Page 59 of Claimed By the Beastly Duke

She pressed a clean cloth against his hand, and he winced.

“We need to stop the bleeding,” she explained.

Soon after, she retrieved more items from the bag and began to clean his wounds.

“I always knew these would come in handy one day,” she muttered to herself.

“How did you learn to do this?” Edwin asked.

Ava looked up at him and shrugged. “When you have to raise two younger sisters all by yourself, you soon learn that they would simply harm themselves if you leave them alone long enough.”

She began to wrap a bandage around his hand.

“When Eveline and Stella would get hurt, I had to take care of them myself because Papa…”

“Was never home?” Edwin finished.

She gave him a rueful smile. “You are right. Moreover, the few times I called the physician, Papa would simply be annoyedthat I wasted his morning when the girls had only sustained scratches. So I had no choice but to attend to them myself.”

Edwin’s heart went out to his wife. He could not imagine her, only a girl herself, having to take care of her sisters because their father simply did not bother.

“How old were you when you had to do this?” he asked.

“I was only twelve when Mama died,” she replied as she tied the bandage.

“Twelve?” Edwin echoed in disbelief.

“I know what you must think,” she said, chuckling. “Twelve? That is far too young.”

“Indeed, it is,” he agreed.

Ava simply shrugged as she patted his bandaged hand. “Good as new. You must keep the wound dry at all times,” she advised.

“Thank you, Ava. Truly,” Edwin said earnestly as he took her hand in his.

“You have nothing to thank me for.” Ava cracked a smile. “I am your wife, after all. It is my duty.”

Edwin shook his head. “No, it is not your duty to dress my wound. You did it only because you care.”

Her eyes softened. “I do care for you.”

“It is for the same reason that you cared for your sisters,” he continued. “It was never your duty.”

“It does not matter,” Ava said. “I could not possibly watch them suffer. And if it meant that I had to care for them every second of the day, then so be it.”

“Your sisters are lucky to have someone like you,” Edwin murmured.

This coaxed a smile from her. “That is quite kind of you, husband.”

“Truly.”

“I still worry about them, you know?” Ava admitted, her voice quivering a bit.

“You do?”

“Even though they are adults now and I am not way older than them, I still cannot help but feel that it is my duty to ensure their safety. They are my babies, after all.”

Edwin could see tears brimming in her eyes as she wiped her face.

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