Authors: Angeline Fortin
When Nathan finished his fishing for the afternoon, the threesome
left
Hyde Park, crossing Knightsbridge and ambling down Wilton on their way back to
the
house in Belgrave Square.
Aware of the eyes that might be watching them,
they didn’t touch as they walked
but
Harrowby felt as if his body were attuned to Kate’s. His stride matched hers
, their feet pounding in perfect rhythm on the pavement.
It was a perfect demonstration of how he felt about their lives together. The unity of their steps matched the communion of their minds. They wanted many of the same things. Kate’s progressive thinking had not only
enabled
him to find his own resolve in the politics of his nation but had also dared him to challenge the politics of his household and his society.
It would set them all on their ears if he were to make a change for the future with Kate, if he dared to attempt something that few would. There were no doubts in his mind whether the risks would be worth the reward. As Kate had said weeks before, what they shared was worth taking a few bumps for.
Naturally, his mother would likely have an apoplexy. Even Susan might find her way to scorn his decision though Harrowby rather thought not. Susan liked Kate, he knew. Perhaps she would find reason for their happiness to outweigh any discomfort the scandal would bring to her.
They reached his house on the northern side of Belgrave Square
and climbed the stairs together to the nursery where Harrowby said his farewells to his nephew. Drawing Kate toward the door as Janice took over her duties for the evening meal, Harrowby said his goodbyes
to Kate
in the hallway in a much more intimate fashion.
He had a dinner to attend with
the Prime Minister
Benjamin Disraeli who until recently had been the MP for Buckinghamshire
and a friend of his uncle’s. Harrowby had not seen him since gaining the title and was pleased by the invitation.
They were plan
ning to discuss the child labor A
cts before Parliament vote
d
. “I might be back late,” Harrowby told her. “Will you wait up for me?”
“What wouldn’t I do for you?” Kate countered and kissed him passionately before he went on his way.
***
Kate slipped into Brand’s chamber
late that night
to find him perched on the side of his bed, his head cradled in his hands. He looked up as she came in but only shook his head ruefully before resting it back in his hands. “I’m sorry, Kate, I don’t think I’m up to our normal activities this evening.”
“Don’t be silly,” Kate said briskly, though worry laced her words as she knelt before him. “
Timson just came
and told me that you’re not feeling well
. Or did you just have too much to drink?”
“Not at all. In truth, I could
neither
eat nor drink all night.
I just don’
t feel well, Kate,” Brand said,
“
but y
ou needn’t worry so.
It’s not
as if I’m at Death’s door
.”
“Well, what’s wrong? Tell me?”
“I just don’t feel
… right,” he admitted at length
.
“Men!” Kate complained, massaging his knees under her palms. “It’s okay to get sick, you know? Everyone does. It doesn’t make you less of a man.”
A
harsh chuckle escaped him. “I feel l
ess than a man in this moment in that
I can’t even
rouse myself to make love to the
beautiful woman kneeling before me.”
Kate smiled too, though she understood in that moment just how badly he felt. Reaching up, she stroked his cheek feeling the warmth there. Warm but not too hot. Feverish but nothing to worry for alone. “You’re a little warm. You said before your stomach was bothering you?”
“I feel nauseous,” he finally admitted with a flush of embarrassment.
“Ghastly pain in my stomach.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere,” he said
, unconsciously rubbing a hand across the
affect
ed area as he had that afternoon.
As he didn’t pinpoint a specific spot, Kate didn’t know what to think of Brand’s sudden illness.
“Come on, let’s get you into bed,” Kate said pushing herself to her feet.
“That’s not how you usually say
those words,” Brand told her with a slightly roguish smile.
“Men!” she repeated with a smile as she helped him strip down to his
under
clothes before he climbed into bed.
“I feel like such a fool, Kate,” he said, though his skin had lost some color in the exercise.
To see a man of Brand’s size and physique brought so low over the course of a
few
hours sent a streak of uncertainty through
Kate. What was wrong with him?
she wondered. It could be anything from simple indigestion to colon cancer. There was no way for either of them to know. “When’s the last time you had a physical, Brand?”
“A what?”
“A physical… ugh! When was the last time you saw a doctor?” she modified.
“I don’t know,” he answered.
“I broke my arm at U
niversity once and had it set, but before that not since before my father died, I suppose. Why?”
Why
, her mind screamed. And
right
there was the bad side of the
nineteenth
century, a side she hadn’t even considered before. No shots, no vaccinations. Whatever was wrong with Brand, it could literally be anything. Kate closed her eyes, drawing a deep breath. Don’t panic, just start with the basics. “Do you have any antacids?”
“What are they?”
“Something to reduce stomach acid,” Kate told him, trying to think. “
What do you take if you have a stomach ache usually?”
“Chamomile, caraway,” he told her. “But I already tried that.”
With a knock, Susan p
oked her head
around the corner of the door and gave a sigh
of relief
once she knew she wasn’t interrupting anything. “How are you feeling, Brandon?”
“I’ll be fine if you two infernal women would just let me rest in peace,” he grouched though Kate knew it was only his embarrassment at being laid low that prompted such an attitude.
Kate rushed to the door
, whispering
words of worry to Susan and receiv
ing
them in return. The problem was neither woman had spent enough
years
with the earl to know what
his norm was
. The only one who did know was Timson.
Leaving Brand
abed
, the ladies sought out Harrowby’s long time valet and grilled him about the earl’s health history. Timson, however, used to dealing with his employer on his own terms, insisted that they leave the earl’s care to him.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine in the morning.
”
He wasn’t.
Susan rapped on
Kate’s
door in the early hours of the morning to announce that Timson had woken her fearing the worst for Harrowby. They arrived at Brand’s bedchamber to find him as white as a sheet, sweaty with pain and fitful. He wanted to walk but standing and moving only seemed to cause him more pain. He couldn’t eat and had vomited several times over the course of the night.
Kate took one look at the anguish on his face. “We need a doctor.”
Later that afternoon
“What is the diagnosis, doctor?” Susan asked the question much more calmly than Kate would have.
She was aggrieved at how long it had
taken for the doctor to show up;
she would have thought that the Harrowby name would have brought him faster.
However,
as Brand had no regular physician, Timson had opted for contacting the old earl’s doctor only to discover him retired to the country. It had taken most of the early morning to discover the name of another noted medical presence in Town.
Referrals aside, Kate supposed that finding a doctor and dragging him to Belgrave Square before the man had even had the chance for a mid-morning breakfast, had taken some doing on Timson’s
part
. She couldn’t hold the time of his arrival against anyone.
No, what she held against them was how long
she and Susan ha
d sat downstairs with no word from anyone in the earl’s bedchamber. The attempts Kate had made to go to Brand had been nipped in the bud before she’d even cracked the door.
Now, nearly six hours later, Susan had been summoned and Kate had followed knowing that she couldn’t wait
another moment
to find out what was wrong.
Brushing aside the doctor, Kate rushed to Brand’s bedside, snatching up his hand in hers. “How are you feeling?”
“The pain is most severe,” he said tightly. It was a bold understatement if Kate had ever heard one. Though Brand was attempting to put on a brave face, she could plainly see that he was in agony.
“Why haven’t they given you anything for it?”
“The doctor offered laudanum but I will not take it.”
“Oh,
my poor
baby,” Kate crooned
,
massaging Brand’s hand between her own and squeezed it gently, placing a kiss to his fingers. She didn’t care who saw or what they thought. Her wor
ries were for Brand alone. S
he was downright scared for him in that moment. “Where does it hurt?”
“Only my
abdomen
,” he answered. “Nowhere else.”
Kate could hear the doct
or addressing Susan behind her
now, giving her all the assurances that doctors tended to give. “I believe, Mrs. Ralston, that his lordship has an inflammation of the
appendix vermaformis
,” the physicia
n announced from under his long, walrus mustache as he adjusted the spectacles perched on his nose. “I suggest draining the fluids. It is the most common practice in cases such as these.”
The night before and that morning, Brand
had described the pain as a general one, encompassing most of his stomach. Now, however,
Kate watched Brand’s
hand unconsciously creep down
protectively
to cover the spot that pained him
. Not a wide palm over his abdomen but, rather,
a spot near his right hipbone
. Combined with the doctor’s words, th
e truth hit Kate like a thunder
bolt. She knew what the problem was. Geez, she’d been there herself when she was nine. Why hadn’t she thought of it before? “God, Brand, I know what it is. I know what it is!”
“It’s his appendix, Dr. West,
”
she called into the room garnering everyone’s attention
as she jumped up
.
“I beg your pardon
, miss
?” he asked superiorly, rotating
to
frown
down at her
.
“His appendix,” she repeated.
“The thing that is causi
ng Br… Harrowby all that pain.”
“That is what I was just explaining to Mrs. Ralston,”
he huffed impatiently
, before turning back to Susan
.
“As I was saying, we’ll drain the fluids…”
“
Fluids?” Kate repeated
before shaking her head vehemently and glaring at him with her hands on her hips
. “No!
He needs to have an appendectomy right away before it bursts
.
”
“Young lady,”
West
began with a condescending frown, “I hardly think that a woman such as yourself might know the cause of his lordship’s pain.”
Eyes widening, Kate stepped back
, her eyes wide with horror. “
Oh, for Pete’s sake
, you don’t even know what I’m talking about, do you?”
“I am well aware
of the source of the earl’s discomfort.”
“That not discomfort, that’s real pain!” she yelled.
“Kate.” Feeling Brand’s hand on her arm, Kate looked down at him seeing what she almost thought might be amusement hovering underneath his
pained
exterior. “He is the doctor, you know.”
“But he’s wrong, Brand. The same thing happened to me when I was little. Y
ou need
to remove it. This is an emergency.
”
Kate turned back to the doctor, pinning him with a level
glare
. “You need to take it out before it ruptures!” How could the doctor not know this? Everyone knew that! And it was bad, too. Who knew how long Brand had been feeling the pain before he’d spoken up about
it.
“Remove it?” the doctor repeated
incredulously
. “
I admit there have been some articles in the medical journals of
a Dr. Will
ard Parker in New York originally from seven or e
ight years ago who recommend
removal in cases such as these, some even more recently. But it’s only been since Dr. Lister introduced the antisepsis that…”
“Y
ou don’t know how to do it,” Kate interrupte
d flatly, feeling despair creep over her
as she looked at the faces around her
.
Dr. West was the only one who even knew what she was talking about.
“Do you know of anyone who’s done it?”
“Of course, there are those who can…”
“Successfully?” Kate bulldozed in once again to add.
The doctor sighed before admitting, “No. You must understand, young lady,
the type of
surgical practice
you are suggesting
is still widely considered very controversial
in these cases
.”
Kate
swallowed,
her mind dully refusing
to accept the doctor’s words. Everyone, including Brand, was giving her a look that said they hadn’t truly understood the implications of what she and the doctor were talking about. She looked at Brand’s pale, beautiful face, felt the love she
had
for him burning deep inside of her.
Felt fear and anguish rolling in underneath it all.
Brand was going to die.
Releasing a deep breath, Kate felt her stomach
churn
at the thought. It couldn’t be. Brand was too strong, too vital and alive to let some useless piece of flesh be the death of him. It couldn’t be true but even in her denial, Kate could see the truth written beneath the grayish tones of Brand’s skin.
He needed help, real help.
Even if there was someone around who might be able to perform the surgery, Brand’s chances were not the best. He could die from infection, blood loss or pure incompetence. He needed a doctor. A real doctor.
He needed… Kate’s
mind ground to a halt
. Yes, that was it!
She only hoped she wasn’t too late.
Turning, she ran for the door only to hear Brand’s hoarse, worried shouts behind her.
“Kate, where are you going?” h
e asked only to have Susan ask
the same question as well.
“I’ll be back with help,” she said before shooting
West
a venomous glare. “And don’t you dare touch him before I get back!”