A Laird for All Time by Angeline Fortin (room on the broom read aloud txt) 📗

“Somehow I doubt this circus Em is referring to is anything like that,” Connor slanted Emmy a look.  “Am I right?”

“You are,” she nodded as play continued.  “The Cirque is a show of amazing acrobatic talent unlike anything you can imagine.  I’ve heard so much about it but I have never seen it.”

“Sounds interesting,” Dory offered.  “Perhaps if they tour our side of the pond, we could all see it together.”

‘I might just be here long enough to see that happen,’ Emmy thought.

They had still been unable to find any sign of that wacky old wizard who had delivered her to Duart.  Emmy was fairly certain that Donell was avoiding her deliberately.  Despite his continued absence, the past couple days had brought a new contentment to Duart, at least in Emmy’s mind.  She and Connor spent their days learning more about each other and about the work they did and their evenings making tender love or simply talking in the dark.   Ian and Dory seemed too to have found a new satisfaction.  Impending parenthood had settled them in spite of Dory’s discomfort.  Connor told him he had never seen the pair so publicly affectionate with each other in their entire marriage.

“You are certainly well traveled, Em,” Ian commented.

“Just the US, I haven’t been around the world or anything.”

“Oh drat.  I fold,” Dory murmured and tried to gain her feet on her own only to receive prompt assistance from Ian and Connor.  “Please excuse me for a moment,” she murmured as she waddled to the adjoining room.

“That’s six times in the past hour,” Connor muttered in a voice low enough not to be overheard by his sister-in-law.  He took up his cards again and made his bet on the final round of the hand.

“Perfectly normal,” Emmy added calmly calling his bet while Ian joined in on the pot.  “Let’s see them.”

The men laid down their cards and Ian raked in the winnings with a cheerful smile.  “Seems like all I ever do is haul her to her feet and watch her walk in that direction.  She hasn’t eaten much yet today, though Em.  Perhaps you should talk to her, too.  The babies don’t seem to be moving as much today and it has her worried.”

“She didn’t tell me that,” Emmy frowned at Dory as she wandered back into the room while Ian shuffled the deck and started to deal the cards.  With the beginnings of effacement evident though there were no signs of dilation, she examined Dory every day now.  It could happen anytime now.  She hadn’t wanted to tell Dory or Ian that lest she frighten them.  If the babies had stopped moving around, they might be settling in for labor.

“You in, love?” Ian called.

“Yes,” Dory sighed and lowered herself back into her chair.  She breathed out in relief as she got there and ran both hands down her engorged stomach.  “I declare I have expanded inches in just the past week.”

She was definitely about done cooking, Emmy thought as she shared a quick glance with Connor before peeking down at her hole cards.  Pair of twos.  She frowned.  Connor was the only one she had shared her worries with regarding the delivery of Dory’s twins.  She’d given him an outline of the normal delivery procedures from her time and detailed all the equipment she was missing like an ultrasound and fetal monitor that could show her how the babies were developing.  She was nervous about the delivery, though she managed to preserve her calm outwardly at least.  “I’m in.”  Emmy tossed in a couple coins.

The flop was laid down giving her three of a kind.  She studied the faces of the others briefly.  “Check.”  The others fell in with that.

“Have ye thought about names at all?” Connor asked pleasantly as the game moved on.

Ian tossed down his cards in defeat and looked at his brother.  “I was thinking of Jamie for a boy or Roslyn for a lass.”  Connor held his gaze and finally offered a slight smile.  The names of their parents.

“Those are both good names,” Connor approved.  “But Emmy seems to think the bairns will be the same gender.  Do ye not want to name one after yer parents, Dory?”

She sniffed with disdain.  “If I do it would be after my mother only.”

“Didn’t you get along with your dad, Dory?” Emmy asked absently as she calculated her raise.

“My father and I did not part on the best of terms,” Dory confessed.  “He served me a great wrong not long before he died and I never did forgive him.  Of course, he never begged me for it either.”

“You never told me that,” Ian asked in surprise watching his wife with concern following her terse comments.

“I am sure I still have some mysteries about me,” she replied pertly.

“Aye, you do,” he waggled his eyebrows drawing a blush from her.

“Ian MacLean!” she chided slapping him playfully.  “Oh, drat!”

“Again?” Connor asked in astonishment tossing down his cards.  “But ye just sat down!”

“Connor,” Emmy chided the laird with a shake of her head.  “Really?”

“Oh, no!” Dory murmured.  “Oh, dear.”

“What is it, love?” Ian asked still looking at his cards.

              “Oh, no!” she wailed.

Emmy leaned to the side and calmly took in the pool of liquid under Dory’s chair.  “Humph,” she grunted.  “That happened a little faster than I thought it might.”

“You were waiting for this?” Ian cried out.

“Waiting…expecting,” Emmy waved a hand as she pushed back from the table.  “Let’s just say I’m not surprised.”

“Well, I am!” he bellowed out again kneeling by Dory’s side.  She clutched her stomach and groaned in pain and he nearly started to hyperventilate.

“Okee-dokee then,” Emmy nodded calmly as both Connor and Ian stared at Dory in horror.  “I guess this is going to move along pretty rapidly then so if all you two are going to do it panic, then you can just leave.”

“No,” Ian protested.  “I want to stay.”

“Then get a grip, okay?”  Emmy went to the corner and