Page 51 of Loving an Earl
“If you must, but I’m not leaving his side until the fever is gone.”
When she was alone, she bathed his forehead with a cool cloth. It seemed a contradiction. His body shook with chills while his skin burned up from fever. But she knew from experience a cool cloth helped ease the fever. If his body got too hot, he could die. She sobbed out loud. If she had to, she would stay at his bedside every minute of every day until he was well. She could not let him die. She wouldn’t survive burying another family member she... cared for.
His moans tore through her heart. Lilly rewet the cloth and bathed not just his face but his neck and what little of his chest was exposed due to his bandaged arm and shoulder. His uninjured leg found purchase and managed to drag the sheet and blanket down to his thighs. She looked away from his soft manhood, feeling as if she was invading his privacy. She covered him up to the waist and continued to bathe him, hoping and praying to bring his fever down.
A knock on the door startled her. “Come in.”
“My lady, I have brought the special tea the doctor asked the cook to make,” Mrs. Peterson, Emmeline’s housekeeper, said as she put the cup and saucer on the night table. “I also brought Mr. Mullens, knowing you would need help sitting his lordship up.”
“Thank you.”
“Mullens,” Lilly put the cloth down in the basin, “can you get him propped up on the pillows?”
“Yes.”
Between Lilly, Mrs. Peterson, and Mullens, they maneuvered his body up to a partially seated position—enough that Lilly believed she could get him to take the tea, which the housekeeper handed her with a cloth for any spills.
“Mullens, can you open his mouth for me?”
“Yes, my lady.”
Langford fought his valet, his head lolling from side to side. Finally, Mullens managed to open his mouth, and Lilly poured some of the vile-smelling liquid in. Mullens immediately closed his mouth, and Langford made gaging and choking sounds when he was forced to swallow. When they subsided, they repeated the process several times until the tea was gone.
Exhausted physically and mentally, Lilly was relieved when she and Langford were alone again. She collapsed into the chair, leaning forward, watching his every twitch, her ears straining to hear every moan or whimper, every breath he took. She was so afraid to close her eyes and miss any sign of distress. Her body trembled from anxiety, her stomach churned, and her head throbbed.
This went on all day. As the sun set, she went around the room lighting candles, afraid that if there was not enough light, she would miss any signs of trouble. She refused to let him die or his health deteriorate. Determined to break his fever and keep him comfortable, she spooned laudanum into his mouth every four hours. Every hour Mullens brought fresh, cool water so she could continue bathing him. When his sheets needed changing, Mullens, along with several footmen, oversaw replacing them.
What she was doing for him was for a wife or mother to do, not an unmarried widow who’d only seen a naked man once before. But even as exhausted as she was, she didn’t want to turn over her watch to anyone else. Somehow, this felt like her task, her responsibility, and she was afraid to leave his side, afraid that if she left, something horrible would happen. Her mind knew that her being with him as opposed to someone else had no influence over his recovery, but her heart wouldn’t believe it.
“Lilly,” Aunt Vivian’s soft voice traveled through the quiet darkness. “You need rest. We don’t want you falling ill from exhaustion. Please go to bed. I will take care of Langford as if he were my own son.”
She sighed, fighting with herself, knowing Aunt Vivian spoke the truth. Inhaling and exhaling deeply, she pushed herself to stand and stretched, easing her tired, sore muscles. “Thank you. I know you’ll take good care of him. In an hour, he is due for laudanum and his special tea.” She wiped stray strands of hair from her eyes. “Mullens will help you along with Mrs. Peterson and Mrs. Lewis.”
Lilly shuffled her exhausted body out the door. If Aunt Vivian said anything in reply, she didn’t hear it. When she reached her bed, she didn’t bother with removing her clothes. She climbed on top of the counterpane and fell into a sleep worthy of the dead.
When she opened her eyes after a dreamless sleep, she climbed off the bed and shuffled to a window and threw the curtains open. A miserable drizzly day greeted her. While she stood there it took several moments for her to remember why her mind was foggy and her body ached.
*
Two days later,Lilly awoke again with the same body pains and fuzzy mind from more long hours spent caring for Langford. She rang for her maid.
“My lady,” Daisy said as she entered the room with a bucket of warm water that she poured into a basin. “Let’s get you cleaned up so you can go see Lord Langford.”
“Have you heard anything? Has he improved?”
“I’m afraid not. Baroness Connolly, Mrs. Lewis, and Mr. Mullens are with him.”
“Please help me get ready. Any day dress will do.”
After Lilly was undressed, washed up, redressed, and her hair done up, she hurried out the door, making her way to Langford’s room. Rushing through the door, she whispered, “Is he better?”
Aunt Vivian’s frown answered her question, and her heart dropped.
“Dr. Bailey just left. He re-dressed his wound and resplinted his leg, saying the good news is that the infection hasn’t spread up the leg, which is promising. We just need to get the fever to break. He had tea and laudanum a half hour ago.”
“Thank you.”
Aunt Vivian made her way to the door. Before she exited, she turned and said, “If you need me, you ring for me. The earl’s sickbed is no place for a young lady such as yourself.”
