“It seems you were right all along, Georgie,” Mama said. This birth had been longer than the first two, most likely because this baby was the biggest, and it had taken a lot out of her.
George rocked his new baby brother gently in his arms. “I promise to care for him.”
She smiled at him, exhaustion in the lines around her eyes and mouth. For the first time she looked older than her twenty-four years. “I know you will.”
George had sent one of the older neighbor boys to fetch Dr. Choate, promising him a silver dollar when he got back, but the doctor had been away, according to his housekeeper. George had had no recourse but to get the doctor who lived down the road. He’d smelled of alcohol, and when he hadn’t even bothered to wash his hands before he examined Mama, George had thrown him o
