Diane was in the room that had been prepared for her.
It was a small room in the attic.
But it was comfortable there, she had to say, comfortable and warm enough to be thankful for not being on the street anymore.
She had met Meredith Dustin and that had been her salvation, for her and for the baby that was in her womb at that moment.
She couldn't sleep, even though it was the middle of the night.
Moonlight came in through the window that was just above her bed.
It brought cold and darkness, which now contrasted with the warmth of the room.
She was in an attic, this meant that walls and complexes of dark wood constantly surrounded her and at night she warmed herself with the heat that the chimney brought from the main living room.
That life was stressful, everything had to be done with caution, fear and courage.
Her meals were brought to her abundantly and three times a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, directly from Lady Meredith Dustin and a wooden table had been set up for her with paper and ink and several books to pass the time.
She sometimes walked up and down the large attic to move around during pregnancy, but in the last few days when she had to prepare for her birth this had become more and more complicated.
That night she couldn't sleep, she turned her face to the right, then to the left on her soft pillow, she was afraid, she felt, she sensed that something was wrong, that something was about to happen.
Diane was paralyzed, in the middle of the night, she couldn't move, she could only feel...
Wet...her mattress was wet...between her legs, something had broken, her waters had broken, her baby was coming out of her.
She knew it...she felt something was going to go wrong, she felt it, along with all the pain, all the cramps that were haunting her.
The baby inside her had begun to press against her belly, to turn and push its head, its body out of the mother.
What was she supposed to do? What could she have done?
Midnight was long past, she couldn't call for help, she didn't want to disturb her hosts, so kind to her.
It was also true, however, that without help she could have incurred an infection and died with it.
It was the night of December 22, 1735 and there were only three more days before Christmas.
How could it hurt her so bad? Why then? Why could that child, who had been conceived with brutality not push itself to life with less pain?
Diane pressed her hands, her fingers to the mattress of the comfortable bed.
She wanted to scream, she couldn't, it was night.
So she made up her mind, she did the only thing she could do at that moment, she pushed with strength and decision, a scream of pain came out of her.
She left her plump lips parted, to be able to take in as much air as possible, the lady pushed her head, the long black curls to her pillow.
It was just then that she heard the sound of footsteps on the wooden stairs grow louder and more evident.
She was scared, dreaded, she couldn't move, she couldn't, now that she was giving birth to a baby.
Those footsteps on the wood made her fearful and nauseated, they reminded her of those horrible nights spent with the guards, not even there she could move, she could only wriggle, apart from seeing those men untie the belt of their trousers first.
To think that one of those horrible men, who had abused her almost to death, to think that one of them was the father of her child, it was...too difficult to believe, to realise.
-Lady Diane- a voice interrupted her, for a moment, she interrupted her thoughts, her pain -I...I wanted to tell you something...I couldn't sleep...so...- her voice stopped.
She stopped talking, Lady Meredith, that night, in that nocturnal visit, she stopped immediately, hearing deep breaths and screams of pain.
-It is time...- Diane sighed quickly, she could barely breathe and resist the pain at the same time -the time has come... the baby...-.
She heard those footsteps again, yes, but those footsteps this time were much closer, they were directed towards her, towards her pained body.
The lady saw, thanks to the oil lamp that Meredith held in her hand, he felt her big, deep green eyes settle on her and look at her with apprehension.
Diane gritted her teeth, she had to get over the pain, she had to make it.
Meredith sighed, closed her eyes, placed the lamp on the precious bedside table in the room and slipped her hand between the legs of her protege.
She realized that the dilation had already begun and the little head had already occupied the birth canal.
-Your baby's head is coming, it is a good sign, the baby has started to push outwards, soon, in a few minutes it will be born...-.
Diane nodded.
Just a few minutes, just a few more minutes, and that would all end.
She observed the ceiling, the thick boards of heavy wood, the darkness that surrounded her.
Diane felt the cold grip of her hand, of a hand much lighter, thinner, softer, more delicate, that woman, she had never done heavy work, never raised a rifle or a musket.
-You can do it Diane, I believe in you...-.
She could do it, yes, she could, because for an hour that painful process had been going on, that young life was making room for itself, a trail to the new world.
She felt the baby's head and body slipping away from her, sliding on the white and soft mattress, staining it with blood and screams, moving the little hands and feet, without awareness of what had happened.
Lady Meredith hastened to reach the little girl's body, to clean it, to warn the mother that what she had given birth to was a small, innocent creature, a baby girl even too small and frail to be a newborn.
Diane thought it was all over, she thought, everything had come to an end, when she heard her baby cry, when she felt the baby's body and her placenta slip away from her body, but it didn't.
A great pain, some cramps, began to torment her again, even stronger and more decisive than before.
She didn't know, but she was pregnant with twins.
The lady knew it, felt it, only a few tens of minutes later, feeling, in addition to the painful cramps and pains that had summed up her pain in those hours, that she had given birth to two children that night: a girl and a boy.
-Two placentas, two umbilical cords, your babies, do not resemble each other at all...- Lady Meredith ventured, leaving her body to sway, tremble, in the cold winter of the night for some time.
-See for yourself-.
He was right about it, her children, they were so different from each other and from her, that the three of them would never have been thought to be closely related.
So while the girl, the first born to her, had a round face, fresh hair smelling of warm bread, the boy had a paler face and smelled of blood and sweat.
Her daughter had skin of a beautiful amber, golden color, like desert sand and she had two large eyes, her son had pale, snow-white skin.
But both had inherited her mother's black hair, both of them resembled her in this.
-All this is simply amazing! This must absolutely be a case of heteropaternal fertilisation, you know, it is very rare that it happens in a human being, a very low percentage of twin births...-.
Lady Meredith seemed, as she was taking the two babies in her arms, she exalted and was excited at the fact, at the news, as if she had learned everything on a note of positive nonchalance.
-This means that your children, your twins, have different fathers, it often happens when you are fertilised by two different men with little time of difference...-.
But Diane didn't care where her children came from now that they were there with her and screaming in her arms.
She smiled sincerely, passing her gaze from one of her children to the other.
-They are so small and fragile...- she cradled them in her hands.
-How do you want to call them?-.
-I will call the girl Cassidy, the boy I will call him Logan...-.