Mrs Darcy (Complete)

Chapter 27

How extraordinary it was to witness such a miracle that was childbirth and my beloved Eve had done so well to have delivered our child into this world of magic and might. The midwife looked astonished and excited as she pulled the baby into a towel and wrapped it up nicely, as the baby cried and howled in this new world that we would now share with it. She went to stand up at the base of the bed and hold the child in her arms, but when she looked up at myself and Eve, her face turned sour as he eyes landed on my wife. I followed her gaze and saw that Eve was barely able to stay awake. "Give the baby to me" I said to the midwife who looked at me as though I had just screamed bloody murder. She paused until I spoke again. "Come on, give my baby to me!" I repeated more urgently and the midwife blinked and handed over my baby.

I cradled then child in my arms and sat myself on the edge of the bed, facing my wife who was so exhausted that she had closed her eyes. "Eve" I said gently and touched her face with the hand which wasn't supporting our new baby. She made a weak noise under her breath and rolled her head toward me on the pillows, then opened her eyes and focused on my face. Once she saw that I was sitting beside her, she smiled and closed her eyes again. "Eve, look. It's our baby" I said and she almost instantly opened her eyes again and looked at our child being cradled in my arms.

"Oh, Fitz" Eve whispered, her lips barely moving. "What is it?" She asked and reached her arms out, indicating to me that she wanted to hold the child, of whom I hadn't checked the gender of yet. I passed the child to her as her consciousness increased and she became more alert to what was happening. As she held our baby in her arms, I moved the towel and checked the genitalia of the baby and saw it.

"It's a girl" I told her as I felt a smile spread across my lips and lift my cheeks.

"A girl?!" Eve repeated with happiness as her spirits lifted and I saw tears start brimming in her tired eyes. "Oh, Fitz" She whispered.

I placed my hand on the back of her head and brought my face closer to hers and kissed her forehead, then kissed the tiny forehead of our daughter, my heir, and cupped her head in my hand. "She's beautiful" I said as the midwife and servants cleaned up around Eve and removed themselves from the room. But the midwife had a troubled expression on her face and she threw a glance at me whilst I watched her before exiting the bedroom. "I'll be right back, darling" I said to Eve and kissed her forehead and the forehead of our little girl before I followed the midwife out of the room. She was waiting on the other side of the wall where she would not be seen or barely heard. "Close this door" I mumbled to one of the guards as I left and he closed the door behind me.

"Mr Darcy!" I heard the panicked voice of the midwife speak as I entered the closed off anti-chamber.

"Mrs Jones?" I replied, pausing from my brisk walk before turning to face the old and fat woman. She stood awkwardly in front of me carrying the bloody towels and half full chamber pot. She took a long time to speak again, so I encouraged her as I remained standing with her with my hands tucked behind my back. I wasn't wearing my long leather jacket as I thought it would be too formal for the birth of my child and heir. "Mrs Jones, if you have something to say to me, please say it now" I told the woman who came back to reality.

Mrs Jones looked me in the eye. "Your wife has lost quite a lot of blood, sir" She told me. "Which means that while her body recorders from the labour, she will need complete and absolute rest for at least a week"

"Right" I said and folded my arms. "Will she be alright in at least a week?" I asked, concerned, but not as much as I probably looked like I was.

"She should be fine by then, Mrs Darcy" Mrs Jones replied before bowing to me respectfully and walking hurriedly out of the room.

I went back into the bedroom where my young family were bonding and saw that Eve had removed an arm from her nightgown and the baby was laying across the bare arm. As I got closer I could see that she was breast feeding the baby, and rocking herself side to side to keep the baby from making an unpleasant noise. "How marvellous" I spoke in astonishment as mothers usually wouldn't breastfeed their own children. That would be the job of the wet nurse. Although Eve had already told me that she wanted a childhood which was much like her own where she spent time with her parents rather than the nurse maid. "How do you feel, my dear?" I asked and sat on the edge of the bed, away from the lower half of the bed which was patched with red stains of blood.

Eve couldn't stop smiling as she fed our baby and she glanced up at me as she did. "I feel a little drowsy, but that's what was expected from such a long day" She replied, still smiling and rocking.

"Yes. It was at least eighteen hours" I told her as I looked at the faint dawning sun just below the window making it's first rays dance across the sun. "We should mark this day as her official birthday" I spoke and stood up to check the calendar we had created ourselves before the wedding. It was almost Christmas. Only two weeks to go.

"Yes. What is the date, Fitz?" I heard my baby's mother ask me. "Something like the fourteenth or fifteenth?" She questioned.

"Close. It's now technically the sixteenth, Eve. Our baby was born on the sixteenth of December" I told her as I heard the doors to the bedroom open and a wheelchair being rolled into the room. "Ah good. Let's get these sheets changed" I said as the maids and footmen came into the room, opened one of the closed windows and came to the bed with fresh sheets. Eve suggested that I should take the baby while she is moved from the bed and into the wheelchair and so I took her into my arms and let her explore my face with her beautiful eyes. She was so lovely. So delicate to hold and so small to grasp. Her fingers were smaller than any pencil I had ever handled and her body was fatter than I had expected. Eve had been eating well during these last few months and helping the baby grow bigger with each bite. I was so blessed to have such a beautiful daughter whom I would name as my own heir.

(Congrats if you guessed right! Comment baby names 💜)