As he walked up to the door to her rooms, however, his footsteps changed from a walk to a run when he heard screaming from within. His heart began to beat in a rapid staccato as he couldn’t keep his mind from racing toward the worst possible scenarios of what could have happened to her if someone had forced his way within, or if she had been injured while tending to another.
He tried the latch of the door, relief flooding through him when he found it unlocked, and he threw the door open, only to stand there in shock at the scene before him.
For there on the bed was a woman, writhing in pain, with Sarah sitting on a small stool at the end of the bed in front of her.
“Emily, I know it’s early, but whether you are ready or not, this baby is coming,” Sarah said, her voice soothing even now as she looked back over her shoulder to see David standing in the doorway, though she simply nodded at him in greeting before turning her attention over to the laboring woman in front of her. “Where is your husband?”
“He’s working,” the woman managed. “That’s why I came to you myself. I had no one to send to ask you to come to me.”
“You were smart to do so,” Sarah said, “For you would not have wanted to do this alone.”
David began backing out of the door, knowing this was not a place for a man to be—nor did he have any desire to be present for a birth.
“David!” Sarah called, halting him. “I’ll need a bit of help here.”
He swallowed hard. What help could he possibly be? However, he couldn’t find it in himself to deny her, and he took a step back slowly into the room.
“What do you need?” he asked, and Sarah stood, placing a wet cloth gently over the woman’s forehead before walking over to him.
“We’ll need some boiling water, hot cloths, and a clean blanket,” she said. “And then, do you think you could go fetch her husband?”
Go fetch? David paused for a moment at her words, as he was certainly no one’s dog or errand boy. But as he looked down at her wide, pleading eyes, he once again found himself doing her bidding.
“Where is he?” he asked as he followed after her to the wardrobe, holding out his arms for the towels she placed within them.
“Emily, where does your husband work?”
“He pours drinks,” she said between gasps, “At The Red Lion.”
“Ah, David knows where that is,” Sarah said, looking over to him, and David slowly nodded, wishing that he hadn’t had to share his previous association with the establishment. At least there was no issue now in finding his way there.
“I do,” he said.
“His name is Billy,” Emily said, and David nodded as he filled the kettle and placed it over the fire in order to set it to boiling.
“Are you going to be all right here?” he asked Sarah, and she nodded.
“Go.”
He did as she said, thankful to simply be out of the room for the rest of the process, and headed to his old haunt.
*
David was greeted as though he were a forgotten friend when he entered through the doors of the gambling hell. The man at the door gave him a slap on the back, while he received more than one sultry wink and suggestive nod to the back rooms from the barmaids who passed by—women who were, in all actuality, far more than barmaids.
He nodded to them all in greeting but no inkling of temptation for gambling and women surfaced. Instead, he forged his way through the crowd to the back of the hell, where he found men pouring drinks.
When he asked for “Billy?” he received a stare from a man he had never before seen.
“This,” said John, the man next to him and a longtime fixture at the establishment, “Is Mr. David Redmond.”
David felt slightly uncomfortable at the fact that a man who worked in a gambling hell would think him to be so important as to introduce him in such a way. But he pushed away the thought, for there were far more important aspects to discuss.
“Billy, you have to come with me,” he said, and the man frowned at him as he pushed his long black hair out of his eyes.
“I just began this job, I cannot—”
“Your wife is giving birth to her babe.”
“What?” the man’s confused look turned into one of astonishment. “It’s too early, she cannot—”
“She is,” David confirmed, and then the man turned to have a quick word with John, who waved him away. Billy followed after David and as they hurried out of the building and down the street, Billy began firing questions at David.
“How did this happen? How do you know about it? What am I supposed to do?”
“I was sent by the woman who is helping her give birth,” he said, answering the man’s questions as quickly as he could, knowing that if he were in the same position, he would only be placated by receiving all the knowledge he could of the circumstance. “I have no idea how it happened, nor do I know what you are supposed to do. I’ve actually never been anywhere near a birthing situation before.”
David was well aware that most women would probably cringe at the “birthing situation” terminology, but he knew absolutely nothing of anything to do with such matters pertaining to a woman’s health.
They came up to Sarah’s lodgings, and David hesitated. As far as he was aware, men stayed far from the birth until well after the baby was born. Were things different where Sarah was from? Were they different even within classes other than his own? Never before had he any interest in asking such a thing of anyone.
His thoughts were interrupted, however, when a noise from within answered their question of what to do now.
Billy jumped when he heard the cry, and David knocked quickly on the door, knowing it would be locked as he had ensured it was so when he left.
The crying became louder as footsteps approached, and the next thing he knew, Sarah was standing on the other side of the door, a wide smile on her face and a babe in her arms.
David stood there transfixed at the sight in front of him. She looked exhausted, her hair falling in tendrils out of the chignon on the back of her head, the old dress she wore stained, black circles under her eyes due to the late hour.
And to him, she had never been more beautiful.
“My God,” Billy said with a cry, and as he stepped past David and into the room, Sarah gently handed him the baby. He looked frantically around the room for a moment, but when he saw his wife was upon the bed, completely well, though looking somewhat exhausted, he rushed in toward her and took a seat next to her on the mattress. As the three of them sat there, a new family bonding, Sarah stepped outside of the door, shutting it behind her as the two of them stood now in the night air.
“That was… fast?” David said, as he had never actually known a woman who had given birth, but from what he had heard, it typically took much longer.
“It was,” she affirmed, the smile remaining on her face. “But Emily did so wonderfully.”
“The babe is well?”
Sarah nodded. “Emily must have been farther along than she thought. It happens. It is difficult to know for sure.”
David was silent for a moment as he contemplated Sarah. He had seen her within many different situations now, and never before had she seemed so true to herself, so content.
“You love this,” he commented, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the door.
“I do,” she affirmed.
“How many times have you done this, helped a woman give birth?”
She leaned against the brick wall adjoining the door, leaving a foot between them as she stared up into the starry night, a sliver of it visible through the thick swell of buildings around them.
“Perhaps… fifteen or so?”
“Fifteen?” he repeated incredulously. “Have they all gone well?”
“No,” she said, her eyes remaining on the sky, melancholy crossing her face. “But most have, thank goodness.”
“Those women are lucky to have had you,” he said softly, and she smiled in return at him.
“That’s kind of you to say.”
“It’s the truth,” he said. “I saw you in there, with her, with the babe. Besides your skills, you are calm, considerate of the patient’s feelings. If I were to ever give birth, I would want you there.”
She laughed at that, which warmed his soul as it stripped the despondency from her countenance.
“I would insist on being there, if that was ever the case, to see how such a thing could ever occur.”
They stood there, smiling at one another and saying not a word, until the door behind them opened to reveal Billy, a wide smile still stretched across his face.
“Miss Jones? Emily says she’s feeling well, though a mite tired. I think it best we return to our own home now.”
“She is welcome to sleep here,” Sarah said, but Billy was already shaking his head.
“We cannot put you out any longer and we live not far. Besides, it will be good for us to be home with Sarah.”
“With… Sarah?”
Billy grinned as he opened the door wider for the two of them to return to the room.
“We named her after you,” Emily said from the bed, and Sarah only nodded, leading David to believe that tears likely filled her eyes.
“That is altogether lovely, though unnecessary,” she finally said, her words somewhat choked.
“I shudder to think of what could have happened had I been on my own,” Emily said with the slightest of smiles. “It wasn’t the easiest of births, was it?”
“You did well, Emily. Your baby was a mite bit stubborn, but you were so strong.”
“Yes, well… thank you.”
“We will be back to pay you, I promise,” Billy said earnestly. “I just began at the club and in due time, I’m sure I will—”
“It’s fine,” Sarah said, shaking her head, and when Billy began to protest, she held up a hand.
“No, please. You have a family to support now. I do not need it.”
“I will make it up to you, Miss Jones, I promise.”
Sarah held the baby one last time, making cooing noises that David would have thought would bother him but instead were causing all kinds of warm feelings within his heart, as Billy helped Emily to the door.
“Here,” David said, helplessness overcoming him as he attempted to be of some use. “I will call a hack for you.”
“We are not far—”
“I insist,” he said. “I will pay for it, as my gift to you in celebration of your new joy.”
“We appreciate it, very much,” Billy said with a smile. “Next time you’re at The Red Lion, your drinks are on me.”
“Very well,” David agreed, sensing the man needed to somewhat repay them in order to keep his honor and pride intact. “I will take you up on that.”
After hailing the hack and helping the family on board, Sarah and David stood at the doorway together like proud parents themselves as they watched Billy, Emily, and little Sarah depart.
David looked down to see tears within Sarah’s eyes.
“Are you all right?”
“I think so,” she sniffed. “It’s just such a miracle. I know that sounds trite, but it’s true.”
He nodded slowly. “And all was fine?”
“Are you sure you want to know further details?”
“Sure,” he said with a shrug, though he wasn’t entirely sure that he did.
“The cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck during delivery, but I managed to free it. Thank goodness.”
David wasn’t entirely sure of what she was speaking, but it sounded dangerous, and he was once more impressed with Sarah’s skill, as well as the calm she had maintained.
She walked over to a chair and sat down upon it as though she was suddenly overcome by all that had occurred.
“What time is it?” she asked, clearly having completely lost track.
“It’s late,” David replied. “After midnight, for certain. You’d best get some rest.”
He looked over to the bed in its current state of disarray.
“Sit. I’ll clean up the bed for you.”
“Absolutely not. I will—”
He turned and quelled her with a look.
“Let me do this for you—please?”
Then he turned back around before she could see the panic on his face due to the sight in front of him, took a deep breath, and proceeded to strip a bed and clean linens for the first time in his life.
Chapter Fourteen
Through tired eyes, Sarah watched as David stood before her bed, staring down upon it as though it were a puzzle waiting to be solved. She was well aware that he had likely never changed bed linens before, and most assuredly not those that were completely soiled.
“Are you sure—” she began to call out, but he held up a hand to stop her words as he went to work.
Sarah leaned her chin upon her fist as her eyes began to close, but she couldn’t keep from watching the scene in front of her. From all she knew of David Redmond, he should be the last person on earth not only keeping her company in her rooms each night—with nothing asked in return—but also doing her bidding during a birthing, and now actually cleaning up afterward. Who was this man?
One thing was for certain—she could no longer deny the rush of emotion coursing through her as he worked in front of her. He had stripped off his jacket and waistcoat so that he was now down to his linen shirt, and she could see his lean muscle stretch the fabric of it, while his breeches molded perfectly over the back of his legs when he bent down. He was a fine specimen of a man, there was no doubt about it, and she longed to see him in his true form once more.
It was then she began to hear his mutterings, and she realized he was giving himself some instruction—or perhaps arguing with himself over the next step to take in the procedure he was currently undertaking.
She began to laugh, though silently, for she knew he might take that as an insult and she was actually impressed that he was performing a task she knew would be far beneath him. It was strange, how a person could be known by one reputation but then act in a completely different manner.
When he turned to ask where the new linens might be and she pointed them out, she was sure to hide her mirth. And when he finally finished in making up the bed, he turned, throwing his arms out in a flourish. Sarah had never in her life had to work so hard to maintain control over her emotions as she did when she received a good look at the bed. It was the untidiest, most terrible bed-making she had ever seen in her life, but at least it was clean. And he was so incredibly proud of his efforts, she could do nothing but fix a thankful smile on her face and stand as she walked over to him.
“Thank you,” she said, and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to reach out and take his hands within hers. “You have been more than kind.”
“You need someone to look after you,” he said gruffly, causing a deep ache to begin in her chest. She had looked after herself for so very long, the thought of someone else doing so was almost too much to bear, for there was equally as great a chance that it would never actually come to be.
“I appreciate that, truly I do, but I am perfectly capable of looking out for myself,” she said, and he tugged at her hands, forcing her to look up at him.
“No one is fine alone.”
She realized then that he was talking not only of her but himself as well. She knew he had family here—in fact, that was where he had been this evening—but she was equally aware that they were not particularly close.
“How was dinner?” she asked, feeling as though she had taken all of his attention and not provided any back to him.
He shook his head. “I have no wish to speak of it at the moment.”
“But—”
He lifted a hand and placed his finger upon her lips.
“Let’s get you into bed,” he said, releasing her hands, leaving her feeling bereft, as he pulled out the privacy screen for her.
“Change,” he ordered, and only then di
d she realize she was still wearing the same clothes as she had for the past fair number of hours, and suddenly the thought of being rid of them was greater than any other longing currently within her. She did as he said, reveling in the feel of the loose fabric of her nightrail settling overtop her chemise. She pulled her wrapper around her and stepped out, her bare feet padding over the hardwood floor.
“Better?” she asked, stretching her arms wide, but then suddenly felt as though she were leaving herself rather too open and vulnerable as his green eyes seemed to darken, becoming somewhat smoky.
She swallowed, but before he said anything regarding her current state of dress, he turned away and began to roll out his blankets.
Sarah lay down under her own, but despite her exhaustion, she found that she could only stare at the ceiling, sleep eluding her, particularly after David blew out the lanterns and she could hear him rustling around in his own coverings.
Her mind began to war with her heart over what she should do, what she should say. For she knew that to become closer to him in any way would only endanger her heart all the more, and yet… did she not deserve one night to enjoy herself, to act upon the emotion coursing through her, that would not leave her be?
“David?” she finally whispered into the dark room. “Are you sleeping?”
“No,” came his short, terse reply, and wondered if he was being surly because she had awoken him.
“Are you tired?”
“No, but you are,” came his reply.
“Would you…” she began, but her voice was a soft whisper. “Would you come lie with me?”
The room went silent, and Sarah squeezed her eyes shut as his lack of response. Had she completely misread what she had assumed were signs of his attraction toward her? She was not particularly experienced nor skilled in matters of flirtation, that was for certain. Suddenly her entire body went warm at the embarrassment coursing through her.
“Please, forget I said anything,” she said hurriedly. “I was only asking because—”
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