She knelt down beside him. "No, no! Elizabeth loves you. She must have heard someone say something that scared her. It wasn't you. You needed to confide in each other more. But there's usually all the time in the world for that before you're wed. You've been hasty, Will, but you're not disgusting. Elizabeth worships you. But for now you're going to have to leave all these questions behind, and focus on both of you getting well."
He nodded and said, "All right, do it. Get it over with."
They removed the shell fragment and stitched up the wound, put his shoulder back in its socket, then wrapped it in clean gauze and forced him to lie back down on the pillows.
Thomas shook his head, stunned. Will had never even let out a whimper.
Stewart caught his surprised look and shrugged. "After everything he's been through, this is probably nothing to him."
Thomas stared at his new brother-in-law's physique. What manner of man was he? He had seen plenty of wounded veterans during the war, but never one as physically scarred as Will.
Yet it was his mind that seemed most damaged, if what he had just overheard was any indication. He was filled with nothing but guilt and self-reproach, and uncertainty about himself as a man.
Thomas had a million questions about what had happened in his past, but now was not the time. He told everyone he was going to put on more clothes, and would be back shortly
Only when he was in the privacy of his own room did he allow his tears to fall freely. What on earth had he done… He should have made them wait…
But Elizabeth had seemed so sure, so much in love. And now he had tied her to a man who by his own admission had killed his first wife….
Chapter Twenty-two
The three doctors did their best over the next few hours to make Elizabeth comfortable, but she was so still that often they could not be sure she was even alive.
Only Will, with his fingers on her pulse continually, kept them certain that her heart was still beating.
At dawn the next morning they operated. She had developed a gushing nosebleed which Doc Gallagher thought was a sign of the brain swelling badly.
Will hung onto his wife's hand for dear life as they drilled a small hole in her skull and drained the fluids.
After the surgery her breathing seemed much easier, but her temperature soared, so that they began to bathe her in cold water and even brandy to try to get the fever down.
"They used it in the Army when they had nothing else," the doctor explained to his horrified colleagues as the room began to smell like a tavern.
"I'll help. Anything you want me to do, I'll do it," Will promised raggedly. "Anything to save her."
As promised, the Elthams, Stones and Fitzgeralds all took turns nursing the two invalids, but it was heartbreaking for them all to think of the contrast between what was, and what could have been.
Will's friends also did whatever they could, looking after the children, going on errands, and coming in to try to cheer Will whenever there was a quiet moment in the room.
Parks in particular was ever-present when he was sure he was not in the way, and fetched and carried as patiently as any well-trained nurse.
Stewart pulled the doctor to one side at the end of the following day. "Give me your honest opinion, Miles."
"She's in a coma. She can't eat or drink. We have no idea how bad her injuries are. I've tested for paralysis. There's no sign of any sensation in any of the limbs. I'm sorry. It may of course change, but with us having trepanned her, I can't be hopeful. That will most likely kill her before anything else does. If we can't get the fever down, her body will just give up from the strain."
"All right, so let us assume we can get the fever down. What will happen next?"
He shrugged and sighed. "You've seen it in the war. We do our best to get a tube down her, and feed her with a funnel. And to try to keep her arms and legs moving."
Thomas came over to where the two men were whispering. "I know of this. I'm told that Alexander Davenport lived like that for a year. But I have no idea how bad his injuries were compared to my sister."
"Well, we can only do our best. Get the fever down, and the feeding tube in. And just try to keep her comfortable, keep an eye on her bowels and so on. They are often good indications of what is happening. If she stops these normal bodily functions, we'll be in trouble."
"Thank you, Miles. I can't tell you how grateful I am that you're here," Stewart said.
"And here I shall stay, for as long as you need me."
Thomas, distraught at all the doctor had said, demanded of Will, "Tell me again exactly what happened to my sister!"
Will roused himself from his own near-comatose state. He still had not slept, and was hollow-eyed like a skull. His voice came out as a hoarse croak, for he had been talking to Elizabeth in a low tone almost incessantly since the accident had happened, reciting all the love poetry he could think of to show her how much he cared.
"We were down in the reception, laughing, eating cake. I said would check on the guests one last time, and would be coming upstairs. Her response to me was most ardent," he said with a blush, "and I promise to give her ten minutes to get ready.
"She said she had a surprise for me, and she couldn't wait for us to be alone. I went off to talk with Vevina for a few moments, to thank her for her help.
"I came up, just as we had arranged, and found her half-way out the window. She said she couldn't trust me out of the bed, so how could she trust me in it.
"I told her whatever was wrong, I loved her and we could discuss it. I tried to get her back up into the room, but the whole trellis and vine started to tear away. Then we fell."
He held out his bandaged wrist for Thomas's inspection. "I did everything I could to grab another handhold, but she let go. The rest is as Edgars saw when he found us."
Vevina took his arm comfortingly. "I'm so sorry, Will. This is dreadful for you, we know. We'll do anything we can to help."
Will laid back on the bed and looked at his wife, his eyes never once leaving her.
Thomas lapsed back onto his stool, his head in his hands.
The Fitzgeralds moved over to the window seat.
"Poor Will. He'll be devastated if he loses her," Vevina sighed to her husband.
"Don't I know it. He never expected Elizabeth to fall in love with him. With all of the others trying so hard for her, especially Marcus Fitzsimmons, he couldn't believe his luck. Yet it's obvious from the way they looked at the wedding that they were completely smitten. So what on earth could have provoked Elizabeth to jump out the window?"
Vevina shook her head. "She didn't jump. She was climbing down, trying to escape from something or someone. She loves Will, I'm sure of it. So what scared her so much that she fled?"
Her husband shook his head and sighed. "The only thing I can think of is that she overheard someone say something which distressed her so much that when Will came into the bedroom, she was terrified, and panicked."
"But what on earth could that be? We all know and love him. None of us would have told her anything against him," she said angrily.
"Unless of course someone was sucking on a few sour grapes and spat out all sorts of lies or innuendoes."
She nodded pensively. "Or one of the lads said something which was misinterpreted? You know how men can sometimes be a bit crude. If she was scared of their wedding night, it might have put her into a tizzy."
Stewart rubbed the back of his aching neck and shrugged. "Perhaps. Except that she doesn't strike me as hysterical, and she also doesn't have the nature of a tease. She and Will have been most demonstrative. In fact I'm surprised they managed to wait as long as they did. The past three days of wedding preparations seemed to have been torture for them both.
"And while I know she has every reason to be leery of that sort of thing give her poor sister, she's a vibrant and passionate young woman, not a prude. No, someone said something, or she overheard something. The question is what?"
V
evina shook her head. "We'll just have to wait to find out. If she wakes up."
"When."
She nodded, and kissed her husband's cheek gratefully. "You're right, darling. When."
Several hours later, Doc Gallagher checked Elizabeth's pulse and pupils, and shook his head. The fever had finally gone down to a more low-grade one, and she was breathing more easily.
"There seems to be nothing more we can do except wait. You can all go and get some sleep now. We need to take it in turns. I'll rouse you if anything changes, but there seems little point in you all becoming ragged with worry."
He turned to Thomas. "I'm going to need beef broth, cooked with vegetables and then strained clear, and some water, boiled, both cool, and a funnel with a nozzle about so wide." He indicated with his fingers.
He nodded and left to issue the orders. As soon as he was gone, the doctor held a cup to Elizabeth's lips. She swallowed.
"It's a good sign," he told Will. "I'll put the tube in anyway, so that you can feed her more easily without fear of her choking. But if she has that sort of movement, she's holding her own."
Will nodded.
"So we will need to get a rota of servants to take turns looking after her, and you need to get some rest. I'll have them make up another bed-"
"I'm staying."
"But Will, you need your rest as well. You're not thinking clearly—"
Will continued to stared at his wife fixedly. "I've never been more clear about anything in my life. She's mine, and by God I'll do whatever I have to take care of her."
The doctor said gently, "You can't blame yourself for this."
He raised his aquamarine eyes bleakly to gaze at his friend. "Who else is there to blame?"
"Gods above, Will, it was an accident!"
"Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps I caused it all, drove her to this desperate pass."
"Nonsense."
"Is it, Miles? Is it? if I had been honest with her before we became engaged? Got married? Told her everything so she might not have been so scared?"
Doc Gallagher shook his head. "You have no idea what anyone said, what lies might have been told. It's not your fault. If she didn't trust you—"
"I should have made her trust me, made her listen. I was afraid if I approached her she might jump. I should have—"
"It was her choice to climb out. She nearly killed you both," the doctor said impatiently.
He sighed. "If I lose her, I'm better off dead."
The older man rested his hand on his friend's good shoulder. "She's still alive. Where there's life, there's hope. But I have to be honest with you, lad. Even if she does last another night or two, it will be a long road to recovery. I have no idea how badly her back, neck and head are injured. She might never walk again. Surely you do realise this."
Will nodded. "I know. I can understand what you're telling me, but my heart knows she's going to live. I just have to hang on, keep the faith. Listen, Miles, I know you have other plans, your practice, but I would be most grateful if you could remain here as my guest until well, until things resolve themselves. Please take whatever room you like and use it as your own. I shall sleep in here by her side, and do whatever you teach me to do to take care of all her needs."
"You'll exhaust yourself," the doctor protested.
"I need to be with Elizabeth. I would never forgive myself if I lost her."
"All right, I shall take one of the rooms, but I insist upon organising the servants to help you. She will need bathing, feeding, everything a helpless infant would need. You understand that some of these things might be difficult for a loving husband to have to cope with."
"I understand. But there's nothing I wouldn't do for her."
"Ah, but perhaps she would not wish you to."
Will shook his head. "There's no shame between us. We love each other. I'll be with her until the day one or the other of us dies. Through everything."
The doctor nodded. "Very well. Try to rest. I'll be back shortly."
He arranged things with the Duke and his wife, then spoke to the servants, and the Fitzgeralds. Between them all, they made sure that Will was never alone with Elizabeth. He would drift off to sleep sooner or later, he was sure, so someone needed to be standing by at all times for the poor injured woman.
They got the feeding tube down her throat, and fed her broth and water, and then washed her down with warm water and changed the soiled sheets.
"Everything seems to be normal. She's eating, relieving herself, and is breathing fine. She's just in some sort of limbo," he told the Fitzgeralds. "A blow to the head will do that. We'll just keep watching, and waiting. And praying for them both."
Chapter Twenty-three
The doctor's assessment of Elizabeth's condition was not much different a day later, or even three days later.
Still Will sat up, hollow-eyed and staring, reciting poetry to her though his voice was now barely more than a whisper. And it was not just poetry, long passages of the Bible, and prayers, and words of love from his heart.
"You were the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. I had heard of love at first sight, of course," he whispered, "but I thought it was a fairy tale until it happened to me. I love you, Elizabeth. Please come back to me."
Thomas and Charlotte did more than their far share of the nursing in the dark days which followed, but at the end of the first week, a letter came from Brimley with most disturbing news which caused them to wonder how much longer they could risk staying in Ireland.
Clifford saw the Duke's aghast expression as he read the missive from their friend Jonathan Deveril.
"What is it? What's wrong? Is everyone well?" he asked Thomas.
"Yes, yes, for the moment at least. But that swine Ferncliffe, who killed my sister Jane, has got away. He and his accomplices Agnes and the coach driver, who helped kidnap our friend Alexander, have escaped from Newgate."
"Escaped? But how?" Charlotte gasped.
Thomas shook his head. "I have no idea. They would have needed awfully powerful friends to help."
"Had they reached the end of their trial?"
Thomas nodded. "Jonathan says here that Ferncliffe was given a capital sentence, and Agnes and the driver, Bart Davis, were supposed to have been transported. Alistair Grant wrote to me at Eltham Castle to give me the news, and to warn me. He'll make enquiries around London, organise a man hunt."
"This is most disturbing news," Clifford said ith a shake of his head.
Charlotte nodded. "Remember that his associate Paxton tried to burn down the castle and kill everyone who got in his way."
"I know. Plus, the Jonathan and his wife and sister, and her husband Alexander Davenport, have been their targets in the past. I hate to think what sort of havoc they can wreak once more now that they're free."
"Well, at least the war is over," Charlotte sighed.
"For some people, like Will, Parks, and Alexander, it's never over."
They all sighed.
Clifford offered, "If you want to go home, Vanessa and I will stay. I mean, we can understand-"
"How can I leave my sister?" thomas said with a shake of his head.
"Because she's in good hands here. And your wife is ue for her confinement soon. Plus, because we both know where Ferncliffe was going, what he was doing when you and Pamela stopped him. That at least is no longer an issue."
"No, but my niece is," he sighed.
"Jonathan and Pamela have been doing an admirable job seeing to all her needs, but there is nothing quite like your steady hand upon the wheel to navigate the most rocky shoals," Vanessa said, giving a meaning looks across the breakfast table at her husband to show that she supported his stance that the Duke and his wife should go back to Somerset with all possible haste.
Thomas ground his teeth together audibly, and sighed. "We'll wait and see. Another day or so should not make too much difference, and will help me decide what best to do about Elizabeth."
Vanessa and Clifford both exchanged loo
ks, and prayed their friend was right.
Ten days after the accident, there was still no change in Elizabeth, which in the circumstances could only be seen as a good thing. The radical alteration was in Will, for with his long straggling hair and beard and wild-eyed look, they began to fear for his sanity.
"I can't sleep. I must watch. It will be all right. It's coming."
"What's coming?" Vevina asked her brother gently.
The Rakehell Regency Romance Collection Volume 2 Page 52