Finding Bliss (22 page)

“I’m Rex Hastings, sir. I’m the daytime guard for the west
side of town. I’m at your service, sir.” Rex bowed over his fist in a military
stance. Ozzie repeated his question about Bliss, though quieted so as not to
upset the ladies again.

“Sir, you know as much as I do now. I hoped if this wasn’t a
ruse your own household guard and staff would be better prepared to search for
the lady. They will be more familiar with her looks and actions.

“It would likely have better results if they took up the
search. But I’m afraid too much time may have passed by this time, sir. It
grows darker by the minute and whatever has happened it may be too long gone
for anything to be discovered in the dark,” Rex replied in muted tones. Ozzie
turned from him abruptly.

“Mundy! Have the stable master saddle up all the fastest
horses. I want torches lit and waiting. Saddle my horse as well. Rex, can you
ride?” Ozzie faced the guard again.

“I was in the horse guard regiment during the last war
effort, sir. I can ride a sturdy mount,” he answered quickly.

“Will you help us? I’ll pay for your services,” Ozzie
offered quickly.

“The maid offered to pay me just to bring her here, my lord,
but it wasn’t for the money that I complied. I am your servant,” Rex said
firmly.

Ozzie turned to look at Penelope. Her face was buried in her
handkerchief while her maid, Marla, petted and soothed from behind her
shoulder.

“Darling, don’t worry. I’ll do whatever it takes to bring
her back safely. Ollie will kill me if anything has happened to her on my
watch. I promise to take that duty more seriously if I can just find her whole
and unharmed,” Ozzie promised. Penelope looked up, her face tear-stained and
reddened.

“Oh Daniel, please, don’t go yet! Send the others! I can’t
bear to think of the dreadful things that ... stay with me, I beg you!”
Penelope’s pleas caught Ozzie square in the gut.

“Of course I will, my love. I won’t leave you. Rex will go
in my place. He’ll take my fastest horse and all of my outriders and send word
back every hour until she’s discovered. I’m not going if you don’t want me to,”
Ozzie said softly.

Despite his fear that something truly horrific might have
happened, he couldn’t leave Penelope alone to face the night in uncertainty. Penelope
was a strong woman, but fears of the dead and their unfinished business would
haunt her for months if he didn’t support her.

Ozzie said a quick, silent prayer that Bliss would be found
safe. He prayed that it was mischief only that kept her from returning home.

“Sir, the horses will be ready in fifteen minutes. I sent
our fastest ahead to alert the constable that Lord Osterburg was mightily
displeased over his treatment of the situation. I’m certain he’ll have people
searching before our first hooves hit the streets. Is there anything further
you wish?” Mundy said in efficient ease, looking calmer than usual given the
traumatic events unfolding around him.

“No, stand sentry at the door. If anyone returns you will
bring me news at once! I’m going to move Lady Osterburg to our bedchamber to
rest. I’ll be with her. Do not hesitate to alert me at the first hint of
information!” Ozzie told the man as he scooped Penelope up from the sofa. He
gave her a look that was intended to be curious.

“Gracious, Pen. If I didn’t know for a fact you were sworn
off sweets I’d swear you were a stone or two heavier,” he whispered jokingly,
in spite of the seriousness of the evening.

Penelope looked at him with weak amusement before letting
loose with fresh, quiet tears. Ozzie squeezed her shoulder and carried her
upstairs to the master suite. He heard Rex saying a quick farewell to the maid
and promising to come back and see her to make sure she was better.

Ozzie didn’t bother worrying over the propriety of Ollie’s employees’
policies toward personal fraternization. His mind was too focused on soothing
Penelope and making sure she didn’t fall into a panic until they knew for sure
what happened.

Ozzie had barely gotten Penelope settled in bed when a shout
from Mundy alerted them of a change.

“Daniel, quick! Go find out!” Penelope shoved him forcefully
away from her side. Her eyes watched as he walked swiftly to the door, leaving
it open as he left.

Penelope listened and heard what she needed to know. Bliss had
returned at last! Or someone brought her back! The words were overlapped as
many voices reported the news.

Penelope said a silent prayer of thanks that she wouldn’t
have to worry anymore. Exhausted from the events of the evening, Penelope let
her eyes drift closed for just a moment, and without meaning to fell into a
boneless sleep.

Eric, Bristol, April 1811

Eric didn’t even have to knock when
he emerged from the carriage with Bliss, unconscious and cradled in his arms. The
shouts from all corners of the house sent up a roar of celebration the minute
he told the butler that Bliss was alright, just sleeping.

Ozzie’s eyes were blurred with tears of relief as Eric asked
where her bedchamber was. Ozzie directed him to follow Marla. As he followed
Eric up the stairs he asked what happened.

“I’ll explain everything as soon as I get done examining her
injuries,” Eric said with a nod to Bliss’s face. Ozzie noticed the bruising and
his face was livid.

“Who did this to her? I want his head on a pike!” Ozzie
growled.

“Get in line! Apparently you, a dozen shopkeepers and I
would like to see him hang for his actions against their daughters and nieces. But
I need to see to her first.”

Eric continued after the maid into Bliss’s room. Ozzie came
in but the maid frowned and curtsied to him while saying she would need to get
the wet clothing off Lady Bliss before she caught a chill. While she turned to
fetch a dry chemise, Ozzie nodded to Eric and left the room saying as he went,
“I’ll speak with you the minute you’re finished.”

Marla quickly began unbuttoning the ruined dress. She and
Eric sat Bliss’s still inert form upright to finish the buttons down the back. Eric
turned his back as the maid dragged the dress down and off. The maid took a
little longer with the chemise, and gasped aloud as the sight of dark bruising
on Bliss’s ribs became visible.

Unable to avoid the scene, Eric turned to look at what had
alarmed her. The rib bruises might have come from his efforts to dislodge the
coin. But he didn’t know what sort of damage he might see if Westford had ...

The thought of what the man might have done to her before
dumping her in the river to drown made him shudder. Marla noticed the change in
him.

“Dr. Benchley, perhaps another surgeon would be better to
handle this woman? You are awfully pale and upset. She’s special to you, isn’t
she? Would you like me to have Lord Osterburg fetch another man?” Marla asked
softly.

Eric took a deep breath. He didn’t want any other man
touching her, ever again. He shook his head, stopped and got a better idea.

“As soon as you’ve clothed her, I want you to have Lord
Osterburg send for my nurse, Scarlet Mackey. I’ll write the direction. I want
no one else to bother her until my nurse arrives, is that clear?” said Eric
firmly.

He walked toward the escritoire and took a sheet of
parchment. He rummaged in the drawer for a quill and a knife to sharpen the
point. He wrote directions to the women’s boarding house on High Street. He
handed it to Marla who bobbed her head and opened the door to hurry away. Eric
sat on the edge of the bed to wait.

Less than fifteen minutes later, a
harassed looking Scarlet was practically dumped into the bedroom. The large man
Eric had barely noticed as he barged through the foyer was right behind her.

“Dr. Benchley? What on earth?” Scarlet said, immediately
forgetting her ire and switching into her own professional demeanor.

“Scarlet, I’m sorry to have to drag you out like this. I
wouldn’t ask if it weren’t an emergency,” Eric whispered as he turned to the
door and shut it. This succeeded in blocking out the man and a harangued
looking Ozzie.

Scarlet waited beside the bed, checking Bliss’s wrist for a
pulse. Her efficient bedside manner was comforting to him.

“Her heart seems sound. Shall I prep her to be examined?”
Scarlet asked looking compassionately at her employer.

“Bliss is my dear friend, Scarlet. And I don’t know what was
done to her other than her face is bruised and her ribs. The ribs were my
doing. I had to dislodge something from her throat to get her to breathe. I
don’t think I broke any ribs, but I’d do the same again even if it had broken
them.

“Her lungs are sound, so I don’t think anything has
punctured them. There was a coin blocking her mouth when she was thrown in the
water. If anything the coin protected her lungs from the water. But if the man
mistreated her, Scarlet,” Eric stopped before he ended the statement. His
emotions were very close to the surface.

“Do you want me to see what else might have been done to
her, sir?” Scarlet asked quietly. Eric looked away and nodded, tears streaming
down his face like a child. Scarlet patted his hand.

“That’s very understandable, sir. I know you wouldn’t want
anyone else to bother the woman you love. I’ll do it. You needn’t stay if it
makes you feel uncomfortable. Go in the bathing chamber if you want. I’ll come
and get you as soon as I’m done,” Scarlet said with a sympathetic smile.

“How did you know?” Eric asked through a wet sigh.

“It’s been on you since she showed up at the office that
first day! I’ve never seen a man fall in love so fast!”

“I’ve known her since we were children. She is the most
important person in the world to me. I just didn’t realize it until she showed
up in person to remind me,” Eric gave a watery chuckle. Scarlet patted him.

“I take it she’s not available to you,” Scarlet asked him as
she began looking around for his satchel. Eric realized he didn’t have his
usual satchel with him. Then he shook his head in answer to her suggestion that
Bliss was forever out of his reach.

“She’s a lovely thing. It’s a shame, sir. You would make a handsome
pair,” Scarlet whispered and turned to the bed. Eric interrupted her as she
began to move the covers off of Bliss.

“Do you need my kit? I can send the messenger back to
retrieve it if you need anything.”

“Maybe after I examine her, I’ll go to your suite and get it
for you. But for what I need right now, no medicine or instrument will make a
difference.”

Eric heard her and nodded absently before realizing she was
waiting for him to leave. He leaned down and kissed Bliss’s forehead and turned
to enter the bathing chamber. He shut the door behind him and sank to the floor
letting his emotions boil over in silent, painful sobs.

In his mind he reviewed everything he knew about Bliss. Always
so confident and sure of the world, she managed the people around her with
compassion and considerate ease.

So why didn’t she protect herself? She warned him about
trivial things like his marrying someone he would compromise. How was that more
important than protecting herself or his father? It didn’t make sense.

Eric knew that he could ask her why. It would be a simple
question. But in saying the words he would cross a bridge. Once he reached the
other side he couldn’t very easily go back.

Eric reminded himself that doubting her note, not
considering her message, would have gotten her killed. He wouldn’t have been
able to live with himself if that happened. In the end he had believed her.

He knew somewhere in the recesses of his mind he had always
believed her, even when he was a boy. But the act of believing back then meant
trusting someone younger and a girl. He didn’t have the feminine connections a
mother could have given him, the lessons needed to accept coddling from a girl
five years his junior!

It all boiled down to stubborn male pride. That was what made
him keep her at arm’s length all those years they spent apart.

Bliss must have cared enough about him, like an honorary
brother he thought darkly, to be able to keep up with him and his life when he
left. She never let him stray. Bliss incorporated into every decision he ever
made whether he admitted it or not.

She wrote him unfailingly while he had been in college,
warning him of the dangers of gin and loose women in subtle cues. When she was
barely sixteen Bliss was the voice of reason beyond the temptations that kept
him from making poor decisions about his career. And he had begrudgingly heeded
her every word, without ever once thanking her, even when he watched his
friends and colleagues succumbing to all manner of discomforts from bad choices
she’d helped him avoid.

Bliss warned him, the week prior to his board examination
finals, to study harder in order to be prepared. He’d spent hours reading and
paraphrasing his notes. While others were out at clubs drinking and dabbling in
fleshly delights, Eric was in his dormitory reviewing the anatomy of each
system with sketches and anecdotal examples. As a result he graduated with
firsts and passed his board tests with distinction.

He owed his success to his peculiar little friend who had
grown into a fine woman while he wasn’t looking. Now he wanted her more than
air, and she was telling him he would marry as a result of his own folly. It
was ironic and cruel.

Scarlet’s rapid knock surprised him. He stood quickly,
swiping at his eyes with his arm and praying his less-than-professional
behavior wouldn’t make Scarlet lose respect for him as a surgeon. He opened the
door and saw her smiling wide.

“Sir, she’s fine! There is no evidence that she’s been
meddled with at all! She has a few small cuts on her wrists and ankles—probably
from where he bound them, and the bruises you mentioned. And I don’t detect any
instances of broken bones.