Black and Silver by Merry Farmer

Author:Merry Farmer [Farmer, Merry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-09-13T00:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Damn the mud, damn the rain, damn the carriage, and damn that blasted statue and everything that had led to its creation. Lawrence did not have enough damns inside him to express his anger, frustration, and fear at the situation he found himself in. As he clutched Minerva tightly to him and rushed down a slope, then up a small rise to the small, sad church and the drenched parsonage beside it, he was ready to damn his entire life.

“Where are we going?” Minerva asked in a small, breathless voice as she clung to him. “Could we not return to the club so that I might bathe?”

Lawrence nearly missed a step. He glanced quickly down at Minerva as he sped forward. Her eyes were closed, and her already pale face was splotched with fever. She had seemed cognizant of their surroundings in the carriage, and even after, when she’d foolishly helped him and Silas move the damnable thing, but the strain of that effort and her subsequent fall must have been too much for her. Her eyes were closed now, and it was only a miracle that helped her maintain her grip on him.

“We’re going to try the parsonage,” he explained to her, attempting to keep his voice light, but knowing he failed. “With any luck, the parson will have a wife with competent healing skills. She’ll have you out of these muddy clothes, bathed, and tucked away in a nice, warm bed with a bowl of broth in no time.”

Minerva made a sound that might have been an attempt at an answer to his statement, but which came out sounding more like a pained wail of desperation.

That sound caused Lawrence to pick up his pace, despite the difficulty of running in the mud and rain with Minerva in his arms. Everything depended on him finding help for her at the cottage he raced toward.

He was relieved at least to see the parsonage appeared clean and well-kept. It seemed somewhat dark to his eyes, but the thought occurred to him that Minerva would most likely enjoy that.

With a quick shuffle of her increasingly heavy form in his arms, he freed a hand enough to knock on the door. When no immediate answer came, he knocked again with more force.

“Hello?” he shouted, all too aware of Minerva shivering as she pressed her body into him. “Hello? Is anyone at home? We need help.”

His calls went unanswered, and he knocked again before cursing under his breath. The parsonage was not so large that its inhabitants could not hear him. He was either being ignored or, as was more likely, no one was home.

A twist of panic filled his insides. Minerva needed immediate attention. She needed to get out of the rain and into a warm, dry bed as swiftly as possible. He considered kicking at the door until it caved in, but that would only compromise the warmth and protection of the house once they were able to enter it.

Minerva made another plaintive noise in his arms that nearly broke Lawrence’s heart.

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