Kenleigh-Blakewell Family Saga 1-2 Boxed Set by Pamela Clare

Author:Pamela Clare [Clare, Pamela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Pamela Clare
Published: 2013-11-30T23:00:00+00:00

Epilogue

Nothing could possibly hurt this much.

Cassie gritted her teeth and tried not to cry out as the pain peaked, engulfing her, shaking her apart.

“Strength, Cassie, strength,” Takotah crooned.

As the pain slowly passed, Cassie slumped back against Nan, who sat behind the birthing stool supporting her.

“Here, love.” Elizabeth held a cup of tea to her lips.

Cassie sipped wearily, barely able to keep her eyes open. “How much longer?”

It had taken so long already. She couldn’t bear much more of this.

“The first is always the hardest.” Her sister-in-law smiled sympathetically.

“It’s hard to say.”

“Yer doin’ just fine, Missy,” Nan said reassuringly. “Just take the pains one at a time.”

Cassie felt another pang begin, a belt of agony that wrapped itself around her middle.

Clutching her sister-in-law’s hand, she cried out as pain once again swallowed her.

“Don’t fight the pain.” Takotah stroked Cassie’s swollen belly in a downward motion. “You can do this, Cassie.”

“Oh, no, I can’t! I can’t! Please!” Cassie cried, her composure in tatters.

“Yes, you can, Cassie. You are strong. Feel how strong you are,” Takotah purred.

“It’s fine to scream, love,” said Nan.

“Aye, it is,” Elizabeth agreed.

Cassie could not have stopped herself even had she wanted to. A frantic cry escaped her lips, ending in a sob as the pain finally began to ebb.

“Where’s Alec?” Cassie fought to keep her eyes open. “I’m so afraid.”

“I suspect he’s giving my husband a very hard time.” Elizabeth wiped Cassie’s forehead with a cool cloth. “Close your eyes and rest, love. Don’t worry about him. Don’t worry about anything.”

Cassie was already dozing.

* * *

Alec raised the bottle to his lips and took another drink of corn whiskey, the demons of hell eating at him. From upstairs came another cry. The sound of Cassie’s suffering was tearing him to pieces. Her pains had started early this morning, but morning had turned into afternoon, afternoon into evening, and still the baby had not been born.

“Let’s go outside. The fresh air will do you good,” said Matthew, already more than a little drunk.

“No!”

They’d been trying to get him out of the house for the past three hours, but Alec refused to budge. Let them leave if they wished. They could have all the fresh air they wanted. He would stay right here.

“Ye’re a stubborn bastard.” Zach glared at him with an unsteady gaze, his words slurred. “I should just drag ye outside like ye did me.”

Elly’s baby girl had been born six weeks earlier, and it had taken all of Alec’s strength to pull Zach from the room so the women could tend to her.

“That was different,” Alec mumbled.

“Why?”

“Because it was.”

Alec closed his eyes as Cassie cried out again, her anguished scream turning to a whimper, and the whimper fading to silence once again. Her cries had become more frequent and more desperate. Was she dying? He could find no way to silence his fear, no way to chase the demons away.

Suddenly he felt himself being jerked to his feet, Zach at one arm, Matthew at the other.

“Come on,” Matthew said.

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