Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.That was the verse her mother had always used when something difficult happened, not a verse about fear. Then her mother had told her to find something good about her situation, be grateful, thank God.
But the verse about rejoicing seemed horribly trite at the moment.
Oh, why did she have to be here in the first place? Why had God given her a father who thought nothing of striking her when he was angry?
Freya’s father yelled when he grew angry, but he didn’t hit anyone. The same was true of Jane’s father. As for Millicent’s father, well, she wasn’t even sure he yelled. He always seemed calm and gentle, even when correcting Millicent or one of her brothers.
“This will only take a moment.” The doctor reached into his bag and retrieved a roll of bandages and a long, wide strip of fabric.
She nodded stiffly, unable to speak. Her eyes drifted to the grandfather clock again. She was nearly a full hour late. Was Yuri still on the beach waiting for her, somehow hoping she was coming?
He probably was. That seemed like just the thing he would do, never mind the rain. And here she had no way to even send him a note explaining what happened.
The doctor wrapped the bandage around her lower arm and hand, then reached for a strip of fabric. He draped it down the front of her chest to gauge the appropriate length before looping it back behind her neck and tying it.
She slid her arm inside without being instructed to do so, and the doctor added more material to the sling, allowing her arm to rest a little lower.
“There now,” he said softly. “That’s not so bad, is it? Keep it elevated when you can. No lifting, and try not to jostle it. Send for me if the pain gets worse, and I can fit it with a splint. Otherwise I’ll return in two weeks to check on it.”
She studied the bandage. It covered the bruising but hadn’t done a thing to help the pain. Maybe if she was extra careful and rested her hand constantly, she could remove the sling early. Then she could at least go to Millicent’s next week for their usual monthly visit. She might not have a choice about missing her time with Yuri today, but she genuinely enjoyed visiting with Millicent every month before sneaking off to meet him. It was the one visit a month Father allowed her without asking her a bunch of questions first.
The doctor turned to pack his medical bag, and Father stepped forward, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Thank the doctor, Rosalind.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, trying to find a way to be grateful for the doctor’s ministrations, even though she didn’t want to be confined to the house.
Dr. Hollis’s eyebrows furrowed, his gaze moving between them for an overly long moment. “You said you hurt your wrist this morning when you tripped on the stairs?”
“I’m afraid I am terribly clumsy.” She didn’t even think twice before letting the lie roll off her tongue, not with her father standing there. “My foot tangled in my petticoat, and I missed the bottom step.”
“Yes, a most unfortunate accident. We appreciate your coming to the house on such short notice, doctor. Foster will show you out now.” Her father nodded toward the door, where their longtime butler stood in the open doorway.
How long he’d been there, she didn’t know. He might have been standing in that same spot since first showing the doctor into her father’s study. His facial expression gave nothing awayas he moved to the side, allowing Dr. Hollis to precede him into the hallway.
The door shut with a quiet click, but her father didn’t move, and neither did she.
He let the silence linger between them for an unnaturally long time, his hand still clamped on her shoulder before he finally said, “See that something like this doesn’t happen again, Rosalind.”
There was nothing for her to do other than agree, but oh how she hated nodding her head. How she hated the fact that her injury would end up hidden, and his actions would once again be concealed from everyone in town.
Was it wrong of her to hope that the truth of her father’s actions would somehow be made known? Her mother would say so. Her mother would say that she was living in a grand house with expensive dresses and a lady’s maid, and she needed to be grateful that her every last need was provided for.
But Rosalind wasn’t sure she could be grateful for very much longer.
3
Yuri sat with his back to the cookstove, soaking in the warmth from the fire as he plunged his spoon into a bowl of borscht. Rain pummeled the ground and streaked the windows in a steady, relentless batter that didn’t seem inclined to stop any time soon.
The kitchen itself seemed incredibly small these days, especially with all of his family members crammed around what he’d once thought was a rather large table.
The table had fit him and his original seven siblings well enough. But now that three of them were married, and his sister-in-law Maggie had brought her two young half siblings into the marriage, there was no question that both the table and the kitchen itself were too small to host them.
They had a dining room, but it had always felt too austere and formal for a regular meal, so they crowded into the kitchen anyway, boots thudding against the floorboards, spoons clinking against bowls, and laughter filling the room. And in another seven or eight months, the room was going to be even more crowded, because both of his sisters and Sacha’s wife, Maggie,were pregnant. Kate’s baby was going to be born first, sometime around the beginning of June.
Yuri shivered, still not quite able to shake off the chill that had seeped into him earlier.
An hour and a half. That’s how long he’d waited for Rosalind in the secret cove.
No, it was more like an hour and forty-five minutes.
