Author’s Note: It was almost convenient for me that they used to force the men out of the room when the women were giving birth. Almost.
“It’s taking too long, isn’t it?” Robert asked, worried. He couldn’t believe they’d shoved him out of the room after the reverend said congratulation—he wasn’t entirely sure that ceremony was any more legal than Violet’s first, but he would make sure that it was—he would resent that for the rest of his life, He had to believe that. He didn’t know that he’d be able to forgive them for exiling him from his wife—fiancee?—when she was so weak and in so much pain. “It must be.”
“Calm yourself, son. Babies are born everyday, and most of the time, nothing goes wrong with the birth.”
Robert looked back at the Millson. He did not know who had asked the man to come, but he was grateful. The innkeeper had been very helpful, a man that Robert would want for a father instead of his own, and he valued the other man’s advice and company, especially now. “I don’t know how I can take any sort of comfort in that given what she has already suffered through this pregnancy. I can’t help being worried about her. She’s so… She saved my life, and that might have stressed her right into giving birth and—”
“The doctor said your wounds weren’t fatal. You’re going to be fine.”
“I know I am. It’s Violet and the baby that I’m worried about. What if I lose her? Or she loses the baby? I don’t know how she’ll feel about that. It’s such an awful mess right now, and I don’t know what to do. I can’t sit still, and pacing doesn’t seem to help—I just become more anxious as time goes on.”
“My mother-in-law, she told me when our son was delaying that babies come when they want to and not a moment before. I heard this was a stubborn one so far, so you may as well settle in for a bit. You could be waiting a couple days.”
“Days?”
“Sometimes that’s what it takes.”
Robert groaned, sitting down. “What am I going to do? I’ll be insane by then. And Violet—can she even survive it if it takes days? I don’t think she can. Oh, hell.”
“She’ll be fine, lad.”
“What happened to my half-brother?”
“Is that who he is?”
“Apparently so. My father got his mother pregnant and married my mother anyway—after trying to have Violet’s aunt first—so he’s resented me and her all this time, and he was—I didn’t even know he existed, not until I got a good look at him and heard him speak. He sounds like my father. He looks like him. I guess my father was… He wasn’t just a cad about what he’d done to that woman he wouldn’t marry. He also made that man feel like he was nothing compared to me—and the stupidest part of it is that my father hates me.”
Millson shook his head. “Shame, that’s what it is. A true shame about all of it.”
“It’s wrong of me to have married her, isn’t it? I’m not sure it was even legal. I know everyone thought I should when he left her, but he did come back, and the child is his, and I shouldn’t take anything else from him even if I didn’t know that I had in the first place.”
“Do you love her?”
“Yes.”
“Does she love you?”
“Yes.”
“Will you raise the child as your own?”
“Yes.”
“Then you should have married her, and I’ll tell them lock you in with your half-brother if you try and back out now. She doesn’t deserve that. You’re lucky, and don’t you ever take it for granted like he did. Doesn’t matter what your father did, what you did, what her aunt did, he could have done right by her and he didn’t. That’s on him, all on him, and he doesn’t deserve to keep her after the way he treated her. Disgraceful, that was, and if there were laws in place about it, they’d make sure he got arrested for what he did. Since there isn’t, I’m glad they’re locking him up for assaulting you. At least he’ll be in prison for a while, even if it’s not for the worst of his crimes.”
Robert nodded. “That was how I felt about it—of course, I was thinking we’d be getting him arrested for forgery, not for what he did to me. I didn’t… Honestly, I never expected him to come back. I didn’t think he would.”
“Not even after you were attacked?”
“No.”
Millson grunted. “It was probably you being here that made him come back. He might not have cared otherwise.”
“Yes, I think you’re right.” Robert leaned back in his chair. “No, I doubt it was just me. I think it was because my father came. Our father. I bet he wanted to see my father’s reaction to all of this. I don’t know if he had that moment or not, but I know I will never forgive that man for all the harm he caused. He knew it was his son. He knew exactly who’d done this. That was why he wanted to say it was nothing, why he accused Violet… Bastard.”
“Yes, your father deserves to be locked away right with your brother.”
“He does.” Robert closed his eyes. He was sore, but his aches were nothing. He wanted to get to Violet, to be with her and help her if he could.
“Mr. Winston? It’s done. She’s very tired, so you can’t see her for long—she needs her rest—but you can have a few minutes.”
He jerked himself right up out of the chair. “She’s all right? And the baby?”
“Both fine. Exhausted, but I imagine she’ll make a full recovery, though I might caution you against future children—”
“I don’t care if she ever has another child as long as she’s alive.”