Chapter Ten
Ana’s fingers moveddeftly, her needle piercing the fabric, joining blue and red squares into a patchwork of warmth meant for Lillian. They called her Lilli more often than not, but they all loved her.
Rosie sat across from Ana, her hands just as busy, but her eyes often drifting to the cradle where the baby slept.
Izzy folded diapers for the baby.
“Blue like the sky,” Ana murmured, holding up a square. “Red like the roses by the well.” She smiled but it was a weary one, the corners of her mouth betraying the effort it took. The colors blurred before her eyes. Between the mornings in the infirmary, and the nights filled with Lilli’s feedings, she was exhausted.
“Perfect for our Lilli,” Isabelle responded.
“She’ll love it,” Rosabelle added.
Ana let out a sigh, her thoughts trailing off to William. He would wrap this quilt around his child, she knew, with the same tenderness he had shown her. Ana wished she had a way to take some of the burden from him, but she didn’t know how beyond helping him in the infirmary every morning.
Lilli stirred, a tiny fist breaking free from the blanket’s embrace. Ana stilled her sewing, watching as her sisters paused until the baby settled once more.
“Almost done,” Ana said.
Rosie looked down at the quilt and smiled. “We’ll have to make another when we finish this one. Izzy’s baby needs one too.”
“And I think we’ll need one more after Izzy’s,” Ana said softly. “I haven’t told William yet, so don’t say a word!”
“Is this a good thing?” Rosie asked softly.
“William wants children,” Ana murmured, the needle pausing at the crest of a blue square. “He loves Lilli so much, but he wants his own children.”
She looked over at the sleeping baby in the cradle. “It was Lilli,” Ana continued. “Deciding to keep her... It stirred something in him. A longing.”
Her fingers resumed their work, but more slowly now. She could feel her sisters’ eyes on her, their brows furrowed with concern and curiosity alike.
“I fear it, though,” she confessed. “Childbirth. The pain it brings.” She glanced toward the cradle where Lilli lay, peaceful in dreams. “I love her, dearly so. But to endure such agony...Can I love another who would cause it?”
In the periphery, she sensed her sisters exchanging looks, their own concerns about childbirth etched into the lines around their eyes.
“Ana,” Rosie said gently, reaching out to cover her hand with her own. “It’s a love different from any other. A love that grows, even through pain.”
“Besides,” Izzy said with a smile, “you’ve already proven you’re stronger than you think.”
Ana’s sisters converged upon her, their arms enfolding her in an embrace that spoke of shared joy and unyielding support.
“Then we sew not just for Lilli,” Rosie whispered, “but for the little ones yet to come.”
“And you’ll love them,” Izzy added, her tone firm, “as fiercely as you love us.”
“Love is infinite, Ana,” Rosie said, “it multiplies with every heartbeat.”
*****
THE CLINK OF SILVERWAREagainst porcelain had faded, leaving the room draped in a quiet that mirrored the night sky outside. Ana cradled Lilli in her arms, the soft suckling the only sound punctuating the silence.
William sat across from her, his eyes tracing the tender scene.
“William,” Ana’s voice was almost a whisper. “There is something I must tell you.”
He leaned forward.
“I believe... I am with child.” The words tumbled out, half fear, half wonder.
