Bertrice Small - Besieged

Before Fortune might answer her husband, however, her brother spoke up. "You haven't told him, you vixen, have you?"

"Told me what?" Kieran demanded, looking from his wife to his brother-in-law.

"She's with child," Charlie burst out before his sister might concoct some believable tale which he would then have to either agree with, or end up calling her a little liar. "She was planning to tell you."

"When?" Kieran said dryly. "When we were at sea?"

"Aye," Fortune said in a tiny voice. "It seemed best."

Kieran snorted. "You would endanger yourself and our child merely to have your own way?"

The servants were now hurrying to clean up the mess, and the two men brought Fortune down to the fireside. Rois, who had seen what had happened, brought her mistress a mug of peppermint tea.

"Sip it slow, m'lady," she advised. "It will settle your belly. Then I will bring you some dry bread."

Fortune sat down in a tapestried chair. Looking up at her angry husband she said, "Will you go to Mary's Land without me, Kieran?"

"Of course not!" he almost shouted at her.

"Which is why I did not tell you," Fortune replied.

"You are not making any sense, Fortune," he told her.

"Aye, I am, if you will but hear me out, and stop roaring at me, Kieran Devers. I will not be howled at!" Then she burst into tears, sobbing piteously.

He was totally bewildered. She was in the wrong, and now she attempted to wheedle him with her tears. Well, he would not be manipulated by his fine lady. What she needed was a spanking, and had she not been with child, he would have given it to her.

"Women's emotions are outrageously sensitive when they are with child," his brother-in-law said calmly. "Give her a moment, and it will pass," he chuckled. "Fortune, stop weeping, sister, and tell us your reasons for being so secretive."

Fortune sniffled, but then she managed to contain herself. "If we do not go to Mary's Land with the first ships," she said, "we shall not get the best lands available. We need to be among the first! We are not influential milords, speculating with a new colony, Kieran; we are among the few of the colonists of wealth who will remain in Mary's Land, and build the colony. Most of the nobles going, if indeed they are even going and not simply sending their agents, hope for a quick profit. They will populate their lands with whoever they can, and then resell those properties to the highest bidder.

"We are bringing over horses next year. We need open meadows for them. We cannot spend our time clearing forests. If we are among the first colonists we will get those meadows, and shall receive our lands from Lord Baltimore himself. If we wait, we shall be forced to purchase those lands from others. We have to go, Kieran! We cannot remain here!"

"Why not?" he demanded. "There are Catholics in England. Could we not purchase a home here, and live quietly?"

Fortune shook her head. "You know the condition under which Catholics live in England. And the Puritans gain more power every day. Even the king isn't entirely safe from their matterings, and everything the queen does is criticized. And why? Because she is a Catholic. You think me selfish for wanting to go even though I am with child. Mistress Jones will see me safely through my travail, and I am not afraid. Yet you, too, are every bit as selfish as I am."

"Me? How?" He was astounded by her accusation.

"You have told me yourself that your faith is not particularly strong, and that you clung to your Catholicism because it was all you had left of your mother. I think you also did it to irritate your stepmother. You gave her the perfect weapon to use against you so that she was able to steal Mallow Court from you. Mallow Court had one thousand acres, and Maguire's Ford was another three thousand. We might have been a power in Ulster, and certainly in Fermanagh, Kieran, but that you sought to cling to the past, and argue about religion like the rest of them. I love you, Kieran Devers. I gave up a great estate for you, and never have I had a moment's regret. I am to bear your child in early spring. If you do not want me to travel to Mary's Land under those circumstances I will remain here in England; but by God, husband, you shall go with that expedition, and claim us our three thousand acres of well-watered and fertile lands! You are a man now, and have great responsibilities to bear. I am not Lady Jane. You can no longer hide behind your faith, using it to excuse your pride, Kieran Devers!"

He was speechless, and even when Fortune got up, and left the family hall, he could not find the words to stop her.

"Your first dressing down, I presume," Charlie said with a small attempt at humor.

Kieran nodded.

"The women in this family have tempers it is best not to rouse. They are intelligent, and proud, Kieran. My sister is correct when she says you have to go to Mary's Land even if she can't right now. It is no longer just you and Fortune. You have all those people back at Maguire's Ford depending on you to lead them to the New World. You have a child coming. You cannot run away from your duty now, I fear."

"How did one so young learn so much?" Kieran said, finally regaining his powers of speech.

"I had good teachers. My great-grandmother, Lady de Marisco. My mother, and stepfather. And, by nature, my lineage has afforded me great opportunities. One grows up quickly in a royal court, Kieran, particularly if you wish to survive and prosper. Being the king's nephew was never enough for me."

"It's all so strange to me," Kieran admitted. "I never understood the kind of family I was marrying into when I fell in love with your sister. We are so provincial by comparison, but I never realized it until I came to England. The moment I saw Fortune I knew I had to have her, and yet now, I wonder that I have not bit off more than I can chew. Am I a man who can carve out an empire in a new world? I wonder. Will I disappoint Fortune if I cannot? And our child? What of our child?" He ran a big hand through his dark hair in frustration.

"First of all," Charlie said, "you must understand that all the women in this family work with their men. They have this rather irritating knack of bearing and raising their young while managing their affairs quite successfully. Accept this rather strange gift that God has bestowed upon you, Kieran. Sit down with my sister, and decide how you will manage the business of colonizing your bit of the New World. Understand that you must go, and she must stay to have the child. She will come next year. By that time you will have a house built for them. You would not want to stay behind, and leave the responsibility of building a home for your family to others. There is nothing in this that cannot be managed, my friend," Charlie concluded, putting a comforting hand on his brother-in-law's broad shoulder.

"I have no other choice than to take your advice," Kieran said. "I pray you are right, Charlie. I do not like leaving Fortune."

"Mother will come, or better yet, India. Fortune was with her when she had her first child. Get her to tell you the story sometime." He grinned at Kieran. "Are you now over your shock? I don't imagine it was easy learning you had wed such a virago."

"I am not a virago," Fortune said, coming back into the hall. "How can you say such a thing? Kieran certainly knows better."

Her husband grinned. "Of course, I do, my love," he agreed. "Charlie and I have had a fine talk. We need to sit down and decide just how we will manage this voyage if you are to remain behind."

Fortune smiled at them both. "I knew you would see reason, Kieran," she murmured. "I am so glad that Charlie explained everything to you. Now, we have much to do, sir, and not a moment to waste!"

Charles Frederick Stuart, duke of Lundy, grinned over his sister's red head at his brother-in-law. The message was very clear. You see, it said. All you have to do is follow her lead.

They sent word to Maguire's Ford as quickly as they could that the men planning to go with them be ready to board the Cardiff Rose in the next few months. Rory Maguire was sent a list of exactly what each man would need as had been provided by Lord Baltimore to the Deverses. The only woman in the party who would be allowed to go would be Mistress Jones, the physician, for her services could prove invaluable in those first months. She was advised to bring not only her dried herbs, roots, and barks, but plants and cuttings as well, for they did not know what plants would be available to her for her remedies in the new colony of Mary's Land.

The other women in the party, and the children, would remain in Ulster until the following summer when the Cardiff Rose would return for them, and then travel in company with the Highlander, the vessel which would contain the horses, and other livestock. It was planned that over the winter a house would be built for the Deverses as well as the others so that when the women arrived they and the children could be properly sheltered from the elements.

Once the men reached their destination on the far side of the sea, they would buy in Virginia oxen, a milk cow, and a horse for Kieran. That way come the spring they would be able to plow. They had already heard the Virginia colonists were not particularly friendly, being jealous of Mary's Land's special status. Fortune knew, however, that enough coin could overcome most reluctance, and advised her husband to make the best bargain he could, but to obtain what he needed at any price for their success, or failure, depended on it.

"You are so sensible," he told her one day as they went over a list of what had already been obtained. "I am sorry you cannot come with me, sweetheart."

She smiled up at him. "I want so very much to go with you," she said, "but I realize now it is better I don't. You must place your entire concentration on preparing our estate to be profitable, Kieran. I would be a burden to you, for you would fret over me in my current condition."

He placed his hand on her belly which had only recently begun to round slightly. "I hate that I will not be here when our son is born," he replied. "I remember my da, God assoil him, saying that the midwife took me from my mam's womb, and placed me directly into his hands. I wish I could be here to do the same thing, sweetheart." He caressed her stomach tenderly. "My son," he said, almost awestruck.

"Our child,'" she corrected him gently. "This could be a lass, or a lad, Kieran. I care not as long as the bairn is healthy."

He kissed her mouth softly. "I agree, Fortune." He kissed her again, and this time his kiss was a bit more passionate. "Just think. This time last year we were falling in love."

She laughed, and it was a happy sound. "You are the most sentimental man I have ever met, Kieran Devers," she told him. "I knew I was right to love you even if it did cost me Maguire's Ford."

The summer ended. Jasmine, along with her baby daughter, Autumn Leslie, came south to England to Queen's Malvern. The duke and his eldest son would remain at Glenkirk, but the duchess could not be dissuaded from being with her second daughter when she was with child. As Autumn was almost a year old now, she was able to travel more comfortably. Kieran felt better knowing Fortune's mother would be with her when their child was born.

"You are both wise," Jasmine said, "to have delayed Fortune's going. With first babies one can never be certain when they will come. It is better that Fortune remain here with us. Charlie will be off for court shortly, and we will have Queen's Malvern all to ourselves."

Charles Frederick Stuart celebrated his twentieth birthday. His brother, Henry Lindley, marquess of Westleigh, his older sister, India, countess of Oxton, and her husband, Deveral Leigh, came from their homes to help the not-so-royal Stuart commemorate the occasion. Jasmine looked about the hall that night. Here were her four eldest children. Once they had been so close. Now they were all grown, and making a great fuss over Autumn Leslie, the youngest of them all.

She looked at her Stuart son. "You are your father's image," she told Charlie. "He was twenty when he died. Thank God you have a stronger constitution. When he was born in Scotland they treated him like some Indian idol in my native land. He was carried about by his servants until he was four. He told me once that when they left him alone for the night he would creep from his bed, and run up and down his room. If he had not done so his poor legs would have been as weak as his baby brother's. Your poor Uncle Charles was less venturesome, and had a terrible time learning to walk. You may notice, Charlie, that even today he strides with an odd gait."