Wild Hearts

by Virginia Henley

  Gordon gritted his teeth and nodded.

  Bothwell pressed Paris. "And the bond of peace?"

  Paris exploded. "By God, you drive a hard bargain. Go on, then," he acquiesced, "have it your way."

  The formal exchange of vows by the extremely youthful pair was dwarfed by the all-important signing, witnessing and exchanging of the documents. Pride spurred John Gordon to quit Cockburnspath the moment the business was concluded. Only then did Paris crack open a bottle to toast the newlyweds. He raised his glass to the couple. "May fortune attend you."

  Adam answered formally, "Thank you, milord."

  "Call me Paris."

  Adam bowed. "I am honored."

  Alexandria sipped her wine in a dreamy state of euphoria. Paris put his finger under her chin. "Since I don't have the managing of you any longer, perhaps it will be possible for us to become true friends. I do love you, you little imp of Satan."

  "I never doubted it for a moment," she replied saucily.

  "I think you should turn the Black Tower rooms into your own private suite of rooms." Then he spoke to Adam. "You will need privacy from the family."

  "You are being very kind, milord, considering the bad blood there has been between our clans."

  Paris grinned. "You are about to receive your punishment."

  Adam blanched momentarily, until Alexandria laughed. "He means, the family is about to descend upon you. Our reputation isn't undeserved, you know."

  "I feel a fool." He smiled.

  "Self-awareness is a priceless gift," she teased. He pulled her hair and kissed her.

  Paris turned to Bothwell. "Let us escape to the barracks before the family descends en masse."

  Long after the evening's celebrations made most everyone seek their beds, Paris found Alexander looking a trifle lost. "If you still want to go to the university, I'll make the arrangements for you, Alex, old man."

  "By God, do you mean it? I'll go and pack right now."

  "We'll go one day next week. I'd seriously consider studying for the law. You'd be invaluable to the family. We are always in one legal scrape or another!" He smiled at the boy and patted his shoulder.

  Tabrizia opened her eyes as Paris got into bed.

  "I didn't mean to disturb you, love," he murmured.

  She knelt upon the bed and reached her arms up to him. "Oh; my love," she breathed, "it's been quite a day."

  "Will you always welcome me thus?" he begged huskily.

  "Need you ask?" she responded, delighting in his familiar scent of lingering sandalwood.

  "I ask because I swear, if your warmth and richness were denied me, I would perish."

  "Paris, I want to thank you for letting Alexandria marry Adam. I know what it cost you to form an alliance with the Gordons. In my heart of hearts, I know you have done the right thing. The peace bond stills so many of my fears, not so much for myself but for my child."

  He slipped one arm. under her shoulders and placed the other hand on her belly, resting it there. "You seem so small, compared with Venetia."

  "Venetia is due any minute, darling. I have until November."

  "I thank God you are feeling well."

  "That's because I lead a completely normal life. I even ride every day— no pony carts for me, thank you!"

  He pulled her to him possessively. "Just be careful, that's all." His lips brushed her forehead where the tiny tendrils curled at her temples. "You will be happy to know I just told Alex he could go the damned university."

  She wound loving arms around his neck. "There are times when you are almost bearable," she whispered against his throat.

  The air had been heavy, and sultry all day. A heat haze shimmered over the hills and had even penetrated the thick walls of the castle, making it, oppressive. Tabrizia noticed Venetia push her supper away listlessly and wince at the backache she had endured since breakfast. Tabrizia was relieved to see Alexandria and her new husband disappear to their own wing as soon as the meal was over. She spoke low to Shannon and Damascus, "I think Venetia's labor has begun."

  They took her up to the solarium, as they knew a first labor seldom lasted less than eight hours. They made her comfortable in a big easy chair with her feet elevated and cushions at her back. Then they talked of anything and everything to make the time pass more quickly. Venetia was restless with hard pains coming about five times every hour. They gave her drinks, they rubbed her back, they told jokes and riddles. When the pains began to come every five minutes, they decided to move her to her bedchamber to wait out the vigil. The eight hours crept by with no sign of an imminent birth. The girl on the bed was wringing wet with the sweat of her exertions; the three who tended her were perspiring freely from the heat and their anxiety.

  Venetia had long ago abandoned her efforts not to scream. She was in agony. Fourteen hours had passed.

  Mrs. Hall clucked, "Guidsakes, we shouda had a midwife or a doctor, this canna go on much longer."

  Venetia presented an arm of the child, but Mrs. Hall was horrified and explained the child mustn't come that way. "It must be lying crossways, and that's dangerous. The only birth I ever attended came head first as nature intended," she exclaimed, wringing her hands. "Oh, poor lassie, poor lassie!"

  Alexandria was pounding on the chamber door, alarmed at the screams coming through the door. A white-faced trio of brothers stood at her back as she demanded to be allowed in.

  Tabrizia sternly told Mrs. Hall, "I want you to get Alexandria away from here. Take her where she cannot hear what's going on, and for God's sake calm her fears. She has to go through this soon."

  Tabrizia heaved a sigh of relief that Mrs. Hall had been occupied. She loved her, but she was more hindrance than help in this situation.

  Shannon was shaking visibly. She could stand it no longer and left the chamber to find Paris. He was in the hall outside.

  "We must give her something for the pain," she told him urgently. "Get some of that stuff for us that you gave to Anne."

  "No!" he exploded. "I'd see her on her deathbed first."

  The girl on the bed had reached the point of exhaustion. She sank into a stupor, no longer screaming, only moaning like an animal. Shannon bustled forward in her usual capable manner and promptly fainted away in a swoon.

  Tabrizia looked at Damascus. "It's up to us." Damascus closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded rapidly.

  Tabrizia instructed, "Hold her down now; I must try to turn this baby. If it doesn't survive, nothing can be done, but if I don't do something, Venetia is going to die." She soaped her hand well and gently took hold of the tiny hand. Slowly, she pressed it back up the birth canal and inch by inch manipulated the unborn child until the shoulder was presented. She stopped to catch her breath, and Damascus encouraged her bravely, "You're doing wonderfully, Tabrizia, keep going, keep going."

  Tabrizia put pressure on the little shoulder until it slid around bit by bit and the top of the head came into view. They both urged Venetia to help, to push, and kept encouraging the agonized girl until she had no choice but to do as they bade her.

  The little female slipped out in a gush of blood and water. A plaintive wail at the treatment she was receiving made tears brim up and spill over, not only from her mother, but also from the two who had accomplished her delivery. By the time mother and baby had been washed, changed and made comfortable, a full twenty-four hours had elapsed.

  Shannon had to return to Douglas, so Paris decided he would accompany her home and take Alex to the university in Edinburgh at the same time. Paris made a point of never staying away overnight now, no matter how late he arrived back.

  Tabrizia was already abed when he returned from, Edinburgh. He leered at her as she lay propped against her pillows. "I'll tell you one advantage to having a baby living here at the castle. It occupies that infernal Mrs. Hall so she doesn't keep dropping in on us just as I'm about to make love to you."

  "Paris, you know you are as fond of her as I."

  "Fond, yes, but she is
as predictable as a bloody weathervane. The minute I get hard, I can count on her to come bustling in here on one pretext or another until I'm ready to burst my seams."

  "Damascus is right. All men are vulgar." She laughed.

  He gazed at her with pleasure. "You are so beautiful, you take my breath away."

  "Oh, darling, I feel as big as a pig full of figs," she protested.

  "You have never looked lovelier," he declared. "Come, I'll show you."

  He swooped her up into his arms and carried her to their mirror. She leaned back against his strong body as she observed their reflections. How many times they had done this. They presented a true picture of happiness; they had never felt closer. As she looked at their reflection, some words floated to her; "Take life's canvas and paint your paradise, then walk in!" Life was so tenuous, but she had finally learned to be happy now, in this moment, not to save it for some future day that might never come to pass.

  CHAPTER 20

  September's russet bracken died with the bitter winds of October, turning the hills from a tawny blaze to a dreary dun. The haars rolled in on soggy, drizzling mornings, turning the horizon into endless shades of gray, and the dampness seeped into every place that was farther than six feet from a roaring fire.

  Troy got on amazingly well with Adam Gordon. They went off together on endless hunts while Alexandria and Tabrizia sewed tirelessly for their expected babies. Tabrizia's longing for motherhood grew with each passing day.

  When November arrived, the weather turned colder and dryer. A pale winter's sun shone bravely but gave off little in the way of warmth. The child was due this month, and Paris could not hide the apprehension he felt over the approaching ordeal his beloved had to face. He decided to go into Edinburgh and fetch a qualified midwife to stay at Cockburnspath until after the birth. Although his wife was in excellent health and did not look big enough to deliver for weeks yet, he would not take any chances. He set off at dawn; so he and the midwife could return long before nightfall.

  Tabrizia came out of the stillroom next to the dairy. She had been to get some woodruff, an herb which when placed among the linens, made them smell like new-mown hay. She looked up in surprise as Margaret came riding into the courtyard, hell-bent for leather.

  "What is wrong?" she asked, alarmed.

  "Oh, Tabrizia, 'Tis your father. He has had some sort of bad attack. I don't think there is any hope; he is dying, and he has been asking for you over and over."

  "Come inside, Margaret. I'll change into my boots and get my warm cloak."

  Margaret's eyes slid to her swollen belly, and she said slyly, "Oh, I don't think you should come when your time is so near. I told Magnus you had more important things to think of than him at the moment."

  "Of course I shall come," insisted Tabrizia. "Just let me change into warmer clothes. We can take it in easy stages. I feel fine. What sort of an attack was it? Is he suffering greatly?"

  "Hurry, we can talk on the ride up to TantalIon," urged Margaret.

  Tabrizia came hurrying back, wrapped in her fur cloak. "I'll just tell Alexandria I'm going to Tantallon."

  "I just told her," lied Margaret quickly, "and she told me to tell you Paris would forbid you to go

  "Yes, I know he would," agreed Tabrizia softly, "but I must. You understand, don't you, Margaret?"

  "I'll look after you. You can rely on me," stated Margaret briskly.

  .Only one young stable hand was there as she took her mare from its stall. He quickly saddled up for her and assisted her to mount. He wanted to say something, but her condition made him tongue-tied, and the moment was lost as the two young women briskly cantered from the stables.

  Paris went straight to the jeweler's to pick up the ring he had had especially designed for his wife. He had not given Tabrizia a ring of her own when they wed, and she had made do with his huge emerald. Now he had bought her an emerald of her own, surrounded by exquisitely pale amethysts. As he left the jeweler's, an uneasiness crept upon him. As he looked homeward to the northeast, great snow clouds had gathered, and he knew from experience that they were in for a heavy storm. When he reflected for a moment, he remembered the dawn sky had been blood red when he arose, a sure sign that bad weather would descend before sunset. He had been given the address of a competent midwife, and he hurried there now. She was about to depart on another case. Quickly, he made a decision. He pressed money into her hand and arranged for her to follow on the morrow, assuring her he would send a carriage; then, without even stopping to water his horse, he headed back to Cockburnspath.

  Before Margaret and Tabrizia reached the peak of the first summit, the snowstorm hit. One moment it was gentle, drifting snowflakes, the next it was driving; swirling, white blindness.

  "Margaret, we must go back," shouted Tabrizia.

  "No, no. I know a shortcut. Follow me and keep close," ordered Margaret in a determined voice.

  "What the hell is Margaret trying to do?" she muttered to herself. Then her attention focused on her body as it was gripped with a spasm of pain, and she knew her labor had. begun.

  She lifted her head sideways to keep the driving snow from her eyes, and began to panic when she realized the horse ahead of her had disappeared. "Margaret, Margaret!" she cried, "I cannot see you!"

  Margaret slowed down, and once again Tabrizia could make out the dark shape through the blinding whiteness. There it was again! This time the pain seared down her back, knocking the wind from her completely. "Margaret! My pains have started," she shouted helplessly.

  Margaret rode up alongside her mare. "Oh, my dear; dismount, and we will rest a moment and decide what to do. Give me your reins, and I will hold her steady," she instructed.

  Tabrizia, her thoughts in disarray, handed over the reins and slid to the ground. Margaret did not dismount but paused to look at her for a long moment. "You stupid bitch! You are just as your mother was." She dug in her spurs and vanished in a cloud of snow taking Tabrizia's horse with her.

  It took Tabrizia a few moments to realize that Margaret would not come back. This was deliberate. Margaret was insane. She walked a few feet; by now the snow was halfway up to her knees. She seemed to be on top of a ridge; if her bearings were correct. She followed it until the strength of the wind made her realize she would be better off if she started down from the ridge a little way. The swirling snow was blowing into drifts, some reaching up to her thighs by the time she sank down in agony with another contraction.

  She started to talk to her baby calmly. "'Tis all right. We will be all right. I won't let anything happen to you." Then she prayed silently to her mother, "Please, show me which way to go." Over there! What was that in the fold of the hill? She had seen something. She set off in that direction, but once again the pain was bringing her to her knees. She closed her eyes while her midsection went rigid, totally oblivious to the bone-chilling, cold snow in which she was half-buried.

  The pain eased until she was again able to breathe and open her eyes. From her kneeling position she could see the entrance to a shieling, one of those cave-like shelters that shepherds used in just such storms as this. Tabrizia crawled inside the darkened lair, deeply thankful for the dry little haven that blocked the bitter wind and driving snow so effectively. She offered a prayer of thanks immediately, knowing she would need further divine intervention before long. As she rested, Paris's words came to her clearly. He had tried to impress upon her how sudden these snowstorms could blow up in the Borders. She must keep thinking of him, sending out signals from her heart. He would be determined enough to find her. How angry he would be at her foolishness!

  At the noon meal Mrs. Hall asked Alexandria where Tabrizia was.

  "I haven't laid eyes on her today," mentioned the younger woman.

  "You dinna think his lordship took her wi' him to Edinburgh, do you?" asked Mrs. Hall anxiously.

  "Lord, I wouldn't think so, when it is this close to her time, but you never know. My brother is like a dog with a bone when it comes t
o his lady love. I think we'd better make sure. Troy, as soon as you have finished eating, you had better go and search the stables and the outbuildings. If she has started in labor, she could be stuck somewhere and desperately in need of help."

  Adam Gordon looked worried. "It is snowing heavily out there. You don't think she could have fallen in the snow, do you?"

  Troy said, "Let's go. We'll get a search party together. You had better go over the castle room by room."

  As Tabrizia rested between the pains, she considered Margaret's words about her mother. Indeed, there were glaring similarities between them. They had both been loved by great lords, but when they had tried to give their men a child, fate had stepped in to ensure their destruction.

  "No!" She quickly pushed the thought away from her. Paris adored her; she was sure of him. Magnus, too, had managed to convince her of his love for Danielle. She bitterly dismissed the madwoman, Margaret, from her mind.

  She could tell hard labor was rapidly approaching. She had hoped against hope she would be rescued before she gave birth, but the hours had gone by unrelentingly, and she knew now that she would have to face it alone. The child she had helped deliver a couple of months ago had been just practice for her. And so she went down to the gates of pain, in woman's usual way, and by some miracle, she bore the unbearable. She delivered herself of a son.

  He immediately screamed his displeasure for his cold environment, and she quickly laid him against her bare breast and folded her cloak over them both. He found the nipple quickly, and as he drained away her body's warmth, he hushed contentedly. She did not feel cold, nor did she feel pain now, but somehow everything was drifting away from her. She had no strength left to hang on to things, so she let them slide gently away and closed her eyes.

  Paris had struggled as quickly as he could through the heavy snow for the last five miles. He sensed a great relief when the towers of Cockburnspath came into view; however, the unease that had dogged him all day caused the pit of his stomach to contract as he saw the faces of Adam and Troy.