Nora’s eyes twitched.
Out of wedlock and raised by her lover’s wife.Humberto had never interrupted Magdalena’s career because she’d never done more than hand him off to others. Somehow, Nora had forgotten.
“Mrs. Phipps and Julia could watch our children. Or a nurse.”
Daniel kept staring, his eyes mirrors of her own disappointment.
The ride home would take the better balance of an hour. Nora closed her eyes, fighting against the headache mounting behind her left temple. Silence and dejection wedged themselves between her and Daniel, burrowing their sharp elbows onto the cramped bench. Such crushing intruders made speech impossible.
After a drive as painful and prolonged as the time spent in the Gibsons’ drawing room, the familiar silhouette of 43 Great Queen Street finally loomed out of the humid night. The driver dropped them off at the covered side entrance.
Where the cadavers arrive.
Something in Nora felt lifeless enough to make it appropriate.
“Nora.” Daniel’s voice pricked the back of her neck as she stepped inside the shadowy corner giving access to the lift and back staircase. Mrs. Phipps had decorated every square inch of the renovated home and hospital except here. The new tiles the workmen had laid were blank—white with small black diamonds scattered in gloomy intercessions. It was hardly Nora’s favorite place to pause. No matter how much soap and lime the maids used, the lingering smell of rot tinged the air.
“Let’s not be angry with each other. We can each forgive—”
Her bowed head shot up, blurring the room. “Have I offended you? Do I owe you an apology?” She hadn’t used this acidic tone with him since the early days of meeting him—before she loved him—when he was simply a trespasser in the established routine she’d built with Horace.
“You won’t speak to me.” His mistake was the stern bite at the end of his sentence. “Yes, that is unkind.” When he was sad, she had no defenses whatsoever. But she could resist anger. Match it. Surpass it.
“Not speaking is the kindest thing I can do at the moment.”
She mounted the back stairs and pushed through the hanging curtain to the surgical theater.
“Nora,” he called behind her. Just as she emerged into the hallway off the parlor, Julia appeared in her wrap and slippers.
Nora rearranged her face so Julia knew the ominous glare was not for her.
“A messenger came for you a few minutes ago.” Julia lowered her eyebrows in concern as Daniel appeared, his expressionequally perturbed. Her words slowed to a crawl. “The midwife, Mrs. Howell, asking for assistance. Harry’s getting dressed.”
Nora glanced at her taffeta dress. “Tell him not to bother. I’ll go right away, as soon as I change my clothes. And tell the driver not to untack the horse.” Nora could pack her bag in the dispensary and hang her dress on the linen wardrobe there. No need to even go upstairs if Julia fetched her work clothes.
Julia sent her a questioning look before hurrying off.
“Harry could still go, if you want to talk.”
She hadn’t forgotten Daniel, though she’d angled herself to avoid seeing any part of him.
“Were you going to apologize?” She bit into the words like a hard apple.
Quiet. With her face pointed away from him, she had no idea what expression he wore.
“I was.” The courtesy in his voice made her close her eyes. She needed headache powders before she left.
“How benevolent of you.”
He sighed.
Whatever either of them did or said at this point would only damage things further. “I’m going to pack my bag.” She swept past him, her stiff chin wavering a millimeter.
If she let herself feel or think, she’d dissolve. She’d walled off the terrible truth all evening—that she harbored a secret that now felt as disloyal as his. Even as she accused him, she felt the hypocrisy burning a slow path through her soul, like a flame inching along a wick. With stiff shoulders, she descended the dark stairwell to the back of the hospital, treading quietly to avoid waking any patients or drawing the orderly’s attention.He’d pepper her with questions, and she could barely manage her own breathing.
When she left ten minutes later, Daniel was nowhere to be seen.
And when she returned in the murky hours of dawn, he’d been called away to his own case.
