Daddy's Here(85)

The horse whinnied but made no attempt at motion. Cursing it, Edward stepped down and glanced at its feet. Was it injured?

“You are the most stubborn of creatures,” he snapped as he saw no sign of any injury.

At the sound of his voice a moan rose up behind him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he turned, wondering if the ghost stories about the moors were true after all. The moan came again and he sought out its source. “Who’s there?” he called out.

“Papa?” a weak voice replied. “Is that you?”

He ran to the side of the road and there in the mud was Laura laid on her side. He knelt beside her as she lifted her head. Touching her cheek he exhaled heavily. “You are like ice,” he cried, pulling off his coat and wrapping it round her.

“Is it really you?” she replied, her voice weak.

“It is,” he said, lifting her onto the horse, no easy task as she was coated in mud. “What happened? No, do not speak. Let us get you home first. You will freeze to death if we remain here any longer.”

He held her in place in front of him as he turned the horse and headed home. He shook in head in wonder. His horse had known. Lord only knew how but the beast had known she was there.

When they reached the house, he carried her inside, yelling for Mrs Flanders. “Prepare my bath,” he said. “She needs heat at once.”

“I have your bath ready. I thought you would want it when you returned. The maids have kept it topped up with hot water.”

“Well done.” He walked towards the stairs, carrying Laura’s prone figure in his arms.

“What happened to her? Is she all right?”

“We will discuss it later Mrs Flanders. For now I must warm her.”





Chapter 15





Laura had given up any chance of rescue when Edward found her. She had walked along the road for as long as she could, the view never seeming to change. All the while the rain continued to fall and she grew colder. Her entire body felt numb as she stumbled and slid through the thick mud.

When she fell the first time she was able to get up after some effort but the second time she tripped, she remained down for some time, weeping at the injustice of it all. To think that Maria would do all this just for money. Leave her to die in the middle of nowhere.

It was fury that got Laura up again, kept her moving forwards long after she should have succumbed. But even fury cannot overpower the elements. Eventually she stumbled for a final time, her eyes closing. She lay barely conscious in the mud, rolling onto her side and letting out a low moan of despair. Go to sleep, her mind whispered to her. It will all be well after you have had a little nap. You will be warm if you sleep.

She did her best to ignore that whispering voice but her eyes slowly closed nonetheless. She did not hear the horse approaching until it stopped and whinnied loudly. Blinking mud from her eyes she lifted her head and glanced towards it just in time to hear a voice cursing it for stopping.

“Papa?” she asked, seeing only a dark shadow against the even darker night.

When Edward had swept her up into his arms, she was certain it was the last dream of her tortured mind, a fantasy to bring warmth to her heart even as she froze to death. It was long after the journey home had begun that she realised she was alive. Not only that but he had saved her.

When they reached the house, she was still as cold as ice and the sight of the bath was like manna from heaven to her eyes. She barely noticed she was in Edward’s bedroom, caring only to thaw her frozen body.

Slowly Edward lifted her into the tub, watching her closely as she sank under the surface of the water. To think how close she came to death terrified her and she made herself focus on Edward to distract herself. He seemed a different person. Gone was the anger and fury that seemed ever present in his eyes. It had been replaced by concern, as if his emotional barriers had fallen in the face of the peril she had faced.

At first the water seemed to burn her skin, the heat being barely above lukewarm but to her freezing limbs almost intolerable. She groaned as Edward knelt beside her, a cloth in his hand.

“Do not attempt to speak,” he said, “just lie still.”

She did as he asked, wondering again if this might be a dream. The cloth was dipped in the water and then he lovingly stroked her face with it, teasing the mud from her hair with infinite patience, smiling warmly at her all the while.

“You cannot be Edward,” she whispered whilst he continued to remove the thick mud from her cheeks.

“Oh?” he replied. “And why not?”

“You are smiling.”

“I am smiling because you are alive.”

“Thanks to you.”