“What bluidy madness,” Rhys yelled, then elbowed a cameraman out of the way when he surged from the crowd. A camera fell to the ground with a loud crack. “Back ye bluidy beasts! Back, I say!”
The cameraman crouched over his broken equipment and cursed, rude and eloquently. Rhys’s face turned as red as his hair. Likely as a noble courtier, he’d never heard such expletives, but his shock didn’t stop him from responding with colorful flair.
A hand shot out, reaching for Scarlett, snagging her hair. “Is it real?Oi, is it real?”
Scarlett cringed, curling against Laird. Another contraction clawed at her belly and she bowed over, one hand beneath the bulge as if she might hold the baby in just a little longer. Her knees gave way in truth and she stumbled, a cry of pain escaping her before she could stifle it.
The zealous crowd gushed forward, sensing weakness. More questions, shouted one over the other.
Laird held tight to her but pain made it impossible for her legs to cooperate. he swept her into his arms and plowed forward. “Enough of these bowfing louts. Rhys! To arms!”
With a bloodcurdling battle cry, Rhys pulled his dagger in one hand and unsheathed his sword with the other.
“Away wi’ ye, ye manky scut,” Rhys swung at the crowd. Under threat of the blade, they bowed backward long enough for their group to push through to the doors.
To the cool silence of the lobby.
It didn’t last long there either.
* * *
“Everything’s looking good, Scarlett,” Emmy’s intonation was calm, soothing in the peace of the hospital room an hour later. The needle on the monitor signaled the rise of another contraction. “Breathe through. Excellent.”
Some of the chaos beyond the maternity ward had attempted to follow them in, but the staff and security in the hospital had done a superior job banishing both the paparazzi and the spectators. Whether their discretion was because of policy, Scarlett’s celebrity status, or the trio of volatile Scotsmen who had them all shaking in their boots, Scarlett wasn’t certain.
Whatever the case may be, she was feeling surprisingly serene for a woman in the final stages of labor. The systemic painkillers added to her IV drip probably had some influence on her mood. Scarlett didn’t even mind knowing the handful of reporters lingering outside had grown in numbers, waiting for news or affirmation of her surprise pregnancy.
“No need to be afraid anymore.” The phrase had become Emmy’s mantra since they’d arrived, though Scarlett wasn’t sure if it was she Emmy was trying to reassure at this point or herself.
Scarlett bit her lip against the now-muffled pain but chuckled beneath it. “I’m not afraid really. I did all this once before in a time when all they provided to cut the pain was a knife beneath the mattress.Thatwas terrifying. Just the sight of all this modern technology has all the soothing effect of an epidural.”
“That’s the drugs, honey.” Emmy laughed and Scarlett joined her as the contraction passed. “They make me feel better, too. There isn’t a baby I’ve delivered I don’t wish for something to ease the pain. This will be a cakewalk for both of us, right?”
“I have faith in you, Emmy.”
“And I have faith in the staff here,” Emmy responded. “I’ve read about Dr. Patel in some medical journals. She’s an excellent neonatologist.”
Emmy stood and moved around the room, checking monitors and the IV bag. Scarlett thought it peculiar how Emmy seemed so at home yet out of place, her red woolen carriage gown and bustled skirts a sharp contrast to the modern medical equipment. At least Scarlett had been given a hospital gown to change into.
Hermione shadowed Emmy, clutching the picture book she’d been given to occupy her and asking questions one after another without breaking stride. Emmy answered them softly, before directing the toddler back to the chair next to the bed.
“Do you miss all this?” Scarlett asked Emmy.
Silence fell for a prolonged moment. “Sometimes.” Then after a lengthier pause, “You?”
“Given what we saw out there, what do you think?” she responded immediately. Another contraction built and ebbed. “But other things…yes, sometimes.”
“Hot showers that last forever.”
“Real coffee.”
Emmy nodded and smiled over her shoulder. “Heating.”
“Air-conditioning,” Scarlett countered.
“Yes.”
“Driving.”
