Compromised Hearts

by Hannah Howell

  Chapter Eighteen

  The winter went slowly, but it was not really the fault of the weather. Cloud had never been an overly patient man, and Emily found that her own patience was stretched to its limits as they waited for the birth of their child. The slower pace of life, as well as the isolation brought on by winter, helped not at all. Some days dragged by intolerably.

  Adding to her discontent was her size. Once she had started to grow, she could not seem to stop. By the time a hint of spring had entered the air, she felt ready to burst.

  She knew that last month would be the hardest. There did not seem to be much of her that did not ache. Her legs hurt, her back hurt, and her stomach alternately itched and ached. Although she hated her increasing idleness she was too awkward to do much of anything.

  One evening she sat in the parlour next to Cloud, whose nose was buried in a newspaper. She was feeling more uncomfortable than she had ever felt before and wondered if it was the rain. A little testily she put down the cachet she had been crocheting to glare at her belly.

  “Maybe you ought to just shoot me as you would a crippled horse.”

  Cloud glanced at her. “You don’t look much like a crippled horse.”

  He was assailed by increasing fears as the time of waiting for their child drew to a close. Although Cloud had not given them much notice, he had seen pregnant women before, and he could not shake the feeling that Emily was far bigger than she ought to be. The lack of a doctor had not really bothered him until she had begun to get so large. Now an experienced midwife did not seem good enough. It was getting harder and harder to keep his growing fears hidden from her.

  “No, I suppose I don’t. More like a beached whale.”

  She smiled a little weakly when Cloud, Wolfe, and James laughed. They had all been so patient with her. Emily doubted that any other pregnant woman had been so pampered.

  Shifting in her seat for what seemed like the hundreth time, she stifled a sigh. Just lately her every sign of discomfort put the poor men on nervous alert. But as the minutes passed, she found herself going on alert too. There began to be a disturbing regularity to her discomfort. A frown touched her face as a still gentle pain moved through her in what could only be a contraction. She watched the clock to see if there was a regularity of time to her pain.

  She glanced out the window with a frown. Fierce winds drove the rain against the window so hard she feared it would shatter; thunder shook the rafters and lightning emblazoned the sky. Even if someone could get to the midwife, the woman would have to be forcibly dragged back, for only a crazy person would go outside in such weather. Just as that thought passed through her mind along with the acknowledgement that she was in labor and the well-spaced pains were growing steadily stronger, a frantic banging came at the front door.

  For a moment they all stared in that direction in amazement. When the urgent knocking was repeated, the three men bolted to answer the door. Emily struggled to her feet to follow them at a more decorous pace.

  Flinging open the door, Cloud gaped at the two dripping figures that stumbled inside. “Good God, Harper, what the hell are you doing out in this weather?” He hastily forced the door shut.

  “This lunatic threatened to surgically deprive me of an important part of my anatomy if I did not bring her here immediately.” Harper shed his soaked outerwear only to curse at how equally soaked he was beneath it. “I still hesitated, as would any sane person, but she pulled a gun on me. I decided I had a better chance of living through the storm than of arguing with her.”

  Despite its having been darkened by the rain, Emily recognized the wild, nearly orange hair that was unveiled by the person with Harper. So too did she recognize the figure that was as softly delicate as her own. She smiled in bemused pleasure when almond-shaped, chocolate-brown eyes settled upon her.

  “Giorsal, what in God’s good name are you doing here?”

  “Weel, I had a feeling ye’d be needing me tonight.” She smiled at Harper. “Sorry I had to threaten you,” she said, “but you were being verra pigheaded.”

  “I was being pigheaded?” croaked Harper.

  “Aye, but I forgive ye.” She moved towards Emily. “Seems I was verra nearly too late.”

  “On, Giorsal.” Emily laughed tearfully and hugged her friend tightly.

  “Here now, none o’ that.” Giorsal did not extract herself too quickly, however. “I’m wetter than a fishie.”

  “Come inside here. There’s a good fire blazing and some brandy.” Wolfe urged them into the parlour.

  “Aye, there’s time for that.” After a searching look at Emily, Giorsal went into the parlour.

  Introductions were made as the two wet guests were made comfortable. Emily had to smile at the bemused way Cloud, Wolfe, and James eyed Giorsal. The little Scotswoman seemed to have that effect on everybody.

  “Emily, where did you meet this extraordinary female?” Harper eyed Giorsal as if she were not quite human.

  “Weel, there I was, trapped in an alley with nowhere to run, a lust-crazed beastie of a mon advancing on me. I was praying fiercely for God to strike him dead with a lightning bolt when he suddenly collapsed at my feet. Weel, since I didnae smell anything burning, I thought for a moment that he’d been taken faint by my beauty, but then I saw that he’d been felled by an expertly wielded parasol.” Giorsal grinned faintly at the soft laughter her tale evoked.

  “I’ll never tease you about your parasol again.” Cloud grinned at Emily. “It seems to be a lethal weapon.”

  “Och, aye, she’s raised a few lumps with the frilly thing.”

  “Listen to that.” Harper winced when the wind pounded against the windows. “I must be mad.”

  “Aye, ‘tis a wondrous storm.” Giorsal moved to the window to stare out. “Thunder fit to deafen you, lightning fit to blind ye and a devil’s wind set to pick ye up from the verra earth and fling ye away.” She spoke in an awe-filled voice, then turned to Emily. “A fine night for having a bairn.” She moved towards Emily unaware of how pale all four men had grown. “To enter the world with nature’s fury all around. Only a bairn meant to be strong, brave, and daring would peep out on a night like this.”

  “Or foolish,” Emily murmured with a faint smile.

  “Nay, ne’er that. How far apart, lass? Got one now?” Emily nodded, and Giorsal placed her hands on Emily’s abdomen, her dark-eyed gaze fixing upon the clock. “Aye. Time draws near.” She nodded as she felt another contraction begin. “Best to get the water and linen ready.”

  “Emily?” Cloud’s gaze fixed upon her stomach revealing his horror.

  “Now, isnae that just like a mon, child, to no see the obvious.”

  “Emily.” Cloud’s voice held an unsteady urgency. “Are you going to have the baby now?”

  “Weel, no this verra instant. Och, he’s a testy one, isnae he,” Giorsal murmured when Cloud glared at her.

  “Yes, Cloud. My labor started earlier.”

  “Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”

  “Well, I had only just determined what ailed me when Harper arrived with Giorsal.”

  “My God.” He stared out the window at the raging storm. “We have to get the midwife:”

  “I’ll be bringing the bairn into the world. Ye have no need for any midwife.”

  “You? What the hell do you know about it?”

  “More’n ye do.” Giorsal glared right back at him, not intimidated by his size or his cold eyes. “Ye’ll no get that woman out here.”

  “Well, we have to try.”

  “Fine. Ye best take this then, for threatening’s the only way ye’ll budge her if ye e’en get to town at all.”

  Cloud stared at the antiquated gun, powder, and ball she placed in his hands. “What the hell’s this?”

  “A gun, ye gowk. There’s heritage in that piece. Took down a few Sassanachs at Culloden, that did.”

  “Sassanachs? Culloden?”

  “The ‘45. Bonnie Prince Charlie. Jacobites.
Wheesht, dinnae ye ken any history?”

  “What I ken,” Cloud ground out, “is that Emily’s in need of a midwife.”

  “Weel, ye go right ahead out and try to fetch yourself one.” Giorsal helped Emily to her feet. “I mean to get on with seeing this bairn born.” She glanced over her shoulder at the still stunned gentlemen. “I’ll be needing clean linen and hot water. Dinnae set on your backsides too long.”

  Emily paused to try and soothe Cloud before Giorsal bustled her out of the room. “Do not fret. Giorsal knows what she is doing.”

  “Giorsal is a damned lunatic,” Cloud bellowed as the door shut after the woman. “Damn this weather.”

  “Lunatic she might be,” Wolfe said heavily, “but she’s right when she says you won’t be getting the midwife here.”

  “But I have to.” Cloud dazedly sat down, putting Giorsal’s antique gun on a table. “A girl like her can’t do it.”

  “Emily seemed willing to trust her,” said James.

  “Damn it all to hell.” Cloud groaned and buried his face in his hands. “What the hell is the baby doing coming now?”

  Emily asked Giorsal much the same question as she was efficiently helped into her nightgown. Despite the girl’s youth and eccentricities, Emily felt secure in Giorsal’s hands. If Giorsal said she knew about birthing, then she knew and probably knew a great deal.

  “T’isnae early. I kenned it would come this night. Ye walk about some, Emily. Helps the pain.”

  “How did you know it would be tonight?” Emily began a slow stroll around the room and found that it did help a little.

  “I see things at times. Last night I had a dream. I saw ye having a bairn in the midst of a spring tempest and I was with ye. When the storm began, I set out right away.”

  “Shouldn’t she be in bed?” Cloud growled as he entered with an armful of linen.

  Taking the linen from him Giorsal drawled, “Ye sure are taking a fair time heading out after that midwife.”

  “When this is all over, I am going to strangle you,” Cloud said calmly and Giorsal giggled. “Are you all right, Em?” He spoke softly as he took her into his arms.

  “As right as can be.” She met his worried look with a smile. “Do not worry so. I will be fine.”

  He paled as she gasped from the strength of a contraction. “Fine? This is fine?”

  “Here, ye get out of here.” Giorsal urged him toward the door. “I ken ye will be no help at all.” She shut the door after him and turned to find Emily staring down at a pool of liquid at her feet. “Ah, your waters have broken. Into bed with you, lass.”

  “That is good, is it?” Emily meekly let herself be tucked up into bed.

  “Aye.” Giorsal moved quickly to clean up the mess. “It means things are moving along as they should.” She frowned as she washed up. “Maybe I shouldnae have pushed the mon out. I’ll be needing another pair of hands. Nay, he’ll be no use. He’s already a wreck.”

  “Cloud? Nonsense. He is ever calm and very strong.”

  “Not this time. His woman’s having his child. That can make the best mon useless. They dinnae understand how it is. They see the pain and they think they are all to blame. Cannae see that it will end and that a woman’s made for the enduring of it. They fall to pieces.”

  “I cannot really envision Cloud Ryder falling to pieces.”

  “Trust me. He’s near to it. Now, who’ll do? Ah, I ken just the mon. Dinnae move.”

  “I am hardly about to jig to town,” Emily gasped out as another contraction gripped her.

  Giorsal giggled as she dashed out of the room. As she burst into the parlour her gaze flew to Cloud, and she knew she had judged right. He would be no help at all to her or to Emily.

  “I need another pair of hands. Nay,” she said firmly as Cloud moved towards her, “ye willnae do. Ye.” She pointed at a stunned Wolfe.

  “What do you mean I won’t do? I’m her husband, for Christ’s sake.”

  “Aye, and that’s the verra good reason why ye willnae do. Come on,” she urged as Wolfe took a hesitant step toward her.

  “But Cloud—” protested Wolfe even as he was hustled out of the room.

  “I said he willnae do. Now, move.”

  “Why am I standing here obeying that crazy girl?” Cloud asked the air after the door shut behind Giorsal and Wolfe.

  “Because you know she’s right,” James said gently as he pressed a glass of brandy into Cloud’s hands. “ ‘Ye willnae do,’ “ he quoted with a smile. “You are shaking now and it’ll be hours yet. I was in on a birth once. Sheer mischance. Nothing to do with me, and I didn’t even know the woman. Hell, it’s beautiful when that baby comes out and gives its first squawl, but before that"—he shook his head—"there’s a lot of pain, although they seem to forget it once it’s over. I don’t think you could handle seeing Em in pain.”

  “No.” Cloud abruptly turned to stare blindly out of the window. “I think I’ll only have one child.”

  Giorsal towed Wolfe into Emily’s room and sat him on the edge of the bed. On the table near him she set a bowl of cool water and some cloths so that he would bathe Emily’s face. Checking that the hot water brought up earlier was staying heated where it sat near the fire, she then bent to peer between Emily’s thighs.

  “What are you doing?” Emily squeaked.

  “Keeking.” Giorsal flashed an impudent grin at her. “Do ye ken, I always wondered if that was the true color of your hair. I ken it is now.”

  “Giorsal,” Emily groaned, blushing furiously and weakly swatting at Wolfe, who burst out laughing. “You are outrageous.”

  “Aye, so it’s been said.” She hiked up her skirts to pull a knife from a sheath strapped to her slim thigh.

  “Very nice.” Wolfe took a moment to lift his gaze from her legs to her blushing face when she dropped her skirts.

  “Thank ye, rogue.” She moved to put the knife blade into the fire then into a small dish of hot water.

  “What do you need the knife for?” Emily rushed to spit the question out between contractions.

  “Weel, I must cut the cord and,” she fixed her gaze upon Emily, “ye a wee bit.”

  “Me?” squeaked Emily.

  “Cut Em?” Wolfe blurted out simultaneously.

  “It gives the bairn more room to come out. Ye willnae really feel it and it can keep ye from tearing, which isnae good at all.” She moved between Emily’s legs just as another contraction swept over her. “Done.”

  “Done?” Emily struggled to catch her breath.

  ‘Aye, done. T’will help. Trust me.”

  “Where did a young girl learn so much about birthing?”

  “Me mother was a midwife, Wolfe. A fine one. The best, I think. I have been watching babies slip into the world e’er I could barely walk. She’s dead now, though, and I’m all alone.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Panting with the force of her labor, Emily was not able to say more. “Soon, lass. It’ll be be soon.” “I hope so.”

  Wolfe marveled at Emily’s strength as he continued to bathe her face and moisten her lips. He also understood why the strange little Giorsal had been so adamantly against Cloud being there. The pain that was wracking Emily’s small frame would have torn Cloud up inside. It was almost as much as he could bear and stay calm as the time wore on.

  “Aye, aye, ‘tis now,” Giorsal said excitedly, shortly before dawn. “Push, Emily. Push the wee devil right oot o’ there.”

  “Lift me up a bit, Wolfe,” Emily gasped. “I want to see.”

  Giorsal curtly instructed him to move so that his body supported Emily’s as she half sat up. It gave him a very good view of what was happening and Emily made no protest. He suspected she was far too involved to care what he was doing. He discovered that what he had seen as strength earlier was little or nothing compared to what the small woman he held exerted now to force her reluctant child from its comfortable place in the womb.

  He watched in awed absorption as
Cloud’s son entered the world, fighting every inch of the way. Giorsal’s skill was easily seen as she induced a lusty cry, cut and tied the cord, and cleaned the child off.

  “God, Em, that’s something to see.” Wolfe gently bathed her face.

  “Yes. Yes, it is, but once I am rested I shall probably be too embarrassed to even look at you for weeks.” She smiled weakly when he laughed.

  “Giorsal, should I still feel like birthing? Still have pains?”

  “Could be after-birth pains.” In an instant Giorsal was back between her legs, her small hands moving over Emily’s still hardened belly. “Aye, ye should—as there’s another bairn in there, lass, and it’s ready to come out.”

  “Twins?” Emily and Wolfe gasped together.

  “Aye, twins.” Giorsal moved swiftly to clear away the mess of the first child, laying out clean linen for the second.

  “Well, this had better be the last one. If there is another after that, it will have to wait until I have had a nap first.”

  Giorsal’s musical laughter filled the room. To Wolfe’s astonishment, Emily laughed as well, although it was weak and cut short by the onslaught of a contraction. He wished he could be as calm as the two women seemed to be.

  It was nearly twenty minutes later that a small girl wailed her outrage to the three attending her entrance into the world. Still stunned, Wolfe left the room to tell Cloud. He did not realize how worrying his expression could be to a man who had spent long hours envisioning the worst, until Cloud frantically grasped him by his shirtfront.

  “Emily?”

  “Emily’s fine, Cloud. Just tired. I think you better sit down, though.”

  “Why? You just said Emily was fine.” “Yes, she is.”

  “Then I’ll go see her.” He stopped at the door and hastly walked back to Wolfe. “What did we have?”

  “A boy.”

  “That’s wonderful… .” Cloud began, a little dazedly.

  “And a girl.”

  “And a girl? Twins?”

  “Yup. Twins. One boy and one girl, both healthy with a good set of lungs. That explains why Em was so damned large, I guess. Jesus,” Wolfe gasped.