“’Tis very close, my lady,” the midwife asserted.
Alienor spared her a glance.“’Twas what you said at dawn.”
The woman smiled.“Oftentimes the first makes his way slowly into the world.”
Alienor would have made some comment about this being the arrival of herlastchild, but another contraction stole her breath away, leaving her trembling in its wake.
“In truth, I can fight no more,” she said, wanting no more than to surrender the battle.
She barely noticed the ripple of agitation that passed through the assembly of women in the solar.Indeed, they were most welcome to deliver this child without her.
“My lord, you cannot,” the midwife protested.
’Twas Iolande’s gasp that made Alienor look up.Her heart stopped when she found her husband in the portal, his gaze locked upon her.
“I can and will.”Dagobert shed his helmet, coif and gloves as he crossed the chamber.He cast them carelessly aside, his attention fixed on Alienor.
She could make no sound in her amazement, so convinced had she been that he must be injured or dead.His gray gaze was filled with concern as he bent down before her and she noted the way his new growth of hair stood on end.The touch of his fingertip beneath her chin was so unbearably gentle that Alienor started to cry.
“How long has she labored?”he demanded of the midwife without averting his gaze.
“Since the moon rose.”
Dagobert nodded slowly, one hand dropping to touch Alienor’s stomach with a feather-light stroke.“’Tis close,” he whispered to her, giving her an encouraging smile that warmed her very heart.“You cannot abandon the field when victory is so close.”Their gazes locked and held and Alienor felt a smile dawn through her tears.Dagobert was alive, he was with her—and he regarded her as if she was the center of his world.Her hope blossomed anew.
“Just as I was telling her, my lord,” the midwife began, but Dagobert interrupted her with a gesture.
“Fetch my lady wife some cool water, if you please.”
“The babe is large, I fear,” Iolande explained.
Dagobert nodded at his mother before returning his attention to Alienor.Even for that moment, she missed the warmth of his gaze.His very presence convinced her that she could complete the task before her.Indeed, his survival gave meaning to their child’s arrival once again.Alienor would have confessed as much, but another contraction seized her.She gritted her teeth against the scream that rose in her throat.
“Push, love.”Dagobert’s hands gripped her shoulders and she heard his gentle command even through the pain.She struggled to do his bidding, her fingers digging into his arms.When the strain had passed and left her panting, Alienor met his gaze.She was embarrassed that he should see her thus, but reassured by the tenderness in his eyes.
“Indeed, you are early, my lady,” Dagobert murmured, brushing his lips across her forehead.“I was hard-pressed to arrive in time to witness my son’s arrival.”The warmth of his hand slipped beneath her hair to massage the tension from her nape.Alienor drew from his strength, needing to tell him the truth in her heart before the pain came again.
“Dagobert, I truly have no wish to leave you.”She whispered her confession without looking up, her heart nearly stopping when she felt his fingers pause for a moment.Was he pleased or disappointed?
“Nor do I wish to ever let you go, my love,” he whispered with such conviction that Alienor met his gaze once more.Dagobert brushed a damp strand of hair back from her face with a fingertip, smiling tenderly as he cupped her chin.“We must have a long talk and dismiss our doubts, then begin anew,” he assured her.She smiled and he winked before he continued.“But let us see first to our son.”
“It could be that I bear our daughter,” Alienor chided him, not wanting him to be disappointed, but he shook his head with confidence.
“Nay, love, from the very first I have known the babe to be a boy.”
A boy.The son he desired above all else.No wonder he was so pleased with her.Alienor’s breath caught as her muscles tightened once again, the room spinning as Dagobert scooped her up in his arms.He seated himself behind her on the birthing stool, much to the shock of the returning midwife.
The midwife’s response fed Alienor’s agitation and she twisted around, meaning to protest Dagobert’s presence, but he would not be dismissed.Indeed, his very stillness was a welcome relief from the flustering of the women.He whispered reassurances in her ear and she leaned back against him.When next the pain came, she drew strength from his serenity, pushing as she never had before, and felt the babe move downward with his encouragement.
Each contraction brought steady progress.Dagobert held a cup of cool water to her lips and bathed her face between contractions, the solid strength of his presence making the task no longer seem insurmountable.The rest of the room and its inhabitants faded away for Alienor as the contractions became so close as to seem without cessation: there was only the low reassurance of Dagobert’s murmured words.When the babe finally eased into the midwife’s waiting hands, his aims tightened around Alienor in relief and he pressed a kiss into her ear.The child hollered and the midwife grinned.
“A boy,” she announced.
Alienor almost laughed, falling back against Dagobert in her exhaustion.Her eyelids drifted closed despite herself.’Twas done.’Twas done, and Dagobert had his son.
“You spoke aright,” she whispered.
“Aye.”
