All he needed was a second chance to make her happy, to take care of her, and earn her forgiveness. He’d move heaven and hell for another chance with her. Just the thought of never seeing her again had him struggling to take his next breath. He couldn’t live without her, didn’t want to because-
Because he loved her.
He was madly in love with his wife and he’d allowed his rage to eat at him. How many times had his father or brother taken him aside and lectured him over his temper? How many fights had he started simply because he couldn’t control his temper? There’d been too many to count and now his child and wife were paying the price.
“I will kill you for this, you bastard!” Lord Norwood shouted as he was finally dragged from the hallway.
“Robert,” his father said softly as he stopped by his side, looking like he’d aged a decade since this morning, “I need to know what happened.”
Grinding his jaw, Robert shook his head as he looked at his father. “It’s my fault,” he managed to choke out.
“What happened?” his father demanded tightly.
“I lost my temper and made her lose the baby,” Robert said, his voice hoarse with emotion as he allowed himself to mourn the loss of his child, a child that he would never see.
“Did…did you strike her?” his father asked quietly.
“I would never hurt her,” Robert bit out between clenched teeth.
“Then how did-” his father started to ask, looking exhausted.
“I said things that I shouldn’t have said. I was angry with her and I…I let my temper get the better of me,” Robert said, rubbing his hands over his face, wishing that he could do this day over again.
If he could do this day over again, he would do it right. He’d kiss her and tell her how much he loved her before he dropped down on one knee and begged her to marry him. If she said no, then he would have courted her and proved to her how much he cared for her. He should have-
“You should have never married her,” his father said, sounding disappointed and shaking his head in disgust as he walked away.
He didn’t argue with his father but simply let the man walk away because his father was right. He should have never married her, but he had and now he was going to be the husband that she needed him to be, Robert decided as he pushed away from the wall and walked towards the bedroom door.
When a footman tried to step in his way and stop him, Robert simply punched the man in the stomach, dropping him to the floor and stepped over him. He opened the door and quickly shut it behind him.
“Robert? What are you doing in here?” his mother demanded when she spotted him. “You don’t belong in here.”
“I belong with my wife,” Robert said, his eyes landing on Elizabeth’s sleeping form and remaining there as he walked to her.
She looked so peaceful, he thought as he leaned over her so that he could gently push a strand of hair out of her face. “How is my wife?” he asked the surgeon, never taking his eyes away from Elizabeth.
“Perhaps we could speak in the hallway?” the surgeon suggested, no doubt uncomfortable with his presence since being in the sickroom with your wife was simply not done.
“We’ll talk here,” Robert murmured as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to his wife’s cool forehead, ignoring his mother’s startled gasp.
After pressing a second kiss to her forehead, simply because he was relieved that she was alive, he carefully sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand in his. He looked up at the stunned surgeon and gestured for him to begin.
“Well,” the surgeon said, clearing his throat and shifting uncomfortably, no doubt well acquainted with Robert’s reputation, “as I’m sure you know, your wife lost the child.”
“And how is my wife?” he asked, praying that she was going to be okay after this.
“She is very upset, Mr. Bradford, but with rest, food, and time, I believe that she will make a full recovery and should be able to have more children.”
Robert nodded as he sighed with relief. She would be fine. That’s all that mattered to him. Well, there was one more thing that he had to know.
“Do you know what caused her to lose the baby?” Robert asked, needing his fault in the matter confirmed.
“I believe dehydration and the fact that she couldn’t keep anything down was the cause of this,” the surgeon said on a weary sigh as he picked up his bag. “From what I understand, she thought that stress was the cause of everything, and once she’d realized that she was with child, she became overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do, Mr. Bradford,” he said with a sympathetic smile. “The next time, I don’t believe that she’ll hesitate in asking for help. Good day, sir.”
“Thank you,” Robert murmured, returning his attention back to his sleeping wife.
He didn’t know what to make of what the surgeon said, but he knew one thing, he was going to take better care of his wife from this moment on.
