Rosalind’s eyes opened into two tired slits. “Am I going to... die?”
Nathan’s throat worked. “I don’t know. If your left lung is so damaged it can’t repair itself, then yes. There’s nothing I can do other than this.”
“But we’re going to do our best to make sure you recover.” Kate scooted to Rosalind’s other side and picked up her free hand. “We’ll keep the wound clean so infection doesn’t set in and bind your ribs as tight as we need to so the broken bones can heal.”
Rosalind didn’t respond. She’d already fallen asleep on the table, her breaths back to stuttering.
29
Pain. It covered her body, starting in her lower ribs and radiating outward until it felt like fire consumed everything but her legs and arms. Rosalind groaned, then rolled to her side, trying to find a way to relieve the stabbing sensation above her stomach, but the movement caused an even worse flash of white-hot pain to sear through her.
“Rosalind?”
Even through her pain, she recognized the voice, kind and understanding and gentle. She whimpered, then opened her eyes. “Yuri?”
“I’m here.” A hand stroked hair away from her forehead.
He was at her side, sitting beside the bed with shadows beneath his eyes and his hair hanging over his forehead in disheveled tufts.
He reached out and clasped her hand in his, then laid a gentle kiss on her knuckles. “Do you need something? How can I help?”
She shook her head, then whimpered when another flash of pain knifed through her. “It hurts. Everything hurts. I... What’s wrong with me? And why are you here?”
She tried to look around the room. She couldn’t see much without moving, but she could tell she wasn’t in her bedroom or even at home. There were no silk draperies, no fireplace, no gleaming mirror over the mantle. Instead, she was in a small room with fading wallpaper, and a soft, worn quilt draped over her. A modest chest of drawers stood against the wall over Yuri’s shoulder, and dim light seeped along the edges of the simple curtains hanging over the window.
“Why... Why am I here?” she rasped. Her lungs burned each time she tried to talk, as though she couldn’t afford to expel the breath needed to form words, and there was still that terrible searing pain in her lungs.
Was she bleeding? What was wrong? She reached down to touch the spot with the sharpest pain.
“Don’t touch your ribs, Miss Caldwell, please.” A figure surged away from the wall.
It was the doctor. The young one that Yuri’s sister had married. She didn’t quite remember his name. Nicholas, maybe or Nigel. How long had he been in the room? “What... What happened?”
The doctor exchanged a glance with Yuri. “Don’t you remember?”
She pressed her eyes shut, trying to recall what events could possibly have led to her being inside the Amoses’ house. There had been a house visit at Millicent’s with hot chocolate and pastries; then the fire bell had rung, and they’d all run outside to help. Then she’d realized the Amoses’ shipyard was burning, and she’d run home.
She could still see her father’s irate face, still feel the pain that radiated through her body when his first blow landed against her ribs. He’d followed it up with another blow to the same spot just seconds later, then another and another untilshe’d crumpled to the floor, begging him to stop. That’s when he’d started kicking her.
She gasped and opened her eyes, only to find them wet with tears. “He said he’d keep kicking me until I stood up and quit crying.”
That was the only way she could get him to stop. She certainly hadn’t been able to fight him. The pain had been so bad, she’d nearly retched, but somehow she’d managed to suck in her tears and force herself to stand. “Then he... he punched me in the ribs and watched me crumple back to the ground before leaving.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Yuri growled.
“No...” She reached out and clasped his wrist. “He’ll only hurt you.”
“He’s not going to hurt anyone.” A deep voice spoke from somewhere in the room.
She had to shift to see who was speaking. The movement caused her eyes to flood with tears, but at least she was able to follow the direction of the voice to where Deputy Marshal Jonas Redding stood in the doorway, arms crossed over his broad chest. Yuri’s oldest brother, Alexei, was in the room too, leaning against the wall with one foot crossed over the other.
“Your father’s in jail,” the Deputy Marshal continued. “When the judge returns to Sitka, I’ll be asking him to deny bail.”
“You arrested my father?” She licked her lips. “Because... because of what he did to me?”
“Do you understand the damage to your left lung, Miss Caldwell?” The doctor took a step closer. “Do you realize the gravity of your situation?”
She looked back to Yuri, only to find his eyes had grown redder, and moisture was welling in them.
