Page 61 of The Devil of Clan Sinclair
Was it easier to endure what was coming when a husband waited, anxious for news of an heir or a daughter? Did a husband’s love and affection mitigate everything a woman had to go through? She doubted Lawrence would have feigned any care or concern.
And Macrath? She could see him at her side, holding her hand, speaking softly, trying to take her mind from the pain.
How odd that she’d thought him at Drumvagen all these months and he’d not been there. He’d been fixed in her mind as walking the moors, working in his ice laboratory, striding from room to room, and all this time he’d been in Australia.
She should have known somehow. She should have felt him gone.
Pain suddenly stretched across her stomach like a fierce band. She gasped, wondering when it would ease. She was being broken in two. Closing her eyes, she clenched her hands on her skirt. All she had to do was endure it. From what Enid said, the pain came in waves.
This wasn’t a wave. This was a celestial hand squeezing her belly.
Gradually, the pain eased. She sat against the back of the settee, weakened.
Perhaps it was all those thoughts of Macrath, but her son was suddenly anxious to be born. She had to tell Enid her time had come.
Paul stood outside in the garden, watching the conservatory.
She was ignoring him. Despite his solicitude, Virginia rarely paid him any attention.
Didn’t she understand what it was like to see her round with another man’s child? When the whelp was born she would devote all her attention to the infant.
His mother had been the same. She kept them clean, as much as she was able, and as fed as she could manage. She patted his cheek with his palm, sent him off after his father every morning with a look in her eye that said she’d do it differently if she could.
A son of his would never have to do what he had. A daughter would be feted like any countess.
He knew the baby wasn’t Lawrence’s. Did she truly think people would believe such a thing? Lawrence hated her. He had more occasion to know what Lawrence felt than anyone else.
Her friend left and she sat there for a while, her gaze turned inward. He was about to move away when he realized something was wrong.
Through the glass of the conservatory, he could see Virginia leaning back, her face etched in pain.
He left the garden, entering the house, and reached her side.
“Enid,” she said, her voice quavering. “Tell Enid.”
Despite her objections, he gently scooped her up in his arms. The feeling of her so close nearly unmanned him. Did she remember? Did she long for him like he had for her?
She clenched his shirt, moaning in pain. He wanted to ease her somehow, tell her it was going to be all right and it would soon be over. Since his mother had borne three children after him and only two survived, he wasn’t sure it would be the truth.
As he made his way up the stairs to her bedchamber, a thought came to him. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for the Scottish whelp to die being born.
Chapter 16
Paul was carrying her. She was in Paul’s arms and despite her protests he wouldn’t put her down, insisting on taking her to her room on the second floor. Perhaps she should remain silent. How would she manage the stairs otherwise?
But he mustn’t get the wrong idea. He mustn’t think she accepted such behavior, or even tolerated him.
The pain was suddenly a red hued monster, holding her in its mouth. She couldn’t speak or move for fear it would bite down and crush her.
Paul lay her gently on her bed, shouting for Hannah.
How considerate he was being. So much nicer than when he asked who her child would resemble.
She waited until the monster had turned its head before trying to speak.
“Enid,” she said, but one word was all she could manage before the rolling pain came again. Should it be so soon?
She thought he left the room but wasn’t sure. When Enid came, she’d be shuffled off to the room prepared for her on the third floor. The mattress had been covered, the room swept and draped. The sheets had been stripped from the mattress, and a heavy quilt laid over it. Two more sheets were tied to the bed frame, so she could pull on them.
