“What was I supposed to do?”she asked in an effort to make him communicate reasonably.“Give up on life while you moved on with yours?Wait for you even though I had no reason to think you were waiting for me?”
“Did he bed you?”he asked without looking at her.
“No.”She swallowed, clasped her hands together tightly, and forced the truth past her lips.“There were heated embraces, kisses, some…intimate touching, but nothing more.”
“Then you remain—”
“Pure.”
Not even Edward had taken her to his bed.Their wedding night had been nonexistent, spent apart.She’d heard him leave the house at some point and had no idea when he’d returned.They’d slept in separate rooms since, with the adjoining door between them locked from his side.
A soft snort provided her with his opinion of what he thought about her choice of word.And then the carriage rolled to a halt.
“We’re here,” he announced and opened the door.
He climbed out, then helped her down and issued instructions to the driver.She started toward the steps but was quickly yanked back against Edward’s side.His fingers curled roughly around her upper arm, instilling in her a measure of anger she’d not known since childhood, when Mrs.Hasham had unleashed her cruelty on the children placed in her care.
“You will not embarrass me in public by striding off on your own,” he hissed in her ear.“We walk in together.”
“As you wish, my lord,” she told him bitterly.
Thankfully, he chose not to answer, allowing her the reprieve she needed in order to compose herself.It would be best if Samantha didn’t bear witness to Melody’s problems.Whatever her reason for summoning her to the hospital, she surely had worse issues to deal with.The last thing Melody wanted was to add to that.
As she discovered a few moments later, she was correct.The raw panic on Mr.Croft’s face when she and Edward arrived outside the room Samantha presently occupied was like a punch to the gut.The anguished scream that came from within sliced through Melody’s heart.
Edward’s hold on her arm loosened, and she sensed all the tension from earlier dissolve in the face of the possible danger his friend’s wife might be in.
“You’re here.”Croft’s words were hoarse.
Melody sent her husband a quick look, saw that he struggled to find the right words, and promptly decided to take the lead.She reached for Croft’s hand and gave it a squeeze.“Of course we are.I consider Samantha my sister, and I know Edward thinks of you as his brother.”
It was time for them all to stop feuding, or they risked not seeing each other again until there was a funeral to attend.Heaven forbid.
“Adrian, I…” Edward glanced at the door to his right.“What happened?”
“She’s having the baby,” Croft said and scrubbed his face with his palm.“It’s two weeks early.Her water didn’t even break, so Doctor Moore said he’d have to do it for her.Should have seen the tool he produced—I snatched it right out of his hand and threatened to murder him with it.”
Another scream had him raking his hair with his fingers.
“Were you forced to leave her side?”Melody asked.It was the only explanation she could think of for Croft being out here in the hallway.He was not the sort of man who’d stand idly by while the doctor and midwife tended his wife.
“Two orderlies came to remove me.They’re still in there in case I try to go back in.”
“How long has it been since Samantha went into labor?”Edward asked, his voice low, soft, compassionate — so unlike the tone Melody had grown accustomed to.
“I, um…” Croft collected his pocket watch and blinked a few times.“Nearly two hours, I believe.According to what my butler told me, she left the house around eight o’clock, and it’s approaching ten o’clock now.”
A series of groans came from the room, then another scream.
“What do I do?”Croft asked, his eyes bleaker than the moors in winter.“I cannot lose her.She’s everything to me.Without her, my life has no meaning.”
Edward set one hand on Croft’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.“She will get through this, Adrian.”
“You don’t know that.Mama didn’t.She…” Croft swung away, his posture hunched as he swiped at his eyes.
It was both strange and horrible to see this otherwise fierce and powerful man brought so low, but Melody understood it.Her own heart trembled at the idea of Samantha not making it through this.
“Do you think I’ll be allowed in there?”she asked.
