A Highlander's Home (25 page)

             
He rubbed his crotch.  It was starting to really annoy. 

             
She kept her door locked and always had one of her ladies with her.  He had sent for Mac.  Mac did not know much about female maladies, but he was more informed about the human body than anyone else in the village except for the midwife.

             
He snapped his fingers.  Why hadn’t he thought about that before?  Midwives were not only for women with child.  Perhaps she could figure out Raine’s malady.  He sent the stable boy to fetch her.

             
As he stood outside of Raine’s bedroom, he rolled his eyes and sighed for the twentieth time.  How much longer could it possibly be?  She’d been in there for an hour already.  He could hear her shuffling about, mumbling – probably complaining.  He straightened.  Perhaps she was taking so long because there was something horribly wrong with Raine.  Some dreadful malady that even the midwife could not heal.  He pounded on the door.

             
Raine jumped at the sound.  She sat at the edge of the bed in her
night robe
, the ribbons laced clear up to her chin with her skirts reaching past her toes.  The midwife was having a dreadful time examining her.

             
There was nothing wrong with her, but she needed to prolong her illness as long as possible.  She did not want to come out of her rooms until it was time for Leith to take her to the stones.  She had become too attached to them already and found herself missing the company of Lady MacGregor fiercely.  Her body ached in places that she didn’t know she had, place that Leith’s hands and mouthed had found so easily. 

             
The midwife huffed and puffed and finally flipped Raine onto her back with strength that belied her age.  Her
gnarled
hands clawed through the layers of silk and ribbons and ruffles trying to examine some flesh while battling Raine’s hands that replaced every scrap of material that managed to move.

             
The old woman finally won the battle and was able to place her hand over Raine’s belly.  She gasped and stumbled backwards, gripping the door. 

             
“Ye’re with child!”  Her eyes narrowed.  “And ye have not told the Laird.”

             
Raine turned as white as her silk night gown.  She shook her head. 

             
“No, that’s impossible.”  She felt better saying that.  “You gave me those herbs.  I drank the tea every day, just like you said.  You gave me the herbs
so I couldn’t get pregnant.”

             
The midwife smiled.  “I gave you no such herbs, lass.”

             
The old woman reached under Raine’s skirts again, poking and prodding her way up, feeling Raine’s tender breasts, plucking the nipple which caused a yelp of pain.

             
Leith banged on the door again.  “What’s going on in there?  I want to come in.  Is my wife ill, lady?  Can ye heal her?”

             
The midwife yelled her reply of, “Aye, my laird, she can be healed.”  Turning to Raine she said with a laugh, “In about six or seven months.”

             
Raine smacked her hands away and jumped up.  “You gave me those herbs.  You know you did!”

             
The old lady smiled.  “I gave ye herbs, that be right as rain, lass.  But I never told ye what they were for.”

             
“What were they for then?” Raine asked, not knowing if she wanted to know the answer.

             
The woman’s grin went ear to ear, revealing her rotting teeth.  “They were mint leaves, for relief of
poor
breath.”

             
Raine stared at her.  She envisioned grabbing the old woman by the neck and throwing her frail little body out the window.

             
Through gritted teeth, she ground out, “I specifically told you that we wanted to wait until the new year to start a family.  We did not want to have any children right now.”  To ease
the old woman, Raine added, “I told you th
at we wanted to enjoy our honey
moon first.”

             
The midwife waved her hand in the air.  “Posh!  Rubbish!  The whole lot of it! 
I will not be answering to him –
“
she pointed her thumb towards the door “– that I had a hand in preventing his seed from ta
ken root and providing this God
forsaken patch of dirt with an heir!”

             
The door was starting to shudder from the pounding.  “I’m going to break the door down, my ladies, if someone does not open it this minute.”  The calmness in his voice belied the anger that Raine knew lurked beneath.  He had taken that tone with her many times.

             
The midwife moved to open the door.  Raine lurched at her and pinned her down on the floor. 

             
“Wife of the Laird or not, I will throw ye out the window if ye do not get off of me!” she yelled.

             
“What’s in bloody hell is going on in there!”

             
Raine was frantic.  “Please don’t tell him.”

             
The sunken faded eyes of the midwife bulged out of their sockets.  “Ye want me to lie to the Laird?  He could have me whipped and hanged!!

             
Raine raised her up and grabbed her hands.  “No.  I don’t want to get his hopes up. It’s too early to tell isn’t it?  You barely looked at me!”

             
“Then let me examine you fully,” came the retort.

             
A slight pause and Raine huffed, “Fine.  But no matter the results,
I
will be the one to tell him.  Agreed?” She held out her hand.

             
The midwife
narrowed her eyes.  The Laird might enjoy being told of his upcoming fatherhood from his own wife.  She agreed. The two shook hands.

             
The weathered face of the midwife peeked through the door and the angry brooding face of the Laird.  “We’ll be done shortly, my lord.”  She gave her best smile of crooked
,
decaying teeth.

             
A few minutes later, Raine lay on the bed staring at the ceiling, feeling doomed.  She was pregnant.

             
“You lied to me. I asked you for birth control and you gave me breath mints!” she accused the old woman.

             
“Och, now, lass. 
Ye’venothing to fret about.
The Laird, he’s a good mon, and he’ll be a good father to the twins,” she replied, gathering up her bags of strange herbs and medieval tools.

             
“Twins?  What?”

             
She turned to Raine and took a deep breath.  “Lass, ye must understand.  The purpose of marrying is to produce sons and secure ye’re place in ye’re husbands house.”  She motioned to Raine’s belly.  “And that ye have!  Be happy about it instead of as glum as a starving kitchen mouse.”

             
Smoothing down her skirts, she took Raine’s face in between her thumb and forefinger, turning her face this way and that.  “Hmmm.  I did right.  I gave ye herbs, but not what ye asked for, true enough.  I couldn’t appease ye for not wanting a child as well as appease him in helping ye get with child.  Nature has taken
its
course, and ye seem none
the
worse for wear.”

             
As the midwife walked to the door, Raine said glumly, “You should not have lied to me. 
I didn’t want to become pregnant.  Yet, anyway.”

             
A tornado of wrinkles and gray hair whirled upon her
as she cackled with a grin,
  “Then ye should have kept ye’re bloody legs closed!!”

             
And with that, she yanked open the door and stomped past a frowning Leith.

             
He called to her departing back, “Will
all
be
right, old woman?”

             
She half turned and gave a sloppy curtsey, cackling, “She will be fine, my lord!  Keep doing what ye’ve been and she will be right as rain!
Ha!
”

Chapter 2
2

             
Later that evening, Leith was giving the last of his orders to the castle guards as he ascended the steps to his wife’s rooms.  When the midwife had left, Raine had pleaded yet another headache and this time she looked like she actually had one.

             
He would look in on her, see if she needed anything, and then depart for his rooms
where he would spend the night alone. 

             
The knock on the door was soft, but she had been unable to sleep so she was still awake when he arrived.  She knew it was him.  She knew the sound of his footsteps. 

             
“Come in,” she called.

             
A tousle of black hair peaked through a slight opening.  “I just wanted to see if ye needed anything before I seek my own rooms.”  He sounded dejected and tired.

             
Sitting on the edge of the bed, she played with the ruffle of her night dress.  “Would you like to come in and talk for a while?  I can’t seem to sleep,” she offered nervously.

             
Stepping into the room, he closed the door but remained where he was.

             
This was dreadful.  A few weeks ago he was claiming every inch of her body as his own and now he felt like a schoolboy who was waiting for a whipping from the headmaster.

             
“What’s wrong with ye?”
he asked bluntly.

             
She frowned at him.

             
He walked towards her.  “I mean, what ails ye so?  One day ye’re fine, rolling around under the sheet
s with me laughing like a lil’
girl, and now ye’ve been stuck up in these rooms for weeks, seeing no one but ye’re ladies.  Not even my mother.”

             
Raking his hand through his hair, he muttered more to himself than her, “Och, I will never understand women.”

             
She reached out, laying her hand on his broad shoulder.  She could feel the tenseness of the muscles
underneath
.  Bringing her forehead to rest on him, she whispered, “I’m sorry.  So sorry, for everything.  I never meant for any of this to happen.”

             
He was on his knees in front of her, between her legs, and grasped her small hands in his larger ones. 

“For what, lass?” he said, almost urgently, the anger bubbling to the surface.  “For driving me insane?  For making me wonder over and over what I did to offend ye?  Not that I haven’t done many things to offend ye, but ye always fought back, except this time.  Ye lock yerself up in this blasted room and refuse to see me, claiming ye’ve a headache coming yet again.  How many headaches can one woman have at a time?
  Is it ye’re time?  Is ye’re cycle upon ye?  If ye’re embarrassed to tell me, do not be.  I’m a grown man, lass, and I know enough to stay as far away from ye as possible during that time, but this is ridiculous!”

             
Raine had not the faintest clue what to do or say.  Never in all of her life had a man ever shown her such caring.  She had tried to distance herself to make their separation easier when the time came, but it seems that all she had accomplished was making everyone miserable.  Including herself. 

             
“I am so sorry, Leith.  Really I am.”  She lifted his face to hers, placing a feather light kiss on his lips.  How she had missed those lips.

             
“What on earth is the matter
with ye
then, lass?”  He looked so confused and pathetic.  He buried his face in her skirts.

             
She ran her fingers through his jet black curls.  “I thought it would be easier for us to part when we go to the stones if we started getting used to it now.  I thought that if we just stayed away from each other until then that it wouldn’t hurt so much to leave.  I’m so sorry.”

             
He wiped the tear that rolled down her cheek and ran his finger along the outside of her bottom lip. 
He shook his head at her. 
“Ye’re daft.”

             
She laughed, releasing another tear. 

             
“Ye thought to ease our parting next month by starting it now?  What idiocy.”

             
Smiling up at her, he thought she never looked more beautiful.  Her hair was loose around her shoulders, her skin was fairly glowing even though she hadn’t been outside in days, and her eyes were the greenest he had ever seen them.