Page 155 of Tales of Highland Loyalty

The breeze rippled back around the glen side, finding nothing to stop it from getting higher and higher. Overhead, ducks quacked as Nora was taken by a deep ache. The pains were like nothing she had ever known—deep, potent, and quickening.

"Ach," she moaned, finally admitting it.

Then, everything happened fast. William dropped the fish he had finally speared and raced over.

"Och! Nora!" he burst out. "Dinnae fash, I'll keep ye tranquil. Ye can rely on me, calm an' steady. We'll get ye to the castle in time."

Nora looked at him. She really did not think she was going to make it back to Duncan Castle. But for a few moments, the pain was gone.

Sighing, she relaxed, smiling at William's attempts to remain calm. In actual fact, she was feeling better now. Taking a rod, she inspected the line as if she knew what she was doing. Then, casting it, she struck William right in the face.

"Oops, excuse me!" giggled Nora, as William wiped live bait off his cheek. William just shook his head, nonplussed, as Nora convulsed with laughter,

"It's nae that funny," complained William, taking the rod. He rolled his eyes at her face. Then Nora stopped.

Och. Rubbing her midriff, she squealed out loud. The pain was back, buoyed and stronger.

"William!" she called.

In a trice, William dropped the rod and watched her, open-eyed.

"My back, my back! Och, do something! It is bad!"

In despair, Nora looked around. Suddenly, she wished she had not stayed there.

Rubbing her back madly, William sat down, ready and waiting for more. The noise was more than she could bear. The birds above were clacking in trees, their sound overwhelming her ears. More contractions came and were becoming close together until she could pretend no more.

"William," she murmured, wondering how this would go. "William, I think it's starting!"

William had a voice that was smooth and concerned. Pressing his face toward her, she felt the sides of his cheeks. "Alright, my love. Dinnae fash. I am here... Um, what can we do now?"

Nora thought it was a bit too late to do anything. Slowly, her water trickled through her skirts as she sat uncomfortably by the loch. Picking the net up, she cast it, exasperated, back into the water.

Then the contractions came again. By now, Nora could barely speak but just squeezed his hand. William had dropped everything, rubbing her intently. Another deep bite. Nora shut her eyes. Everything was too much, too loud, too bright, too hard, too sharp.

Opening her eyes, she drifted into William's arms. He pummeled and pushed her back, but it was still too much. The pain made her swoon. All she could remember was William's touch, rubbing and cajoling her. And his voice, perhaps in her head.

"Nora? Look at me, hen."

Nora rolled her eyes. "I'm braw," she murmured, while staring at the daffodils growing down aside the loch. Nora frowned. "The flowers, they were nae there afore."

Instinctively, she felt the need to go and pick them as William looked at her oddly, stroking her hair.

"Nora, are ye alright, hen?" His voice was weak but insistent.

Nora rallied a little. Opening her eyes, she smiled as if surprised to see him.

"I'm braw, dinnae fash," she said, more resolutely than she felt. "'Tis naught but wind."

Deep down, she knew it was not true but hoped desperately for it to be. Maybe they could still make it home in time.

William looked unsure, but Nora looked so certain he backed off.

"'Tis nae due for a couple o' weeks, anyhoo," said Nora confidently.

William looked at her gingerly, hovering half-heartedly for a minute.

"I dinnae ken," he began, but he did not finish. Nature got there first.