“Please, God, don’t let them be too late.”Nora turned back to Ezekiel, tears streaming down her cheeks.“Your mum didn’t get the full dose, so she has to be okay.Right?”
He had no words.No hopeful assurances.How could he when he’d been here before, cradling a dying Ma in his arms?He should know how to save her, or even what to say to her.But he was just as helpless as before.No.More so.For he had no idea what was taking Ma from him or if there was any hope of recovery.
Ma’s agonizing cry quieted into an odd euphoria that left her smiling at him.Reallysmiling at him, like melancholia had never robbed them of the treasured bond they’d once had.Her glassy eyes looked peculiar, and it took a few seconds to realize her pupils had shrunk to pinpoints.For several minutes, she mumbled sweet pleasantries about him and Nora, making predictions of a happy future and her hope to see it all.It would have been wonderful were it not so out of character for her.Death was a cruel tormentor, offering him a picture of everything he wanted yet drawing the flame of destruction ever nearer to its edge.All too soon, Ma was nodding off in the middle of sentences, then words.She moved from relaxed to limp in his arms.Her skin turned pale and clammy, her breaths slow and shallow.Was this it?After all he’d been through, all he’d done to fight for a future with her in it, was he to lose her now?Here in this place of chaos and fear?
Somehow Ma revived enough to take Nora’s hand and move it atop Ezekiel’s.A single breath, a single word was all she had.“Yoke.”
Then her eyes closed, and she lay still.
He looked to Nora.Surely he’d heard wrong.“Did she sayyoke?”
Nora nodded and then immediately burst into sobs.
He couldn’t latch on to why that word was so important.He couldn’t breathe, let alone think.
Orderlies rushed into the room with a stretcher.Though he was there, being jostled by their movements as they lifted Ma from him, it was as if another person experienced it.Hesawher still form laid out on the canvas and rushed from the room, but he couldn’tfeelanything.Just a hollow emptiness as his mind failed to work.He should stand.Go where they were taking her.But as the chaos rumbled around him he could do nothing.He just sat there with empty arms and Nora leaning against him, sobbing like they’d said their last goodbye.
Had they?Was Ma really gone forever and he hadn’t even told her one more time that he loved her?
Chapter Thirty-Eight
THE NEXT DAYS WERE Ablur of stress and grief.Ma hadn’t died.Not yet.She lay with an erratic heartbeat and struggling breaths in the hospital bed before Ezekiel.The doctor said she’d been overdosed with morphine and it was up to God which way Ma went.Ezekiel prayed it was toward healing.At least not having a job meant he could stay by her side.
Graham laid a hand on Ezekiel’s shoulder, startling him out of his vigilant watch for Ma’s each breath.“How is she?”
“Her breathing is a little more even, I think, but she still hasn’t awoken for anything longer than a few sips of broth.”
“I’m praying for her and for you.”Graham settled into a creaking chair opposite Ezekiel.“I’ve just come from meeting with Marcellus and Detective Hall.”
Ezekiel snapped toward Graham.“And?”
Thanks to the testimonies of inmates being considered unreliable, Nora was still stuck in that putrid boil raised from the depths of Hades.Dr.Chalfant had believed Mrs.Reed’s word over theirs.According to her, Ezekiel and the others had broken into the room as she was subduing two hysterical patients and had misinterpreted the situation.No one in the hall could say theysawMrs.Reed’s hands around Nora’s throat, and Mrs.Reed explained away Nora’s bruises as the result of Ma’s attack on Nora.Had Dr.Chalfant even lookedat Ma?Even before this, she didn’t have the strength to squash a bug, much less choke someone capable of fighting back.
“Nurse Ingram testified to the ruse Mrs.Reed used to get her and the orderly out of the room.The old bat was smart enough to question Nurse Rhodes when she arrived at isolation and didn’t administer the dose to Katherine.Between that, the evidence that Mrs.Reed was hired under a fabricated name, and Detective Hall’s investigative notes predating the incident, Dr.Chalfant has conceded that Nora’s situation warrants more consideration.”
“That’s it?Her situation warrants moreconsideration?”Perhaps it was the doctor who should be placed in an asylum.He clearly didn’t have any wits.
“She’s a ward of the state and still seen as an unstable patient who needs care.With charges being brought against Mrs.Reed and witnesses having confirmed that the Winston in the hospital is the same one Katherine attacked, Marcellus is consulting with a lawyer to see what can be done.Detective Hall has received the police report from New York, but we’re still waiting on the one from Scotland Yard.The battle for Nora’s, and even Katherine’s, freedom is far from over.Dr.Chalfant still won’t allow either of them visitors.”
Ezekiel felt sick.How long would Nora have to suffer alone?Did she even know that Ma yet lived?
God, why?I’m trying to trust, and I know trusting You doesn’t mean all will end in the way I think it should, but this is hard.I’m at the end of myself, and I don’t know what to do.
“Come to supper tonight,” Graham said.“Marcellus will be there, and I think it would be good for him to get to know you.”
The invitation was kind, but the last thing Ezekiel wanted was to visit with the man who blamed him for all that had transpired—even if Ezekiel’s pantry was empty.“I can’t.Tristan’s been alone all day, and he’s not been himself lately.He’s actually been begging for my attention and not just fish.”
“Bring him too.The missus has always had a soft spot for thatbeast.”Graham stood.“I’m not taking no for an answer.If you’re not there by seven o’clock, we’ll come to you.”
“Fine, but I’m only staying for supper.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Ma’s rhythmic breaths filled the silence Graham left behind.Never had Ezekiel felt so helpless.
Ma came home in a still-weakened state a week later, and to his surprise, the Guardians appeared at his doorstep the same day, declaring the Beaumonts their next project.Miss Gibson had procured a fainting couch so Ma could rest more comfortably in the parlor, where it was easier to care for her.Over the following days and weeks, the Guardians worked on an alternating schedule to help with any needs he and Ma had.They entertained Ma and helped immensely with Tristan.Miss Plane even cut his claws so the beast did less damage to people and furniture.Miss Pelton did a fair amount of cooking with supplies the women daily brought—often inviting Detective Hall and Mr.Davis to join them for supper.Ezekiel would have preferred silence and solitude, but he had to admit the intrusion was helpful for more than just taking care of Ma.Mr.Davis wasn’t Ezekiel’s best friend, but the forced time with him had allowed them to come to a truce.Eventually, they might even like each other.The Guardians’ presence also allowed Ezekiel to leave the house to search for a job.
Two weeks of searching only proved Crosley had been true to his word.Every reputable opera house had turned him away, even when he’d practically begged for any position, no matter how lowly.Graham’s vouching for him hadn’t helped either.It was a humbling and humiliating process.His last hope for a theatre position lay in the Over-the-Rhine district.His German was passable for short conversations, but he doubted it was good enough for anythingmore.But that was a worry for tomorrow.Today was one of those rare days when the Guardians were absent.
