Page 82 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman (The Marlow Family Secrets #3)

A sense of contentment had settled over Rob like a cloak he always wore.

He enjoyed being involved with farming, and he always came to look when there were new arrivals in the animal stock.

He walked through towards the pigsty with his steward, he could hear the piglets squealing before he saw them.

A dozen of them. On the home farm, he had a dairy herd and sheep as well as the pigs, and arable land.

He felt as though he learned something new every day, about breeding or growing the arable crops, and he was enjoying the spring. Young lambs leapt about their mothers, and the seedlings peeped through the mud in the fields.

No, it was more than contentment he felt, it was intense happiness.

He rode out on a daily basis and worked on the farms alongside the people he employed, then went home to Caro, to find her at some quiet activity, reading or sewing, and they would share an evening together, entertaining themselves with conversation, music or games.

Then there were his nights as a married man …

Caro had not bled again. Yet the doctor here had recommended Caro continue resting. So, she rested, while Rob learned about farming, and to be imaginative in their bed.

He smiled to himself as he watched the litter of piglets.

Swift hoof beats raced on to the stone of the farmyard. Rob spun about to see Mr Brown astride one of Rob’s horses, pulling at the reins to slow the animal.

‘Mr Marlow. Sir.’

‘What is it?’

‘Mrs Marlow is birthing, and she is not doing well with it, sir.’

Damn . ‘Jump down. I will take your horse.’

The groom swung his leg over and dropped to the ground. Rob grasped the reins, set his foot in the stirrup and hauled himself up.

‘Thank you,’ Rob said to his steward, who bowed his head as Rob rode away, scattering the free-roaming chickens as he cantered from the yard. He had come via road, but if he rode back through the fields and jumped the stone walls, he would be faster.

Once he was beyond the yard, he kicked his heels and set the animal into a gallop. At a gallop he was probably only a quarter of an hour from home.

He glanced up to the heavens. ‘Hear me, please. Bring her safely through our daughter’s journey into the world.’

He set his mind on an approaching wall, kicked his heels and lifted the animal’s head. It jumped, and landed heavily, but Rob urged it on.

The horse’s nostrils flared and its breathing was heavy when Rob reached the manor and jumped down.

He rushed inside as Mr Birch held open the door.

‘Caro!’ He raced upstairs, taking the steps two at a time, forcing his healed leg to do his bidding .

‘Rob!’ Her voice stretched along the hall.

‘I am here,’ he said as he walked into the room. She was paler than the sheets she lay on, yet there was blood all about her below her waist. There surely should not be so much blood. Her dress lay on the floor beside the bed, covered in blood too.

‘Where is the doctor?’ He looked at Beth for the answer. She looked frightened.

‘Polly has run to fetch him.’

‘When Mr Brown returns, have him take a message to my aunt, to Lady Barrington, and ask her to come.’

Beth nodded and left the room.

‘Rob.’ There was fear in Caro’s eyes.

He could not show her his.

The muscles about her stomach contracted, he could see it tightening through her chemise, and as a consequence more blood flowed onto the sheet. She cried out and clasped his hand until the contraction ceased.

‘Lift your hips, Caro. I will put a pillow beneath you. It will make you more comfortable.’ And perhaps slow the blood. Yet if the child was coming, how could he stop the bleeding?

When he lifted the sheet to place the pillow, he saw just how much scarlet blood had soaked through the sheet into the mattress. Bile rose in his throat. He was terrified for her and Sarah.

‘Ah…’ Another contraction came, with a long, loud, sharp cry of pain.

‘Sir…’ Beth stood in the doorway, looking as helpless as he felt.

Then he remembered when Harry had fallen on his ice skates as a child and cut his leg, while he had lain in the snow, the bleeding had stopped. ‘Beth, do we have a block of ice in the cellar? ’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Have Keith break it up, and bring cold water. We will make up a bath of ice.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Tears trailed down Caro’s cheeks as he hurriedly stripped down to his shirt and trousers, throwing everything on a chair.

He held Caro’s hand. ‘You are not to be afraid. You have to do the work, but do not let fear make it harder.’

He would pray. That would be his task.

He pressed a kiss on her temple and her gaze clung to him. ‘I am scared, Rob.’

‘I know, but you must not be. She is coming, she will be here soon and all will be well.’ Please, Lord. ‘I will help the servants ready a cold bath to stop the blood.’

There was a knock at the door. Keith had brought the copper bath.

‘I will take it.’ Rob put it beside the bed.

‘Ah!’ Caro bit down on her lip, shutting off her cry as the next contraction came.

Rob ran down to the kitchen and out to the well, and filled a bucket of water himself as he heard Keith chiselling away at the ice.

Where is the doctor? The ice bath may be the best thing for Caro, but Rob had no idea how it would affect Sarah and he needed them both alive.

He carried up four buckets as Beth and Keith carried up cloths full of ice and tipped them in, until the water was deep enough to sit Caro in.

‘Ah!’ Another scream announced another contraction and more blood.

‘Put your arms about my neck.’ He lifted her, carried her to the bath and set her down. God, help us, please !

She shivered at once, violently so, yet he could not let her rise. ‘I know it is cold, and it will hurt, sweetheart, but it must be done.’

He knelt beside the bath and held her hand.

‘Rob.’ Another contraction came and her nails sank into the skin of his hand.

Then there were footsteps outside the room. He looked over his shoulder as Polly then the doctor came in.

‘Mr Marlow, Mrs Marlow. Good heavens!’ The doctor set his bag down.

‘I did not know what to do,’ Rob said. ‘I am sure there is too much blood…’

‘Do not worry, Mr Marlow, leave this to us now. Mrs Martin, would you remain to help me?’

‘Where is Mrs Marlow?’ Another voice carried from downstairs.

‘Upstairs, my lady.’

It was his aunt. As Rob stood to leave the room, the door opened again. His aunt’s gaze caught on the blood-stained sheets before it turned to him. ‘Rob.’ Then to Caro. ‘Well, you have some work to do, Caroline.’ She walked closer, smiling.

Caro’s hand slipped from Rob’s.

‘Mr Marlow is just leaving,’ the doctor said to Aunt Jane.

‘Good,’ she said to Rob. ‘Caroline will wish to maintain her dignity as the birth progresses. Your Uncle Robert came with me, he is waiting to keep you company downstairs. Do not worry, we will take care of Caroline.’

Rob turned, knelt and kissed Caro’s forehead in a dreamlike state now that the responsibility had been lifted from his shoulders. But he would worry – and pray.

He stroked Caro’s wet hair back from her forehead. ‘I will leave you and Sarah in the doctor’s hands, and you must not be afraid, because he will guide you through. I will see you again when Sarah is in your arms.’

She nodded, sickly pale and looking exhausted, even though this had only just begun.

When he rose, Aunt Jane’s hand closed about his arm and she guided him to the door. ‘I have done this numerous times, Rob, you must not worry.’

‘I am not a fool,’ he whispered back. ‘My mother gave birth and never bled like that. Please have me come back if all is not well. Do not leave it until the last moment.’

‘I will send for you if necessary,’ she said before closing the door on him.

His uncle was waiting in the drawing room. He had already helped himself to a glass of Rob’s brandy, and he held out a second full glass for Rob to take. ‘It may be a long day. Sometimes a labour is quick, sometimes it is long.’

‘She is bleeding,’ he told him.

‘I can see. You have blood all over you.’

Rob looked down at his clothes and then internally collapsed. Externally he dropped to perch on the edge of a footstool, his elbows on his knees and his hands holding his head.

‘You are wishing your parents here, I am sure, but you will have to manage with me.’

Truly, he did wish them here. He’d never been in so much need of someone to share the load of his burden.

He looked up at his uncle, ‘If I were to lose her…’

‘Do not think of it. We will believe and pray it will not happen.’

Rob accepted the glass that was held out.

The hours passed slowly, and at least once every half hour, or perhaps more often, Rob climbed the stairs, knocked on the door of their bedchamber and asked after Caro .

Each time Aunt Jane’s answer was, ‘She is working hard.’ While he heard Caro screaming within the room.

By the third hour, Rob could no longer sit. He paced the room, walking to the windows and back again, then turning and walking the same path.

‘You are making me anxious,’ his uncle said.

‘You ought to be anxious,’ Rob growled.

‘Except that working yourself up will change nothing. Come and sit down and tell me what you have been up to with the farms. I have heard good things. Are you turning a profit?’

‘A slight profit, but I hope the autumn will bring much more.’

‘Sit and speak to me.’

‘I cannot, Uncle Robert, I am too afraid.’

Then from above, there was a cry that was not a woman’s but a child’s. Rob looked at the ceiling. His heart stopped.

Footsteps hurried down the stairs. ‘The child is here!’ Beth called. ‘You may come up, Mr Marlow!’

Rob ran from the parlour, flying up the stairs to the bedchamber.

‘How are they?’ he asked his Aunt Jane as he entered the room.

‘The child is healthy. But Caroline is weak.’

But alive. She looked up and smiled at him. He had never thought joy could be such a hollow thing.

The sheets had been changed, and Caro wore a clean nightdress that hung open as the small child, wrapped in swaddling bands, sucked at her breast. Caro’s skin was grey beneath her eyes.

She looked like his phantom again, so pale.

‘Rob,’ she said weakly. ‘She is here. You were right. It is a daughter. Sarah.’

Aunt Jane touched his arm. ‘The doctor wants to speak with you.’

He kissed Caro’s temple, then kissed the soft skin of his daughter’s forehead. ‘I will return in a moment. I need to speak with the doctor.’

She nodded.

The doctor lifted a hand so Rob might walk from the room before him and then followed Rob downstairs. Rob led him to the dining room, where they could speak privately.

‘How is she?’ Rob asked in a low voice.

‘Mrs Marlow has lost a lot of blood. She should drink pigs’ blood for a month and eat liver daily.

I would also recommend using a wet nurse.

It will slow her recovery if she is feeding the child herself.

I am able to recommend a woman who has a child a year old and would be willing.

But there is another risk. Sometimes mothers who experience bleeding may die if the internal wound becomes infected.

You must send someone for me if there is any sign of a fever. ’

Rob nodded. If there was a fever, though, there would not be a way to help her.

He left Mr Birch to show the doctor out and returned to Caro.

She and the child were sleeping.

Aunt Jane and Beth left him alone with his wife and daughter, and finally he let his own fear flow in tears as they slept.