Hepsie is grateful
When Hepsie walked into the small wooden room, the Countess was lying calmly on the bed, her bruised face upturned, her eyes staring dully at the ceiling.
Hepsie had to stifle a gasp of dismay. She could not believe this was the same beautiful face she had so often gazed at secretly on the long voyage, wishing she had not inherited such a dark complexion.
The once pale face was now covered with bruises, blooming over her skin like nightmarish flowers. Her lip was split and swollen and Hepsie hated to think what other wounds her thin nightdress might hide. She was extremely concerned about one in particular.
“Your Ladyship”, in her most respectful voice, trying to round out the vowel sounds as much as possible.
She had gotten to practice it a lot lately due to the Duchess recently losing her baby. She had been very nervous to be dealing with the nobility like this, but had to remind herself, that it was due to her talents she had boarded those ships in the first place.
The other woman said nothing, only stared at her as though she did not exist.
She busied herself straightening the sheets to hide the distinct feeling of unease that was surfacing from beneath her external appearance of efficiency.
Swallowing her discomfort she began to ask the necessary questions. Valeriya barely responded, but Hepsie managed to glean the required information from her.
“I am very sorry Your Ladyship, but I need to be examining you physically if that’d be alright with you”.
Valeriya nodded very slightly, so Hepsie leant down and began to feel the woman’s abdomen gently, looking for signs that the child was still living. Her careful hands had soon gathered the information she needed.
She stood up briskly wiping those hands on her apron. From what Valeriya had told her and from her examination, there was no way the baby could have survived.
Now came the most unpleasant part. Hepsie took a deep breath to steel herself for the woman’s reaction.
“Your Ladyship”, she said in a quiet, consoling voice, “I am so very sorry to tell you ‘at you’ve lost yer baby. Is there anythin’ I can do fer you?”.
She had expected distress, tears and perhaps anger, but she was not prepared for the response that she received at this news.
The young woman merely stared at her, uncomprehendingly, almost as though Hepsie had said nothing, almost as though she was not there at all.
Hepsie, was deeply disturbed and so broke into a stream of medical advice finishing with, “and you must get a lot of rest”. She did not think it the best response, but she had to admit she did not know what to say to the battered woman. Valeriya did not look like she had heard a word of it.
Hepsie curtseyed with as much dignity as she could muster and walked towards the door, leaving the broken woman to her thoughts.
She could not help but feel consumed with a righteous anger. They had told her Valeriya had fallen, but Hepsie knew better. That awful Earl had done this to her, beaten her into this state, killed her baby. How she wished she were a man so she could knock him senseless, as he deserved. Her fists clenched tightly as she thought of it. Anger was quickly and suddenly replaced by an extreme gratitude, that God had seen fit to grant her such a wonderful man as her lovely Steen.
Wow, so he told everyone she fell huh, course he did…bastard. I like Hepsie, she’s like me in her anger of abusive men. I hope something can be done for that poor girl, and that she isn’t already too far gone. I am lovin your story Verity!
Ahhh, and so the baby is gone. I would have loved to have seen Hepsie go out at with old beat ‘em up himself!
Valeriya’s decision was rather selfish. What will come of her conscience?
I’m a child protection social worker. If I had been on that boat I would have taken that baby from her as soon as it was born anyway! I would tell the king (judge) that the family has to address it’s domestic violence issues and that Val is in need of psychological services.
he he he he
Hi. oh no I was hoping the baby would surive. though I wonder if Valeriya will start to regreet losing the baby now that she knows that her plan has worked. and I know this may be far fetched but maybe this will make Radimer treat his wife better.
I”l look forward to your next update
See ya
What’s that word for Hepsie again? Wholesome. She’s just so simple and good-natured (well, by simple I mean not scheming and sly) and . . . I love her.
But she’s misguided in directing all her fury to Radomir, because Valeriya decided in the end to get rid of the baby. The medieval version of abortion?
Hi everyone
First of all… welcome to Mhalwae Sarah (and the present day cause I guess you have been silently reading your way through the rest of the posts). Another baby-rescuer
. As I said to Tiana I hope you won’t get too upset with how mean I am to the babies of Mhalwae. I love your solution to Valeriya’s problem… I think Eallair wouldn’t know what to say if you came up to him and told him the family needed to address its domestic violence issues… he has enough trouble as it is 
.
I love Hepsie too Aithne
She’s my favourite (although to be honest I really love all my characters… well not Radomir… but I am starting to like him more now he is getting a Soamesy feel to him. Has anyone else read or watched the Forsyte Saga… it is seriously awesome and Soames is one of my favourite characters in literature (along with Lizzy and Mr Darcy from Pride and prejudice). I love Soames because he is so complex… you hate him one minute, you cry with him the next, then you disapprove, then you admire. I don’t think I can hope for Radomir to be nearly as wonderful as him but we’ll see… he’s growing on me.
Poor Valeriya is getting creepier, and it’s a shame because I did like her.
The way she has handled the situation with the baby has been selfish from the beginning. It wasn’t the baby’s fault that it came to be. It wasn’t that she wanted to protect the baby from its father — as I recall she simply didn’t like the idea of her husband getting access to her womb.
At least she didn’t laugh or smile when Hepsie told her she had lost her baby. I was expecting something like that. She seems to have drifted off into her own world, doesn’t she?
In fact, now that I think about, my like for Valeriya has always been based to a large extent on pity. She’s such a shadow of a woman that she hasn’t done much to make herself likeable for her own sake. Though from what Radomir told us, she wasn’t always that way.
And “they” told Hepsie that Valeriya fell? Wha? Like ten times? Down a cliff? Does everyone else believe the story? Is some man not going to do what Hepsie wished she could? Or are all those men being medieval about it, or what?
Meanwhile, I love Hepsie too! Even her name — it’s just perfect for her. It’s a shame Valeriya couldn’t bring herself to talk to her. It might have done her some good.
I have a couple of things to say about Valeriya. First of all since she has been married to Radomir he has been wearing her down both physically and emotionally. He pretty much bought her from her father so she was thrown into a marriage she was not entirely happy with and with his bad temper and horrible attitude Radomir never gave her a chance to love him.
You are right about her not wanting to protect the baby from Radomir Lothere… that hadn’t come into her thinking… her reasoning was more along the lines of not giving him what he wanted since he can take pretty much everything anyway. Basically she has no way of fighting back against him… this was the only thing she could think to do.
And I have to say that Valeriya didn’t really think this through all that much. It wasn’t an entiredly planned out scenario. She had thought about it as a way to hurt Radomir, but didn’t really realise how far it would go and when she was having second thoughts it was really already too late. We will being seeing her opinion on it fairly soon so maybe she can redeem herself slightly. And she will be finding someone she can talk to very soon as well (but not Hepsie
.
Oh yeah… no-one actually believes she fell. Everybody is being mostly medieval about it although I believe Eallair has had some words with Radomir about it. Also Valeriya is not sleeping in the same room as her husband anymore… they have found him another room.
Oh, I’m glad they are at least sleeping separately now. Since you say “they” have found him another room, I suppose it means it was not his idea. But on the other hand if “they” want them separated then it proves that someone is looking out for her, at least to the extent possible in a medieval world.
Now I’m eager to know what’s going through the minds of the both of them.
To be honest Lothere… Radomir doesn’t much want to sleep in the same room as Valeriya either. He is shocked by both his and her behaviour. Someone suggested it would be a good idea and he agreed.
Great update Verity! I really like Hepsie. I think she’s my favorite. She’s so sweet and genuinely nice. And I guess the Duchess got what she wanted, but why she’s gone psycho on us I have no idea!
Actually just a quick note Mandie… Valeriya is actually the Countess… the Duchess is Isaura. I know… even I am getting confused about this and I made them!
. Basically that was just to let you know that Isaura did actually lose her baby that day in the church (if it wasn’t clear enough from the screams of pain 
)
And yet still no live babies born in Mhalwae. *sigh*