The two women unpacked the garments and put them away. Cicely had to admit to being relieved to have her own things about her again. It somehow made Glengorm feel more welcoming. When they had finished Orva said she would go to see how Lady Grey’s labor was coming. She went first to the hall to request permission to use thesmall chamber next to her mistress, and the laird gave it to her with a smile.
“I think my ladyfaire is happy to have you with her again,” he said.
“You must not beat her again, especially before others,” Orva said quietly.
“God forgive me, but I lost my temper when she threw that little goblet,” he admitted. “Do you think I hurt her?” He looked genuinely concerned.
Orva gave him a small smile. “Only her pride,” she told him. “It is as great as yours, I suspect.” Then she gave him a quick curtsy.
Orva did not stop to speak to Lord Grey, who was deep in conversation with Sir William. She hurried back upstairs, stopping first to see how Lady Grey’s labors were progressing. She arrived in time to see the infant slip from its mother’s body, howling loudly. Not even waiting to learn the child’s gender, she ran to fetch Cicely, who came swiftly.
“It’s a boy!” Agnes the midwife crowed. “And hear him howl, and look at that bairn’s manhood! It’s large for a newborn.” She looked to Lady Grey. “Does the laddie take after his da then, my lady?”
Maggie laughed weakly. “Aye,” she said. “Ohh, give him to me, please!”
“A moment more, my lady, so he may be cleaned and swaddled. And you must be refreshed now that all is done,” Agnes said.
“What is that?” Cicely was staring at a bloody mass in a brass basin.
“ ’Tis the afterbirth, my lady,” Mab told her. “We’ll bury it beneath an oak so the bairn may be strong.”
The infant was wiped free of blood and rubbed down with oil. Then he was wrapped in swaddling bands and brought to his mother.
Maggie’s eyes filled with tears. “He looks just like Andrew,” she said, sounding both pleased and happy. She touched the baby’s cheek with the tip of her finger. “He’s perfect. Take him to his father now, and then bring him back to me.”
They handed the child to Cicely, whose face was suddenly filled with panic. “I’ve never held a baby before,” she half whispered. “What if I drop him?”
Maggie smiled. “You won’t. Tell my husband to come back with you, and thank you for giving us shelter, and such a good place for our son to be born.”
“There, dearie,” Mab said. “You’re holding him just right.”
Cicely walked from the bedchamber cradling the newborn infant in the crook of her arm. Orva moved ahead of her. They descended the staircase into the hall. The child had decided to howl loudly once again, and Cicely was terrified she was doing something wrong, but Orva assured her she was not.
As they entered the hall Lord Grey ran forward. “Is it . . . ? he asked.
“A boy, my lord,” Cicely told him.
Andrew Grey looked down into his son’s face. Tears sprang to his eyes. “Maggie?” he asked.
“Well, and anxious to see you,” Cicely said.
“She said she would give me a son,” Lord Grey said wonderingly.
Then, pushing past Cicely and the baby, he ran up the stairs to see his wife.
Cicely brought the baby into the hall for the others to see. The Grey heir was suitably admired, and then Orva took him from her mistress.
“I’ll take him back upstairs to his cradle,” she said.
Cicely suddenly found herself with Ian Douglas. Sir William seemed to have disappeared. “They wouldn’t let me see the birth,” she said, not knowing what else to say.
“It’s a fine strong lad Maggie’s given her husband,” the laird said quietly.
“You want children,” Cicely said.
“Aye, don’t you?” he responded.
“Aye, but I don’t know how many, and I pray I am not like myown mam. She died after I was born. If I loved you I wouldn’t want to birth your son and then die,” Cicely said. “It would be far too sad, my lord.”
