“Hm.” The doctor sat back and dipped her hands in the basin. “You may get dressed again.”
Jane fairly scrambled to her feet, without waiting for the offer of a hand. She was not so ponderous as to need assistance. Yet. She picked up her long stays and faced the wall for the illusion of privacy as she dressed. “Is it all right to put this back on?”
“Today, yes. But I do not want you wearing it after this.” She stood behind Jane and began working the lace through its eyelets. “It sounds to me as if you were simply seasick on the voyage. It is not unusual for pregnancy to make the body reject things it otherwise tolerated.”
“Can you tell how far along I am?”
“Given when your last course was, it seems likely that you are twenty-two weeks along. It is customary to reckon forty-two weeks from the last act of menstruation, by which method, if we are rightly instructed, I would put your parturition as the seventh of September.”
Twenty-two weeks! That put her firmly in the middle of her fifth month. Thinking, Jane drew her petticoat over her head. “So am I likely to be sick again if we were to take ship anywhere? I was rather hoping it was morning sickness.”
The doctor tightened the lace at the back of the petticoat. “With your history, I would not recommend travel by sea. Or any travel, truly, but the vomiting is what I am most concerned about.”
Not travel? But she had to get Vincent away from this place. “What about glamour? I have been abstaining so as not to risk a miscarriage. Have you an opinion on the connection between the two?
Sighing, the doctor handed Jane her gown. “The prevailing school of thought is that it is not safe for the mother, but … if it were a certain way of aborting a pregnancy, I would have significantly fewer births to attend to.”
“My understanding was that the number of births was low.”
“Louisa looking for you.” Nkiruka had been sitting so quietly that Jane had quite forgotten she was in the room.
Jane brushed her hands down her dress, hoping everything was in order. “Thank you so much. All of you. May I continue to rely on your discretion?”
“Of course.” The doctor inclined her head. “Though you will not be able to hide for much longer.”
Jane was aware of that. Having been briefly out of the stays, she felt their confinement all the more. She paused by Amey. “When it is your time, make certain I know as well, please.”
The young woman nodded, but looked strangely angry. Jane could not imagine why, after she went to the trouble of getting a doctor for her. Perhaps she was merely uncomfortable on the wooden bench. Her mother patted the pile of clothes between them. “These good.… Maybe a new blanket for the baby?”
Jane looked back at the rough pallet. “That shall be my next order.”
*
Jane had to wait until after dinner that evening before Vincent was free to speak with her. The day had taken him to St. John’s for further study of Antigua’s legal code, and he had not returned to the great house until the sun sank below the horizon. While they dined together, the presence of Zeus, who was serving dinner, kept their talk confined to simple, public things.
Jane suspected that their haste to leave the table made it appear as though they were intent upon amorous congress. In truth, though, when they retired to their rooms at last, Vincent shut the door and immediately said, “Did you see the doctor?”
“I did. To be brief: five and a half months, which means a September lying-in. And … she recommends that I should not travel.”
His face tightened with circumspection. “Is something the matter?”
“No—or, rather, she thinks that I was seasick and that another ocean voyage would be ill-advised.” Jane sighed and reached up to smooth the worry lines from Vincent’s face. “I have been thinking on this, and have a suggestion.”
“We cannot go to England.”
“Are you going to listen to my idea, or would you prefer to panic on your own?”
He rewarded her with half a smile. “I will listen to my Muse, always.”
“Jamaica is not so far away that my health would be at risk. It is large enough to have a good doctor, and it gets us away from here.”
He nodded slowly. “And we would not have to wait for the next packet ship.” He kissed her on the forehead. “You are exceedingly clever.”
“May we leave tomorrow?”
He rubbed his hair into a mess. “Shall I help you out of your dress?”