Page 61 of Never Leave Me
“Harrison?” She practically shouted his name this time. “Please answer me!” She needed to talk to him, tell him more about Dr. Lionel’s threats to the Serenity House children and to him.
Once again, she heard nothing but her rapid breathing and racing heartbeat.
“Where are you?” She groped in the direction he’d stood, hoping she’d feel him. But only the air brushed her skin.
With a shiver, she crossed back to the boudoir. It contained an assortment of clothing, furniture, and toys that had once belonged to Phillip, Will’s nine-year-old son who lived as a page with a neighboring knight. She’d met Robert, Will’s younger son of seven, and learned he would also eventually be fostered out to a neighboring knight, that it was the custom for boys to conduct their training in other important homes but that Will didn’t want to send away his boys too young. Marian had spoken of both children with such fondness that it was clear she thought of them as her own.
Ellen stood in the middle of the closet and tried to hear Harrison’s music, but the only sound was a lonely distant bark of a hound.
She popped out into the room, straining to glimpse him, but he was nowhere in sight.
“Harrison?” She scanned the far shadowed corners, but nothing stirred.
Disappointment coursed through her.
Somehow their two eras had overlapped just briefly. Was this the same thing that had happened when she’d seen Marian? A molecular connection based on the holy water? She’d had the perfect opportunity to warn Harrison about Lionel’s threats, and she’d blown it.
If only the moment hadn’t passed so quickly. If only she could have had a few seconds longer, even a minute.
“I miss you,” she whispered, falling back onto her bed. She hugged her arms to her chest, praying he would stay safe.
16
ELLENPOKEDHERHEADinto Marian’s bedchamber but then retreated into the hallway, her cheeks heating. Will was sitting in the bedside chair but had bent in and was kissing Marian with a thoroughness that made Ellen’s insides flip with longing. For Harrison.
Harrison might be a reserved gentleman, but his kisses had been anything but reserved. They’d been hot and passionate, making her forget all reason.
Her stomach tightened with need for him—need she didn’t want to feel. But it was there regardless.
Surely her encounter from last night was only making her miss him all the more. Although with the passing of the night into the early hours of the morning, doubts had crept in. Had she really seen him? Or had she become so needy for him that she’d imagined the whole experience?
Whatever the case, she was more ready than ever to begin the day and make plans for how to get ahold of more holy water.
She cleared her throat extra loud and knocked on the doorframe.Then she counted silently to three before stepping into the room.
This time Marian laughed softly, almost seductively, as she worked to extricate herself from Will, who clearly didn’t care who saw him kissing his wife. “Later, Will.”
Instead of stopping, Will leaned in and kissed her neck. Marian released a soft, satisfied gasp.
Ellen turned her head to hide a smile. She was happy for Marian. Happy her sister had found a man who loved her. Happy she was experiencing contentment with her new life. Happy things were working out so well for her.
Ellen hesitated. “I can come back in a little bit.”
“No, now’s fine. Will was just leaving.” Marian’s voice was weak and breathless.
Will growled something against her cheek, something that made Marian smile.
Ellen headed for the cradle near the foot of the bed. “I’m sorry for disturbing you, but the baby needs her morning assessment.” She peered down at the infant, still swaddled and sleeping contentedly. “Don’t you, sweet one?”
She wanted to do another APGAR test to be certain the baby was thriving after the stressful delivery. And she needed to clean the umbilical cord stump.
Thankfully, the baby hadn’t had any trouble learning to nurse. The servants had been surprised a noblewoman like Marian would consider nursing her own infant instead of handing the child over to a wet nurse. Ellen had assured them that Marian feeding her own baby was the best option, assuring them the milk Marian provided was more suited to the baby than that of a wet nurse.
Her words had put an end to the naysaying, as the staff now regarded her as something akin to a saint for her quick-thinking actions that had brought an end to the delivery and saved Marianand the baby. Of course, Marian’s supply of herbal remedies among the many flasks in her special medicinal box had helped too.
Ellen wasn’t surprised that Marian had been busy over the past year developing drugs. One resembled aspirin using the salicylic acid from willow bark. The other was like laudanum and made from opium. Marian had described how Will’s sister Christina had found opium in an old container in St. Sepulchre’s apothecary. Used in ancient times, the drug had become taboo, associated with the devil and witchcraft, so that according to Marian very few people knew of it in the Middle Ages. Although laudanum wouldn’t be invented for another 150 years, Marian had done her best to imitate the opiate-based painkiller.
Ellen was only administering the analgesics sparingly so they wouldn’t pass to the baby through the breast milk. But even the small doses, along with several tonics, had helped take the edge off Marian’s pain. A good night’s sleep seemed to have aided Marian’s recovery too.
