"Princess, are you unwell?"
The question was hardly out of his mouth when the room began to feel like it was compressing on her. Cordelia reached out and tried to steady herself by leaning on the desk, but the desk and the rest of the room had melted away as she felt her knees give way under her.
For the next several days, Cordelia swam in and out of consciousness. Every time she woke up, she had little or no memory of where she was or why. All she knew was that she ached everywhere, and her head felt like it was about to burst. The days bled together, like one continuous stream of misery, until one morning she woke to hear a baby crying.
It was as though she had been under water and her head had broken the surface; details that were once vague impressions were brought into sharp relief. Cordelia squinted up at Anna, wishing that she would explain why a baby was crying in her rooms, but Anna looked to have fallen asleep as her head has bent at an awkward angle. Cordelia wanted very much to speak, but it was as though her thoughts had halted at her lips as though they were locked doors, and she couldn't find the key.
Anna's head jerked up with a start, and she looked down into Cordelia's face. Her eyes had bags under them, but they lit up when she saw Cordelia staring up at her.
"Princess!" Anna exclaimed, jumping up from her seat and began asking questions without waiting for Cordelia's response. "How long have you been awake? How are you feeling? Shall I felt you something to eat?" She whirled around as though trying to find a task that she should be doing, but she stopped abruptly when her eyes fell on something in the corner of the room and rushed back over to Cordelia's side. "Princess, what shall I do with the baby?"
Cordelia had begun drifting off to sleep again when the question hit her like a slap across the face. She gaped at Anna. What baby? She thought, incredulously. I can't have had a baby, she reasoned, struggling to sit up. I'm not married. "What—" Cordelia finally croaked into the silence as she continued to flounder in her bed.
Anna took Cordelia's hand and whispered, "My lady, we don't know how it happened, but last night a baby was found in your room."
Cordelia swallowed the lump in her throat, and squeezed Anna's hand weakly, "May I see… it?"
"Him, my lady. The baby is a boy."
Cordelia nodded, "May I see him?"
Anna smiled, and squeezed her hand back. "Of course." Anna crept to the corner of the room and lifted the child from a bassinette. The baby at once began screaming in protest. Anna bounced the baby in her arms as she carried the child back to Cordelia. "He's been crying since we found him. We tried to find a wet nurse for him, but he won't have it. We're afraid that if he doesn't eat soon, my lady…" She trailed off as she placed the baby in Cordelia's arms. The child stopped crying with the change in position and stared up at Cordelia.
"Hello," she whispered into the baby's tiny face, and as she looked at the child, she had the strangest feeling that this was her baby though how it could be was beyond her because she certainly did not give birth to him. As though in response to her subconscious acknowledgement, her body responded with a letting of milk. Her eyes snapped up to Anna who had paled at the milk seeping through her garment, but neither woman could put into words the impossibility of the circumstances.
"Do you have any idea how this could be, Anna?" Cordelia finally breathed, her voice shaking as she shifted the baby in order to feed him.
"No, my lady, I cannot account for it. I've been with you since before your illness, and you have never been pregnant." Anna said, drawing a shawl over Cordelia for some privacy.
"And yet, it would seem that this child is my son." Cordelia shook her head, not believing what she was saying. "Could it be that I'm simply dreaming, Anna?"
Anna shook her head, "If you're dreaming, my lady, then we're having the same dream."
The two sat together silently trying to wrap their minds around the situation as the baby finished eating. Cordelia settled the sleeping baby on her shoulder and looked up at Anna.
"This can't be real, Anna." She was beginning to drift back into unconsciousness.
"What will you name him, princess?" Her voice seemed to come from far away.
Cordelia ran her fingers over his tuft of thin, dark hair, absently smoothing it down as he slept, "John." She kissed his forehead and held the baby up for Anna to take, sighing as Anna lifted the baby from her arms. "Goodnight, Anna," she mumbled as she succumbed to the darkness.