The Black Rose Legacy Ch. 03

Overwhelmed by her news, I pulled Polly to my chest. "I can't believe it, I never thought I'd get to be a father. Tell me everything!"

"I began to feel funny while I was in Seattle getting ready for our wedding, so I went to the doctor. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to worry you. The doctor gave me tests, and a few days later they told me it was pregnancy that was making feel so strange. When I became a teenager, the doctors flat-out told me because of my dwarfism getting pregnant was impossible, but here we are. The doctor says if it's a tiny baby, I'll be able to have it naturally, but if it's too big, it will have to be by Caesarean section."

1939 -- Grace Hospital, Seattle, Washington

Since I didn't fit comfortably in any of the chairs in the maternity waiting room, I alternated between standing and sitting on the floor with my back to the wall. Given what was happening, I was wearing my best suit and custom-made black leather shoes; I wanted to look my best when I met my child. Finally, Doctor Brooks came out through the swinging doors.

"Congratulations, Mr. Haggerty. You have a daughter. She's a tiny thing, 5 pounds and 6 ounces. She appears to be healthy, but since she's a little undersized, we're going to be keeping her warm and cozy under observation in a baby incubator for the next few days. She's with your wife right now. Mrs. Haggerty was a real trooper through it all."

They led me down a hallway. The scent of disinfectant was almost over powering, but nothing was going to prevent me from seeing my wife and daughter. They led me into a large open room with multiple beds, and Polly was in one of them, holding a small bundle. I leaned over and kissed her gently, hitting my head on a light fixture as I stood back up.

Polly giggled. "Here she is," she said weakly, "say hello to your daughter, daddy!" She uncovered the little head nursing at her breast, and I was struck by the copious amount of dark hair. When the nurse came in to change the little one's diaper, I saw additional dark hair on her arms and legs, with slightly oversized hands and feet. I was speechless. Our tiny daughter had her mother's size, sweet face and kind eyes, but the rest was...me!

"Here I did all the hard work and spent 9 months carrying her, and yet she looks just like you," Polly teased. After the baby finished nursing, Polly held her up for me to hold. It was as if I was holding a tiny doll like the ones given as prizes in the carnival games, but this one was very real. She smelled wonderful and sweet.

I told Polly, "She's perfect, just like her mother." We named her Daisy Rose, after both of her grandmothers.

Whatever miracle had brought us our little daughter, it happened again not long after she was born. Polly became pregnant only 5 months after she'd given birth to Daisy Rose. This time, though, my wife's pregnancy was not an easy one.

By the end of the nine months my poor little wife looked like one of those barrage balloons from World War I, and for good reason; my son was 9 pounds 4 ounces at birth. He was so big, he had to be birthed via Caesarian section, or Polly might have died otherwise. He had long arms and legs but not a hair on him, just a big pink baby with Polly's eyes. In the family tradition started by Grandfather Andrew of naming boys after Roman emperors, we called him Gaius.

It took my wife a long time to recover from birthing Gaius. Carrying such a big baby had really taken a toll on her womanly parts, and her doctor told her because of the damage, it was doubtful she could get pregnant again. After the misery of her second pregnancy, she was not upset about it, especially since she was told initially that she'd never have babies at all. Two were more than enough.

The Coastal Mountain Range, British Columbia, 1941

With the nationwide publicity brought about by the wedding, The Ringling Brothers Circus approached Professor Love and bought his Profusion of Nature's Anomalies & Animal Wonderment, allowing the Professor to retire in comfort. Our acts became a part of a much larger touring company which toured coast-to-coast in the comfort of train cars, a huge improvement over our truck-drawn wagons.

As we toured America, Polly and I were approached by multiple writers wanting to write dime novels about our lives and adventures. In the spirit of publicity, we pretty much said 'yes' to all of them. Some were based on truth, but frankly, reality can be dull so many more included all kinds of embellished and fictional wilderness adventures.

For example, if you paid 10 cents to read the one with me wrestling a giant grizzly bear to save Polly's life on the cover, let me just say that while grizzlies can be scary even to a Sasquatch, I never in my life met one who liked to wrestle. Biting and clawing were more their style. True or not, the novels proved very popular and earned us a lot of money.

Given the comfort of the circus train cars, Polly and I stayed on with Ringling Brothers for a few more months, but eventually decided raising Daisy Rose on the road wasn't the life we wanted for her. We finally quit the circus entirely after Gaius was born. Using the money we'd saved from our performing days and the profits from the dime novels, we moved back to Washington state and bought a proper house, located just outside the city limits of Issaquah Washington.

It was a 20-room mansion previously owned by a timber baron who'd died without heirs, with 9-foot-high doorways and 10-foot ceilings, perfect for my height. Since we enjoyed the oversized bed in the bridal suite on our wedding night, I wrote to the hotel chain and requested one for our own bedroom. A few months after my family and I got settled in, I went looking for my parents.

After all the time I'd spent performing and travelling with the carnival, it felt good to be back in the wilderness. I searched the area north of the US-Canadian border where I'd left my parents, but they'd moved on. It took me a week or so, but I finally found them living in an abandoned hunting cabin up near the snow line; my mother Daffodil looked the same, dark-haired and 6'7''. My father Julius, however, had aged severely. The 700-pound 10-and-a-half-foot tall Sasquatch that the Shoshones once called 'Nightmare That Walks' had become blind as he aged, his eyes now two milky orbs, his black fur streaked with silver. His sense of smell and hearing appeared to be intact, but when he needed to move around my mother guided him.

I told them about my adventures, and how I'd found my mate Polly and married her. My mother was amazed that Polly was a dwarf, and couldn't wait to meet her and the children. When I left and brought my family back to meet them, it was my father who was the most delighted. By this time little Daisy Rose was 2 years old and barely 20 inches tall, while at 1 year Gaius was already as tall as his mother and still growing. Both children reciprocated my father's delight, crawling and climbing all over their grandfather at every opportunity.

Polly and my mother had hit it off immediately, touching each other's faces as soon as they met. As far as Daffodil Haggerty was concerned, her daughter-in-law was the woman who made her son happy, produced two beautiful grandchildren, and could do no wrong whatever her size.

Since my father was aging quickly, Polly and I were able to persuade my parents to leave the wilderness and come live with us. Our house was located remotely enough to where they could live out their days in comfort and peace without being bothered - except for Daisy Rose and Gaius constantly climbing on them, of course.

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EPILOGUE -- RINGLING BROTHERS CIRCUS, 1942

With the war now in full swing, people desperately needed diversion from the daily reports of bad news, so the Ringling Brothers Circus was as popular as ever. Our friends toured America during the warmer months, while during the winter months they made their homes in Gibsonton, Florida, a town near Tampa which had become a regular haven for circus and carnival people during the off-season. We were pleased to hear Freddy ended up marrying Anna. Even though Anna was 12 years older than her new husband, they were both sweet and kind people who deserved each other.

After selling the carnival, Professor Love took the proceeds and moved to San Diego, California to live by the ocean. He did not go alone, however. Laura the hoochie-coochie dancer went with him, marrying him right before they left Seattle.

As for the mysterious Madame Omerta, apparently she'd slipped away and eloped with the young man in the tuxedo whose fortune she'd told at our wedding reception. Knowing her as we did, Polly and I figured when she'd told his fortune, she'd rigged the outcome in her favor by dealing off the bottom of the tarot deck. Even when it came to love, once a carny, always a carny...

~END~