“Thank the God of Heaven,” she says.
I stand far from either. My feet feel like ice blocks, but I take a step forward. “How is my daughter doing?”
The princess puts her hand up. “Stop. It took Lady Lydia a long time to fall asleep. She’s very upset. Perhaps you should return to your dacha across the river until everyone is better.”
“The Wilcox house?” My heart pounds. I don’t want to be banished from here, from either Jahleel or Lydia. “No, ma’am. I’m staying until all is well.”
“Staying this time?” She makes a sigh that sounds like disbelief. “You’re brazen to stand here, when you’ve robbed my son and granddaughter of so much time. With the sickness, no one knows how much they have left.”
“I’m guilty.” I go to her rocking chair. I bow but then look at her, eye to eye. “I’m wrong, very wrong, ma’am. I’ve been wrong about so many things. But I love my daughter. I’ll do anything for her. And I want Jahleel well. And I want to love Lydia in the open.”
“It’s Lady Lydia.” She scowls at me. This rebuke is better than a slap. I feel the coldness all the way to my wavering spine.“Rest assured, Lady Hampton, I intend to give her all she needs.” Her tone is cold, but then becomes more firm, more dire. “If anything happens to my son, I’ll take his daughter from this foul place immediately. We’ll not be back.”
I want to touch her, beg her. Instead, I look away to my daughter. “Please reconsider, not for me but for the medical care. The Carews have improved her life. She’s suffered less under their care.”
Lydia stirs under her blankets. “Princess Grama.” My child’s eyes open. The little wedges of the gray irises have a watery glow. “Papa Duke?”
“He still lives,” I say. “He’s getting stronger.”
Now those eyes widen. A burst of smile shows, then disappears. “But you, you lie, Katherine.”
My hand trembles. I back away, but not before saying, “Not this time. Not again.”
I head out of the room and return to my spot on the floor outside Jahleel’s door.
I did this.
I cry for Lydia, and for the man I’ve wronged. I need one more chance to prove myself to them. I’ll do anything to regain Lydia and Jahleel’s trust.
Chapter 17
JAHLEEL—A DEAL ATDAWN
Light streams through the window, bright and joyous. The velvet curtains remain parted as I asked. That’s good. I must still be in command of Anya House, and of myself.
Fully dressed in an emerald waistcoat with robin-blue threading and silver buttons, I sit up. The pain and fever have left. The heavens have spared me. I glance up at my ceiling and smile at the painted saints.
That means I have to keep the promise I made when I lay here. I’ll fix things for Katherine and Lydia. Get her a new husband and find me a new bride. Those promises were more easily made when I thought I might die.
Blinking, I see Carew sitting in a chair beside me. He’s awake, seated next to his sleeping wife. He’s holding her hand and reading.
“Ah, you’ve decided to rejoin us, Your Grace,” the physician says. “You missed the proposal.”
Proposal? Did I … Did Katherine? I wince. “Explain.”
“The vicar inPride and Prejudice. He’s not marrying Elizabeth, but her neighbor.”
That sounds more reasonable. The Elizabeth character is too smart for the not-very-clever Mr. Collins. “I will have to have that part read to me.”
Carew stands and stretches. “Well, now that you are on themend, I get my wife back. You’ll need to find someone else to read to you.”
“I have some ideas.”
He goes to his bag and brings magnifiers to look at my eyes. “I think a lucky candidate might be the woman who bathed you. Your former, maybe current wife.”
“Katherine.”
“Yes. Against my directions. There’s nothing in the iris.” Carew rears back. “I’ve been around this family long enough to know you can’t convince a Wilcox woman of anything she doesn’t want to do.”
