2. May, 1823

2

MAY, 1823

51.766°N, 0.475°E

H ylands Estate, Essex

Derek Welkirk, the Earl of Framingwood, leaned against a pillar in the kitchen garden gazebo at Hylands, his Essex estate, and drew a deep puff on a cheroot. He rarely smoked, but the last twenty-four hours had been among the worst in his life.

His old childhood friend, Lizzie Miller, had nearly died in childbed labor that had gone on throughout the night before with her heart-rending moans and screams tearing him apart as if he were laboring along with her. In the early hours, he'd dismissed the virtually useless London physician he'd sent for two days earlier. When he'd sent a message to Captain Eleanor Goodrum to for God's sakes help him, she'd brought a quiet young woman from one of many her secret schools at her nearby estate, Totteridge Park.

Captain El had arrived soon after receiving his frantic message, bringing the mysterious, exotic-looking Saida Hossini with a truly terrifying bird riding on one of her shoulders. When he'd stepped close to the two women, the creature had spread its wings and feathers to its full height which was considerable. At a clicking of Saida's tongue, the bird subsided to a less threatening size, whilst continuing to level an evil look his way.

"He's very jealous of Saida and doesn't care for men," El had shared in a cryptic aside. "But he goes everywhere with her."

"What can I do?" Derek was exhausted from the harrowing hours he'd spent in terror that his cook's daughter would die.

The women swept inside with El issuing directions over her shoulder as they quickly ascended the stairs, led by his housekeeper toward the third-floor bedchambers. "If I were you, Framlingwood, I'd go find all your best supplies of whisky."

"Anything. Is that what the midwife will require?"

El threw him a wry smile once they'd gained the first landing of the elaborate staircase. "No. The whisky is for you, you dolt. Now go hole up in your study and leave us to our work."

Derek couldn't be sure, but he could have sworn the huge bird turned a mocking look on him as well.

Saida paid little attention to the haughty aristocrat whose servant was losing the battle for her life in a difficult labor. A passing thought flitted through her mind. She supposed the poor woman was laboring to bring forth the arrogant, privileged man's bastard child.

She mused with some sadness that all women were at the mercy of privileged men, no matter their country.

When El opened the door to the bedchamber and Saida glimpsed the young woman writhing on the bed, her distended belly glistening with sweat. She could see the outline of the babe straining against its mother's skin, and immediately knew what was wrong.

Saida turned to the young chambermaid and ordered in low tones - "Lots of clean linens, hot water, and soap." When she'd first discovered the primitive way birthing mothers were treated in this barbaric country, she'd been appalled. Her mother and grandmother before her had learned the art of keeping mothers alive at the feet of a Jewish surgeon. She'd need to call on all of those skills tonight.

El gently transferred Aji from Saida's shoulder to her own before heading down to the kitchens for treats to keep the beastly creature quiet until Saida had finished doing what she could to help the young woman. She'd seen the young Moroccan refugee from Ceuta work miracles with laboring mothers before. She hoped to the gods she could come up with one more tonight.

Derek was still pacing the gazebo when the angry, lusty cries of an infant shattered the stillness of the night. He sank to a cold stone bench and sucked in a deep breath of frigid night air. Lizzie was at least out of pain for now. At that moment, the young midwife walked out onto the terrace and sank to her knees in the thick grass at the center in a circular cut in the stone surface where the sundial stood. She bowed her head and clasped her hands together in prayer. After a short time, she stood and walked back into the family drawing room which faced the garden.

He sat transfixed for a long time. Derek had never seen a woman like her. She strode confidently, her feet shod in sensible half-boots. Her simple gray muslin dress clung to her where she'd obviously been sweating herself whilst in the midst of whatever herculean efforts she'd had to employ to save his friend's child. She'd swiped at her forehead before a footman had opened the garden-side door. And then she disappeared inside as if she'd never been there.

By the time he'd gathered his thoughts and returned to the house, the young woman, her extraordinary avian companion, and Captain El had disappeared back into the darkness of the Essex night. He'd heard El's shouts at his two grays she'd appropriated so as to give her cattle a rest as she sped back toward her own estate in her personal curricle.

All he could think of in that moment was how in the hell did those two women manage to keep the huge bird affixed to the midwife's shoulder as they raced through the night…and how in the hell could he manage an introduction to the exotic young woman? Only in order to thank her for saving his friend, of course, he told himself.

Saida had felt the intent gaze of the spoiled aristocrat on her while she'd cooled off in the serenity of his garden, but she loathed the thought of how he'd probably impregnated a helpless woman in his employ. She absently rubbed at the feathers in Aji's ruff to keep him sanguine whilst they raced back to Totteridge Park in the thick darkness. Her employer's oil lanterns on either side of the curricle illuminated the homeward path in the starless night.

At about the halfway mark on the Essex toll road, Captain El suddenly pulled the horses over for a short rest. She turned to Saida. "I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The expressions flitting across your face reveal everything in your heart. It's one of your most endearing qualities."

"That's just not so," Saida retorted. On her shoulder, Aji moved restlessly and gave El a warning squawk.

El spread her hands in surrender and slipped the bird a crumb of biscuit she'd stuffed in her reticule before they left. Whilst Aji wolfed down her offering, El explained. "Lizzie is one of the earl's oldest friends. He grew up on that huge estate as an orphan after both his parents died on a tour of the Continent. She and her mother, the cook, were his only refuge. He spent many hours at the kitchen hearth with the two of them." She paused to give Aji another morsel before adding, "The babe isn't his, but if I know Derek, he will raise her as his own."