“I see you found the little lady,” the old man at the market told Angus with a broad smile.
“I did,” Angus told him, picking out some apples while she looked at other vegetables toward the end his roadside stand.
“I can’t blame you for going after her. My Hilde and I have been married for fifty-two years. You only get one great love in your life,” the man said, smiling toward a woman that was approaching the stand at a very slow pace.
“You’d have been dead years ago if not for me.” The woman laughed as she approached. She looked over at Angus and then Margaret. Margaret felt incredibly weak as she stood there and almost swooned. Angus caught her in his arms and held her while she collected herself.
“I am just so tired,” she said.
“Well, that is to be expected in your condition,” the woman told her.
“What do you mean?” Margaret asked.
“With child. I remembered when I had my first, it darned near knocked every bit of the energy right out of me,” the woman said.
“Oh, I’m not expecting a baby,” Margaret said with a laugh, wondering where the woman got such a crazy idea.
“Faint and pale and I’m guessing you are nauseous in the mornings? I have a sense about these things and one look at you tells me you have a little one on the way, honey,” the woman told her with a soft smile.
Margaret’s eyes widened. That was the last thing she had expected. She looked over at Angus, who appeared equally as shocked. They stood staring at each other for a moment and then Angus suddenly broke into a huge smile and pulled her into a hug, kissing her right on the lips in front of the aged couple, who looked on with smiles of their own.
“A baby!” Angus exclaimed. “We are going to have a baby!”
“I guess we are,” Margaret said, breaking into a smile of her own.
On the way home, Margaret asked Angus about his plan to make sure no more men came for her. It was especially important now that they were having a child. He just patted her hand that was wrapped around him.
“Don’t worry about that right now,” he said. “I’ll deal with it.”
“But, Angus, I want to know,” she told him.
“You have something more important to focus on now, my love. Just trust me, and you will know in time,” he said.
“Okay, Angus,” she replied, leaning her head against his back and enjoying being with him again after her momentarily lapse in judgement in running away. Then another thought occurred to her. “Angus, our baby. Will they be a shifter, too?”
“Yes, love. They will be many things.”
“What do you mean?”
“There are tales about shifters who are half human. The human side, though you would think it inferior to that of a dragon, it changes things. It creates a certain amount of instability that both alters and improves the dragon, gives it additional powers.”
“Powers?” she said, a little wary of something that sounded like witchcraft.
“For lack of a better word. Pure dragons shifters are only two things. They are either human or they are dragon. When a human has a shifter baby, something else is introduced, but there is no way of knowing what it will be. They may be able to read thoughts or merely be more powerful. It’s just something that develops over time as they grow.”
“So, there is no telling what our baby might be able to do?”
“Exactly.”
“I’m terrified.”
“If it helps any, so am I. It is such a fear of the unknown that makes it forbidden for dragon shifters to breed with humans.”
“But you did it, anyway?”
“I suppose I’m a bit of a rebel.”
“And a runaway.”
“Yes.”
“You never really told me why you came here.”
“I just wanted some peace and quiet. I thought I was a bit of a loner, but then I found that I was incredibly lonely.”
“But not enough to return to your home and take a shifter wife that would have been accepted there?”
“I didn’t belong there. I would have never known peace.”
Margaret suspected that there was still more to this story than he was telling her, but she decided to let it go for now. If he wanted to elaborate further at some point, he would certainly do so. She would just have to wait until that time came or perhaps it just wasn’t important. Time would tell, just as it would tell them what this child of theirs would bring into the world.
Chapter Ten
Several months passed with no more incidents. Angus continued to shoo her away anytime she asked, assuring her that everything was fine. She tried to put it out of her mind so that she could focus on things to come, but it still bothered her. Instead of dwelling on it, she just put her faith in God and her husband, that they would get through this. With her growing belly, she would be busy enough soon.
Angus managed to buy enough seeds to get early crops planted with sales of livestock and jams Margaret made from ripened spring fruits. Margaret also took to sewing for the public in order to raise money to get more crops in the ground. It kept her busy and she was able to use some of the leftover material to make baby clothes for their little one’s arrival. By the time the crops were all in the ground and she was too big to work in the fields, they were doing quite well again. Food was still scarce, but they managed to get by with what they had, Angus’s hunting skills, two dairy cows and half a dozen laying hens.
Everything seemed to be going along just fine, until one night when Margaret heard Dog barking out in the yard. He had been laying out on the porch with his new loves, a pile of puppies that had been born of a stray that turned up in the yard one night and died a couple of months after they were born from unknown causes. Margaret tensed, knowing that Dog rarely barked at anything but strangers he deemed a threat.
Then she heard the howling, followed by the awful noise of dogs fighting and yelping in pain. By the time Angus ran out, it was mostly over. Dog lay bleeding in the yard and two puppies were missing. Angus shot at the coyotes as they ran away and then ran to Dog, but it was too late.
“I’m sorry, boy. I didn’t get here in time this go around,” Angus told him as his shallow breathing stopped and he lay motionless on the ground. Tears ran down Margaret’s face as she quietly picked up the remaining two puppies and took them inside where they would be safe. It felt like she was saying goodbye to an old friend rather than just a stray dog.
The following morning, Angus buried Dog and one of the puppies they had later found. They were placed lovingly in the back yard beneath a large Oak tree that Dog often liked to lay under during the hot summer months. Margaret was surprised when even Angus got a little choked up as he put the beloved animal into the ground. She pulled him to her as he put the last of the dirt on the tiny grave and placed a small wooden cross at the top. Then, they went inside and life went on once more.
Margaret was busy making supper several nights later when Angus came in with a huge smile on his face. He lay a small slip of paper down in front of her and sat down to watch as she read it. Her eyes grew wide as she took in the words and looked at him in amazement.
“What? How?” she replied.
“He might have intimidated you out of the country, but not everyone is so easily scared away. My father fought in the civil war before I was born. He died when I was a few years old, but he made one of his friends promise him that he would make sure that my mother and I were taken care of. This friend, who prefers to maintain a low profile, kept that promise. He made sure we always had enough and continued to check on me well into my adult life to make sure I was okay. I went to him about your problem,” he said.
“And?” Margaret asked.
“And he went to London and had a little talk with quite a few folks. He made sure that the accountant that cheated you out of your rightful inheritance was found out by the right people, as well as those that helped him with his little deceit. They will all be going away to jail for a very
long time and the estate is yours as soon as you can go there to claim it,” Angus told her.
“I don’t understand how all of this is possible,” she said.
“It is not only possible, but it is done. Lawyers are sending papers for you to sign and then everything is yours. The money, the property, everything that should have been. In fact, you will be happy to know that the estate has grown and since those gains were gained falsely, they cannot be retained by him. They become a part of the estate, as well,” he said.
“Angus! Do you know what this means?” Margaret asked.
“It means that no one else will be coming here to harm you,” Angus replied.
“Angus, it means a lot more than that. We are rich! My father had a lot of money and if it has been grown, then we will not want for anything!” she said. Angus looked solemn for a moment, his face dropping.
“I guess you won’t want to stay here with me on this struggling little farm. You were never meant to be a farmer’s wife. I know who you are now. My father’s friend told me. You should have been a powerful socialite, married to a doctor or a lawyer, perhaps even a Duke of some sort,” he said.
“You are right, Angus. That is exactly what I was meant to be, but the Lord saw fit to bring me here instead. He thought it was better for me to meet and marry you and have our child,” she said.
“It doesn’t change the fact that it is not your calling,” Angus replied.
“That is where you are wrong, Angus. It is exactly my calling. When I left London, I mourned my bad luck. I couldn’t believe that I was having to give up everything I’d known to come to America and be a nobody. The months that I spent in New York, doing sewing for the public and cleaning homes for people who had less money than what I should have inherited, all I could think about was how bad my life was and how I loathed the man that took it from me,” she said.
“It was unfair,” he agreed.
“Yes, it was. I came to you out of desperation when I found out he had sent men to kill me. I admit that, but when I arrived and I saw you, I felt a connection to you immediately. Every day since then, my love for you has grown even stronger. I know now, that God sent you to me. This was meant to be my life. I was meant to spend it with you and our child. I couldn’t be happier. If I were given the choice to do this all gain or have things go the way that I thought they would back in London, I’d choose this every single time,” she told him.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Positive,” she told him, leaning down to kiss him on the lips. His hands found her belly as she pulled away and rested there for a moment, smiling down at where their child grew inside of her.
“I love you so much, Margaret. I almost lost you twice and every day, I am thankful that the Lord saw fit to let me keep you,” Angus told her.
“I am thankful for you, too, Angus. You are the love of a lifetime. Like the man at the vegetable stand said, we only get one and I have no doubt that you are mine,” she told him.
“As you are mine. We’re going to grow old together, my love. I promise you that.”
Chapter Eleven
As fast as the initial months had gone by while they awaited the birth of their child, the last few seemed to crawl. It felt like an eternity until the day their child was expected. When it at last came, neither of them could contain their excitement. It had started out like any other day, but soon, it became obvious that it would be anything but that.
“Angus, I think the baby is coming,” she told him, as she doubled over for the second time in an hour. The contractions were far apart, as the doctor told her they would be initially.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“No, but these don’t feel like normal aches and pains. I think they are contractions.”
Angus beamed at her, putting his arm around her waist and smiling down at her protruding belly. It was obvious that he was just as anxious to bring their child into the world as she, but she doubted that he was nearly as nervous. So many things could go wrong and she was painfully aware of all them thanks to discussions with the other women at her church. She had told Angus time and time again about all the potential problems, but he had told her to stop listening to horror tales and it would all be fine. She hoped he was right, for everyone’s sake.
“Come on. Let’s get you over to the sofa to sit down.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ll be fine,” she told him. “We will just wait until they get a bit closer together and then you can go get the midwife.”
“I’ll go get her now,” he said.
“No, Angus.”
Margaret laughed at how nervous he was. He was usually so self-assured, so strong and certain about everything. Now, with a baby on the way, he was an absolute wreck just trying to wait for its arrival. It was so adorable and endearing.
“What should I do then?”
“Go back out and work. Don’t think about this right now. I’ll call you in when it is time for you to fetch her.”
“Are you crazy? No way am I leaving you in this house alone!”
“Angus! Women have been having babies for thousands of years. It takes a while. Go keep yourself busy while we wait for it to get closer to time. It could be hours, or even days.”
“Days? You’re kidding me, right? Days?”
“Yes, Angus. Days. Now, shoo!”
Margaret laughed at the expression of disbelief on his face. He stood gawking at her for a moment, but finally left the house to work in the field, though she found him making excuses to come in for frequent drinks of water or to retrieve completely unnecessary items he decided he needed outside.
“Fine, Angus. Just stay in here with me. You’re going to drive us both bonkers!”
“I thought you’d never ask,” he told her. “I’ll get cleaned up a bit so I’m ready to go when it is time to go get the midwife.”
“You do that.”
Margaret chuckled to herself as he went to wash up, but while he was gone, a thought occurred to her that hadn’t before. When he returned, she didn’t hesitate to ask it.
“Angus, this baby… he or she won’t appear any different when born?”
“You mean will our baby come out looking like some sort of baby lizard or with scaled toes?”
She noted the bemused smile on his face and chastised herself for asking such a ridiculous question. Then again, it was a fair enough one considering that it was her first child and she knew no one else who had given birth to a shifter’s baby. At least, as far as she knew, she didn’t.
“Yes. I feel silly for asking now.”
“No. Don’t. I understand that all of this is different for you. I promise you that our baby will look like every other baby.”
“Good to know. Anything else might be hard to explain. I honestly can’t believe I haven’t thought to ask before.”
“Just be careful that it doesn’t get heartburn while you are feeding it.”
“What? Why?”
“Dragon babies tend to burp up little fireballs.”
“They do not!”
“They do. I should have mentioned it before.”
“Oh, my God.”
Angus burst into laughter as she contemplated that pain that could possibly result in. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized he was merely teasing her.
“You’re not funny.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” she replied. Her smile turned into a grimace as another pain racked her body. She had barely recovered from it when another seemed to grip her. It seemed like things had taken a very quick turn toward urgent.
“Get the midwife. Hurry,” she breathed.
Angus didn’t wait for her to say anything else. He was out the door like a shot, jumping onto the horse he had saddled earlier in preparation and galloping down the road to a house located a few farms away. Margaret had no idea how long it took him to get there. It seemed like only moments before he was back with the mid-wife in tow. He helped her d
own, untying her medical case from the strap on the horse’s side before hurrying to open the front door for her to come in.
Margaret watched from where she was resting on the sofa as he followed her inside, completely out of breath and incredibly nervous looking. All the color had drained from his normally well-tanned face as he took a seat beside her and reached for her hand in his.
“All right, Margaret. Angus tells me it is time to bring a new McCord into the world. Are you ready?”
“As ready as I will ever be,” she replied.
The contractions were growing closer as the midwife talked her through things and prepared her for the birth. Margaret had never been so scared in her life and she hurt so much. The pain was incredible and seemed to only increase as the time grew closer. She wondered if it was normal to be in this much pain or if something was wrong, but she didn’t ask for fear of seeming weak. Instead, she tried to just grit her teeth and get through it.
“Okay, Margaret. I can see the top of the baby’s head. We’re almost there,” the midwife told her after a while. “When I tell you to, I want you to push. Can you do that for me?”
Margaret nodded, panting and sweating like she had never done in her life. Angus seemed still just as nervous as he had been the moment she had said the baby was coming as he mopped her head with a cool rag. His other hand was firmly gripped in hers. She was surprised not to hear the bones in it cracking with the pressure of how hard she gripped it in her own.
“Push, Margaret,” the midwife told her, talking her through each contraction and each push until she felt like she couldn’t do this much longer. Finally, when she thought she had nothing left to give, the baby was born and the cord cut as the midwife announced its arrival. “Congratulations, you have a beautiful baby boy!”
Margaret watched as she held him up and he cried out. Then she wrapped him up in a clean white blanket and laid him on his mother’s chest while she tended to her once again. When she was done, she smiled at the two of them.
“I trust you remember what we talked about as far as caring for yourself and the baby now that he is out here in the free world?”
Dragon of the Prairie Page 9