Page 66 of Bride Takes a Laird
Kendra rounded the table and continued to press her hand on the cool wooden surface. She loved the old table and what it represented. It was endeared to her. There was nary a mark to blemish its surface and its shine remained even after years of use. “Oh, nay, I need the chamber pot again. I vow this baby is pushing down so hard. I have to pee. Help me, Linet?” She held out her arm for her friend to take.
“I’ll get the pot. You stay here,” Linet said and hurried behind the buttery where they had stored a chamber pot. Her friend was kindenough to put one in every room of the manor since she’d had difficulty making it to her bedchamber even months before.
“John, be gone, and let us give Kendra some privacy.”
John left after he inclined his head to her.
Kendra leaned on the table with the flat of her palms and drew a sharp breath. Her back ached furiously but she pressed herself upward and took a step toward Linet.
A noise came from the manor’s entry and Gilda rasped as she reached the hall’s threshold. “My Lady, you have a visitor. Ah, I think he must be your husband…” Gilda’s eyes widened and she waited for Kendra to acknowledge her.
“My husband? I doubt very much that he is my husband. What does he want?” Kendra disbelieved her because it was doubtful Magnus would come. She gave up hope long ago, many moons before, that she’d ever see him again. If he hadn’t bothered to answer any of her missives, why would he bother coming to see her?
“Ye,” Magnus said as he stepped around Gilda. “Ye, wife, I want ye. It took me long to get here, Kendra, but I have finally arrived…” He peered at her with a frown.
“You came. I…did not deem you would.” Kendra gasped as she felt a sharp pop deep inside her, and looked down at the floorboards at the puddle between her feet. “Linet, I…didn’t…make it.” A pain racked her back and she almost pitched forward. Embarrassed beyond belief, her face burned. She couldn’t hold back and moaned when another pain came and it was much stronger than the last.
Linet held out her arm. “Oh, Gracious Lord! You’ve lost your birthing waters. Agnes warned me that might happen. We need to get you in bed. Take hold of me and we shall get you back upstairs.”
“Birthing waters? What is going on here? Why are ye…? Are ye expecting a bairn? Ye appear to be—”
Kendra cut him off and held up her hand. “Do not speak it because I can only imagine what I appear to look like. Yes, I am expecting abairn, Magnus, your bairn. Now move out of the way before I have this baby right here on the hall’s floor.” She huffed and tried to move around him but Magnus didn’t move and blocked her path.
He scooped her into his arms. “Sweetheart, why did ye not send me a missive telling me that ye were having a bairn?”
Kendra closed her eyes at the disappointed tone of Magnus’s voice. When she opened her eyes and took him in, she glared. “I did. I sent many missives, Magnus. I thought you ignored them or was…” She moaned and her body stiffened from the pain that wound its way up her spine. “Too busy to…respond. Pray, put me down, I can walk.”
“I do not deem ye can, sweetheart.” He shook his head and then leaned it against hers as he trudged up the steps. “What chamber is yours?”
She pointed at the door in the center of the hallway. “There. Did you?” Kendra panted lightly at the ache that slowly intensified.
“Did I what?”
Kendra drew in a sharp breath and clutched onto Magnus’s shoulders when a pain came upon her. When it eased, she drew breath through her nose. “Did you ignore my missives?”
“I never received any missives from ye. Had I done so, I would have come sooner.” Magnus reached the door and Linet rushed to open it for them. He turned sideways but even so, they barely fit through the opening. With light steps, he continued until he reached the bed and then set her gently upon it.
“Linet, you best fetch the midwife.” Kendra peered at her friend and tried to smile.
“I will have someone fetch Agnes and shall not leave you for a moment.” Linet pulled back the cover on the bed. “Worry not. I will take care of you.”
Kendra shifted to the side and waited for her friend to finish. “Honestly, Linet, I likely have plenty of time. Go on and fetch Mistress Agnes. I’ll be well enough until you return.”
Magnus shot his gaze to Linet. “She’s having the bairn now?”
“Seems she is, Laird Cameron. Kendra, let me help you get settled and then I’ll go and fetch John to alert Mistress Agnes.” Linet pulled off one of her slippers but Magnus pressed her gently back with his arm.
“Linet, go and get the midwife and hurry. I’ll see to Kendra.”
Kendra wanted to call Linet back to her but her pains were coming quickly. She didn’t know what to say to Magnus and being alone with him brought on a strange trepidation. “I can settle myself, you need not bother.” She tried to lean forward to remove her other slipper but her wide girth prevented her from reaching her foot.
Magnus, with the gentleness of a lamb, removed her slipper. He turned and retrieved her nightdress. “Do you want to wear this?”
She nodded. Kendra shifted the material of her overdress so he could pull it over her head but it got stuck at her shoulders. Magnus pulled on the fabric and once she was free of it, he helped her redress in a light linen cotte.
“I missed ye and have so much to tell ye.Och, it’ll wait. What can I do?” Magnus pressed his hand on her cheek and she closed her eyes at the solace it brought to her.
“Nothing at the moment. Did you find Ned’s murderer?”