“I wish I had. I suspected something was wrong when I realized she’d offered to take you to her country house and then gone without you. And when I went to speak to her about it, it was remarkably easy to get her to confess. I suspect her sanity must have been slipping for some time.”
“I can’t believe this,” Lydia breathed. “I thought Margaret and I were friends. I thought she cared for me. Why would she do such a thing? What did I do wrong?”
“It was no fault of yours, Lydia,” Edward assured her. “She has some strange ideas about how to love and care for people—I believe she honestly thought she was doing something good for you, taking you away from me.”
“That could never be good for me,” Lydia said, seeing the pain in his eyes. “Nothing that takes us away from each other could be good for me, Edward. I don’t know what we are to one another, but—”
“You do know,” Edward countered, and as the physician backed away, he rushed forward. He fell to his knees beside her bed and took her hand in his. “You do know, Lydia. You know exactly how I feel for you. I love you. Do you remember me telling you that when I got home from Bath?”
She did remember, but…
“I wasn’t sure if you meant it,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.
“You don’t need to cry.” He sounded desperate. He reached up and wiped her tears away with his thumbs.
“It’s natural that she might be a little tearful right now,” the physician spoke up. “The toxin is still leaving her body, and it can have that effect.”
“That isn’t why,” Lydia countered. “I’m just… I wanted it to be true, Edward. I wanted it so badly. And every time the thought came into my head while you were away, it made me sad because I was sure it would never be true. Then, you came home and told me you’d realized that youdidlove me, and it was such a dream come true for me that I found it hard to believe. I thought perhaps I had misunderstood or maybe even hallucinated. After all, I thought Margaret had told me she was taking me to the country.”
“She did tell you that,” Edward said. “You didn’t misunderstand that situation either. She lied to you, probably to get you to go upstairs and begin packing your things so that she could slip out of the house unnoticed. If she’d had her way, you likely would have been dead before anyone discovered you. But luckily, Violet happened to come to your room and found you on the floor. She saved your life.”
“I have to remember to thank her,” Lydia whispered.
“I’ve thanked her many times already,” Edward assured her. “She knows she and all her family members will have a place in my household for the rest of my life. If not for her devotion, I might have lost you.”
“I still can’t believe Margaret could really be behind it all. What’s going to happen to her?”
“I don’t want you to worry about that,” Edward said. “Not tonight.”
But Lydia shook her head. “I can’t help worrying about it,” she argued. “I grew to think of Margaret as family. I need to know what’s going to happen to her.”
“She’s being arrested,” Edward said. “She’s in the custody of the constables right now. I couldn’t very well let her walk free, Lydia. She’s responsible for my father’s death.”
“What?” Lydia’s head reeled. “Do you mean to say she poisoned him as well?”
“Yes. Apparently, she’s been making a bit of a habit out of it. So, you see, I had to make sure she wasn’t going to continue to be a danger to people. It was hard to see her carried off, but it’s for the best.”
“I suppose it is,” Lydia murmured. “I just can’t bear to think of it—her locked away like that. But I also can’t imagine her putting poison in my tea—the whole thing is so unthinkable.” Fresh tears came to her eyes.
“Don’t think about it,” Edward urged. “There’s no need to think about any of that right now, Lydia. Tell me how you’re feeling. I’ve been so worried about you.”
“How long was I asleep?”
“Not very long. It’s only been about a day since I returned from Bath. The physician says you’ll need time and bed rest before you’re feeling like yourself again, though.”
“Where has he gone?”
“I sent him out because he was finished examining you.” Worry crossed Edward’s face. “Do you want me to call him back?”
“No, there’s no need,” she assured him quickly. “I’m quite all right. I just wondered where he had gone—and what he thought of my health after finishing his examination.”
“He thinks you’re going to be just fine,” Edward said. “He never would have left if he didn’t think so. He just wants you to rest, and I want the same.”
His hand loosened around hers, and Lydia worried he was about to let go. She gripped him tighter. “Don’t leave, Edward.”
“I want you to sleep,” he said gently, brushing a hand across her forehead. His fingers were warm and reassuring. “I’m worried you won’t get any rest if I stay.”
“I’ll rest. I’ll get more rest if you’re here. I know I shouldn’t indulge this, but I feel ill at ease without you.”
