Sàmhach, the Silent One
Copyright© 2026 by CaptainPig
Chapter 2
Glossary
Ísland (EES land, Iceland)
Sàmhach (SAM hach, The Silent One )
Oidhche Shamhna (Oi che SHAM in ha, the Gaelic Halloween celebration)
Hogmany ( hog ma NEY, the celebrations on the day before the New Year and sometimes a couple of days into the new year)
March 18, 2022
The MacBruce Home for Unwed Mothers in Berwick, Massachusetts Province, United Provinces of North America
Sorcha keened as, with one final push, her baby slid into the waiting hands of the midwife, Agnes MacBruce.
She heard the midwife crooning to the newborn as she tied and cut the umbilical cord and then the splashing sounds as she washed the baby.
The midwife’s apprentice, Polly, washed Sorcha’s body and thighs, then covered her with a clean sheet and blanket.
Agnes smiled as she brought the baby over and placed him in Sorcha’s arms.
“He’s a fine, strapping young lad,” she said. “A good boy, he made no complaint as I washed him. Give him his first meal, girl. It will help the both of you to heal and to bond as you should.”
She turned to her apprentice and the smile vanished from her face.
“Polly, go and tell Doctor Whitfield that I would appreciate a few moments of his time,” she whispered. “Ask him to wait out in the hallway until I can speak with him. Come in quietly and tell me when he gets here.”
Sorcha ignored them as she stared into her son’s brilliant green eyes. She thought that, for just a moment, his eyes had flashed gold.
She brought her son to her breast and he began to suck. She hummed softly to him as he nursed.
In that special moment, all of the anguish and loneliness she’d felt since she was expelled from Clan McKerr, the fear and uncertainty she’d experienced as she made the long journey from Ísland to Massachusetts Province, the shame and embarrassment she’d felt before she was admitted to the MacBruce Home for Unwed Mothers, all of it vanished, forgotten as she looked into the green eyes of her son.
Her son had finished nursing and the two of them had fallen into a gentle sleep when Polly slipped quietly into the room. She whispered to Agnes that Dr Whitfield was outside the door. Telling Polly to watch over the sleepers, Agnes stepped out into the hallway.
“Doctor Whitfield,” she said, “I’d like you to examine this newborn boy. His eyes are a very strange color, bright green with what I swear are gold irises, and I’m sure they flashed at me. His tongue is deformed. It’s just a little stub in the back of his mouth and the jaw seems to be strange. He has no chin and the inside of his mouth is all flat, with no hollow space in the lower jaw for the tongue to sit in. He didn’t make a sound when I slapped his foot after the delivery or when I washed him. I even pinched his arm, trying to make him cry. He winced and drew away, but still made no sound.”
“Certainly, Agnes,” Doctor Whitfield replied.
Agnes followed him as he quietly entered the delivery room.
Sorcha’s eyes opened when the doctor’s rubber soled shoes squeaked as he approached the bed.
“Good morning, Miss NicAngus. I’m Doctor Whitfield and I’ve come to give you and your son a routine post-partum examination. We like to be sure that there are not going to be any complications from the birth,” he said, smiling. “Polly will hold you son while I take a look at you.”
Dr Whitfield concealed his astonishment when he examined Sorcha. There was no sign of vaginal tearing or bleeding and her cervix was already closed, something that normally took around six weeks ... A visual inspection of her abdomen was just as surprising; her stomach was already tightening, the looseness from her pregnancy disappearing and there were no stretch marks in her skin.
He looked at Sorcha with a slightly uneasy smile. “There isn’t any sign of any problems and it looks like you will heal from the delivery just fine and without any issues,” he said. “Let’s just have a look at your son now.”
Polly handed the sleeping boy to the doctor and he laid the boy on the examination table and unwrapped the birthing blanket. He quickly weighed and measured the boy.
“Your son is 25 inches long and weighs eight pounds fourteen ounces, both a little above normal but nothing to be concerned about.
“Hmmm,” the doctor said, “his skin is quite smooth and healthy looking. An unusual but attractive golden brown completion. He doesn’t have any of the usual fuzz newborns usually have on his head...”
Examining the boy’s head through a magnifier, Dr Whitfield hissed in surprise.
“There don’t seem to be any follicles in his scalp, nor any sign of eyebrows. He does have eyelashes, but they seem very fine and shorter than typical. He may be naturally bald.”
He moved his fingers in front of the infant’s eyes.
“His eyes are already focusing and tracking movement; very unusual for an infant this soon after birth. That sort of thing usually takes about three months to appear.”
Looking at the infant’s face, Dr Whitfield said, “The lower jaw is chinless and unusually flat and receded.”
Gently opening the boy’s mouth, he pulled his head mirror down and peered through it into the infant’s mouth.
“The tongue is unusually short and placed well to the rear of the mouth. The lower jaw is flatter and less hollow than typical, lacking the space normally filled by the tongue.”
Tipping the infant’s head back, the doctor held a small examination mirror at the back of his mouth and examined his throat.
“Hmm,” he said again.
He finished his examination of the boy, then rewrapped him in the blanket and handed him back to Sorcha.
“His pulse, breathing, heart rate and temperature are all within newborn infant norms. Reflexes, muscle control, eye focus and tracking response are all more advanced than I usually see in newborns.
“His eyes are very unusually colored. The irises are gold, not the usual black. We will have to wait to evaluate his visual acuity until he is a little older.
“His lower jaw and tongue are atypical. He has no chin and his lower jaw is unusually shallow with no hollow where the tongue usually rests. His tongue is very short, a mere stub placed well back in his mouth. I am not prepared right now to say that this is some kind of birth defect.
“Most concerning to me is that he has no vocal cords. The larynx and the usual structures in the throat that make sound are completely absent. That’s why he uttered no sounds when he was born or when Agnes handled and washed him. This, combined with the atypical structure of his mouth means, I believe, that he is totally mute.”
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