Chapter 66

In the

summer , the annual hunt was

held at Chisholm Manor Estate. It was the third such event that

Alessandra had seen in her lifetime, but for Edward and his

parents, it seemed to have always been something that occurred

every year, naturally, as if it were the house itself that made

sure it happened.

As Alessandra sat outside under

a makeshift tent for cover and protection from the sun, she placed

her hand on her belly, feeling fluttering inside.

"How are you feeling,

Alessandra?" Edward's mother asked from the chair beside her.

"I am well, but this one feels

different, like it is moving differently from how Elizabeth and

Isabella did," Alessandra replied.

Margaret listened quietly

without speaking. She relaxed nearby on a blanket in the shade,

with the two young children close to her - one a baby, and one at

the age where crawling and exploring were well underway. Now

instilled completely in the nursery, and no longer doing any of the

household chores she always had done before Alessandra had given

birth to Elizabeth, Margaret realised how happy she was in her

work, having such wonderful people as her employers.

Suddenly Elizabeth made a

sudden move to crawl away. Alessandra saw her mother-in-law

immediately leap up and pick her up, making her granddaughter laugh

as she was lifted high off the ground.

Watching on, Alessandra

enjoyed seeing how Edward's mother invested time into Elizabeth.

For someone who only had one living child, Alessandra thought her

mother-in-law was truly wonderful with children. The thought made

her go on to concede how strong her mother-in-law was, to have

yearned for children, as she had told Alessandra many times she

had, and still go on, raising Edward so well, and being a loving

wife to his father.

Her thoughts were diverted by

seeing her father come toward them with a smile on his face.

"What a happy scene this

is, with five such lovely ladies before me," he said happily,

making Alessandra smile sincerely at him. He sat down on the rug

next to Margaret, and started to talk in baby language to Isabella

before turning and redirecting his attention to his

daughter.

"How are you, Daughter? Is that

little one going to arrive today, do you think?" he asked, smiling

while glancing meaningfully at her belly. "It is surely time, is it

not?"

Alessandra smiled shyly at her

father.

"Father, you know she is not

due quite yet."

"She? Oh, how can you be so

sure?" he asked, looking content and happy before turning back to

Isabella and resuming his baby talk with her once more.

Everything seemed

blissful and peaceful until, suddenly, one of the riders came

galloping right up to them.

"The doctor - someone must go

for the doctor at once!" he said with the greatest urgency in his

voice.

Without

waiting for any instruction, Margaret jumped up.

"I will alert

the housekeeping staff and ask them to go with you on your horse,

if you agree ," she said.

"They can direct you to the physician's location."

Isabella was passed to her

grandfather before Margaret ran to the main house. In the meantime,

however, Alessandra and her mother-in-law became stricken by the

urgent request.

"What has happened?" Alessandra

asked urgently, immediately feeling her body tense up at horrific

possibilities about Edward appearing in her mind.

At the same time, the question

that escaped her mother-in-law's mouth was, "Who is hurt?"

The rider took in the picture

before him and instantly regretted having ridden in quite as he

had. In particular, knowing that Edward's wife was so pregnant, he

immediately worried about what would happen when he gave the news,

but knew he had to.

He dismounted and

approached the women, seeing both fearful of what they would be

told. His sight settled on Edward's mother.

"I'm so sorry," he started to

say. Alessandra saw her mother-in-law go white. "Mr Chisholm - your

husband - has fallen. It does not look good, Mrs Chisholm."

Alessandra's father quickly

stood and handed baby Isabella to Alessandra before taking

Elizabeth from her grandmother's hands. At that moment, Margaret

ran back to them with a footman beside her and addressed the

rider.

"This is Paul. He will ride

with you and direct you to the physician so you can request he

come."

The two of them quickly mounted

and soon disappeared, leaving everyone in the group silent in shock

of the news, and the unknowing.

Alessandra suddenly felt

a pain in her belly, but desperately tried to keep it to herself,

knowing Edward's mother must be most distressed at that moment.

After a few minutes, however, she could not help but let out a cry.

Straight away, Margaret moved to her, took Isabella from her, and

took Elizabeth from Alessandra's father. With one child in each

arm, she looked desperately at Alessandra's father, trying to

encourage him to help with either of the women in front of him, but

soon saw he might not be able to help.

Surprisingly, seeing her

daughter-in-law in pain seemed to wake Edward's mother from her

daze. She quickly moved to Alessandra, helped her up, and

encouraged her to walk to the manor. By the time they reached the

front door, it was evident the baby was coming. Chaos descended as

housekeeping staff quickly readied the birth chamber and Alessandra

was made comfortable. The pain left her in a daze, like something

was not right with the child. Others watched as a fever seemed to

catch on her, and Alessandra started to drift in and out of a

fitful sleep.

Meanwhile, downstairs in

the foyer, the doctor arrived, but as yet there was no sign of

Edward or his father.

"Where is Mr Chisholm?" he

demanded, having believed he had a patient in the manor who

required urgent attention. The rider, who had initially alerted

them to the fall, appeared once more and immediately left to take

the doctor to the location where Edward's father was.

~~~~~

"Alessandra," she could

hear a voice calling to her from far away. When she found the

strength, she saw her mother-in-law beside her, and the midwife

standing behind. "Wake up, child. You have a job to do."

Alessandra tried to

process the words but could not understand what was being said to

her. All she wanted to do was sleep. When a strong pain ripped

through her body, she was reminded sharply of where she was and

what was happening. She was in labour, she realised as the midwife

moved forward and talked to her sternly.

"Come, now, Mrs Chisholm.

You have done this twice before, and you know what needs to be

done. This little one is eager to come into the world, and is

waiting for you to deliver him. Now gather your strength and

push!"

~~~~~

Edward's

mother was torn between wanting to support her daughter-in-law and

help her grandchild into the world, and suspecting that before the

day was out, she would be heartbroken over whatever had happened to

her husband. Downstairs , she

waited at the window of the drawing room, looking with the hope of

seeing someone - anyone - come to the house to provide some news.

Behind her, Alessandra's father sat quietly, bringing her cups of

tea and small amounts of food to try and help her relax, but in her

mind and her heart, she knew the love of her life was already gone

from her.

Suddenly, in the

distance, she could see a parade of guests who had come for the

hunt. At the front of the procession was Edward. All rode their

horses slowly. As they got closer, she could see her husband. He

was in front of Edward, but not sitting up. Instead, his form was

slung over Beauty.

"Oh!" Edward's mother cried

out.

The sound drove Alessandra's

father to jump up from his seat and move to her side. He did not

try and tell her everything was going to be alright. Even from

where he was standing, it looked as if the worst had happened.

Shortly afterward, Edward

walked in alone, having requested the guests to go to their rooms

for a short time so he could talk to his mother alone.

As he walked straight to

her and put his arms around her, she could see he had been

crying.

"Oh, my son, is he…" she

began to ask.

Edward pulled himself

together, looked directly at her, and nodded in response to her

question.

" He was doing so well

one minute, and then a fox jumped out in front of his horse and I

do not know why it was startled by it, but it reared, and Father

was thrown backwards," he started to say, feeling himself start to

sob once more.

"Where is he, Edward?" his

mother asked, preparing to see the body of her loved one.

"He has been laid in a bedroom

upstairs."

Edward held out his hand to his

mother and she took it. It was something that had not happened

since Edward had been a small child. He was glad she let him lead

her to the bedroom. Upon entering, immediately her eyes fell to her

husband and the physician beside him.

"Mrs Chisholm," the doctor said

as he walked toward her. "I am so sorry for your loss. He was a

great man."

She walked up to the bed

and looked down. Her husband, Charles, looked peaceful to her. She

stood beside him, remembering many wonderful things about their

life together. With clarity, she could remember right back to being

told by her family in Italy that she was to wed a gentleman in

England, and the moment she first laid eyes on him. A part of her

wanted to be angry that he had gone out on the hunt that day, given

his increasing age, but it was something that he'd always loved.

She could not be angry over that.

Although his face had

much changed since when they had first met, she still considered

him handsome as she leaned down and kissed his lips one final time.

Briefly, she wondered why she had wasted so much time worrying

about all the silly little things that she had, when time together

was so brief. At least she had Edward and his family…

Edward saw

his mother look up and turn

to him, with a desperate look of urgency on her face.

"Edward - Alessandra!" she

exclaimed cryptically.

It wasn't much of a

message, but that was all it took for Edward to leave the room and

run down to the drawing room. He expected to see her there, even

though she hadn't been there minutes earlier.

"Edward," Alessandra's father

said as he walked in, surprised to see his son-in-law again so

soon.

"Where is Alessandra?" Edward

commanded, visibly distressed.

"She is in the birthing

chamber," her father began. He needed to say no more as he watched

Edward run from the room without looking back.

Running up the grand

staircase, Edward felt overloaded by emotion. It was one thing to

lose his father, but was he going to lose his wife on the same

day?