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Rose sat beside him, and he continued to pray silently, until Evan entered.
“Lady Lily’s out of surgery,” he said. “The doctor wants to talk to all of you.”
Chapter 17
“Good, you’re here,” Blake said, when Daniel and Rose entered. “Everything went well. I have stopped the bleeding. It wasn’t necessary to remove the womb.”
“Oh thank God!” Lady Ashford said.
“I want to see her,” Daniel said.
“Of course, in a moment,” Blake said. “I need to explain a few things. She has a concussion. She will drift in and out of consciousness for the next day or two. I have her sedated right now and on morphine for the pain. She may develop a fever. It’s quite common after a surgical procedure.”
“Oh dear,” the countess said.
“She’s young and healthy. We’ll keep her cool as best we can.”
“Is there any risk at this point?” Daniel asked.
“There is always risk after any invasive procedure, Your Grace, but I have every reason to believe that she will recover nicely. May I speak privately to you for a moment?”
“Yes, yes, of course.” Daniel sighed with relief as he moved with Blake to the other end of the room. “What is it?”
“You’ll need to stay away from her, Your Grace. She can’t engage in…intimate relations for about six weeks. She needs time to heal.”
“Will she be able to have children?”
“Assuming everything heals as it should, yes.”
Daniel sighed again. “I want to see her.”
“You may sit with her, but she’ll be unresponsive.”
“I don’t care. I need to be with her.”
“Of course. I will go rest at the bachelor house. I’ll check in on her later. Meanwhile, have a servant fetch me if I’m needed. I
won’t venture off the estate.”
“I’d prefer you stay here in the main house, if you don’t mind. I’ll have a chamber made up for you on this floor and your personals brought over.”
“That’s fine. Just direct me to wherever I’m staying. I’m exhausted.”
Once the others all left, Daniel sat by his bed, Lily’s hand in his. She slept soundly, though a bit fitfully, breathing irregularly with small beads of sweat forming on her forehead. He had dismissed the maids and the housekeeper, preferring to tend to her himself. He rose, dipped a cloth in a basin of cool water, wrung it out, returned, and placed it on Lily’s head. Exhausted, he lay down next to her, clasping her other hand in his, and drifted off.
He awoke to someone nudging him. “Daniel, Daniel.”
Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he recognized his Aunt Lucy.
“It’s time for her morphine.”
“What time is it?” Daniel sat up abruptly.
“It’s one in the morning, dear.”
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I need to watch over her.”
“No one expects you to stay up all night after what you’ve been through. She needs her morphine every six hours. Dr. Blake says the pain will be excruciating for the first day.
