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“Calm yourself.” Nathaniel clapped William on the shoulder, smacking him back from the edge of the crevasse of despair that threatened to consume him. “She will be well, God be praised,” he said, releasing an audible sigh. “The ball grazed her ribs, broke one of them, in fact. I believe the blow to her head caused her to lose consciousness, but she will be well.”

William gripped the table as relief blew through his muscles like a spring wind—chilled, but edged with a promise of warmer days to come. “I thought I had lost her.”

“Nay, my friend. Praise the Lord for that.” A reverent smile etched across Nathaniel’s face before he once again turned solemn. “’Tis dangerous for any person to be wounded as she, but most especially for a woman with child. Not to worry, they are both—”

“With child?” William froze. He couldn’t have heard right.

Nathaniel’s expression folded, his response frayed with strands of both surprise and remorse. “I…I thought she had already told you. Forgive me, I would never have said anything but, under the circumstances—”

“But Anna cannot bear children.” William shook his head, grappling for the bit of truth that swung just out of reach. “You must be joking.”

Nathaniel slanted his head, not a hint of mirth in his tone. “You know I would not jest about something of this nature.”

William looked to Anna then back to Nathaniel, and the doubt he carried slipped through his fingers as the grin on Nathaniel’s face widened. William stepped toward the table, speaking to his friend but looking at his wife. “You are in earnest. She is…she is with child.”

“I have not been more earnest in all my life. Her discomforts of late make it difficult to believe ’tis anything else.” A slight smile, one fringed with regret tightened his mouth. “I am sorry. I know she had wished to be the one to tell you.”

William glanced over his shoulder with a nod then looked back to his wife. The slightest pink had returned to her cheeks, and the up and down of her chest allowed his own lungs to take in air with less strain. His throat, constricted with a swell of emotions allowed only the slightest sound when he spoke. “How far along?”

Nathaniel nodded. “Early. Another month or so and you will know for certain.”

Like sunshine on a hillside, the realization washed over William, warming him with its light. “I cannot believe it.” He stepped beside the table and stroked his fingers against her cheek. “So that has been the cause of her discomforts.”

From behind, Nathaniel gripped William’s shoulder. “Our God is a God of miracles, William, and I do believe the two of you have been given one.”

Slowly, the blood returned to his limbs and he turned to his friend. “She will be all right then?”

“Aye, indeed.” He pulled a blanket over her and motioned to the door. “She is stable enough to travel. Let us take her back home in our wagon. There she can heal in her own surroundings.”

The memory of Paul’s body on the floor of his home surged to the forefront. “But I’ve a body there.”

“What? Whose body?”

William didn’t answer but continued with his thought. “I don’t know what to do…”

“Let me take the man’s body to his father.”

Both William and Nathaniel turned to see Warren standing by the study.

William inclined his head. When had he come back in? How much had he heard? “You would do that?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Why would I not? I will tell them he told me his name before he died and that he wished his body to be returned to his family.”

“How can you be sure they will believe your tale?”

He only smiled. “Your wife’s estate is vast. I do not need to tell them from whence I came to such funds, but I suspect any concerns they have regarding the man’s untimely demise will find a quick end when they are made aware of the expanse of my pocketbook.”

William pushed a quick breath from his lungs. “Sir, how can I properly thank you? You have saved both our lives this evening.”

A deep smile widened his face, erasing the grief-stricken years that had before lined his eyes. “And it seems, from what I hear, another life that is just beginning.” He neared and rested a hand on William’s arm as he looked to Anna. “You will soon know the depth of a father’s love.”

Turning, he went to the door and exited, stopping briefly on the stoop. “When I have attended to this obligation, I shall return, if you are agreeable.”

/> “Aye, of course.”

He gave a quick nod. “I too, do not wish to return to England.”

~~~

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