“I hear your little lad a’way down here.”
“You do?”
He nodded, set his tube down, and lifted his hands above her abdomen. “May I?”
Charlotte appreciated his consideration. She guessed he would not ask permission before examining other patients who came to him. She swallowed but nodded. He put his hands firmly around the lower portion of her belly, feeling and gently pushing.
“Here is his little rump right here.”
“You can feel that?”
“He is all curled up down here, bottom side up. No wonder I had difficulty auscultating his heart.”
“He is all right, then?”
“Seems so. About the bleeding though.”
“It is only a little.”
“Yes, and it does not necessarily mean there are any problems. Still, I ought to examine you ... internally, to see if your body is readying to give birth.”
“But it is too soon!” She sat up on the table.
He looked at her quizzically, and Charlotte saw the question in his eyes.Too soon to examine you or too soon to give birth? She looked away from his raised-brow gaze.
“Charlotte?”
She squeezed her eyes closed and reached behind herself again, attempting to undo the remaining buttons, unable to look at him as she did so.
Would it be less terrible to disrobe before Dr. Taylor than Dr. Preston—or worse? Eyes still winced shut, she was surprised to hear the door open. She looked and saw him standing at the threshold, his hand on the latch.
“There’s no need to remove your gown,” he said over his shoulder.
He called for Gibbs and whispered instructions to her in the corridor. In a few minutes she returned, Mrs. Krebs in tow.
Dr. Taylor said, “Mrs. Krebs will have a look at you, Char ... Miss Smith.”
“I will,” Mrs. Krebs grumbled, “but I’m no surgeon, mind.”
“A finer midwife I have never known.”
“That’s been a few years now, Dr. Taylor.”
“You remember the rudiments, no doubt.”
“I suspect so.”
To Charlotte he said, “If she sees anything worrisome, I will need to examine you myself, but if not, we shall wait a day or two and see if the bleeding ceases on its own. All right?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
He left the room, and Charlotte wondered which of them was more relieved.
Mrs. Krebs found nothing amiss and helped Charlotte refasten the buttons she could not reach earlier. “Dr. Taylor must have taken a shine to you, miss,” she said.
“No! Nothing of the kind. It is only that he ... that he is known to my family. That is, when I was quite young. It is a bit awkward, is all.”
She tutted, then said, “As you say, miss.” She left the room, leaving Charlotte quite sure the woman didn’t believe a word she had said.
