The Royal Birthing

Emma has been away on a secret vacation with her pirate lover, and she is bearing him not only one child, but a set of twins.

                Emma looked out onto the water. Her hand lay on her swollen belly. This was one surprise that she wasn’t ready for. She couldn’t be a mother right now. Her betrothed was due to marry her in little over a year, and now that she has a child he won’t have her anymore. She will surely be shunned from society for this.

                The only reason she was planning on returning was for Hailey. Emma couldn’t let her best friend get into trouble for what she did. If it was known what Hailey did, it was very possible she would be put to the death. Emma started to cry. 

                Her bid for freedom has probably brought the death of her best friend, and her own exile from society. Samuel came up to her and put his arms around her. “You look cold; you should go inside the cabin and warm up. We should be in port in a few days. I am going to marry you. I will find another captain to officiate the marriage.”

                “I wish you could do it yourself, but I know you cannot. When we get back home are you ready to face the wrath of my father and that of my betrothed? This could turn out bad for the both of us, we have done something completely against my betrothed, and he is a powerful man.”

                “Will you not name your betrothed to me? I must know to understand what I am up against when we reveal our truth.”

                “Will you tell me who you really are if I am to tell you who I really am?”

                “I will tell you my name, but I cannot say any more than that at the moment. You might run away from me if you knew. My name is Edward.”

                “Very well then, I suppose I shall tell you my name as well. My name is Emma, not Eladrina. Eladrina was my grandmother’s name.”

                He smiled at her, “Get some rest my love; we will be in port soon.” He then kissed her temple and led her to the captain’s cabin.

                When she lay down on the bed, she was immediately asleep. He sat there looking at her for a while. The name was familiar to him; he just could not remember where he had heard it before.

                His first mate Peter came up to him and soon as he exited the cabin. “Captain, we shall be in port within the day.”

                “Good, it is there that I will be turning my ship over to your care. Once I make you captain, you will marry Emma and I. You will use my real name when you do it. I want this to be completely legal. My father will accept nothing less.”

                “Then why not go to a church to be married?”

                “I can’t do that to her. With you, we can claim that she and I were married before she became pregnant with my child. When we get into port, we shall travel to a church, where you will tell the pastor that you married Emma and I months ago. I am leaving nothing to chance.”

                “Are you alright captain? I have never seen you act like this before.” Peter seemed concerned.

                “Don’t worry Peter, my father has been insisting that I give up captain-ship to you for a while so I may settle down with a woman and give him some grandchildren. He won’t be too happy that I stole another one's betrothed though.”

                “Have you discovered who she is betrothed to?”

                “No, she will not tell me. The only thing she has told me is that he is a powerful person and she is worried that her life will be in danger once everything is revealed.”

                “Well, unless he is as powerful a man as you then you have no worries. But then you would know if any of your brothers were betrothed.” Peter joked.

                “Well, none of my brothers are set to be married. The only ones I know that are set to be married are a couple Duke's and a few Laird's. She could be betrothed to any one of those men. The only one I fear is the father of the woman my father wished for me or my brother to marry.”

                “What will you do if it turns out to be your own bride that is that unfortunate woman?”

                “I do not know Peter. My father worked hard to find Henry a woman to marry. There are many rumors that go on about him so no one is willing to marry him since his wife died ten years past.”

                “Whomever that young woman is, I feel for her. I have heard tale that his wife's death was not an accident. She wouldn't bare any more children, and the only child she did give him was a female. He desperately wants a male heir. If this new wife doesn't give him one in the first few years I fear she will meet her death as his first wife did.”

                “No one has been able to prove that her death was anything but an accident. My father worked very hard for that match. There are rumors about all of the lords of all of the manors that would turn many ladies heads at them.”

                “That is true. I myself find pleasure in only passing through. Getting involved with a woman for more than a night or two of pleasure isn't my idea of life.”

                “Eventually you will find that woman that changed your view about that. I always thought the way you did. Nothing was better than sailing the seas, but Emma changed me.”

                “That is true; you have changed since you met her.”

                “Don't act like it is a bad thing. You all knew that I would be married some day and would pass on my ship to you. That day has come, sooner than we thought, but that day has come.”

                Peter nodded, he was about to say something else when another of the crew came up to them. “Captain, there are two ships closing in on us.”

                “Could you tell where the ships are from?”

                “The British Royal Navy sir.” he said.

                Edward looked at Peter, all of his crew knew who he was, and they knew that they had nothing to fear from the British Royal Navy. Peter looked at the man, “what is your name?”

                “John sir, my name is John.”

                “Well John, I don't know who you are, and I know the entire crew. Why have you stowed away on my ship?”

                John looked frightened now. He hadn't expected to be found out so easily. Peter took him by the shirt and lifted him off the ground. “How many of you are there on my ship?”

                “Ten sir, there are ten of us on board. We must get out before those ships come here. We are only trying to escape our prison sentence.” the man started to cry.

                He yelled to the whole crew, “Let those ships board, we have stowaways.”

                Everyone looked around them, and the Edward's crew started fighting with the strangers on board. There were a lot more than ten men on board. Some of the crew had fallen already. Edward looked at Peter, Peter nodded.

                While everyone was busy fighting, he ran back into the captain's cabin. The sight he saw stopped him in his tracks. A man had Emma by the hair, dragging her over to the window. She was trying to scream, but the man's other hand was around her mouth.

                “Halt!” Edward yelled.

              The man turned around and cursed. This was his younger brother Edmund. “Edmund, what the hell are you doing?”

                Edward looked at his younger brother, and then he looked to Emma. Emma was in just as much shock as he was. Edmund's hands fell away from Emma, so she used the opportunity to run to Edward.

                Edmund looked at Edward, “so this is what you have been doing on your long trips away from home? Keeping a mistress and sailing the seas as a pirate. Just wait until father hears about this.” he laughed.

                “Father knows, does he know that you are attacking random ships on the sea?”

                “Yes, he sent me to find you. I found this lovely little thing though. She looks like she is a bit plumper than the sort you usually go for. I was going to drag her away so she didn’t have to face charges as a pirate.”

                “You will address her with respect, as she is my wife and we are expecting our first child.”

                Edward laughed, “So father finally decides that it should be you to marry Mary-Beth, and you went off and married another woman? Father isn't going to be happy about this.”

                “You should be though. I have seen how much you have taken to her, you marry her.”

                “Only if father wishes the marriage to be so. Henry's wedding has been moved up. They are fetching his bride from Iona as we speak.”

                Emma's eyes widened. “What is Henry's last name?” she asked nervously.

                “Farthington why?” they both asked.

                 “Crap!” she yelled.

                Just then Peter burst through the door. “The Navy ships are here. They want to know why we are fighting our own people.”

                Edward looked at him, “Peter, this is my brother Edmund. Edmund, this is the captain of this ship Peter. I appointed him captain shortly before Emma and I married.”

                “Does father know of your marriage?” Edmund said with a smirk.

                “Not as of yet. We were waiting until we arrived in port. Captain Peter Buckson had planned on taking us to the local priest to legalize the marriage. We have been at sea since we said our vows.”

                “This just gets better. Father wants us to attend Henry's wedding. Bring your wife, the wedding starts in the morning.”

                Edward walked out onto the deck, with his arm around Emma. Edmund followed them. They were almost in the harbor. The ship itself was as far as a ship that size could go.

                Emma and the three men boarded one boat, while the crew arranged themselves in the rest. Emma leaned against Edward. Her stomach tightened and she gasped with the pain. Edward looked at her with concern.

                “What is wrong Emma?” his hand automatically going to her belly.

                “I think it might be time. But it can't be time! I am not ready, we are not ready!” she started to breath heavily. She was starting to cry too.

                Edward managed to calm her down a short while later, only to have her stomach tighten painfully again. She groaned loudly. “How close to shore are we?” she yelled.

                “Almost there my dear.” Edward said softly.

                “Hurry this boat! I think the baby is ready to come NOW!” her contractions were getting stronger by the minute. When they finally made it to shore, Peter ran to the nearest building for help.

                A few minutes passed before Peter came back with a very large woman. The woman came over to Emma, spread Emma's legs apart to check to see if the baby's head was coming out yet. “I need two of you to hold her legs up while she pushes out the baby.” she commanded.

                Emma felt the need to push, so with a deep breath she started pushing her baby out. After a few agonizing minutes, the baby was out. Edward smiled down at Emma, “it looks like we have a daughter.”

                The woman cleaned the blood and fluids off of the baby, then handed her to Emma. As the woman started to leave to fetch a doctor, Emma felt the same sensation to push again. “Wait, is it normal to feel the need to push again?” she yelled to the woman.

                The woman turned back and checked her again, “it is if you are having two babies.”

                Edward took the baby from Emma so she could push the second baby out. This one didn't take as long to push out; to Emma it seemed less painful also. Edward's eyes were wide as he took the second baby in his other arm and told Emma, “We have a son also.”

                Emma looked at him in disbelief. “I was barely ready to have one child, now we have two?” She asked while Edward handed her both babies.

                They covered her up, and led her to the nearest inn. When Emma and the babies were lying down in bed, Edmund ran off to get the doctor.

                Edward walked over to the bed, he spoke in a somewhat hushed tone, “I want the boy to be named Elijah after my uncle.”

                Emma smiled up at him, “Elijah Drake, and our daughter will be called Elizabeth Rose.”

                Edward nodded and sat down at her side. He took Elijah in his arms and just looked into his eyes. He couldn’t believe his luck, he found a woman he fell in love with, and now he has two beautiful children from her all at once. Edmund barged through the door with an older man following him. When the man saw Edward he bowed. “Your highness, how may I assist you?”

                “My wife just gave birth to our twins. I wish for you to check their health.”

                The man nodded and walked over to Emma. “First I will check the babe’s. Ladies first then.” He took Elizabeth from Emma to check her for any problems. After quite a while he handed her back to Emma, “This one appears to be healthy, now we shall check the other one. He now took Elijah from Edward, “Oh my, a boy and a girl.” The doctor checked this baby out also, and gave him a clean bill of health.

                He took Elizabeth from Emma and handed her to Edmund. He walked down to the end of the bed and spread Emma’s legs apart. He looked at her and felt around for a few minutes. Emma was blushing from all of these people seeing her naked. “Everything appears normal, though you may want to get some rest. You have lost a lot of blood with this birthing.”

                Edmund handed Elizabeth back to Emma, then walked the doctor out of the room. Edward looked at his son; he seems like a strong young boy. He feared for Emma and the babies if his father didn’t approve of this marriage. If he declared it over, it might be over. If this marriage was void in the eyes of the law, than Emma’s life would change for the worse. She will live as an outcast, a woman that had not one but two babies out of wedlock.

                When Edward looked down at Emma, she was fast asleep with their daughter suckling from her breast. He positioned their son on her other breast, then he too fell asleep.

Author's Note

It's a work in progress, and even though this is the second chapter I have added, it doesn't mean that it is the second chapter of the novel.