Chapter Thirty-Three

" Y ou look the pinnacle of health, my lady," Mrs. Boswell said in her role as midwife, when she was summoned to examine Clarity's progress two weeks later.

Clarity knew it for the truth. She felt marvelous, not nearly as fatigued, and ravenous but without the space in her stomach for all the things she was craving.

"You married the one who used to come visit, the laughing boy, now the man with the sad eyes. I told you your husband was in the room that night, didn't I?" Mrs. Boswell reminded her.

Clarity gasped. "You did! I'd forgotten. Yes, I married Lord Hollidge. At the time, everyone thought you meant another man who was at the party."

"I could see the connection between you and your Hollidge, like a golden thread, plain as day."

Clarity knew her eyes were as big as saucers. "Could you really?"

Mrs. Boswell chuckled and touched her own forehead with two fingers. "Always could see things."

Clarity nodded. Then she recalled what else the woman had said.

"You said he adored me." She wished her voice hadn't cracked with emotion.

"I did, and he does, as much as you love him."

"Then why am I here without him?"

Mrs. Boswell shook her head of black and gray curls.

"Young people!" she muttered.

At that moment, more than anything, Clarity wished Alex had come after her. She wanted to be a wife he admired. And loved. She wanted him to look at her with the adoration the midwife said he felt.

"I disappointed him," she said softly.

"Nonsense. You are all he needs," Mrs. Boswell said. "Things will work out." Then she frowned. "But not if you are here and he is in London."

"I could go back," Clarity said, struggling even to rise from the chair, large as she was.

"I don't recommend it, my lady. Not in your advanced condition."

"How long before the baby comes?" Clarity asked, considering that London was only as far as a short carriage ride to the station, followed by the relative comfort of a velvet-cushioned train seat.

"That's hard to say. This little one might want to meet you tomorrow or next week. No longer is my best guess."

"Then that's enough time to return to London."

"Absolutely not," Purity said, entering the room. "That's precisely the type of action your husband would label as unbearably reckless, and I would agree."

"But Mrs. Boswell said I need to be with him to fix my marriage."

Purity pierced the midwife with a narrowed gaze. "I am sure she didn't mean for you to run off willy-nilly."

"Your sister's right," Mrs. Boswell said. "I didn't intend for that. Once your wee one arrives, there'll be time enough to get back with your husband."

"But Alex should be here," Clarity moaned, tears pricking her eyes. "He should be at the birth. Father was at each of ours."

"Was he?" Adam asked, entering in time to hear. "News to me."

"I was there for many of them," Clarity declared, "and I know Father was, too, or at least he was pacing in the hallway beyond."

Tears started to fall, thinking of her beloved parents and the happiness of having babies.

"Why am I this impossibly weepy?" she asked.

"Probably a boy child," Mrs. Boswell said.

Purity rolled her eyes, and Clarity was glad her sister hadn't been there for the pronouncement of a golden thread between her and Alex. Yet at that moment, she could practically feel it tugging at her heart because she had gone too far and been away from him for too long.

"Adam, will you drive me to the station?"

"Of course," he said amiably until Purity's head whipped around so she could glare at him.

"No, I won't," he amended. "Foolish idea because...?" He ended with a question.

"Because we don't want her baby being born in a carriage or on a train!" Purity snapped.

"Right," Adam said. "A very foolish idea."

With that, knowing he was outnumbered by three women and too many emotions, he turned heel and disappeared from the room.

"Your baby will be here soon. I am not a midwife, and even I can tell that," Purity said. "As soon as he or she has arrived, and you feel strong enough, we will return to London."

Clarity nodded. "Mrs. Boswell said it could come anytime now."

"Why don't you write to Lord Hollidge and ask him to come quickly?" Purity suggested.

Her sister made a great deal of sense. But Clarity wasn't feeling sensible. She was feeling emotional and vulnerable, and she wanted to be with Alex.

"I shall take what you say to heart," Clarity agreed.

Alex was certain he had fallen asleep on the train to Derby, lulled by the rhythmic rattle of the tracks, and was now having one of his usual nightmares.

As he approached a carriage, which appeared undamaged but was stopped on the side of the road, he plainly heard Clarity screaming as she often did in his recent terrifying dreams.

Having paid to borrow a horse from the stable by the station, Alex was about a mile from the Diamonds' country estate. Or he was soundly asleep on the train.

Silently, feeling sick inside, he glanced at the coachman, who was standing on the road with one hand resting on the carriage.

"Lord Hollidge!" the man exclaimed, white as a sheet. "Thank God! Lady Hollidge is inside. I didn't know what to do, so I pulled over when she cried out."

Alex shook his head uncomprehendingly. Why was his wife screaming? With a shaking hand, he took hold of the carriage handle just as she yelled again.

Yanking it open, he expected to see her and his parents in a mangled heap with broken necks. That was how the nightmare often concluded.

With her head down low, Clarity was on all fours, rocking gently. When the door opened, she looked up. Her face was flushed a ruddy color.

"Alex!" she cried. "Our baby is coming!" He would swear she sounded happy, despite the circumstances.

Abruptly, he knew he was wide awake.

"Here? Now!"

"Not by my choice," she said, breathing hard, her features pinched with pain. "It's happening again." Then she went silent, lowered her head again, and in the next instant gave a keening cry of pain.

"What can I do? Why are you here?"

This was a nightmare, indeed. He didn't know the first thing about childbirth.

She said nothing, continuing to moan. And then she stopped and lifted her head again.

"How far?" she asked.

At first, he didn't know what she meant, but it dawned on him quickly.

"Less than a mile but too far, surely." He feared he would have to help her birth his baby on the roadside.

"No, it's not," she insisted. "The pain comes in waves. I watched my mother do this. Can you get me home?"

B y God he could and he would!

"Yes," he said. "What about the midwife?"

"She's in the village."

Alex thought quickly. "Can you be by yourself during the journey?" Since she was taking up most of the carriage floor, he didn't think she would argue, and he had a plan.

She lowered her head and didn't answer except for the merest of nods.

"Hold fast, my Diamond."

Another nod.

He closed the door on the woman he loved more than his life.

"Driver, take my horse. Go straight to the village and get the midwife. Do you know her?"

"Yes, sir. Mrs. Boswell."

"Good. Bring her quickly to the manor. I'll drive the carriage back to Oak Grove."

The coachman hesitated, but Alex didn't. Climbing onto the dickey, he snatched up the reins as Clarity yelled again.

"Hi-ya!" he called. As soon as he got the team moving forward, he turned them. By the time they were heading in the correct direction, the coachman was a cloud of dust going around the bend in the road.

"Can you hear me?" he called out when Clarity went silent.

There was no response. Either she couldn't hear him and the wind was taking his words, or she had collapsed.

"I love you," he shouted.

When there was no answer, he willed Clarity to be all right, and then he started to pray.

As the road to the Diamonds' country estate came into view, Alex turned down between the elm trees and tried not to think of what might await him when next he opened the carriage door.

What he found at the house's entrance was pandemonium. Maids and footmen were scurrying hither and yon with trunks and cases. Purity was ordering everyone around including her brother, who was trying to listen and to speak with the estate manager.

When Alex drove into the midst, all movement stopped for a moment and every person stared.

Finally, recognizing the carriage as the one from their own estate, Purity ran toward the horses before the carriage had even come to a halt, Adam at her side.

"Hollidge? Is that you?" The heir was the first to speak.

Then Clarity let out a cry, and Alex practically wept with relief. Hearing her was better than not hearing her, even if she was in pain.

Leaping from the seat, he was at the door before either of her siblings could beat him to it, and for the second time, he yanked it open.

"Clarity!"

No longer on all fours, she was on her side, still on the carriage floor.

"Help me get her upstairs," Alex ordered, climbing into the carriage and trying to get her onto her knees while Adam yanked down the metal step. Between the two of them, they soon had her feet upon the gravel, and then Alex swept her into his arms.

She moaned loudly, keeping her eyes closed.

"Sorry, my love," Alex said. "I know you're uncomfortable."

"No matter," she whispered, and her eyelids fluttered opened. "It's lovely to see you."

"Send for the midwife," Purity said to the nearest footman as she hurried along in front, thrusting aside anyone in their way.

"Already done," Alex ground out, not wasting words with the burden of his bulky wife clasped high against his chest.

Dropping Clarity and his unborn child was out of the question. Therefore, he let the sweat trickle down the back of him as he took to the main staircase as swiftly as he could.

"In here," Purity directed him when they reached the second floor, and he followed her inside a sunny bedchamber.

As gently as he could, he lowered Clarity onto the silk counterpane.

She sighed. "That's much better than being in the carriage.

"Why on earth were you in a carriage?" he demanded, trying to keep the severity from his tone, even though he'd had the wits scared out of him at discovering her in such a state.

"That's what I would like to know," Purity said.

Leaning over her sister and wiping a strand of hair from her forehead, she added, "When we discovered your note, we were packing up the household to follow. What if you'd begun to labor on the train?"

Alex couldn't even imagine such a situation. "Thank God my train arrived early."

Clarity looked abashed, but then he could tell by her changing expression that pain was rolling through her again.

"Where is that blasted midwife?" Alex asked as his wife closed her eyes and began to pant.

"I need to sit up," she said.

"Yes, she does, and make haste," came a firm voice from the doorway.

He turned to see a woman who looked vaguely familiar.

"Help her, both of you," the midwife ordered. "Take an arm each and get her to a seated position."

They did as they were told, and the curly-haired woman stuffed the pillows from the other side of the bed behind Clarity's back to keep her propped up.

"Now, my lord, you must vacate the room and let us get to our woman's work."

"But I—" Alex began.

"You can help by fetching some tea and a few plain biscuits for your missus to keep up her strength. Actually, get enough for all of us."

She looked at the maid, whom Alex recognized as Winnie, and seemed to be giving her the list of more important things than tea. "I'll need a pail of clean water and some clean towels, and something to spread over this fancy counterpane, unless no one cares if it gets soaked."

"Soaked with what?" Alex asked, looking from the apple-cheeked midwife to Purity and then to Clarity.

Winnie had already darted from the room, but the midwife rolled her eyes. "Never you mind. Now kiss your wife and do as I say."

He hated to leave Clarity until he'd told her everything that was on his mind, but he could see he was in the way.

"Oohh," she cried, then gave a long hiss.

Regardless, he leaned in and kissed her forehead, then her cheek, and finally, her lips.

"I love you," he told her, wishing he could look into her gorgeous eyes, but they were scrunched tightly closed.

"Love you," she managed on a brusquely expelled breath.

"Off with you," the midwife said, "and don't forget the tea and biscuits."

As he reached the door, he heard her add, "Well, ladies, shall we birth a baby today?"