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For someone like him, whose family displayed legendary loyalty to one another, it must indeed seem insane. Despite the many troubles the Kendricks had suffered over the years, she couldn’t help but admire and envy their closeness.
“It’s pathetic, I’ll admit,” she said as she came to a halt. “But I simply cannot take the chance that Cringlewood will get wind of this.”
Leaning against the wall, she focused on breathing through the contraction that clawed its way through her body. Royal put his arm around her back to support her.
“Do you want to sit now?” he asked.
She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, still waiting for the nauseating wave to pass. When it finally did, she straightened up and glanced at the bracket clock on the demilune table.
Hell and damnation.
It was twelve minutes since the last contraction, the same as it had been forages.
“I need to get this blasted baby out of me,” she said. “Let’s keep walking.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. What were we saying?”
It helped to keep talking. As long as she had Royal by her side, speaking quietly in that lovely, low brogue of his, she felt she’d be able to manage whatever the rest of the night would bring.
“I was going to ask you why you couldn’t tell Victoria. You know she is entirely trustworthy. She could have come here and supported you when you needed it most.”
“True, but then she would have told her husband.”
“So? Nick would never betray you either.”
In Ainsley’s experience, men tended to stick together, especially noblemen. It might very well be that Lord Arnprior, a stickler for duty and honor, would believe that Leonard had both the right and the responsibility to care for the child he had fathered. Certainly, the law would see it that way.
The law can go to blazes.
“Sorry, but I can’t take the chance. Aunt Margaret is the only person I can trust.”
When Royal flashed her an ironic look, she waggled a hand. “And you, of course, Royal. I do trust you.”
“I should hope so, if for no other reason that I didn’t run screaming into the night when your water broke. That was quite a moment.”
She grimaced. “Stop. I was utterly mortified.”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “I’m teasing. It’s impossible to embarrass me, pet.”
That was true. Ainsley had publicly insulted him more than once, and Royal had invariably laughed. Then he’d proceeded to insult her right back, never holding her words against her.
Leonard, however, took every slight—real and imagined—and stored it away in his massive vault of anger and resentment.
She stopped again, digging her nails into Royal’s arm as she rode out another wave of pain. This one pulled every muscle in her torso into an unforgiving, unbearable knot that left her gasping and hunched over. When she could finally straighten up, she realized she’d all but dug holes in Royal’s sleeve.
“Sorry,” she gritted out.
He’d pulled out his pocket watch, frowning at it. “That contraction was quite a bit closer than the others. You sit down while I go fetch the midwife.”
Mrs. Peters had said she’d feel an overwhelming urge to push when it was time. Ainsley certainly had an overwhelming urge, and it was to down a brandy to help with the pain. But push? So far, that instinct eluded her.
“Not close enough, I’m afraid,” she said as she pushed straggles of hair off her brow. “And it still feels better to walk, believe it or not.”
He gave a tight nod. “Whatever you wish.”
“You’re the one who should have a rest. Why don’t you fetch Betty? She can walk with me.”
