Page 51 of Waiting for Love

“I’m coming! I’m coming,” Olivia said. “My hair didn’t work.”

“No! It isn’t—we aren’t going. Reg just sent for the doctor and Mrs. Cooper. Georgiana is having the baby!”

*

The doctor, the midwife, the midwife’s assistant, the duchess, Mama, and Georgiana’s maid all crowded into Georgiana’s bedchamber. Even if Olivia and Alice had been permitted to attend her, there would not have been space enough. They waited in the ladies’ sitting room. Aware that it could be a very long wait, they busied themselves with sewing baby napkins. Jasper and Reg were in the study down the hall. Olivia wondered what they did to pass the hours.

Teatime came and went. Olivia was too excited to feel hungry. Excited but not worried. Despite knowing that things could go wrong, bad things didn’t happen to Georgiana.

Dusk had deepened into night when Mama came to them.

“Oh, my dears,” she said, sounding teary but smiling. “They have a beautiful—”

Whooping from down the hall drowned out Mama’s words. Then Olivia heard the pounding of footsteps: Reg sprinting. A moment later, Jasper and the duchess came to join them in the sitting room.

“Georgiana was splendid,” Mama said.

The duchess nodded. “I must say, she made it look easy.”

“Boy or girl?” Olivia asked. “We couldn’t hear.”

“A boy,” Jasper answered for them. He smiled but it looked as though he were trying too hard to do so.

“Reginald must be so pleased,” Alice said, then quickly amended, “so relieved.”

“Ah, yes,” Jasper said. “I’ll have to replace my rug. He wore a rut in it.”

“Haz will be sorry he missed this,” Olivia said. Jasper laughed.

They continued with more nonsense. Then Mama and the duchess compared their own most difficult births. Mama said Crispin. He had come out backwards. Jasper snickered, “Of course.” The duchess said Randolph. Her firstborn weighed nine pounds. She got a bit misty eyed. Mama squeezed her arm. A long moment of silence followed. Olivia knew that Georgiana’s older brother had died in an accident at school. She couldn’t think of anything worse than losing one of her brothers. Bad things did happen to Georgiana.

“Did Reginald send for Hovington?” the duchess asked.

Jasper answered, “A messenger left for Marbury just after the doctor arrived.”

Marbury was one of the duke’s country homes. Reg once said that it was a good deal prettier than Chaumbers, but Olivia couldn’t believe that.

“Good,” the duchess said. “Then he will likely be here tomorrow.”

“Here he is! Here he is!” Reg announced, shouldering open the door. He carried a large bundle of blankets with a tiny, pink face peeking out. The baby’s eyes were closed, and he made adorable mewling sounds. Olivia had never seen Reg grin so wide. She and Alice both jumped to their feet to rush him.

Olivia wept happy tears as she hugged Reg and bundle both.

“He’s so tiny. So sweet!” She gushed and gushed. “What will you name him?” She turned her face up to Reg’s.

He reddened. Sheepish. “Arthur.”

Chapter Eighteen

Coming to London had been the right thing to do. Of course, it was. He had kissed her! If Olivia hadn’t fled from him, terrified or appalled, he would have kissed her again.

And if they had been caught? Benjamin’s blood turned to ice. The consequences would have been devastating.

It had been three weeks since he’d begged a ride with Hazard. The viscount was a very pleasant man, but their conversation during the lengthy journey had been superficial given the presence of Miss Jamison and Hannah. During a short rest at a posting station to change horses, Benjamin waited for Miss Jamison to take Hannah to the privy before broaching the topic of a social secretary. Hazard grasped the situation at once.

“But I cannot think of anyone at the moment,” he said, scratching his chin. “Come around in a couple of weeks and I may have a few names.” Then he smiled in the amused way he had. “Don’t come before noon.”

So now, the requisite time having passed, Benjamin trudged through the brown-and-yellow snow, nodding to the few equally miserable-appearing city dwellers who had ventured forth on this day of weak sunshine and cold wind after five days of continuous sleet.