Read Online A Matter of Principle by Kris Tualla - Free Book Online Page B

in Norway over the last year.”
    Ruthie moaned. Taycie tapped Sydney on the shoulder and placed a fresh compress into her hand. “I believe you should check her now,” she whispered.
    “ Thank you, Taycie.” Sydney determined that Berta could do what she wished, but Ruthie deserved her focused attention for now. She spoke softly in Ruthie’s ear and lifted her knee to check her inside. As she did so, a gush of water splashed over her hand.
    “ How long have you been here?” Berta demanded.
    Sydney looked at the clock. “It’s past nine in the morning and I was summoned at four. Five hours. Why?”
    “ This is her first child. How can you think she is so close? She’s not even screaming yet!”
    Sydney bit back all the things she wished to say. Instead, she offered Berta a chance to examine Ruthie. “You have more experience than I do. Perhaps you would care to confirm my estimation?”
    Berta stepped to the bed and lifted Ruthie’s knee. She inserted her fingers, causing Ruthie to gasp and tighten. Her countenance shifted.
    “ You are correct, Mistress Hansen,” she growled and pulled her hand away.
    “ Please, call me Sydney.” Taycie lifted Sydney’s hand and wrapped it around the bottle of oil. Sydney sat on the bed again. “Excuse me, Mistress—”
    “ O’Shea. Berta O’Shea.”
    Sydney poured a little oil on her fingers and began to massage the opening to Ruthie’s womb. “This, along with the hot compresses, will help your skin stretch,” she explained.
    “ It feels nice,” Ruthie murmured. Another pain began. Sydney counted her through it. Ruthie’s eyes opened abruptly. “I need to shit!” she blurted.
    “ That’s the baby,” Sydney assured her. “Taycie?”
    Taycie hurried to the other side of the bed and the two women propped Ruthie on pillows. She grabbed her knees the way they told her to. Berta watched, visibly fascinated, and obviously offended.
    “ Do you wish to help?” Sydney asked, hoping Berta would say no.
    Before the woman could answer, Ruthie’s face turned into a tomato. She strained and groaned. The top of a head, lightly smeared with golden streaks, appeared. Berta stepped forward and pushed on Ruthie’s stomach until the pain passed.
    Sydney wasn’t sure that was a good idea, but she daren’t say anything. Berta O’Shea had been Cheltenham’s only midwife for over a decade. Obviously, the majority of her women lived; she must know things that Sydney had yet to learn.
    After four long pushes, the baby’s head emerged. Sydney wiped its mouth and nose and instructed Ruthie—and Berta—not to push any more. With the next pain, she maneuvered the shoulders out. A sturdy boy slipped onto the sheets.
    “ It’s a boy!” Taycie announced. She smiled sheepishly at Sydney; Taycie loved to be the one to make the proclamation.
    While Ruthie and her mother fussed over the new heir, Berta puttered around the room, looking busy and important in her extraneous position. Taycie meticulously repacked Sydney’s satchel. After promising to return in a week to check on them, Sydney said a cordial farewell to Berta O’Shea.
    “ It was a pleasure meeting you, as well,” the woman responded, though her voice was much cooler than her words.
    Once mounted on her mare, Sessa, and headed toward the Hansen estate, Sydney spoke over her shoulder to Taycie. “I noticed what you did back there. Don’t think I didn’t.”
    She felt the slave girl stiffen. “Ma’am?”
    “ Keeping things moving! In the midst of Mistress O’Shea’s disruption, you made sure the compresses were changed, that Ruthie was examined, and that I had the oil.”
    “ Oh!” Her body slumped again. “Yes, ma’am.”
    “ That was perfect, Taycie. You kept focused on Ruthie and what she needed. Not on some flustered intruder.”
    “ Thank you, ma’am.” Sydney could hear the smile in her voice.
    “ You’ll be a fine midwife, Taycie. And soon.”
    Sydney guided Sessa to the stable and called for