by Danice Allen
“No,” Beth answered promptly and firmly. “Never fear, Sadie. I will tell her everything when I return home, where I will go as soon as I’ve spoken to Lord Roth. I hope the servants can keep mum that long.”
Sadie did not reply but looked very grim. Beth supposed Sadie was thinking, just as she was, that the story would get bruited about no matter how much they threatened the servants with dismissal if they did not keep silent. Gossip was like candy—too delicious not to be shared. Sexual indiscretions were the richest chocolate comfits in the candy box. They were drooled over and savored the very longest.
Sadie followed Beth to the stillroom. Alex was seated inside on a simple wood chair, his head bent slightly back to accommodate Dudley’s ministerings. His neck glowed with sweat, but his face had been wiped clean, his lip patted dry of blood, his eye now being covered with a thick slice of cucumber.
“Lor’, Mr. Dudley, why’re ye puttin’ food on Lord Roth’s face?” Sadie inquired, her curiosity overriding her disapproval of his lordship’s misconduct.
“’Twill take out the puffiness. Perhaps it may even reduce the bruising a little,” Dudley replied.
“I feel like a jackass,” Alex stated flatly, “and not just because I’ve a cucumber on my face. Beth, are you there?” He reached out a hand.
Beth took the offered hand and squeezed tightly. “Yes, Alex.”
“Where’s Zach?”
“Stibbs said he was seen riding in a southerly direction.”
“Gone to the cove, I suspect.”
“Maybe he’ll come back in a more comfortable state of mind,” she said pensively. “I feel like a positive blackguard, Alex. Do you think he’ll ever forgive us?”
Alex had no chance to reply because there came a sudden racket from the kitchen, which adjoined the still-room. Henry was shouting for Dudley as if the house were on fire.
Dudley left the room, followed immediately by Beth, Alex, and Sadie. In the kitchen, just inside the door, they discovered Henry supporting the limp figure of a young woman.
“Good heavens, it’s Tessy!” exclaimed Beth, stopping in her tracks to stare at the girl. Tess’s eyes rolled in her head, her face was glistening with perspiration, and the hem of her skirt appeared to have been dragged through a puddle.
Dudley ran to Tess and threw his arm around her waist, then caught her under the knees as she began to collapse. He lifted her and carried her into the morning room, which was the closest chamber containing a couch on which he could lay her down. Everyone followed and stood about, gazing down at Tess. She looked frightened by the multitude of curious stares and turned her head away from them toward Dudley, who was kneeling beside her. “Oh, Dudley, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to come all the way here, but I had started to follow you and then I dared not go back. You said you’d help me if you could, and the babe—”
Suddenly Tess stiffened, her face creased, and she pulled her legs up against her stomach, as if she were experiencing excruciating pain.
“Lord, Tessy, it’s not the baby coming, is it?” Dudley whispered. He reached down and patted the damp edge of her gown. “Your water broke, I gather.”
“She’s breeding?” Alex sounded incredulous. “Does he know?”
Beth lifted startled eyes to Alex’s face. “Does who know? How do you know Tess, Alex?”
“Nay, how do you know her?” he countered.
“Miss Tavistock met Tessy quite accidentally in town today,” Dudley supplied with an impatient edge to his voice. “But this is not the time to discuss who knows whom or who knows what. This girl is about to give birth two months early. Sadie, would you please help me by bringing a pillow and a blanket? I’ll also need warm water and soap so that I can wash my hands. And a thick flannel sheet to put under her.”
“Ye’re birthin’ the baby right here, Mr. Dudley?” Sadie blurted.
“I’ve no choice. The child’s coming whether we’re ready for it or not. Henry, leave the room, please. Stand just outside in the hall and stop anybody who tries to enter.”
Henry immediately obeyed. Sadie left, too, muttering beneath her breath, leaving the three of them looking down at Tess, who was recovering from the last spasm of pain. Her eyes were closed, her face as white as hoarfrost and just as cold and damp.
“She’s so small. Why, she hardly looks pregnant at all,” Beth said.
“I never imagined her to be so young. And I certainly never knew she was with child,” said Alex, concern etching a deep fissure in his brow.
Dudley looked grim. “He didn’t know, either, till today, just before he discovered you and Miss Tavistock … together.”
Abruptly Dudley and Alex darted a quick look at Beth, as if they realized that they’d said too much. Or maybe not enough.
“Perhaps you should take her outside and tell her everything,” Dudley suggested.
Alex reached for Beth’s arm, but she pulled away, her eyes fixed on Tess’s bodice, remembering the brooch that had been pinned there earlier that day, the brooch that exactly fit Zach’s description of her own engagement present. Suddenly everything began to fall into place. Tess’s shy fear of her had had its source in something more cogent than natural bashfulness. Tess smelled of honeysuckle, just as Zach sometimes did when he had been to town. Tess was Zach’s mistress. The child was Zach’s.
The revelation wasn’t earth-shattering, for the situation was too trite. Zach was a highly physical man and very attractive to the fair sex. Beth should have realized long ago that he had a mistress. The realization that Zach had been making love to this delicate, beautiful girl was not even especially damaging to Beth’s pride. More than anything else, Beth felt a heavy, world-weary sadness. What would happen to Tess and the baby … Zach’s baby?
“Where’s the brooch, Tessy?” she asked softly. “He didn’t take it back, did he?”
Tess opened her eyes. As the two women looked at each other, an understanding blossomed between them. Tess smiled wanly, her eyes drifting shut as she spoke. “I didn’t mind, miss. It was yours really.”
Beth reached down and squeezed Tess’s hand. Dudley was holding the other hand and staring at Tess as if his heart would burst. She wondered how he had become involved in this hubble-bubble of unfortunate human blunderings. But he was obviously much in sympathy with Tess, as anyone with a heart would be.
Beth looked up at Alex, who had apparently been watching her rather closely. She thought she knew what he was thinking—that women were indecipherable creatures and that she was presenting him with a conundrum he would be hard-pressed to solve. But how did a woman explain to a man the bond women shared that sometimes transcended that notorious failing called jealousy? Under ordinary circumstances, and despite her love for Alex, she supposed she would have had a right to feel a little resentful and jealous toward Tess. But she didn’t.
“Do you really think Zach went to the cove?” she asked him.
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Because he ought to be here.”
Alex accepted this statement with a frowning nod. “I can’t fetch him, though. If he sees me, he’s likely to go off in the opposite direction. I’ll send a couple of the stableboys to try to find him.” Alex left the room just as Tess curled up in another paroxysm of pain.
“Scream, Tess, if you want to,” Dudley whispered into her ear, covering her hands with his and squeezing them tightly. “You don’t have to be brave or dignified, or any such nonsense. You’re bringing a small life into the world and enduring a great deal of pain in the process. You’ve every right to let loose—”
Dudley must have convinced her, or the pain did. She moaned loud, the sound piercing Beth’s soul to strike a common chord of womanly feeling and imbuing her with both dread and wonder.
Sadie returned just then with the pillow and blanket, a maid following behind with a pewter basin of water, a basket of rags, and a bar of soap. Since Dudley was still holding Tess’s hands, Beth hurried around to the end of the couch and lifted
Tess’s head so that Sadie could place the pillow underneath. As she pulled Tess’s hair up from around her hot neck and arranged it on the pillow, she admired how silky and fragrant it was. It struck her again how young Tess was, and a knot of anger formed in her throat. How could Zach have stolen her innocence so selfishly for his own pleasure and then left her with child?
Sadie sent the maid out, then eased the flannel blanket beneath Tess’s bottom and fanned it out over the end of the couch. “Birthin’s a messy business,” she stated flatly. She eyed Beth. “Ye ought to leave. Yer mother’d be thrown into high fidgets if she knew where ye was and what ye was doin’, Miss Elizabeth.”
“Dudley might have need of me. I’m going to stay,” Beth answered firmly.
“I ain’t experienced in such things, but I kin help Mr. Dudley if he tells me what to do,” Sadie asserted. “A gently bred young woman hadn’t ought to be witness to a birthin’.”
“I’m not going, and that’s final. Besides, Mama will be much more agitated by the other occurrences of this day. One more thing can’t make much difference.”
Sadie sighed and shook her head.
“All right, Tessy,” said Dudley, freeing one hand from Tess’s grip to stroke her forehead. “You’ve got to let go of my hands for a moment while I wash them. If there’s one thing I learned from my mother, it’s that your hands must be as clean as possible in order to avoid childbirth fever. Then I must take a look at you and see how much space you’ve allowed for that babe’s head to squeeze through.”
“Dudley, don’t leave me,” Tess whimpered, looking weaker than ever after the last pain.
“I have to, Tessy. I can’t help you birth the babe from this position. Don’t fret.” But Dudley reasoned with Tess to no avail. She held fast to his hands. Judging by the color of Dudley’s fingertips, her grip was surprisingly strong.
“Can Sadie or I see how she’s coming along?” asked Beth. “Though I’m not quite sure what to look for.”
“I don’t know nothin’ ’bout babes, Mr. Dudley,” said Sadie, raising her hands in a gesture of helplessness. “I’ve never had any of my own ner helped with birthin’ afore.”
Dudley clicked his tongue against his teeth as if he felt exceedingly exasperated. “You must let go of me, Tessy. As you can see, I’m the only one who knows what to lo.”
Tess started to cry, bending her head to rest her brow against their joined hands. Dudley was throwing Beth a look of total despair when Alex returned.
“Thank God. You’re just the person to do it!” said Dudley.
“To do what?” Alex stood at the foot of the couch, his fists resting on his hips.
“She won’t let go of me. She wants to hold on to me while she bears the child. You’re going to have to help it along. I certainly can’t do it from here.”
Tess bent into another pain, her head rolling back and forth on the pillow, her bottom lip viciously clamped between her teeth.
Alex watched and frowned. “You want me to deliver the baby? I admit I know a little about childbirth, since there were times during the war when one had to pitch in where one could. But you’re so much better qualified to do it, Dudley!”
“I think I can serve best at Tessy’s side,” he said. “She needs someone here to hold her hand, and she evidently prefers that someone to be me. I can tell you exactly what to look for and what to do. But first, wash your hands.”
Alex did as he was told after rolling his shirtsleeves up above his elbows. Beth washed her hands, too.
“Tessy, bend your knees and pull your legs up so that Lord Roth can examine you.”
Tessy made a muffled protest and shook her head. Dudley sighed. “Tess, this is no time to be modest. If you won’t let me do it, Lord Roth must. Next to me, he has the most experience in this sort of thing. We’ll keep you covered so that only Lord Roth is able to see anything.”
Beth moved to one side to show Tess that she would respect her modesty, too. Tess looked up at her and Lord Roth through teary eyes, then turned onto her back and did exactly as Dudley told her to do. Her grimaces indicated to Beth that Tess was pretty much in constant pain now, but with the intensity greatly increased during the stomach contractions.
Alex folded back the flounce of Tess’s dress and the blanket that covered her so that her lower legs were exposed. He gently pushed her knees apart and examined her.
“Pull open the curtains, Sadie. I need more light.” Sadie obeyed, and Beth wrung out a rag in the basin, moved to the head of the couch, and bathed Tess’s face.
“Is she increased sufficiently to accommodate the baby’s head?” asked Dudley, while Tess reared back against the pillow as another pain claimed her.
“She’s well stretched, and I can see the head. Since the child is premature and undoubtedly quite small, perhaps she’ll not have any trouble pushing it out. I suspect it’s time she started.”
“Do you feel like bearing down, Tessy?” asked Dudley.
Tess nodded.
“Good. When you feel the next pain coming on, you must try to push the baby out. The contraction of your muscles that’s hurting so very much is your body’s way of pushing the babe out. But sometimes the mother must help this process along. Do you understand, Tessy?”
“Yes. I’ve felt like pushing before, but I didn’t know if I should.”
“Now’s the time, Tess,” said Alex. “Do it with the next contraction.”
They hadn’t long to wait. Tess was immediately seized with another pain. “Grip my hands as hard as you need,” Dudley encouraged. “And push, Tessy, push!”
Tess grunted, curled her neck, and pushed till her face turned red. Afterward she fell back against the pillow, panting and sweating.
“Did it do any good, my lord?” Dudley asked.
“Yes, a little. But it’s going to take another two or three hard pushes, I think.”
“I can’t, Dudley,” Tess whispered. “It hurts too much. Must I?”
“As his lordship said, Tessy, only two or three more pushes and you’ll have your baby in your arms. There’s a brave girl. You can do it!”
Two hard contractions later, with Tess huffing and puffing and pushing as hard as she could, Alex cried, “Success! I’ve got the head in my hands.” Alex’s face lit up, and a spontaneous smile curved his lips. “Ah, and here comes the rest of it. Small as a whelp, but beautiful. Perfectly formed!”
“Is it a boy or a girl?” asked Beth, tears springing to her eyes at the sheer miracle of it.
“A girl,” Alex said, lifting his eyes to Beth for a moment of sharing, then dropping his gaze to Tess. “You’ve a beautiful baby girl, Tess. Come, Beth. Help me for a moment while I cut the cord. Then we’ll clean her up and show her off to her mother.”
“Make the baby cry first, Alex,” Dudley expostulated. “Get her to breathing, for heaven’s sake!”
“It’s too slippery to lift by the heels, Dudley. Beth, bring a rag and I’ll wipe it off a bit.”
Beth grabbed a clean rag and held it out to Alex as she moved to the end of the couch. When her eyes first beheld the tiny form of Tessy’s baby girl—Zach’s baby—she was infused with wonder. As Alex had said, she was perfectly formed. Every feature, every finger and toe, was just as it should be. And beneath the bloody mucous covering, she was beautiful. Though her hair was slicked down, it promised to be as fair and golden as Zach’s.
Alex laid the baby down on the flannel sheet between Tess’s trembling legs. He wiped the child off with the rag, then lifted it by the heels, supporting its small squinty-eyed head with his other hand. “Poke it or something, Beth,” he said with a note of panic in his voice. “Make it cry. It’s not doing anything!”
“I don’t wish to hurt her,” Beth protested. “Mayhap all we need to do is prime her sucking instinct.” She reached out and stuck her forefinger between the baby’s lips. This brought about the desired response. The baby opened her mouth, took in a gasp of air, and began flinging her arms about like the b
lades of a windmill. Then she screamed, filling the room with the wonderful discordant sound of new life.
Chapter Sixteen
Alex laughed. “Welcome to the world, little one.”
A grin spread across Dudley’s face from one freckled ear to the other. “Sounds pluck to the backbone, Tess. Arriving early seems to have put the peppery little thing in a bit of a twit. Good lungs!”
Tess smiled and shook like a windowpane in a thunderstorm. Beth assisted Alex in cutting the cord, while Sadie watched from a distance and surreptitiously wiped her eyes with the hem of her apron.
Once the baby was detached from her mother and cleaned again quite thoroughly with a warm, damp cloth, Beth wrapped the squalling armful snugly in a square of flannel and gave her to Dudley. Dudley handled the baby with assiduous care, as if she were as fragile as the gossamer wings of a butterfly.
“I know, a babe is sturdier than it looks,” he said, abashed, flashing Alex an embarrassed grin. “But a new-born child inspires something rather like awe in me whenever I hold one. Now, Tessy, here she is. All yours.”
Tess looked half pleased, half frightened out of her wits. “Oh, I dare not. I’m shaking so hard I’ll drop her!”
“I’ll be at the ready in case you do,” Dudley assured her. Tess took the baby and held it against her side, gazing into her daughter’s small red face with a tender expression Beth wished Zach could see.
“I wonder if they’ve located Zach yet,” she said.
Tess turned wide eyes to Beth. “Why? You haven’t told him about the baby coming, have you?”
“We sent some servants to look for him with that purpose in mind,” Beth admitted, surprised by Tess’s alarmed expression. “You want him to know, don’t you?”
Tess bent and kissed the baby’s head, rocking her back and forth in that rhythmic motion mothers knew instinctively how to do. The baby quit crying and blinked open her eyes. “He doesn’t want her. He doesn’t even want to see her,” Tess said in a quiet voice.
“But why—”