Elsie knew very well she shouldn’t be up and walking around town, but she felt a little miserable both physically and emotionally and so thought a trip home to see her mother would do her some good. Tyb wasn’t home to stop her and neither her housekeeper nor the nanny were going to dissuade her from a little walk. The need to get out of her own space led her to the short walk to her childhood home and a nice long scolding by Stella, but after that Elsie was quite content. It had been good for her body and mind to get a little adult time, leave Bentley with Miss Halliwell for the afternoon and walk out some of the stiffness in her joints.

Of course her mother had insisted she leave not too long after she’d arrived and sent a maid with her, but Els was too old for this nonsense and far too married and pregnant to need a chaperon. Fortunately the maid remembered some sort of errand she needed to conduct and Elsie was eager to shoo her away to fulfill another duty.

The going was slow and Elsie had been experiencing a contraction or two for a couple of days now, but it hadn’t been that long ago that she’d had Bentley, and this felt different, so she was confident that this was just practice. Fortunately the sun was out and there was a light breeze and though her waddle was at a snail’s pace, she was happy to take in the fresh air— that was until a contraction stopped her in her tracks. A small gasp escaped her lips as she breathed through it, wondering if she’d made a grave mistake.

It passed after a moment and once she got her air back, Elsie decided to quicken her pace. She only made it a few houses down the row when another contraction gripped her. These felt far more like active labor and the alarm was clear on her features. If Bentley’s delivery was anything to go by, she may not make it home! Gripping the fence beside her tightly, Elsie tried to breathe through the fresh wave of pain and panic, but felt wholly unprepared for this!