He tipped his hat and left, whistling cheerfully.
The silence that followed was crushing.
Eleanor stood frozen by the door, unable to look at Aubrey, unable to move, her face burning so hot she thought she might combust.
"You may leave." Aubrey's voice was low and tight with humiliation and rage.
Eleanor fled.
She made it to her own bedroom before the shaking started. Before the tears came. Before the full weight of what had just happened crashed over her.
No children.
She pressed her hands to her mouth, trying to muffle the sob that wanted to escape.
She'd accepted being unwanted. Had accepted the loneliness, the public humiliation, the empty marriage. But some desperate part of her had clung to the hope that someday—somehow—there might be children. That even if she couldn't have her husband's love, she might have a family.
Now even that fragile hope was shattered.
And worse, so much worse, she'd had to stand there while a doctor examined her husband's most private injuries. While he made jokes about fertility and marriage and washing her husband's...
Eleanor pressed her face into her pillow and tried not to scream.
Three weeks of "daily inspections" and "thorough cleaning" and turning him every few hours through the night.
Three weeks of the most intimate care imaginable for a man who despised her.
A man who might never be able to give her children.
A man she would leave the moment Christmas was over.
Chapter four
The Worst Patient
Eleanor stood outside Aubrey's bedroom door, a basin of warm water balanced in her hands, and tried to remember how to breathe.
It had been four hours since Dr Fielding's examination. She’d used the hours to steel herself for what came next.
She couldn't do this.
She had to do this.
Taking a deep breath, Eleanor knocked softly and pushed open the door without waiting for an answer.
Aubrey's head snapped toward her, his expression immediately hardening. "There’s no need."
Eleanor set down the basin on the washstand with hands that trembled only slightly. "Dr Fielding said the wounds need cleaning twice daily. I've brought fresh water and bandages—"
"I will have someone else assist." Aubrey's voice was low, dangerous. "Neither of us need to be subjected to this humiliation."
"It's not humiliation, it's medicalnecessity—"
"It is both, and you know it." Aubrey struggled to push himself more upright, his face going grey with the effort. "You heard what he said. That you'll need to... to inspect..." He swallowed. "I refuse. Absolutely refuse."
Eleanor forced herself to move closer to the bed, even as every instinct screamed at her to flee. "The delay in treatment could result in infection. Dr Fielding was quite clear—"
"I don't care what that buffoon said." Aubrey's knuckles were white where he gripped the sheets. "I have already sent word to London. My valet Morrison will arrive by this evening. He will attend to my care."
