“You can do that?” she asked.
“Of course,” Ned answered as if she’d asked him to walk across the room.
Gemma leaned close to Kate. “Look at me,” she ordered.
Kate obeyed.
“It will all be fine. It will.”
Kate nodded mutely, and then flinched as Ned checked on the baby. He spoke as he did so. “I can feel him. He is a good size. Feeling for the cord now.” Tense moments passed—
Abruptly, Ned jumped up on the bed, boots and all. “Back off, both of you.”
To Mr. Balfour’s credit, he did as ordered, in fact, quicker than Gemma, who was confused. To her shock, Ned picked up Kate’s heels and lifted them. “Balfour, help me.”
“Help you what?”
“We are going to shake her upside down.”
“What?”
But Ned was not in an explaining mood. He’d already had Kate up in the air. While Mr. Balfour stared dumbstruck, Gemma rose on the mattress to help. She had no idea what Ned was doing, but she trusted him.
Yes, trust. She believed in him as she had no other. She helped him give Kate several hard shakes. Kate was like a rag, doing whatever they wished.
“Let her down,” Ned said, and then he reached in. “Yes. That is what it took.”
“What?” Mr. Balfour asked again.
“The movement loosened the cord.” Ned freed his hand. “I managed to lift it off.”
“Lift it off his neck?” Mr. Balfour repeated.
“Kate,push,” was Ned’s answer.
Gemma scrambled across the bed to position herself behind Kate so that her back was against her chest. “Yes, Kate, push.Come, push.”
The woman was beyond exhausted and yet she found that extra bit of energy.
“He’s coming,” Ned said. “Push, Kate.”
Mr. Balfour stood by the side of the bed, his face an expression of fear, then shock, and then wonder as with deep shuddering breaths of exertion his wife brought his daughter into the world.
And when the first cries were heard, he fell to his knees.
Ned held the baby up as if she was a trophy. “Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Balfour.”
Kate began laughing and crying. Her husband climbed onto the mattress to rain kisses all over her face.
Gemma extricated herself from the celebration, rising from the bed. Ned handed the baby to her and she carefully carried the wee one to a basin to clean while he took care of the afterbirth. The child was perfectly formed. Ten toes, ten fingers, two eyes, and a mouth that let the world know that her coming into the world had not been easy.
The baby settled after Gemma had cleaned her and wrapped her in a cloth. For a second, she held the child before taking her over to her mother. “She’s beautiful,” Gemma murmured in wonder. “She’s just beautiful.”
Mrs. Balfour found the strength to take her daughter in her arms. Tears welled in Gemma’s eyes as she remembered holding her child the first time. Her baby had been perfect, too. And such a gift, even for the short span of her life—
Her memories were interrupted by a knock on the door. Lord Marsden called, “I’m out here. All of you are in there. Is everything fine?”
He sounded so comical that they all laughed.Mr. Balfour kissed his wife one more time before he walked to the door and opened it. He proudly announced to his friend and the servants, “I have a daughter. Adaughter.”
