“Amelia, look at me,” Freddy said gently, stirring her. “Yes, I began my journey back to England the moment I received the letter informing me of your marriage. But that is not the only reason why I have returned. These years have not been without fruit. I have found someone who may be able to help you.”
Amelia shook her head, returning her attention to her brother.
“That cannot be,” she murmured.
“It is true. I swear it. In Paris, there is a female doctor—perhaps the first of her kind. In her early youth, she was a midwife, and she has spent the intervening years studying the female condition. She has studied women like you who are subject to fits, diagnosed with this hysteria, but who are completely whole in spirit.”
“Except that I am not completely whole. My memory…”
“May very well be another symptom of whatever is causing these fits of yours.”
He licked his lips, looking through the window at the grounds beyond. She wondered what he was imagining.
“I am not equipped to explain her research properly. She speaks of awearing out… The fits causing a fatigue that would…” He rubbed his brow. “You must hear it from her. My account is inaccurate, useless. But I have seen the proof with my own eyes. And I believe in my heart of hearts that she can cure you.”
Amelia nodded, even as bile rose inexplicably in her throat.
“What are you saying?” she asked.
“I am saying, Amelia, that you must leave Oxford at once and come with me to Paris. Only there will we find the solution to your problem.”
“It will not be possible…”
“For there to be a cure?” Freddy smiled reassuringly. “It will be. I know it.”
That was not what Amelia had meant.
Perhaps there truly was a woman in France who could help her. She did not doubt the ability of the female doctor.
What she doubted was her ability to leave Nicholas.
How could she, when she had fallen in love with him?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The night was cold and loud as rain fell hard over Riverside Court. Amelia lay awake in bed, staring at the canopy overhead. Her mind raced with the memory of Freddy’s visit earlier that day.
“I will return soon,” he had told her before leaving. “And I will convince you that you must come with me to France. I cannot fathom what power the Duke of Avon holds over you, what he has made you believe, but only with me can you truly be free, sister.”
Placing an arm over her eyes, Amelia sighed. How could something so wonderful—the promise of a cure—feel so wrong?
Unless I really am out of my mind. Only a madwoman would refuse a cure to remain at the side of a man who will never love her in return.
Suddenly, someone knocked on her door.
Amelia jolted, sitting upright. She froze, waiting for another knock. It came within seconds, gentle and rhythmic.
The floor was cold underfoot as she crept toward the door.
“Hullo?”
“Amelia,” Nicholas whispered.
Her eyes widened. She swung open the door and found him standing there in the darkness.
He hesitated a moment, then asked, “May I come in?”
She nodded, confused but delighted, and closed the door behind him.
