“I have her,” one of the snakes said.
A snake had appeared to Eve in the garden, hadn’t it? The snake was the devil. And now he had her. She had gotten her wish after all.
Emmy had been given what she deserved.
She felt a blast of piercing needles against her skin and then all was dark.
***
EMMYdidn’t know when she realized she was not in hell after all. Her body still burned but she was lying on a bed, not a lake of fire.
A cool hand soothed her brow.
She tried to open her eyes but it was as if they had melted shut.
Not from the fires of hell, but from fever.
Emmy slept.
***
WHENat last Emmy opened her eyes, a dark figure stood beside her. The figure moved closer and took her hand.
Was she lying on the wedding dresses? All seemed white around her. But no, she was on a bed. White sheets covered her. There were white sheets everywhere. She was in a room full of beds with other people lying on top of them. A nurse moved into her peripheral vision and bent over a man wrapped in white bandages.
“Welcome back,” the dark figure said. “Guess I came for a visit at just the right time.”
Mac.
Emmy lifted her gaze to look at him.
“Where am I?” she murmured.
“At Royal London Hospital, cozy and warm.”
Emmy knew this place. She’d been inside its doors many times over the last two months, looking for Julia.
“I’m afraid I’ve blown your cover, Isabel,” Mac said.
“What?” A ripple of fear wriggled up from within her. Her cover? Did he know who she really was? Is that what he was saying?
“I came to your bridal shop on Tuesday to convince you to come have dinner with me. The ARP on your street said no one was there and I assured him someone was.”
“Dinner?” Emmy couldn’t think properly. “What day is it?”
“It’s Friday, actually.”
Emmy couldn’t remember what day she had last seen him. When had she run off into the rain? What had happened that day?
Monday.
Emmy had seen him on Monday.
And then she had run to the local billeting offices where she had learned Julia was not at Charlotte’s. Julia was nowhere.
“Your nurses tell me you’ll live. They also say I am your hero.” He laughed and squeezed her hand. “So maybe you’ll forgive me, then?”
“Forgive you?” Emmy’s head was spinning.
