She was so very tired after giving birth to her son and daughter. Harold Jr. and Niamh both slept soundly, milk drunk after she had nursed them, one in the cradle and the other in her arms. The priest had gone to tend to churchly business, the woman had gone to tend to her husband, and some time earlier the messenger boy went looking for Pony. It had happened so fast after her waters broke that she hadn't had time to alert her brother. The house was a bloody mess, the yard marred by her little tumble into the mud created by said broken waters, the mud smearing the back, hallway floor, laundry basket tipped over and half emptied from that...

Overwhelmed, she started to talk to herself, "Where is he? He's going ta be so cross with me."