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“She will be fine, William,” he assured his liege. “Jemma went through the same thing. They vomit a lot but it passes.”

William looked at him, the setting sun red against his skin. “She is bleeding, Kieran.”

He could see the color drain from Kieran’s face. “Sweet Jesu,’” he muttered. “Is the babe…has she…?”

“I do not know,” William’s voice was a whisper. “That’s why I need Byron.”

Kieran felt sick for his friend. He only knew the pain too well. When the party entered the gates of Northwood, he took over for the baron and allowed William to tend his sick wife, praying furiously for the safety of their babe even as he continued to bark orders.

Byron and Sylvie were waiting for them. After William lay Jordan upon the bed and helped her remove her clothing down to her shift, the little physician chased him out and told him to stay put until he was summoned. Worried and sickened, William began to pace in the antechamber.

Paris joined him barely ten minutes later, having been apprised of the situation by Kieran. Without so much as a greeting, he joined William in the pacing.

Thomas, Matthew, Ian and Cord soon appeared at the door. They had come to greet Jordan home, but soon found themselves desperately worried right along with William when he informed them that Jordan had taken ill. All six men took up the antechamber with their pacing, leaving no room for Kieran when he came to see what was happening.

When Byron finally stuck his head into the room close to an hour later, he was surprised to see it looking like a social event. He motioned William into the bedchamber.

Jordan lay flat on her back, her feet elevated with pillows. She smiled wanly at William and he returned her smile, putting his hand on her head gently.

“How is she, Byron?” he asked.

“She is a very tired lady,” Byron replied. “Baron, you simply cannot have a pregnant woman traipsing about all over the country. She needs rest, and lots of it. In fact, I do not want to see her out of this bed for quite a while, if at all until the babe is born.”

William looked sharply at him. “Then…then the babe is all right?”

“As far as I can tell, yes,” the physician replied. “I can still hear a strong heartbeat. But consider this your warning; she is to remain in bed.”

William nodded firmly, greatly relieved. Sylvie had Jordan drink a potion while Byron pulled the earl aside.

“And I know of your appetite for your wife,” the little man said quietly. “There will be no more of that, not if she is to see this pregnancy through. You will leave her alone, is that clear?”

William was amused by the tone but kept a straight face. “Absolutely. You have my word.”

Sylvie moved to pack Byron’s things away and Byron caught her from the corner of his eye. Shooing her away, he finished packing himself and ushered the woman from the room. When they were gone, William once again smiled bravely at his wife and sat on the edge of the bed.

“It looks like there will be no more traveling for you,” he said.

There was a bit of color back in her cheeks. “So I was told. But what of Questing?”

He ran a finger along her cheek. “It will still be there. But nothing is more important than your health or the health of the babe, so you will remain here as ordered. It will give me time to see to the renovation of Questing and have it in order by the time we are ready to occupy it.”

She pouted. “But I did so want this babe to be born there.”

He leaned down and kissed her. “I simply want this babe to be born. Period.”

*

It was the longest six months in recorded history, at least for William. He divided his time between Questing’s improvements and tending his wife, who was a very naughty girl at times. For the most part, she did stay in bed as ordered, but there were times he would enter the room and find her standing by the window, wistfully gazing over the baileys of Northwood. Not having the heart to scold her, he would simply put her back to bed and threaten to tie her there if she didn’t stay.

Troy and Scott crawled and walked while their mother was in the infirmary. They were followed closely by Sylvie, their grandfather, uncle, and cousins. There was never any shortage of companionship for the twins, and William was with them whenever he wasn’t at Questing or with Jordan.

Jordan did feed them every meal, the one thing she could do for them as they sat in their little chairs and she spooned mashed vegetables and fruits into their little mouths. They were ravenous eaters, much to their father’s delight, and by their first birthday weighed nearly twenty-five pounds apiece.

And along with their appetites, they had developed distinctive personalities that constantly amazed their loved ones. Scott was vivacious and aggressive, while Troy was a bit more cautious and loving. Jordan delighted in putting them in the big bed with her and playing with them until they either crawled off the bed or fell asleep in her arms.

It was a difficult time for her, with her babes growing up before her eyes and she not able to take a more active role in their lives, so she contented herself by doing what she could and depending on William and the others for the rest.

Some days she thought she was going daft with uselessness. Jemma spent every day with her, progressing rather nicely with her own pregnancy, and Jordan well remembered when the situation was reversed and how she would come and visit the bedridden Jemma. The knights, too, would spend days with her, playing games or simply talking, much as they did when she had been recovering from her arrow injury. She actually enjoyed the time spent, even though she was so bored with being in bed that she could scream, but she especially enjoyed sharing her bed with her husband every night. To be held by him at nightfall was the pinnacle of her day.