“It is I,” Quinn said to Robert.
The midwife rose and tried to usher him out.
“Quinn? You mean... Callaghan? My wife’s dearest friend? I... I do not understand.”
“No, Robert, you do not. Do not be fooled by my appearance.”
“But your beautiful hair. You’ve shorn it all off.”
“Robert, I’m sure this is all odd to you, but it is not the least bit important at the moment.”
Robert’s face suddenly looked like that of a scolded little boy. “Quinn... she... ”
“She will be fine.” Quinn glanced up at the midwife, who shook her head.
Quinn rose, kissed Fiona on the forehead once more and whispered, “Trust me.”
“I... always... have.” Fiona winced. “I... always will.”
Moving in between Fiona’s legs, Quinn looked over her shoulder at Robert. “I saw this done once in Turkey. If I do not do it, the baby and Fiona will die.”
Robert looked at Quinn, at Fiona, at the midwife, and then nodded. “Save my wife, Quinn. Please.”
“I’m going to save them both, Robert, but you must step outside. I’ll not have you or anyone second-guessing me.”
Robert did as instructed. As he left, the midwife knelt beside Quinn. “He instructed me to cut the babe out of her if it doesn’t––”
“Hush. There will be no cutting. We are not sacrificing Fiona for the baby. Not now. Not ever. The mistress always comes first.”
“But the master said––”
“Bloody hell, woman. Help or get out of my way.” Quinn waited for the woman to back away before laying her hand on Fiona’s abdomen and looking over the large belly. “I need you to relax, love. No pushing, no straining. Understand?”
Fiona nodded. “Save... her... ”
“Shh, love. You both are going to see tomorrow.” Rolling her sleeve up, Quinn slowly pushed her hand into Fiona as she had seen done once before. Her entire body shook with the fear of it. She swallowed back the warm, wet bile that threatened to rise in her throat. “Hold her steady!” Quinn said, trying to keep the contents of her stomach still in her stomach. Looking over the belly once more, Quinn locked eyes with Fiona. “Look at me.”
Leaning up with her chin on her chest, Fiona did just that. Beads of sweat rolled from her temples. Fiona gritted her teeth as she locked eyes with Quinn.
“I can do that, m’lord... m’lady... er... ” the midwife stammered. “The missus needs ya up where she lives. I can do this. Step aside.”
Quinn cocked her head. “You can turn the babe?”
“I can if ya will let me.” She stood next to Quinn, waiting for her to get out of the way. “G’wan. Get up there and talk to the missus and let me do me job.”
Quinn pulled her hand out of the goo feeling slightly faint and greatly relieved. Killing a man seemed a much easier task than birthing a baby.
Sitting on the bed next to Fiona, she gently turned Fiona’s head toward her. “Now... tell me all about her.”
“I... it hurts so much... I... can’t.”
“Sure you can. Keep looking at me and tell me about her. Tell me who she meets.” Quinn’s eyes never left Fiona’s.
“She... meets Grace O’Malley when... when she is ten years old and announces... ”
The midwife slowly inserted her arm.
“Keep going,” Quinn encouraged. “Announces what?”
“Announces that she going to be a... pirate when she grows up.”
Quinn smiled. “A pirate you say?”
Fiona nodded, tears coming to her eyes. “Aye. She wants an adventurous life... filled with—” Fiona winced as the midwife began turning the baby “—danger and foreign places.”
“Then she must already be a pirate since she is in danger and preparing to come to a new and foreign place.”
Fiona smiled, the tears running down her cheeks. “Because she is stubborn, she will get her way... no matter––” Fiona let out a scream that caused Robert to burst through the door.
The moment he saw the midwife’s arm, elbow deep in his wife, he staggered backwards, fainted, and banged his head on the floor.
Quinn never moved her eyes from Fiona’s. “She is as stubborn as her mother, then?”
Fiona, pale, licked her grey lips. “More so... because she spends time with... people unlike any she’ll... ever meet... oh god, Quinn, the pain––”
“Will go away, my love, once we get her situated. So what do you think of her being a pirate?”
Fiona grinned weakly. “I think she is... happy.” She screamed as the midwife turned the baby.
“And strong?”
Fiona swallowed hard. “Yes, very strong, because of special folks... like Grace O’Malley... and her crew... and... you.”
“One more second, love. Inhale a deep breath for me.”
When Fiona did, Quinn smiled just as the midwife turned the baby’s body so the head was near the exit. To the midwife, she said, “Bring this little pirate out into the world.”
Pulling her hand free, the midwife wiped it on a cloth on the floor before returning to Fiona’s side. “Ya did well, but now I’m gonna need ya to push fer me.”
Laying her head back, Fiona inhaled deeply.
“Time for the baby to be free.”
Clutching Quinn’s hand with a strength that shocked Quinn, Fiona bore down as best she could.
“Seein’ her wee head, mistress. Once more and the stubborn thing’ll pop right on out.”
Quinn gently wiped the sweat from Fiona’s brow. “Show her who’s the mistress, love. You have to be the boss right out of the gate.”
Fiona nodded and then bore down. “Get. Her. Out. Of. Me!”
One final push and the baby came out, quietly. There was not a single sound.
“No... ” Fiona said, trying to raise herself up to see it. “No. No. No.”
“Hush now. Yer gettin’ all worked up,” the midwife said, tying off and then cutting the umbilical cord. With a whack on the baby’s bum, the midwife waited.
Still nothing.
“Quinn? Please. Please.” Fiona begged.
Releasing Fiona’s hand, Quinn looked down at the baby, whose blue eyes looked at her as if perturbed that someone had slapped her. The midwife’s assistant was taking care of other things, and there was much running around and sopping up of fluids, but Quinn was barely aware of any of it.
“Oh. My. Well, hello there.” Reaching for the baby, Quinn was doubly surprised when the midwife slapped her hands away.
“The baby should be a wailin’.”
Quinn’s eyes narrowed. “Hand her to me, woman, lest you draw back a stump the next time you strike out at me.”
Leaning over, the midwife stuck her index finger in the baby’s mouth and pulled out some goo. “Babe’s fine now. Gonna be hungry.” Handing the baby girl to Quinn, the midwife rattled off Gaelic expletives and excused herself to check on Robert, who was still lying prone on the floor outside.
“She’s beautiful.” Quinn said, staring down at the bloody infant. Gently wiping the vernix away, Quinn smiled into the eyes of a baby who stared back at her with the eyes of an old soul. “You’re bloody angry at us, aren’t you now?” Quinn cooed, handing the baby to Fiona. “She is... ” her words caught in her throat, and Quinn laid her head on the edge of the bed.
“Oh my love... my sweet, sweet girl.”
Looking up, Quinn expected Fiona to be murmuring to the baby, but she was not. She was looking through tear-filled eyes at Quinn. “You saved us just like you said you would.” Running her fingers through Quinn’s hair with her free hand, Fiona laid her palm on Quinn’s cheek. “Thank you is not nearly enough, Callaghan. Not nearly enough at all.”
Rising, Quinn sat next to Fiona on the bed. “She is... I am... ”
“At a loss for words?”
Quinn nodded as tears fell down her face.
Reaching out to touch the baby’s head, Quinn’s finger was grabbed by the
infant.
“She is a strong one,” Quinn whispered, kissing the top of Fiona’s damp head. “Like her mother.”
Fiona waved the servants away and asked one to report back on Robert’s condition.
“I knew you would come. I only hoped it would be in time.”
“We have Becca to thank for it. She flagged me off the ship and had a fast horse waiting.”
Fiona laid her head back and closed her eyes. “I shall be sure to thank her properly.”
As Fiona’s grasp on the baby slacked a bit, Quinn took the infant and stood up, rocking back and forth as the little blue eyes looked up at her.
“The master took a nasty cut to the back of his head,” one of the servants said, peeking in the door. “Midwife insists he not come in until he is not so wobbly.”
“Thank you, Petra,” Quinn said softly.
When the door closed, she returned her attention to the beguiling baby. “You’re quite the tenacious little thing, aren’t you?” she said, marveling at the grip the newborn had on her finger. “Even when your bum was swatted, you refused to cry.” Quinn and the baby stared at each other for a protracted moment.
“Looks like I’ve lost you to yet another female,” Fiona said. “The story of our lives.”
Looking up, Quinn smiled again. “I think I’ve fallen in love.”
“It would appear that way.”
“How do you feel?”
“Like a dozen horses kicked me.”
“Aye, but she is worth it.”
“And then some.”
The door opened and there stood Robert, as pale as Fiona had been earlier. “It is true, then? Quinn saved our... ”
“Little girl. Yes. Yes, she did.”
Robert threw his arms around Quinn and crushed her to him. “Praise to the Lord.”
“The Lord?” Quinn asked. “I’m quite certain it was the goddesses who saved her. Would you like to hold her?”
Robert looked to Fiona and then back to the tiny bundle. “Perhaps later. I took quite a bump to the––”
“Everraone out,” the midwife announced, her accent as thick as her middle. “Time to clean the mistress up.” Pushing past Robert, she raised an eyebrow at Quinn. “That means ya as well. After I clean her up, the babe will be hungry. Bring her back in a few.”
Quinn nodded. “I will.”
Robert kissed Fiona softly before bolting from the room.
“I’ll just take her out to the balcony. Show my little pirate the sea.”
As Quinn turned to leave, Fiona called her back. “You do realize she has claimed you as her own.”
Nodding, Quinn bent over and kissed Fiona’s forehead, letting her lips linger a moment. “Aye. For the rest of forever and beyond, I will make sure nothing ever happens to her.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
Quinn sighed. “You’d better.”
* * *
Two hours later, Fiona fell asleep with the baby still on her chest. Quinn hadn’t left her side since returning from the balcony; she sat dozing in a chair next to the new mother.
A barely audible sound caused Quinn to propel out of the chair.
“It’s just me,” Robert whispered. He was holding a candle in one hand and a mug of ale in another, which he handed to Quinn. “How is she?”
Quinn sat back down and took a swig. It felt cool on her throat. “I think she’ll be fine. She’s just exhausted.”
Robert stood over the bed. He was a tall man, an imposing figure with a thick head of brown hair he wore to his shoulders. His narrow eyes and angular features made him appear always intense.
“I don’t know how to thank you for what you did,” he said softly.
Quinn picked up the baby, who was starting to get fussy, and walked out of the room with Robert following. “Would you like to hold her?”
He looked down at the baby and shook his head.
“Robert, you’ll not hurt her. You held little Samuel, didn’t you?”
“Not often enough, it would seem.”
“Then here.” Quinn gently handed the baby to him. “You won’t break her.”
“She’s just such a wee bit of a thing.” Robert held the baby stiffly.
“Aye, but she has the courage of her mother.”
Robert glanced up from the baby. “How did you know what to do?”
Quinn shrugged. “Saw it done in Turkey once.”
“Turkey, eh? And were you with your father when you went to Turkey?”
“I... well, yes.”
“I see. And so how was it you came to us looking... ” he waved his hand at her. “Looking thusly. Your... your hair.”
“I had to cut it when I got it caught in... a fence. I dressed as a man so I could get here faster and safer than as a woman.”
“A woman. Yes. I see.” He handed the girl back. “You must think me a bit of a fool. Do you honestly believe you do not come and go as you please simply because I allow it?”
Quinn bristled. “Allow it?”
“I know the kind of woman you are, Callaghan, and I have done some research on your... unnatural state. Excuse the word unnatural. I cannot think of a different word.”
“What research is that, Robert?’ Quinn could feel her face becoming warm.
“You are a woman who loves other women.” He held his hand up. “I have watched you with my wife, and I know how deeply you feel for her. One cannot hide their emotions in their eyes.”
Quinn felt a bubble of panic get caught in her throat. “Robert, I––”
“Please do not insult my intelligence, Callaghan. Truth be told, up until now, your affections have made my wife happy. She looks out at the sea longing for you. You have given her many wonderful memories, but now that we have a child, I must ask that you cease your visits with her and allow her the chance to be that happy in her own home with her own family.”
Quinn’s heart banged inside her chest as if wanting out. “Cease my visits? Why, Robert, unless you have spoken with Fiona about this, I do not believe this is a decision you can make for her.”
The midwife came in and took the baby from Quinn, casting an angry glare at Robert as she did.
The look did not escape Quinn, but she let it go.
“That is where you are wrong. I am the master of this home and I can no longer abide by her sexual transgressions. Not when there is a child in the house. My wife will understand. If she does not, then she and I will have a conversation of a different sort.”
Quinn stepped up to him. “What sort of conversation is that?”
His eyes narrowed. “If you do not remove yourself from my wife’s life, I will remove her from yours.”
“Remove her, how?”
“There are plenty of places we can go that will not be accessible to you. England has use for a man of my skills and knowledge.”
Quinn stepped back as if slapped. “You would take her from her home?”
“I would return with her to mine. The choice is up to you.”
Quinn shook her head. “There is no need to take such drastic measures. I only ask that you give me time with her so I can ease myself away.”
“I believe I can manage that. I do not want her knowing I was the one who put a stop to this. It will only serve to make her angry with me.”
Quinn felt like vomiting. “I would appreciate that, Robert.”
“Callaghan, you have made my wife happier than I ever have, but I am a man rising in the world. I simply cannot have a wife who participates in activities that would ruin us.”
“I understand.”
“Again, thank you for everything you have done.” He stared hard into her face. “It appears there is more to you that meets the eye. Riding as a man, eh? You must truly love my wife.”
She nodded. “I truly do, Robert. I love her now, and I will always love her. Should you ever treat her unkindly, I will return for you and leave you in pieces. Are we clear on that?” She could feel his penetrating gaze
on her.
To her surprise, he nodded. “I understand that. See? Even though I could have you arrested right now, you stand in front of her protectively. She is a lucky woman to have had a friend as you have been.”
“I love Fiona as surely as if she were my sister. Her safety has always been my only concern. It still is. Do not do wrong by her, Robert. It will not end well with you.”
“I have grown to love her as well, Callaghan. I’ve not been able to enter her heart because it is already occupied. Give me a chance to fill your seat. Perhaps she might find me a desirable husband after all.”
They stood quietly together for a moment before Quinn said, “I can do that, Robert. Have you thought of a name?”
Robert shook his head.
“I have,” Fiona said, struggling to sit up.
Quinn’s eyes grew wide. Had Fiona heard this conversation? Clearly if she did, she would have had a great deal to say to them both.
Robert dashed through the door to her side to assist her.
Quinn looked at Fiona over the top of the baby’s head and knew she’d not heard. She was so enrapt in the baby, she possibly had only heard the last piece. “Oh?”
Fiona thanked her husband for his help before returning her gaze to Quinn. “We shall name her Gallagher, after the woman who saved our lives.”
Quinn quickly cut her eyes to Robert, who exhaled loudly.
“It is my wish,” Fiona said, almost coldly.
Robert nodded, his jaw set. “I don’t understand why you would name her Gallagher, my love. Why not Callaghan?”
Fiona tilted her head toward Quinn. “Gallagher is Quinn’s old family name on her mother’s side. I would like to honor the woman who bore such a strong and wonderful friend who has continually come to our aid when we needed it most.”
Robert swallowed hard. “Then so be it. We shall introduce her to the world as Gallagher.”
Fiona shook her head. “You’re missing a name. I wish for her to be known as Gallagher Grace, and we will send a letter to Grace announcing the arrival of her namesake.”
Robert appeared struck dumb.
“I intend on everyone knowing that our daughter is an Irish woman with ties to the greatest queen and most fearsome pirate of the seas. You may introduce her now, Robert, as such.”
Shiver Her Timbers: The Plundered Chronicles Page 8