Page 66 of Alessandra (Chisholm Manor #1)

In the summer, the annual hunt was held at Chisholm Manor Estate.

It was the third such event that Alessandra had seen in her lifetime, but for Edward and his parents, it seemed to have always been something that occurred every year, naturally, as if it were the house itself that made sure it happened.

As Alessandra sat outside under a makeshift tent for cover and protection from the sun, she placed her hand on her belly, feeling fluttering inside.

"How are you feeling, Alessandra?" Edward's mother asked from the chair beside her.

"I am well, but this one feels different, like it is moving differently from how Elizabeth and Isabella did," Alessandra replied.

Margaret listened quietly without speaking.

She relaxed nearby on a blanket in the shade, with the two young children close to her - one a baby, and one at the age where crawling and exploring were well underway.

Now instilled completely in the nursery, and no longer doing any of the household chores she always had done before Alessandra had given birth to Elizabeth, Margaret realised how happy she was in her work, having such wonderful people as her employers.

Suddenly Elizabeth made a sudden move to crawl away.

Alessandra saw her mother-in-law immediately leap up and pick her up, making her granddaughter laugh as she was lifted high off the ground.

Watching on, Alessandra enjoyed seeing how Edward's mother invested time into Elizabeth.

For someone who only had one living child, Alessandra thought her mother-in-law was truly wonderful with children.

The thought made her go on to concede how strong her mother-in-law was, to have yearned for children, as she had told Alessandra many times she had, and still go on, raising Edward so well, and being a loving wife to his father.

Her thoughts were diverted by seeing her father come toward them with a smile on his face.

"What a happy scene this is, with five such lovely ladies before me," he said happily, making Alessandra smile sincerely at him.

He sat down on the rug next to Margaret, and started to talk in baby language to Isabella before turning and redirecting his attention to his daughter.

"How are you, Daughter? Is that little one going to arrive today, do you think?" he asked, smiling while glancing meaningfully at her belly.

"It is surely time, is it not?"

Alessandra smiled shyly at her father.

"Father, you know she is not due quite yet."

"She? Oh, how can you be so sure?" he asked, looking content and happy before turning back to Isabella and resuming his baby talk with her once more.

Everything seemed blissful and peaceful until, suddenly, one of the riders came galloping right up to them.

"The doctor - someone must go for the doctor at once!" he said with the greatest urgency in his voice.

Without waiting for any instruction, Margaret jumped up.

"I will alert the housekeeping staff and ask them to go with you on your horse, if you agree," she said.

"They can direct you to the physician's location."

Isabella was passed to her grandfather before Margaret ran to the main house.

In the meantime, however, Alessandra and her mother-in-law became stricken by the urgent request.

"What has happened?" Alessandra asked urgently, immediately feeling her body tense up at horrific possibilities about Edward appearing in her mind.

At the same time, the question that escaped her mother-in-law's mouth was, "Who is hurt?"

The rider took in the picture before him and instantly regretted having ridden in quite as he had.

In particular, knowing that Edward's wife was so pregnant, he immediately worried about what would happen when he gave the news, but knew he had to.

He dismounted and approached the women, seeing both fearful of what they would be told.

His sight settled on Edward's mother.

"I'm so sorry," he started to say.

Alessandra saw her mother-in-law go white.

"Mr Chisholm - your husband - has fallen.

It does not look good, Mrs Chisholm."

Alessandra's father quickly stood and handed baby Isabella to Alessandra before taking Elizabeth from her grandmother's hands.

At that moment, Margaret ran back to them with a footman beside her and addressed the rider.

"This is Paul.

He will ride with you and direct you to the physician so you can request he come."

The two of them quickly mounted and soon disappeared, leaving everyone in the group silent in shock of the news, and the unknowing.

Alessandra suddenly felt a pain in her belly, but desperately tried to keep it to herself, knowing Edward's mother must be most distressed at that moment.

After a few minutes, however, she could not help but let out a cry.

Straight away, Margaret moved to her, took Isabella from her, and took Elizabeth from Alessandra's father.

With one child in each arm, she looked desperately at Alessandra's father, trying to encourage him to help with either of the women in front of him, but soon saw he might not be able to help.

Surprisingly, seeing her daughter-in-law in pain seemed to wake Edward's mother from her daze.

She quickly moved to Alessandra, helped her up, and encouraged her to walk to the manor.

By the time they reached the front door, it was evident the baby was coming.

Chaos descended as housekeeping staff quickly readied the birth chamber and Alessandra was made comfortable. The pain left her in a daze, like something was not right with the child. Others watched as a fever seemed to catch on her, and Alessandra started to drift in and out of a fitful sleep.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the foyer, the doctor arrived, but as yet there was no sign of Edward or his father.

"Where is Mr Chisholm?" he demanded, having believed he had a patient in the manor who required urgent attention.

The rider, who had initially alerted them to the fall, appeared once more and immediately left to take the doctor to the location where Edward's father was.

"Alessandra," she could hear a voice calling to her from far away.

When she found the strength, she saw her mother-in-law beside her, and the midwife standing behind.

"Wake up, child.

You have a job to do."

Alessandra tried to process the words but could not understand what was being said to her.

All she wanted to do was sleep.

When a strong pain ripped through her body, she was reminded sharply of where she was and what was happening.

She was in labour, she realised as the midwife moved forward and talked to her sternly.

"Come, now, Mrs Chisholm.

You have done this twice before, and you know what needs to be done.

This little one is eager to come into the world, and is waiting for you to deliver him.

Now gather your strength and push!"

Edward's mother was torn between wanting to support her daughter-in-law and help her grandchild into the world, and suspecting that before the day was out, she would be heartbroken over whatever had happened to her husband.

Downstairs, she waited at the window of the drawing room, looking with the hope of seeing someone - anyone - come to the house to provide some news.

Behind her, Alessandra's father sat quietly, bringing her cups of tea and small amounts of food to try and help her relax, but in her mind and her heart, she knew the love of her life was already gone from her.

Suddenly, in the distance, she could see a parade of guests who had come for the hunt.

At the front of the procession was Edward.

All rode their horses slowly.

As they got closer, she could see her husband. He was in front of Edward, but not sitting up. Instead, his form was slung over Beauty.

"Oh!" Edward's mother cried out.

The sound drove Alessandra's father to jump up from his seat and move to her side.

He did not try and tell her everything was going to be alright.

Even from where he was standing, it looked as if the worst had happened.

Shortly afterward, Edward walked in alone, having requested the guests to go to their rooms for a short time so he could talk to his mother alone.

As he walked straight to her and put his arms around her, she could see he had been crying.

"Oh, my son, is he..." she began to ask.

Edward pulled himself together, looked directly at her, and nodded in response to her question.

"He was doing so well one minute, and then a fox jumped out in front of his horse and I do not know why it was startled by it, but it reared, and Father was thrown backwards," he started to say, feeling himself start to sob once more.

"Where is he, Edward?" his mother asked, preparing to see the body of her loved one.

"He has been laid in a bedroom upstairs."

Edward held out his hand to his mother and she took it.

It was something that had not happened since Edward had been a small child.

He was glad she let him lead her to the bedroom.

Upon entering, immediately her eyes fell to her husband and the physician beside him.

"Mrs Chisholm," the doctor said as he walked toward her.

"I am so sorry for your loss.

He was a great man."

She walked up to the bed and looked down.

Her husband, Charles, looked peaceful to her.

She stood beside him, remembering many wonderful things about their life together.

With clarity, she could remember right back to being told by her family in Italy that she was to wed a gentleman in England, and the moment she first laid eyes on him. A part of her wanted to be angry that he had gone out on the hunt that day, given his increasing age, but it was something that he'd always loved. She could not be angry over that.

Although his face had much changed since when they had first met, she still considered him handsome as she leaned down and kissed his lips one final time.

Briefly, she wondered why she had wasted so much time worrying about all the silly little things that she had, when time together was so brief.

At least she had Edward and his family...

Edward saw his mother look up and turn to him, with a desperate look of urgency on her face.

"Edward - Alessandra!" she exclaimed cryptically.

It wasn't much of a message, but that was all it took for Edward to leave the room and run down to the drawing room.

He expected to see her there, even though she hadn't been there minutes earlier.

"Edward," Alessandra's father said as he walked in, surprised to see his son-in-law again so soon.

"Where is Alessandra?" Edward commanded, visibly distressed.

"She is in the birthing chamber," her father began.

He needed to say no more as he watched Edward run from the room without looking back.

Running up the grand staircase, Edward felt overloaded by emotion.

It was one thing to lose his father, but was he going to lose his wife on the same day?