The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett [370]
The bell rang to summon the townspeople to mass. Alfred pulled on his boots and looked expectantly at Aliena.
“I don’t think I can go,” she said. “I feel terrible.”
He shrugged indifferently and turned to her brother. “You should come, Richard. Everyone will be there today—it’s the first service in the new church.”
Richard was surprised. “You’ve got the ceiling up already? I thought that was going to take the rest of the year.”
“We rushed it. Prior Philip offered the men an extra week’s wages if they could finish by today. It’s amazing how much faster they worked. Even so, we only just made it—we took the falsework down this morning.”
“I must see this,” Richard said. He stuffed the last of the bread and beef into his mouth and stood up.
Martha said to Aliena: “Do you want me to stay with you?”
“No, thanks. I’m fine. You go. I’ll just lie down.”
The three of them put on their cloaks and went out. Aliena went into the back room, taking with her the hot stone in its leather wrapping. She lay down on Alfred’s bed with the stone under her back. She had become terribly lethargic since her marriage. Previously, she had run a household and been the busiest wool merchant in the county; now, she had trouble keeping house for Alfred even though she had nothing else to do.
She lay there feeling sorry for herself for a while, wishing she could fall asleep. Suddenly she felt a trickle of warm water on her inner thigh. She was shocked. It was almost as if she was urinating, but she wasn’t, and a moment later the trickle turned into a flood. She sat bolt upright. She knew what it meant. Her waters had broken. The baby was coming.
She felt scared. She needed help. She called to her neighbor at the top of her voice: “Mildred! Mildred, come here!” Then she remembered that nobody was at home—they had all gone to church.
The flow of water slowed, but Alfred’s bed was soaked. He was going to be furious, she thought fearfully; and then she remembered that he was going to be furious anyway, for he would know that the baby was not his child, and she thought: Oh, God, what am I going to do?
The back pain came again, and she realized that this must be what they called labor pains. She forgot about Alfred. She was about to give birth. She was too frightened to go through with it alone. She wanted someone to help her. She decided to go to the church.
She swung her legs off the bed. Another spasm took her, and she paused, her face screwed up in pain, until it went away. Then she got off the bed and left the house.
Her mind was in a whirl as she staggered along the muddy street. When she was at the priory gate the pain came again, and she had to lean against the wall and grit her teeth until it passed. Then she went into the priory close.
Most of the population of the town was crowded into the high tunnel of the chancel and the lower tunnels of the two side aisles. The altar was at the far end. The new church was peculiar in appearance: the rounded stone ceiling would eventually have a triangular wooden roof over it, but now it looked unprotected, like a bald man without a hat. The congregation stood with their backs to Aliena.
As she lurched toward the cathedral, the bishop, Waleran Bigod, got up to speak. She saw, as if in a nightmare, that William Hamleigh was standing beside him. Bishop Waleran’s words penetrated her distress. “... with great pride and pleasure that I have to tell you that the Lord King, Stephen, has confirmed Lord William as the earl of Shiring.”
Despite her pain and fear Aliena was horrified to hear this. For six years, ever since the awful day when they had seen their father in the Winchester jailhouse, she had dedicated her life to winning back the family property. She and Richard had survived robbers and rapists, conflagration and civil war. Several times the prize had seemed to be within their grasp. But now they had lost it.
The congregation murmured angrily. They had all suffered