Dear Lord, no!
Kitty stumbled sideways, trying to keep her legs from losing their strength. She gripped the wall. Focus, Kitty. Remain strong. Bandages. He needed bandages...
But she couldn’t tear her gaze from Nathaniel’s wounds. The blood that oozed from the cut above his eye seemed to call after her, blaming her for its incessant shedding. Kitty looked at her feet, willing them to move. They refused. Blinking, she tried to make sense of such a nightmare. She should have told! She should have warned them what was to come. Vision wavering, Kitty clutched her throat. But how would that have stopped Cyprian’s tyranny over her—over them? He would still have had his way.
She was trapped.
And now look what she had done.
Attempting to swallow, she stared at Nathaniel’s motionless body when Thomas’s clear voice snatched her out of the mire of her thoughts.
“When did you find him?”
“Not twenty minutes ago.” Roger stood back, his shoulder glistening from Nathaniel’s blood.
Eliza rushed in from the kitchen, a bucket of water under one arm and a wad of rags in the other. Water sloshed to the ground when she hurriedly dropped the heavy bucket and knelt at Nathaniel’s head. Her eyes suddenly widened then narrowed and she pushed up and stood in front of Kitty, ducking her head to meet Kitty’s drifted gaze.
Eliza gripped Kitty’s arms. “He will be well. But in this moment you must be strong. You know more of medicine than any of us, and we need your help. Nathaniel needs your help.”
Kitty could not keep her limbs from quivering. She pulled her lips between her teeth and peeked over Eliza’s shoulder at the man she loved.
Oh dear Lord!
She cupped her mouth. I love him.
Eliza continued to plead. “Kitty?”
Kitty sucked in a choppy breath and shook her head ever so slight. “Nay, I cannot. I’ve never cared for someone so hurt.”
Thomas rushed forward, his face crumpled. “Please Kitty, you know more than any of us here.”
Tears blurred her vision. Lord, give me strength.
Just as the prayer floated from her mind, the terror cleared enough to allow the blood to once again pump through her limbs as if God Himself had touched her with His all-powerful hand.
She inhaled a breath that chased away the remaining tremors. Thank you, Lord!
Kitty rushed forward. After what she’d done, if anyone would save Nathaniel, it should be her.
“Bring him to the kitchen.”
The men grunted in unison as they heaved him from the ground.
Kitty raced into the dark room, lighting a candle as the men rested Nathaniel’s body on the vacant table. Candlestick in hand, she spun around and tried not to whimper. Nathaniel’s hair stuck to his face where the blood drained above one eye. Another trickle oozed from his nose.
She handed the candle to Roger. “Thomas and Joseph, remove his coat, we must check his chest for injuries.”
Gingerly, the two men pulled Nathaniel’s limp arms from his dirt-covered jacket. Kitty snatched a pair of sheers from the drawer in the corner cabinet and cut Nathaniel’s already ripped and blood stained shirt. Removing the linen away from his torso, she scanned his chest and breathed more deeply. No bruising. Dare she hope his injuries were not as terrible as they appeared?
She trained her voice to remain even. “Joseph, remove his boots so
I may check for breaks.”
He nodded and immediately complied.
She smoothed her fingers up Nathaniel’s right leg, then his left. No breaks. Lord in heaven, I thank thee.
Moving around the table she tenderly tugged at the blood-matted hair that clung to the open cut above his eye, her heart bleeding the same as his wound. She pushed out a hard breath and straightened her shoulders, encouraging the strength that wavered to remain erect. She met Thomas’s pained gaze. “This cut on his head appears to be the worst of it.” She leaned closer to inspect the extent of the injury. “’Tis deep. I will need to stich it.”