for this is her fourth child. Take me to her.”
When they reached Antonia’s quarters, they found her alone, her maidens having fled. Glimpsing her father’s companion, Antonia’s blue eyes flashed angrily for a moment, but hiding her ire, she said, “Why have you come, Cailin Drusus?”
“Your father called me to help you, though the truth is you know more about birthing a child than I do. Still, I will do what I can, Antonia. Your young women seem very helpless.”
Antonia whimpered as a contraction tore through her, but she nodded. “You were good to come,” she answered grudgingly.
The child, who came shortly afterward, was born dead, the cord wrapped about its little neck. It was a boy, and quite blue in color. Cailin wept openly with sadness at Antonia’s misfortune. Though she had detested her cousin Quintus, she knew that Antonia had loved him greatly. Loving Wulf as she did, Cailin could but imagine Antonia’s deep sadness at losing the posthumous son of Quintus Drusus.
Antonia, however, was dry-eyed. “It is better,” she said fatalistically. “My poor little Marius is now with the gods, with his father.” She sighed dramatically.
Quintus is hardly with the gods, Cailin thought sourly, as Anthony Porcius attempted to comfort his daughter. “I will stay the night and return home on the morrow,” Cailin told them, wincing just slightly as she felt a mild cramp in her belly. She started nervously.
“What is it?” Antonia, sharp-eyed, demanded.
“Just a twinge,” Cailin told her with more self-assurance than she was actually feeling. She hated being here, and the morning could not come quickly enough for her.
“Do not leave me so quickly, Cailin Drusus,” Antonia pleaded. “Stay with me a few days, at least until my initial sorrow is past. You are no use to that handsome husband of yours in your present condition. Bide with me a little bit. I will wager you would enjoy soaking in my baths. You have no such amenities in your hall, I believe.”
Cailin considered Antonia’s tempting offer. She really wanted to go home; frankly, Antonia made her uncomfortable now. If she had any real sorrow over the loss of her poor little son, there was none that Cailin could see. What kind of a woman was she? Still, her pleading tone seemed genuine, and the offer of the baths was an enticing one. Cailin did not mind the more primitive life she was living, except for one thing. She really did miss the baths, with their hypocaust heating system, that had been in her family’s old villa. It had been well over a year since she had had the luxury of a long, hot soak. It would be nice to remain for a short while to indulge this familiar luxury.
“Well,” she said, “I’ll stay, Antonia, but only for two or three days.” Then she wrapped the tiny corpse in a swaddling cloth and removed it for proper burial, sending Antonia’s silly maidens back in to attend to their mistress’s needs.
Their mistress hardly noticed them. She was too busy plotting. She had seen the spasm that had crossed Cailin’s face. Was it possible the girl was going into an early labor? Or perhaps she had miscalculated the time of her child’s arrival. Antonia Porcius knew she would never again have such an opportunity for revenge, and she wanted that revenge badly. If Cailin would deliver her child here, alone, and without her Saxon husband, then both Wulf Ironfist’s wife and child would be at her mercy. Oh, Quintus, she thought. Help me to avenge your unjust death at the hands of that barbarian. Let me make him suffer as I have suffered! Why should he be happy when I am not?
“You are very good to stay with Antonia,” Anthony Porcius said to Cailin that evening as they shared a meal. “This tragedy could not have come at a worse time for me. I have found a buyer for my house in Corinium. I mean to remain here with Antonia, as she is widowed. There are few young men about now, and she may not have the opportunity to marry again. My grandson will need a man’s influence. If Antonia does remarry one day, no good son-in-law would refuse me my place in this house. And though she will not admit it, I think my daughter needs me.”
“You need to travel to Corinium shortly?” Cailin guessed.
“Yes, I do, my dear. I have let my home run down a bit in the years since Antonia first married