Between the Pool and the Gardenias Summary

The narrator discovers an abandoned baby near a sewer. She likens the baby to Baby Moses or Baby Jesus, and takes her in as her own. The baby has "R-O-S-E" stitched on her clothes, and so she calls the baby Rose.

The reader learns that the narrator has recently escaped from her life in nearby Ville Rose. There, her husband of ten years, frequently slept around with other women, to the point the narrator felt compelled to run away. The narrator has had miscarriage after miscarriage, and so Rose's sudden arrival in her life is especially seen as a gift from the spirit world.

The narrator works and lives as a maid at a large mansion. Taking the baby there, she feeds and bathes her. The baby is very quiet, which the narrator...