by K. E. Saxon
Reys regarded him a moment before speaking. “We are cousins, twice removed, to Prince Llywelyn. ‘Tis a close enough relation to make an alliance.”
* * *
Jesslyn was thrilled when Lady Maclean finally got Maryn to rest on the bed awhile, tho’ her friend still chafed to rise every few moments. It had been seven hours since her water broke and her pains were coming in earnest now. They’d placed the childbed chair near the hearth, tho’ Lady Maclean thought Maryn might be more comfortable if she had the babe on the bed. The tightening pains in her belly were more frequent and lasting a bit longer than they had been and Lady Maclean told them it wouldn’t be long until the babe began to crown.
Daniel had surprised and horrified them all by checking on his wife’s progress every hour for the last six, but he was so worried and determined, his grandmother had allowed the lapse.
“I need to stand again, Grandmother Maclean,” Maryn said. “I feel another pain coming on.” She lifted her arm in a silent bid for assistance.
Jesslyn side-stepped the older woman, saying, “Let me help you this time.”
Unfortunately, another contraction began the moment she stood up and she gasped and leaned against Jesslyn for support.
Daniel opened the door just then and came inside. “How are you fee”—he looked at Lady Maclean, his eyebrows slamming together—“Why the hell is she out of bed again?!” He crossed the room to Maryn’s side in four strides and took Jesslyn’s place. Putting his arms around her, he held her to him to support her weight. “You need to rest,” he said more gently.
She raised her dewy, heated face to Daniel and replied, “Nay, ‘tis easier to bear the pains when I’m upright.”
“Aye, ‘twas the same for me when I had Callum—remember, Mama?” Maggie said.
Lady Maclean nodded. “Aye, you said it relieved some of the strain on your back.”
“May I have some more of that water?” Maryn said to Jesslyn.
Jesslyn walked over to the washstand and poured some of the icy liquid out of the ewer into a silver cup. A servant had chipped some of the ice from the well and brought it up to them just before Daniel arrived. “Here, Maryn, drink this down and then I shall get you another cupful.”
Her friend nodded and drank down the cold liquid.
“I’ve been going out of my mind with worry these last hours. I’m staying here with you through the birth of our babe,” Daniel stated as she rested once more against his chest.
“Daniel!” Lady Maclean interjected, “That simply cannot happen. This is an untidy business and your wife deserves her privacy.”
“If Daniel wishes to stay with me, I’m glad of it. After all, he got me into this state, he can certainly help to get me back out of it,” Maryn said.
Daniel grinned at her. “You must not be in too much pain if your sharp tongue is still in such good form.”
Maryn’s eyes narrowed as she glared at him. “Ha!” But she turned back to Lady Maclean and added, “Besides, you know he’s knowledge of the healing arts. It might be useful.”
Lady Maclean shook her head. “Nay, lass—”
“And his presence comforts me,” Maryn said with more force.
With a sigh of resignation, Lady Maclean nodded curtly. “Aye, all right then.”
Maryn hunched over and cried out.
“Take a deep breath, lass, and then let it out on a sigh,” Maggie instructed.
She pressed her cheek against Daniel’s chest, allowing him to take most of her weight while she did as Maggie told her to do. When the contraction passed, she said, “My back aches!”
Daniel rubbed the muscles on either side of her spine, concentrating on the lower area where she seemed to have the worst pain. “Does that feel better?”
“Aye. Keep doing that, it helps.”
Jesslyn was having a hard time swallowing down her panic. In only a few moons’ time she would be in this very position. She could see that her friend was weary to her bones and, with each new pain, grew weaker still. How was she ever to find the strength to push the babe from her when the time came? Involuntarily, her hands fluttered up and covered her belly. Just then, the babe tapped against her womb and a warm glow filled her. She smiled. For the chance to hold her babe in her arms at last, she would—and could—do whatever she must.
Another moan erupted from her friend and she held tight to Daniel. He placed a kiss on the crown of her damp head and continued to massage her back.
“As soon as this one passes, we need to get her back to the bed, Daniel,” Lady Maclean said, coming up beside the two and placing her hand on Maryn’s cheek. “Are you ready to have your babe, now, lass?”
Tears fell from the corner of Maryn’s closed eyes. “Aye,” she said on the sigh of her released breath. “But I must inspect the guardrobe once more before I do.”
A tender smile crossed Daniel’s countenance.
There must be some privy memory attached to her words, Jesslyn thought as he placed a kiss on the tip of Maryn’s nose. “Need you my help, or do you prefer Jesslyn?”
“Jesslyn, please.”
“I shall have more water prepared for the childbed,” Lady Maclean said.
When Jesslyn emerged from the guardrobe with Maryn a few moments later, Daniel wrapped his arm around his wife’s back once more and assisted her in her trek across the chamber.
“If you’re staying, then you can get up on the bed behind your wife and help her push, when the time is right,” Lady Maclean said to Daniel as they walked toward the bed. “Do you want to put on one of these tunics?”
Daniel shook his head, his eyes never leaving his wife’s face. “Nay. ‘Tis too hot in here as it is.”
Jesslyn looked over at Lady Maclean, her brows raised in disbelief.
Maggie had her back turned away from the others as she gathered more linens from the chest. “Nay, ‘tis still a wee bit cold, I trow,” she replied absently.
* * *
Nora Mairy MacLaurin made her entrance an hour later. She had a shock of red, curly hair and the biggest, bluest eyes her parents had ever seen. She was perfect, or so Daniel stated to Bao when he knocked at the door not long after learning the news of the birth. “Grandmother and Aunt Maggie said the same when I met them downstairs. I know there was still a bit of worry that the babe had been injured in some way by the blows Maryn received from that murderous horse marshal, Clyde Ramsey.”
Daniel’s jaw clenched. “Aye,” he said grimly, “but God be praised, the babe was unharmed.”
“How is your wife?”
Daniel gave his brother a tired grin. “She’s well. Pert and fiery, just as I like her.”
Bao returned his brother’s grin and gave him a clap on the shoulder. “That pleases me, brother. Can Jesslyn be released from her duties yet, or does Maryn still have need of her?”
Jesslyn heard her husband’s voice and a thrill of excitement passed through her. She rushed to place the last of the soiled linens in a basket for one of the servants to take down to be washed and, nervously running her hand over her veil and skirts, scurried to the door. Maneuvering herself around Daniel, she said softly to Bao, “Maryn has just fallen asleep. The babe is resting next to her as well.” Turning her gaze to the new father, she said, “The babe will need to be placed in her cradle, do you want me to do it before I leave, or would you like to take care of the task?”
“I shall do it. You must find your rest as well; ‘tis been a difficult, yet marvelous, day for all of us.”
Jesslyn nodded and slid through the narrow opening in the doorway, straight into her husband’s embrace.
Daniel quietly shut the door, leaving them their privacy.
“‘Tis good to see you. I’ve missed you,” Jesslyn said against her husband’s chest.
“I’ve missed you, as well. Let us retire to our chamber, you’re clearly weary and in need of rest.”
Jesslyn nodded and allowed Bao to lead her to their chamber on the level above.
/> “What is this?” she exclaimed happily when she saw the steaming tub of water sitting by the hearth as they came inside.
“I thought you might enjoy a hot soak in a bath after the ordeal you’ve been through,” Bao replied. “How is our babe, anyway? Is she well? I worried you might be putting yourself under more strain than is wise in your condition.”
“Worry not. The babe has more strength than do I. In fact, she’s moving about right now.”
“Here,” Bao said, lifting the filet and veil from her head, “let me help you undress. While you bathe, I shall find a servant to bring us our meal. We’ll eat in our chamber this eve. I’ve much to tell you and I want to hear about my new niece, as well.”
Jesslyn was so weary, she simply nodded and allowed her husband to do most of the work of getting her out of her garments.
“How went the childbed?” he said as he untied the laces holding her gown together on the side. “Was it hard for Maryn?”
Jesslyn pressed her lips together and gnawed on the bottom one, nodding. “Aye, ‘twas hard for her. Tho’ I trow the hardest part for her was the waiting. She was so weary by the time the babe’s head crowned, I worried she’d not have the vigor she needed to push the babe from her. But once Nora was finally ready to be born, she slipped from Maryn with no difficulty, it seemed. And having Daniel there actually seemed to ease her.”
He looked up from his task and met her gaze. “Would you like for me to be in the chamber with you as well, when the time comes for our babe to be born?”
Her drooping lids widened in surprise. “Would you”—she began to yawn—“want to be?” she finished behind her hand.
He nodded. “Aye, I would. I’ve a bit of experience, since I aided Branwenn’s mother when she was in her childbed.” He went still, his gaze intent. “Are you sure you can stay awake long enough to bathe and eat your supper?”
“Aye. The hot bath will ease my aching body, and tho’ I’m weary, I’m even more famished.”
He chuckled. “All right, then. Let’s get you in the tub. Would you like a bit of the lavender oil added to the water?”
Jesslyn nodded, “Mmm, that would be nice, and the lavender soap, as well, if it please you. My thanks.”
* * *
After settling his wife in the steaming bath and retrieving the herbal enhancements she required, Bao left the room in pursuit of a long-overdue discussion with his grandmother as well as a meal for him and Jesslyn.
He found his grandmother in her bedchamber readying for slumber. After bringing her a cup of wine to ease her thirst, he settled next to her by the hearth. “I’ve something of some import to tell you, Grandmother, which has to do with Branwenn and, mayhap, a coming war.
She sat bolt upright in her chair. “Tell me!” she demanded, the weariness instantly clearing from her eyes.
“Remember you the first footer, Reys ap Gryffyd?”
She gave him a short nod. “Aye.”
“He has proved to be Branwenn’s brother by blood.”
She looked into the hearthfire a moment. “That explains Branwenn’s odd behavior here in the great hall last eve.” She glanced at him, saying, “She swooned—did she tell you?” before turning her gaze once more to the hearthfire.
Bao nodded. “Aye.”
She pierced him with a purposeful look. “Give me the entirety of it, then,” she said brusquely.
Bao told her all he knew of the man and his mission, explaining to her the reason that the fortress might come under siege since he did not release Branwenn to return with her brother-germane to his homeland.
“Does Daniel know of this?” she asked when Bao paused to take a sip of his wine.
“Aye. I spoke with him about it just after I met Reys earlier today.”
“And he’s in full agreement that we should fight her kin to keep her from them?”
Bao nodded once. “Aye,” he replied shortly.
“We all think of Branwenn as one of our own but, I must say, I cannot agree that we should keep her from her blood kin, whether we agree with their plans for her or not.”
“You think it fine to send the lass off with strangers, blood kin or nay, when she is quite set against it?” Bao asked, disbelievingly.
His grandmother seemed just as astonished by his attitude. “The lass must wed, and if her blood kin can wed her to a nobleman, I see no real difference in what they planned for her from what our own plans for her have been.”
Bao leapt to his feet. “The difference is that her kin are strangers to her—and to us—and so too will be this unknown nobleman to whom they are set on binding her for life! What if he’s cruel, or depraved, or diseased? You know well that it is not beyond the realm of the possible that a royal prince might wed her to the worst sort simply for his own gain.” Bao’s lungs were blowing hard by the time he finished his diatribe.
She took a deep breath into her lungs and, slapping her hands on her knees, said, “Well, it seems we must prepare for war, then.”
“Aye,” Bao ground out. “We must.” He forced himself to calm down and settled back onto his stool. “I want to make plain that Reys will do all he can to urge his cousin withdraw his decision to use Branwenn as a pawn in his devices to gain influence in the march regions, so war may not be the final outcome.” Sighing, he shrugged, adding, “Of course, there is no surety of success.”
“When will we know if an army’s been raised, do you suppose?”
“It should take Reys another few sennights to reach his homeland, and then, mayhap, a sennight more to gain an audience with the prince. If all goes well, the prince will either completely withdraw his edict or, mayhap, at least agree to certain conditions we insist upon for Branwenn’s protection. If Reys cannot convince their royal cousin of these terms, then we will go to war.” Bao shrugged. “Once negotiations are concluded, ‘twill take at least a fortnight for his army to be raised and about a moon for them to arrive on our doorstep, I trow. I do not expect the siege before the spring.”
* * *
When Bao returned to his bedchamber an hour later he was pleased to find that Jesslyn slumbered peacefully on their bed.
As he stood gazing upon her, she slowly opened her eyes, turned onto her back and stretched her arms over her head, flexing her feet and toes at the same time. He smiled down at her and caressed her thigh.
“Mmm. What hour is it? Have I slumbered long?” she asked.
“’Tis an hour past the vesper bell, you must only have slept for a short time after your bath. Our meal is being brought up now; you should dress. He retrieved her chemise and robe from atop the chest at the end of the bed and held them out to her. “Do you need me to assist you?”
She scurried to sit up, grabbing the garments. “Nay, just don’t allow them entrance until I’ve put these on!”
Bao chuckled and moved toward the door to the chamber. “Worry not. I’ve no desire for any other than myself to behold the ripened treasures of your womanly form.”
“And I have no desire for any other to see me in my nakedness evermore,” she replied as she shimmied into her clothing.
A knock came at the door and Bao called out, “Hold a moment,” and then, “Enter,” when Jesslyn was covered once again. The servants trailed in carrying a small table, a trencher of food, a flagon of ale and some fresh water for the wash stand. Once the table and supper were placed by the window, where Bao indicated they should go, he turned back to his wife and assisted her to her seat.
As the tub and water was cleared out of the chamber, Bao and Jesslyn ate their meal, saying little.
When he saw that Jesslyn had finished eating, he said, “Mayhap, we should settle by the hearth.”
She nodded, “All right.” Bao assisted her to her feet and they walked hand-in-hand to the chair by the fire. Bao settled her on his lap and she wrapped her arms around his neck, then rested her head on his shoulder with a sigh. “This is nice.”
Bao kissed her forehead. “Does Alleck stay at
Niall’s this night?” he asked, suddenly remembering the lad. The day had been so long, so eventful, that he had forgotten, until now, that Jesslyn had sent Alleck there while Maryn was in her childbed.
She nodded lazily. “Aye. You must speak with him on the morrow, tho’. It seems he and Niall got themselves into some mischief early this morn. They lobbed wet hose they’d rolled into missiles at Niall’s sister and her wee friend.”
Bao guffawed before he thought better of it.
She slapped his chest. “This is exactly the reason Grandmother Maclean and I didn’t want them having that mangonel in the first place.”
“Now, Jesslyn, lads need their sport. And I’m sure the lasses weren’t harmed by such play,” he said with a grin.
She lifted her head and looked at him. “They were still wailing and as mad as wet hens when I took the lads over to Niall’s house to beg forgiveness.”
His grin evaporated. “You made them beg forgiveness? That seems a bit harsh. After all, a lad must have his pride.”
His wife sat up, her back straight as a board. “And what of a lass’s pride? Does she not have that right as well?”
“Aye, certainly,” Bao replied. “But she should keep her distance from a lad’s fortress, else she find herself the target of his defense machine.”
With a sigh, she relaxed back into her previous position. “Aye, you are right. The lasses did seek to break through the lads’ fortress wall.”
“And were the lasses made to beg forgiveness as well, then?”
“Aye, but not before much persuasion. They were, after all, the defeated party.”
Kissing her brow again, he placed a hand on her thigh and the other at her waist, bringing her more snugly against him. “Good.”
“The lads also took one of the blacksmith’s buckets of water that he uses to cool his tools.”
It was his turn to sigh. “All right. I shall have a talk with him about it in the morn.”
