Free The Laird of Stonehaven by Connie Mason Page A

healthy bairn into this world. Help Mab drink the tea, then fetch me a basin of hot water and soap.”
    Rona held the mug to Mab’s mouth until the cup was drained. Then she hurried off to fetch the hot water and soap.
    Blair’s hand was still on Mab’s abdomen when Rona returned, but now Blair was frowning. She sensed the bairn’s distress and worried over her survival. Turning away from Mab, she washed her hands thoroughly and sent Rona out again for a fresh basin of warm water to bathe the bairn and swaddling clothes to wrap her in. Then she set to work to deliver the child.
    Blair glanced at Mab, saw that she was still relatively pain free but somewhat dazed, and decided that was a good thing. “I’m going to turn the bairn so she can be born,” she told Mab. “Clear your mind and think of naught but holding your little girl in your arms.” Her voice flowed slow and smooth as she stared deep into Mab’s eyes. “You will feel naught, Mab. I have taken away your pain. Relax until I tell you to push.”
    “Aye, my lady,” Mab said, her glazed eyes never leaving Blair’s face.
    Blair set to work. Slowly, with an expertise gained from knowledge passed down through generations of Faery Women, she turned the bairn.
    “Push, Mab.”
    The child was delivered into Blair’s capable hands moments later, but Blair saw that the babe was in dire straits.
    “You have a daughter, Mab,” Blair said as she tied off the cord. To Rona, who had just returned with the basin of warm water, she said, “Deliver the afterbirth and see to Mab. The bairn needs my attention.”
    “The babe isna crying,” Rona said, worry coloring her words.
    “Is my bairn dead?” Mab cried.
    Blair ignored their questions. She was now fighting against time and had much to do if the bairn was to live. The babe’s lips were blue and her skin was ash gray, and Blair could scarcely detect a heartbeat in the tiny chest. Lowering the babe into the basin of warm water, Blair washed her and cleared mucus from her mouth. The babe did not respond. Blair closed her eyes, invoked God’s grace and began to massage the thin chest above her struggling heart.
    Within minutes she felt vibrations. Then the babe gasped and let out a lusty cry. Immediately her lips turned a healthy pink and her skin lost its pallor.
    “She lives! I heard her cry!” Mab called from the bed.
    Blair wrapped the tiny bairn in swaddling clothes and brought her to Mab, laying her gently in her mother’s arms. When she looked up, she saw Graeme standing in the doorway. She hurried over to him and all but pushed him out the door.
    “What are you going here?”
    “When you didna show up at supper I asked around, and Stuart recalled seeing you leave the keep with someone from the village. I wanted to know what mischief you were up to and followed.”
    “How long have you been standing there?”
    “Long enough to know the bairn was stillborn. What did you do to bring it back to life?” He backed away, his expression a mixture of awe and revulsion. “Did you use magic? Can you raise the dead? Is that one of your powers?”
    “The bairn wasna dead,” Blair contended. “I canna raise the dead. Only God can do that.”
    “What about the mother? The women waiting outside for word of the birth said they thought Mab had died because her moans and screams stopped moments after you arrived. The midwife isna pleased with you. You’ve gone too far. You’ve furthered your reputation as a witch and earned an enemy.”
    “I helped a mother bring a child into the world tonight,” Blair protested. She pushed past him. “I must leave instructions for Mab’s care with Rona before I go.”
    Blair returned to the bedroom and gathered up her things. After leaving several pouches of herbs with instructions for their use, she left the small cottage. Graeme trailed behind her.
    “May my brothers and I see my mother and new sister, my lady?” Carla asked timidly.
    “Your mother is resting right