Chapter Seven
Kit walked into the parlor, straightening his waistcoat as he did so. He had not wanted to leave his chamber, but Barrymore had been quite insistent that he change so he didn’t fall ill. It had rather reminded him of when he was a child and the old butler had been an authority figure.
As he entered the room, he came to a stop. Matthew and Isabel were sitting on the settee together. Her arms were around him and she was murmuring soft words in his ear. Both looked pale, drawn, and for a moment Kit considered just slipping out to grant them their privacy. But Isabel looked up before he could and got to her feet with a gentle smile.
“Ah, Kit. Are you well?” she asked.
He nodded slowly. “Any word about Miss Carlton?”
“Amelia let us know the young lady will be fine,” Isabel reassured him. “Diana is still with her. And your sister is with Adelaide—they’re getting her dried off and taken care of. I think they intend to send her here to you in a short while.”
She moved closer and glanced at Matthew. He had not risen from the couch, and stared at a spot on the floor with a faraway stare. “Talk to him,” she whispered.
Kit jolted. He had been so wrapped up in his own part in the drama of the day that he hadn’t been thinking clearly about how it might affect Matthew. After all, he had witnessed a drowning before. It had not had a happy ending like today.
“I will,” he said, stepping toward his friend.
“Love,” Isabel said.
Matthew jerked his gaze toward her and gave a weak smile. “Yes?”
“I’m going to check on the baby,” she said. “And then I will find Lucas so you can have your questions answered.”
Matthew pushed to his feet suddenly. “I love you.”
Her expression softened. “I never doubt that. Never.”
Then she slipped from the room. Matthew all but collapsed back on the settee and Kit took a careful place beside him. “You look like hell.”
Matthew managed half a smile at the old form of ribbing the friends had shared for years. Decades. But Kit could see it would take more than a private joke to free Matthew from his dark thoughts.
“You saved my sister,” he said.
Matthew nodded. “Christ, Kit, when I saw that boat flip, I swear I was taken back in time.”
“To Angelica,” Kit said gently. She had been Matthew’s fiancée what seemed like a lifetime ago. And she had died in an accident almost identical to today’s.
“Everything seemed to slow to half time and all I could do was run.”
“When I see you so happy with Isabel, it is easy to forget that you went through such an ordeal,” Kit said. “But I understand it better now. God knows I will never forget today until the day I draw my last breath.”
“You will not,” Matthew said firmly. He glanced toward the door. “Speaking of Isabel, I feel terrible. My reaction was strong, I know it. So was hers…after all, Angelica was her cousin. It is our shared loss. But I hope it doesn’t hurt her, or make her think that I still hold Angelica in my heart.”
“One only has to spend a moment with you two to see that Isabel holds your whole heart,” Kit said softly. “I’m certain she understands that you are reacting to the shock.” For a moment the two men were quiet, each lost in thought. “Why is she getting Lucas?”
Matthew bent his head. “He did that thing…breathed into Sarah. Some kind of kiss of life.”
Kit shifted. He’d thought it was a kiss, too, when Lucas had begun. “Yes, I’ve never seen such a thing.”
“I want to know what it was,” Matthew said, his voice shaking. “And how to do it.”
Kit reached out to squeeze his arm. “Of course you do.”
Matthew sighed heavily and then shook his head. “What about you? How are you holding up?”
“I’m…terrible, honestly. All I can do is think back over and over to my sister’s terrified face. And to how blue Sarah was. I thought she was dead, Matthew. I thought she was dead and I—”
Matthew lifted both brows. “You what?”
