Compromised Hearts (28 page)

“Weel, no this verra instant. Och, he’s a testy one, isnae he,” Giorsal murmured when Cloud glared at her.

“Yes, Cloud. My labor started earlier.”

“Why the hell didn’t you say anything?”

“Well, I had only just determined what ailed me when Harper arrived with Giorsal.”

“My God.” He stared out the window at the raging storm. “We have to get the midwife:”

“I’ll be bringing the bairn into the world. Ye have no need for any midwife.”

“You? What the hell do you know about it?”

“More’n ye do.” Giorsal glared right back at him, not intimidated by his size or his cold eyes. “Ye’ll no get that woman out here.”

“Well, we have to try.”

“Fine. Ye best take this then, for threatening’s the only way ye’ll budge her if ye e’en get to town at all.”

Cloud stared at the antiquated gun, powder, and ball she placed in his hands. “What the hell’s this?”

“A gun, ye gowk. There’s heritage in that piece. Took down a few Sassanachs at Culloden, that did.”

“Sassanachs? Culloden?”

“The ‘45. Bonnie Prince Charlie. Jacobites. Wheesht, dinnae ye ken any history?”

“What I ken,” Cloud ground out, “is that Emily’s in need of a midwife.”

“Weel, ye go right ahead out and try to fetch yourself one.” Giorsal helped Emily to her feet. “I mean to get on with seeing this bairn born.” She glanced over her shoulder at the still stunned gentlemen. “I’ll be needing clean linen and hot water. Dinnae set on your backsides too long.”

Emily paused to try and soothe Cloud before Giorsal bustled her out of the room. “Do not fret. Giorsal knows what she is doing.”

“Giorsal is a damned lunatic,” Cloud bellowed as the door shut after the woman. “Damn this weather.”

“Lunatic she might be,” Wolfe said heavily, “but she’s right when she says you won’t be getting the midwife here.”

“But I have to.” Cloud dazedly sat down, putting Giorsal’s antique gun on a table. “A girl like her can’t do it.”

“Emily seemed willing to trust her,” said James.

“Damn it all to hell.” Cloud groaned and buried his face in his hands. “What the hell is the baby doing coming now?”

Emily asked Giorsal much the same question as she was efficiently helped into her nightgown. Despite the girl’s youth and eccentricities, Emily felt secure in Giorsal’s hands. If Giorsal said she knew about birthing, then she knew and probably knew a great deal.

“T’isnae early. I kenned it would come this night. Ye walk about some, Emily. Helps the pain.”

“How did you know it would be tonight?” Emily began a slow stroll around the room and found that it did help a little.

“I see things at times. Last night I had a dream. I saw ye having a bairn in the midst of a spring tempest and I was with ye. When the storm began, I set out right away.”

“Shouldn’t she be in bed?” Cloud growled as he entered with an armful of linen.

Taking the linen from him Giorsal drawled, “Ye sure are taking a fair time heading out after that midwife.”

“When this is all over, I am going to
strangle you,” Cloud said calmly and Giorsal giggled. “Are you all right, Em?” He spoke softly as he took her into his arms.

“As right as can be.” She met his worried look with a smile. “Do not worry so. I will be fine.”

He paled as she gasped from the strength of a contraction. “Fine? This is fine?”

“Here, ye get out of here.” Giorsal urged him toward the door. “I ken ye will be no help at all.” She shut the door after him and turned to find Emily staring down at a pool of liquid at her feet. “Ah, your waters have broken. Into bed with you, lass.”

“That is good, is it?” Emily meekly let herself be tucked up into bed.

“Aye.” Giorsal moved quickly to clean up the mess. “It means things are moving along as they should.” She frowned as she washed up. “Maybe I shouldnae have pushed the mon out. I’ll be needing another pair of hands. Nay, he’ll be no use. He’s already a wreck.”

“Cloud? Nonsense. He is ever calm and very strong.”

“Not this time. His woman’s having his child. That can make the best mon useless. They dinnae understand how it is. They see the pain and they think they are all to blame. Cannae see that it will end and that a woman’s made for the enduring of it. They fall to pieces.”

“I cannot really envision Cloud Ryder falling to pieces.”

“Trust me. He’s near to it. Now, who’ll do? Ah, I ken just the mon. Dinnae move.”

“I am hardly about to jig to town,” Emily gasped out as another contraction gripped her.

Giorsal giggled as she dashed out of the room. As she burst into the parlour her gaze flew to Cloud, and she knew she had judged right. He would be no help at all to her or to Emily.

“I need another pair of hands. Nay,” she said firmly as Cloud moved towards her, “ye willnae do. Ye.” She pointed at a stunned Wolfe.

“What do you mean I won’t do? I’m her husband, for Christ’s sake.”

“Aye, and that’s the verra good reason why ye willnae do. Come on,” she urged as Wolfe took a hesitant step toward her.

“But Cloud—” protested Wolfe even as he was hustled out of the room.

“I said he willnae do. Now, move.”

“Why am I standing here obeying that crazy girl?” Cloud asked the air after the door shut behind Giorsal and Wolfe.

“Because you know she’s right,” James said gently as he pressed a glass of brandy into Cloud’s hands. “ ‘Ye willnae do,’ “ he quoted with a smile. “You are shaking now and it’ll be hours yet. I was in on a birth once. Sheer mischance. Nothing to do with me, and I didn’t even know the woman. Hell, it’s beautiful when that baby comes out and gives its first squawl, but before that"—he
shook his head—"there’s a lot of pain, although they seem to forget it once it’s over. I don’t think you could handle seeing Em in pain.”

“No.” Cloud abruptly turned to stare blindly out of the window. “I think I’ll only have one child.”

Giorsal towed Wolfe into Emily’s room and sat him on the edge of the bed. On the table near him she set a bowl of cool water and some cloths so that he would bathe Emily’s face. Checking that the hot water brought up earlier was staying heated where it sat near the fire, she then bent to peer between Emily’s thighs.

“What are you doing?” Emily squeaked.

“Keeking.” Giorsal flashed an impudent grin at her. “Do ye ken, I always wondered if that was the true color of your hair. I ken it is now.”

“Giorsal,” Emily groaned, blushing furiously and weakly swatting at Wolfe, who burst out laughing. “You are outrageous.”

“Aye, so it’s been said.” She hiked up her skirts to pull a knife from a sheath strapped to her slim thigh.

“Very nice.” Wolfe took a moment to lift his gaze from her legs to her blushing face when she dropped her skirts.

“Thank ye, rogue.” She moved to put the knife blade into the fire then into a small dish of hot water.

“What do you need the knife for?” Emily rushed to spit the question out between
contractions.

“Weel, I must cut the cord and,” she fixed her gaze upon Emily, “ye a wee bit.”

“Me?” squeaked Emily.

“Cut Em?” Wolfe blurted out simultaneously.

“It gives the bairn more room to come out. Ye willnae really feel it and it can keep ye from tearing, which isnae good at all.” She moved between Emily’s legs just as another contraction swept over her. “Done.”

“Done?” Emily struggled to catch her breath.

‘Aye, done. T’will help. Trust me.”

“Where did a young girl learn so much about birthing?”

“Me mother was a midwife, Wolfe. A fine one. The best, I think. I have been watching babies slip into the world e’er I could barely walk. She’s dead now, though, and I’m all alone.”

“I’m sorry.”

Panting with the force of her labor, Emily was not able to say more. “Soon, lass. It’ll be be soon.” “I hope so.”

Wolfe marveled at Emily’s strength as he continued to bathe her face and moisten her lips. He also understood why the strange little Giorsal had been so adamantly against Cloud being there. The pain that was wracking Emily’s small frame would have torn Cloud up inside. It was almost as much
as he could bear and stay calm as the time wore on.

“Aye, aye, ‘tis now,” Giorsal said excitedly, shortly before dawn. “Push, Emily. Push the wee devil right oot o’ there.”

“Lift me up a bit, Wolfe,” Emily gasped. “I want to see.”

Giorsal curtly instructed him to move so that his body supported Emily’s as she half sat up. It gave him a very good view of what was happening and Emily made no protest. He suspected she was far too involved to care what he was doing. He discovered that what he had seen as strength earlier was little or nothing compared to what the small woman he held exerted now to force her reluctant child from its comfortable place in the womb.

He watched in awed absorption as Cloud’s son entered the world, fighting every inch of the way. Giorsal’s skill was easily seen as she induced a lusty cry, cut and tied the cord, and cleaned the child off.

“God, Em, that’s something to see.” Wolfe gently bathed her face.

“Yes. Yes, it is, but once I am rested I shall probably be too embarrassed to even look at you for weeks.” She smiled weakly when he laughed.

“Giorsal, should I still feel like birthing? Still have pains?”

“Could be after-birth pains.” In an instant Giorsal was back between her legs, her small
hands moving over Emily’s still hardened belly. “Aye, ye should—as there’s another bairn in there, lass, and it’s ready to come out.”

“Twins?” Emily and Wolfe gasped together.

“Aye, twins.” Giorsal moved swiftly to clear away the mess of the first child, laying out clean linen for the second.

“Well, this had better be the last one. If there is another after that, it will have to wait until I have had a nap first.”

Giorsal’s musical laughter filled the room. To Wolfe’s astonishment, Emily laughed as well, although it was weak and cut short by the onslaught of a contraction. He wished he could be as calm as the two women seemed to be.

It was nearly twenty minutes later that a small girl wailed her outrage to the three attending her entrance into the world. Still stunned, Wolfe left the room to tell Cloud. He did not realize how worrying his expression could be to a man who had spent long hours envisioning the worst, until Cloud frantically grasped him by his shirtfront.

“Emily?”

“Emily’s fine, Cloud. Just tired. I think you better sit down, though.”

“Why? You just said Emily was fine.” “Yes, she is.”

“Then I’ll go see her.” He stopped at the door and hastly walked back to Wolfe. “What did we have?”

“A boy.”

“That’s wonderful… .” Cloud began, a little dazedly.

“And a girl.”

“And
a girl? Twins?”

“Yup. Twins. One boy and one girl, both healthy with a good set of lungs. That explains why Em was so damned large, I guess. Jesus,” Wolfe gasped.

In dumb amazement he stared at Cloud, who was suddenly lying unconscious at his feet. James and Harper raced to his side. All three just stood and gaped at the prone man. Wolfe knew they were in accord with him, that the mere thought of Cloud fainting was almost beyond comprehension.

“He’s fainted,” James said at last.

“I can see that,” snapped Wolfe. “What the hell did he do that for?”

“Maybe because he’s spent the last several hours worried to death.” Harper shook his head, still amazed by that fact.

“He has that,” James agreed heartily.

Giorsal strode in, curious as to why Cloud had not yet arrived upstairs. “Men!” She snatched up a pitcher of water from a nearby table and emptied it over Cloud’s face. “I could see it coming.”

By the time Cloud entered the room where Emily lay, growing impatient, he was fully recovered from his faint and what he insisted was his near-drowning at the hands of a mad Scotswoman. He had also changed his shirt. Without hesitation, he went straight to

Emily’s bedside and pulled her into his arms.

“I began to think you weren’t coming.” Emily sighed with a touch of relief and snuggled up against his chest.

“Weel, we had to bring him round first,” Giorsal said as she entered and moved to the babies.

“Giorsal,” growled Cloud.

“Swooned like a fine, lady, he did.”

“I am definitely going to throttle her.”

“You fainted?” Emily stared at him in disbelief.

“Seemed like the thing to do at the time,” he muttered, then snapped, “What the hell do you expect? I’m down there for hours not hearing a word, imagining the worst. Then Wolfe comes down with this strange look on his face, and I thought …” He shook his head. “Instead he tells me you had twins. What the hell did you do that for?” he grumbled even as he kissed her.

“Seemed like the thing to do at the time.” She smiled faintly. “Don’t you want to see them?”

Cloud stared with fascination at the two well-swaddled infants Giorsal set before him. Emotion choked him and, unmindful of Giorsal, he again hugged Emily, pressing his face against her slim neck until he could get some control over himself. Giorsal quietly picked up the babies and moved to stare out of the window at the still-raging storm, a baby nestled securely in each slim arm.

“God, Em, you’re beautiful—and I’ve been
giving some serious thought to being gelded.” He gave a shaky laugh.

She giggled tiredly as he laid he back down. “Please, nothing so drastic. Are there twins in your family?”

“Not that I know of, but unlike you, I’ve only been told family history back to my grandparents and damned little of that.”

“I think my great-aunt Theodora was a twin, but I cannot recall for certain. Harper would know. Not that it really matters.” She sighed with weary contentment as he held her hand between his. “We need a name. We never really decided on one, did we.”

“Nope.” He listened to the storm battering the house. “There’s plenty of nature to choose from.”

“There’s already a Thunder in the family, and I am not sure I fancy Lightning.”

Just then part of Giorsal’s soft monologue, directed at the uncomprehending twins, reached their ears. “Och, there’s power, my wee ones. Thor’s symphony. The Devil’s Tempest sure as I’m a MacGregor.”