Catherine Coulter - Lyons Gate

“I’ll be racing two horses,” Jason said as he shook Charles’s hand. “James Wyndham is bringing Eclipse over to me. He was born and bred in Baltimore.”

“Eclipse?” Elgin said. “He’s been dead for years and years. He wasn’t bred in America.”

“The same name and, I hope, a similar future. I believe my Eclipse may be as fast as Dodger.”

“An American horse named Eclipse, just what we need,” Charles said. “What do you say we try to make this one a straight race?”

“I know that Kindred and Potter will spread the word.”

“What is your punishment?”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Jason said. When he took his leave a few moments later, Lady Grimsby stopped him at the front door. “Thank you, Jason. How I’ve hated all this deception, hated having to pander to this paltry young man. I have wanted Elaine since she was born, you see. How very grateful I am to my husband for making you his victim. Thank you for what you have accomplished. Give my regards to your lovely wife.”

Jason’s lovely wife was sitting on the ground, covered with dust, yelling at the top of her lungs at Charlemagne, who’d thrown her trying to get to the mare who’d been delivered to Dodger.

Jason pulled her up, dusted her off, kissed her nose. “I’ve been thinking. Why don’t we breed a mare to Charlemagne? He’s a bighearted fellow, arrogant as his namesake. Who knows, with the proper mare, we might produce a legend.”

“Charlemagne, a legend,” Hallie said, and laughed.

Jason would later swear her scream shook the house. After all these interminable hours, he couldn’t imagine she’d have the breath, much less the strength to yell, but she did. He thought the bones in his hand would break she squeezed so tightly.

“She’s getting there,” Dr. Blood shouted over that scream. “Not long now. A bit over nine hours, not too long at all.”

Hallie slitted her eyes up at Theodore Blood, who was racing mad and liked nothing more than to be invited to Lyon’s Gate to watch Dodger and Eclipse train, and panted, “Nine hours isn’t long, you buffoon? Why don’t we trade places?”

He paled-Jason would swear that Theo paled. He didn’t blame him. He himself was exhausted, out of his mind with worry, but compared to the pain she was enduring, it was nothing. He leaned close, kissed her. “Theo would apologize for that stupid remark, but he’s too close to babbling with fear. Now, sweetheart, that was a really meaty yell. Do it again, that’s it. It won’t be long now.”

She screamed, gone from him for a long moment.

Jason cursed, wiped her sweaty forehead with a cool, wet cloth. “I’m so sorry, curse me some more, that will make it better. Your father said Genny encouraged you to learn new ones just last month.”

“I didn’t believe her,” Hallie said. “I’m as stupid as Theo. I didn’t believe her.” Her grip on his hand tightened. “Oh damn you, Jason. I hope you rot in the deepest pit in Hell, you and all men, you miserable, horse-breathed toad-” She broke off, panting, then she was gone again, whimpering. Then she screamed again, her back arching off the bed. Jason felt the contraction rip through her. Theo out-yelled her. “You’ve done it, Hallie! Nearly there. Push, Hallie. Push! Now, that’s it.”

“Damn you to the blackest pit with the rest of the idiot men-oh God, oh God-”

“Push!”

She gritted her teeth and pushed.

Jason said, “That’s it, sweetheart. That’s it, my beautiful brave girl.”

Hallie yelled at him between pants, “You pickle-eyed Satan, that’s what you said to Piccola when she was birthing her foal!” and she yelled again through her gritted teeth.

At a nod from Theo, Jason said, “Again, Hallie, again!”

“I am pushing, curse your black soul and your sinful smiles that landed me in this mess in the first place.”

“Ah, I’ve got him! Ah, yes, it’s a boy and he’s perfect. Oh my, you should listen to those lungs, loud as his mother’s-but wait, what’s this, oh my, another one-it’s another baby, oh goodness me, this is a surprise, but it shouldn’t be now, should it? Oh dear, I didn’t think, didn’t guess, and I should have. Yes, Hallie, push, but not much. I don’t have enough hands! Jason, come here now!”

Jason caught his daughter in his outstretched hands. She opened a tiny mouth and yelled as loud as her brother. He stared down at the tiny being in his hands, at the fingers that were no larger than the splinters Jason had pulled out of Henry’s thumb yesterday. Theo and the midwife, Mrs. Hanks, who were both laughing at this unexpected surprise, quickly got themselves together. Mrs. Hanks took the babe from Jason, saying over and over, “Isn’t this just grand? Two of them at once, another set of twins in the family. Oh, isn’t she beautiful? Just like her daddy.”

“And her brother.”

Jason looked over at Theo Blood, who held his son, singing to him even as he cleaned him up. Neither of them stopped yelling. He quickly washed and dried his hands, then leaned over Hallie, and wiped the sweat off her face. “They’re perfect,” he said, and kissed her. “They’re incredible, Hallie, you’re incredible. You’ve given me two babes, a boy and a girl. Oh God, this is too much for a man to take in.”

“If you faint, Jason,” Theo called out, “I will announce it in the London Gazette. Keep yourself together.”

Jason laughed. “I won’t let you down now, sweetheart, though I do feel a bit light-headed. How do you feel?”

Hallie was beyond words. The endless pain was gone, truly gone. It was over. She was alive, and she, like Jason, was staring over toward the fireplace, watching Theo and Mrs. Hanks bathe and wrap the babes in soft white wool.

Her babes. She’d birthed two babes. She wanted to hold them, to feel their small bodies, have them yell right in her face.

“They’re both perfect, Hallie,” Theo called out. “Small, but perfect. Give me another moment and I’ll make sure you’re perfect as well. Ah, what a remarkable exhibition of lung power. Did either of you hear what I said over the yells?”

Jason nodded. He couldn’t take it in. He leaped to his feet, ran out of the bedchamber, raced down the corridor to grab the banister at the top of the stairs to keep himself from hurtling down. “We’ve got twins! Corrie, James, help, we need your hands. Everyone else, don’t move! Everything is all right.”

Corrie and James came running. Theo handed the little boy to Corrie and Mrs. Hanks handed James the little girl. James had meant to tell her what to do with that tiny screaming creature, but could do nothing but stare. He whispered, “Douglas and Everett were this small, weren’t they? It’s amazing. Oh God, Jase, we’re both fathers.”

While Theo tended Hallie, Jason, to distract her, continued to wipe her face with cool, damp cloths and kiss her-her mouth, her nose, her ear. “You’ve done it, given me two perfect babes, a boy and a girl this time.” Jason laughed and wanted to weep. “I’ll bring them to you in a moment. James and Corrie are seeing to them. Don’t worry, I’ll make certain they don’t try to steal them, not after all the work you did. They’re so small, James could ease them in his jacket pockets. Now, what do you want me to do to this pathetic doctor of yours whom I believed so smart? This brainless fellow didn’t think it was two babes. He claimed you were just big. You were quite wrong, weren’t you, Theo?”

“I’m a dolt.”

“More loudly please,” Jason said.

“I’M A DOLT.”

“Good. Now, my sweet, sweaty girl, you need to rest. We’ll decide later what we should do with this gourd-brained doctor.”

Hallie was so very tired she wanted to sleep for at least a year. She felt battered and beaten-down and quite wonderful given that she had been cursing Jason only five minutes before. Her body felt surprisingly light. She moved her hand to her belly. “You said that to Piccola as well.”

He grinned down at her.

“My belly’s gone down again.”

“Yes.” He grabbed her hand, kissed her palm.

“Did I say anything to Theo I’ll have to apologize for?”

“You don’t have to apologize to the dolt.”

“True,” Theo said. “Besides, I’ve heard much worse.”

Mrs. Hanks said, “Amen to that.”

“One can but try,” Hallie said.

“You showed good range, Hallie, excellent feeling, and the volume was more than adequate.”

Hallie smiled at Theo Blood, their physician with the unfortunate name, who’d become an excellent friend to both her and Jason during the past six months. He took her hand, felt her pulse. After a moment, he nodded. “You’re going to be fine. I see no problems, the bleeding isn’t bad. I am a superb physician.”

Jason leaned close to his wife and shut out the world. He ran the tip of his finger over her eyebrows. “I love you, Hallie. I love you. I mean it now. I’ll mean it in fifty years. Sleep now.”

“That sounds so very nice. You truly expect me to docilely fall asleep when I want to sing, Jason? Not dance though, I-” In the next moment, she was asleep.

Jason kissed her chapped lips, smoothed her sweaty hair back from her forehead, and rose. “My babes?”

“Beautiful,” Corrie said. “And healthy, Jason, even though they’re so small. They’re all ready to meet their mother. Imagine, another set of twins. Goodness, she’s the first little girl in the family. Jason, you must go downstairs and tell everyone before they come storming into the bedchamber.”

Theo said as he tucked a soft blanket under Hallie’s chin, “I hope you have another name hanging about, Jason.”

“Hmm, other than Alec? Yes, I’m thinking-no, I must discuss it first with Hallie. If she ever wakes up.”