Finding Bliss (4 page)

Uncle Miles, her mother’s oldest brother, loved to joke
about her foresight. He claimed she was merely mature for her age and that God
had blessed her with a lion’s share of intuition. But even his support wavered
when she predicted that her older, confirmed bachelor uncle’s future bride would
unfortunately be a Frenchwoman.

On days like this, when one vision told her only subtle clues
as to what needed to happen or what was inevitable, it was hard not to get
frustrated at their continued doubt.

Bliss stole off after breakfast to
the children’s sitting room. She knew one of their nannies kept a quill and ink
in the room for emergencies whenever she couldn’t leave the little ones
unattended but needed to send a note.

Opening the escritoire Bliss removed the instruments for her
latest, necessary deception. Inking the quill carefully she tried to mimic an
older person’s hand as she wrote.

“Dr. Benchley—Our Bliss is suffering from a great
amount of fatigue these last three days. I fear she could have an illness that
needs to be discovered immediately before anything permanent can set in. Would
you be so kind as to call upon her no later than noon today? It is imperative
that she be seen before one p.m. Also, be so kind and bring an assistant with
you today. There may be a need for an extra person. Bliss feels that this is
most important and as she is oftener right than wrong about such things, it
would be best to heed her wishes. Kindest regards, Etc.”

Bliss took several moments to review what she’d written. She
didn’t sign the letter or try to forge anyone else’s signature to the document.
It didn’t really matter. She only wanted it to look official in case someone in
the house opened it.

Dr. Benchley was one of the people in the world Bliss could
lean on. He rarely ever doubted her foresight or intuition. But having been
punished recently for summoning Dr. Benchley a few too many times when her
visions weren’t as clear Bliss knew she needed to be careful. So to avoid
unnecessary trouble, she used the delusion of a third party request to make
sure the message made it all the way to Dr. Benchley.

After sealing the letter with wax, she paid her best friend,
a stable boy named Lem, a shilling to carry the letter to town on his morning
break. Lem was not fully interned in the stable yet, so he didn’t mind doing
her the favor. He also didn’t mind the money to buy a new cap he desperately needed.

Bliss, of course, knew Lem would be the best messenger. He
was her closest friend on the estate. Lem was Luxie’s ladies’ maid’s youngest
son, reared gently alongside the rest of the Penwood brood.

Bliss reminded Lem of another task he needed to do when he
returned from delivering the note. It involved cleaning a pair of tugs from the
livery, which she’d seen him performing in the morning during her vision. Once
she finished her errands, Bliss went to the girls’ schoolroom to watch her
trusted friend hurrying over the hill toward town.

Difficult didn’t even begin to
classify the morning for Bliss. Aside from being only ten, and knowing what she
knew already, the anticipation of the unknown details was worrisome.

Maturity came easily to Bliss who was privileged to many
subjects far beyond a girl of her years. And the excitement wasn’t really lost
on her. She carried greater wisdom than her older sister Merryann and the young
nursery maid named Trina who cared for her younger sisters and pined for Russ
whenever he was gone off to Pangbourne Naval Academy. Bliss kept her eyes wide
open to the world and all its players.

At eleven thirty, Bliss was greeted on her way to the family
dining room by Cliff, one of the footmen. He informed her that the doctor and
his assistant would see her in her mother’s salon.

Suddenly Bliss received a jolting flash of the nearest
future. It involved her mother as expected. But it really wasn’t what she could
hope for since her mother wasn’t near to her time to deliver just yet.

At least the doctor and the requested attendant were already
in the house, which was more important now that Bliss knew the reason. The
midwife was out of town visiting relations due to the fact that Luxie shouldn’t
have needed the woman’s help for four more weeks at least. Bliss walked behind
Cliff toward the salon to meet the scene head-on.

Before Cliff could escape, Bliss pulled him aside and gave him
a message to deliver to Lem. He was to tell Lem to bring the tugs to the house
immediately.

Lem did everything Bliss asked because Bliss always gave Lem
the best advice for advancement with as little stress or work possible. He
worshipped Bliss’s gifts and didn’t doubt her at all since she’d never steered
him wrong.

“Bliss, there you are. Dr. Benchley is here to see you,
darling. You didn’t inform me that you were feeling poorly? One of the nannies
summoned him, he says. I don’t like you always calling him, you know. We’re not
his only patients in Cardiff. It’s rude to be so demanding. Now, tell me what’s
the matter? Is something truly bothering you?” Luxie scolded quietly under her
breath as she greeted Bliss in the doorway.

“I’ve been having a few lung complaints, Mama. It’s just a
precaution, I suppose,” Bliss told her mother without meeting her eyes. Luxie
turned to greet the doctor.

“Hello, Dr. Benchley, and I see you’ve brought an
assistant!” Luxie said graciously. Bliss was about to ask for an introduction
when the assistant turned to face her. It was Eric!

No, that couldn’t be! Eric wasn’t a barber-surgeon or
anything yet! He was only fifteen and still at school! Even though he was her future
husband, and she’d expected him to be there too, there should have been an additional
attendant according to her foresight.

Dr. Benchley’s explanation cut into her thoughts.

“Yes, your grace, Eric is home for a visit, and I thought he
could assist me with this quite easily. It’s only a routine exam, I take it? Nothing
broken or bleeding, eh?” Dr. Benchley gave Bliss a very knowing look. Bliss
leaned in closer to the doctor so she could whisper.

“That remains to be seen, Doctor. I had hoped you might have
brought a professional along. It’s Mama’s time today.” Bliss imparted this knowingly.

“Really? I was fairly sure in my calculations. No worry, I’ll
just do my exam on you until then, how’s that?” Dr. Benchley whispered in
reply.

He looked amused. Bliss sighed and sat down on the foot of
the bed and began to loosen the buttons on the back of her neck to give Dr.
Benchley room to feel her ribs and check her heart.

“I’ll just do a quick exam, Lady Penwood. My son Eric will
be entering the college at St. Thomas’s very soon! I hope you’ll allow him to
assist me with this exam today. I’m planning to give him the advantage of
experience, you see?” Dr. Benchley explained to Bliss’s mother.

“Oh, naturally you should! Bliss is an excellent candidate
for study, as well. She’s forever coming down with mysterious maladies!” Luxie
quipped dryly amused.

“Mama, you will probably want to sit down. This won’t take
long,” Bliss told her mother simply.

Luxie nodded absently and took her place in a rocking chair
nearby. Being in her period of confinement, Luxie spent a great deal of her
time in the salon most days. She was already past forty, and it was a
surprising and difficult pregnancy to say the least. Having four daughters and
two sons already, she was hopeful for another boy.

Luxie rocked and hummed absently as Dr. Benchley and Eric
performed the unnecessary evaluation on Bliss. She didn’t even listen to their
hushed conversation while she knitted little blue stocking booties.

“Dr. Benchley, it’s important to do everything before the
time arrives, isn’t it? It’s not going to go as things normally do, you should
know. That’s why an assistant will be necessary,” Bliss informed him impatiently.
Her agitation over Eric assisting instead of a professional made it difficult
to stay still.

“Eric is as good an assistant as I could ever ask for. Now,
Eric, check her breathing with your ear to her back. Lady Bliss, could we
trouble you to move your frock a bit lower on the shoulder so we can get a good
listen to your lungs? There, that’s it.”

Dr. Benchley helped Eric tug the fabric off of Bliss’s left
shoulder, exposing her unusual birthmark. It was very light, as if someone
spilled a bit of tea with cream on her shoulder and left a stain behind. Eric
recoiled from the sight at first.

“That’s only her birthmark, son. Bliss and I have discussed
how it looks surprisingly like the continent of South America mapped out,” Dr.
Benchley chuckled.

Eric gave his father a curious look and shook his head. He
leaned close to her back and pressed his cheek to the skin between her shoulder
blades.

“I hear no sounds of wheeze or rail, Papa. Maybe you should
listen, just to be sure,” Eric said doubtfully a minute later.

“No, no, I’m sure it’s perfect. Lady Bliss believes our job
here has nothing to do with her, you see. I recognized the writing, by the bye.
Now, how much longer must we wait, my dear? I’m afraid I have a gouty vicar who
will need an administration of his tonic by evening. I am the deliverer, you
see.” Dr. Benchley told Bliss in earnest.

“Well, I didn’t have a clock in this vision. But if the
picture is clear, it shouldn’t be long now. I’d go ahead and call for some oil
cloth if I were you. It’s going to go rather swiftly, sir,” Bliss gave him a
forward nod toward her mother.

Luxie wore a worried look on her face, even though her
attention was diverted to personal attentions. Her demeanor was clearly altered
from what it had been a few minutes earlier. Her hand was on her abdomen as if
checking for movement rather than just idly lying there.

“Bliss? Are you absolutely certain it will be swift?” Dr.
Benchley grew more alert. Seeing Lady Penwood’s drastic mood change could not
be ignored.

“I only knew that you needed to be here and that an
assistant was absolutely necessary. The midwife is gone, you know!” Bliss
pointed out.

Dr. Benchley seemed to nod absently. Eric wasn’t paying much
attention to their rambling discussion. He was rummaging in his father’s kit
for the treatment manual.

Eric was forever hunting a reason to perform any minor
procedure or medical practice. Moments later the cry made his search futile.

“OH! Oh, no!” Luxie cried out in surprised alarm as a swift pain
doubled her over. Bliss moved from the bed in an instant and grabbed the bell
pull. First footman Perry came in a few seconds later having already heard the
mistress crying out.

“Perry, good, will you summon Mrs. Pressley and Mandy for
us? Mama is about to have her baby, and the midwife is out of town. We’ll need
some assistance,” Bliss spoke calmly to the now ashen-faced footman.

“A baby? The baby’s coming today?” Perry caught up. The
staggered reaction caused Bliss to chuckle in spite of the imminent
difficulties.

“Yes, there should be a clean set of tugs in the stable. Lem
was supposed to have done it. And if I’m not mistaken, he will be available to
ride Ludwig into town and fetch Papa. If he hurries he can catch him before he
tours the newest ship.”

Bliss spoke quickly and used her small hands to turn the
too-shocked-to-be-resistant footman and point him out the door. Perry was
nodding and mumbling the instructions back almost as if he was trying to
decipher them through a cave wall.

“Do hurry, won’t you? Mama will be so much happier if Papa
makes it back in time,” Bliss said in a more forceful voice.

That was all it took for Perry to be lit with the fire of
purpose. He became aware of the urgency and hurried away shouting at others he
passed with additional instructions. A few moments later, Mandy joined them
accompanied by Bridget.

“Lady Penwood? Mrs. Pressley says to tell you she’s
dreadfully sorry she can’t attend you just now. She’s made a mess of her hand
with a piece of broken china. She says it’s not too deep, but it’s terribly
painful. She doesn’t want her pain to rub off on you during your difficulty,” Mandy
said quietly, trailing off in her fear.

Both Bridget and Mandy were lady’s maids for the Duchess of
Penwood. And though Bridget could boast a few more years of service seniority, she
wasn’t skilled at handling birth issues not being a mother herself. Mandy was a
soft-spoken mother of two boys, one being young Lem, but the stout woman surprisingly
didn’t have the stomach for such things as midwifery, barely having handled her
own childbed experiences.

Bliss looked at the frightened women with a frown. She was
very afraid they would try to make her leave, but Bliss was certain she could
avoid their interference.

“Mama, I’ll stay with you. I am sure I’ll be of some help. Have
Bridget and Mandy fetch the extra baby blanket you knitted. They can get more water
warming to bathe the new baby. But you need to get in the bed right now. I’m
pretty sure you’re going to want that,” Bliss informed her mother in soft,
soothing tones.

Luxie clenched her teeth as a pain rocked through her
abdomen once again. She nodded her agreement with Bliss and began to climb out
of the rocker and head for the bed.

“Oh. That was unexpected. Dr. Benchley, what’s wrong? I
should have more time for this one,” Luxie whispered through her panting
breath.

“Babies never give us fair warnings, your grace. You know as
I do that they come when they’re good and ready to come whether it’s their
right time or not. Let us help you to the mattress. You need to be
comfortable,” Dr. Benchley nodded at Eric, who reached for Lady Penwood’s right
arm while his father took the left.

Bliss ran ahead of them and stripped the bedding. She searched
frantically in the drawers for the dark brown oil cloth she knew to be close
by.