"Treasure Can Be Misleading"
"A Treasure's Treasure"
Chapter 13
"Arcelia?" Will's eyes nearly feel right out of their sockets when he saw his sister being helped down the causeway by Ragetti and Jack. "What on Earth¯"
"I haven't the time nor the patience to deal with your questions! Just get me to Elizabeth, NOW!" she shouted at him as they passed him, nearly falling to her knees from the pain. The contractions were coming closer together now.
Will obliged, quickly piling them to the awaiting carriage at the end of the dock and hauling off to the Governor's Mansion.
"Jack, what's going on?" Will turned to asking Jack as to how his sister had managed to grow to her present size.
"She's heavy with child, lad. Isn't it obvious?" Jack answered, acting as if you had to be daft not to recognize something so conspicuous.
"I can see that. But how'd she get like this?"
"Well, you see, you remember that Ol' Lieutenant Skylark? Tall fellow with the giant bug up his bum?" Jack began, while getting a wary look from Will, "Well, apparently he and your darling sister knocked some heavy boots and now– she's about to be a new mummy," Jack finished with his classic drunken grin.
"You– you mean she's… pregnant?!" Will couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"On the nosy, Uncle William," Jack laughed, though subsequently clapping his hands over his ears as Arcelia let out another cry of pain.
"Are we there YET?" she demanded.
"S- soon. We're almost just there," Ragetti said through gritted teeth, trying to console the painfully angry pregnant woman who was practically squeezing his right hand's fingers clean off.
"Will? What is all this?" Elizabeth asked as she came hurrying down the stairs to meet the group in the foyer.
"She's pregnant! Call the maids! Something, anything!" Will told her frantically, following Jack and Ragetti as they led the violently cursing Arcelia up the staircase.
They took her into one of the spare bedrooms, quickly lying her on the bed on her back. Ragetti never let go of her hand, though he didn't really have a choice due to her insanely tight grip, but he wouldn't have even if she hadn't been. Two maids and a nurse were ushered into the room by Elizabeth, who now looked as hysterical as Will.
"Who's the father?" were the first words out of the nurse's mouth. Everyone kept silent, not having expected that to have been a major concern.
"Well… he's not here per say," Jack began to explain.
"I'm the brother. May I stay anyhow?" Will asked, desperate not to let Jack have the change at saying something stupid. The nurse bowed, ushering the others from the room. But Ragetti remained at Arcelia's side.
The nurse was about to say something, but Will nodded to her in saying that it was all right. He stared at the two for a moment, the nurse and maids preparing for the baby and all the other necessary preparations for the delivery. It was uncanny how right the two of them seemed, as if this was the picture meant to be. But maybe it was because Ragetti hadn't left her side for a minute since they'd all arrived at the docks.
Arcelia's howls of pain could have been heard throughout the entire mansion the way she was carrying on. You'd have though she was being murdered, and to her it truly felt like it.
"Come on, dear. You're almost there," the nurse urged her on.
Arcelia screamed again, gripping Ragetti's hand tighter than ever. He gritted his teeth, secretly fearing they'd crack from the pressure.
"Ragetti," she managed to get out. He looked down at her, fighting back the urge to shout at her to let go of his hand before his bones crumbled. "I— AHHH!" she cried out, his other hand reaching forward and dabbing at her forehead with the damp cloth. "— I want you… to help me- with this baby!" she said. He didn't know exactly what to say. "If you can deal with a terror like me, you can do anything," she force a smile, before resuming her pushing, and launching into a string of horrific curse words that made the maids and nurse blush beet red.
With one last effort, Arcelia then threw her head back onto the pillow, trying hard to catch her breath. There was quiet, until the sound of an infant's innocent cry broke the air.
"Is it all right?" she asked immediately, slowly releasing the vice grip she had on Ragetti's hand (to his extreme relief).
"Your son is fine, dear. Healthy and just as handsome," the nurse assured her.
The baby was then cleaned, with the nervous assistance of Will who couldn't keep his hands from quivering, and then wrapped in a blanket to keep him warm.
"Bring him to me. Let me see my baby," Arcelia said, holding out her arms to take her baby securely in her arms. "My God… how could something so wonderfully innocent come from someone like me?" she said with disbelief as she stared down at the infant in cradled her arms. "It's hard to believe he's so beautiful," she whispered, rubbing his nose down against the newborn's forehead.
"Takes after his mum," Ragetti said quietly. This time she heard him, smiling fondly up at him.
"What do you think of your nephew, Will?" she asked her brother, who had now come to stand at the foot of the bed.
"I agree with him. That and he's got a linage of such men preceding him," he said with a smile, pausing for a moment, and then excusing himself from the room to go tell the others about everything. The maids and nurse left along with him.
"Would you like to hold him?" she asked Ragetti, holding the baby up for him to get. He reluctantly, and all too carefully, took the child into his arms.
"Yes, " he whispered, shifting the slightly wriggling baby and leaning his face closer to get an extra good look at him.
Arcelia understood what he'd meant, and she was grateful for it. It was amazing. Despite the fact she may never see that Lieutenant Skylark again, it didn't seem so bad. She had Will, Elizabeth, and Ragetti for support. And even Jack would be counted on at times; he was a good man at heart.
"What're you going to name him?" Ragetti asked her. She looked at him as if he were mad. Wouldn't it have been obvious by now?
"William. William Turner the fourth," she said. "And he is going to just as great as his grandfather, and as wonderful as his uncle. Or I'll force him into it if he dares deny it," she joked.
