Page 29 of Lady of Charade
“What do you need?” he asked, and Sarah stood, placing a wet cloth gently over the woman’s forehead before walking over to him.
“We’ll need some boiling water, hot cloths, and a clean blanket,” she said. “And then, do you think you could go fetch her husband?”
Go fetch? David paused for a moment at her words, as he was certainly no one’s dog or errand boy. But as he looked down at her wide, pleading eyes, he once again found himself doing her bidding.
“Where is he?” he asked as he followed after her to the wardrobe, holding out his arms for the towels she placed within them.
“Emily, where does your husband work?”
“He pours drinks,” she said between gasps, “At The Red Lion.”
“Ah, David knows where that is,” Sarah asked, looking over to him, and David slowly nodded, wishing that he hadn’t had to share his previous association with the establishment. At least there was no issue now in finding his way there.
“I do,” he said.
“His name is Billy,” Emily said, and David nodded as he filled the kettle and placed it over the fire in order to set it to boiling.
“Are you going to be all right here?” he asked Sarah, and she nodded.
“Go.”
He did as she said, thankful to simply be out of the room for the rest of the process, and headed to his old haunt.
* * *
David was greetedas though he were a forgotten friend when he entered through the doors of the gambling hell. The man at the door gave him a slap on the back, while he received more than one sultry wink and suggestive nod to the back rooms from the barmaids who passed by — women who were, in all actuality, far more than barmaids.
He nodded to them all in greeting but no inkling of temptation for gambling and women surfaced. Instead, he forged his way through the crowd to the back of the hell, where he found men pouring drinks.
When he asked for “Billy?” he received a stare from a man he had never before seen.
“This,” said John, the man next to him and a longtime fixture at the establishment, “Is Mr. David Redmond.”
David felt slightly uncomfortable at the fact that a man who worked in a gambling hell would think him to be so important as to introduce him in such a way. But he pushed away the thought, for there were far more important aspects to discuss.
“Billy, you have to come with me,” he said, and the man frowned at him as he pushed his long black hair out of his eyes.
“I just began this job, I cannot—”
“Your wife is giving birth to her babe.”
“What?” the man’s confused look turned into one of astonishment. “It’s too early, she cannot—”
“She is,” David confirmed, and then the man turned to have a quick word with John, who waved him away. Billy followed after David and as they hurried out of the building and down the street, Billy began firing questions at David.
“How did this happen? How do you know about it? What am I supposed to do?”
“I was sent by the woman who is helping her give birth,” he said, answering the man’s questions as quickly as he could, knowing that if he were in the same position, he would only be placated by receiving all the knowledge he could of the circumstance. “I have no idea how it happened, nor do I know what you are supposed to do. I’ve actually never been anywhere near a birthing situation before.”
David was well aware that most women would probably cringe at the “birthing situation” being referred to as such, but he knew absolutely nothing ng to do with matters of a woman’s health.
They came up to Sarah’s lodgings, and David hesitated. As far as he was aware, men stayed far from the birth until well after the baby was born. Were things different where Sarah was from? Were they different even within classes other than his own? Never before had he any interest in asking such a thing of anyone.
His thoughts were interrupted, however, when a noise from within answered their question of what to do now.
Billy jumped when he heard the cry, and David knocked quickly on the door, knowing it would be locked as he had ensured it was so when he left.
The crying became louder as footsteps approached, and the next thing he knew, Sarah was standing on the other side of the door, a wide smile on her face and a babe in her arms.
