Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

The sight stopped his heart. Her crumpled body lay on the grass completely unconscious. Emilia was frantically trying to wake her up but had not succeeded. Daniel could see a cowering Kitty sitting near her aunt with her arms wrapped around her legs. Kitty’s coat was placed underneath Jane’s lifeless head to support it.

He raced up beside her and knelt down on her right side. Sabine was right, there was so much blood. A gash on her right temple was oozing blood as Emilia tried to dab it. Her hair and her clothes were all stained red. The amount was surely too much; surely, if she wasn’t already, she would die.

“What do we do?” Daniel asked softly. “Is she...” he could speak the words. Surely, surely God would not make him endure such pain twice. He was not sure he would recover after a second time.

Emilia’s tear stained face looked up at him. “Carry her, I cannot but you must, we have to bring her into a bedchamber and have the doctor called immediately.” She ignored his question about her being alive or not, and Daniel didn’t blame her.

It was déjà vu. He had been in this position before. He knew how it ended. He took a deep breath as he slipped one of his arms under Jane’s legs and the other under her arms to support her torso. He stood up with her in his arms and Jane’s head fell backwards to expose her jugular. When he looked closely he could see the faint movement of blood flowing there. She was alive, but barely. “Don’t let her die,” he whispered in prayer. “Follow me,” he instructed to Emilia and Kitty who were standing frantically behind him.

Jane’s weight did not affect him. He moved swiftly past the stables and up towards the house. As Southerby House came in view a panicking Sebastian came tearing out of the house followed by Sabine who’d fetched him after informing him of what had happened.

“What happened!” he exclaimed as he met the group that was swiftly arriving at the house.

“The horse spooked,” Emilia puffed as they flew through the back doors. “I think she must’ve seen a stick that looked like a snake. I don’t know. But Janey fell and hit her head on a small boulder and she hasn’t woken up!”

“Oh, God,” Sebastian gasped.

Daniel blocked their conversation out of his mind as they arrived at the front foyer where the staircase was. He had to save her; he couldn’t go through the pain again. Holding her like she was in his arms was not the situation in which he wanted to do it for the first time. The first time should be carrying a new bride over the threshold, not carrying her to a bedchamber for emergency medical treatment.

Daniel didn’t notice that he’d reached the top of the stairs, or that he’d entered a room until he was placing Jane down on the bed. As he pulled his arms out from underneath her he realised she was lying in the exact position that Eleanor had been when Dr Remington had pronounced his wife dead.

The blood that was still seeping from Jane’s head wound trickled down and began to stair the white pillow she was laying on.

“Can someone please fetch the doctor immediately? I also want maids to bring up bandages, towels and warm water.” His eyes flashed to the fireplace that hadn’t been lit in several years. “Also I want that fire built up.”

Sebastian reacted immediately, taking with him the children that were peeking inside the room and beginning to ask questions. Emilia came beside him and knelt down on the ground to touch Jane cautiously.

“She’s the closest thing I have to a sister,” she whispered. “I must write to her mother, Catherine needs to be here. Where is your stationary?”

Daniel gestured impatiently to the dresser in the corner of the room. Emilia scampered over to the dresser to write a letter to Jane’s mother. Daniel grabbed a spare handkerchief from the drawer and began to dab Jane’s head tentatively. “Wake up, Jane,” he ordered softly. “I’ve been a bloody fool ... a blind bloody fool. I need to have a conversation with you and I can’t have it by myself.”

He could let go of the fears he had of the bedchamber regarding Eleanor’s death. Now it held fears of Jane’s fate. If she died he would burn the room, if she survived he would confess everything to her. The word frightened him – ‘if’.

The bleeding seemed to cease as he held the handkerchief to it. He placed his hand above her mouth and nose and he could feel her shallow breaths. She was breathing. What he had learned with Eleanor was that though everything might seem alright on the outside, one never knew what was happening internally.

Sebastian returned a short while later followed by a few maids who were carrying kindling, water and towels. He closed the door behind them so that none of the children could see what was going on inside. “The doctor has been sent for. Depending on how far away his practice is, I’m not sure how long he’ll be.”

Emilia quickly scrawled an address on the letter she had written and joined her husband. “I wrote to your mother, I asked for her immediate departure for Southerby.”

“Good,” Sebastian approved.

“She is breathing,” Daniel informed them. A maid stepped beside him and began to clean the wound with a damp towel.

Emilia let out a sigh of relief. “Thank the Lord.”

“She is an experienced rider, I don’t see how she couldn’t have controlled a spooked horse,” Sebastian said softly to his wife.

“We all aren’t professionals at everything, Sebastian,” Emilia scolded in a low tone.

“Wake up, darling,” he whispered so that no – one else could hear him. “You’re needed here more than you are needed there.”

Jane remained motionless on the bed. He watched her chest rise ever so slightly intently. As long as he saw the movement there was hope. He began to feel the warmth of the fire as it slowly got bigger in the fireplace.

There was a knock on the door after about ten minutes and Dr Remington entered the room carrying his medical bag. His face was blank as he surveyed his patient on the bed. “Her name?” he asked Daniel.

“Jane Alcott,” he replied.

He set his bag on the floor beside the bed and began to survey Jane’s head. “The wound is not deep, though I will need to stitch it so it won’t scar,” he said more to himself than to his audience.

“Will she live?” Sebastian pressed worriedly. “She is young and strong, surely she will.”

Dr Remington opened Jane’s eyelids to look at her pupils. “A lit candle, if you will?” he instructed. One of the maids fetched a candle from the drawer and lit it using the fireplace. She then handed it to the doctor. Dr Remington held the light close to Jane’s eyes and Daniel watched as her pupils expanded. “Her eyes are responding to light which is a good sign, it means that the damage to her brain is minimal, if not any. My diagnosis would be a nasty concussion, she will wake up in her own time, but what her condition will be when that happens is entirely unpredictable.”

“How do you mean?” Daniel snapped impatiently.

Dr Remington’s eyes met Daniel’s icily. “I mean that her brain may have well been damaged, we have no way of finding out. She may have lost her memory, she may have lost movement in particular parts of her body, she may lose the ability to speak, we can’t know until she wakes up. The brain is a fascinating thing, Lord Southerby.”

Daniel resisted slapping the man. “I don’t find any of that fascinating, Dr Remington,” he spat.

“Miss Alcott may have impairments, but she may be just fine. All I’m saying is that we can’t know for sure until she wakes up,” he replied in the same tone.

“But she will wake up?” Emilia checked.

Dr Remington took a deep breath before answering. “I don’t know. We can’t know with head injuries. The signs point to ‘yes’ but as I said – the brain is unpredictable.”

Daniel let his shoulders slump. “What can we do until she wakes up?” he said less rudely. He knew being angry with the doctor was not going to heal Jane any faster.

“Nothing,” he said simply. “Except keep her comfortable, bathe her and keep her warm. It is a matter of time.”

Daniel knew that they end of that sentence was ‘between life and death’. “Alright,” Daniel nodded and then turned to the maids who were standing in the corner of the room. “I don’t care if you neglect your chores, I want round the clock care for Miss Alcott. And Lady Ethridge has a letter that needs to be mailed immediately.” The maids nodded and curtseyed. One took Emilia’s letter before they all left the room.

“Thank you for being so concerned,” Sebastian said sincerely as Dr Remington began work on fixing Jane’s cut.

“There is no need to thank me,” he murmured. “It is what anyone would do.”

Three days passed and Jane hadn’t woken up. She lay motionless, though breathing. Every now and then her eyes would move underneath her eyelids and Dr Remington informed them that she was dreaming ... perhaps even seeing things.

Daniel never left her side except for when Emilia and the maids made him leave for when they bathed her.

On the third day when he was out of the room a woman named Mrs Catherine Alcott arrived at Southerby. A small woman of similar height to Jane bustled into the house without bothering to wait for Mr Short to greet her or open the door.

“You!” she shouted when she saw Daniel on the stairs. “You look regal and pompous, where is my daughter?” she snapped angrily and made her way to the stairs.

Daniel was intimidated by the small woman. Her hair was the same shade of brown as Jane’s however her eyes were hazel. It interested him knowing that she got her genetics, that being her eyes and most likely her sweet temper from her father. “She is above stairs, ma’am,” Daniel replied. “I trust you are Mrs Alcott.”

Catherine pushed past him. “I don’t give a hoot who you are. All I care about it my child so I suggest you stay out of my way or I will hurt you.”

Daniel followed her upstairs and directed Catherine into his old bedchamber. They entered just as Emilia was fixing Jane’s night gown buttons closed.

“Oh!” Catherine cried. “My little Janey!” She flew to Jane’s bedside immediately and grabbed onto her hand. “Em, what happened? Your letter was so evasive!”

“I’m sorry, Catherine, I wrote it quickly. I told you she was thrown from a horse. She hit her head hard, the doctor comes everyday to check on her but she hasn’t changed in three days. We haven’t allowed the child to see her, it’s too frightening for them but I have a feeling that Kitty and Sabine and possibly even James have been sneaking in at night to see her.”

Catherine burst into tears. “How could this happen?” she sobbed. “What wrong has she done?”

“It was an accident, Mrs Alcott. It couldn’t be prevented,” Daniel said quietly.

Catherine turned and glared at him. “I know exactly who you are. You’re the rake that Em told me about, trying to soil Janey’s reputation by inviting her here alone!”

“With all due respect, Mrs Alcott, that was not my intention,” Daniel replied.

Catherine rolled her eyes. “Of course it wasn’t.”

“Catherine, he’s not so bad anymore,” Emilia said softly from the other side of the bed. “He’s been ever so good while Janey’s been hurt. Whatever the expense, he’s helped her.”

“Oh,” Catherine sniffed. “Well, thank you.”

“Not at all,” Daniel replied quietly. He made his way ever so slightly to the foot of the bed so he could see Jane properly. She was breathing deeper, her chest was rising and falling more evenly and Dr Remington assured them that her heart was strong. He was nearly one hundred percent sure that she would wake up, but again he stressed the fact that she might not be the same Jane that they knew and loved.

When Dr Remington had said ‘love’ it made Daniel think. Daniel was reminded of the fact that Jane’s near death experience had made him realise the reasons why he loved having her around, why he respected her opinion above all and why it was her that made him feel brave enough to enter his old bedchamber once more.

Jane was perfect. She made him feel things inside that he was sure died with Eleanor. She was the one. He needed her to wake up.

Another two days past and Jane was still asleep. Her colour had completely returned which was a good sign and the doctor was confident she was close to awakening. Neither he nor Catherine ever left her side. Emilia and Sebastian switched places every few hours as they were looking after the children, including Sabine.

They had told the children the bare minimum. They didn’t want to frighten them.

Catherine hadn’t said much to Daniel except for the occasional ‘thank you’ when he had sustenance brought up for her.

It wasn’t until the fifth night that she finally said something personal to him.

“Sabine is your daughter, is that correct?” Catherine said suddenly as she watched Jane sleep.

“Yes, her mother was my late wife,” he nodded.

Catherine ran her hand soothingly across the heel of Jane’s palm. “I’m sorry,” she said softly.

“Thank you,” he murmured.

“I see the way you look at her, at Jane,” she said quietly without meeting Daniel’s eyes. “I know the look well. I am fortunate to have seen that look on many a man before.”

Daniel managed a small smile. “Am I that transparent?”

Catherine looked up them, with a similar smile on her face. “From one parent to another, we know when someone favours our children. I saw it one Emilia’s face five years ago and I see it on yours now. It is the only look a mother would want for her children.”

“I’ll never be as good as what she needs. I’m a hollow shell of a man. Jane is the only person who has made me feel human again, she’s ... special.”

“Don’t I know it,” Catherine rolled her eyes. “She’s always been a child at heart. I used to think that she could never be tamed. From what I’ve heard from Emilia, it seems that even though your recreational activities aren’t that good, you seem to have made a good impression on her.”

Daniel looked back down at the peaceful looking Jane. “I doubt that, I would say she’s made the greater impression on me ... and Sabine, she absolutely adores Jane.”

Catherine began to tear up again. “Jane is a good girl, if she feels the same way; you have my blessing – how old are you, by the way?”

Daniel tensed. “How old is too old?” he checked. He wasn’t old, but he was at least twelve years older than Jane at five and thirty.

Catherine shook her head and wiped her eyes. “Never mind, age is just a number.”

Daniel smiled and looked back to Jane, but instead of her eyes being shut, they were wide open and staring at the ceiling.

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Sorry about the wait for this one, I've been really busy lately and this is the first opportunity I've had to sit down and write.

I hope you liked it, the next chapter will include an important conversation ....