Page 36 of The Baroness of Sin
“Can she be moved?” James questioned. “I doubt Mr. Hamish will want the lady within his home for the whole of her healing.”
Dr. Baum chuckled, “Yes, as long as you're careful with her shoulder, it should be fine. I’d recommend keeping her asleep during the journey and until she is in her own bed. The shoulder break is fresh, and each bump would be agonizing.”
James nodded, and his mind drifted to each bump and jerk her remembered on the road there. He thought that the ride back was going to seem as long as the ride there but in a completely different sense as before. Before his time was weighed down by dread; now it would be slowed with concern.
The doctor put a gnarled but steady hand on his shoulder. “My Lord, I know the pain will worry you, as any concerned person would be, but it's the fever you have to watch out for. If you feel her fever, or see sickness in her veins, that is when death is threatening to take her from this world. That is when you must summon the nearest doctor. Is that clear?”
James swallowed harshly, “Is that likely, doctor?”
The doctor stared at him long and hard. “The odds are not for me to know, My Lord. They are for God and God alone. But he has given me the tools to care for his children, so I do what I can when I can.” The doctor shrugged and smiled thinly. “That being said, she was alert and well when I gave her the medicine. She didn’t seem dazed or anything of the like. Concerned obviously, but not confused. That's usually a good sign in my book.” The doctor nodded and released the Earl from his grip.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Martha didn’t stir as she was gently placed in the carriage, but the doctor assured James and Benjamin that this was normal with the medicine she was given. The Barristen carriage train was prepped and redirected, prepared to bring the lady back to her manor when Benjamin pulled James aside.
“I’m afraid, despite all that you have done for this family, I must request something else of you.” The young man’s face wore an expression that was a mixture of gravity and embarrassment.
“There is little you couldn’t ask for at this point,” James remarked with a light sense of both relief and humor. Seeing the solicitors' expression remain unchanged, James abandoned the attempt. “What is it you need of me, Mr. Bradford?”
“Would it be fair to assume that we perhaps brought too much given the severity of the situation?” Benjamin asked and gestured to the three carriages lined up in front of the humble home.
James nodded, “I may have overreacted, I’ll admit. The situation seemed fairly dire when I knew not the circumstances.”
Benjamin shook his head, “That was not a remark made in judgment, but an observation. You see, I’ve been thinking. No one has been able to inform my family; we only happen to find out the circumstances through the grace of God. I ask, humbly and earnestly, that I might borrow a carriage and take it to my family’s home so I might inform them of the happening.”
James didn’t hesitate. “I believe all of these carriages are not necessary. But wouldn’t you rather take your sister to her home? I would not mind taking the extra carriage to inform your family. Or perhaps if you aren’t comfortable taking the majority, we could send a messenger with the extra carriage?”
Benjamin seemed to consider this for a moment before he shook his head. “That would be the proper thing to do, and honestly what I would prefer for my own peace of mind but…” He hesitated before he shook his head again with a reluctant smirk. “If Martha found out she had the chance to wake up next to you, and I intervened, she would never forgive me.”
James was confused. He understood Benjamin’s thought process but not how he reached the conclusion on the circumstances alone. The way he looked at Benjamin must have said enough about his confusion for the young man to feel the need to explain.
“Why do you think she was headed in this direction by herself? She wanted to see you. Sending you away at this time would be a bit mean of me,” Benjamin said before he cleared his throat, “regardless of how inappropriate this all is, it doesn’t justify that sort of cruelty.”
James’ faint smile grew much warmer, but Benjamin turned away before he could speak, clearly uncomfortable. “Well, if we have that all sorted out then I will make the arrangements, if you think your staff will be amicable to listening to a simple solicitor.” He turned back to glance at the Earl, “Of course you will be riding with Letty as well. Riding with my sister on her own wouldn’t be appropriate even if she were in a better state.”
James nodded, “Of course, to think I would otherwise would be a judge of character I know you wouldn’t never try and imply.” The Earl was astounded at the man’s audacity as well as authority the young man commanded. Perhaps he had inherited his father’s grasp of the human soul, James thought with no small amount of humor as the thin, grim man strode through the muddy earth.
* * *
The first thing that Martha experienced as she awoke was an intense dryness and thirst, like her mouth was full of wool. She groaned and attempted to stretch, only to find her movement restricted by a wooden panel.
“Easy, My Lady,” a worried voice chastened her. “I might imagine that the bed you had been laid up in was a tad bigger, but the cramped ride is only temporary.”
“Letty?” Martha asked groggily and opened her eyes. The view was painful and blurry, but her eyes soon adjusted to see the countryside passing by slowly.
“We came and got you, My Lady, to bring you back home.”
“Home?” Martha was confused. “But... what do you mean we?” She tried to put things together, but thoughts were painful to cling to.
Letty gave her a drink of water from a flask, and she drank deep before she saw the third person sitting opposite her in the carriage.
“James!” she cried out and attempted to sit up which caused her to wince in pain.
“Easy, My Lady,” James said softly, slowly helping her back into the resting position. “Be gentle with yourself; you are still recovering.”
She remembered the sling her right arm hung in, memories of the doctor and the farmer slowly trickling back as the powerful pain medicine wore off.
“How did you know to come for me? How did you know what happened? Have I been sleeping long enough for news to spread to you?”
