Page 82 of A Bride for the Beastly Duke
Ava raised her hand. “I will, Mr. Crowley.”
The old sawbones nodded, “All right, then pay close attention to what I do. You do not want to worsen the injury; that could be very bad.” Lily’s lower body was modestly covered with a sheet while he raised her dress up to her chest, exposing her belly. He took a long cotton bandage. “Lift up briefly, my girl, please,” he said to Lily who arched her back so that he could thread the bandage through. “All right, very good. Now lie very still.”
He proceeded to painstakingly wrap Lily’s torso, making sure that Ava was paying attention. “You must make sure that it’s tight but that the girl is able to breathe. Do you understand?”
Ava nodded though she felt uncertain as to whether she would be able to duplicate the surgeon’s technique exactly. Her eyes flicked to Edward, whose eyes were closed as his chest rose and fell gently. He’d had Lily on his lap all the way from the cliffs back to the house, having almost no choice in the matter because of how she clung to him. He kept Ava’s hand in his as well, but she could see the effort it took for him to stay alert as the coachman drove them back. Pemberton stayed behind, awaiting the constable in order to see whether Aaron’s body could be retrieved from the rocks below.
He had sent no word yet, which nagged at Ava in the back of her mind, but there were only so many things that she could pay attention to without exploding.
Her family was supervising the cleaning of the castle. Margaret had come out to report that they were relieved to find very little structural damage. “Everything smells of smoke, and there is soot everywhere. But we put the fire out fast enough that most things survived. You might want to buy new bedding though. I think the old ones are ruined.”
“If that is all we have to worry about then we were lucky indeed.”
“Yes. Lucky that the castle is mostly made of stone. Lucky that you woke up so fast. Lucky that Notley was able to organize a water line to begin putting out the flames so quickly. Lucky that the fire brigade arrived as fast as it did. We had an awful lot of luck last night.”
Ava gathered her in her arms, just wanting to feel the warmth of someone’s embrace.
“Lucky that that bastard didn’t hurt you, again,” Margaret whispered against her shoulder.
Ava just squeezed her harder. Finally, Margaret let her go. “I must go back. There’s still much to do.”
Ava nodded. “Thank you so much.”
“Don’t you worry,” Margaret said, “we’ll have the castle looking spic and span in no time.” She squeezed Ava one more time before hurrying off back to the castle.
Ava watched her go with a sigh of gratitude before returning to her sleeping family. The saw bones had offered to give her a sleeping draught as well. “Your bruises may not be as serious as your husband or your daughter’s, but you, too, need to rest,” he said.
“I will,” she promised. “But somebody must stay alert in case Edward or Lily needs something. I’m all right. I can just nap in the rocking chair for now.”
The surgeon sighed, shaking his head. “Well, if you insist. At least have them prepare a warm bath for you. I expect it to make you feel better.”
Ava smiled tiredly. “Everyone is up at the castle cleaning up. I should not like to give them more to do.”
Crowley nodded, “I understand, but as soon as someone is able, have them bring you some hot water.”
“I will. Thank you for your help.”
The surgeon got to his feet, “I shall be back in a day or so to check on my patients. For now, I bid you good day.”
Ava nodded, watching him go with something like relief. She was grateful for everything that he had done, but for now, she just wanted to be alone with her family and revel in the fact that they would all be all right. Gathering her shawl around her, she sat down in the rocking chair and closed her eyes, letting the gentle rocking motion lull her into sleep.
Chapter Thirty-One
Marcus was extremely relieved to hear that the Earl of Fenton had died of blunt force trauma to the skull and not a pistol shot.
“He was alive when he fell,” Edward assured him. “You did not kill him.”
Marcus shrugged, “Perhaps not directly, but I did cause him to let go of whatever he was clinging to.”
“You would not have shot him if he wasn’t trying to stab me with my own sword,” Edward said dryly.
“Indeed, Sir. Will there be an inquest? Will I be called to testify?”
“I highly doubt that the crown would want it to be exposed that one of its agents, and noble man to boot, attempted to kill a duke after also having killed his brother. That is not the kind of thing the crown would want in the public domain, so I suspect thiswhole thing will be brushed under a rug and forgotten,” Edward said bitterly.
Marcus gave him a penetrating look, “And what of you? Will you also brush it under the rug and forget it?”
Edward sighed. “My brother’s killer is dead. I suppose that should be enough.”
