A warm breath huffed against my hair, and I realised that Fanny had come over and was sitting on the arm of the sofa, listening. Elizabeth was busy chatting to a friend, and Fanny was no doubt hoping that her mother would overlook her presence and let her stay with the grown-ups. She idly reached out and nabbed a petit four from my plate and nibbled it, dropping crumbs down the side of the sofa.
‘And what of your own husband, Felicity? Will Mr Fitzroy be joining you at Godmersham in the near future? You must be due quite soon.’ Henrietta’s gaze lowered to my oversized belly, and I sensed that she was intrigued to know what I was doing here when I was so obviously about to give birth.
‘Unfortunately not, he is staying in Derbyshire,’ I replied, casting about for a way to direct the conversation away from my pregnancy.
But one of her finely plucked eyebrows rose, sensing something untoward. ‘Surely he would not want you to travel back in your condition. Why, you could end up giving birth in a roadside inn.’ She pressed her hand to her lips, asif the thought both horrified and amused her.
‘No, indeed. I … I am here for my confinement,’ I said, stumbling a little and feeling very wary about giving her this piece of information as I knew that statement was likely to make her start prodding around even further.
‘Well, I never,’ she murmured. ‘You must be onverygood terms with the Austens for them to agree to let you give birth here.’
I nodded and, ignoring my thumping heart, said my rehearsed speech. ‘Since it is my first child, I wanted to be in the company of someone who was well versed in the process. Mydear friendElizabeth ...’
Henrietta seemed to lap it up, saying ‘Indeed’ and ‘Of course’ at appropriate intervals.
I desperately tried to get Jane’s attention when Henrietta wasn’t looking so she could rescue me, but she was deep in conversation with April about some blasted book and did not see my subtle eyebrow wiggling.
‘What remedies have you tried for your nausea and swelling?’ asked Henrietta, abruptly changing the subject.
I swallowed, thinking about Mrs Busby’s hot smelly herbal bath. ‘Ah, I have not had too much nausea, and I find herbal baths ease my swelling.’
Henrietta nodded in approval. ‘Yes, I found those excellent when I was carrying April. She was so heavy nearthe end that my legs swelled up like an elephant’s. I strongly recommend chamomile. There is a bush of it in my garden at Willowmere. I will ask our kitchen maid to pick a large bunch, and our footman will send it over to you in our carriage.’
I blinked, imagining an empty carriage travelling down the road filled to the brim with chamomile flowers. ‘Thank you, that is very kind of you.’
She started to talk at length about her own delivery experience, which sounded nightmarish. But I couldn’t exactly excuse myself and lumber off, so I was forced to listen to it.
Fanny had taken Jane’s seat next to me now that she felt more confident Elizabeth wasn’t going to throw her out. She leaned against my arm, humming softly to herself, plucking at an embroidered flower on my gown. I prayed she wasn’t listening to what Henrietta was saying too closely as it would put her off having a baby for life!
‘And then she got stuck. The doctor had to reach inside and turn her ...’
Oh, I did not want to hear this! It was making me think of my own poor mama! I started feeling sick, and some acid bile came up, making me gulp it back down hastily. But in doing so, my stomach made a weird gurgling noise. Fanny giggled. ‘Your baby is moving, Aunty Felicity.’
Before I could stop her, she had placed two hands squarely on either side of my belly in an attempt to ‘feel the baby’ and started squeezing hard.
‘Goodness, how soft your tummy is!’ she announced loudly to the room. ‘Not like Mama’s was at all. Youmusttake more exercise!’ she scolded, and some of the ladies tittered. Oh dear lord!
However, it was fortunate that Fanny did say it loudly as Jane immediately saw my predicament and leapt up and whisked Fanny’s hands away from my stomach, saying, ‘Stop that at once, you little minx! Do you want to hurt Aunty Felicity’s baby?’
‘I didn’t mean to,’ she whined.
‘Fanny, it’s time you left the adults to talk in peace. Take a petit four and go and play with your dolls until supper please,’ said Elizabeth sharply.
Firmly chastened by her aunt and her mother, Fanny pouted and slunk off back upstairs. I filled my lungs with several deep breaths while Jane made a pretence of fussing around, asking if I was all right, and got me another cup of tea.
Meanwhile, having had her birthing ordeal story cut off (thank God), Henrietta had lost interest in me and turned to converse with another lady seated across from us, whose son had returned from fighting the French on account of an injury.
‘But hedoesstill have all his limbs?’ enquired Henrietta, seeing a potential match for April in the making.
Jane plopped down next to me with the last of the petits fours.
‘That was close,’ I muttered to her. ‘But I think we got away with it.’
We knocked our petits fours together to celebrate and popped them in our mouths.
Chapter 8
As the tea party progressed, I grew weary of talk of balls, dresses, and eligible gentlemen for one’s daughters. I wanted to go and check on Lucinda to make sure she was all right.
