Page 42 of His Wicked Secret
He bowed his head.
“Know? How could she know?” Audrey asked Gillian in a low voice.
“Some women intuitively know when the baby is coming and try to get everything ready. It’s a bit like birds when they start constructing the nest in spring.”
“Oh.” Audrey stared at her sister. Had she had some inkling that the baby was coming? Why hadn’t she rested? Or told Lucien to send for the doctor just in case the baby came?
Gillian touched her arm, hoping to comfort her sister. “It will be all right.”
“Horatia, if you feel the need to push, then push,” Charles said. “Gillian, I need you here.”
Audrey stepped back, watching and wondering what she could do to help.
Charles pointed to Horatia’s legs.
“Pull down the blanket and watch her for me. Keep her legs open; I’ll tell you what to look for. Normally a woman would deliver on her side, but I think Horatia is more comfortable on her back.”
“Yes, my lord.” Gillian knelt in front of Horatia’s legs and peeled the blankets away.
Audrey couldn’t move; her heart was beating so hard it seemed to silence all other sounds in the room. She couldn’t lose Horatia, not like this. She couldn’t. Tears burned her eyes as she struggled to stay focused.
“I’m frightened.” Horatia tried to close her knees, but Gillian kept them open. Gillian then looked to Lucien.
“Distract her, my lord. That might help.” Gillian sound so calm. How could she be calm at a time like this?
“Distract…?” Lucien muttered, and he stroked Horatia’s face. “Remember that night at the Midnight Garden when we talked about the stars?”
Horatia laughed, even though the sound was tense. “Yes. I remember I felt so safe with you.”
Lucien chuckled. “You are safe, very safe. You know I’d do anything to protect you.”
Horatia hissed with fresh pain and glared at Lucien. “Youdid this to me! Oh!” She clutched her stomach, whimpering, and then relaxed.
Audrey watched her sister and Lucien with her heart swelling with both love and concern. Horatia panted and gazed at Lucien. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…I know you only want to help. I would do the same for you.”
“I know, love, I know. And you’re very safe right now. Charles knows what to do, and so does Gillian.”
“Tell me a good story,” she begged Lucien.
Lucien beamed. “Did I ever tell you about the time when Cedric and I were caught sneaking back into our residences at Cambridge one night? We could barely walk from the night’s revelries, and we were dragging a small statue of Sir Isaac Newton, which we’d stolen from another college…”
Audrey watched her sister and Lucien, her heart torn between the love she felt for them both and a sorrow that she would never know this kind of love herself.At least my sister has it, of that I am glad.
Horatia relaxed, and everyone in the room took a deep breath. When Horatia bent double in pain again, Gillian watched for the baby.
“I see it! The babe!” Gillian cried out. Relief flooded through Audrey, and she sucked in a breath. The burning pain in her lungs eased. It was almost over. It had to be.
“Good.” Charles crouched over the bed beside Horatia, gripping her other hand.
“Lucien, hold her hand. Don’t let go.”
“I won’t.”
Charles used his other hand to brush his knuckles over Horatia’s forehead. “Now, Horatia, push when you can push, and pushhard. Time matters now. You’ve been in labor too long, and we don’t want the child to become stuck. It may suffocate.”
“Suffocate?” Horatia and Lucien both hissed in alarm.
“Yes, so you’d better bloody well push!” Charles growled.
