Finding Bliss (5 page)

“It’s in the bottom wardrobe drawer, Bliss. Hurry! Oh, OW!” Luxie’s
exclamation of pain was accompanied by a grunting pant and a few more yelps of
pain.

The minute Bliss got the oil cloth in place Luxie sat down
and turned her legs to the end of the bed. Bliss piled pillows behind her
mother’s head and began tugging up the fabric of skirts and petticoats to free
the path for her unborn sibling. Luxie was in too much shock and pain to
protest the exposure.

Perry returned with the tugs and nearly dropped them on the
floor at the sight of Lady Penwood in the birthing position. Eric grabbed the
leather straps and shoved the green-tinged footman out directly. He helped his
father fix the straps on the foot of the bed so that Luxie could get the
leverage she would need.

Bliss unfastened her mother’s gown and removed it from her
along with her petticoats. Since she was pregnant there was no corset to
unlace, so it took no time at all to have Luxie in her chemise preparing to
give in to the pushing. But the moment Dr. Benchley examined the scene, he
turned pale white.

“What’s the matter?” Luxie gasped as another pain wrenched
her, back arching to withstand the brunt.

“I am afraid Bliss wasn’t lying when she said I’d need help.
This is a serious situation, I’m afraid. Your grace, the baby is issuing feet
first,” Dr. Benchley said quietly.

“Wait, Papa, that’s not as bad as you make it sound! She’s
had other children ... six or so, right? So this baby won’t be forcing a fresh
path. I’ve read that this situation is less dangerous if the baby isn’t a
first. She’ll just have to push extra hard and hurry the baby out faster in
case of life cord issues,” Eric said spouting his rote knowledge impressively.

“Smart, my boy! Very smart! Your grace, you’ll have to do as
my boy says. We’re gonna need a lot of hard pushes! Remember how it was with
Mac? He was a hefty baby, remember? I was called because you were nearly
exhausted, but you did it in the end.”

“That’s because ...” pant, pant, “you were ...” pant, pant
“threatening to cut me open with the butcher blade!” Luxie gasped and
struggled.

“Breathe easy, now, your grace ma’am. You need to focus your
attention just like that then. Push the baby out like it’s that or a knife! It’ll
motivate you,” Eric told her quickly.

“No! No knives!” Ollie’s voice boomed from the doorway. He
saw Bliss and shrugged.

“Ollie? How come you’re here? Mr. Dalton said you’d be in
the shipyard all afternoon!” Luxie gasped.

“Bliss mentioned something to Lem this morning. Lem informed
me of his tasks in case he might get called out for leaving the estate without
permission. I put stock in Bliss’s being sometimes spot on and decided to cut
the tour short. I was met by Lem as I came over the rise. Smart boy! Now, darling,
what can I do to help?” Ollie asked all business once more.

“Oh! No! Oh, OW, something else’s wrong!” Luxie howled her
pain out loudly.

“It’s nothing serious, Mama, if you do as they say,” Bliss
assured.

“Your grace, focus all your energy to pushing the baby,
please! He or she could be without air soon if we don’t release him or her to
the world!” Dr. Benchley commanded in his most serious doctor voice. Bliss was
up on the corner of the bed hugging her mother’s shoulder and whispering to her
softly.

“Pretend that it’s tennis, Mama. Pretend the pushing is a
ball you’re trying to swat at Uncle Miles,” Bliss offered helpfully.

Eric hovered near the end of the bed. Maids filtered in with
a basin of warm water and several stacks of linen and toweling. Luxie gripped
the tugs and gave a hideous war cry as she curled her body over and pushed
until her face was nearly purple. The baby slid out into Dr. Benchley’s waiting
hands.

“Well, now! That was much easier than I expected given the
warning! Here’s a baby girl!” Dr. Benchley held up the wriggling baby for Lord
and Lady Penwood to see.

Bliss looked at Eric. His attention was on his father as he
was handing the baby to the nurse. He instructed her to turn the baby up by its
feet and give it a little shake to help the fluids and mucous drain out.

The baby protested wildly at such rude treatment. The
piercing scream that followed was almost enough to drown out Luxie’s next cry.

“OH! What’s wrong! This can’t be right! The after is never
this
painful,” grunted Luxie. Having gone to have a look at his newborn daughter, Ollie
immediately returned to his wife’s side.

Dr. Benchley was checking the baby to make sure the
irregularity of her birth didn’t cause the tiny girl any injuries. Bliss knew that
this moment was the reason an assistant was necessary. She shouted at Eric.

“Eric, you need to come nearer to the bed. My mother needs
help!”

Eric turned toward the sound of her voice and would have disagreed.
But in that moment of time he recognized the urgency was not just the girl’s
imagination. He sped quickly to the foot rail of the bed just in time to catch
the second baby as it came slithering out of the ready birth canal and into his
sure hands.

“Oh gracious!” Luxie gasped as the second daughter emerged
and let out a wood-splintering cry!

“Oh my, my! Congratulations! You have
twin
girls!”
Dr. Benchley said coming quickly over to see the baby held securely in his
son’s hands.

Eric stood riveted to the sight of
the squalling infant in his palms. One of the nursery maids hurried off to
fetch a second basin and to tell Mrs. Pressley the news firsthand. Eric turned
to stare at Bliss in wonder.

Bliss never gave any indication of smugness, but she knew he
could feel the words in his brain. The echo of “I told you so” was loud enough
to drown out all other conscious sounds in that moment. But Bliss merely smiled
happily and hugged her mother.

“Bliss, my love! How did we doubt you again? You told us
we’d be doubly blessed! But you sure didn’t mean it was another boy! You are a
savior, sweetheart!” Ollie said triumphantly! He reached behind Luxie’s
shoulders and snagged his daughter in a hug, pulling her completely to his side
of the bed and tossing her effortlessly into the air as he stood. He caught
Bliss neatly and set her to the floor.

“You should run along and tell the others the news, too! Dr.
Benchley can probably handle things from here out,” Ollie told her.

Eric still held the second baby in his hands and listened
with acute attention to his father’s instructions on how to examine her. Eric
was too caught up in his first delivery to be mindful of anything else going on
in the room.

Bliss beamed in happy satisfaction to be able to tell 13
year old Russ, 11 year old Merryann and 8 year old Mac the news first. Cori and
Andre wouldn’t care as much, being only six and four years old respectfully and
too jealous of the missed attention to love the little ones much yet. But then another
thought hit her like a brick to the foot. There was something she wanted to
tell Eric!

Her future husband needed to understand about her gift. After
everything that happened that afternoon, she needed to reassure him that she
wasn’t playing a game.

“Papa, I need to speak to Eric,” she explained quietly.

“He’s helping his father with your new baby sisters. Perhaps
it can wait a little while,” Ollie said dismissively. He turned back to stare
at his wife in wordless pride.

Bliss exited the room and sat in the hallway floor to
collect her thoughts. Another vision, this one quick and harmless, came to
mind. Bliss giggled and waited for Eric to emerge.

Of course, she knew he wouldn’t be long after her. A few
minutes later the door swung open, and Eric came out clutching a towel and
wiping his arms to the elbows where he’d obviously washed.

“Bliss! Congratulations! Twin sisters! You’re so lucky,
aren’t you?” Eric said using his patronizing, “older-than-you” voice. It took
all of her resolve not to roll her eyes.

“Twins, very neat, yes. But having already five siblings,
the addition of one extra really doesn’t make so much difference,” Bliss
remarked dryly. Eric seemed slightly taken back by the wryness of the younger
girl. He changed tact.

“I have no siblings, you know. So the addition of even one
extra for me would be amazing. Anyhow, what are you doing out here? I expected
you to be tearing off to tell the others! Is there really something wrong with
you? I can budge up Papa if you’re really feeling unwell?”

Bliss frowned at him in frustration. “No, I’m quite alright.
I wanted to talk to you, actually.”

“Me? What do you want with me?”

“Nothing really,” Bliss hedged a little, “I just was
wondering what you thought about my message and recommendation to your father
about an assistant. I don’t want you to be worried about it … just in case you
were,” Bliss stammered. Everything she wanted to say was coming out all wrong,
but for the life of her she couldn’t make it better.

“Your message? You wanted my father here because you knew he
needed to be here? Or you just have a problem with faking illnesses and a happy
coincidence brought about the birth of your sisters. Honestly, I don’t know
which is scarier,” Eric laughed in a hard tone.

Bliss stopped herself from arguing the point with him. There
was no need to beat the subject to death today. Rationally she supposed there
would be years for him to get used to the idea of her curse. So instead she
gave him a warning.

“Eric?”

“What?”

“Make sure you take the cobbled road home today instead of
the shorter dirt path. I know you came in your horse and cart in case you got
free and could go fishing. But if you take the shorter path you won’t have any fishing
opportunities for a while,” Bliss told him succinctly.

“That’s ridiculous! I’m perfectly fine to take the short cut
home. I’m nearly grown, you know. I’m a first rate scholar at school, and soon
I’ll enter St. Thomas’s! So I believe I’m capable of taking a short cut without
your opinion.”

Bliss didn’t jump to argue the point, waiting for what she
knew would be his next tactic. As expected, he continued to promote his
superiority.

“Besides, what do you know about horses and carts? You’re
just a child, a duke’s daughter with no need to learn anything about driving a
rig or equipage. I’ll go how I like,” Eric scoffed rudely.

Bliss ignored the snubs and looked at him with a level
stare, challenging his smugness with her own. Given his unfortunate decision
not to trust her she could only pity him now. Eric shook his head and pushed
his way past her as he walked toward the stairs.

“Suit yourself, then,” she said sharply as he passed,
adding, “stubborn clod,” after watching his body turn on the mid-floor landing.

Bliss fought against her righteous knowledge and made no
attempt to continue her pursuit at that time. Knowing enough of her own destiny
to be certain that further argument was futile, Bliss turned and headed up the
stairs in search of her siblings to deliver the overdue news at last.

Eric, age fifteen, Cardiff, June 1800

On his way through the gates that
afternoon following his encounter with Bliss, Eric Benchley suffered an
involuntary shudder. Chastising himself for being silly worrying about Lord
Penwood’s little girl and her odd predictions, he turned his cart distinctively
toward the shortcut over the dirt path near the marshes.

Only fishing on his mind, Eric’s horse calmly plodded along.
The small passenger cart held all his fishing gear. The entire lot was his
collection over years of birthdays, Christmases and hard work honing and
whittling the rods from his own source wood.

As a seasoned aficionado of hand-crafted gear, Eric had meticulously
crafted and perfected eighteen yards of fishing line during his down time at
school. It was the thinnest thread, hard woven and pulled to a fine sturdy
weight to be secure, no matter how heavy his catch. All of his hard work and
preparation rode behind him in that cart.

Eric’s mind was preoccupied with thoughts of catching a big
fish when all of a sudden his horse reacted violently. It nearly caused him to
be bounced from his seat.

Within seconds the mare reared three times in succession and
pawed the air with her hooves. The thrashing and changes to the horse’s posture
caused the cart tongue to snap and become dislodged from its traces. Eric jumped
down and tried to reach up to free the harness and protect the mare from the
splintered wood still attached to her by the yoke, but he was unable to get
close enough because of the horse’s wild behavior.

When he stepped off to the side to try and calm the mare, he
saw the trouble. It was a snake. Obviously very frightened at being discovered
and nearly trampled by the horse, the snake coiled and hissed in protest. Upon
seeing the hooves coming down once more, the snake leapt backwards using its
better judgment and slithered away harmlessly.

Eric fully intended to calm his horse and try to repair his
cart. Somewhere in the back of his mind, however, he knew that this wouldn’t
happen. Without warning the horse gave a mighty kick. Unable to react in time, Eric
saw his loose cart begin to roll off the right bank of the road, down the steep
incline and hurtle directly toward the salty marshes near the bay.

The moment the cart hit the water the broken tongue
immediately went down, causing all the contents of the cart to be tossed into
the water and either sink or float out toward the deeper waters. The remains of
the cart drifted seaward as though it were a newly launched ship setting off at
high tide for the American continent.

Turning back, Eric realized with a jolt that his mare had
taken off at a run the minute she kicked the cart. He watched helplessly as the
horse galloped away, already a fair distance advanced from where he was. He
shook his head slowly, letting the realization hit him like falling rain.