Emer blushed at the double entendre, and said quietly, “I know you're only trying to cheer me up, Dalton, but I think if you don’t mind, I would rather be alone for a while. All of this, the fire, the baby, it’s all been too much to take in.”
“I understand, my love. I just wish you would let me in, tell me how you feel, and what it is you're so afraid of.”
Emer blinked back the tears, and replied, “Nothing, I’m fine. I just want to be alone with my son for a while.”
“Emer, I’ve seen you like this before, remember, after your brothers in law and Fred got washed overboard. Don’t shut me out, or try to fob me of with meaningless platitudes. I love you!”
“And what of Madeleine Lyndon?” she said accusingly.
“I wrote to her as soon as I knew you were safe. I told her I needed to break it off with her, and that to save face, I would allow her to tell everyone she changed her mind about me. I could have left her standing at the altar today, but I've tried to play fair to everyone concerned.
"I give you my word, you have no cause to ever be jealous. She and I have never been intimate in any sense. Not the physical, and certainly not the emotional. She's not a woman one could ever confide in. And as for sharing and caring, she doesn't even know the meaning of those words. I've only ever loved one woman in my life, Emer, and that's you.”
She grimaced. “Very kind of you, I’m sure. But now you’ve fallen out with your father and her over me, and I have a feeling they're not going to be so forgiving,” Emer observed, her teeth gnawing at her bottom lip anxiously as all Myrtle had just told her weighed heavily on her mind.
Dalton shook his head, and stroked back his son's thick dark shock of hair. “I don’t care any more about either of them, or what anyone says about our love. I’ve broken with my father over the way he's acted towards you. I've moved out of his mansion, and Adrian had been kind enough to let me move in here, and even share his consulting rooms downstairs.
"As for the Lyndons, they may choose to move against my father overtly as business rivals, but that can hardly harm me now. I have some money of my own, you know, and am now completely independent of the Randall Shipping Company. Let them do as they like,” Dalton informed her.
“I see,” Emer sighed.
He stroked back a vibrant curl from her cheek tenderly. “I love you, Emer. Nothing has ever changed that in the past, nor will I allow anything to damage our love in the future. I may not have as much to offer as I might have done last summer, but what I have is yours.”
“It's kind of you to say so, but I can’t expect you to be tied to a cripple for the rest of your life,” Emer said curtly.
"You stop talking like that this instant, do you hear me!” Dalton reprimanded her sternly. He gripped her hand and kissed it.
“I love you, Emer, and walking or not, you're the only woman I've ever cared about or could ever care about. After everything I've seen you endure, how could I do anything less than admire, respect, and love you with my whole heart.
"And now that you're the mother of my child, I love you even more than before, if such a thing is possible. I look at you sitting there feeding him so tenderly, and know that this is what was meant to be. Why we were brought together on the Pegasus, and why we can never be kept apart again.
"It's because we're so much a part of each other that I can scarcely breathe if I'm not with you, my love. So I will not allow you to be noble and renounce me. Nor will I listen to such pessimistic talk about your condition, darling.
“You’ll get well, and we’ll be happy, do you hear me, Emer? As soon as the Bishop comes back, I want him to marry us and baptise the baby. Then we shall start making plans for what we're going to do with the rest of our lives, taking it one day at a time.”
Emer nodded silently, and saw that the baby was replete, and had fallen asleep.
“Could you help put him in his cot again,” Emer requested, stroking his petal soft cheek with one finger, almost as if she couldn't believe her eyes. "I'm feeling rather sleepy now."
“All right. We’ll go now, and look in on you again in a little while, won’t we, sweet William,” Dalton cooed at the child. He laid him in the wheeled bassinet, and began to tuck him in tenderly.
Despite her woes, Emer smiled softly.
“I can see I’m going to have to keep a tight rein on his daddy to stop him from becoming a completely spoilt monster.”
“Well, he’s already so much like me, I’m afraid it's a serious danger anyway, even leaving aside the fact that he is the most incredible thing that’s ever happened in my life, except for you, of course,” Dalton breathed, as he bent to kiss Emer on the lips.
“Yes, I must say that is completely unfair. I had hoped he might at least have my hair or eyes, but look, he's raven-headed just like you, and his eyes are already turning pale gold. Plus, look at the way he waves his fist about shows his sheer arrogance,” Emer laughed.
“Our next one will be like you, I’m sure of it,” Dalton murmured against her ear seductively.
“Dalton, really,” Emer blushed at his words, and the erotic things he was doing to her with his tongue and lips.
“Don’t worry, my love, tempting though you are, I'm your doctor too, and you're under orders to have complete rest. And much as I would love another child straight away, my dear, it's both physically impossible at the moment, as well as practically.
"You must do your best to get well, and we will have to wait until you're able to walk again before you ever undertake resuming our former lovemaking, let along anything so arduous as another pregnancy.
"Besides, I want to have you and William to myself for a while before we start expanding the family any further. And no, I’m not forgetting about Saoirse and the others, Emer, but you know what a selfish devil I am. Joe and Myrtle are looking after the children together, and well, I think we’re going to have another wedding in the family.”
“Really? How wonderful,” Emer said enthusiastically, giving Dalton the first genuine smile he had seen in a long time.
“Don’t tell them I told you. I think they were waiting for the right time, and wanted to surprise you.”
“Well, they have, though now that I think about it, they're perfect for each other. His quiet seriousness balances out her streak of wildness, and when it comes to the orphanage, they're both even more dedicated than myself.”
He caressed the baby's belly, bringing up a good solid belch which caused them to both laugh in delight.
Then he said, “No one could be more dedicated than you, my love. But I have been thinking, with this new development, the fire and your injury, I mean, would you be willing to hand over the orphanage to them, and work with me and Adrian instead, as a nurse or perhaps even a doctor?” Dalton asked softly.
Emer stared at Dalton in stunned surprise.
“It was actually Adrian’s idea," he said quickly, "though as soon as he suggested it, I kicked myself for being such a fool as to not have thought of it myself. You're young, intelligent, and know more about fevers than most doctors practising for years. And whatever you don’t already know, Adrian and I could teach you.”
“Oh, Dalton, it sounds wonderful really, but this is all too sudden. I can’t even be sure I will ever walk again,” Emer sighed, stroking Dalton’s face lovingly, but conscious all the while of the disasters their love affair had already caused.
“I know, I know, so we will say no more about it for the present. But if Joe and Myrtle are to get married, then by all means help them with the orphanage if you wish, but let them start running it for themselves more and more too.”
Emer nodded, and felt her eyelids droop. “I will, and thank you. But we can talk about all this later. I feel Adrian's medicine at last, so I think I should sleep now.”
He nodded. “I’ll leave you then, my love. Call if you need anything, and sweet dreams.”
Dalton stooped to kiss her lovingly on the lips, and wheeled the child out of the room as reverently as if it were
the most precious gift he had ever received.
She smiled softly. It certainly was for her, but at what cost….
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The following morning brought a sunny, bright summery day, but Emer’s mood was bleak as she waited for her expected visitor.
She had slept fitfully, and was tormented by the fear that she would never walk again. But even more terrifying was what her enemies could do to her and her friends as she lay helpless, if she didn't forestall them in some way.
So after forcing herself to eat heartily, she insisted on washing and changing into fresh linens. With the help of Adrian's servants, she also had the whole bedroom cleaned before she settled back into bed again.
Then she sat waiting for her visitor.
Madeleine was ushered in promptly at ten o’clock, and Emer was at least pleased to see that she had the good grace to look abashed at what she had done.
“Please sit down, Miss Lyndon. I shall call you Madeleine, if I may, for the sake of convenience. I will come straight to the point. The orphanage was burnt to the ground several evenings ago, and only by the mercy of God was no one injured."
"Yes, I had heard about it. Dalton told me," she lied.
"You did more than hear, and not from Dalton, for he hasn't left my side since he rescued me from the burning building, and he has never confided in you."
Her eyes narrowed to furious slits. "I don't know what you mean. Dalton and I—"
"Please don't play me for a fool. You mean nothing to Dalton, and never did. As for what I mean, spare me the innocent act. Your distinctive reticule was found in the back of the house where the fire started, and four different people saw you there as well, dressed in a dark cloak and a pink gown.
"The police constables are asking questions, and I myself would have no compunction about turning you in after what you tried to do were it not for the disgrace it would bring to your parents and Dalton due to him having been so closely associated with you recently.”
Madeleine hissed, “I’m only sorry you didn’t all die, homeless, wretched urchins! And you, you hussy, trying to steal my husband from me!” She rose to her feet and headed for the door, but Emer's next words halted her flight.
“You aren’t married to him yet, nor I think will you ever be. Dalton broke off your engagement, did he not?"
"Yes, but—"
"At the end of the day, I believe Dalton is a decent, honest man, who will marry the woman he loves, not the woman his father wishes him to take as a piece of property in a business merger.”
She spun around in the doorway to glared at her. “He may not take me, but he will certainly never marry you! His father would cut him off without a penny.”
“Frederick Randall already has cut Dalton off, if you must know.”
Madeleine’s face fell abruptly.
Emer gave a snort of contempt. “I thought you might find that Dalton’s attractions diminished quite rapidly after hearing the news. I love Dalton, so it makes no difference to me what his father does. Poverty is no novelty to me, I can assure you.
“But no, I doubt he would be acting wisely if Dalton married me, not after everything we’ve been through. In addition, I love him too much to expect him to give up everything for me.
"No, you are welcome to him, Madeleine, if you can try to win him and if he will take you, on the condition that you make sure you never give him cause to regret his choice. Adrian Lovell has also told me all about your indiscretions, and I would not have Dalton become the laughingstock of the town over your infidelities."
The other woman's eyes narrowed even further, but she said nothing.
“In return for my silence on all these matters, you must also promise the orphanage a charitable donation of fifty thousand dollars to make up for all the harm you've done to those innocent children, and then the matter is at an end.
"But if you ever try to harm me or my family or friends again, we will all come forward, scandal or no, and tell the whole world what you've done,” Emer stated calmly.
“Very well, I shall accept your offer.” Madeleine frowned, but reached in her bag and wrote a cheque for the full amount without even blinking.
“One last point,” Emer said, as Madeleine was about to leave. “You don’t simply hate me, you hate the poor. I wonder if it could be because of your childhood. The Bishop was boasting to me, quite confidentially of course, about how well you had turned out, one of the Catholic orphanage’s greatest success stories."
She looked as though she had been slapped. "He had no right—"
Emer lay back against the crisp white pillowcases with a satisfied smile. Her guess based on all she had heard and seen had been correct after all.
"You resented me for helping those children because as a child you felt abandoned and neglected, and believed no one ever wanted to help you when you were placed in the institution. But now you have everything, two loving parents with wealth and position. You could have done something to make up for all you suffered. But no, you wanted the children who reminded you of what you once were to be wiped out.
“How would you feel about your own children, I wonder, once you and Dalton were married? Threatened, resentful, begrudging of their dependency and the attention they would require, and the fact that you wouldn’t have Dalton’s love exclusively to yourself any more, assuming of course that you ever possessed it in the first place?” Emer accused.
“Or angry that your looks and figure would become ungainly, that child-rearing was a nuisance? It’s something I would think about very carefully, that’s all, before you ever marry and ruin any more lives than you have done already.”
Madeleine’s face looked as though it was about to crumple in on itself, and she left without another word.
Myrtle came in and exclaimed, “What in God’s name did you say to her? She looks as though her whole world has fallen apart.”
Emer wasted no time in feeling any sympathy for the woman who had just departed. “Myrtle, take this donation check to the bank please, and cash it. I don’t want the young lady to change her mind. Then I want you to go see Malachi O’Neill and tell them the Bishop will give him the plans for the new orphanage and fever hospital.
"The building works, organisation, and finances are to be under your supervision and Joe’s until such time as I am fit to take up duties as one of the heads of the new hospital. Then tell the Bishop we shall go ahead with his designs, and give him the money to bank for us.”
Myrtle squealed with delight and hugged her friend, then ran out into the street without even her bonnet on.
Emer looked up then, and saw Dalton standing in the doorway.
“What on earth have you been doing? I saw Madeleine coming out of here looking like a madwoman, and Myrtle running away like her corsets were on fire.”
She averted her eyes from his earnest golden gaze. “Madeleine has made a huge donation to help the new orphanage. She was sorry she had been so negative in the past. Myrtle is delighted her dreams are finally coming true, for with the money from Madeleine, I have given approval for the new orphanage, and the fever hospital to go ahead.”
“I must say it is very kind of Madeleine,” Dalton said quietly, “but I wonder at her sudden change of heart.”
Emer shrugged. “The fire has brought out the best in everyone, it seems. Give her time, and she will make you a good wife.”
“How can you say that to me, after what we’ve been through?” Dalton exclaimed in exasperation, lifting her chin gently with his fingers so that his golden eyes locked with her own aqua ones intimately. “How could I ever consider marrying her when it is you I love, have always loved, even when I thought you were dead.
"And what about William? You should have told me he was mine a long time ago, Emer, not had me believe that you and Oran had been lovers once you married, and that the child was his.”
“I’m sorry, Dalton, but you had other duties and obligations, and I didn’t want you to feel trapped
by me,” Emer sighed. “You say you want to marry me now, because you feel sorry for a poor cripple, but...”
“Why are you doing this, Emer?" he exclaimed in exasperation.
"Doing what?"
"Lying to me!"
"I'm not—"
"Look at me! No, look at me!" He cupped her chin in his hand. "Are you so stubbornly prideful that you won’t accept any help from me, when you know I would do anything in the world for you? I've kept all three of my promises that I made to you before we separated last year, to help the poor in Ireland, to qualify as a doctor, and to allow you the chance to stand up on your own two feet in Quebec society so that you need never feel ashamed of your past and we could look forward to a happy future together. Cu Chulainn won his legendary love Emer after he did his deeds of daring, so why shouldn't I?”
The Hungry Heart Fulfilled (The Hunger of the Heart Series Book 3) Page 10