Hiding Katherine by GG Shalton (most difficult books to read txt) 📕

small castle. “My dear, I must leave tomorrow morning on a journey. The king awaits my visit, and I can’t take you with me. Given your condition with our child, I will leave you here to rest and get settled. I will return within a few months and stay with you until the birth. Once the child is born, we will leave again and announce the birth a few months later. Is this clear?”

Katherine nodded her understanding. “What of the servants? They will know.”

He placed his index finger over her lips. “When will you learn to trust me? I will tell them that we had a liaison before our marriage and I am counting on their discretion due to our marriage happening after the child was conceived. They have no prior knowledge of your associations. No one will ever question who sired the child.” He removed his finger and bent down kissing her on the mouth. Another quick peck and he turned away to walk to his study.

Katherine stood where he left her thinking about his words. It was true that many babies were conceived before marriage. It wasn’t really questioned if the couple was married before their birth. Somehow it made her feel uneasy—as if Ian never existed. It saddened her that his legacy would belong to someone else.

The weeks flew by and Katherine’s pregnancy began to show. The two women servants assigned to her never mentioned her condition, only offering her assistance with her meals and baths. She dressed in plain day dresses never making an effort with her appearance due to not having visitors. She did take long naps and short trips into the garden as long as the guards could not see her. Alexander was very strict about that. The men kept away from the castle and lived in the gatehouse. Katherine spent her days weaving or reading poems. Her time at her father’s home prepared her for such a lonely existence. She created entertainment in her head making games out of her boredom. Katherine sent a missive to her sister announcing the exciting news of her pregnancy. Her sister wrote back her congratulations and asked to visit. Katherine was relieved it was winter and travel would be near impossible. The last thing she needed was her sister realizing how far along she was and questioning the father.

As the weeks dragged by, Katherine received a missive from Alexander delaying his visit to see her. No real explanation just sending her well wishes. It had been so long since she saw him, she sometimes forgot she was married. Although, she couldn’t complain. After all, she was provided for and her child would have his name.

Weeks turned into months and Alexander never came. Katherine could barely move with her swollen feet. She voiced her concerns with the servants claiming it must be twins. The older woman servant Maribel had delivered many babies and told Katherine she doubted it was twins, and that swelling was normal this close to birth. A few days later, Katherine went into labor. Alone without any relatives to help or sit with her, she clung on to the women servants as they helped her push out the child. The pain was unbearable, and Katherine believed she would die before the child was born. Only her love for Ian made her push and scream through the pain. This life coming out of her represented his existence and she would do everything she could to make sure the baby was healthy. After hours of pain, the burning sensation ended, and her body shook from exhaustion. She heard her baby scream as the women cut the cord. “My lady, you have a son. The future Earl of Barragan.”

Tears of joy fell from her eyes as she held out her arms to hold him. The servant brought in clean linens and a bucket of warm water. “One moment, my lady, let me clean him up and wash you first.” She watched the servants work and was relieved to hold the baby, crying and looking red. His head had some black hairs on top of it and was a bit misshaped. Maribel assured her it was normal for a baby’s head to look like that when they come out of the mother. He would regain a normal shape very soon.

Katherine could not help but cry. “He is so beautiful.” She counted ten fingers and ten toes, relieved that he had stopped crying and seemed to be content. Maribel said he was big for a newborn baby and attributed his size to the earl. Katherine cracked a secret smile thinking to herself if the servant only knew the size of his real father.

“What are you to name him, my lady?” Maribel asked as she scrubbed the blood on the floor.

Katherine had not discussed it with Alexander. He would never allow her to name him Ian. She thought hard for a moment and the name came suddenly. “His name will be Daniel.” She remembered when Ian told her he would name his firstborn son that name. She felt a great triumph to give him a part of his real father.

Katherine wanted to shout to the world that her baby was born. He was beautiful, and his dark hair reminded her of Ian. The earl was fairer, but luckily her father was dark. Otherwise, how could she explain his complexion? The servants were under strict orders to keep the birth a secret. Not even the guards were told of the birth and Katherine was forced to stay indoors until two months had passed. That had been Alexander’s orders. No one could know of the birth until that time, and then they would announce to the rest of the household that the baby was born. Others outside of the household would be told it was an early birth, and they would not introduce him to society until he reached one year. Katherine was unsure how to keep her sister away,