It could of been babies or it could of been eggs, we have no way of knowing with so little information to go on. In either case if you "inhereted" her from a friend with the eggs or young already in her mouth then you did well to have her hold them while being transported and aclimated to a new environment without her eating them.
If she was holding developed young and you have rocks and hiding places in the tank then there might be live young hiding and you just don't see them.
More than likely if she was only holding eggs then she spit them out or ate them. You said in the original post that the tank was newly cycled, young tanks fluctuate alot in parameters and certainly malawi cichlids contribute alot of waste and will play havoc on a newly "cycled" aquarium.
If the adults are fed well and you are taking care of them then it will only be a short time before she is holding again.
Of course all of this is just conjecture, again, we have so little to go on and on any internet forum it is difficult to say for certain what is what. I would educate yourself as much as you can by reading and then applying what you learn to your own tank.
Happy learning, Bill.
