Return to Summerhouse (The Summerhouse 2)

“What have I changed?”

“My uncle will live.”

“That was Faith, not me. Tristan, no matter what you say, or how you put this under a microscope, I think I was sent here to keep you from getting killed. And that’s what I’ve tried to do.”

“I think there is something more here. I wish—” He looked at her with such pain in his eyes that she gasped.

“What is it?”

“I wish you had come back before my wife died. I wish Faith had been here to save her and the baby.”

“Cleanliness,” Amy said. “That’s all that was needed. Your horrible old doctor delivered some twins in the village and didn’t bother to wash his hands before or after. Then he went to your wife and delivered her with his filthy hands. It’s called childbirth fever and no one will find the cause of it until Victorian times, about a hundred years from now.”

“It could be that simple?” Tristan said.

“Yes, it could. Tristan, I’m sorry. It’s not as though my world has found cures for everything, but we have found out about washing our hands. I’ve seen old paintings of men wearing suits while they operate on someone.”

“And what do the men in your time wear?”

“The men and women who operate wear specially made sterile gowns and thin rubber gloves on their hands. They work in a sterile environment.”

Tristan put out his hand to pull her up to stand beside him. “I want you to tell me everything about this.” His voice lowered. “I want to prevent what was done to my wife and my uncle from happening again.”

“You want to be a doctor?”

“No, I just want to take care of my family.”

“Will you keep a guard with you?” she asked. “At all times? I want to keep you alive until…”

“Until you leave?”

He looked at her, then pulled her into his arms and kissed her. For a moment he held her in his arms, her head against his chest, his heart beating against her cheek. “Do not tell me that I cannot touch you. He will have you for the rest of your life. You will go back to him and it will be his children that you have. I have only now, these few days with you.”

“Tristan…” she said, but she didn’t push away from him.

It was he who put her at arms’ length. “You and I are going to do what the others are doing. We are going to learn. You are going to tell me what you can that will help me in my world. Never again do I want to have a woman die in my arms, her blood flowing out of her like a stream of death. Never again do I want to see someone I love lie in a bed and waste away when all he needed was a bath and some good food. Will you help me?”

“Yes, of course. I’ll do what I can, but I still must save your life. Someone here hates you and wants you dead.”

He smiled at her. “I will find him even if I have to sit up all night and watch for him. Come! We must go to the house and get food, then you must tell me everything.”

Twenty-one

“You look horrible,” Zoë said.

“Thanks,” Amy said. “You’ve made my day.”

“If you’re having trouble sleeping I could give you something,” Faith said.

They were in the main house, sitting at the round table in the south parlor, a full tea in front of them. It was the first time they’d all three been together in nearly a week.

“Do you know that you’re beginning to sound like a drug dealer,” Amy said to Faith. “Are those things you’re giving people legal?”

Zoë and Faith looked at each other.

“Don’t look at me like that. Yes, I know where I am. I haven’t forgotten. A few days ago I told Tristan everything.”

For a moment neither Zoë nor Faith could speak.