As they walked away, Isabel laughed, and asked to no one in particular, "Where does one go, to seek an angel?"
A short while later, Isabel decided, she was ready to go back to her bedchamber. Hester appeared to be very relieved, by that news. As soon as she was back in her room, Isabel pulled a small square of paper from her muff, to read. It said simply, 'Robbie in the stables'.
It was midday, slightly more than a month later, when Isabel felt a painful tightening, in her distended abdomen. Then, a rush of liquid soaked her gunna, and she knew her labor had begun. She had come to the hall for some company, although her back ached, and she had been feeling some discomfort, in her belly. Isabel had thought it was too soon, for the babe to be born, though she was huge. Rosamund and Hester, hearing her moan, and seeing the wet gown, jumped into action, to help her back upstairs.
However, when Isabel struggled to walk to the stairs, the young knight, Ramsey, hurried over to carry her up. Hester directed him to the Lord’s Chamber, rather than the tower room she currently occupied, and ordered some one to go to the village, for the midwife.
There was no reason to hurry, though. At dawn the next morning, the babe had still not been born. By then, the midwife was growing concerned, that Isabel was too weak, to push the babe from her body. In that case, they both might die. This news, sent Hester and Harold, into an argument, as to whether word should be sent to His Lordship.
Several more hours passed, before a blood curdling scream reverberated through the Castle, followed closely, by the babe’s first cries. Both Hester, and Harold, who had spent most of the past nearly twenty-two hours, on a bench outside the Lord’s Chamber, sighed in relief. However, their relief was tempered a short while later, when the midwife reported that the babe was fine. Isabel, on the other hand, was unconscious, and the midwife did not know how well she would recover.
A whole entire day passed, before Rosamund brought the news that Isabel woke up, for a short while, and nursed the babe. The Lady did not leave her room for a full week, after the babe’s birth. In the weeks that followed, Isabel remained very weak, and leaned heavily on her maid, when moving about the Castle. Though, she was nursing the child, Nathaniel, and he seemed to be thriving.
This continued into the month of April. Then, one morning when Hester went to check on the Lady, she discovered Isabel, Nathaniel, and Rosamund, were gone. The Castle was immediately searched. When that turned up nothing, patrols were sent out to look for any trace of them outside the castle walls. A check of the stables, showed no horses were missing. The two women, and the babe, had vanished into thin air.
After spending a whole day and part of another, searching for any trace of the missing Lady, and her son, Harold decided that a message would have to be sent, to His Lordship. He knew Brant had said he did not want to hear about her. However, his first order was to keep Isabel safe, which Harold could not do, if he could not find her. So, while Harold and others continued the search, Gowain was sent to tell the Lord, that Isabel, and her babe, had gone missing.
Gowain rode throughout the remaining daylight, stopping to rest for the night. At dawn, he continued the ride to Brant’s Castle, arriving there after midday. However, he discovered that the Lord was not there. Kate had given birth to a baby girl, days earlier, and Brant had taken Hannah to visit her, and Robert. By nightfall, it would be three whole days, since anyone had seen Isabel, and Nathaniel. So it was decided that Gowain, and several of Brant’s men, would ride to Robert’s, even though it would be dark, by the time they arrived. Isabel’s husband needed to know she was missing, as soon as possible.
Fortunately, with fresh horses the ride passed quickly, and they arrived at Robert’s, just after the evening meal had finished. Brant and Robert, were found in the hall, talking with a group of men, over tankards of ale. Gowain, seeing Brant, rushed over to him.
“Me Lord, Harold sent me to tell ye, that the Lady Isabel, Nathaniel, and Rosamund, have gone missing. We searched the Castle, and your lands around it, but there is no sign of them,” Gowain said, urgently.
Brant raised his hand, and said, “Wait a minute. Slow down. Isabel is missing? Who is Nathaniel? And Rosamund?”
“That is what the Lady named ‘er babe, Nathaniel. Lady Isabel has been real sick, since she ‘ad the babe. So they would not ‘ave been able to walk far. There were not any horses missing, either,” Gowain explained, speaking slower.
“Isabel had a babe?” Brant asked, in shock.
“Aye, Me Lord,” Gowain answered. “She was in labor for a long time, and the midwife was afraid they might die. Afterward, she was real weak, and could not hardly walk. But Nathaniel was real healthy, and boy, does he have a set of pipes on ‘im.”
“Isabel had a child, and no one thought they should send word to me?” Brant demanded, angrily.
Gowain answered, hesitantly, “Harold said ye did not want to ‘ear anything about her.”
“Now you are here, telling me she is missing, so you would be telling me about her, right?” Brant asked, testily.
Gowain explained, “Ye told Harold to keep ‘er safe. We cannot do that, if we do not know where she is. She was there at night. Then in the morning, Isabel, Nathaniel and Rosamund, were all gone. That was three days ago. So Harold sent me to tell ye, to find out what ye want to do.”
“Who is Rosamund?” Robert asked.
“Lady Isabel’s maid, that she brought with ‘er, Yer Lordship,” Gowain explained.
“Esme, and her maid, vanished in the middle of the night,” Brant said. “Now Isabel, her maid, and a babe, have vanished. I would like to think she left on her own, but considering the similarities, I cannot take any chances. I am going to have to go look for her.”
He looked toward the hearth, where Hannah sat with Kate. Katherine had been listening intently, to the conversation.
“Hannah can stay here with me, if it is alright with you, Brant,” she said.
“Can you post some men, like we did inside Peggy’s Castle?” Brant posed to Robert, who nodded in the affirmative. “It might be prudent to see no one else disappears, until I have a better idea, of what is going on. We will wait for dawn before we ride out, so get some rest men.”
“I think I should ride with you, to watch your back,” Robert said. He moved toward the hearth, as he asked Kate, “Would you be alright here, by yourself?”
“Actually, my father will probably be back here tomorrow. Nothing is going to happen to me, or his granddaughter, if he can prevent it,” Kate answered.
“Then, I definitely do not want to be here,” Robert said.
Brant had seated himself by the couple, listening to their exchange.
“What did you do, for my father?” Kate demanded. When Robert offered no answer, she continued, “He was dead set against our marriage. Then, he was handing you a castle, and telling me to be happy. He will not tell me why, either.”
Brant was surprised to discover that Kate did not know, what Richard and Robert had done. So he decided to tell on his friend.
“Robert helped your father kidnap me, and pressure me to wed Isabel. Her father, and Avery’s father, were cousins. Avery was claiming control of her men, to fight me,” Brant divulged, with relish. “They did not tell you?”
Brant watched Robert squirm under his wife’s disapproving glare, for a few moments, in amusement.
Then, Robert offered, in his defense, “It was supposed to prevent the war, between him and Avery, from growing. He could stick the girl somewhere, until she was older. But then, it started to look like your father and Isabel, were up to something more. I am not even sure, if it is over, yet. I think your father is involved in a good many things, he is not likely to be speaking of,” Robert turned to Brant, adding, “What about Isabel’s babe. Could he be yours?”