The Secrets We Left Behind by Soraya M. Lane

Author:Soraya M. Lane [Lane, Soraya M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2021-05-19T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CATE

It had been two days since they’d arrived in Le Paradis, and Cate was starting to understand the meaning of claustrophobia. She supposed she could go outside briefly if she wanted to; she was supposed to be the cousin of Elise and Adelaide, after all, but she was terrified now of being found out. Those first hours after they’d arrived, she’d kept her head, focusing on her job and doing what she knew so well. But once she’d finally gone to bed that night and slept, fitfully despite the comfortable surroundings, all she’d been able to see in her head were the people she’d left behind. They were coming to her in her dreams, calling for her, asking her why she’d left them. She kept seeing patients bleeding, crying in pain, and her feet wouldn’t move, like she was stuck in quicksand.

That’s what you get for abandoning everyone.

The attic was dark with the blinds pulled, and although she longed to let the light in and breathe fresh air, she wanted to keep it comfortable for Jack. They’d managed to carry him up the night before, terrified he’d be discovered downstairs if they had a surprise visitor. He’d slept fitfully in the beginning, too, but then he’d eased into a much more settled slumber. At times she’d wondered whether he would ever wake, but he’d stirred twice now, long enough for her to spoon some water into his mouth and wipe his brow before he fell asleep again.

Cate sat beside him, peering at his face and seeing there was no longer a wet line beading across his forehead. Her hope was that any fever he’d had had broken; a quick look under his bandages would tell her if there was an infection, but she didn’t want to rouse him, not when he was sleeping so peacefully. Instead she reached inside the shirt she was wearing for her ring, tugging gently at the chain that kept it around her neck. She closed her fingers around it and thought of Charlie, but her hand fell away like it had been burnt when Jack’s face swam in her gaze.

It’s because I’m looking after him, tending to him so often, she told herself. I need more to eat and I need to sleep properly. Charlie will come back to me then.

As if to placate the voice in her head, she lifted her legs up on to the bed and lay her head down on the pillow. She’d been reluctant to sleep again because she didn’t want to leave Jack, and she reasoned with herself that there would be no hardship in sharing the bed with him. They were both fully clothed, she didn’t need to pull the blanket on to herself, and the door was open. Not that anyone downstairs probably could have cared less what she did with Jack in the privacy of a room, but still, it meant something to her.

She lay on her back for a moment before wrestling with the notion of how cold she was, and how warm Jack would be to curl up beside.

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