Despite all efforts and Melinda fast asleep after making love that night, Jim could not sleep. He had something else on his mind and rose from their bed. He did his best to be quiet and dress without waking his wife or son and went to check on the sleeping babe in his cradle. Thankfully, Theodore was still fast asleep from the last time he woke and he took in a moment to bask in the peacefulness.
Jim took one last look at Melinda as well before he made his way to the door and slipped out quietly. He walked through the hallways and down to the dungeons and then was met by a guard, who with a glance opened the steel door. It wasn't long after when he walked through another dimly lit hallway toward his brother's cell door.
Another guard was keeping watch, but he let himself in the room. Daniel had to be tied to a chair inside the cell to contain him and was still mangled and bleeding from when Ned had beaten him the day prior.
His brother groaned and coughed, then raised his head to see him standing there. "Ah, hello brother," Daniel chuckled. "Come to visit me have you?" The man spat out blood and saliva in his direction, though it didn't bother him much at this point. "Miss me did you?"
Before Daniel could speak again, Jim bashed his fist against the man's face twice, knocking him over in his chair. He then bent over and unshackled him, kicking his brother over. After a moment, he kicked him again when his brother didn't move, "Get up," he said. "I won't beat a man when he is down and unguarded. You know that."
Daniel struggled for a second, but after a moment the man stood in front of him. "What is it that you want?" His brother asked, smiling slightly. "I always used to kick your ass when we were little."
"A fair fight," he said and dodged a slow blow Daniel tried to throw, catching his arm and twisting it. He quickly overpowered him, having been chained up his younger brother had little strength and Jim kicked him to the ground. "Is that all you got?" Instead of letting Daniel get up, he quickly kneeled beside him and then punched him in the face over and over. His brother had tried to get a few body blows in, but he took them in stride. It was nothing Jim couldn't handle. "You thought I would leave you here to rot? You raped my sister."
"Your sister by your marriage to a whore. Who says she's any different?" Daniel spat back as he tried to kick him off, but missed Jim landed another blow. "She wanted me all the same as any girl I bring to bed."
"Don't speak about my wife or sister ever again, you bloody bastard," he said and punched his brother once last time to knock him unconscious.
There was the sound of footsteps against the gravel floor and Jim turned, noticing Katherine standing behind the cell door. He shackled the restraints against his brother, just to be sure, where he laid on the ground and then walked away.
"What are you doing out of bed?" He asked as he came from out of the cell and locked it again behind him.
"I was feeling better… but I couldn't sleep. Sometimes I come to make sure he's still here," Katherine sighed, glancing over at Daniel as he groaned on the cell floor. "Plus I wanted to make myself some tea… to wash the toxins and avoid another infection. I think your brother gave it to me."
Jim nodded and pulled his cloak off and wrapped it around her. "I'll accompany you to the kitchens then," he said. "He'll be dead before we leave. I swear it."
Katherine nodded and looped her arm in his as they walked out. "I'll see to mending your hand and any other wounds as well. To make sure you didn't break anything." She said when he winced after a few moments of their time together.
He sighed, leaning onto her for some support. "Yes, I suppose you should or Melinda will wring my neck," he replied with a chuckle.
She laughed with him and it was good to hear. "That sounds like my sister," she countered.
Movement from the cradle beside the bed woke Melinda from her sleep and she was listening for Theodore's cries, but all she heard was the baby's breathing, then deep and even sound she'd memorized quickly when she listened to it so intently in those early days when it had been thick wheezing that twisted her heart.
It didn't take long for her to make out her husband's form in the dim glow of the moonlight. He was seated beside the cradle watching their son sleep.
There was a dim light coming in from the windows and she knew it had to be early in the morning. Melinda was both touched and annoyed. "If you wake him, I'll throttle you. Come back to bed," she warned him.
"In a minute, love," he answered, reaching in and adjusting something in the cradle.
She shifted onto her back with a sigh, turning her head back to watch as Jim reluctantly gave up his seat to circle the bed and sit. He undressed again and she was confused, thinking he had only just gotten up and realized that wasn't the case once he crawled under the covers beside her.
"Where were you? When did you get out of bed?" She asked as he propped himself up on his elbow, noticing his other hand was wrapped in a cloth. "What happened to your hand?"
"Don't worry about that. Nothing happened," he said, shaking his head and looking past her body to where she could just make out the edge of the cradle. He was too far to be able to look into it and see their boy himself. He frowned and she chuckled quietly. "What's so funny? I only care about him."
"It's not funny, really," she admitted as she curled into his side. "Just… sweet of you. He will be fine until he's hungry again or needs to be changed, I promise. Now tell me what you did to your hand. I know you better than to think it was nothing."
"I couldn't sleep and I went to see Daniel," he began, but Melinda cut him off by putting a finger to his lips.
"Enough," she told him. "I don't need to hear what happened then. Is it done?"
"No. Your sister came down to see him and interrupted me," he sighed before playfully nipping at her finger. She laughed, but kept it quiet, glancing over her shoulder to the cradle. "I saw her back to her room after she made herself some tea. I shared some wine with her as well and some equally as interesting words too."
Jim sank back against the pillows, his arm coming up around her, pulling Melinda close to him. "That is good to hear. I am glad she is doing better, even if she went to see him. Though I can understand why she might want to." She said, relaxing against him. "She took care of your hand then?"
"Yes. She made sure everything was fine. Don't worry." He told her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "In the morning we begin making the necessary arrangements to leave," Jim continued. "There are some things I'll need to arrange again for passage to North Carolina and with my other brother in the Colonies. I'll go ahead and take care of the arrangements so I don't want you to worry, but we may need to stay another day or two because of the heavy snows."
She nodded, understanding. "We need to be extra precautious because of Teddy, I know." Melinda interrupted. "I know you don't want to stay..."
"It is for the best, I know. Plus I still need to tell Brian everything," he explained, his eyebrows raising. "I never realized until right now that he doesn't know much of anything or how you faired other than that I lived and had found you. He knows nothing of our son yet either." Pride returned to Jim's voice as he strained once more to get a glimpse of the boy's sleeping form. He turned back to Melinda, the smile fading into solemnity and sorrow. "I know you've asked me not to dwell and I am not, I promise, but I will promise you this. You will not be without me next time."
She raised a hand to his cheek, brushing several strands of hair back from his brow - the low light from the window glinted off the dark locks slightly. "Next time?" she said with a suggestive smile in her voice, lightening the mood. Though they had already spoken to each other of wanting another child, she enjoyed playing games with him.
Jim grinned and bent to kiss her, his hand slipping beneath the covers to tug up the hem of her shift again. He came into contact with the bare skin of her thigh, moving up to cup and squeeze her behind. Her hand began explorations of its own causing him to groan her name a bit too loudly into the crook of her neck.
She tensed reflexively, her ears straining. Sure enough, there was a stirring from the bassinet followed by a weak whimper that strengthened into a full cry on the second breath. Melinda pushed herself up, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "I'm afraid we're going to need to get used to being interrupted." She told him.
"I'll get him," he said, eagerly pushing back the blankets and climbing out of bed.
"Let's see how eager you are after a few nights of interrupted sleep," she remarked, yawning and sitting up in case their son decided he was hungry again.
He chuckled and shook his head. "Lay back, love. This is not something I wish to leave on your shoulders alone. He is my son too," he said, lifting the squirming infant from the bassinet carefully. "I think he just needs a change is all." With her to instruct him as to where things were because he had been quite busy since their arrival at his father's manor, Melinda watched her husband set about changing their son's soiled diaper, calming his cries with soothing tones. "You need to go back to sleep, you hear? For I mean to lie with your mother at least twice before breakfast."
"Jim!" Melinda exclaimed with a sigh. "Don't tell him that!"
"Then we're going to take you to North Carolina," he continued, ignoring her outburst. "You are going to meet your Uncle Brian and Aunt Jennifer. You have two cousins you'll soon play with - and many more that might come from your Auntie Katherine and Uncle Ned someday too."
She laughed quietly, leaning back against the pillows as Jim walked and rocked their son back to sleep. It didn't take long but he looked reluctant to lay the child down again - though he hurried back to bed eagerly enough when he was safely tucked in.
"You'll need to be quiet," he warned as his hands once more found their way under the covers to the hem of her shift.
"Me?" She hissed with an eye roll as she moved to push him off in retaliation. "I wasn't the one who woke him! That was you, remember?" He stopped her objections with a kiss and she leaned into him all the same as she would have a few moments later anyhow.
Two days later, as promised, Jim had prepared for them to leave. The carriage lurched and Melinda's grip on Theodore tightened reflexively. The baby cooed and continued to gum the silver rattle his grandmother Faith had given as a gift as their things were strapped in place.
That's when she heard Gabriel debating the merits of sitting inside the carriage with her and Teddy or riding beside the driver - the man settled for sitting with the driver as it felt more official or, as he told Melinda, sitting inside the carriage would put him at a disadvantage should anything arise.
"Milord entrusted the care of his family to me and I must be ready at a moment's notice to serve you and defend you," Gabriel said.
After the carriage door had shut, she rolled her eyes and chattered to a curious Theodore about the silliness of some men and their sense of honor. Her son had responded with a yawn showing that he was tired of such silliness too.
"You will be like your father in that regard and know how to balance in without such silliness," she whispered to her boy with a kiss to his forehead as she settled him back into his cradle beside her.
Melinda realized later on that she must have dozed off as the terrain outside the carriage was different. Packed earth had been exchanged for cobblestones, their pace had slowed, and the peaceful quiet had grown to a noisy din.
Her son's little legs kicked and he dropped the rattle, his body straining towards the spectacle of passing buildings, pedestrians, and other carriages even at only a few months old. She adjusted her grip on the baby to try and reach for the rattle but her stays wouldn't allow her to bend that way.
"We'll just have to grab that later and be sure it's properly cleaned before you play with it again, how does that sound?" she asked her son. Melinda wiped a trail of drool from his chin as the boy began to chew on his balled-up fist. "I suppose that tastes as good as the rattle."
A quick glance out the window showed a familiar street - they were nearly to the docks. Melinda prayed that Jim had been able to secure passage across the channel for some time in the next few days. Already the windows of the carriage were beginning to display the dirt and grime that came from passing through a crowded ship port.
Theodore sneezed as though to validate her thoughts. She pulled a handkerchief out and wiped at her son's nose, a difficult task as the babe twisted and shifted his head out of the way and the carriage rocked uncomfortably. The boy began to fuss just as they were pulling up to Inn. They hadn't yet come to a full stop when she caught sight of Jim bursting through the front doors, heedless of the footmen whose job it was to do such things. There was another small jolt as Gabriel jumped down from his perch and dashed to the back to oversee the unloading of their things.
Jim pulled open the door and held his hand out to her. She took it happily and greeted him with a chaste kiss as he took their son from her. "A safe journey, I presume?" he asked before settling Teddy more solidly in his arms as he cooed loudly.
She first paused to retrieve the rattle and tucked it away in her pocket. "Yes and I think your son is trying to tell you about all the things he saw from the carriage window in his cradle while I slept," Melinda decided with a smile. Jim's free arm came up and pulled her in so he could kiss her temple. "He can't wait to see all the sights a ship has to offer."
"I've been looking for you in the window for the past hour," he remarked as he led them into the Inn. Gabriel was giving the footmen firm instructions for handling the trunk and boxes behind them. "Your sister and Ned arrived first."
"We were late getting off," she explained. "Your mother had a little gift for Teddy, but had misplaced it and insisted we stay till it was found." She pulled the rattle out to show Jim. "It needs to be cleaned before he can play with it again - I'm afraid he's already beginning to grow teeth so we'll need to be extremely careful of what he puts in… his mouth." Melinda reached over and tugged the end of Jim's cravat from their son's mouth.
He peered at the soggy fabric briefly before tucking it back in and tapping their son lightly on the nose with his finger. The four-month-old grabbed hold of that instead. He bent it so he could gnaw on his knuckle.
"Our passage is booked for tomorrow. Before that Daniel will hang at dusk and then in two months or so depending on the weather, we'll be back in North Carolina," Jim informed her as they seated themselves in the common dining room of the Inn at one of the empty tables. Though she knew he dreaded the channel crossing, the eagerness in his voice was tangible and contagious. "Arranging for horses shouldn't take long once we make port in Wilmington and then it'll be a few days on the road before we reach our land."
Gabriel cleared his throat as he approached the table. "You and your wife's things have been sent upstairs to your room, Milord. She said there was room for more in a few trunks if you were not finished packing yourself." Melinda nodded to confirm the man had done as she wished. "Is there anything else, Milord?"
"Only to have some food sent over from the kitchen to our room and fetch yourself a bite while you're in there," he told the man with a nod. "Oh, and if you see Ned, let him know Melinda and our son have arrived."
"I was wondering where those two had gone," she remarked once Gabriel left and they stood from the table. "I would have expected Katherine to have been waiting too. Though I suppose she might have some final things to prepare as well before the voyage."
"Yes, I believe Ned had some inquiries he needed to make as well before he left," he said with a frown as he led her upstairs. "It was something to do with his family and Katherine went with him."
Melinda nodded and they quieted as they passed a few tables full of people. "He doesn't mean to stay behind and take another passage with her, does he?" She asked once they were somewhat alone again, now by the stairs.
"I think the thought had crossed his mind, but I told him we preferred them to travel with us. He's still only a lad though and wished to see in on his family to introduce his wife. Once we are on the ship, he'll no longer want to be looking back anymore." Jim explained while leading her up two flights of stairs and then to a room on their right with ease even as he rearranged their son in his arms when he squirmed slightly.
"Do you think that will be enough for him? Speaking to his family that is?" She asked.
He sighed. "I don't know, but… I fear he'll not be settled until he proves himself to his father."
They'd been speaking in quiet tones while in a crowded room and with their son, now settled in his cradle again. A knock at the door startled the three of them and Teddy whimpered until Melinda rubbed his belly a bit to settle him.
Katherine took a few tentative steps into the room after shutting the door behind her. "Gabriel said you'd arrived and were settling in," her sister explained, her attention drifting between Melinda and the babe in the cradle before settling on the floor. Ned came in a bit after her, looking more agitated than anything as he yanked his waistcoat off. "I hope your travels went smoothly, sister."
"As I hope yours were," Melinda said, walking over to embrace her. "How are you?"
"Better than yesterday," Katherine said positively with a sad smile. "Ned brought me to meet his family today."
"How did that go?" Jim asked, holding Theodore in his arms now since he'd begun to cry when he could hear the visitors in the room but not see them. Even at four months, he was still as curious as the day he was born. "It seems your nephew is as interested in the topic as I am."
"It went as well as it could've. My mother is dead and my father too. We visited their graves to pay our respects," Ned replied solemnly. "One of my brothers is still around, but the rest have spread throughout the country."
"I am sorry for your loss, Ned. Do you wish to hold him?" Jim asked, clearly amused by the terrified expression that flitted across the boy's face. "I don't think we've had much time to just enjoy the moment before."
"I have held babe before," Ned said and felt the need to remind Jim as he came close.
As her husband held Teddy out for the boy to take - Ned paused to wipe his hands on his breeches before raising them to take the babe - his face puckered and a whimper escaping his quivering lips. Both men both froze with the boy suspended between them, Teddy working up to a wail.
"I think it's your whiskers, Ned," she explained rising and interceding. She glanced at her sister, who was still being too quiet for her liking. "Do you remember when our brother Brendon was little how he would cry when Father held him?"
"Yes, before he got the Pox," Katherine muttered softly.
Melinda brushed her sister's comment away as she took Teddy from Jim and let her son's head comfortably rest against her bosom while she took a few steps closer to Ned. With her free hand, she reached up and pointed to Ned's beard then touched it gently. "It's all right, my sweet boy. It's soft," she cooed. "It's only your uncle, see?"
Ned remained still as a statue while Melinda shifted her son in her arms and took hold of the little hand. Teddy quickly wrapped his fingers around hers and she guided the little fingers out until they could just brush against his uncle's bushy beard, using the back of his hand to pet it slowly.
Melinda soon felt her son relax against her as his fear faded away. "Just like I told you, there is nothing to be afraid of," she whispered, seeing Ned relaxed as well when he got a good look at his nephew again in her arms and how Teddy was now responding to him.
Katherine then sighed, wiping away a fallen tear. "I am afraid I'm not feeling all that well," her sister complained. "I am going to go lie down if that's alright?"
"Of course. Go make yourself comfortable, sister," she said as she shared a glance with both Jim and Ned then as her sister left the room quickly. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to follow after her?"
"She found out something today that she did not wish to know," Ned sighed, offering to take Teddy in his embrace now that he was more comfortable. "She's carrying our child."
There was a distinct word there that made Melinda's heart soften. She hoped Katherine would come to realize that her husband felt that way soon too.
"I see," she said carefully as she moved to stand beside Jim again, sharing a look with him. It was their own private conversation. They knew whose child this babe could be. "That's wonderful news."
She could tell the boy was happy, beaming with really after everything that had happened today Ned was happy to have his own family now that his parents were gone. "It is. I hope Katherine comes to see it that way sometime soon as well," Ned replied.
"It did take me some time to warm up to the idea at fist as well," she informed him all while smiling at her own son in the boy's arms. "There are many fears there, Ned. More than just the one she's having."
The boy nodded. "I know that it's not only the baby and all that comes with one that scares her. She fears I will stray… if she cannot share… her time with me." Ned said quietly, uneasily really. It was hard to talk about that for a man in front of a woman that wasn't his wife. The boy shuffled back toward the cradle and placed her and Jim's son inside comfortably. "I should follow after and check up on her."
"Yes, you should. Katherine needs you now more than ever," Jim finally spoke and led the boy out of the room, stepping out to speak with him.
Melinda took the chance to make sure her son was comfortable before making herself at home and when Jim returned after nearly half an hour, he poured himself a glass of wine. He mulled on his thoughts for some time before he finished his glass and poured himself another, along with one for her.
"What did you say to Ned?" She asked after he sat beside her on the couch by the fire.
"That he should be patient and continue to reassure your sister of his love for her," he said, sipping his wine. "He has come a long way from the boy he was when I first met him since he met Katherine. Before that, I don't think he would have been able to move past all of this."
She nodded, sipping the wine as well. "When he said their child it really meant something to me," she replied. "You know what I mean?"
"Yes, I do," he said, reaching over to take her hand. "Ned is a good man at heart. He won't leave her."
She laughed then, shaking her head. "I wish Katherine could see just how smitten he is with her and then she wouldn't worry as much."
He nodded in agreement as she tucked herself into him slightly. "Just as I am smitten with you," he told her as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.