Nora clenched her jaw and nodded, ashamed that she’d felt so useless, so unable to help her friend in her time of need. She averted her eyes to glare at the ground, silently willing the tears stinging her eyes not to fall. A warm, comforting hand closed around her shoulder.
“You handled it well. And now you’ll know for next time.”
“Next time?” Nora sniffed back her emotions.
“If you’re going to be Beth’s friend, you will undoubtedly bear witness to one of these again. Now you know how to help her.”
“It doesn’t feel like much help.” Nora eyed her friend’s unconscious face and gently brushed a lock of her loose dark hair from her pale forehead. Thomas watched the gesture intently.
“All we can do is be there for her.”
“What causes it?” she asked, somewhat embarrassed that she hadn’t inquired about it before. But Beth had seemed so hale, so full of joy, it was easy to forget her mother’s words on the first carriage ride to Beth’s home.
Thomas shook his head, looking just as helpless as she felt. “The doctors cannot be certain, but her symptoms seem to be worse when she is under a great deal of stress or sick or weak. If she goes without sleep for too long, that also seems to have an effect.”
“She said she’s had trouble sleeping this week,” Nora whispered, recalling what Beth had told her at tea when she’d inquired about the dark circles beneath her eyes.
Thomas’ mouth thinned to a firm line and he nodded once. “That could have caused this incident.” His voice trailed off thoughtfully, the two of them gazing down at the girl who’d bonded them in that moment.
And there is no cure…
“No.” Nora’s head whipped up at Thomas’s whisper, a mixture of shock and embarrassment coloring her face when she realized she’d spoken aloud. “No known cure.”
Nora barely managed to swallow past the heart-shaped lump blooming in her throat. “Then we love her.”
It was Thomas’s turn for his eyes to widen in surprise and appreciation at her comment. A muscle ticked in his smooth jaw that was just angular enough to show the promise of manhood. He inclined his head, his dark hair falling forward to shield his eyes as one of his large hands reached over to cover hers and squeeze it with a firmness that wasn’t unwelcome. It grounded Nora—especially given the events of the past ten minutes.
And she felt strangely bereft when it left her.
“Come,” Thomas said, standing and continuing to cradle his sister in his arms as effortlessly as if she were a babe. “We’d best get you inside and have Beth put to bed. Mother will want to call the physician to check on her.”
Beth chose that moment to release an aggravated grumble. “Too loud…” she complained in a slurred voice and buried her face in her brother’s chest.
Thomas had been handsome before, but he was nothing short of beautiful when he smiled. “Though it seems as if she’ll recover.”
He held down a hand to Nora and she took it.
It took Beth two full days before she recovered enough to regain some of the sparkle in her eyes. The viscountess tried several times to have Nora return to her home, but Nora would hear none of it. In her heart, Viscountess Bexton, was grateful that her daughter finally had someone who not only brought her joy, but so clearly cared for her.
Nora refused to leave Beth’s side, staying with her through the night and curling up in a chair beside her bed like a watchful kitten. She nearly cried with joy when her friend was finally able to sit up in bed and declare her boredom.
“Mama has forbidden me from leaving the room,” Beth groused.
While sympathetic, Nora knew the viscountess was merely following the physician’s orders and, judging from the frail pallor of Beth’s face, it didn’t seem all that bad of an idea.
Nora said none of that, of course.
“Why don’t I collect some books from the library for us?” Nora offered and skipped down to that room before Beth could complain further.
It took Nora several minutes to locate titles that were not dusty and boring, or that she and her friend had not already devoured. She was forced to crawl on her hands and knees to view the books at the very bottom of the shelves. None particularly grabbed her interest until she came across a thick tome with an unmarked spine at the very far bottom corner of the case. Coated in a healthy fuzz of dust, it appeared as if it hadn’t been moved in years (nor had a servant taken the time to clean that particular area with any sort of diligence).
Nora plucked it from the shelf and swiped at the fawn-colored leather binding with a handkerchief, earning a heartysneeze when the hazy cloud of dust hit her face. The embossed cover indicated the pages contained myths and legends of the British Isles. The binding creaked when she sat back on her heels and flipped it open. Alongside the expected tales of King Arthur and his knights, there were common myths of magic and fae creatures…as well as one very old tale with which Nora was unfamiliar. She thought it was quite possible Beth hadn’t either since the dust on the book likely predated both of them. Snapping up her find, Nora leapt to her feet and dashed back up the stairs to her friend’s room.
A tall, lean figure was draped across her chair, talking animatedly with Beth.Thomas. Nora’s cheeks heated when his handsome face turned toward her as she entered the room. She hoped the dim lighting would help disguise the fact that her thoughts had been split between both Bexton siblings ever since that moment in the stables.
“Ah, Miss Nora,” he greeted her and stood, bowing with deference and treating her as if she were a titled lady rather than a young girl. “You have been quite the nursemaid to my sister. It has been nigh impossible to find a moment when you have not been holding her hand or sleeping in this chair.” Now Nora knew her cheeks were on absolute fire. He’d spied her sleeping and she’d had no idea. Good lord, what if she’d drooled? She clutched the book to her chest like a shield.
“Don’t needle her, Thomas,” Beth commanded with as much strength as she could muster. It wasn’t much. “She’s the only person who can possibly make this bedrest tolerable.”
