Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Author:Hillary Jordan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Workman Publishing
Published: 2008-03-03T23:00:00+00:00

LAURA

THE COTTON BLOOMED at the end of May. It was magical, like being surrounded by thousands of little white fairies, shimmering in the sunlight. The blooms turned pink after a few days and fell off, revealing green bolls no bigger than my fingertip. They would ripen over the summer and burst open in August. My own time would come right around the new year. My morning sickness had started in early May, so I reckoned I was about two months pregnant.

I wanted to be certain before I told Henry. There was no obstetrician in Marietta, much less a hospital; most women had their babies at home with Doc Turpin. I had no intention of going that route if I could help it. I was about to ask Eboline for the name of her doctor in Greenville when I received a timely invitation from Pearce to attend Lucy’s confirmation at Calvary at the end of June. Lucy was my goddaughter as well as my niece; of course I had to go. And while I was in Memphis, I would pay a visit to my old obstetrician, Dr. Brownlee.

Henry couldn’t spare the time to accompany me, but he agreed to let me and the girls go for a week. Seven days in civilization! Seven days with no mud, no outhouse and no Pappy. It was a heady prospect. I would have a hot bath every day, twice a day if I wanted to. I would call people on the telephone and have afternoon tea at the Peabody and visit the Renoirs at the museum. I might even lie awake in bed at night and read a book by lamplight that didn’t flicker.

Henry drove us to the train station. He went at his usual leisurely pace, slowing often to look at the farms we passed and compare the growth of their cotton, soybeans, and corn to ours. I wanted to tell him to hurry up or we’d miss the train, but I knew he couldn’t help himself. Henry never had much use for nature in its untouched state. Forests didn’t move him, nor mountains, nor even the sea, but show him a well-tended farm and he was breathless with excitement.

We arrived at the station with ten whole minutes to spare. Henry kissed the girls and exacted solemn promises from them to be good and mind me. Then he turned to me. “I’ll miss you,” he said. Time and the daily sight of his cotton thriving had thawed him considerably, though he was still touchy about his authority and had only just resumed our intimate relations in the last week.

“I wish you could come with us,” I said.

As soon as the words were out of my mouth I realized they weren’t true. I wanted some time away from him, not just from Pappy and the farm. I wondered if Henry suspected how I felt.

“You know I can’t be away for that long, not this time of year,” he said. “Besides, you girls will have more fun without me along.

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