Lord Grenville's Choice by G.G. Vandagriff

Author:G.G. Vandagriff
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

{ 19 }

In the distance, Alex heard screaming.

“That’s Elaine!” her cousin said and began to run.

Felicity! Alex followed, dodging high hedges and random statuary. The screaming had stopped, but Winton, like a pointer beagle, kept going. After what felt to be ages, they came upon a crowd surrounding something on the ground.

Nudging themselves through the crowd, Alex and Winton found Felicity and Miss Wilkins in two heaps upon the path, their pockets turned out.

Alex emitted a strangled sound as he knelt by his wife. Mimicking what he had seen Dr. Caldwell do, he felt Felicity’s wrist with two fingers. After a few horrible moments, he located a faint pulse.

A night watchman ran forward, blowing his whistle. Alex ran his hands desperately over his wife’s person, seeking a knife. When he found none, he pulled off the hat and examined her head. It was not long before he located a large, damp lump on the front of her scalp. His hand came away sticky with blood.

Heart thudding painfully, he called to the watchman, “My wife is hurt, man. Go for a stretcher. Quickly!” Turning to his friend, he said, “Your cousin?”

“She is coming ‘round. I think she only fainted, thank heavens.”

“We never should have left them,” Alex said.

“Who could know they would go strolling on their own?”

“I could. Felicity has always been . . . difficult.” His voice broke on the word. He put his head in his hands. “Dear God,” he prayed. “Don’t let her die! It is my fault. I was thoughtless. Cruel, even. This is all my fault.”

The stretcher arrived and Winton helped him to settle Felicity onto it.

“She was so brave,” Miss Wilkins said, dazedly. “She stood my protector. Just as though she were indeed a man.”

*~*~*

The carriage ride home had been a nightmare. With every jostle and jolt, Alex had tried to cushion Felicity’s head by holding her close to him. She had not regained consciousness and he feared most desperately for her life. He took her to Grenville House and sent the footman in the carriage for Dr. Caldwell. While carrying her up the stairs to her bedroom, he remembered Martha and sent another footman to Morecombe House for the maid.

Laying his wife on one side of her bed, he folded back the yellow striped bed clothing on the other side and then transferred her tenderly and pulled the clothing tightly around her. It was a brisk night and she had suffered a terrible blow. For a time, he paced the room. He blamed himself. He should never have left her. He had allowed himself to be put off by her reference to Elizabeth.

He dropped to his knees by her bed. Clasping her in his arms, he rested his head on her breast, listening to the faint heartbeat. He must not lose Felicity! She was vital. She was life. She was the one who dwelt next to his soul.

Compared to my wife, Elizabeth has only been a gauzy dream conjured by a man who was scarcely more than a child.

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