Chapter 28 Endings And Beginnings #2
“I’m very happy, and so is Jamie. It’s all worked out for the best.”
“But…?” Rowena glanced down at Georgie’s stomach. “What happened?”
“I lost it,” she said bluntly. “The same day that Sophia lost hers. We had both drunk your tea, which tasted bitter… well, I thought so, and Mr Fothergill said it was tainted, so I wondered if it had caused the problem, but you’ve been drinking it forever, so it couldn’t be that, could it?”
Rowena was silent for such a long time, her breathing laboured, her hands twisting convulsively, that Georgie wondered if she had offended her all over again. When she spoke, her voice was low.
“I wonder if that was why… I thought… we all assumed I would conceive again very quickly after Caroline. But when it did not happen… month after month I hoped… and nothing happened. Once or twice I was late, and I was so excited, but nothing came of it. It made me so cross and bad-tempered, I even shouted at you, my very best friend in the world. And now I wonder if it was the tea that caused me not to conceive, because now that Hester keeps it locked up I am with child again. That is strange, is it not?”
“Oh, no, no, no!” Georgie cried. “We did wonder, for a while, but even Jamie now accepts that the tea had nothing to do with it. Just a coincidence, and you know how reluctantly Jamie admits to such a thing. Rowena, I’m so happy for you. And I think… I hope I am with child again, too.”
“Goodness! And so is Sophia! Heavens, there will be three babies all born together. Just think what great friends they will be. This is wonderful, Georgie. You must be thrilled.”
“I shall be thrilled when I hold my child in my arms,” Georgie said firmly. “Not before.”
***
SEVEN MONTHS LATER
Jamie crept into the bedroom on stockinged feet, just in case Georgie or the baby was asleep. He found Georgie sitting up in bed, the baby contentedly suckling at her breast.
“She’s a natural, your wife, Mr ’Ammond, sir,” said Mrs Trout, the village midwife. “Took to it like a duck to water, she ’as.”
“It’s the baby who’s taken to it,” Georgie said, gazing adoringly at the infant’s face.
“Babe’s allus know what’s best for ’em,” Mrs Trout said. “Right, I’ll be off now to get my Jack’s dinner, but my Sally’ll be along in a while. She knows as much as I do now, so you’ll be fine wiv ’er. Back tomorrer.”
She was a large lady who waddled rather than walked to the door. As soon as it had closed behind her, Georgie said, “Tell me all about it. What name have Richard and Rowena chosen?”
“Jane, after Rowena’s mother. Also the duke’s second duchess, but that is not such a happy association so it was not mentioned. No other name, just ‘Jane Merrington’ and the date of her birth written into the family Bible. The duke does like his little ceremonies.”
“Champagne?”
“Naturally.”
“And the baby? Was she there, too?”
“She was, and very contented. Not at all put out by the many loud voices. She is quite different from her sister — a mass of dark hair, and such big eyes. Strange how much bigger she looks than this little fellow, yet there is only three weeks’ difference between them.”
He gently touched his son’s cheek with one ink-stained finger.
“Are they very cross with me?” Georgie said. “Poor Rowena! Two girls, and I manage to produce a boy at the first attempt.”
Jamie laughed and shook his head. “Oh, they jest about swapping the babies over, but no one minds very much. Rowena is young enough to have a dozen more children, if she needs to.”
“Poor girl!” Georgie said with feeling. “Have Sophia and Mr Payne settled on a name yet?”
“Mary, after Mrs Payne’s grandmother. No ceremony for them, though, not until the Baptism.
It will not be until the spring, at the earliest, so that the Payne family can get here in comfort.
January is no time to be travelling anywhere except for a life and death emergency.
” A tiny fist broke free of its swaddling shawl, and Jamie laughed. “Look at his tiny nails!”
“He is perfect,” Georgie said with satisfaction. “If you offer him a finger, he will grasp it.”
“Really? Like this? Oh, my goodness, he has an iron grip.”
“Mrs Trout says a baby can be lifted clean into the air like that, but it’s not something I’d want to try.”
“Have you thought about a name for him?”
“What do you say to Richard, after the duke?” she said.
“There are already two Richards in the house, and very likely another one to come, if ever Rowena is blessed with a son. What about Claud, after your uncle?”
“Oh, I’d like that very much! And William, after your father. Claud William Hammond — that sounds very well, don’t you think?”
“I think it sounds wonderful.” Jamie took his spectacles off with his free hand and absentmindedly began to rub them against his waistcoat.
“Do you know, Georgie, I think I must be the luckiest man alive. I have the best wife any man could have, and now this blessing. I was so afraid before he was born, but all is well. He is well and so are you, and… and how could my life get any more perfect?”
“Now, let me think… you could discover you’re heir to an unsuspected title, like Simon Payne.”
“No, no, no! That would be a great trial to me.”
“Well, money, then. You could inherit a great fortune and become as rich as… who is that very rich man?”
“Croesus. A little extra money is always acceptable, but a fortune would be a burden, I think.”
“Your own house, then? To be master of your domain, instead of living in the Staineybank attics?”
“I love living in the attics, wife, and am I not master of my domain, just as you are mistress of it? It may only be six rooms, but it is ours, our private world where there is only you and me… and Claud William, now. We are a family, Georgie. Is that not a glorious thing?”
“It is,” she said, reaching out a hand to him. Shoving his spectacles back onto his nose, he managed to take hold of it without relinquishing his son’s tiny hand. “There are three of us now, not two, and Claud is one more for me to love with all my heart.”
“Dearest Georgie,” he whispered. “As I love you, too, now and forever.”
“That was what Henry said, too, and look how that ended,” she said with mock severity.
“Ah, but I intend to be very careful on stairs from now on.”
“You’d better keep away from the brandy bottle, too.”
“Now that I cannot allow. Without that bottle of brandy, we would still have been on formal terms. ‘Is there any more ink, Mr Hammond?’ ‘In the leftmost cupboard, Mrs Hastings.’ Just think how dreary that would be, for I should never have discovered your rather splendid apple dumplings.”
“Jamie, I do believe you are becoming used to married life, and in only a year, too. You said that without a hint of a blush.”
For answer, he leaned across the bed to kiss her soundly on the lips. “Definitely the luckiest man alive,” he murmured.
Between them, Claud William hiccuped, his eyes heavy with sleep.
THE END