Without knowing why, Catie granted him a slight nod of agreement and tilted her head. The kiss was long. He bit gently on her bottom lip and slid his warm tongue inside her mouth. Although a bit stunned, Catie was rather enjoying it. She wrapped her arms around his neck; his hands were pressed against her back. Then, they pulled away to gaze upon each other. That was when she realized his wasn’t the face she expected to see, or the lips she imagined she was kissing. Sean, she thought as her chest exploded with that painful spike of longing yet again. Catie took in a breath of clean autumn air to suppress the sting and turned away from him.
“Shall we return to the party?” Aiden rasped in her ear, vainly mistaking her emotion. “You mustn’t keep me to yourself all evening.”
Chapter 25
Stumbling into the kitchen around nine, Catie sat at the long wooden table with the hopes of leisurely nursing a hot cup of coffee. Rose made her a plate from leftovers and placed it in front of her.
“I haven’t the time, Rose. I must ready for church.” Catie pushed away the plate.
“Geoffrey and George have a slight case of the stomach virus that has been spreading around the parish school. No one is going to church this morning.”
“Oh, thank the Lord!” Catie moaned and plopped her head into her hands.
“Catherine Darcy! Did you just thank the Lord that you do not have to go to church?” Rose scolded harshly.
Catie sat up straight. “No, Nan . . . not that . . . I didn’t . . . I mean — ”
“My ears may be old, missy, but I know what I heard. That was nothing short of sacrilege, and I’ll not hear you speak that way again!” Rose’s lips were pursed firmly.
Taken off guard by Rose’s sharp tone, Catie glanced across the large kitchen at Maggie, who was making her own breakfast. Maggie shrugged, so she looked back at Rose and slowly pulled the plate back in front of her. “Yes, Nan,” she said and obediently picked up her fork and started to eat.
Rose sat down opposite Catie with a hand at her chest and grimaced. Catie noticed beads of sweat breaking on Rose’s brow and she sounded out of breath. “Are you okay, Rose?” she asked, shoveling scrambled eggs in her mouth.
“I’m fine. Maggie . . . child, please drop me a couple of fizzy tablets in water. I have a mighty case of indigestion this morning.” Rose gave her chest another pat, her discomfort evident in her tightly closed eyes and clamped mouth.
Maggie rushed to Rose with the tablets already dissolving in the water and, holding out two aspirin, practically ordered Rose to take them as well.
“I think you should see a doctor, Rose,” said Catie worriedly.
“A doctor would only tell me . . . ” Rose’s words were interrupted by another piercing pain. “Ohhh,” she cried.
“Get my brother and Sarah!” Catie said to Maggie as she rushed to Rose’s side.
In less than a minute Ben and Sarah trailed Maggie’s hurried pace into the kitchen. “Is it the stomach virus that the boys have had?” Sarah asked anxiously, taking Rose’s hand.
Rose shook her head, her eyes closed tight against another stabbing pain.
“Rose.” Ben knelt down beside her. “Talk to us.”
“Should I ring for an ambulance, Mr. Darcy?” Maggie asked, the panic in her voice matching the look on her face.
“No! No ambulance!” Rose said, but Sarah nodded to Maggie behind Rose’s back and kept her distracted while the girl made the call.
“They’re on their way, Mrs. Darcy,” Maggie said as she hung up the telephone.
“I said no ambulance, no hospital, and no doctors!” Rose paused to gasp for air. “It’s only a dreadful case of heartburn!”
“You’re going to the hospital, Rose Todd. And I’ll hear no more about it!” Ben said firmly.
Rose turned a motherly eye on Ben. “You think I’m going to take orders from a man whom I have known since he was in knee trousers?”
“I mean no disrespect, Rose, but yes . . . you are,” he replied with certainty.
Another pain, the worst yet, amplified their mounting alarm. “Call for a car to be brought around back, Maggie! I’ll be damned if I sit here and wait any longer!” Ben shouted as Rose collapsed against him. A man accustomed to doing rather than waiting, his patience was gone. At the very least he could meet the ambulance at the end of the drive.
* * *
Ben reproached himself for not making Catie stay at home. She had jumped in the backseat with Rose so fast that he didn’t stop to argue with her. He had been so careful when their father died. As soon as he heard that his plane was missing, he telephoned the house and demanded Catie be taken to her room and kept there until his arrival. “She isn’t to know anything before I’ve had a chance to speak with her,” he had warned.
How would Catie weather another loss? Rose was the only mother she had known. What kind of cruel god would expect someone so young to endure two tragedies in the short span of only eight years? Ben breathed deeply and murmured another silent prayer. Rose’s condition had worsened drastically before they reached the bottom of the winding road. He knew she was having a heart attack and prayed for the sound of a siren. The piercing wail finally reached them well ahead of its source, allowing Ben the time to pull off of the road and wave it down. He, Sarah, and Catie followed the ambulance to the hospital, watching the medics through the small windows in the back as they worked to save Rose’s life.
In the waiting room, Catie stared out of a small slit in the blinds and cried quietly. Sarah flipped through a magazine so fast she couldn’t possibly have read a single word.
“Good Lord, what’s taking so long?” she exclaimed, tossing the magazine aside and pacing the room again. “We have been waiting for over an hour! Ben, can’t you do something. Haven’t you made enough blasted donations to this hospital?”
“At your request, Sarah, I’ve already spoken with the nurse twice, and both times she assured me the doctor would come to speak with us as soon as he could. Now sit down and stop pacing. You’re making me nervous.”
As if on cue, the door to the waiting room swung open, and an older, stocky man entered, his balding head shining against the harsh hospital lighting. He wore wire-rimmed glasses, a white coat and a tired expression.
Seeing the doctor, Catie bolted from the window but was stopped by Ben, who pulled her close against him while they waited for the man to speak.
“Mr. Darcy.” The doctor extended Ben his hand. “Dr. MacAndrews.”
“Dr. MacAndrews,” Ben repeated cordially as he shook the doctor’s hand and introduced Sarah and Catie.
The doctor took a seat and opened a folder. “Please,” he encouraged them to sit, giving Sarah and Catie a friendly nod.
Once they were all seated, he took off his glasses and went straight to the matter at hand. “Mrs. Todd has suffered a mild heart attack. Though minimal, her heart has suffered some damage and her recovery, I expect, will take four to six weeks.”
“But she’s all right?” Catie asked anxiously.
“Oh, yes, I believe she will make a complete recovery. However,” he looked at them gravely and explained, “She will have to make some serious changes in her lifestyle. Her diet, exercise, all now will have to be considered.”
“She will do whatever you say. I shall personally see to it,” Catie stated with conviction.
The doctor smiled at her. “Well, I can see she will be in competent hands. Has anyone contacted her next of kin?”
“Yes,” Ben said. “I’ve called her sister, Mrs. Kelly. She lives in Northern Ireland and is on her way here now. I am afraid though, that my heightened concern for Rose’s prognosis has put her in a highly distressed state.”
“Actually, Mr. Darcy.” The doctor took on a serious air. “Mrs. Todd’s condition could have been much worse. Who, may I ask, had the good sense to give her the aspirin?”
“It was Maggie,” Catie told them. “She insisted Rose take aspirin.”
“Well, this Maggie,” Dr. Mac
Andrews said, closing the folder, “quite possibly saved Mrs. Todd’s life. At the very least she significantly minimized the damage to Mrs. Todd’s heart.”
“When can we see her, Dr. MacAndrews?” Sarah asked.
“She is resting quietly now. A nurse will come for you soon.”
* * *
Ben leaned on an outstretched hand and watched the last rays of the autumn sun disappear behind the hills. It wasn’t even six o’clock yet, and dusk was already hard upon them. He looked over at his sister. Catie had not left Rose’s side all day, determined to be there when her Nan woke up. But Rose hadn’t even stirred, not once. Not unusual, according to the doctor; her body was weak and required the rest. The nurse didn’t know when Rose might wake, and Catie refused to leave her side until she did. Ben sighed. The close of daylight and a tired, pregnant wife presented him with the unpleasant task of forcing his sister to do just that — leave.
“Before she wakes?” Catie cried. “No, Ben, someone must be here when she wakes up.”
“Catie, dearest, I’ll bring you back first thing in the morning,” Ben whispered insistently. “Be reasonable, she might very well sleep all night. Sarah is exhausted, and you and I fare little better. Now please don’t quarrel with me further.”
“Brother, please.” Catie’s eyes were as imploring as her voice. “I can’t leave her alone.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, child, mind your brother,” Rose grumbled, struggling to sit up.
“Nan!” Catie gasped. “Oh, be still, Nan. You shouldn’t try and — ”
“Oh, stop fussing over me so.” Rose grabbed the covers Catie was trying to straighten. “You didn’t think you were getting rid of me that easy did you?” With considerable effort, she managed a weak smile across her ashen face.
“We thought no such thing.” Ben took one of her hands and rubbed it gently between his. “How do you feel?”
The faint smile receded as Rose’s eyes traveled from one worried face to the other. A tear broke free and raced to the pillow. “Oh, my, dearest children, I was so harsh with you both this morning. To think I might have gone to my eternal reward, leaving your last memory of me being . . . being . . . ”
“Crabby,” Catie finished, grinning. Her own tear-filled eyes sparkled as she leaned down and kissed Rose’s cheek.
“Rose, you weren’t well. We all have far too many pleasant memories to remember anything of the sort.” Ben’s voice was gentle and loving.
“Ben’s right, Rose,” Sarah said. “No one cares about what happened this morning.”
“Plus,” Ben added, teasing his sister. “I’d wager twenty quid that Catie rightfully deserved it.”
“I did not!”
Rose laughed and then groaned, her face drawn in agony.
“See what you did, Ben!” Catie said. “Are you all right, Nan?”
“I’m just sore, child. I must be all right if I’m still listening to the two of you squabble.”
A great deal of fretting and pillow fluffing ensued, as the three tried to get Rose into a comfortable position. The door opened and they turned, expecting the nurse who had come around all afternoon. Instead, a woman, looking very much like their patient, came in hesitantly and was followed by a solid, broad man with wavy black hair and piercing blue eyes which Catie recognized immediately — Mr. and Mrs. Kelly.
Disregarding the other occupants of the room, Emma Kelly rushed to her sister’s bed and grabbed Rose’s hand, pressing it hard against her cheek. Tears streamed freely down her face, her emotion so strong she couldn’t speak. Mr. Kelly took a handkerchief from the inside of his coat pocket and held it out to his wife. “Mother,” he whispered hoarsely.
Sensing the woman’s distress, Ben apologized profusely for having caused her anxiety and gave her a quick but detailed account of Rose’s diagnosis. “The doctor,” he finished, “has left for the night, but I’ll ring him directly if you desire to speak with him.”
Mrs. Kelly smiled up at Ben with a relieved expression. “You, young man, must be Bennet Darcy.” Emma Kelly had spent the last eighteen years hearing weekly accounts of the Darcy children, the overachieving, perfectionist Ben, the bold and spirited Catie. Mrs. Kelly’s eyes brightened as they fell on the girl across from her. “And you . . . you are Catherine, eh?”
“Forgive me,” Ben said. “My sister Catherine, and my wife . . . ”
“Sarah,” Mrs. Kelly filled in for him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Darcy. I have heard so much about you all. It’s as if I know you already. Please forgive my outburst, but it was an answered prayer to see my sister awake when I came into the room.”
“No forgiveness is necessary. Prayers were answered indeed.”
Catie barely heard the passing conversation as she was thoroughly distracted by Sean’s parents. Mrs. Kelly had given Sean her smile, full-faced and warm, but Mr. Kelly had given his son everything else — his thick black hair, sparkling blue eyes, and a sturdy physique. Mr. Kelly looked as if he had sprung directly from the earth itself, like a hearty oak tree.
The door opened again and Catie turned around. Suddenly unable to breathe, she moved away from Rose and closer to Sarah. Sarah reached for her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.
Mrs. Kelly’s smile widened at the sight of her children filing slowly into the room, led by their eldest brother. The youngest, Joseph, was crying as he came to the side of his aunt’s bed. “Auntie . . . ” he whimpered.
“Come here, Joseph, my boy.” Rose reached out for the child, no more than twelve, and pulled him to her cheek. Catie noticed the boy’s sorrow lighten as Rose whispered some sweet assurance into his ear. “You hear me now?” Rose asked, releasing him.
Joseph Kelly bobbed his head and then sought the consoling embrace of his mother.
With his family now intact, Mr. Kelly offered his own string of introductions: “My sons, Mr. Darcy . . . Sean, I believe you already know.” Ben nodded. “Next to him in age are Gabriel, then Ronan, Cian, and the wee lad there with his mammy is our youngest, Joseph.” Although Catie longed to scrutinize every Kelly face intently, her eyes would not allow her to stop fixating on the one that had monopolized her thoughts each night before surrendering to sleep. It had been over two months since she had last laid eyes on him, and she was pleased that her memory had preserved every detail of his face. His hair was all that had changed, much longer than when she saw him last.
Sean caught her gaze and smiled faintly, but Catie looked away.
“Rose, dear,” Ben leaned down close to her and said, “I must get Sarah home. We’ll be ’round to see you in the morning. Let me know if they don’t take good care of you, because — ”
“I shall be fine,” Rose stopped him, patting his hand.
“Say your goodbyes now,” he said to Sarah and Catie, and turned to the wool-coated Irishman. “Mr. Kelly, where is your family staying?”
“I’m not sure yet, Mr. Darcy. We came straight to the hospital, of course.” Mr. Kelly looked weary as though he hadn’t thought that far ahead yet.
“Grand! Then you will stay at Pemberley,” Ben declared, putting up his hand, fully prepared for Mr. Kelly’s rejection. “I am sure your sister-in-law has sufficiently portrayed my deficient character to you. I have a stubborn-lacking ability to take no for an answer. It is an infamous trait.”
“And my husband does have a reputation to uphold, Mr. Kelly,” Sarah added with a convincing smile. “Please stay with us. We have more than enough room, and any family of Rose’s is family to us.”
Mr. Kelly looked at his wife and then made a passing glance over the faces of his children. His eyes lingered on them momentarily. “Mrs. Kelly and I will accept your gracious offer, but the boys will stay in the cottage our Seany lived in over the summer.”
“But, Mr. Kelly,” Sarah exclaimed. “That cottage is so small; your sons will be much more comfortable in the house.”
“Mrs. Darcy, I mean no offence to your kind offer, but I have spent the last tw
enty years raising this lot and I can guarantee you that your fine home is no place for my rowdy cubs.”
Appraisingly, Sarah scanned over the sturdy teenage boys. “As you wish, Mr. Kelly. Visit with Rose as long as you like. Your rooms will be ready for you when you arrive.”
As Catie followed Ben and Sarah out, she could feel Sean’s gaze on her, willing her to turn to him. She desired more than anything to once again meet his eyes with hers, but she never looked up. He had broken her heart, and for that she couldn’t forgive him.
The ride home was silent, the trials of the day having finally caught up with each of them. Once back at Pemberley, they climbed the stairs like shire workhorses that had been in the fields since dawn. When they reached the top of the landing, Ben gave Catie a peck on her head and sent her to bed.
“Bennet, Sarah, I need ask you something,” she announced, stopping them. “I want to stay home until Rose has recovered.” Catie’s eyes darted from Ben’s to Sarah’s and then back again.
“No, Catie, you will return to school tomorrow afternoon as planned,” Ben said gently. “Now go to bed. You must be as exhausted as we are.”
Her body might have been exhausted, but her determination was wide awake. “But, Ben, I will only be distracted worrying about Rose. It isn’t fair that I must be over an hour away. What if she needs me? What if she gets sick again?”
Catie’s eyes had a willful gleam that told Ben how important this was to her. In his heart, however, he didn’t feel it was for the best. He reasoned, “You will get behind on your work, Catherine, and I can’t allow that.”
“But that’s easily solved. You can have my lessons sent from school, and I can do my course work here at home until Rose is better.”
“Without instruction?” he asked. “Catie, it’s not feasible. I do not have the time to interview and hire you a tutor, and your schoolwork will suffer. I shall come for you on the weekends and that is the end of it.” Ben swept his hand through the air, a gesture meant to end the discussion.
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