Marie II of Acadia: Story Two

Chapter Twelve

Days after the signing, only a month or so before Christmas, Helene and I were having tea with the whole family, even my Aunt Rosalie, in the salon of the Chateau when my wife gasped loudly. "Oh, my goodness!"

I looked down. "What?" There I saw liquid leaking from between her legs.

"Marie! My waters have broken! I was having back pain, but I did not think it was labour."

My Maman took charge. "We must get her to the hospital." She turned to the maid who was serving us. "Collette, have Brisbois bring the car around, and have someone fetch Her Majesty's hospital bag." Then, my Maman turned to me. "Marie!"

I had been frozen from shock and her shout woke me up. "Right, yes. We need to get Helene to the hospital. Where is Collette?"

"I already sent her off. Now, help your wife up."

"Of course, right."

Elise, who had been sitting on Helene's other side, helped me get her off the couch and we helped her walk out to the front entrance where Brisbois had the car waiting. My Maman and I climbed in after Elise and I helped Helene into the car. I knew I needed my mother there today.

"Call my Ema (Mom)." Helene called out. "Have her and my Abba (Dad) meet us at the hospital. I know it will take them a while to get there but I need them there."

"We will!" Elise promised. "We will get them there."

When the door to the towncar closed, I started to rub my wife's shoulders as she had a contraction. "Now that feels like a contraction. Before, it simply felt like back pain."

"That is normal." My Maman assured Helene. "Now, do not worry. We will be in Grand-Pré and at Le Hopital de Saint-Thérèse soon."

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When we arrived at the hospital, we were lucky to find that there were no news crews there, yet. Our chauffer, McKinley, ran inside after stopping at the emergency entrance and brought out a wheelchair for Helene. My Maman and I got her out of the car and into the emergency room.

I raced right up to the triage nurse. "My wife is in labour."

"Of course, we will take her in right now, Madame?" She turned and noticed who I was. "Your Majesty!" She instantly stood from her chair. "The Queen Consort is in labour? And she is going to have the future Monarch at our hospital?"

"She would very much like to if I could please get her checked in." I tried not to get angry, which was hard with my mental illness.

"Yes, of course, of course." The nurse grabbed a chart and passed it to me. "Please bring her over so I can check her vitals while you fill out these papers."

"Maman!" I called and my mother brought Helene over in the wheelchair.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The nurse curtsied to us all before moving to take Helene's blood pressure and such. I hurried through the paperwork, having everything memorized, of course. I finished just as the nurse finished with Helene. Then, I gave her the clipboard back. "Alright. I will let the maternity ward know you're here. It shouldn't be more than ten minutes, I know they have beds today. Just take a few seats in the waiting area and someone will come get you when it's time to go up."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

We actually sat for less than ten minutes. I knew because I was keeping a close eye on the clock, due to the fact we all felt so uncomfortable with everyone staring at us. Some even took photos. No doubt the news had broken by then.

Not more than five minutes later, a lady came over and curtsied to us. "Your Majesties, if you'll come with me, I'll take you to the maternity ward."

"Thank you."