Page 93 of Wild Hearts

The air had been heavy, and sultry all day. A heat haze shimmered over the hills and had even penetrated the thick walls of the castle, making it, oppressive. Tabrizia noticed Venetia push her supper away listlessly and wince at the backache she had endured since breakfast. Tabrizia was relieved to see Alexandria and her new husband disappear to their own wing as soon as the meal was over. She spoke low to Shannon and Damascus, "I think Venetia's labor has begun."

They took her up to the solarium, as they knew a first labor seldom lasted less than eight hours. They made her comfortable in a big easy chair with her feet elevated and cushions at her back. Then they talked of anything and everything to make the time pass more quickly. Venetia was restless with hard pains coming about five times every hour. They gave her drinks, they rubbed her back, they told jokes and riddles. When the pains began to come every five minutes, they decided to move her to her bedchamber to wait out the vigil. The eight hours crept by with no sign of an imminent birth. The girl on the bed was wringing wet with the sweat of her exertions; the three who tended her were perspiring freely from the heat and their anxiety.

Venetia had long ago abandoned her efforts not to scream. She was in agony. Fourteen hours had passed.

Mrs. Hall clucked, "Guidsakes, we shouda had a midwife or a doctor, this canna go on much longer."

Venetia presented an arm of the child, but Mrs. Hall was horrified and explained the child mustn't come that way. "It must be lying crossways, and that's dangerous. The only birth I ever attended came head first as nature intended," she exclaimed, wringing her hands. "Oh, poor lassie, poor lassie!"

Alexandria was pounding on the chamber door, alarmed at the screams coming through the door. A white-faced trio of brothers stood at her back as she demanded to be allowed in.

Tabrizia sternly told Mrs. Hall, "I want you to get Alexandria away from here. Take her where she cannot hear what's going on, and for God's sake calm her fears. She has to go through this soon."

Tabrizia heaved a sigh of relief that Mrs. Hall had been occupied. She loved her, but she was more hindrance than help in this situation.

Shannon was shaking visibly. She could stand it no longer and left the chamber to find Paris. He was in the hall outside.

"We must give her something for the pain," she told him urgently. "Get some of that stuff for us that you gave to Anne."

"No!" he exploded. "I'd see her on her deathbed first."

The girl on the bed had reached the point of exhaustion. She sank into a stupor, no longer screaming, only moaning like an animal. Shannon bustled forward in her usual capable manner and promptly fainted away in a swoon.

Tabrizia looked at Damascus. "It's up to us." Damascus closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded rapidly.

Tabrizia instructed, "Hold her down now; I must try to turn this baby. If it doesn't survive, nothing can be done, but if I don't do something, Venetia is going to die." She soaped her hand well and gently took hold of the tiny hand. Slowly, she pressed it back up the birth canal and inch by inch manipulated the unborn child until the shoulder was presented. She stopped to catch her breath, and Damascus encouraged her bravely, "You're doing wonderfully, Tabrizia, keep going, keep going."

Tabrizia put pressure on the little shoulder until it slid around bit by bit and the top of the head came into view. They both urged Venetia to help, to push, and kept encouraging the agonized girl until she had no choice but to do as they bade her.

The little female slipped out in a gush of blood and water. A plaintive wail at the treatment she was receiving made tears brim up and spill over, not only from her mother, but also from the two who had accomplished her delivery. By the time mother and baby had been washed, changed and made comfortable, a full twenty-four hours had elapsed.

Shannon had to return to Douglas, so Paris decided he would accompany her home and take Alex to the university in Edinburgh at the same time. Paris made a point of never staying away overnight now, no matter how late he arrived back.

Tabrizia was already abed when he returned from, Edinburgh. He leered at her as she lay propped against her pillows. "I'll tell you one advantage to having a baby living here at the castle. It occupies that infernal Mrs. Hall so she doesn't keep dropping in on us just as I'm about to make love to you."

"Paris, you know you are as fond of her as I."

"Fond, yes, but she is as predictable as a bloody weathervane. The minute I get hard, I can count on her to come bustling in here on one pretext or another until I'm ready to burst my seams."

"Damascus is right. All men are vulgar." She laughed.

He gazed at her with pleasure. "You are so beautiful, you take my breath away."

"Oh, darling, I feel as big as a pig full of figs," she protested.

"You have never looked lovelier," he declared. "Come, I'll show you."

He swooped her up into his arms and carried her to their mirror. She leaned back against his strong body as she observed their reflections. How many times they had done this. They presented a true picture of happiness; they had never felt closer. As she looked at their reflection, some words floated to her; "Take life's canvas and paint your paradise, then walk in!" Life was so tenuous, but she had finally learned to be happy now, in this moment, not to save it for some future day that might never come to pass.

CHAPTER 20

September's russet bracken died with the bitter winds of October, turning the hills from a tawny blaze to a dreary dun. The haars rolled in on soggy, drizzling mornings, turning the horizon into endless shades of gray, and the dampness seeped into every place that was farther than six feet from a roaring fire.

Troy got on amazingly well with Adam Gordon. They went off together on endless hunts while Alexandria and Tabrizia sewed tirelessly for their expected babies. Tabrizia's longing for motherhood grew with each passing day.

When November arrived, the weather turned colder and dryer. A pale winter's sun shone bravely but gave off little in the way of warmth. The child was due this month, and Paris could not hide the apprehension he felt over the approaching ordeal his beloved had to face. He decided to go into Edinburgh and fetch a qualified midwife to stay at Cockburnspath until after the birth. Although his wife was in excellent health and did not look big enough to deliver for weeks yet, he would not take any chances. He set off at dawn; so he and the midwife could return long before nightfall.

Tabrizia came out of the stillroom next to the dairy. She had been to get some woodruff, an herb which when placed among the linens, made them smell like new-mown hay. She looked up in surprise as Margaret came riding into the courtyard, hell-bent for leather.

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