Seducing Anne (35 page)

“Right away,” Nick responded, and out of the corner of Guy’s eye, he could see Nick in the background, slaving away out there, moving with quickness and precision.

“Soon, sweetheart. Do you know how incredible you have been? You have been so perfect and amazing—that our little one is almost here.”

The contractions seemed to have slowed down. This was supposed to mean pushing soon.

Her hands reached out, grabbed him behind the neck and she pulled him down to her lips. “Do you love me?”

“I love you so much I defied history and a tyrannical king and a swordsman. It was all very worth it—you are my rare gem.” He kissed her.

She made this humming sound and then gasped as another one took hold of her.

Her hands went to his and she placed them on her lower belly, right above her pubic bone.

He massaged her with light passes.

“Harder!” She gave him an apologetic look for barking out orders.

He smiled warmly at her.

It was fine. She was experiencing so much right now, it was completely understandable.

As he worked harder to relieve the tension in her belly, more mucus drifted into the water, and it was streaked with blood this time.

She was probably going to push very soon.

“I have to . . . I need the toilet,” she said in a rush, clutching at his arm.

“It is the pushing sensation. It feels the same as relieving the bowels,” he reminded her.

“It is?” She made a throaty plea with this pitiful moan.

“It is. When it is so strong you cannot avoid it, then you bear down and push with the contraction.”

She nodded but looked terrified.

“I will not allow you to tear. The water will help also.” He kissed her temple.

Her eyes darted, and she wore an expression of frustration as she batted away a floating bag of lavender tied up in a cloth tea bag.

He choked off a chuckle, plucked them out one at a time and then threw them in the small trash can next to him.

She sighed when they were gone.

“Thank you. They were upsetting me,” she said, averting her gaze.

“Sweetheart—look at me.” Her neck turned slowly. He cupped her chin. “You are not to apologize for anything when you are bringing my baby forth. I thank you for being so brave and being my hero right now.”

She swallowed, and her eyes misted. “You are my hero, too.”

He kissed her and it seemed to knock her into a full tilt, grunting, belly-gripping contraction.

Without a word, she was pushing and holding her breath, turning a little red on her cheeks.

“Only hold it to comfort—no pushing harder than you need to or holding breaths too long,” he instructed.

She released her breath, sucked in another one and pushed some more.

This time her hands were more relaxed and her cheeks a normal color.

God, her belly was pushing outward and he could almost feel the strain of the muscles.

He had a few sympathy pains when she let it go and the rush ended.

“This is better,” she remarked. “I like pushing much more than—”

Her thought was cut off as a new one pressed her into another round of pushing.

After that, she fell silent. They went through a few more pushing contractions, and she was as focused as ever.

He made sure she was drinking water between each of them.

On the next contraction, she grunted really loud and looked ready to get this baby out at all costs.

“Oh God!” He could see the head starting to appear. Her pussy lips bulged in the water and they even kind of moved.

He reached into the water and touched the slimy, wet head of the baby, swirling his fingers in the hair. Anne also allowed him to massage her pussy lips being stretched, to aid them so they would spread and not tear with the imminent birth approaching.

“I have to . . . I am sitting on her, and it hurts!” Anne cried out, gripping the side of the tub, trying to maneuver herself up.

He assisted her into a squat, and even though he was disappointed he could not see the small portion of the baby’s head any longer, he knew this was the most conducive position to prevent tearing and to aid her with the pushing.

She gave him a look—searching for approval.

“You can do this. You can bring her forth like no one else ever could. Our special little girl,” he cooed.

She smiled briefly and then she was pushing again.

The next few pushes she was grunting like crazy, her body definitely taking over.

There was no way she could stop this if she had wanted to at this point.

“She is coming! Oh dear God, she is . . .”

“Nick! Be ready!” Guy called out behind him, then he bent over, kneeling and reaching inside to feel for the head, and that’s when it happened.

He touched his darling infant’s head, it wiggled and then slid forth into his awaiting hand.

Anne gasped, then held her breath.

A moment later, she blew out. “Oh, it is over!”

He chuckled. Yes, he’d read about this. The head coming out felt like it was finished since the pressure was gone temporarily, even though there was a body still inside her.

“Do you still retain the urge to push?” he asked, but it was for nothing.

She beared down, and both his hands were there to greet the rest of the babe.

Hers were, too. With their hands all tangled together, she helped bring their Elizabeth up and out of the water.

Anne sat back down and her legs slid back into the water, taking her to a semi-reclined position. She relaxed into the back of the tub.

They set their squirming little one on her chest.

He parted the baby’s legs and checked the sex just in case the midwife had been wrong.

“A girl,” Guy breathed, his voice catching in his throat.

Nick was behind Guy, standing there motionless. The only way Guy knew he was there was he heard him sobbing above him.

He glanced up and then Nick went down to the ground into a full kowtow—his nose ground into the flooring.

“Your Majesty!” Nick said, breathless and so emotional, it made the air thick with this sense of importance.

It was a moment of irrefutable reverence.

Guy scooted back and did the same, bowing down to Anne at Nick’s side. Oh God, his exquisite wife—and the stunning baby they had created together—they were worth all of it.

Anne was crying so loud with joy and other mixed emotions that Guy stayed there for a moment.

She was beautiful. His life was perfect.

“Come see the magnificence we have created, Your Grace,” Anne told him.

He lifted his head, shuffled over to her on his knees and then he touched that little girl’s hand.

“She is an angel,” he said, barely able to breathe at the sight of the infant.

“She is half you—of course she is an angel.” Anne giggled and reached out for him with one arm, puckering up.

He kissed, hugged and celebrated with her.

Nick was setting supplies in the bathroom on the counter for him a few moments later—silent and wearing a look of clear reflection and contemplation.

“Our Elizabeth. We have her—do we not?” Anne asked.

“Yes, sweetheart, she is ours, and we have her. We will always have her.”
And this moment together . . .
Guy cleared his throat. There was a boulder-sized lump lodged there. How long would Nick allow them to hold and fawn over their daughter?

Nick put the toilet lid down and set something on top of it.

Guy glanced over.

Elizabeth’s bracelet.

Next Nick placed Guy’s jewelry tools there.

Did he know what this was?

Guy hesitated, but then he was almost frantic to put it on his precious daughter.

A second later, he had it clasped on her tiny wrist, secured in place.

He kissed it and kissed her little fist surrounding his finger.

The babe made a suckling sound, so Anne sat up and said she wanted to get out of the water.

Nick helped him to clamp the cord that was done pulsating.

“Cousin Nicholas—you will honor me if you sever the cord,” Anne said.

The profoundness of her statement was not lost on Guy.

Apparently Nick felt it as well because tears were streaming down his cheeks once more.

He would take their child away—sever their connection.

With a few sniffs, Nick did it, and then looked away, his eyes a mass of confusion.

A second later, Guy was holding his little one, wrapped in a thick, fuzzy towel, and instead of handing this little princess to Nick so Guy could help Anne out of the tub, he was sitting on top of the toilet seat, bawling his eyes out. “I love you. Do you know what you mean to me?” he told his daughter. He rubbed the tip of his nose through the dark matted hair on the top of her head.

The baby squirmed and squawked.

Anne made a similar noise, and when Guy turned to her, she was delivering her placenta with Nick’s help.

He was back to being the practical assistant—unmoved by anything.

Guy placed Elizabeth’s tiny fingers on his lips and nipped softly at them.

So beautiful.

Her squinty gray eyes held an intelligence all their own as she watched him in silence.

Nick scooped the placenta into a bowl, then bagged it into a chux pad and had it in the garbage can they’d set aside for this type of thing.

The water was so red now it was hard to tell if she was hemorrhaging or not, so Guy snapped to action.

He handed the baby to Nick without a word, ignoring the thicker lump of worry in his gut than the one in his throat.

His hands were steady as he unplugged the tub to let it drain. He rinsed Anne off with some clean water.

She was smiling contentedly, watching Nick hold Elizabeth.

“Is she not the most beautiful babe ever?” Anne lilted, her words almost slurred.

“Aye—she is that. And she is strong,” Nick replied. He rocked her, but wore an impassive gaze.

Guy helped Anne out, dried her off and then wrapped a robe around her.

He led her over to the bed Nick had prepared for them, and right away, Anne was clamoring for her little one.

Nick held on to Elizabeth, a look of intense worry in his thickly lined brows and bracketed eyes.

“Please, at least let me nourish her with some of her mother’s milk before you take her from me,” Anne pleaded, her cheeks wet and salted from her fresh tears that were rolling down her face.

He passed her back.

“All right. I suppose she must be hungered.” Nick sat at the edge of the bed and looked away as Anne released her large right breast and latched Elizabeth on.

Guy lay down on his tummy next to Anne, stroking Elizabeth’s silky calf.

She was so small, but she was pink and healthy, wiggly and making grunting noises as she suckled like she was meant to do.

“I love her. She’s perfect—like you,” Guy said, beaming at his wife. He had already said that more than once, but he’d lost track of time or all the things he’d said to her, gushing about how they both were his entire world.

“You shared your seed with me, and I am glad she is yours and no other’s. I was glad to know I was already with child before . . . Before I was forced to lie with him.”

“Don’t think of that now. Focus only on her tiny hands in yours, her little gray eyes searching your face. She knows you, sweetheart. She knows your voice, and your scent. She loves you, as do I.” Guy broke down into womanly tears once more. He couldn’t help it. Nick would cart her away before he could even memorize what her little button nose looked like.

He got up, grabbed his phone and took as many pictures as he could of mother and daughter.

It was easy to see her as a flaming red-haired queen one day. She would be magnificent.

She already was.

“This is the happiest and saddest day of my life,” Anne said, sniffing. “She is so miraculous—I cannot take my eyes off her.”

Elizabeth made a soft gurgling noise and let go of the breast.

Nick flitted in and out of the room, setting a plate of small sandwiches next to Anne on Guy’s nightstand, along with a large glass of orange juice.

Was his guilt urging him to at least take care of the queen before he left?

“Oh, she . . . She must still be . . .” As if under pressure and at the point of a knife, Anne quickly tucked her right breast away and pulled out her left. “You cannot be finished so soon,” she told her little girl.

“Lavender, you cannot force her to eat if she has had her fill,” Guy said, his voice gentle and quiet.

Elizabeth took to that breast as well. Anne sighed in relief right away, and her lips spread into a lazy, satisfied grin. “I want her to have a full tummy. Remember how we thirsted so after we went through time?” She turned to Nick who suddenly went rigid. “Will you procure a wet nurse right away? She has to be well-hydrated, or she could die within hours. I vomited so much, I thought my stomach had turned inside out.”