Secrets of a Spinster (41 page)

T
he hallway was littered with men. It couldn’t be helped when they’d all arrived in such haste and without plan, and considering the bustle of the house, there were no servants available to prepare a room for any of them. No one complained, not even the stray servant that had to weave between the lot of them to get by.

Not that Geoff cared about his companions or their well-being. He had quite enough to be getting on with.

No one was telling him a blasted thing.

He had been sitting out here in the hall for hours without any idea of what was going on. Duncan paced anxiously back and forth, Colin sat against a wall and stared at the ceiling as if it held all the answers, Derek stood like a soldier by the stair in preparation to ride off as needed, and Nathan leaned against a wall nearby with his head bowed. All of them seemed as anxious as he, but that wasn’t possible. They had all lived through this. They were all fathers multiple times over.

But Geoff, despite his almost six years of marriage, was not.

He knew how Mary had ached for children, cried in the night when she thought he was asleep, and wondered if her advancing age had prevented it being possible.

She was not that old, as he was constantly reminding her, and women of thirty-three had children all the time. But she was convinced that this was all her fault, that she had missed her opportunity, and she had prevented him from the joys of fatherhood. He’d done everything in his power to persuade her otherwise, and assured her that being with her was enough.

The six years they had spent together had been the best years of his life. He had grown to love her more and more every day. Not that theirs was a perfect marriage, for they had their share of disagreements and disputes. But at the end of the day, there was friendship and love between them, and there was no obstacle that they didn’t face together and no problem they couldn’t solve.

Except this one.

His heart had come close to breaking for her, knowing what an extraordinary mother she would be, if given the chance. She couldn’t know that those nights that he held her when she cried, he’d cried as well. He would have moved heaven and earth for the merest chance of granting this dream for her.

And then… the most miraculous thing had occurred. Seven months ago, Mary had told him over his breakfast that she was with child, and then after enduring his ebullient celebration that involved him swinging her around and around, and then waltzing with her around the breakfast table, she’d become sick all over his shoes. It was his first inkling that the pregnancy might not be as smooth as that of his friends and their wives.

She had been sick for her entire pregnancy and only recently had been feeling well enough to let her friends visit. Geoff had been tending to her the entire time, waiting on her hand and foot for months, and apparently, he’d made quite a nuisance of himself, as she had forbade him from doing anything anymore.

Last week she’d insisted that he accompany his friends to one of Derek’s northern estates to oversee some repairs. He’d utterly refused, with her being only weeks from her time, but she had been adamant. More than that, she had already arranged for Moira and Kate to be with her while he was gone. As those two women were mothers multiple times over, he was relented. He still had his doubts, but when his wife had her mind set on something, there was no sense at all in arguing the point.

They’d only been gone one night when he received word from an express rider that the baby was coming and he needed to return.

It spoke of the quality of the men he called friends that they had not only come back with him, but had ridden just as hard.

They arrived with the word that the baby had not come yet, that Mary did not want him in the room, which perturbed him on a great many levels, and that the doctor was feeling encouraged by her progress.

So here he was out in the hall he was with his friends, trying his best not to turn completely insane with worry and anxiety. He’d started with pacing the halls, then turned to sitting and fidgeting, then finally took up a position just before the door, facing it, waiting. Faintly, he could hear the sounds of distress from their bedchamber and each sound gripped his heart in a vice and made his hand clench to reach for the doorknob.

He asked every fifteen minutes if he was needed, but she always refused. It troubled him. Moira had called for Nathan during her first delivery, and he had been just as present for the subsequent children. Kate, on the other hand, never allowed Derek on the same level of the house as she was when she delivered. He had attempted to barge his way in with their first son, but she’d made Duncan carry him from the house and contain him in the garden until the child was present. As far as he knew, they still fought over it, but Kate was always victorious.

Geoff loved his wife, and respected her a great deal, but he now understood Derek’s frustrations. His place was in there with her, not out here wondering what was going on, wondering how much longer she would have to endure this, and wondering, God forbid, if she should live or die. He’d never let his mind dwell on the possibility, but now it loomed before him with terrifying power.

A series of short and very young cries emanated from the room beyond him and he felt his chest expand with surprising swiftness. He faltered a bit as he became slightly light-headed, but Duncan held him steady.

“Congratulations,” Duncan said with a laugh as he pounded his back. “Your child has quite the set of lungs.”

Geoff laughed himself and turned to embrace his friend tightly.

The others eagerly extended their felicitations with hugs and handshakes and back thumping. He would later recall seeing the slight sheen of tears in Colin’s eyes, but at this moment, he could only stare at the door in anticipation. His child… their child… continued to wail from inside, and he grinned at the sound.

When no one came to bring him in, he started to feel the slightest rise of panic.

“Oh, it can take a while,” Derek assured him with a hand on his shoulder. “When Helena was born, Kate had me wait an entire hour before I could even go into the room. You all left before that happened, but I was a mess. Turned out Kate wanted to sleep before I came in to bother her. Didn’t see the need to have me informed of that.”

“Moira did the same with Lizzie,” Nathan said with a laugh. “Kicked me out of the room once she was born and wouldn’t let me back in until she had rested. Perhaps this means you have a daughter, Geoff.”

He smiled at the thought, but it didn’t make him worry any less.

He could hear the room bustling beyond, but no one made any sounds of distress or horror or mourning that he could hear. Even the child had stopped crying, for whatever reason.

The wait was agonizing. Colin resumed Duncan’s pacing, Derek sat where Colin had, Duncan stood next to him, and Nathan took up his former place on the wall.

He started bouncing on his heels when Duncan muttered, “Easy, Geoff. If there was a problem, you would have been informed of it by now.”

“Doctor Durham is the best,” Colin said even as his pacing increased. “Just ask Thomas Granger, he wants the man petitioned for Sainthood, I swear.”

The others nodded in affirmation of his claim.

As the Grangers lived only two estates over from this house, Geoff was inclined to believe him. But he would make a point to verify that with Granger once things were settled here. Colin didn’t know all the particulars of the Granger’s story, or perhaps he did, as it was Colin, after all, but the others knew even less.

Still, Mary was in capable hands with Moira, Kate, and the inestimable Doctor Durham.

He exhaled slowly and waited.

Just when he thought he was about to be driven mad, he could hear the baby cry again and laughter resounded from the room. He felt himself breathe easier. Laughter was a sound he had nearly forgotten in his wait.

“How long was it?” he murmured to Duncan.

“Twenty-five minutes,” he promptly replied, checking his pocket-watch.

Geoff nodded, narrowing his eyes. “She’ll pay for that.”

All of the others laughed loudly. “I think she just did,” Colin crowed as he came over.

“You’ll never win another battle again,” Nathan assured him with a slow nod. “After what she has just endured… You’ll never match it.”

Geoff sobered slightly, knowing it was true.

The door opened and Kate appeared, looking rather haggard, but beaming. Her hair, normally so perfect, was in a bit of disarray, but she didn’t seem to care. She looked straight at Geoff with a smirk.

“Well?” he said with a touch of impatience when she didn’t say anything.

“Mary did beautifully,” Kate replied in a soft voice, smiling. “I’ve never seen a woman deliver so quietly, but she is very strong, your wife. She is tired, obviously, but altogether quite well.”

He swallowed down a rather extensive lump of emotions that had lodged in his throat. “Can I see her?” he rasped without shame.

She smiled. “Of course. But don’t you want to ask after anyone else?”

The others chuckled, and Geoff grinned. “How is the baby, Kate?”

Now she seemed to have difficulty swallowing, but she smiled through her sudden tears. “They are fine.”

Which of his friends gasped, he couldn’t tell. He only knew that he couldn’t breathe and the sounds of jubilation coming from the others, the pounding on his back, all went unnoticed as he stared at Kate open-mouthed in shock.

“They?” he finally managed.

She nodded, grinning. “You have two children, Geoff. Two beautiful, healthy babies.”

“Are… are you sure?” he stammered, shaking his head. “We’ve been trying for so long…”

She laughed and put her hand on his arm. “I’m quite sure, Geoff. I was there the entire time. You have two perfect children, your wife is delirious with joy and doing well, and if I stand here talking to you about it any longer, she will never forgive me.” She stepped back and gestured for him to enter.

He didn’t need any further encouragement. He raced into the room and saw the doctor washing his hands in the sitting room. He smiled cordially at him.

“All well, Mr. Harris,” Doctor Durham said cheerily. “I shall be back tomorrow morning to see to all three, but I don’t foresee the slightest hiccup of a problem.”

Geoff nodded and shook his hand repeatedly. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure, to be sure, to be sure,” he replied with a chuckle. He picked up his bag and left the room with a bow.

Geoff would seriously consider taking up that petition with Granger for getting the good doctor sainted.

He turned with breathless anticipation to the bedroom. Slowly, almost hesitantly, he stepped in, his eyes instantly clapping on Mary, who was pale, drawn, completely disheveled, and so beautiful it made his chest ache. She was staring down at the bundle in her arms, smiling with a serenity words could not describe.

He hated to disturb the scene, but he couldn’t contain himself. “Mary,” he breathed.

She looked up at him, her eyes shining with tears, but her smile broad. “Come meet your son, my love.”

He moved to her side and looked down at the child in her arms.

“A son,” he murmured, reaching out to touch a small hand. The fingers spread out instinctively, and he was struck by the perfection of this infant. He shook his head. “He’s beautiful.”

“And he’s the oldest,” Mary informed him with a laugh, “and quite impatient.”

“This little one, on the other hand,” came Moira’s voice from somewhere behind him, “is the sweetest little angel that was ever born.”

Geoff turned to see Moira sitting in the chair with a second bundle. His eyes immediately fixed on it.

“That is our daughter,” Mary murmured softly, a smile evident in her tone. “She took a little coaxing.”

Moira stood and brought the baby over to him, laying her gently in his unpracticed arms.

Geoff stared down at the baby, a new and confusing twist of emotions playing within him. He felt a surge of pride that inexplicably caused his eyes to water and his throat to close. These were his children.

He was a father.

He tried to speak, but couldn’t. He shook his head at the embarrassing show of emotion and the nondescript sounds that emanated from his throat.

Moira smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll leave you alone to have this family time. Come and fetch me when you need a reprieve.”

He nodded, knowing he would probably want to hold his children for the rest of their lives, and also knowing that was not going to be true in coming weeks and months. But for this moment, it was.

Moira left the room and the only sound heard was the fire crackling in the hearth nearby.

Mary suddenly touched his arm gently, and he was drawn out of his reverie. He looked down at her with a bewildered smile.

“Two?” he asked.

She grinned and blushed a bit. “I’ve suspected for some time, but it seemed impertinent to vocalize them when we were already blessed to have been pregnant at all.”

He could understand that. “You could have told me,” he scolded softly, sitting on the bed next to her carefully so as not to jostle his daughter.