So, it's been a while. Work has been heinous and then I had a trip to NYC, and more excuses. Anyway, here's a crappy chapter.
XIV:
"Shallow breaths," Elsie murmured, rubbing Cora's back. "That's it, easy, easy," she soothed. "You're doing very well, m'lady."
Cora glared at her and grunted, "You choose now to be humble?"
Elsie chuckled and replied, "I cannae very well call you Cora with your mother-in-law hovering outside the door, now, can I?"
"How much longer?" Cora asked weakly, leaning into her maid.
"A fair ways, yet," Elsie murmured. "Your little one is being stubborn."
"That does not bode well for the future," Cora moaned, inhaling sharply as the next pain gripped her.
"Breathe, m'lady," Elsie instructed brusquely, going back to work on Cora's cramping back. "It will all be over soon enough and you'll forget the pain and trouble once you've held your bairn," she assured Cora.
Once she had relaxed a little, Cora panted, "How… how on earth did you do this?"
"Not verra well, I'm afraid," Elsie admitted. "Meggie was too quick to be born and Charlie…" She bit her lip, drifting into silence. "Well, we know how that went."
"Was it worth it?" Cora whimpered.
"Worth every moment of pain," Elsie promised.
"How long is it going to take?" Cora asked.
"As long as your wee'un decides it's going to take," Elsie said. "Baby Crawley is being stubborn."
Cora scowled. "I'm not at all pleased with that answer."
Elsie smiled and said, "Unfortunately, m'lady, it's the only one I can give. You're close to ready, but not quite there."
"I hope it's a boy so I never have to do this again," Cora ground out bitterly. "My god, how do people manage to have so many children and –"
Elsie sighed. "Many people love one another verra much," she said softly. "And they dinnae know that there are other ways to find pleasure with your lover." She blushed a bit and then murmured, "We've been rather careful. So I don't… get in the family way again."
"I'm praying this is a boy," Cora confessed, her normal bravery all but gone. "So I can at least tell Robert off when he wants to… It's been hours and hours already," she complained in a weak tone. "Shouldn't I push or something?"
"I cannae see the head," Elsie said. "Once we see the bairn's wee head, then you might."
She didn't want to tell Cora that, yes, they had been in this horrible holding pattern for nearly fifteen hours already, with no sign of baby's head, and the pain growing steadily worse for Cora as the contractions overlapped. She gave Cora a gentle kiss on the temple, then murmured, "I need to go check and see they've called for the doctor. I'll be right back."
Charles was waiting outside, pacing. "Any –"
"Send a lad for the doctor," Elsie said very quietly. "I think the baby is stuck in an awkward position and I dinnae think I can manage this m'sel'."
"You're very pale, love –"
"Never you mind about me," she huffed. "It's Lady Cora we should be minding now."
"Yes, well, I think –"
"Charlie, stop," Elsie warned. "I need you to get the doctor. Now. She's getting weaker by the moment and I'll not be the cause of her death because I cannae do anything for her. Do you understand me, love?"
He nodded, then retreated. Elsie went back into the bedroom, regarding Cora's nearly white face as she labored away to no avail. "Charlie's gone running for the doctor," she said softly.
"I need to push," Cora panted.
"You're going to tire yoursel' and hurt the bairn if you do," Elsie warned gently.
"I. Don't. Care," Cora ground out between clenched teeth.
"Thankfully, I do care," Elsie snapped.
"Are you certain there's no head?" Cora whimpered.
Elsie sighed and went to check her lady's progress. She blinked, not quite reconciling what she was seeing with what she knew of birth. "There's no head, m'lady," she said softly, "but I do see a wee foot?"
"A foot?"
"Aye, a wee foot – baby must be comin' all sorts of ways," Elsie sighed. "All the more reason to get the doctor –"
"Ohhh, I hope it's not the new doctor," Cora whimpered. "I can barely understand him –"
"He's from Edinburgh," Elsie scoffed. "If ye can understand me an' no' him, I'll eat me hat." She sighed and settled in. "Now, ye cannae push, Cora. Not till we've a doctor to see it's all right."
"You're going to end up with a baby in your lap in a minute," Cora warned, her voice strained.
The door was flung open a few minutes later as Cora let out an ear-splitting shriek of pain. "Mrs. Carson, I hear tell that Lady Cora is –"
"We've got feet," Elsie said brusquely. "Plural. Not a head. And if she doesnae begin pushing soon, she's going to be too tired to do the job, Dr. Clarkson." She was not about to suffer foolish inanity a moment longer than necessary.
He rolled up his sleeves and took her place. "Baby Crawley is quite contrary," was his only comment during his initial examination. "M'lady, Mrs. Carson is going to help you brace yourself, and then I need you to push as if your very life depends upon it."
"Doctor?" Elsie said, raising an eyebrow as she took a position behind Cora, supporting her.
"Sooner rather than later," he said gruffly.
She inhaled sharply, knowing it was worse than she had feared. There were innumerable problems that could accompany a breech birth, but they were rare enough she'd never had experience with one. "Yes," she agreed. "Cora, you mustn't let up. Not at all, not even as tired as you feel. Do you understand?"
"I understand," Cora panted, already bearing down. "I understand if I don't get this baby out right now, he or she isn't coming out at all."
The minutes passed with very little progress, until Clarkson said, "Yes, just like that – like that, a little more, m'lady. Careful, careful…" There was an odd noise like a suction pop, then he was lifting a small baby up by the feet and slapping it on the buttocks.
The baby was blue.
Elsie felt Cora slump in exhaustion, and finally a squawking cry of rage filled the air. "There, lass, there ye are," Elsie whispered. "Hard work, but worth every minute –"
"Lady Cora, you have a very small, but healthy, daughter," Clarkson said.
"A daughter?" Cora echoed. "Robert will be so disappointed –"
"You've been through hell and back and you're afraid he'll be disappointed?" Elsie said. "He'll be thrilled that you pulled through at all." She stifled her automatic reaction toward misery at the thought that Robert and Ida should have been on their second child by now. "He won't mind that it's a bonny wee lass like yoursel'."
Clarkson finished wiping down the baby and swaddled her in a blanket before he presented her to Cora. "I must say, there is definitely a resemblance, m'lady," he teased.
Cora let out a snort of laughter at the sight of her daughter's full head of jet black, very thick hair. "Oh dear," she sighed. "My poor darling."
Elsie took a moment to breathe, suddenly feeling a rush of weariness that washed over her like a blanket. "I'm going to leave you and little miss with the doctor for a moment," she said softly. "I'll just be outside."
Charles was waiting in the corridor, along with Robert, both sitting on chairs that had been appropriated from god only knew where. Both men hopped to their feet as she emerged into the hallway. "Is she all right?" Robert asked, his face a twisted mask of panic.
"Yes," Elsie murmured. "Your wife and daughter are both well."
Robert immediately turned to Charles. "Do you hear that, Carson? Cora has come through it very well – and I have a daughter."
"Yes, m'lord," Charles said gravely. He came over and took Elsie's elbow, propelling her toward his chair. "You must be absolutely shattered, Elsie," he said. "You look like you were about to keel over."
"I do admit I feel a bit unsteady," Elsie confessed.
"You'll be right as rain in a moment," Robert said, pressing a glass of whiskey into her hands. "To the health of my wife and daughter –"
Elsie took a sip of the drink, then covered her mouth to keep from retching. "I need to –"
"Elsie?"
"I need to lie down," she said very softly. "I dinnae feel very well."
"Oh god," Charles choked out, "are you with child?"
She stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Are ye daft? No! I am not pregnant. I'm bloody tired as the day is long because I've been up with Cora for over forty-eight hours straight! Why do you think I'm automatically with child because I'm nauseated and tired beyond reason?" She rubbed her forehead wearily and sighed. "I need to sleep as much as Cora does."
"Carson, you and Mrs. Carson must take the rest of the day – go home and be with your children and each other," Robert said firmly. "I must somehow show my appreciation to you both for your efforts the last few days –"
"Let me tell Cora," Elsie said. "Then we'll go."
She went back into the bedroom in a kind of a haze, said a few words, and left again. Charles led her downstairs and out of the house, down the road, and to his mother's cottage. It was all Elsie could do later to recall anything of that day after getting to the cottage.
When she finally awoke, there were two sleeping children in bed with her and Charles, and he was snoring – which might have brought a smug smile to her lips. Wee Charlie was right up against her, seeking comfort from his mum even in sleep, while Meggie was butted up against her father's chest, a little bit of drool escaping her mouth as she breathed deeply.
Charlie startled and started to cry; Elsie immediately pulled him closer and began to sing softly to him in Gaelic the old lullabies of her childhood. When she looked up, Charles was watching her tiredly, a smile on his lips.
"I have never loved you more than right now," he rumbled, his voice raspy and thick with sleep.
"Shh, you'll wake Meggie," Elsie scolded softly.
"Lord and Lady Grantham sent a bottle of wine to you," he said softly, trying to keep his voice down. "To say thank you for helping to bring Mary into the world."
"They're calling her Mary then?" Elsie murmured.
"Lady Cora is insisting, apparently, after both you and Dr. Clarkson called the baby 'contrary'."
"Well, if one wants to arrive in the world feet first and flaunting all convention, how else should you be called but Mistress Mary, quite contrary?" Elsie said with a tired smile. Her stomach rumbled and she sighed. "I suppose I should eat something –"
"Dinner is in an hour," Charles said. "You've slept the day away, and our little ones wanted a nap with their mummy."
"I wish that I never had to be parted from them," she whispered, pressing a kiss into her son's soft hair. "If money was no object, I would stop working right this moment and just stay here with our wee'uns."
"You have an inheritance you can call on –"
"No, don't even think it," she huffed, reaching over to thread her fingers with his, holding his hand tightly. "We will go on just as we have. I was being maudlin. And I know it has to be an awful strain for your mam to take care of two wee sprats."
"She loves every moment of it," Charles said. "She never thought she would be a grandmother, not after… things happened."
Elsie squeezed his hand. "I never in my life thought that I would find a man who would want to marry me and have a family with me."
His cheeks flushed. "I, ah, that is, well… To be honest? I saw you and the rational portion of my brain ran the other direction. I've rather been led by my trousers."
"I'm glad you have been," she declared.
"That is a very inelegant thing to say."
She shrugged. "I'm your wife – I think I am entitled to not give a fig how elegant I sound when I say how much I love you." Her smile returned, teasing and soft. "And I do love you, Charlie Carson. To the stars and back."
"More than all the tea in China," he whispered back.
"Oh, aye," she agreed.
"You kissin'?" Meggie mumbled sleepily.
"No, dear heart," Charles said with a gentle chuckle. This time, he squeezed Elsie's hand.
They didn't need to kiss or make love in order to show one another just how deeply their affections ran. It just was. It was a thing that existed, as easy and loving as anything. And they both knew exactly how lucky they were.
