Page 51 of Leave Her Wild
Ericks barked a laugh. “If such was so, no man alive would have more than one child. A woman looks upon the sweet countenances of her children and forgets all the suffering. Meanwhile, a man would be plotting some sort of revenge. My mother always said women know the truest pain when the child grows and leaves home to go out into the world.”
“Elizabeth is one of a kind,” Darcy declared.
“She is the perfect woman for you, sir. My wife’s sister dearly loves you. She will never leave you alone in the world. Elizabeth made a promise to love and honor you, and such was a promise from the heart.”
Darcy knew he wept. “She assuredly changed the course of my life.” He had bent his head again to continue his prayers when he realized there were no more screams from his wife. “What?” He immediately was on his feet and pounding on the door that separated them. “Elizabeth!” he cried out against the wood. “Elizabeth!”
“One moment, sir,” Hannah called.
“I am well, William,” Elizabeth squeaked in obvious exhaustion.
Darcy clung to the frame of the door. The room felt as if it was spinning. He caught the door’s latch. He began to count off the seconds in his head and was finally rewarded with the heavenly sound of protest coming from his child.
At length, the door opened, and Hannah placed a squalling babe wrapped tightly in swaddling clothes in Darcy’s waiting arms. “You have a daughter, Mr. Darcy.”
“A daughter,” Elizabeth said in exhaustion. “I am sorry, William, No heir.”
“I am happy, nevertheless,” he told her. “You are the most remarkable woman of my acquaintance.”
“Do we have a name?” Samuel called over Darcy’s shoulder.
“Anne Mary Elizabeth Darcy,” Darcy declared. “As you and Mary will be her godparents, it is only reasonable.”
“Your sister will be thrilled,” Ericks declared loud enough for Elizabeth to hear him, while remaining discreetly behind Darcy. “She wishes our first daughter to be an ‘Elizabeth.’”
Before more could be said, and he could carry his wife to her bed for a much needed rest, Elizabeth screamed again and doubled over, holding her abdomen.
“What is happening?” he demanded, but the midwife ordered him from the room another time. Samuel caught Darcy’s shoulders to tug him backwards, just as Mrs. Reynolds, who he had forgotten was in the room with Elizabeth, closed the door and locked it a second time.
Darcy felt as if the earth had opened and swallowed him whole. This was his father’s nightmare all over again. He rested his head against the door and once more began to pray. “Do not take her from me, God,” he begged, just as had his father begged for Lady Anne’s life.
“Give me the child,” Samuel instructed as he worked Darcy’s fingers loose from his daughter. “Mary can clean the child properly and return her to you. Mr. Bennet will want to view the girl also. She favors Elizabeth, do you not think?”
Darcy looked down upon the child. “Our Anne surely has the look of Elizabeth,” he said as his finger traced the child’s cheek. “Her eyes are blue, though.”
“All children’s eyes are blue when they are born,” Samuel told him. “They change to their permanent color as they grow a bit older. Many believe such is true because Jesus’s eyes were blue, but none of us will know with confidence until we are also in Heaven.” Samuel reached for the child a second time. “God did not bring Elizabeth into your life simply to snatch her away from you again. Keep the faith, Darcy, and trust what God means for your future.”
Darcy nodded his head in agreement, but he had only half listened to Ericks’s advice, for he had placed his hand on the door, desperately needing to know Elizabeth’s essence in some form. As Ericks walked away to do his duty to the child and therest of the family, Darcy whispered against the blankness of the door. “I love you. Do not leave me.”
He did not know how long he remained as such, but, at length, Elizabeth released a scream that would have driven banshees from their graves. He rattled at the locked door, nearly ripping it from its frame, with his need to reach her, while the dog barked again and again. “Push!” someone ordered, and he banged against the doorframe in disbelief. How could anyone expect his wife to do anything but know exhaustion. On the other side, Elizabeth could be heard expelling a guttural sound that was definitely unworldly, for no one could imagine it.
Then his wife was silent again, and Darcy attempted not to break in the door to reach her. His mind ticked off the seconds while he wondered if she had taken her last breath without him by her side. If so, he would never forgive himself, just as his father had never forgiven his own lust for Lady Anne. His forehead rested against the door’s panel, while his ears strained for the slightest sound within. Then he heard it. A chirp. And then what sounded of a thump and then a wail, but not one sound coming from Elizabeth.
He was again considering breaking in the door when Elizabeth called, “A son, William!” Immediately, the door opened, but he had dropped to his knees in supplication. The dog sat silently beside him as if awaiting permission to enter her mistress’s quarters.
“William?” his wife begged.
He was not confident his legs would hold him upright, but he pulled himself upward to stand. He was breathing hard as if he had run a mile, but there was joy everywhere when he looked upon Elizabeth, though her hair was soaked with sweat and she was still quite red in the face.
“Did you hear me?” Elizabeth asked. “Pemberley is saved!”
“An heir?” he mouthed in disbelief, as her initial words finally had taken root.
“Young Master Darcy,” Hannah declared, as they all watched Mrs. Reynolds quickly, but reverently, remove all the traces of blood and the mucus from his son’s body, “was hiding behind his sister. He is a wee bit of a thing, in comparison with his sister, but he will grow fast.”
Darcy stepped into the room to kneel before Elizabeth, ordering the dog to stay in place. “You are the most magnificent creature on this earth.”
She leaned forward to brush his forehead with a kiss. “Are you not glad you returned to me for a second chance at love?”
