Entangled Hearts

Chapter 31

On the fourth day during visiting hours, Mrs. Chatterton came into Laura Mae's room with a fresh bouquet of pink flowers.

"Oh, thank you; you surely are a dear! They are beautiful and so fragrant," Laura Mae exclaimed. They reminded her of the bouquet that had been on the table in the café while she and Gene were eating their wedding dinner.

Mrs. Chatterton sat down, and they talked for quite a while about current happenings. She had received another letter from John, and he was still well and safe over in the shell-torn country across the sea. Then all of a sudden, the lady changed the subject of conversation.

"By the way, May, what are you going to name your sweet little baby girl?"

"I have decided on Laura Gene; how do you like it?"

"Laura Gene Elison," Mrs. Chatterton uttered in a loud whisper. Laura Mae heard, and she felt the blood creeping into her cheeks, making them feel hot. How she wanted to tell this kind woman the truth. It made her feel sick to think of how deceitful she was to one who had done so much for her. "That is a very pretty name," the lady added. "That is your name, and haven't I heard you speak of your husband as 'Gene'?"

"Yes, his name is Gene, and my first name is Laura." Just at that moment, a nurse came in to take Laura Mae's temperature and record her pulse beats and breathing.

"It is time to bring your little girl in again, are you ready for her?" the nurse asked with a pleasing smile on her face.

"She is welcome any time. Say, will you be taking Mrs. Randall's baby to her?"

"Yes, I will in just a minute, why?"

"I wondered if there would be any chance of coaxing you into letting me see him. Mrs. Randall and I are close friends."

"Sure, I will slip him in here if you won't tell the supervisor, she is off duty just now."

In a few minutes, the nurse came back into the room with a little warm bundle in her arms. At first, it looked like just a roll of light blue cotton blankets, but when she lowered it so Laura Mae could see it, sure enough, there was the little red face of Edith Randall's pride and joy, her infant son.

"Oh, isn't he sweet?" the young mother exclaimed as she smiled down at the wee man resting on the nurse's arm just above the covers on the bed.

Mrs. Chatterton looked at him too. "He certainly is a cunning little fellow, bless his tiny heart," she remarked. "Has his mother decided on a name for him yet?" she asked the nurse.

"Yes, she has. She told me that she and her husband had decided to name him Robert before he ever came. They are going to call him Bobby." The nurse was sociable and told all she knew about the other lady's child.

"Bobby Randall, that sounds all right, doesn't it?" Mrs. Chatterton said. "Bobby and Laura Gene, perhaps they will be little playmates."

Laura Mae looked sad; in her heart, she hoped that Bobby and her baby would not be playmates. She wanted Gene to come and take her somewhere to live with him before the babies would be old enough to play together.

The nurse took little Bobby to his own mother and brought in the curly-haired baby girl to have her dinner.

"She is something to be proud of, May. I can hardly wait until you get back home so she will be where I can love her as much as I want to without nurses giving me back glances."

"I will be glad to be back there, too," Laura Mae said and smiled up at the older lady who had been very kind to her.

"I will have to go now, dear, then I will come and see you again tomorrow. I want to stop in and say hello to Edith before the visiting hour is over." She kissed Laura Mae and left the room.

One day, the charge nurse came into Laura Mae's room with a chart and pencil.

"We must send in a record of your baby's birth. Have you decided on a name for her yet, Mrs. Elison?" she asked.

"Pardon me, Miss Brooks, but how is my name recorded here?" The young woman's face was grave.

"As Mrs. Elison, but we need your husband's name and your maiden name before we can apply for a birth certificate."

"Mrs. Chatterton, the woman who brought me here, has known me by the name of May Elison, but my real name is Laura Mae Whitmer. Eugene Whitmer is my husband's name." She was prepared to let everyone know the truth, and she would ask Mrs. Chatterton's forgiveness.

"What's your maiden name?" the nurse asked, eyeing the pretty patient critically, as she wrote the husband's name down on the chart.

"My name was Porter. I used the name of Elison while I was looking for work; it was a way to protect my husband's name after he went to war." She choked a sob and continued. "You see, he has friends that might have been shocked if they had known Eugene Whitmer's wife was out looking for common work," she confided.

"I see." Miss Brooks nodded. She was kind but very matter-of-fact. "What is your age, Mrs. Whitmer?"

"I am twenty." She could have cried out for joy at the sound of the name the nurse called her.

"Where were you born?"

"In Oakdale." The nurse wrote the answer to every question as Laura Mae answered promptly and honestly. She felt so relieved to know that she had told the truth in every detail.

"Laura Gene is a very clever way to use both of your names," Miss Brooks said and smiled as she wrote the baby's name on the sheet. Then she left the room to go and report the error to the registration files, for it was necessary to keep a true record of every patient.

Laura Mae buried her head in the pillow and cried until she felt relieved. If Gene could only see his sweet little baby or if her mother could only step in and see her for a few minutes, but no, the lonesome hours had to be passed without them, until they became days. Fourteen in all, then she was permitted to go back to the Chatterton home where a special nurse was ready to care for her and her baby. Mrs. Chatterton was never questioned in regards to the girl's name being changed on the hospital files, and Laura Mae did not tell her about it, so she always thought of the baby as little Laura Gene Elison. She was as happy over the little ruddy-faced darling as if it had been her own grandchild.

Laura Mae would soon be well and strong again; she seemed even more radiant and beautiful than she had been when she first came to the home on Colonial Heights, but behind her happiness, sadness always lurked. Her baby was wonderful, but she needed just a word from Gene and her mother, but no word came.