The Duchess' Earring: Historical Regency Romance Novel (Manifestos of Love Book 4) by Fanny Finch

Author:Fanny Finch [Finch, Fanny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Starfall Publications
Published: 2024-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Nineteen

Kathryn

“Emily…” The name that escaped Doctor Beille’s lips made Kathryn nearly drop her cup.

Who is Emily?

Doctor Beille shifted in his seat. He’d been at peace for some time as Kathryn drank from her cup, nearly draining it completely. The doctor hadn’t stirred at all until now. His head turned to the side, a slow murmur leaving his lips, then he said the name again.

“Emily.”

Who is she? Is this why he was so upset? Has this Emily hurt him? Is he in love?

Kathryn felt such a fool that she couldn’t move. She stared at him across the room, realizing that the sudden ache in her chest was a form of heartbreak. In her time with Doctor Beille, she hadn’t just ben longing for his teachings, but longing to be with him, and yet, he had no wish to be with her.

He thinks of another. Oh, how could I be such a fool?

Kathryn hurried to place down the cup on the table without making a sound and raised herself to her feet. She had to get out of there, as fast as she possibly could, before her foolish heart placed anymore hope on a man whose love was clearly placed elsewhere.

“Emily.”

Oh, enough!

He kept saying it, repeatedly now, to such an extent that she felt as if she was being tortured by it. Kathryn crossed the room toward her discarded cloak and lifted it around her shoulders, fixing it tightly. She gathered her books and her bag, hurrying to her task so much that she nearly forgot Arabella’s book and had to dart back from the door to get it.

“No. No!” Doctor Beille’s voice abruptly grew louder.

Kathryn stiffened, with her hand outstretched over Arabella’s book as she stared at Doctor Beille.

His head flicked from one side to the other, hitting the other wing of the armchair. His face was no longer pale but bright red and there was sweat on his temple.

What is happening?

“No. No, it can’t happen. Not again. Not again.”

Again?

Kathryn could not make any sense of what Doctor Beille was saying, but what was plain through the dim candlelight between them was that he was suffering some nightmare. Kathryn slowly released Arabella’s book, remembering she had read a section her aunt had written on nightmares.

She believed nightmares were sometimes mere wild imaginings, and other times, were memories sent to torment us, with fresh problems resurfacing. It was a mark of the scars that people’s problems left on their minds.

“Doctor?” Kathryn whispered.

He gave no sign of hearing her. He just pleaded for things to stop again. He pulled at the blanket around him, as if desperate to escape it.

She reached for Arabella’s book and flicked the pages open, turning to the one about nightmares and night terrors again, reading the words fast.

A true night terror one cannot always be woken from. All an onlooker can do is wait it out and make the room as calm as possible. I once treated a man so locked in his nightmare that when his wife tried to wake him, he was scared, and lashed out, breaking their furniture.

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