Page 88 of Inconvenient Honor
The older woman reached out and took Lily’s hand. She spoke in soothing tones.
“She says you must miss your sisters and aunts,” the younger woman said, and Lily realized with a pang she had none. She thought of Georgiana Mallet and her friend the Countess of Chadbourn.I should have gone to them. More regret.
The young woman didn’t notice her deepening sadness. “Not to worry, English lady, we will help. This woman”—she indicated the older woman patting Lily’s hand—“my grandmother, has helped with many babies. Many.”
A midwife? Lily looked at her more closely.
Before Lily could reply, another woman barged in. Of indeterminate age and fierce expression, she wore a red headdress with a chain of coins looped across it as a sign of wealth. She must have held some position of importance because the others quickly moved aside, deferring to her. She barked some harsh words, only one of which Lily understood—infidel again. Clearly, she did not approve of kindness to a captive.
The old woman glowered at the intruder and then smiled sadly at Lily. Lily found herself smiling back. She took Lily’s smile for permission and put both hands on Lily’s belly. She began to probe. She had Lily stand and pull her gown taut so she could see how the baby lay. She helped Lily onto her back on the bed platform and probed again. Finally satisfied, the old grandmother sat back on her heels and nodded cheerfully.
The woman in the red headdress snarled at the grandmother.The grandmother answered in a gentler tone. The only word Lily recognized was the word for baby.
The youngest woman glanced nervously at the angry woman, leaned closer to Lily, and whispered, “Grandmother says all is well, but baby is not ready yet. Soon.”
“What did the other one say?” Lily asked. The girl merely shook her head.
The coins on the woman’s red headdress jangled when she turned and left as abruptly as she came, apparently satisfied with what she came to find out. The other women visibly relaxed.
Soon. At least it isn’t early.She found this strange grandmother’s attention as reassuring as the woman in red had been unnerving. She untied one of the silk shawls from around her shoulder and handed it to the older woman.
The grandmother beamed. She nodded repeatedly. Her thanks needed no translation.
Thank God for the kindness of these women. I’m going to need them.
A rippleof excitement among the women, a subtle shift in the emotional pool around her, alerted Lily to Richard’s return. She longed to turn and demand a report on his discussion with Rais Hamidou, but her new young friend held her still.
She saw the girl glance briefly toward the door, but the girl’s hands held her still while she tugged on the headdress she had arranged on Lily’s head. She gave the two curls on either side of Lily’s face a swift pat and smiled at her handiwork.
“Your man has returned, Lady,” she whispered in Lily’s ear. Lily smiled back. “I had better make myself agreeable, no?” The girl translated to the older women who cackled knowingly. They rose with no further delay and fluttered to the door with sly smiles and Lily’s silk shawls.
Lily stood to face Richard. His fierce expression made her look away and make a show of smoothing the bright Berber sash she had gotten in exchange for her finery.
“If they stole from you, I?—”
“No one stole from me. Communicating with those women helps our cause. The great Marquess of Glenaire does not need to fix my part in it. What happened with Hamidou?”
“You gave them your shawls? Why would you do that?
“Under the circumstances, all that silk felt perfectly useless. It snagged every time I moved. Besides, they admired it.”
Richard’s brows rose.
The poor man looks confused, and that irritates him,she thought. “I got this practical sash in exchange. See how it holds up my skirts from the dust.” She swirled to show him.
“I can see your ankles,” he complained.
“You don’t like my ankles?” She could see from his face that he liked the sight very much.
“I don’t like every man in this village ogling your ankles.”
“Silly. I’m too big to attract any man’s eyes.”
The look he gave her caused heat to run from between her breasts and up her neck to her cheeks. “I beg to differ,” he rasped.
Lily put her hands on her face to cool her cheeks. “Besides, I’m locked in here.”
“No longer. We’re to have the run of the island.”
