Rumors Among the Heather (29 page)

Ribble purchased fresh
horses and hobbled them in the woods to graze not too far from the
tavern. After a bath and a hot meal, they laid down for a few
hours’ rest. About an hour before first light, Matthew and Ribble
went down the back stairs of the tavern and crossed the field to
where their horses were tied. They saddled up and headed south
toward Stonehaven.

Julie’s strength
increased each day under the collective and watchful eyes of Lady
Catherine and Maggie. She could go for short walks along the beach
without getting too tired. And lately, she filled her days sitting
for hours on the beach.

Watching the sea, she
wondered where the ships could be going. She could see them along
the horizon with their sails unfurled. What would it be like to be
a sailor, and what would a sailor dream?

Her thoughts always
came back to Matthew.
I wonder if Matthew is all right and if he
has left Scotland safely. Maybe he’s on one of the ships I’ve
seen.

She liked being alone,
away from watchful eyes. It felt good not to be fussed over. She
could not put into words the ever-present ache in her heart. Julie
also wondered what her life would be like with the baby. She felt
it kicking and smiled. Each time the baby fluttered inside of her,
she felt contentment.

“I love you, my little
one. I wonder what you’ll look like when you’re born. Will you be a
boy or a girl? I would like to have a girl, but my intuition tells
me I will have a boy. I hope you look just like your father.”

Matthew, of course,
would expect it to be a boy. She smiled at that thought. But with
less than a month left she still did not have a name picked
out.

She frowned and said,
“My little one, you will never know your father, but I will tell
you every day how much I love you and your father. Love gave you to
me, and love will keep us.”

Today, like many days
before, she’d found a comfortable spot in the warm sand and sat
down. Leaning against a rock gave her back support, and she needed
this support more often these days. She felt on edge, and her back
had been hurting her since before daybreak. She relaxed a little in
the sun, and rejoiced when her back eased its continuous throb.

Julie closed her eyes
and thought of Matthew. She never thought about how it ended, only
the way it began. She always did this when she needed strength.
Somehow she felt close to him today. She almost expected him to
appear on the beach in front of her. From the moment they met, she
felt an abiding kinship with him. If there was such a thing as soul
mates, she believed he was hers.

* * *

Lady Catherine put
down her petit point and looked out the window to where Julie sat
on the beach. Maggie said, “A penny for your thoughts.”

“Maggie, you know, I’m
glad the child came our way. I shiver to think what could have
become of her if she went off on her own. For the most part, she
seems happy, but I can’t help but worry just the same. I’ve seen
the sadness in those big green eyes when she thinks no one is
looking. I wish Lord Blair could be here. He would know what to do
with this Matthew of Julie’s. He would call this Lord Bonnleigh on
the carpet and make him see the error of his ways. Lord Blair was a
man to be reckoned with,” she said softly.

Maggie left her alone
to answer a knock at the door. Lost in her memories, Lady Catherine
looked up, startled, when Maggie burst into the room. Her face was
red, and she was wringing her hands. Lady Catherine braced herself
for the hysterics to follow.

“My lady, will there
be no end to the r-r-riff-raff continuously p-p-pounding on our
d-d-door?” Maggie always stuttered when she was upset. “There are
t-t-two, uh, gentlemen to see you, and I use the t-t-term loosely
for they have no c-c-cards, and they are not dressed properly for
calling. They wouldnae give me their names, but insisted they
wouldnae leave until they spoke with you. Shall I send for the
s-s-sheriff, my lady?”

Before Lady Catherine
could answer, the door flew open and two men entered. An enigmatic
smile crossed her face while she surveyed the two men before
her.

“That will do, Maggie.
I will be glad to talk to the gentlemen. Perhaps the taller
gentleman could use a bit of refreshment in the kitchen. While
you’re there, please bring my other guest some refreshment,” Lady
Catherine ordered.

Lady Catherine placed
the man who she thought might be Julie’s Matthew in a seat by a
window where he could not possibly miss seeing Julie on the beach.
He did not look out of the window as she hoped, but he continued to
study her intently. Annoyed with the inability of men to take
nothing but the most blatant hints, she turned from the window and
looked back at him.

“Please forgive my
intrusion, but I had to see you, and if you know anything about me,
you understand why I could not give my name to your servant.
However, I am willing to take my chances with you if you require
it.”

“If I am speaking to
Lord Bonnleigh, then I do indeed know why, and I suppose I must
excuse your barging into my home. Nevertheless, why are you here,
sir?”

Lady Catherine
appeared to be made of granite sitting opposite Matthew. He thought
of everything he had planned to say, and he’d run it through his
mind a thousand times, but across from this formidable lady, he
felt tongue-tied. He could see so much of Julie in her.

“I have reason to
believe you are the aunt of Juliana Hastings, and since you know my
name, I assume she is here, or at least you have been in touch with
her,” Matthew queried anxiously.

“That is true. Please
continue,” Lady Catherine said rigidly. Matthew could see she was
not about to let him off too easily.

“Would you ask her if
I could speak to her? It would only be for a short time. I need to
speak to her, to hear and to see for myself that she is all right
and not in need.”

“My niece is staying
here with me, but she has not been well, and with the baby due in
less than a month, I do not want her upset. I will ask her if she
will see you, but I will not force her. Do we understand each
other?”

Matthew nodded in
agreement. He let out an audible sigh and glanced out the window.
Julie
. And she was approaching the house. Without taking his
gaze off of her, he stood up. Lady Catherine also rose from her
seat and put a hand on his arm.

“Lord Bonnleigh, it
would not do to surprise or frighten her. Please be seated and wait
for her here,” Lady Catherine said sternly.

Matthew sat back down,
but not without exercising all the control he could muster. He
wanted to run to her and beg her forgiveness. He wanted to take her
in his arms and feel her skin touching his, to taste her lips soft
and insistent on his, and most of all he wanted to hear her say she
loved him.

The door to the
sitting room opened and Julie staggered in. Her face was white, and
her breaths were measured gasps. “Aunt Catherine, I am not feeling
well…”

If possible her face
paled even more when Matthew stood up from his chair and took a
step toward her. She backed up a step and held out her hand in
front of her for him to stop.

“Matthew, what are you
doing here? I don’t…” Julie fell to her knees where she stood.

“What’s wrong?”
Matthew demanded in alarm. He picked her up and looked around for
directions.

“Has your labor
started?” Lady Catherine asked urgently.

Weakly, Julie
nodded.

“Lord Bonnleigh,
follow me to her room,” she ordered.

Matthew followed
Julie’s aunt, taking the stairs two steps at a time. Tenderly, he
deposited Julie on her bed. Lady Catherine placed pillows behind
her to keep her propped up. She began loosening Julie’s clothes and
telling her to breathe in quick breaths when the pains returned.
Suddenly, Lady Catherine looked up.

“My lord, you’ve no
business here. Go back downstairs and have Maggie send for the
doctor. Wait in the sitting room or walk around, but keep out of my
way. Looks like the baby is going to be born, and when it is I will
tell you.”

She all but threw
Matthew out of the room.

Waves of weakness and
dizziness tormented Julie, and then it seemed to her a pain within
a pain racked her body. The tremors mounted up and up and then
subsided. Her dizziness would then clear, and she could feel the
cold beads of sweat as they ran down her face.

Her pains continued
into the evening and still the doctor had not arrived.

She lay weakly in her
sweat-soaked gown when she felt a strange feeling like something
had burst within her. Despite all her efforts to master her body
and the pain, she let out a low, mournful wail while the next pain
consumed her body. Lady Catherine and Maggie rushed to her side.
She heard them talking in what seemed like a fog; she could not
understand what they were saying.

Another swelling
motion violently rolled over her body and seemed to move every bone
she possessed. She felt like she was being turned inside out. To
stop from screaming out, she raised her arms and grabbed the
headboard of her bed. She felt an uncontrollable urge to push until
the tormenting agony left her body. She prayed the baby would be
born and end her interminable agony. The pain and pressure eased a
bit, and she gasped in the cool night air.

Suddenly, Dr. Mudd
appeared over her and said, “When your contractions start again, do
not push. The baby is turned wrong. I am going to turn the baby
inside you, and then it will be born. Everything will be all right,
Julie. You must trust me.”

Tears ran down her
face, but she refused to cry out. She squeezed the rails of her
brass bed until her fingers were numb when another contraction took
its toll on her. She raised her head when she heard the cry of a
baby—her baby—resonate throughout the quiet house. Maggie raised
her to a sitting position in bed and then placed a tender bundle
wrapped in pastel blue cotton in her arms.

She looked down and
smiled softly at her baby boy. Instinctively, she placed its small
mouth against her tender nipple. The baby’s suckling made her feel
another kind of pain. This time she did not mind. She felt
fulfilled, her earlier pain pushed into forgetfulness.

When the baby finished
nursing, Lady Catherine put him in a cradle she’d once bought for
her own hoped-for children. Julie was helped into a clean gown, and
when the sheets had been changed eased down in the bed and drifted
off to sleep.

* * *

Matthew was at his
wits end when Lady Catherine knocked on his chamber door. He
quickly swung it open. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes, everything is
fine. Mother and baby are sleeping contentedly. I just wanted to
make sure the doctor told you about the baby. It’s smaller than the
doctor would have liked. However, he is a few weeks premature but
with the trials Julie went through on the mountain, this is
understandable.”

“Yes, he told me. He
said we have a healthy baby boy. When may I see them?”

“Tomorrow morning, but
not too early, mind you. Julie’s asleep. She had a rough time, and
she needs time and rest to get her strength back.”

“The doctor said I
should be proud of the mother and son. Oddly enough, he seemed out
of sorts. He didn’t appear to approve of sea captains who come back
from the grave,” Matthew said with a smile.

“I think the doctor
may have had more than patient-doctor interest in Julie. He thinks
you have spoiled his chances.
Have
you spoiled his chances?”
Lady Catherine asked with penetrating directness.

“That depends on
Julie, but I intend to claim what is mine,” he said, with
determination forcing its way through his words.

“Good, good, now maybe
I can get some sleep. You get some too. Tomorrow will be busy, and
it is after midnight now,” she said to Matthew.

To Matthew’s surprise,
she reached up and kissed him good night on his cheek before
disappearing down the hall. He stood at the door not knowing what
to do next.

Sleep was just as
elusive tonight as it had been in the previous nights since he
started on his journey to find Julie. He lay flat on his back and
stared at the ceiling for hours, but sleep would not come. Some
hours before daybreak he decided to get up. He dressed and went up
the stairs to Julie’s room.

He found her still
asleep. Ribble sat in a rocking chair by the windows holding the
baby, with Maggie hovering nearby. The baby slumbered peacefully in
his valet’s arms. Maggie silently admonished him to be quiet by
frowning and putting a finger to her lips. He nodded and walked
over to where Ribble sat holding the child. Stunned, he saw an
exact likeness of Ian before him. If he still had any doubts about
who fathered Julie’s child, they were forever laid to rest. Ribble
stood and offered to let him hold the baby. He shook his head.

He resisted the urge
to hold the baby in his arms. If the baby woke up and cried, Julie
would also wake up, and he could not face her just now. He had so
much to say to her, and so much depended on what he said.

Feeling inadequate for
the task and at a loss as to what to do next, Matthew abruptly left
the room and went for a walk on the beach. He walked until he was
too tired to continue. Later, he returned to the house, bathed, and
had breakfast. After dining, he waited in the sitting room, going
over what he would say to Julie. Lady Catherine came for him at
last and sent him in to her.

* * *

Julie had felt
Matthew’s presence almost immediately when he entered her room
earlier. She’d pretended to be asleep and watched him from under
her lashes while he looked at their baby. She wanted him to pick up
their child and show he accepted him as his son, but she could see
no sign of acceptance. A frown darkened his handsome features as he
looked at their son, and then he left abruptly. Tears flooded her
eyes as his echoing footsteps faded.