The Golden Hour by Fayla Ott

Author:Fayla Ott [Fayla Ott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fayla Ott
Published: 2023-02-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Richard woke to find Cissy leaning over him with a wet cloth pressed to his forehead. Why was Joe’s girl in his room? He coughed and tried to sit up, but quickly realized he couldn’t. His shoulder ached, but more than that, both legs burned from the knees down. He pushed her hand away and looked around.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in the summerhouse by the lake, Massa Richard. All of you are here. We’re taking care of you until your burns heal.”

“Burns?” He rubbed his head. When he talked, his throat scratched itself with a raw sting. He remembered now. The fire…

He sat up. “Where are the girls? Where’s Father and Mother?”

“Rest easy, Massa Richard. You can see your family soon.” She tried to put the wet cloth on his forehead again, but he pushed her hand away again.

Images of her daddy carrying his sisters outside flooded his mind. “Where’s Joe? Where’s your daddy?”

Her eyes dropped, and she turned away from him. “He’s at our cabin. My mama is tending to him.” Her voice quivered.

“How bad is he hurt?”

“He has a lot of burns, Massa Richard. We don’t know if…” She stopped. Richard suspected she worked to control emotion.

“Tell me, Cissy.”

“He has burns all over his body. His arms and legs… his face, too. He’s in so much pain.” She burst into tears then, so He pulled her close without even stopping to think about propriety. “I’m sorry, Cissy. I’m so sorry.”

“Richard?” Eden spoke from the doorway. She frowned at what she saw. He let go of the girl, then reached out his arms to Eden, who ran to the side of the bed and sobbed into his arms.

“Where’s Elsie?”

“Mama and Daddy are with her in the other room.”

“What do you mean? Is she alright?”

“I don’t know. The doctor made me leave.”

He moved to get up. “I must go to her.”

Cissy came over and gently nudged him back down. “No, Massa Richard. I have strict orders to make you stay in bed. You took a hard blow last night when the ceiling fell on you.”

“You’d better stay, Richard. Besides, they won’t let us see her, anyway.” She sobbed again. Richard put his hand out and she took it and squeezed.

“The house? Is it gone? I have such foggy memories.” He rubbed the back of his head.

“No, it’s not gone. Squire, Coffey, and the others are working on it now. They told Father that they can rebuild what burned, but it’ll take some time. Daddy said they’d get a builder to come from New Orleans to help with the restoration.”

“That might take some time, and lots of money. We need to ensure that a fire can’t start like that again, maybe put some safety measures in place for the fireplaces. Or do you know if it was a kerosene lamp?”

“That’s not it, Richard. You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“Richard, someone started the fire on purpose. Someone tried to burn our house down.”

“How do you know this?”

“Father told us. He saw someone

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