Tattler's Branch Read Online Free PDF Page B

using the lantern for light until they came closer to town, where the sidewalk was lit by gas lamps. The door was locked and her key was in the bag left at home. She rapped sharply on the door.
    “Dr. Still?” Anne, the other night nurse, said as she opened up. “What have you got there?”
    “A very hungry baby,” Lilly said. “I’m guessing she’s two weeks old.”
    Anne took the baby into her ample arms. “She’s scrawny for two weeks, Doctor. She should be gaining weight.”
    “Yes, but she has a cleft palate. Obviously she’s been getting some nourishment but not enough to thrive.”
    “Dear, dear,” Anne said, her forehead knitting in a frown of worry.
    “I’ve brought her formula, but don’t attempt a feeding. I’m going to get a length of India-rubber tubing. I’ll be right back.”
    Lilly stood in the walk-in supply closet and perused the stacks. She saw skeins of gauze, rolls of tape, dozens of thermometers, brown-paper packages of sterilized linens and autoclaved instruments, but no tubing. Her ire rose as she rummaged around. A body could never find anything when she needed it.
    “Top shelf, right-hand corner,” Anne said behind her. “You’ll find a tube just there   —a little to your left. There you go.”
    “Thank you, Anne,” Lilly said, more than a little discomfited. A nurse could put you in your place quicker than anybody. I should have asked, she thought as she cut the tubing to size and inserted it into the opening she’d widened in the nipple. “Pray this will work,” she said.
    Anne settled into a rocking chair and held the baby in a sitting position. “Let’s give her a try.”
    Fifteen minutes later, the baby had gotten no more than a tablespoon of liquid from the slapped-together feeding system. “This takes much too long. She’ll starve to death withthe bottle in her mouth,” Anne said, raising the baby to her shoulder for a burp.
    “What we need is a wet nurse. The human breast makes the best seal.”
    “Well, why didn’t you say so?” Anne said. “My Amy’s nearly two, but she ain’t weaned yet. Likes her ninny, she does.”
    “Would you be willing?”
    “Of course,” Anne said, settling deeper into the chair and unbuttoning her blouse. “Little thing needs all the loving she can get.”
    Lilly closed the window blind and draped a blanket over Anne’s shoulders. The bit of milk the baby had received from the bottle had piqued her interest. Finally she began to feed.
    Anne patted the baby’s bottom as she rocked and nursed. “Mongoloid, ain’t she?”
    “Yes, I’m afraid so.”
    “Mongoloid and harelip. Don’t seem fair.”
    “Cleft palate   —not cleft lip. You can’t see it from the outside, which is why I nearly choked her to death.” Lilly stirred honey into the mugs of tea she’d made for herself and for Anne. “You’ll need extra fluids if you’re nursing two,” she said, taking a seat close by.
    “Where’s her mother anyway?” Anne’s face fell. “No! Don’t tell me. She’s dead   —ain’t she?”
    “I’m going to trust your discretion, Anne. I want nothing repeated.”
    Anne crossed her heart right over the baby’s head. “Itook the Nightingale Pledge, Dr. Still. I never talk about my patients, though I admit it’s hard sometimes.”
    Lilly leaned forward. “It seems Armina found her this morning, but now she’s sick herself.”
    “Is that why your sister came for Hannah?”
    “Yes, but they don’t know about the baby. I expect someone will show up asking about her. After all, someone is missing her daughter.”
    “What’s your gut saying, Doc?”
    “I think something has happened, something terrible enough to cause Armina’s system to go into shock.”
    “Must be bad. Armina’s tough as a pine knot.” Anne took a drink before setting the mug down to shift the baby from one side to the other. “What do you aim to do?”
    Lilly rubbed her eyes with the tips of her fingers. “I’ll talk to the