Her hand upon his startled him, and he looked over at her quickly. "My husband, did you say?" she asked softly. "Then can you hold me? I'm so cold."
He rolled closer to her and snuggled her against him carefully, stroking her hair back from her face. "This is almost how we met, you know. It was in a huge snowstorm. There was a carriage accident. You were so brave. You helped me through it. All of us.
"Even when I wasn't sure we would survive, you were. Your absolute certainty lit my way in the darkness. We got to safety and I woke up the next morning with you beside me in the bed, keeping me warm just like this. It was one of the happiest days of my life."
"So we were in love then, right from the start?" she asked quietly after a time.
He was relieved that she seemed to have been able to follow what he had told her. That had to be a good sign. "I think so. I mean, I'm sure in my case. I loved you from the moment I laid eyes on you. I think you felt for me. I needed to be sure, and then we married."
"And I fell down?" she asked. "That's how I got hurt?"
"I think so. I found you under a tree in the garden. You hit your head against a tree root."
"I'm a bit old to be climbing trees, aren't I?"
"Yet I've seen you do it. Like a little monkey, you are," he said with tears in his eyes, recalling the day she had indulged in that activity with Ellen and Georgina Jerome.
She laughed softly, and pulled him closer to her. "I'll see you in the morning. So tired." She yawned prettily, like a tiny kitten, and slept.
Blake held her close and finally he too managed to drift off into a dreamless slumber.
When he awoke the next morning after his first decent night's sleep in a week, he immediately ordered a bath in their room.
He had hardly taken care of his own toilette, and thought he had better shave and tend to his hair before he scared Arabella completely. She seemed to coming out of the torpor which had gripped her for a week.
He had a good long soak behind the screen while she slept, put on some fresh clothes, and resumed his place by her side once more.
She awoke at about ten and declared she was hungry. For the first time she was able to sit up and shakily feed herself.
She was silent for the most part, and Blake did not speak to her about anything other than the food and the weather.
On the one hand, he wanted her to remember him, but he would just as soon she forgot the dreadful thing which had happened to her. He knew she was young and strong, with a good constitution. He just had to have faith and be patient.
He got her up out of bed, washed and examined her carefully without being too obvious. So far, so good, though she could not get well fast enough for him. Even the sight of the fading bruises was enough to make him tremble at the thought that however bad it was, it could have been so much worse.
After she was clean and had eaten, Arabella began to ask the inevitable questions. For the most part he answered her truthfully, trying to jog her memory with talk of their life in London and in Somerset.
"It sounds like we have a very good life together."
"We do, love. I adore you, and would do anything for you."
"Why are we staying at an inn when we have so many friends?"
"I wanted to give you time to rest and heal. I thought you might not want people to see you so badly injured."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you're bruised."
"So that's why you get that funny look on your face when you look at me. I must be hideous."
He tried to hold back the tears. "That funny look as you call it is love. Even bruised, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on."
"Very sweet, but can I have a mirror?"
"No, Arabella, really."
"A mirror, please," she said firmly.
Blake took the one out of her toilette set he had bought her, and handed it over reluctantly.
She gasped. "Goodness. How can you bear to look at me?"
"It doesn't matter, darling. None of this was your fault. It was an accident. You fell and hurt yourself. No matter what happens, I will always love you, do you hear me?"
"Is anything broken?"
"No. Luckily not. Once those bruises around your eyes disappear no one will ever know anything had ever happened. You'll be well rested, and we can go wherever you like, Lyme, Brighton, up north."
"Why don't we just go home?"
He shook his head. "It's a bit too far to go, and they don't expect me back for some time. I thought we could make the most of our holiday."
She nodded. "It sounds nice, when I'm feeling better. But right now I wonder if I might remember more things if I'm in familiar surroundings."