“No, Peter, no.Leave,por favor.You should not see measí.”
“I am your husband.I have seen you in all manner of conditions.”He brushed a hand over her hair, her curls tangled in disarray.“Tell me how you ended up here alone.Did someone leave you here?I will deal with them myself.”He scoured his mind, thinking of who could possibly know of their residence here.Did someone from the army find her and try to silence her?He would hunt them down.
“I wanted to go for a walk.”
“You should have been taking asiesta.That is what Elena said!”
“But I had to escape thedesastre.”
“What disaster?Esperanza?Is she all right?”
“No, thedesastrein my mind.”Finally, Ana’s dark eyes cracked open as they poured out hot, large tears, tracking stripes down her dust-caked face.Her eyes were distant, unseeing.She looked haunted.
Peter was familiar with the mental distress that a traumatic injury could bring.He had seen many panicked states among his soldiers upon suffering a serious blow.Ana herself had endured a very difficult lying-in, which is why it was so distressing that she would have ended up so far from home.
“You are in no state to be exerting yourself in such a manner.”
“But if I stayed inside any longer, I would have drowned.Me vuelvo loca.”
“So you do not wish to be trapped inside any longer?”That much, Peter understood.But what could she mean by saying she would have drowned?
“Sí.”
“Shall we make arrangements for you to have a place to rest with Esperanza out of doors on the balcony?”
“Perhaps it would help.Perhaps not.”Her eyes were frozen in a distant, enraptured fear, reminding him of her state during their escape from San Sebastián.Her silence had echoed through their journey.But she had never looked so defeated.
“Come, we need to get you home.Mr.Smith will have a horse and cart we can use.”She was in no condition to ride on Warrior with him.
Peter stood, scooped Ana into his arms, and grabbed Warrior’s reins.He felt something warm trickle down his arm.Blood.The hems of Ana’s skirts were spattered with it.“Blazes,” Peter cursed as he hurried his steps, soon bursting through the chapel doors.“Mr.Smith, please help me!”
Bending down, Peter laid Ana gently on the long, wooden pew.
“Ana, it appears that you are bleeding, and I need to examine...”Peter looked up at Ana’s face, only to see that she had paled and fallen into unconsciousness.He would not delay any further, despite the momentary hesitation he felt at lifting her skirts.He was her husband and needed to know what care she required.
The large vicar stayed at a distance once he saw Peter lifting Ana’s skirts.Her feet or legs were not cut from her long walk.Instead, blood had trickled down her legs after soaking through her stockings and underclothes.Clearly this was an injury related to her recent lying-in and rough recovery.
Fear stabbed through Peter, just as violently as any battle wound.He did not know much of what was required of a woman’s body during childbirth, but he could imagine it to be quite extensive, even in the months following.He would not diagnose the seriousness of her condition himself, not when it could put his wife at risk.
“Mr.Smith, I need you to take Warrior and ride for the physician, as quickly as possible.”
Chapter 35
July 7, 1814, Abbeygate, Surrey Hills, England
Peter sat at Ana’s bedside, running his fingers over her hands.It had been hours, but he would not leave her.He needed her to know she wasn’t alone when she woke.
But why had she been so desperate that she ran from the house?
Running from trouble was something Peter was familiar with.When life at Heathridge Hall had become too dangerous, too complicated, he had run and enlisted.Even now, a small, scared part of him worried that if being a husband or father proved too distressing for him, he would be forced to run again.He cared so greatly for Ana; he would never abandon her.But if he started to feel that he was creating more discomfort in her life than he was safety, he would have no option but to leave.But it was a difficult thing to feel needed as a husband, father, and protector when Ana appeared so distressed by his presence.
So distressed that she would leave the house unattended and try to run away by herself.
Being witness to her pain was an agony Peter wished to forget.But he would not leave her now, or ever.She needed him.They needed each other to heal from the great challenges they had endured together.
“Mami?” Ana whimpered, her voice audibly clogged with emotion and exhaustion.
Peter shook his head to clear his complicated thoughts and leaned in closer, “Soy yo, Peter.I’m here.”
