Introduction

A Mothers Cry by Jane Kirkpatrick Midwife and widow Adele Marley always wanted a child, never expecting to become the mother of a baby whose own mother died during childbirth. Then Adele catches the eye of widower Jerome Schmidt. Jeromes a good manand hes fallen hard for Adele. But should she commit to a husband, or do her daughter, Polly, and her calling to bring new life into the world bring all the love she needs? The Midwifes Apprentice by Rhonda Gibson The hardest thing Polly Schultz has ever had to do is join the wagon train that will take her out west and away from the only mother shes ever known. Thankfully she has her mothers journal on midwifery to help her. As Polly journeys along the Oregon Trail, Gordon Baker takes an interest in her and her work. But will Pollys quick temper and fears keep her from the man she comes to love? Birth of a Dream by Pamela Griffin When his stepmother goes into labor, Noah Cafferty seeks her midwife but finds only Christiana, a girl of seventeen. Hes leery of her aid, but Christiana proves she has pluck and successfully delivers the baby. But as Noahs interest in Christiana grows, can he shed his old-world views against women working outside the home and make Christianas dream happen. . .to take her as both his wife and a midwife? Labor of Love by Trish Perry Kendra Silverstone has been certain of her calling to be a midwife as long as she can remember. But when a local doctor campaigns aggressively against midwifery at the same time one of Kendras mothers experiences the loss of a newborn, her confidence is shaken. Will the guidance and blessings provided through her ancestors words be enough to convince Kendra of Gods will for her life?

The Midwifes Legacy

four-in-one coLLecTion

rhonda gibson, Pamela griffin Jane Kirkpatrick, & Trish Perry

A Mothers Cry 2012 by Jane Kirkpatrick The Midwifes Apprentice 2012 by Rhonda Gibson Birth of a Dream 2012 by Pamela Griffin Labor of Love 2012 by Trish Perry Print ISBN 978-1-61626-588-5 eBook Editions: Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-60742-864-0 Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-60742-865-7 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without written permission of the publisher. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the authors imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental. Cover design: Kirk DouPonce, DogEared Design Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, www.barbourbooks.com Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.

Printed in the United States of America.

a MoThers cry
by Jane Kirkpatrick

Dedication
To midwives everywhere.

Prologue
1843Milwaukee, Wisconsin Territory

dele Marley laid the infant on her mothers breast. The umbilical cord looked barely long enough, but something more was wrong, very wrong. Adeles mouth felt dry, and she reached with one hand still centering the child on its mother while pressing a clean cloth against the womans birth chamber. Blood soaked the rag in seconds, staining the bedsheets, Adeles hand. Everything looked red. Its all right. Adele spoke to the mother, hoping as she did that shed be forgiven for the lie. Feel your daughter. Pretty dark hair. Fine as goose down. Youve delivered a treasure to the world. The woman groaned, and Adele helped her place a weak hand on her daughters head. You did it. I did it, Serena Schultz gasped. I did all things through. . . Him who strengthens me. It was the verse Adele had given the woman for comfort all through the pregnancy. It was a prayer as well as a promise. Serena gasped in pain. In Adeles few short years as a midwife, she had never seen so much blood.
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The Midwifes Legacy

Serena? Stay with me. Ill send Arthur for the doctor. Arthur! The man appeared, hair up in sticks from rubbing his hands through it in worry, eyes rheumy with waiting, hoping. Adele heard Serenas breathing change. God be with this woman, this child, this man, she prayed under her breath, so as not to alarm Serena. Whats wrong? Serena? Adele touched Arthurs shoulder. You have a healthy baby girl, Arthur. Polly, isnt that what you said youd name a daughter? Arthur nodded. He reached for his wifes hand. Pollys healthy. Serena gasped, her breath shallow and short. Go get the doctor, Arthur. Ill do what I can. She knew it was too late. Arthur hesitated. Adele stared at the womans face, pale as piano keys. The placenta moved from her as her breath exhaled. Adele cut the umbilical cord. Then she watched as a presence moved up through Serenas body like a breath, floating across the woman and disappearing at her eyes, passing without a sound from her body. Serena, no longer full of life and struggle, lay still, her face peaceful. Serena! Arthur pushed the infant aside then, and Adele stood in time to catch the slippery babe and hold it to her breast. Im so sorry, Arthur. So sorry. But you have a daughter to care for now. A beautiful child. Serena would have I did not want a child! His eyes rained tears. Serena He held his wife to him, her limp arms unable to wrap comfort around her husband or her child. Ill hold the baby until youre ready. Adele held back sobs.
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a MoThers cry
I have no care what you do with that child. None at all. I never want to see her againor you. If you hadnt told Serena she wasnt too old to have a child, if you hadnt Shes only thirty-two, Arthur. It was a quirk Adele stopped. She knew that anger was the brother of grief. Her words would only fuel the fire of loss that burned within him. Adele swaddled the child. Ill find a wet nurse. It was her nature to set necessary things in motion. Her own grief would have to wait. She held the baby to her and stood to heat watered milk she knew the child would need. False sustenance it was when what she truly needed was her mothers love, her fathers care. Neither was to be.

March 2, 1843. A midwife means with woman, and tonight that was so in such a mournful way. At times I feel helpless in being with woman during times of uncertainty and fear. The beginning of the first stirrings of life is so wonderful, and I am with woman until the moment when the child cries into living, eyes staring at the candlelight, wanting to connect with someone even before they want to suck. I knew Polly, who sleeps beside me, before she was born. I was there when her mother felt the quickening. There, when she startled Serena with her kicks. She was Paul or Polly then; it did not matter. She was life, and I was there with her. But I must not let my heart fall too deeply in love with little Polly. It is the gift of midwifery to be present
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The Midwifes Legacy

at the hour of birth, to speak courage and potency to the mother, to tell her that she is capable of delivering this new life into the world. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Thats the verse I gave Pollys mother. And she did do it, deliver this child. But midwifery is also a curse when things go wrong. Even with the child thriving, a good midwife knows never to fall too deeply in love with anothers child, because that love cannot be returned in an unconditional way. Such surviving children belong always to another. No, a faithful midwife learns to love, to cry, to pray, and to say good-bye.

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Chapter 1
Something UnUSUal thiS Way ComeS
Sixteen years later 1859Western Wisconsin

dele Marley stood at the postal window, staring at the letter. Its from that new banker, Cora Olson, the postmistress, told her. There. She pointed. The return address. Jerome Schmidt, Esquire. Probably a printed flyer announcing something at the bank. Adele pushed the envelope into her grip along with the German Almanac from Milwaukee and a letter from her friend in the new state of Oregon. She was careful not to disturb the thread and needles shed purchased earlier from the other end of Coras store. I havent seen any other letters like that one, Cora said. Id say it was a personal message of some kind. See the handwriting? Lots of flourish. Dont you want to open it? In case you have to stop at the bank and take care of something before you head home, you know.
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The Midwifes Legacy

I thank you for your insights. Adele looked the woman in the eye even though she wanted to stare at her broken eyetooth. Adele didnt let on that a trickle of sweat had already begun seeping beneath her corset. Might be a legal concern. Coras raised voice floated as Adele reached the door. That Esquire after the name means lawyer, doesnt it? You have a nice day now. Adele hurried out to her buckboard, the boxes of supplies already loaded by Coras husband, who lifted his hat to her. Adele nodded back, her eyes dropped in modesty beneath her bonnet. She grasped the wood smoothed by years of hands and stepped up into the seat of the wagon then lifted the reins, snapping them to let the mule know she was ready. What would the banker want with her? The note against her farm was paid annually, with interest. She owned the land but, like most farmers, borrowed operating expenses each year, expenses paid off with the sale of her milk and butter and the occasional heifer. She had a bull that brought in breeding fees, and with selling excess wheat she grew and her midwifery, she and Polly did quite well. Shed even been able to supply a widow with five children all the milk they needed until they could afford a cow of their own. She hadnt asked for a loan extension of any kind. No, the letter couldnt be about the farm. The new banker was a lawyer, butArthur. After all this time. Adele pulled up the reins just before crossing the bridge of the Buffalo River outside of Mondovi, the small town she and her husband had moved to in western Wisconsin five years before.
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a MoThers cry
She dug in her satchel for the letter, breaking the wax seal with her gloved finger. Arthur had moved away from Milwaukee, long before Adele and John and Polly headed west. They had no idea where hed gone. Theyd left notice with a lawyer where they could be found, though Arthur had not. But this was what Adele feared, that Arthur would come looking for them or send someone else. With John goneGod rest his soulthe possibility of the loss of Polly sent a searing pain into her side. Her hands trembled as she opened the letter. May 2, 1859 Mrs. Adele Marley from Jerome Schmidt, Esquire. I have a question of some urgency that I would like to discuss with you. I will arrive at your home on Tuesday, May 10, at 3:00 p.m. Tea is not expected. Cordially, Jerome Schmidt, Esquire He was coming to her home? Tuesdaythis very afternoon! Adele stuffed the letter back in her bag and flicked the reins, her lips moving to unspoken prayers. Shed send Polly away for the afternoon. One look at the slender girl with walnut-colored hair compared to Adeles stocky frame and aging yellow strands would only remind the lawyer that Adele was not Pollys mother. Polly, such a jewel in Adeles life, full of sparkle and yes, lately, a bit of spit. Polly, reminding her of life and living and that there is a time for everything; even sadness must not last forever. Maybe being a mother didnt last forever, either. Im not Pollys mother. I have to remember that.
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