A flurry of activities started. Nurses and doctors gathered around them, providing blankets and comforting words, but Hector had eyes only for Maddie.
“To the examination room.” A nurse opened the door to a white room smelling of carbolic acid.
Staggering, Hector laid Maddie on a narrow bed and brushed a wet strand of hair from her face. “I’m so sorry.”
Her lips trembled. If she tried to say something, he wouldn’t know.
“Please wait outside, sir.” The nurse waved him out as Ernest placed Verity down on the bed next to Maddie.
Hector didn’t move.
“Let’s go.” Ernest grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the room.
On trembling legs, Hector sat in the waiting room, his stare on the door behind which lay Maddie.
Another nurse handed him a blanket and a hot mug of tea he took on reflex. He was so focused on the door he didn’t even thank the woman. A nurse walked in and out of the room a few times, but aside from that, nothing else happened.
As if the warmth from the tea thawed not only his fingers but his feelings as well, his emotions returned with a vengeance, and they weren’t pleasant. Shame and anger at himself soured his mouth. Worry churned his stomach. Tears welled in his eyes. He’d behaved like an idiot, believing he was on the raft again.
“I’m so sorry,” he said to Ernest. “I don’t know what possessed me. The water...it upset me.”
Shivering in his blanket, Ernest stretched out a trembling hand to take his arm. His thick brown eyebrows were pulled together in a fierce expression. “I don’t know what happened to you on the boat, but I don’t want to see it ever again. You must promise you’ll do everything in your power to avoid a repeat of today and control yourself.” His fingers tightened around Hector’s arm. “I can’t lose Verity. She’s the love of my life. I like you, Hector, but if you put my bride in danger again, I swear I’m going to see you at dawn.” He was serious. His voice didn’t waver.
Hector couldn’t blame him. He felt the same way towards Maddie. He ran a hand through his wet hair. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I had no idea that being on a boat would make me behave that way, but I assure you I won’t endanger Maddie’s or Verity’s life ever again.”
“Tell me what you thought on the boat.” Ernest’s tone didn’t lack kindness, but there was a tightness Hector couldn’t ignore or blame.
“I believed I hadn’t been rescued. I thought I’d had a nightmare and that I was still alone. I didn’t see the Serpentine or you, Maddie, and Verity, but only waves. I was so scared…” His hands shook so hard the mug fell from his fingers and shattered on the floor.
He crouched and collected the fragments despite his quivering fingers. Ernest helped him. They worked in silence, cleaning the floor from the spilt tea. He wiped the tears from his face, not sure if he cried for his fears or for having almost lost Maddie.
Ernest put a hand on his shoulder, jolting him. “I’m not a physician, but the problem is here.” He put a finger on Hector’s temple. “Not here.” He touched Hector’s chest. “That’s why I’m worried.”
So was Hector.
“I know you wouldn’t hurt Verity and Maddie.” Ernest’s expression softened only for a moment. “But you must collect yourself and master your fears, or someone will get hurt.”
Hector could only nod. He’d promised to make amends. He had to keep that promise.
twenty-five
THE FIRST THING Maddie was going to do once she recovered completely from her ordeal would be to learn how to swim.
She’d become a swimming champion. She’d learn to swim forwards, backwards, and whatever else people who swam did. Never again did she want to experience the absolutely frightening sensation of being dragged down and suffocating while freezing water flooded her nostrils and mouth. And next time she went to Hyde Park, she’d wear only one layer of petticoats. Sod fashion. Her clothes had been so heavy she’d barely kept her nose above the water.
In her bed, she shivered despite the fact a log fire blazed in the stove, two thick quilts covered her, and she’d drank enough hot tea to have significantly lowered the tea supply of her country. Earlier in the receiving house, she hadn’t had the energy to reassure Hector and tell him she didn’t blame him, too stunned by fear and cold. Although the way he’d shouted and moved on the boat had terrified her. His eyes had been too wide, and his breathing had been so shallow she’d worried he might have fainted. He’d swatted her hands away when she’d tried to calm him. He’d kept shouting he didn’t want to die. Then the boat had gone upside down and the cold...Lord, the cold. The shock from the icy water had been her worst enemy at that moment. Saint Martin’s summer her foot. The Serpentine had been freezing. Her lungs had turned into icebergs. Breathing had been difficult, and panic had nearly killed her.
She shivered again at the memory of her lungs hurting and cold water filling her mouth.
The house was finally quiet after her mother had suffered from a fit of hysteria upon seeing her two daughters soaked and shivering. Mother had behaved as if she’d been the one about to die.
Anyway, Maddie preferred to be alone in her silent room than surrounded by her shrieking mother, and even Verity needed rest. Gosh. Ernest had looked like he’d wanted to murder somebody. That somebody being poor Hector.
She reclined on her pillow and closed her eyes. Peace and quiet, finally. No, there was a tapping noise from the window. Then a soft thud. She propped herself up and peered in the semidarkness, having left her oil lamp burning. Was the exhaustion playing tricks on her mind?
Another tapping noise came. She craned her neck to look at the window, the very window Hector had broken years ago.
“Maddie?” Hector’s deep voice came muffled through the glass.
