Authors: Ellen Gable
James Smith
approached David and reached out his hand to open David’s jacket. David swung
a punch and knocked him to the ground. James Smith was rubbing his jaw and
frowning.
“Is that the way
you wanna play, Curly?” John Smith turned around and faced Liam. The man raised
his hand and rammed the gun handle into Liam’s head. Liam’s eyes widened. His
head jerked backwards, his arms swung open. He fell, his head hitting the
ground with a loud crack.
“No!” screamed
David.
“Let’s get out of
here,” he heard John Smith say. Kip ran after the men, but John Smith turned
around. “If you don’t stop right there, I’ll shoot you, Darkie.” Kip stopped
and watched the men run to the carriage.
David’s attention
was now focused on his brother. “Lee, can you hear me? Lee?” Liam was lying
sprawled and unresponsive on the ground. His head was bleeding and was turning
the dirt under him a dark crimson.
Kip picked up the
umbrella and now held it over Liam.
“Damn it!” David
yelled. “I should’ve given those bastards my money. Lee, please wake up.”
“Mr. David, I
tried to go for the gun but they were watching me like hawks.” He stopped and
stared at Liam’s unconscious form on the ground. “We got to get Mr. Liam home
quick.”
They carefully
lifted Liam into the carriage. David grabbed his coat from the seat and began
to wipe his brother dry. He laid his battered and bleeding head on his lap.
Once they began moving, David peered out the window. The thieves and their
buggy were a speck in the distance.
Chapter 22
Caroline held her
hands to her back as she stood by the window of Liam’s bedroom. Sheets of rain
raced down the glass, making it impossible to see anything outside. Rain
usually put her in a dreary mood, but now it added to her already melancholy
state of mind.
She stared at his
desk, papers stacked neatly to one side, an ink well and various items to the
other.
In the middle of
the night, she had a horrible nightmare that she was all alone and the darkness
was closing in on her. She woke up in a cold sweat and was unable to return to
sleep.
Today her husband
would be returning home, then she could dismiss the foolish notion which seemed
to trouble her these days.
At that moment,
their unborn child turned within her. “Only two more months and we’ll get to
hold you in our arms, Sweet,” she whispered as she caressed her large abdomen.
Almost instantly, the rain stopped, the remaining droplets racing down the
outside of the window. All of a sudden, she shivered. Caroline felt warm,
perhaps overly so. Her heart began beating rapidly. She opened her mouth but
was unable to breathe.
Something’s
wrong with Liam
. Caroline straightened. She took a few deep breaths. “Stop
it, Caroline. You’re becoming hysterical over nothing.” She left his room and
lingered in the hallway, unable to decide whether she wanted to read in her
room or in the parlor. She opened the door to her room and settled in the
chair by the fireplace. She began to read, but could not focus on the words.
She shivered again, despite the warmth of the room. Worry now took root in her
and she clapped the book shut and began to pace.
“Miss Caroline,
come quickly!” The urgency in the servant’s tone made her rush through the
hallway. Caroline stepped down the stairs and looked out the front door. Kip
and David were lifting someone out of the carriage.
“No!” She
screamed when she saw Liam’s dark jacket and his blond hair. For a moment, she
stood paralyzed on the steps, her mouth open to speak, but unable to form any
coherent words. Finally, as they were bringing him up the stairs, she
screamed, “What happened?” She looked down at her husband’s face, his eyes
closed in unconsciousness, his skin ashen, the back of his head bleeding.
Kip, his clothes
and hair dripping, recounted to Caroline the overturned carriage, the
disingenuous thieves demanding money, then hurting Liam. Caroline led them
down the hallway and opened Liam’s door.
Kip and David
laid Liam on his bed, then Kip began to remove Liam’s wet clothes. Her husband
smelled of rain, dirt, blood.
Caroline glanced
towards David. Like Kip, his clothes were soaked. He wore no hat and his wet
hair hung in dark strips around his head. Drops slid down his cheeks like
tears. He stood still, his eyes focused on Liam’s unconscious form, his white
shirt splattered with blood. He remained silent throughout Kip’s speech.
Kip continued.
“He’s not responding. His head likely got a bad pounding, but I think it’s
where he fell afterwards.”
“Kip, you need to
get the doctor immediately, please.”
“Yes, Ma’am.
I’ll bring him back straight away.”
Caroline
whispered into her husband’s ear, “Liam, can you hear me?”
He was lying
unresponsive on the bed, his eyes closed, his breathing steady.
“God, please
allow him to be fine. Please let him wake.” She glanced at David.
“This is my fault
that Liam’s hurt.”
“Your fault?”
“I wouldn’t give
that – I wouldn’t give the thieves my money.” His head was lowered; his
shoulders were slumped as he stared blankly at Liam on the bed. “I didn’t
think he would hurt us. I don’t understand why he hurt Liam and not me.”
* * *
A few hours
later, the doctor approached Caroline and David by Liam’s bedside. “Mrs.
O’Donovan, Mr. O’Donovan.” He turned towards David. “I need some time with
your brother to evaluate his injuries. It will likely be necessary to
transport him to the hospital. So if you could escort your sister-in-law out
to the hallway?”
“Yes, of
course.” He touched Caroline’s elbow, but she pulled away. She kissed Liam’s
forehead, the top of his blond head, then she and David walked out of the
room. David closed the door and stood quietly in the hallway. Caroline stared
at his shirt, still stained with her husband’s blood, a constant reminder.
Could he not have changed?
Out of the corner
of her eye, she saw someone coming toward them. “Miss Caroline?” Kip stuck his
hand in his pocket and pulled out a pocket watch. “The thieves took this from
Mr. Liam and dropped it as they were running away. I retrieved it for him.”
Caroline held her
hand out. Kip gently pressed it into her palm. It was cold and still damp
from the rainfall. She carefully placed it in the pocket of her skirt. “Thank
you, Kip.”
Jane approached
Caroline and David with a tray.
“Miss Caroline,
Mr. David, would you like something to eat or some tea?”
“No, Jane. I
don’t think I’d be able to eat.”
David shook his
head.
The doctor opened
the door. David stepped back.
“Mr. O’Donovan?”
“Yes?”
“Your brother has
a severe head injury.”
“What can you do
to make him better?”
“I’m not certain
there is anything we can do, other than to wait and watch him. Transporting
him to the hospital could make him worse. Allow him to rest and inform me if he
wakens. Good day, Mrs. O'Donovan. ” He tipped his hat.
“Mr. O’Donovan,
don’t hesitate to have your servant come and get me again if your brother’s
condition worsens.”
“Yes, of course,
Dr. Mayfield.”
“I’ll escort the
doctor downstairs, Mr. David.”
David nodded.
Caroline and
David stood awkwardly in the hallway. She brushed past him and into her
husband’s room. Outside the doorway, she heard Jane and David speaking.
“Mr. David, a
police officer is downstairs to talk to you.”
“Very well,
Jane.”
Caroline
approached her husband’s bed, then tentatively sat on the chair beside it. She
picked up Liam’s limp hand and kissed the back of it.
Wake up, Liam.
Please, wake up
.
Then she lifted
her head to the ceiling.
Please, God, allow Liam to wake up. I promise to
read the Bible every day. I promise to pray more. I will do anything. Just
let him wake up
.
The last time she
had said goodbye to her husband, it was a curt farewell. Now, she was feeling
guilty. If Liam didn’t wake up. . .no, Caroline refused to think of that
possibility. When he wakes up, she would be able to tell him how much she
loved him and how sorry she was for being so juvenile.
The darkness now
burned a hole in her chest. She immediately bolted upright to retch in the
basin on the night stand. After a few moments, she returned to sit on the chair
next to the bed. There was a quiet knock at the door.
“I’ll empty that
basin for you,” Jane offered.
“Thank you.”
* * *
David motioned
for the officer to join him in his study off the foyer. The policeman was
tall, around the same age as David, with a handlebar moustache.
“Your servant
here was telling me what happened, Mr. O’Donovan, and that your brother is
seriously injured?”
David nodded.
“Can you tell us
what happened? Which road were you on?”
“We took Wister Street. There aren’t many houses along that stretch of road. We were coming from
the Germantown train station.”
“Those appear to
be the kind of roads thieves target unsuspecting people like yourselves.”
“My servant saw
up ahead of us that a carriage had turned over and he slowed down to stop. There
were three people, two men and a woman. They told us their names were John and
James Smith.” David paused. “I suppose those weren’t their real names.”
“Unlikely.
Unless they’re imbeciles.”
David then
proceeded to give the officer a description of the criminals, that they had
asked for assistance, then had robbed them. David told him that he had knocked
the thief named James Smith down, then John Smith assaulted Liam.
“Mr. O’Donovan,
this group matches the description of some thieves who have been swindling
money from area residents. They turn their carriage over and appear to be in
need of assistance. Then they take all their victims’ money. But this is the
first instance we’ve heard of someone getting hurt.”
After a few more
questions, the officer tipped his hat. “Thank you, Mr. O’Donovan. We’ll keep
you informed if there is any news on the continuing investigation.”
David accompanied
the officer to the foyer, then watched through the side window as the man got
into his carriage and rode away. He remained there a while. He wanted to
avoid being around Caroline. She hadn’t said much, but he could see it in her
eyes. She had every right to blame him.
“Mr. David?”
“Yes, Jane?”
“Would you like
me to prepare a clean shirt for you to wear?”
He shrugged his
shoulders.
“Come, Mr.
David. I’ll take you upstairs and get you a nice clean shirt.”
He nodded and
allowed Jane to escort him upstairs.
* * *
Over the next
several hours, Caroline switched positions often, sometimes sitting beside her
husband’s bed, other times standing and studying him for signs of
consciousness.
She finally
half-reclined on his bed and laid her head on his hand. As the sun rose, light
flooded the room and removed some of darkness within her and finally, Caroline
drifted off to sleep. She wasn’t certain how long she slept, but almost
instantly, she felt Liam’s hand moving. She lifted her head and studied his
face. His eyes fluttered at first.
Caroline left his
bed for a moment and hurried to the doorway and called for Jane. She returned
to find that his eyes were open and he was smiling at her.
“Liam, I was so
frightened.”
“My. . .head
hurts,” he groaned.
She squeezed his
hand. “Liam?”
“Yes?”
“I’m so sorry for
acting like a child when you were leaving.”
“And I’m sorry
for being cross with you.”
“Lee!”
Immediately, David, Jane and Kip appeared at the doorway. He rushed to his
brother’s bedside and stood beside Caroline.
“This is my
fault.”
“No, it isn’t,
David.”
“I’m so sorry. I
should have given them my money too. I was just so damned angry that we had
been taken in like fools.”
Caroline sat on
the edge of his bed and again took hold of his hand. “I’m so relieved that
you’re awake. I was so frightened.” She placed two pillows behind his head and
he relaxed against them.
“Caroline?” Liam
said.
“Yes?”
“I. . .”
“What is it,
Liam?”
At first, his
eyes became unfocused, confused. Then his head flung back against the pillows
and he began to shake uncontrollably. Caroline gasped and jumped off the bed
as his body thrashed back and forth.