Sidney encouraged the horses onwards along the beach and felt Charlotte lean on his side.
"Are you well, my love? Are the aches worse?"
"No, they are not worse, but sitting is very uncomfortable, I should be glad to get back to our home." Charlotte said with a small smile trying to reassure her clearly anxious husband.
He slowed the horses as they approached the town and turned towards their home, a grand apartment which had been finished shortly after their wedding. He stopped the horses outside their home and the door was immediately opened by their housekeeper, Mrs Jones.
"Mr Parker, we were getting quite worried about you both. You have been away for quite some time." Mrs Jones looked at Charlotte and noted the strained look on her face. "Mrs Parker, are you well?"
"Yes, Mrs Jones, I am. I am just fatigued from our walk." Replied Charlotte as Sidney helped her down from the carriage. He guided Charlotte into the house and up the stairs towards their bedroom, holding her by each arm and allowing her to rest her weight on him. As they entered their bedroom, Sidney helped Charlotte to remove her coat and lay on the bed.
"I will just step out for a moment my love, I am just going to send for Mary and Dr Faughs." He said as he pressed a kiss against her forehead.
Sidney stepped out into the hallway closing the bedroom door behind him. Mrs Jones was making her way up the stairs and he walked to meet her. "Mrs Jones, would you please send someone to fetch Mrs Tom Parker and Dr Faughs here as soon as possible."
"Is the child coming?" Mrs Jones suspected the answer with just one look at the anxious father to be.
"Yes I believe it is. But please, Mrs Jones, no fuss. Mrs Parker does not want any commotion. We will do this as quietly and notifying as few people as possible until the baby is here."
"Yes, sir. I will go myself rather than send one of the girls. I will ask for some tea and biscuits to be sent up. Mrs Parker will need her strength for what is to come." Mrs Jones turned and descended the stairs leaving Sidney standing with his hands on his hips. 'For what is to come' he thought. He let out a sigh and let his head hang, before standing up straight to his full height and returning to his wife. He would be made to leave her soon and he wanted to be with her as much as possible, to be of service to her, before that.
He opened the door and found Charlotte trying to raise herself from the bed. He rushed to her side "what is wrong, my dear?" He said noting her face.
"I need to stand" she replied. "The aches are worse when I lay down" he took her hands and pulled her up to standing and into an embrace.
"What can I do? I feel useless" he murmured into her hair.
"You are not useless. You are giving me strength just by being here. Perhaps you could help me change into my nightdress?"
"Eh, yes, of course." He looked around in a daze for several moments for the garment in question before he heard a chuckle from his wife. "Sidney, it's the white nightdress in the wardrobe, on the second shelf"
"My apologies, I had never thought to look for this before. My only concern had been to remove it." He laughed.
"Yes I am quite aware my dear. That is, after all, how we came to be in our current predicament." Charlotte raised her eyebrows before letting out a short cry and reaching her arms out for her husband as another surge took hold. In two strides he was with her, holding her up and giving her strength as the pain rose and then fell.
After a minute or two, Charlotte raised her eyes to him. "You see, you are not useless, I need you to hold onto." She said with a small smile.
"Oh Charlotte. How I love you." He said as he kissed the top of her head and stroked her back.
Sidney helped Charlotte out of her day dress and into her nightdress, holding her tenderly as he did so. He pulled her into an embrace with one arm and let his other arm rest on her middle, hoping to feel the movement of the child, as another reminder that this magnificent event was really, truely about to happen and was not a dream. He was rewarded by a solid kick from the baby followed by Charlotte's stomach becoming hard as another surge took hold. He held her firmly, and noted how this one seemed to last longer than the previous ones. Charlotte cried out in pain and Sidney felt tears in his eyes. His beloved Charlotte in pain because of him and his lust! He knew it was the way of things and that women had carried this burden as long as man had walked the earth, but now that it was happened to his dear Charlotte, he was not at all content with the situation.
From below, Sidney heard the doorbell, followed by footsteps up the stairs before Mary opened the door. Whilst he was glad to see her, Sidney's heart sank. With Mary's arrival and shortly that of the doctor, he would be made to leave and he was not ready for that.
"Ah my dear Charlotte, how are you? Have the pains started?" Mary asked.
"Yes" was the small quiet answer that came from Charlotte whilst she keep her face buried in her husbands chest.
"Do not worry my dear. Dr Faughs is on his way and your baby will be here in no time. Do you not want to lie on the bed?"
"No" said Charlotte as she clung tighter to Sidney.
"She said the pains were worse when lying down" Sidney offered on behalf of his wife.
"Alright my dear. How about a cup of tea and a biscuit? You must keep your strength up. Come, let us sit in front of the fire."
Mary moved to the fire and began to pour three cups of tea, but Charlotte did not move. She stayed rigidly gripped to her husband.
"Charlotte?" Said Mary offering her a cup of tea. Charlotte did not move from her husbands chest, for fear if she did, he would be gone from the room. She listened as the doorbell rang again and another set of footsteps came up the stairs and into their bedroom.
"Ah, Frau Parker, the good doctor is here. Let us not worry." Dr Faughs looked at the young wife as she clung to her husband. The couple were a picture of young love and clearly besotted with each other. He knew Mrs Parker was an imminently sensible young woman however she had not even acknowledged his presence in the room and seemed to care only for her husband who had neither a medical background nor training. What use would he be!
"Ah Herr Parker, you can leave us now. We will send for you when there is news to tell."
"NO!" came the anguished shout of the young mother to be, who kept her face buried in her husbands chest.
There was silence for a moment. Privately, Sidney was elated. He did not want to leave her, but he kept is expression neutral as he noted the looks which passed between Dr Faughs and Mary.
"Ah Frau Parker, a husband does not stay for such things." Said dr Faughs.
"Yes, my dear, we can call for Sidney when the baby is born. You will want your privacy for the birth. It is not seemly for a husband to be present." Cajoled Mary.
There was silence for a moment, before Sidney heard Charlotte whisper "please do not leave me. I need you." His heart broke for her, she sounded so young and afraid. He turned his head away from Dr Faughs and Mary and laid his cheek on Charlotte's head. "Are you sure?" He whispered so only she could hear. "I will stay as long as you want me to. I am at your disposal."
He felt her nod against his chest before she said loudly, "no my husband is to stay" and as she did so, another surge took hold. Stronger and longer than the previous surges, Charlotte cried out and Sidney struggled to hold her upright, such was the force with which she leaned against him.
"Ah Herr Parker, I really must insist you leave"
Dr Faughs complained.
"NO!" Barked Sidney "you are here at my wife's request and you will do what she says. If she wants me to stay, I will stay. If she wants me to go I will go. You will take your orders from her. No one else. That goes for you too Mary." He stared across at his sister in law "From here on in, we shall direct ourselves by what Charlotte wants. And I care not one jot for anyone else's opinion. Is that understood?"
Mary and Dr Faughs looked at the man. It was well known Sidney Parker had a fierce temper and could be wholly unreliable - but his temper when guarding his wife was comparable only to that of a lion and was not to be tested. Mary and Dr Faughs exchanged glances of exasperation and frustration but neither said another word on the matter.
Over the next hour, they stood exactly as they were in the middle of the room, Charlotte clinging to Sidney both for support in the surges and for fear that if she let go, he would be swept from room. For his part Sidney revelled his newfound role of support and felt that he was at least easing the burden on his wife in her time of need.
As the time dragged on, Sidney noticed the sun setting as Mary lit candles around the room for light. Dr Faughs took various notes of Charlotte as she stood against Sidney's chest. The surges became closer in time and soon it appeared there was no break between one surge ending and another beginning. Mary approached the couple cautiously and, with a hand on Charlotte's back, she whispered "Charlotte, it is very close to the time. You should really move to the bed"
Charlotte did not seem to respond and Mary looked to Sidney "Sidney, please move her to the bed, it will be easier for the next part."
Sidney nodded. "My love, let us step towards the bed" and he felt a small nod against his chest as he guided her towards the bed. Charlotte kept one hand tightly gripped on the arm of Sidney's shirt as she climbed onto the bed, knelling and resumed her position leaning against his chest holding him tightly with both hands as he stood beside the bed.
"Herr Parker, this next part might not be pretty, you should leave now." Dr Faughs made one final attempt at decorum.
Before he had the chance to speak Sidney heard a small cry of "NO!" from Charlotte who was in the throws of another surge.
"I have made my feelings on the subject perfectly clear" Sidney bellowed "Mrs Parker wishes me here so I will remain. Now please, do your job and tend to my wife."
With that the doctor nodded his assent and turned his attention to Charlotte "Ahh Frau Parker, it is time, you must push"
"Come on Charlotte, push my dear" encouraged Mary.
Charlotte took a deep breath and began to push. She was comforted by her husband's presence above her and heard him whisper words of encouragement "I love you, you are strong, push my dear, you can do it"
Charlotte felt lost in a world with only her and Sidney. She thought of their first meeting when he presumed her a maid, of their many arguments, their first kiss on the cliffs, their dance at Mrs Maudsley's ball, of Sidney's proposal at the Regetta Ball before the fire took hold, of their wedding and their blissful year of matrimony. Now they were embarking on life as a family and she felt every muscle in her body push to make that a reality. She clung to her husband, this wonderful man, delighted and awestruck that he had stayed by her side when all other men would leave the room, all because she had asked him to. She pushed with all her might until she heard the sound, no the cries, the cries of another person, another human created out of their love.
Sidney blinked his eyes open to the cries of the baby. He stood dumbfounded not knowing what to do or what to say. He remained in his position holding Charlotte before Mary broke them both from their stupor and suggested Charlotte lie down.
Charlotte did as she was told and within a moment, she was handed a squirming wailing infant wrapped in a blanket.
"Congratulations Herr Parker, you have a son!" Announced the doctor.
Safe in his mother's arms, the boy settled and relaxed against the familiar heartbeat of his mother. A son! Thought Sidney, a son! He felt himself drop onto the bed bedside his wife and wrap his wife and son into his arms. He nuzzled his head into his wife's hair and whispered "Mrs Parker, you are a marvel. I adore you"
"Are you pleased?" Charlotte looked up to Sidney.
"Pleased?!" He laughed shocked at the question "Mrs Parker I am indebted to you. You have brought our child safely into this world and you ask if I am pleased! I should ask if you are pleased!"
Charlotte smiled softly, "I am delighted. I had hoped for a son, that we could sail boats with down by the river. He could be Admiral Parker"
Sidney smiled closing his eyes at the memory. He gently kissed Charlotte's head and stared at his son. There had never been a luckier man than he. He vowed to work every day for the rest of his life to deserve them both, his wife Charlotte and his son, George.
