Chattan Bride

Chapter 8 - Part 2

It was All Soul's Day when the message came for Isabel to bring Annie and come right away. Gillian was hurt. Andrew, Ingram and John made sure their journey was safe.

"Only the women will be allowed to enter," they were told by the dozen soldiers that stopped them.

"I will relinquish all of my weapons," Andrew suggested as he stripped them off immediately. Isabel could sense he did not trust to let her continue alone. He even shook his head when she looked as if she wanted to continue without him.

"I have been given my duty and must see to it," the soldier stated.

"Please," Isabel asked, "make our request to the baron to bring an unarmed escort with us inside. We come by invitation, not to threaten."

Minutes later the guards made a thorough search of Andrew and then motioned him forward. The three were brought to Gillian's chamber and Gillian's familiar maid, Mary from Bamborough, held Andrew at the door. He nodded and then brushed past her, only looking around the room to make sure his mistress did not encounter any threat. Gillian was weeping and blood covered the sheets. He stepped back out and nodded to Isabel. The look on his face told her to brace herself. She made the sign of the cross.

After one look at Gillian, Annie said to Isabel: "You must care for her heart, I will take care of the rest."

"Isabel," Gillian whispered.

"It's going to be better now, love. I'm here. Tell me what happened."

"He said the baby wasn't his. Henry said that he wouldn't let me have it because of what happened. He- he said if he couldn't be sure."

Isabel watched Annie pull Gillian out of her curled position. "I need to check to see if the baby may still be alive." As bloody as the sheets were, Isabel questioned the examination, as it seemed a charade. But she rested Gillian's head on her lap and caressed her bronzing hair while Annie gently touched her stomach.

Gillian sobbed. "It hurts everywhere."

"There, there," Annie cooed. "Let me do one more thing before we fix you. This may hurt a great deal, but I have to see what we need to heal. Distract her, Isabel," she whispered.

"Take hold of my hand Gillian. Squeeze it as hard as you can while she does this. It will distract you of the pain you might feel." Isabel's soft white hand took Gillian's, which was caked with dried blood and trembling.

The scream could have been heard as far as the courtyard. Annie wiped her hands and called for Isabel to follow her out of the room.

"She lost the baby," Isabel stated.

"Aye, it's dead. It was not an accident either. We've got to get the baby out of her womb or she will never have children again. We'll need some things like fresh hot water and fresh sheets. We don't want her to become infected inside or she will die as well."

"Do you need to return to Bamborough to retrieve more herbs?"

"No, ma'am. I figured it would have to do with the bairn so I brought everything I could think of for pregnancy. This is tarragon. It is a little hard to find, but then I don't use it all that often because it causes the baby to leave the body. And this is angelica, which makes the womb contract and expel the baby."

"Stay with Gillian. I'll order the items you need from the staff." Isabel turned and spoke quickly to Gillian's maid. Then she was off to find Henry. Andrew did not have to wonder where to go. With Isabel in such a state, he knew she was going to demand an explanation from her brother-in-law.

He was downstairs in the great room crossing toward the door. "How is she?" he asked.

"How is she?" seethed Isabel. She did not halt in her approach. "Are you trying to kill her?" She slapped him sharply across the face. Andrew saw Henry raise his hand toward Isabel and instantly pulled her back. If she meant to harm him, she wouldn't have slapped him, he reasoned. She was just making a point and speaking the words Gillian could not. Her woman's heart, not her warrior's, struck him.