Riverbreeze: Part 2 (45 page)

Robert immediately softened. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth. I appreciate her thoughtfulness. I suppose he will need a smock for sleeping in, but…” His voice hardened again. “I want him in breeches from now on.” He said, laying Robin down on their bed. The boy barely stirred while he further loosened the blanket from around Robin’s face.

Elizabeth immediately moved to Robert’s side, looking worriedly upon the unresponsive boy. “He’s so still, and pale.” She whispered. “Why is he so still?”

“Phillip gave him syrup of poppy.” Robert said softly, somberly watching his son.

Elizabeth gasped. “Why? That can be dangerous!”

“He acted before I realized what he was doing. Robin was in extreme pain. He was inconsolable.”

“Where did he get burned?”

“His legs and his feet.”

“Oh, my poor baby.” She cried. She leaned over him to tenderly skim her fingers over Robin’s forehead, brushing his hair back. The boy remained alarmingly still. “Can we unwrap him? I want to see him.”

Silently, Robert gently unwrapped the boy, exposing Robin’s slack body, the cloth beagle tucked against him. All he was wearing was a small shirt and a diaper. “Oh dear God.” Elizabeth gasped, seeing all the bandages. “Are the burns very bad?”

Robert nodded gravely. “Phillip put honey on them before bandaging them.”

“Honey!” She exclaimed.

Robert nodded. “I had the same reaction, but Phillip said he learnt it from someone, I can’t remember now, but he said it would help. We’ll have to soak the bandages to get them off when we need to change them. I would rather use poultices of comfrey and birch bark myself.”

“I recently read in this book that my governess left me, that the treatment for burns involved roasting eggs and reheating the yolks until they turn to oil. Should we do that?”

Robert made a face. “I’ve never heard of that remedy. Where did you read that?”

“A book called The English Housewife. Louise, my governess, left the book to Evelyn and me. Do you think we should try it?”

He shook his head. “No, that sounds ridiculous to me. Roasting eggs! Robin may want to eat them, but I wouldn’t put eggs on his burns.”

“You do know best.” She said quietly, a little insulted that he wouldn’t listen to her suggestion. But this was not the time for self-pity.

“I hope so.” He said just as quietly. “But I think Abby knows more than me. We’ll ask her what to do when Robin wakes up.”

“I wish I could help more. I wish I was more knowledgeable.” She said, continuing to watch the little boy breathe. He was deathly pale and so lifeless it was frightening. Elizabeth didn’t know much about poppy syrup, but knew enough to know that it could be fatal if given too much. She prayed to God that Phillip hadn’t overdosed him.

Disagreeing with Elizabeth, Robert reacted instantly. He turned to her and clasped her shoulders regardless of his painful hands. “You have already helped more than anyone could!” He said passionately. “How can I ever thank you for what you’ve done?”

“You’ve already thanked me downstairs.”

“That was not enough.” He said earnestly, his hands tightening on her shoulders. He grimaced from the pain in his hands. “There should be some other way for me to thank you.”

“There is one thing you could do.” She said gently.

“What? Anything. Anything at all.”

“You can thank me by listening to me next time. No doubting; no hesitating. I know you doubted me; I know it was hard for you to believe me, but I never lie when lives are in danger.”

He hung his head, his face suffused with guilt. He dropped his hands. “I know that now.” He said, staring blankly at the bandages on his hands. “I’ve learned my lesson.” When he raised his head again and looked at her, there were tears in his eyes. “Will he ever forgive me? Do you think he’ll ever forgive me?”

“Forgive you for what? There is nothing to forgive, Robert.”

He pressed his lips together, his eyes closing in guilt. “I failed him; I failed my own son.”

“Nonsense. Nonsense!” Elizabeth said, reaching out to him. She grasped his upper arms. “You didn’t fail him. He’s here. Alive.”

“I did fail him.” He insisted, clenching his hands into fists. His face twisted at the shooting pain in his palms. “I could have prevented the whole disaster if only I hadn’t stopped to clean my moccasins.”

“Robert,” She said sternly. She looked into his tortured eyes and shook him a little. “You must stop this. You did the best that you could.” She said, repeating what her governess had said to her so many times in the past. Elizabeth herself used to cry incessantly over the fact that she couldn’t save everybody. “Next time you’ll listen to me and we’ll succeed.”

“I will; I will listen to you.” He declared with all his heart. “Oh God, Lily.” He continued in a lower voice, taking a shaking breath. “It was awful, so awful.” He shook his head as if to shake the images from his memory. “He was on fire; his smock was on fire…” His eyes looked tortured and he started to tremble. “I was so scared…so scared.” Suddenly he grabbed her and hugged her tight. “You saved him; you saved him, Lily.”

She caressed his hair, like a mother would soothe a child. “
We
saved him, Robert.
We
saved him. I warned you and you got there in time to save him. That is all that matters. Robin is alive and that is all that matters.”

Hearing the emotion in her voice made him step back and look at her face. “Others have died, haven’t they?” He asked softly.

“Yes.” She answered simply, bowing her head.

“You couldn’t warn them, could you?”

“No.” She barely whispered the word, but then she took another breath, her resolve returning. “But we can do wonderful things, you and I. I feel it; I feel it in my heart. We shall make a remarkable team, Robert.” There was excitement in her voice.

That made him smile a little. He let out a chuckle. “One emergency at a time, please.” He said, stroking her cheek. “I’m fairly spent.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean now!” She said quickly.

“I know.” He said, smiling affectionately at her. He leaned in to place a tender kiss on her lips. “I think I’ll lie down with Robin for a while and keep an eye on him. Will you ask Abigail to help you and Jamie in the kitchen with the beef tea?” He added, taking off his shirt and dropping it on the floor. Then he sat down and started to remove his moccasins.

“Is there anything else I can do?” She asked, stepping in to help him pull off his moccasins. When they were off, she put them away under the bed.

“Will you pull the blankets down while I pick up Robin? ‘Tis pretty cold in here.”

In a matter of minutes, both Robin and Robert were settled in the bed, tucked under the comforter. Elizabeth had Robert’s buckskins in her arms, ready to take them downstairs to try to clean them somehow. But that was another thing that she didn’t know how to do and the cleaning of them would probably have to wait until he was either available to teach her or until his hands were healed so he could do it himself.

“I’ll have Jamie come up and start a fire.” She said.

He raised himself up on one elbow, saying, “Will you also have Abigail brew some chamomile tea and make a comfrey poultice for Robin’s burns.”

“I will.” She said softly. “Do you need anything for your hands?”

“No. I’ll be fine. I just want to stay here and be here when Robin wakes up.”

“I’ll take care of everything.” She leaned down to kiss him tenderly on the lips. He lay down and with one hand she pulled the comforter up to his chin. He yawned hugely and she smiled to herself.
He won’t be awake for long
, she thought.

On her way out, she turned to look back at the two men in her life, blond head next to blonde head. Just as she thought, despite the fact that Robert had wanted to watch over Robin, he had already fallen asleep, exhausted from the harrowing events of the morning. Again, she whispered her gratitude to God for bringing her to this land and allowing her to be a part of this family. She and Robert, along with Evelyn and Jamie, could do wonderful things in the future. There was no predicting what tragedies they could prevent. This was only the beginning of their amazing life together. She knew it; she felt it in every bone in her body.

Chapter Thirty One: Lost and Found

The next thirty-six hours were exhausting. Robin, the poor lad, once he had woken up from his drugged state later that first evening, stayed awake for hours and hours, miserable, in extreme pain and inconsolable.

Everyone thought they were prepared for the time when he would awaken. The beef tea had been prepared, warm and rich with added onions, carrots, turnips, parsley and thyme; the comfrey root compresses were ready along with tepid water to soak Robin’s bandages, and chamomile tea had been steeped to soothe his upset stomach and to calm his anxieties. They tried to spoon feed him and did manage to get some of the liquids into his stomach, but they also hadn’t anticipated his singular, strong desire to nurse. He had been spoiled at Maureen’s; and he didn’t understand why Abigail wouldn’t accommodate him. When she tried to hold him and give him the chamomile tea, all he would do was grab and tug at her bodice until it became too embarrassing for everyone, and heartsick, she had to leave the room so he wouldn’t be able to see her.

Robert stayed awake for nearly the entire thirty six hours tending to his son and trying to offer some kind of comfort. He held back giving Robin more syrup of poppy, fearful of adverse effects, until the lad became so hysterical from the painful burns he made himself sick and nearly choked on his own saliva and tears.

Elizabeth helped the best she could. She assisted Abigail in the kitchen, learning more about cooking, preparing poultices and teas. Not only did she worry over Robin, she also worried incessantly over Robert and in between soaking strips of linen in the comfrey mash for the poultices and stripping leaves off the chamomile plant for the tea, she made sure that Robert ate at regular intervals so he could keep up his strength.

Jamie, unfortunately, fell sick Monday night, a third cycle with the intermittent fever. This bout, however, didn’t last as long as the other two, only four hours of high fever and chills. He slept most of Tuesday and by Wednesday had fully recovered. Evelyn stayed by his side, tending to his needs. She was sorry she couldn’t help Elizabeth and Robert care for Robin, but they understood completely.

By the third day, Elizabeth, Robert and Abigail were exhausted and merely wanted a few hours of calm; and it seemed they finally got their wish. Robin had finally fallen asleep after breakfast and Robert had taken him upstairs to put to bed; there was enough beef tea and chamomile tea to last the rest of the day and the women didn’t need to start the main meal for another three hours. Jamie was in the stables with his horses and even though there was a threat of rain this morning, the servants were sent to the river to do some fishing, taking the dogs with them.

“I have never been so tired in all my life.” Elizabeth said to both Evelyn and Abigail. She sat down heavily on the bench, bent down to stretch her back and rubbed her brow.

Evelyn came to stand beside her and tenderly rubbed her back. “Maybe you should take advantage of this quiet time to lie down. I’m sure Robert would like your company.”

Elizabeth looked up at Abigail. “Would you mind?”

Abigail poked at the fire, moving more coals under the kettles. She smiled gently at Elizabeth. “No, I wouldn’t mind. Everything is in order here. Evelyn, you should take a break as well.”

“As a matter of fact, I think I will.” Evelyn said, removing her apron. She hung it on a peg by the door. “What about you, Abby? You’ve been on your feet nearly as much as we have.”

“I’ll manage. You two go on.” Abigail said, continuing to check on the simmering teas.

“Are you sure?”

Abigail nodded and waved her hand at them in a shooing motion.

“All right.” Elizabeth stood up, stretching again and started to walk towards the door that led to the hall. Evelyn went in the opposite direction, intending to check on her husband in the stables.

But a sudden urgent pounding on the front door stopped them both in their tracks. “Oh no.” Elizabeth groaned. “Who could that be?” She complained, directing the question to both women.