Chapter Nine
“Julia has gone somewhere.”
Abigail looked up at Maude and frowned. “Where? I thought she had started her labor and that was why I was fetched.”
“None of us knows and she spoke to no one so we have no idea.”
For a moment, Abbie thought about where Julia would go. The woman had been so sunk in her grief for the last three days it was hard to think she had anyone she wanted to visit or even that she may have gone for a walk. All Julia wanted to do at the moment was lie in bed and cry and her labor beginning had not lessened that at all. It was an effort to get her up and move or to eat for the sake of the child she carried. Then Abigail suddenly knew exactly where Julia had gone, despite the cold rain pouring from the sky.
“I have an idea of where she is,” Abbie said as she tossed her needlework aside and jumped up. “I thought I was having a nice break from her labor. Should have known better. Foolish girl has gone to Robert’s grave.”
“In this?” asked Mrs. Beaton as she stared out at the rain pouring down.
“I fear so.” Abbie put on her coat and looked around. “Does anyone have a hat or an umbrella?”
“I have a hat,” said Maude as she ran off.
“You cannot go out in this. You will catch your death,” said Mrs. Beaton.
“I will be fine but Julia has more than her own health and well-being to worry about, and she needs to start doing that.”
When Maude brought the hat, Abbie put it on and strode out to go find Julia. She trudged through the rain, cursing as her feet got soaking wet, and prayed she was right. The moment she walked toward Robert’s grave she saw her. The foolish woman was draped over his grave soaking herself in the muddy water that covered it. Abbie told herself to have patience but suspected it was going to be a hard thing to grasp.
“Julia!” she cried as she ran up to the woman. “What are you doing?”
“I came to see Robert. To tell him the baby is coming.”
“I can see that but it is raining and you are now covered in mud.”
“I just needed to be with Robert for a moment.”
“Then do it on a sunny, warm day. Julia,” she said in a softer tone as she pulled the woman to her feet, “you carry his child. If you were not lying . . .”
“I just wanted them to go away so I could come here.”
“If you keep doing foolish things like this, you will not only hurt yourself, you will harm the baby.”
“I will?” Julia asked in a dazed voice.
“Yes, most assuredly. Now come with me and we will get you inside, dried off, and warm again.”
Abbie fought to control her temper as she walked the woman back to the house. To her relief, all the other women took over Julia’s care and not one mentioned the absence of the labor Julia had claimed to be suffering. Taking off her coat and Maude’s hat and hanging them in the kitchen to dry, Abbie went and sat down in the front room and closed her eyes.
“Are you ill?” asked Mrs. Beaton from across the room.
“No, I am tired. I understand her sorrow but she was out there in this weather lying in the mud on Robert’s grave. I just need some time to make sure I have my temper under control as angry words will do no good right now.”
Mrs. Beaton sat down in the chair opposite her and said, “I do not think the girl would even notice. She does not appear to be in her right mind at the moment.”
“No, I do wonder at times if Robert’s death and the pregnancy have been enough to break her, in her mind. No sensible, rational person who is with child would go out in this with nothing extra on and hurl themselves on top of a muddy grave, especially one who thought she was in labor.”
“I think not.”
Abbie took a deep breath and let it out in a huff. “I am calmer now so I will go and tend to her.”
“You need sleep, Abigail.”
“I know. This cannot go on for much longer. If nothing else she will soon have a child to care for and perhaps that will pull her out of this nonsense. And my temper is still lurking or I would not call it nonsense. It is a deep grief. I will wrestle it down though and try to get her to see clearly.”
“I hope you are successful.”
So did Abigail if only so she could sleep through the night. Julia also needed to sleep. She was looking very worn down and Abbie worried about the child she carried.
When she stepped into her room Julia was already tucked up in bed and almost asleep. Maude sat with her so Abbie took the time to wipe herself dry, dress for bed, and crawl under the covers. It was rude but she just wanted someone else to watch over Julia for a little while.
“Sleep, Abbie,” Maude said. “I’ll keep a watch on her for a while.”
“Thank you, Maude,” Abbie muttered even as she fell asleep.
* * *
When Abbie next opened her eyes, she was startled to find the sun shining through her window. She sat up and looked over at Julia’s bed only to find it empty. Hopping out of bed, she cleaned up, dressed, and then hurried down the stairs. In the big front room she found all the women and Julia talking merrily and just stared. It was as if the rain had washed Julia’s madness away, but Abbie did not fully trust that. She was just having a moment of calm.
“Ah, there you are, Abbie,” said Maude and walked over to her to say softly, “She is having a good morning.”
“I can see that. The best one since Robert was killed.”
“I am not sure how long it will last but take advantage of it. Do as you please today.”
“That would be nice.”
“Good. Then start with the man in the parlor who has patiently been waiting for you to wake.” Maude chuckled and walked back to rejoin the others.
Abbie walked into the parlor and caught Matthew having a little nap on the settee. She softly hurried to his side and gave in to impulse, kissing him on the cheek. A squeak of surprise escaped her when he grabbed her and pulled her down onto his lap.
“Done sleeping?”
“There was no need of you lingering here until I woke up. There must be things you need to do.”
“Not really. Thought to take ye for a walk. Ye need to get away from here for a while, I am thinking. Just as ye needed to rest this morning.”
“A walk would be lovely.” She wriggled out of his hold and stood up. “And it would also be best if we don’t let Mrs. Beaton see us like this.”
“Oh, I am beginning to think Mrs. Beaton is nay as . . .” He hesitated as he struggled to find the right word.
“Prissy?”
“Aye, that is good. Prissy as she was. Ye must be having some influence on her.”
“I doubt that and, in fact, it makes me sound a bit like a catchable disease.”
He laughed. “Get your coat.”
“Yes, sir.”
Abbie found her coat in the kitchen. It was dry and still a little warm from the heat of the stove. Mabel gave her some coffee and she drank it as she put her coat on. The moment she was done, she took the cup of coffee and finished it.
“Thank you, Mabel.”
“What about breakfast?”
“I will have something to eat later. Right now, I think Matthew is right and I need to get out of this house for a bit.”
“Miss Julia is a trial. I understand her hurt, but she is, well, too intense and demands a lot of work.”
“I know. I suspected she would be like that. She is actually rather fragile. See you later today.”
Abbie met Matthew in the hall. He hooked her arm in his and walked her out the door. It was still early in the morning but she could feel that it was going to be a good day, probably warm and sunny. That lifted her spirits as well. There was a nice, fresh scent in the air from the rain having washed everything clean in the night.
“It is going to be a lovely day, I believe.”
“Aye. My family is probably out and working to plant the garden. I wish I kenned what they were planting this year. Emily, my brother Iain’s wife, gets fancy now and then and we end up with a few odd things planted. Weel, odd to us.”
“At least he is nice enough to consider what she wants.”
“Maybe, although he doesnae plant it. Just marks out a space for her and says she can put her whim in there.” He grinned when she laughed.
“You miss your home.”
“I do, and it gets worse every day. Never thought it possible but I miss my wretched brothers as well. And Mrs. O’Neal who cooks and cleans for us.”
“So you hired someone to do all that woman’s work,” she teased.
“We didnae hire her. She showed up with her children after her husband was killed. She wanted to live behind our walls with her bairns. So we came to an agreement. She sees what she does as paying for the wee house we built for her and the children. It works out weel for all of us. She also raises pigs for her money. Built them a good pen near the barn.”
“That is a good arrangement for all of you. She is a very lucky woman.”
“Oh, nay, we are lucky. We were thinking of hiring a woman but now dinnae have to.”
“No, I mean lucky in that it sounds very much as if she has become a part of your family, her and her children.”
“She is, but I think I see what ye mean. Maybe that was what she was really looking for although she does admire our walls and we have seen the good use of them a few times.”
“This is a rough country.”
“Ye would have something in common with Emily. She also lost her whole family to men who attacked and burned the cabin they were in.”
“Marauders?”
“Men hired by her kinsmen to be sure her nephew wouldnae grow up to return to England and claim his inheritance.”
“Oh. They came all the way here to do that?”
“Aye. Hard to understand that kind of greed.”
“If it is a lot that can push people to do all sorts of evil things to try and get a hold of it.”
“Weel, these fools didnae count on Emily. She got her nephew out of there, through the woods and into a hiding place her brother-in-law had dug out. When my brother found it and peeked in he met a knife.”
“She stabbed him?”
“Nay, just held it at his throat and her with a bullet wound in her leg and a bullet burn on her arm. Looks like a bonnie little doll but has a spine of steel. Good wife for Iain.”
The way his fingers stroked the back of her neck made Abigail lean against him. “Sounds it. Especially in these hills. Life is not easy. Even before this war life was often a continuous struggle.”
He grunted his agreement, his eyes on the land around them. They were well hidden in this place, the trees, now getting greener every day, provided good cover for them, and his last time spent spying on where the Rebs had been camped had revealed nothing. The whole lot of them appeared to have marched away.
Deciding they were safe enough where they were, he glanced down at Abigail and shook his head. She had gone to sleep. He only briefly thought of waking her up to satisfy his hunger for her. Caring for Julia was sapping her strength. He hoped the girl regained her full senses soon. As carefully as he could he lay down and held her against his side. He watched a squirrel leaping around in the branches of a tree and decided he could do with a bit of rest himself.
* * *
When he woke up the sun was beginning to set and he rubbed one hand over his face. He then looked over at Abigail who was using his arm as her pillow and smiled. At least he knew now that she did not snore, he thought, and chuckled to himself. Knowing the rest of the ladies might start wondering where they were, he gently shook her to wake her up.
Abigail swatted at the hands shaking her awake and heard a soft, deep laugh. Why was Matthew in her bedroom? As she lifted her head to tell him to get out, she realized she was sleeping in a meadow. Groaning softly, she turned onto her back and stared up at Matthew. As her mind cleared she recalled why she was there. She suspected watching over a sleeping woman was not what he had in mind for the afternoon.
“Oh!” She sat up. “I forgot all about Julia.”
“I am sure she is fine or Mrs. Beaton would have sent out people to find us. And, ye havenae been asleep all that long.” He reached out a hand and helped her stand up. “I dinnae see why ye are the only one who needs to keep a watch over her.”
“She learned Robert had died, was right there when he did, and she is with child. A shock such as she has had could easily start her labor.”
“The shock was a few days ago now.”
“True, but the effect of it may well take some time to reveal itself.”
They had had a nice time away from it all but the passionate moments he had contemplated would not come now. Their time away was very clearly over. He took her hand and they started back. She said nothing that showed she knew what he had planned by bringing her out here and took that as a good sign. He had still been ready for some reaction over what they had shared before being interrupted yet again in the house he had used, but no guilt and no hint of shame. That had him wondering when he could arrange another time and place away from all the others. It was far past time that he started thinking about what exactly he wanted from Abigail Jenson.
Then he thought about Julia, a young woman who carried a child but no longer had a husband because the man who had wed her had been killed. His time would come, too. A man could not keep riding into battle as he did and not face his death. When he thought of Abigail and how she might fare if left alone with his child, he knew it was definitely past time for him to think beyond his own needs and wants and consider the future.
Before they were in sight of the town, he tugged her into his arms and kissed her. Her tense surprise melted away quickly and she became soft and willing in his arms. His body responded until he was so hard he almost groaned with the need to take her. When he leaned back, breaking the kiss, he thought she had never looked more beautiful. She stared up at him, her cheeks lightly flushed and her lips slightly parted.
“Someone might see us,” she said in a soft, husky voice that fired his blood.
“Nay, but we best behave or I will be tempted too sorely.”
Abigail heard herself giggle and almost groaned. She never giggled, had forced herself to stop once she became an adult, except when her father had tickled her. That thought made her sad but she tried to shake the sadness away. As she had told Noah, it was a good memory and one she should cherish.
“What is wrong?” he asked, stroking her cheek to try and ease the sadness that had abruptly darkened her eyes.
“Oh, nothing really. I just had a memory of my father.”
He grimaced. “Not exactly what a man wants to hear, Abbie.”
Abigail smiled. “It was a very pleasant memory.”
Matthew shrugged then put his arm around her shoulders and held her close to his side as they began walking again. “I hope Mrs. Beaton isnae waiting on ye.”
“I doubt she will be. She never waits for any of the women although I believe she knows who is out walking with a gentleman until late. There is no scold but there can be some haughty looks of disapproval.”
“How is she treating Julia now?”
“As if she doesn’t exist. Julia says she has to pinch herself now and then to make certain she is actually still visible. I was afraid it would hurt her feelings but the other women are so nice to her she doesn’t seem to care. Or, rather, doesn’t care anymore. At first all the women were a little cool to her.”
“Does it really matter?”
“No, but then there have been so many odd turns to this, I am not sure what to trust any longer.”
“What odd turns?”
“Oh, let us start at the beginning, shall we? When I asked her when she thought she got with child she told me one thing only to later mention that it might have been three or four months before that. Then I wondered if she was still wrong about that because she was not really showing much only to have her tell me all about her family, the women especially, and how they never show until late.” She leaned closer and whispered, “They tend to carry wide.” She shook her head. “So when she started showing she was actually sure she was wrong about when she got with child, plus she had taken to wearing a binding to hide it.
“Then Robert died. She insisted on being there even though she could barely stand upright, she was weeping so hard. Now she takes it into her head at odd moments to visit his grave and then I have to go and fetch her back.”
“So she is near her time already and has had a hard shock.”
“It sounds so simple when you say it that way, but if her shock starts her labor, will the babe be full term? And if the babe does come and it is early what will that do to her? I do not know enough about it all to be confident enough to deal with such a thing. All the women I dealt with before were sturdy country stock.”
“Then call in the doctor,” he said as they stopped in front of the door.
“Maybe.” She opened the door only to be dragged inside by a frantic Mrs. Beaton. Behind the woman ranged all the other women and every one of them looked frantic. She glanced up the stairs and saw the four children sitting there trying not to look scared and failing. Noah saw her and ran down, quickly followed by the others. If Matthew had not had a hold on her she suspected she would have tumbled down the steps when they all slammed into her.
When she finally got the women to be quiet, Abbie could hear the noise Julia was making. She patted Noah’s head as he clung to her legs and she looked at Matthew. “Can you help the children?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said, and tugged Noah away. “Go on up. See what needs to be done. If ye need anything just give a bellow.”
“I never bellow,” she called back as she ran up the stairs.
Abigail threw her coat over the hall railing and raced into her room. Julia was in bed clutching the covers and moaning. After getting a pan of water, Abigail got some rags. She then put several bedsheets under Julia. As she sat down near the bed, she sighed because she had the feeling it was going to be another very long night.
“It is all right, Julia,” Abbie said.
“No, it isn’t and it never will be. My Robert is gone.”
“I am more sorry than I can say about that but right now you carry a piece of him and I am here to make certain you birth a healthy child. Put your mind to that, to the hard business of having his child.”
“I will,” Julia said although her tears slowed only a little. “He was so happy about the baby.”
“Just remember that. When did your pains start?”
“Just a couple of hours ago. I was so uncomfortable up here so I went down to sit in one of the comfortable chairs and talk with the others. Then I was suddenly sitting in a puddle and the pains began. Will it be done soon?”
“I have no idea, Julia. Every woman is different.”
“They are indeed,” said Rose as she strode into the room. Rose walked over and sat in a chair on the other side of Julia’s bed. “So, child, your time is here.”
“It is. No one told me how much it hurts.”
“Don’t fight the pain and it will be easier.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does, Julia,” Abigail said. “If the pain is all your mind is set on, it makes it seem greater than it might be. I always tell people to take deep breaths and then let the air back out slowly.”
“And that works?”
Abigail shrugged. “Most times. I like to think it is because your head is now fixed on something else, not the pain.”
“I do not know how one can forget about this pain,” Julia muttered then tensed, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly until she relaxed a bit.
Rose wiped Julia’s face with a cool cloth. “You will forget all about it when you hold your child for the first time.”
For a while Julia tried not to fight the pain and breathed as Abigail had suggested, but then she returned to moaning. “Robert should be with me,” she cried and Abigail saw Rose roll her eyes.
“He is gone, Julia,” Abigail said, “otherwise I am sure he would be here so that you could crush all the bones in his hand instead of mine.”
“Sorry, Abbie.” Julia loosened her grip on Abigail’s hand. “I will try to stop.”
“Do not fret over it. At worse, I shall have a few colorful bruises. But you must keep your mind on birthing your child. It is important that you concentrate on getting this baby out and nothing else.”
“I know. I know.”
For a while Julia did as Abbie and Rose wanted. Abbie began to hope it would go well all the way to the end. Then Julia just stopped doing everything that had worked so well for her. Abbie feared something was wrong for a moment, but then Julia moaned again.
“You were doing so well, child. Surely you could see that,” Rose said to Julia.
“I could see that I was exhausting myself for nothing.”
“What do you mean, ‘for nothing’? You are bringing Robert’s child into the world,” said Abbie.
“It does not appear to want to come out now.”
“He or she will be along soon,” said Rose, weariness adding a little bite to her words.
Abbie could see Julia’s stomach move as if gripped by another contraction but the woman showed no sign of being aware of it. She stood up, framed Julia’s face in her hands, and stared into her eyes. They were glazed and Julia stared at something in the corner of the room. A faint smile curved the woman’s mouth and it affected Abbie strangely. She itched to slap it away. She glanced at Rose who was watching Julia and frowning deeply.
“Yes, he will. I am going to have a boy,” Julia said in a singsong voice. “Robert wants a boy.”
“Oh, hellfire and damnation, the girl thinks she sees her husband.”
“Well, I wish her husband would tell her to get back to business,” Abbie snapped, and Rose laughed.
“Never seen anything like it and I have tended a lot of births.”
“Julia!” Abbie snapped out and her friend turned those faraway eyes to her.
For a moment, Julia said nothing then closed her eyes. “I need sleep.”
“Julia!”
“It is all right, Abbie. Robert says our babe will need all my strength soon but not today.”
“Well, that is strange,” Rose said.
“How can she just stop?” Abbie felt Julia’s stomach, holding her hands there for a long time.
“But she has, hasn’t she?”
“Yes, it appears she has. I just don’t understand. I have helped in a lot of births but never seen it start then stop.”
Rose stood up and rubbed at the base of her back. “Maybe you should speak to the doctor you sometimes help out. He has more book knowledge about such things than we do. We just have experience.”
“Well, I will in the morning. I think it might be wise if I grab some sleep while I can.”
As she started out of the room, Rose patted her on the back. “Definitely. This girl has stolen a lot of that from you.”
That was true, Abbie thought as she felt Julia’s forehead and found no hint of fever. Then she undressed and put on her nightgown. As she crawled into bed she decided she would go talk to the doctor as soon as she woke up. She hoped he would have some answers.