Seven Minutes in Heaven(93)
She could float by herself.
She could find a husband as well. She sent thanks into the air, thanks and a farewell to Andrew.
Another farewell.
She made little waving motions with her hands, the way that Ward had taught her. Her hair worked itself free of its loose braid and spread around her in the water, making her feel like a mermaid.
The cool soothed her eyes and she tried turning over again and floating on her face, but only for a minute. She had done it. That was enough for now.
Her feet found the bottom and she ducked down to slick back her hair and return to the shore, but stopped in surprise.
“Mrs. Snowe,” Otis called, “I hope you don’t mind that I came down to the water. Jarvis wanted to say goodbye.”
He was sitting on the big rock, arms wrapped around his knees. Jarvis was next to him, belly up, enjoying the sunshine.
Eugenia walked toward the shore until the water was lapping just above her breasts. “I am happy to see you, Otis. I do hope you’ll visit me in London.”
He looked down and gave Jarvis’s stomach a scratch. “I thought perhaps you would visit me at Eton.”
“I shall,” she promised. “I shall send hampers full of lovely things for you and Marmaduke.”
“If I share rooms with him,” Otis said. “I might be put with some other boy.” His hand closed on Jarvis and the sleepy rat squeaked in protest and woke up, struggling free.
“I shall make certain you are placed with Marmaduke,” Eugenia promised. “One of the school’s governors is a close friend of my father’s.”
“Lizzie said that the bishop was one of your father’s friends as well.”
“Yes, he is. Are you worried that Jarvis will fall off?” The rat was exploring the side of the rock that led to deep water, the side where she and the children were forbidden to swim.
“Oh no,” Otis said. “Jarvis knows better. He never jumps if he might hurt himself. Is your father acquainted with everyone important?”
“He’s a marquis, and the peerage is small. As you will learn yourself, Otis, once you grow up.”
“A marquis is better than a lord, isn’t he?”
“It’s not a question of better than,” Eugenia said. “It’s—”
She heard a splash, and Otis’s shriek cut off her reply. “Jarvis! Jarvis fell in!”
“Don’t worry,” Eugenia said, pushing through the water toward the rock.
“I’m coming, Jarvis!” Otis shrieked, throwing himself from the rock into the dark water on the far side.
Eugenia uttered a low curse, put her face in the water, and kicked. She moved her arms and legs the way she’d seen Ward do. Within a minute, to her surprise, she was on the other side of the rock.
Otis was thrashing in the water; he hadn’t gone under, thank goodness. When she saw him, she stopped kicking and promptly sank. Water filled her mouth and she plummeted into colder water.
Terror seized her and reverberated to her fingers and toes like a lightning bolt.
No! Otis needed her. She fought her way back to the surface.
She emerged sputtering and choking. Otis was still crying and thrashing in a circle, sending plumes of water in every direction. There was no sign of Jarvis.
Eugenia’s heart fell. She shouted, “Otis, please be calm!”
He looked very small with his hair plastered to his skull. His mouth was open, screaming “Jarvis! Jarvis!” over and over.
At least he wasn’t sinking.
“You must go to shore,” Eugenia shouted. She tipped forward to try to move toward him, which caused another panic-inducing plunge toward the bottom of the lake. But she kept her head and broke the surface again.
Taking a gulp of air, she shouted in a voice learned from many governesses, “Otis, get out of the water this instant so I can save Jarvis!”
His scream broke off in mid-air. He stared at her in surprise, stopped thrashing, and promptly disappeared.
Heart pounding with fear, Eugenia swam to where he’d gone under, filled her lungs, and let herself sink. The water was murky, darker and colder here where the lake was deepest and the sun never quite warmed it. There! Otis was just to her right, struggling about, his hair flying around his face.
Her lungs were aching, but she reached him, grabbed his shirt, and kicked upward with all her might.
They broke the surface coughing. Now they had to swim around the rock somehow. Otis was clinging to her shoulder, and he was surprisingly heavy.
Just as she took a breath to start kicking, she heard a bellow and saw Ward charging down the lawn. “Your brother’s coming,” she gasped.
“Jarvis!” Otis wailed.
A moment later, Ward grabbed the boy first by one arm and then by his waist. As Otis was hoisted into the air, Ward’s eye caught Eugenia’s. He shouted something at her but she sank below the water before she could catch it, feeling pure relief at having Otis’s weight lifted from her.