Willa took slower steps. “I am sorry, my lord. I worry for Walda and Stiles. I beg you, please let me stay.”
Odran looked to his wife. “Your decision, Elysia.”
“You will stay out of my way and not utter a word,” Elysia ordered.
“Aye, my lady,” Willa said and moved away from the bed.
“I will be outside. If needed I will remove her,” Odran said to his wife, then looked to Willa. “And none too gently.”
“Thank you, my lord,” Elysia said and another scream had Elysia turning to the woman and her husband hurrying out of the cottage.
Walda’s screams worsened and Edana took hold of her daughter’s hand to hold tight and fought the tears brimming in her eyes.
Elysia kept calm and focused as Bliss had taught her to do and, most importantly, she encouraged with a soothing voice. In no time the bairn slipped with ease out of Walda, but no cry was heard.
“Not again!” Walda cried. “No! No! Please no!”
Edana lost the battle with her tears. They flowed freely down her flushed cheeks. Willa cried softly, going to the bed to help console Walda. Elysia saw none of it, she was too focused on the tiny lad who laid lifeless in her hands.
“Lendra, a blanket on the table,” Elysia ordered, as she tied the cord, then cut it.
Lendra did as told making a nest of a blanket on the top of the table. Elysia hurried the bairn there, her mind racing with things that Bliss did when a bairn did not breathe upon entering the world. Sometimes the mouth needed to be cleared and the nose and she used her tiny end finger to do as she had seen Bliss do. Then she turned the bairn on his side and gently massaged his back, then turned him on his back and moved his tiny arms and legs, while Walda continued to wail in sorrow.
The door flew open once again, though Elysia paid it no heed. Stiles stood for a moment staring at Elysia working on the bairn. He shook his head and went to his wife, Edana and Willa moving aside. Walda dropped her head on her husband’s chest and continued to weep.
Odran had entered behind Stiles and stepped to the side, watching his wife ignoring everyone, focusing only on the bairn. She was doing everything to force the bairn to live, but all there knew the curse had shown itself again, claiming the tiny lad.
Elysia remembered one more thing that she had seen Bliss do. She lowered her head as she hooked her end finger into the bairn’s mouth to gently force it open, then sent a soft breath into him. She rubbed his little chest lightly, then sent another breath into him, and repeated it a few times, not giving up just as Bliss had done.
Please. Please. Let the lad live, Elysia silently prayed as she worked on him.
The lad suddenly let loose with a wail that shocked Elysia and shocked his mum silent. His little arms awoke with life and he waved them about. His tiny legs joined in kicking forcefully while his wail grew stronger and stronger.
“A warm, wet cloth, Lendra,” Elysia shouted and the woman hurried to get it.
Elysia’s heart soared with relief and joy as the little lad continued his cries of protest as she wrapped him in the blanket, though he calmed when she cleaned his face and head with the warm cloth.
She lifted him into her arms and turned to his parents, her smile wide. “He’s a strong one.”
Tears rolled down Walda’s cheeks as she took her son in her arms and Stiles fought the tears that pooled in his eyes.
Edana and Willa let their tears flow freely only this time they were tears of joy.
Walda smiled and sniffled back her tears, staring in disbelief at the tiny bairn in her arms. “We have a son, Stiles.”
Stiles finger faintly touched the lad’s cheek as if he had to feel for himself that it was true. They truly did have a son.
The little bairn yawned wide and cuddled contentedly in his mum’s embrace.
“He’s exhausted from all his hard work,” Willa said with a laugh filled with relief and everyone laughed with her, releasing their own relief.
“Lady Elysia,” Walda said, quieting everyone. “I am forever grateful to you for breathing life into our son.”
“I didn’t breathe life into him, Walda. I just helped him to take his first breath. He is a strong bairn and will do well,” Elysia assured her.
“Whatever you did to get our son to live, we are eternally grateful,” Stiles said.
Elysia needed no praise and kept her focus on what needed to still be done. “I am sorry to chase you and my husband out, but I need to finish with Walda. If you could give us a little time, then you can return and sit with your wife and enjoy your son.”