Page 67 of The Earl Takes All
Her voice was scratchy, raw, and weak. Her face glistened with sweat; her eyes were dull.
“He acquired some food for you. I’m the Earl of Greyling.”
“Oh, m’lord.”
Edward rushed forward, placed a hand gently on her shoulder, taken aback by the heat emanating through the flannel. “Don’t get up. I’m here to see after you.”
“But you’re a lord.”
“Who was rather impressed by your son’s resourcefulness.” Turning away, he took his coat from the boy, draped it over the back of a chair at the table. Opening the box, he set a meat pie on the table. “You need to eat, Johnny.”
“But me mum—”
“I’ll take care of your mum.”
A little red-haired girl slightly younger than the boy crawled out from beneath the bed. Edward placed a pie on the table for her, lifted her onto a chair. He found spoons for them. The fourth member of the family was still in the cradle. He was going to have to mash up the meat pie for that little one. He needed to locate some milk as well.
He took a pie to the woman, offered it to her.
She shook her head. “It won’t stay down.”
“You need to try, even if it’s no more than a couple of bites. What does the doctor say about your condition?”
“He won’t come here. I got no way to pay him.”
“He hasn’t been here at all, then?”
She shook her head. “Wouldn’t even come when me husband was dying last week. Said there weren’t nothing he could do. Ben died. Undertaker came, took him and the last of me coin. Then I got sick. Who’s going to take care of me bairns when I’m gone?”
“You’re not going anywhere.” He placed the pie in her hands. “Eat what you can. I’m going to fetch the physician.” He grabbed his coat and headed toward the door.
“I’m telling you—he won’t come.”
Edward stopped and looked back over his shoulder. “For me, he’d better damn well come.”
He stormed out of the house, barely noticing the drizzling rain that had started. When he’d seen the sickly woman, the babe, the little girl crawling out from beneath the bed, a near panic had hit him as Julia flashed through his mind, alone and sentenced to squalid conditions. He knew that if she decided not to remain at Evermore, she would not be living in a hovel. She would have the cottage in the Cotswolds, an army of servants, and funds to ensure that she and Allie never went without. He would set up a trust. He needed to see to that immediately. As well as a will. He needed to ensure they were provided for. It didn’t anger him that Albert hadn’t seen to those details. He’d been a young, virile man. Why would he think death would come before he even reached his thirtieth year? But Death honored neither calendar nor clock, and Edward had no plans to be caught unawares when his time came.
He’d been striving to get all his holdings in order, to take stock of all that came to him with the title. His brother had left things in relatively good order, but still he had so much to learn, so much to comprehend. While he was not lord of the village, he could not help but feel as though he had a role in the care of its citizens. He was the largest landowner in the area, the only man for miles with a title. Those two aspects alone came with responsibilities that he had no intention of shirking.
When he arrived at the physician’s residence, he pounded on the door. It was opened by a small woman with hair the color of corn silk. Her eyes widened.
“Lord Greyling, you shouldn’t be out and about in weather such as this. Come in.”
Removing his hat, he stepped over the threshold. “Is your husband home?”
“He’s at Mr.Monroe’s lancing a boil. He shouldn’t be long if you’d like to wait.”
“I shall do that, thank you.”
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
“I don’t wish to trouble you.”
“It will be no trouble.”
“Then, yes, thank you, I would welcome it.”
“Please, take a seat.”
