One Year Later

William was on the upstairs landing, pacing back and forth nervously, when Lydia and Angela arrived.

“Heavens, Brother, you look as though you’ve been through the mill—and twice at that!” Lydia declared.

“Do you blame me?” he snapped, stopping in his pacing only so long as to reprimand her. He ran his hands through his already mussed hair.

“Whatever is the matter?” Angela demanded, looking him up and down in shock. “Anyone would have thought someone had died!”

“Someone might yet!” William said. His eyes were wide with panic, and he could barely breathe for fear. “Do you know how many women die in childbirth? And, for that matter, how many children? Now excuse me for being so forward, but I must say I do not want either my wife or my child to die tonight.”

Lydia chuckled softly, then put her hand on his shoulder and guided him to a nearby settlement.

“Enough now, Brother,” she soothed, pushing him into the seat. “You are exaggerating the dangers. It is true that many women die in childbirth, but so many more do not.”

“And Theresa is strong and healthy. There is no reason for either of them to lose their lives today,” Angela added. “You really are worrying for nothing.”

“Honestly,” Lydia laughed, “anyone would think you were the first new father in the history of the world.”

William grunted unhappily as he tried to rise, and his sisters pushed him down onto the settle. “You don’t know what it’s like,” he said sullenly, making both women burst into laughter.

“Don’t know what it’s like?” Lydia repeated. “I think you are talking to the wrong people, William. We know exactly what it is like. We’ve been through it with our own children, as well as with each other’s.”

“You never used to be quite so fidgety,” Angela said, placing her hands on William’s unsteady ones to calm him. “What’s gotten into you?”

“I've never had a child before,” he retorted. “This is all new to me. Can you blame me for being nervous?”

“Of course, you haven’t,” Lydia said, nodding. “Even so, let’s rather talk of something calming.”

“Such as?” he said, turning his raised eyebrows on her.

Lydia hesitated, but then she smiled. “I remember when you were born, William. Father was as agitated as you are now.”

“More so, even,” Angela added, though she had been so young as to barely remember it.

“Father loved you before you were even born,” Lydia continued. She looked up at the ceiling and smiled, the memory strong in her eyes.

Angela sighed. “I have missed Mother and Father every day since they left us,” she said.

“I have too,” William said with a nod. “And of course, I would do absolutely anything to have them back. But it wasn’t all bad, was it? After they died, I mean?”

“No,” Angela said with a chuckle. “But that’s all thanks to Lydia here. If it weren’t for her intelligence, quick thinking, and determination, I think we’d have all been in the workhouse.”

“Or at least grown into the worst types of people,” William said. “Lydia helped shape us into who we are today.”

“You credit me with far too much,” Lydia replied sternly, looking at each of them from under her creased brow. “I only did what any elder sibling would do.”

William and Angela laughed. “No, Lydia,” William said, temporarily distracted from his anxiety, “You made life bearable after the worst had happened, and you gave us both an opportunity to grow. I know Angela feels the same when I say we cannot thank you enough.”

At that moment, there came a scream from the bedroom behind them. William was on his feet in a second, eyes wide with panic. He’d never known fear like it, so deep in his chest that his heart ached with pain. He wanted to run into the room and protect her and the baby. That’s what a husband does, isn’t it?

“Theresa! Heavens, Theresa, please be all right.”

Angela put her arm around her brother and guided him back to the settlement. “Really,” she said in mock reprimand, “you men are so silly.”

“But she screamed!” William protested. “It sounds as though she is in the most awful pain!”

“She probably is,” Lydia said with a wry smile. “But I promise that is offset by the love she feels for this new babe. It will all be worth it in the end.”

“And the love she feels for you,” Angela added, “as her beloved husband. You know, Edward wants another.”

“The men always do,” Lydia teased, “for it is not they who must give birth!”

William paused and frowned. “Is it that terrible?” he asked. “That much of a chore?”

Lydia smiled sweetly to him and put her hand on his arm. “It is both terrible and wonderful all at the same time. It is the best and the worst of everything, but ultimately, it is better than anything you could ever imagine.”

William went to reply but before he could, the chamber door was opened, and the midwife stepped out, still wiping her hands on a towel. He was once again on his feet, looking at her with a mixture of hope and terror.

“Well?” he demanded.

She smiled at him. “Mother and baby are doing well,” she said. “Congratulations, Your Grace. You have a baby girl.”

William’s breath left him in one go, as if he had been punched in the stomach, and he doubled over, half laughing in disbelief. Me! A father! Of a little girl!

“Fetch Tommy, will you?” he said to no one in particular. Someone would do as he asked, he knew implicitly. And he was right, for only moments later, Tommy appeared. He didn’t want to go in to see Theresa and the baby without the boy. They were a family now, after all.

“Am I a big brother now?” Tommy asked, wide-eyed.

William laughed and ruffled his hair. “I do believe you are,” he replied. “Would you like to go in and meet your new sister?”

Tommy beamed at him as if he’d given him the greatest of compliments, then he marched up to William and took his hand. “Then let’s go and see her, Daddy!”

At Tommy’s pace, the pair marched in, with Angela and Lydia only moments behind. Theresa was on the bed, clearly exhausted but with an expression of deep contentment and happiness on her face. In her arms, swaddled in white, was the tiniest little creature William thought he had ever seen.

He thought he knew what love was. He thought he’d already experienced the greatest feeling of all. But it wasn’t until he saw his daughter for the first time that he realized he’d never had a clue what love really was.

He stopped halfway to the bed, unable to move, the waves of emotion washing over him almost dizzyingly strong. Tommy had already stepped forward and jumped up next to Theresa, and his sisters were at the bedside, cooing over the baby. William swallowed.

“William?” Theresa asked.

Finally, he pulled his eyes away from the baby and looked at her beautiful mother instead. Like a dam bursting, everything was released then, his love, his fear, his tension. It all flowed freely from his body, and he sagged as he relaxed.

“Can … can I hold her?” he asked cautiously.

Theresa let out a little laugh. “Of course, you can. She’s your daughter, after all.”

Nervously, William took the baby from her, holding the tiny bundle close to his chest. Her little fingers had managed to escape the swaddling, and they waved up at him as if she were saying hello. She was perfect, from her tiny nose to her miniature toes.

“She looks like you, Theresa,” Lydia said, leaning over her brother’s arm to get a closer look.

“It’s a good job you don’t look like your father, isn’t it, little one?” William said with a chuckle. “You are very lucky and very special to look like your mother.”

“I don’t know, William. She has your eyes, I think,” Angela said.

“She is the perfect mixture of both of us,” Theresa said, her head lolling against the pillows.

“May I take her?” Lydia asked, looking from William to Theresa.

“As long as you’re extra careful,” William said, prompting a round of laughter from the women.

“Thank you, Daddy,” Lydia teased, “but I’m well versed in holding a babe.”

Once the baby was safely in her aunt’s arms, William moved to the bed and sat down next to Theresa. Tommy and Angela were on either side of Lydia, gazing lovingly down, giving Theresa and William a little time alone. He took her hand in his and caressed it gently.

“And how are you, my love?” he asked. “Are you feeling well enough?”

“Tired, nothing more,” she said, smiling weakly at him.

“And it wasn’t too painful? Because I would hate to think I put you in that position after vowing never to hurt you.”

She giggled lightly. “It is a miracle, nothing less. And all the best things in life are worth a little hard work and suffering, don’t you agree?”

“I suppose you’re right,” he agreed, smiling intimately at her.

“Our marriage is the perfect example. We are all the stronger for everything we have had to go through to be together. I love you so very much, William.”

“You cannot possibly love me more than I love you,” he gently protested. “And now our little family is growing, I cannot imagine ever being able to love any more deeply.”

“And yet you want ten children, do you remember?” she said with a chuckle.

“Heavens, I’m not sure my heart could take it!” He laughed, then he reached up and stroked her cheek. “I’ve been so worried about you, my darling.”

“Please don’t worry about me,” she said. “I am happier than I ever imagined possible.”

William leant over and kissed her softly, but when he returned to his seat, he smiled at her. “Have you thought about names?” he asked.

“No,” Theresa admitted. “I have thought only of love and how perfect she is.”

“I have an idea,” William said tentatively. “If you are agreeable, of course”

“Very well,” she said, looking nervously at him.

“How about naming her Joanna?”

“Joanna?” Theresa asked.

“I thought it would be nice to pay homage to John and what a good man he was,” William said. “And he had so wanted a girl, hadn’t he?” William gasped when he noticed tears rolling down Theresa’s cheeks. “Oh no, you think it’s a stupid idea!”

“No, not at all,” she said through her tears. “I think it’s beautiful, and I am overcome by your kindness and generosity. Joanna Stanley. It has the best of both of you.”

“Then, Joanna it shall be.”

Lydia, Angela, and Tommy came back to the bedside, and Lydia handed the baby to William. He gazed down at his daughter for a moment before looking up at everyone with an expression of genuine happiness.

“Everyone, I’d like to formally introduce you to little Joanna Stanley, our daughter, and the most beautiful thing in the room.”

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