interior after the remodelling Jerome had arranged and financed: the pleasing blend of local and modern furniture, as Jewel had said, the faithful retention of many of its basic features and, most striking of all, the lighting and airing effect of the mere application of pastel shades of paint to the dark beaded panelling of walls and ceilings and the clear finish of the wooden floors after the removal of coats of dark varnish stain.

What had also struck me was its spacious, uncluttered and functional air: the polished floors throughout of local wood accented by minimally patterned carpets matching the subtle shades of its walls; the lean yet inviting comfort of its simple furniture; the museum-like framed photographs of scenes from the country’s historical timber and chicle industries, and geographical and physical features of past times; the pots and stands of unusual as well as familiar house plants, all combining to give the impression of a carefully prepared educational display, invoking the memory of the distinguished teacher who had originally conceived it and whose large, framed photograph alongside his adoring spouse prominently occupied the wall of its entrance hall.

Polished stairs on the right leading to a landing first, then on to the second story, were encased by closets painted, like the walls, a flat creamy enamel, with ceiling and mouldings in white, trimming which had continued into the (parlour) living-room and dining-room, with walls of pale gold.

For me, the most delightful room in the house had been the kitchen, a sunny gold with ceiling and mouldings in white. A stand-out piece of furniture had been a large round table with a “Lazy-Susan” and ten chairs with cane seats and backs. The cabinets were of polished cedar, a wood that did not darken with age as much as did mahogany; the counter tops of a marble-like material in a mottled black and gold pattern. Sink, stove, refrigerator and, yes, dishwasher (a rarity at that time and even now in that part of the country), were all white with chrome fittings.

This room, a combination of what had been two large ones, was approached through a door opening from the hall into a well-like area with doors leading to it and to two other rooms and a third bathroom, from the dining-room and from the back door off the veranda.
The divider originally separating the rooms had been converted into an upside-down L-shaped cabinet, opening on two sides, the long end against the ceiling, with book-shelves at the top, and cupboards and drawers below, table and kitchen furnishings on one side and a spacious sitting-cum-recreat ion area on the other.

I had been told that there were several bedrooms, the majority of them upstairs and two downstairs; and a total of six bathrooms, three each up and downstairs, inviting Gertrude’s description of the building as “a young hotel,” and the query as to what the owner had needed with such a large house when he had had only two children? Having heard, furthermore, that he had not believed in having servants, she had also remarked on how his daughters must have been overworked keeping it clean!

ooo0ooo

Jerome, looking elegant in grey pants and a silk dress shirt of the same colour with a small design in gold thread, and light brown loafers, along with Miss Millicent, looking fresh in blue and white floral, had greeted us cordially at the front door; and after our taking turns tidying up in the hall bathroom, had escorted us into the living-room, where the arrivals on the earlier flight, comprised of Matron and Mr. Reg, Justin, Shelley and their two boys, and Linda and her two children, were already seated and getting re-acquainted. Alvin, who had flown in from the day before, had walked from home along with Caleb, appearing just behind us, and we had all converged into the living-room followed by Nurse Pauline with her married sister, and Mrs. Lynch.

The children were encouraged to go out on the veranda, where there were seats, a large swing, some toys and a box of fruits in season. The younger boys: Emerson, Ernesto, and Justin’s sons – Philip and Paul, were taken under the wings of Alvin, Kiah and Caleb and introduced to country cricket and football and shown over the grounds; while Safira and Chela got acquainted and conversed probably about books, as Chela was also a bookworm, and Sonia relaxed on the veranda, keeping an eye on Emerson, at five years the youngest of the boys.

The christening party, consisting of Jewel, Sonia, Jerome, Nigel and me, was scheduled to be in church by 10.00 o’clock, and it was eight-thirty; so, while Gertrude visited with her aunts, Nigel and Jerome got together in the study, and the others occupied the living-room, I had ventured upstairs at Jerome’s request to help Jewel with getting Arreini fed and dressed in time.

ooo0ooo

Seeing my young friend after over a year and so many experiences in between had been a great delight, mixed with some anxiety on noticing how much she had changed both in appearance and manner. Instead of motherhood adding pounds to her weight, she had appeared streamlined and wore a more serious expression. The voice was of its customary softness, but her speech more assured and solemn; “settled” is how Mama would probably have described her.

She had been drying off the baby after her bath when I came into the room and, quickly wrapping her in the towel and setting her down on the bed, had opened her arms and with a welcoming smile had greeted me with: “Sister, I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you,” enveloping me in a tight hug, inviting me to have a seat and watch her complete her ministrations to the baby, who had studied me with her father’s eyes and expression.

As would be said locally, her relationship to Jerome could not be lost at all. She was easily recognizable as his daughter, which must have given both Matron and Mr. Reg great pleasure when they had seen her for the first time, just before our arrival, when she had been taken downstairs for a visit.

Jewel had put on her clothes, except for her dress and cap, and sitting in a cane rocking chair, originally rescued from storage, had taken her in position for feeding. She had given a slight wince when Arreini had started the sucking operation, commenting that I had probably heard Nurse Pauline’s description of her daughter as being a greedy little girl, which Jerome did not like to hear.

Just at that point he had entered the room, the door having been left ajar, with the question: “What doesn’t Jerome like to hear,” having temporarily left Nigel downstairs with the rest of the company to come up and check on us. “That our daughter has a healthy appetite!” Jewel had teased, to which Jerome had responded that he was sure that had not been her original remark, appealing to me to observe how vigilant he had to be to protect his innocent child from being maligned.

At the sound of Jerome’s voice, the baby had interrupted her avid sucking to swing her head in his direction sharply and give her father a big smile, before resuming her feeding; while Jewel had called my attention to the power he had over her, who, hungry as she was, would still neglect her food for him, on which he had lightly commented that the feeling was mutual.

It had been a delight to witness the loving spirit circulating between mother, father and child; and the thought had occurred to me that maybe Lucille had misjudged the size of the problem; until later on when we had returned from the church after the christening ceremony and Jewel and I had a chance for a long talk.

After feeding and completing her attentions to the baby, Jewel had placed her in the car-seat/cradle and dispatched her downstairs with Jerome to wait for us there; and, before leaving the room, he had given her a secret, husbandly look and warned her to be good, thereby arousing my curiosity. As soon as he left I asked her to what he was referring, but she had only given an enigmatic smile and said that it was not anything serious, just a slight difference of opinion, and had gone to the wardrobe to select what clothes to wear. She came back wearing one of her early maternity dresses and asked what I thought of it. I frankly replied that, although beautiful, I considered it a mistake to wear a loose dress to disguise weight loss, as I felt that it emphasised it instead, suggesting that she wear a light-coloured one from her pre-maternity days.

She returned to the dressing room and after a quick shower had come back wearing one of Gertrude’s early creations, looking girlish and slender in one with a white background patterned with square and round figures in green, lime and yellow joined with wavy, light grey vine-like lines, asking if I thought Jerome would approve.

“Of course he will,” I replied, adding that she didn’t look like someone who had been recently pregnant, which had been met with another of her mysterious smiles as she had hooked her arm in mine and walked with me downstairs.

ooo0ooo

There had been only two christenings that Sunday, so the ceremony had been soon over, after which we had returned to the house in the rental taxi driven by Jerome, where, after taking photographs with various groupings, Arrieni had been changed into more comfortable clothing and, settled into a cradle rolled into a corner of the living room and parked near her grandparents and grand-aunt, she had soon fallen asleep.

The same young photographer who had taken the wedding photos had again repeated the service, and had circulated in the company for informal Polaroid snapshots after the conventional family photographs had been taken; and we had all separated into various groups for conversation and light refreshment placed on the large coffee table by Jerome, Jewel and Miss Jessie, who had joined us along with her eldest daughter, the militant Julia – a solemn, watchful girl of seventeen with a challenging expression aimed most of the time at Kiah, who had pretended she didn’t exist after an offhand greeting.

ooo0ooo

Lunch, which had been prepared by a caterer in the capital and brought by air on our flight, had been delivered while we were at the church; and Jewel, Miss Millicent, Miss Jessie and Julia had discreetly taken short leave of the company to prepare a buffet-style table setting in the dining-room.

Punctually at 1.30, Arreini shuffled out of sleep; but, before she could make a sound, her alert father had whisked her away up the stairs, closely followed by her mother. Leaving them behind, Jerome had returned to the company, inviting us all to partake of the buffet lunch whenever we were ready and whe,rever we chose to eat it, including living-room, kitchen and veranda.

As we had gradually drifted towards the dining-room he had approached me and whispered that I might want to take my lunch and join Jewel upstairs while she fed the baby, and I decided this was a good idea and would give us a chance for more in-depth catching up.

####

Music had been heard playing over strategically placed speakers throughout the downstairs and Jerome had put on a favourite George Shearing album on the concealed stereo as I had started to prepare a plate to take upstairs with me. Just then I overheard Gertrude’s derisive question whether this was classical music (although she knew better), and why they didn’t play something to which she could “get down?”

I didn’t bother to ask her with whom she would “get down,” knowing that Jerome, who had a variety of discs, was not likely to play anything but background music at a christening.

I had headed upstairs with my food, and entered just as Jewel was shifting the baby to her right breast and, smiling, had pointed out a vacant chair near to her. She remarked that she had had the chance to thank Gertrude for the baby’s outfit which, as expected, had been original and very attractive, and for all the clothes she had sewn for them both. She had mentioned Gertrude’s repeating my earlier opinion about her appearance in the dress she had worn, and saying that she would be tempted to have a child herself if she knew she would look slim like her afterwards.

Jewel had been suddenly serious, saying that she wouldn’t wish the experience of her method of losing weight on anyone. I asked if it had been very bad and, nodding, she had said that even after nearly three months she had often still had difficulty getting to sleep.

This had been my cue to mention that Lucille and her father were very concerned about her and about the extra burden on Jerome of caring for her in her fragile condition. She answered that she was doing her best to be strong, especially for his sake, as he was very good to her; then had dropped the bombshell that she was afraid it was now too late to correct a big mistake she had made!

Adding that Jerome insisted that she was not to blame and did not want her to talk about it, she continued that she needed to get it off her conscience to someone, proceeding to inform me that she believed she was pregnant again and that it was her fault. I had asked lightly that she please explain what she meant by that, as I knew it took two to tango.

She had related how her doctor and Nurse Pauline had been pleased about the state of her health before the baby, having followed their advice about diet, taking a tonic, sleeping well, and keeping active, especially with her work; and that Jerome, too, had been satisfied with her condition or would never have agreed to her working until mid-December.

Then the news of her father’s accident had turned everything upside down and, suddenly, all the care she had taken had been brought to nothing, she had lost all control, causing the baby’s premature birth! She had been very weakened in the course of a difficult delivery, losing a lot of blood. Jerome, knowing it was best for the baby’s sake also, had arranged round-the-clock care for them both for the first month after Arreini’s arrival. Since then, they had received nursing care in the daylight hours during the week when he was absent, and regular checkups by both the doctor and Nurse Pauline. Only since mid-February had the baby relaxed the schedule from three-hourly feedings to four hours and a little longer sometimes, but she had had difficulty going back to sleep afterwards, staying awake for long periods in between.

She and Jerome had not had time to discuss birth control methods before the baby’s premature appearance, so they had had no relations during the following two months. To make sure that she had all the rest she needed, he would put them both to bed at about eight o’clock when he was there on the weekends, then work downstairs in his study and sleep in the adjoining bedroom.

One night after a hard day she had stayed awake from when he had left until Arreini’s twelve midnight feed and, restless afterwards, she had lain wide awake while her mind had wandered to Pap suffering in pain on a hospital bed these many weeks, Mam being worried about him, and the upheaval to all their lives due to an accident that could so easily have been avoided.

She had considered how, in order to save on expenses and therefore increase profit, the owner had overloaded one vehicle, instead of dividing the shipment in two and paying the cost of another driver and crew, with the result that her Pap, who worked such hard physical labour to provide for his family, now had his livelihood put on hold for only God knew how long, if not forever; and her precious baby brought into the world ahead of time, and denied the presence of loving and caring grandparents!

(Chapter 45 continues in next Tuesday’s issue of the Amandala.)

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