Devoted to You

Jerry nodded. “She will run straight to the dowager, who will just storm back in here with Edwards, and reinstate her against your wishes, all in the name of aiding your recovery, regardless of what you want. Edwards will then be even harder to contend with. However, even mama cannot object to her departure if the woman is giving you medication without your permission. What makes you think she is, anyway? I mean, you have had a bash on the head. What is to say that this kind of cloudy thinking is normal given your condition?”

Aidan looked at his brother. “While under the doctor’s care I was clear headed - most of the time. The only time I was cloudy with my thinking was when I woke up after the accident and being given Laudanum for the pain. When the doctor stopped giving it to me, my thoughts were sharp and back to normal. However, as soon as I left the doctor’s house, and began the journey here, each day has become like walking through a thick fog. I swear that Edwards is putting it in my food.”

“Have you witnessed her slip any into your meals or drinks?”

“I haven’t seen a thing, but that is not to say that it isn’t happening,” Aidan admitted.

“Have you told her you don’t want any?”

Jerry had accompanied them all the way up from London and hadn’t seen anything untoward about the nurse, other than she was alarmingly proprietorial over Aidan whenever the opportunity arose.

Aidan nodded. “Several times, but she, like the dowager, can be really quite annoyingly dismissive at times. I have no doubt that if she considered it in her best interests to give me some then she would, and it wouldn’t be purely for medicinal purposes.”

Jerry’s brows lifted in astonishment. He set that problem aside to mull over later. When Aidan yawned, he took it as his cue to leave and went to fetch his cloak.

“Look, I need to be getting back home. If you need anything, you know where I am. Just send one of the footmen over and I will be here as fast as I can. For what it is worth, I think you are right to get Petal on your side. If she is the one to fetch your meals and drinks, get her to remain with your food from the second it leaves Kempton. That way, if your mind clears and Petal can swear your food is not spiked, you know your suspicions about Edwards are correct. If you are still cloudy in your thoughts, then I think you have to accept it is just the result of your injury you need to recover from.”

“I have to get well again,” Aidan ground out through teeth clenched with impatience.

“You will, but you know this is going to take time,” Jeremiah reasoned. “I can keep my eye on the rest of the estate for you, and will let you know if there is a problem. The house in London is already up for sale, so our dearest mother has got the message that you are turning your back on the ton, and hope never to return. There is nothing for you to think about except for recuperating and getting your strength back. I am just glad you are still alive, Aidan. There was a time there when the doctor didn’t even think you would keep your life. If you walk with a limp, then you walk with a limp, but at least you can walk. Everything else will come about in due course. You just have to be patient.”

Jerry tried to put as much enthusiasm into his statement as he could muster, but even he was worried about the weight of problems that surrounded his brother. The dowager could be a formidable force when determined about something, and Edwards was just plain odd.

Maybe Petal would be the bright spark that Aidan needed to help guide him through the tangle of difficulties.

However Aidan succeeded in solving his problems, Jerry could only hope it all didn’t end in tears.

Aidan nodded. Although he tried, he couldn’t quite mask the huge yawn that escaped. Just thinking about the myriad problems exhausted him.

Taking this as his hint to leave, Jeremiah opened the door. “I will call by in the next couple of days.”

“Rollo?” Aidan called when he realised his butler was waiting just outside the door.

“Yes, sir?” The butler stepped back into the room.

“Make sure that Petal stays with all food and drink from the moment it leaves the kitchen. Under no circumstances is Edwards to get her hands on any of it,” Aidan ordered but didn’t explain why. It just all seemed too exhausting.

Rollo’s brows shot up. He turned to the master’s brother who nodded his acknowledgement that the order was right.

“Of course, sir,” Rollo replied hesitantly. He was bursting with questions but too polite to ask.

Before either man could say anything else, Aidan fell asleep.

In the kitchen, Petal watched the starched nurse storm up the stairs with all the determination of a pit-bull. She had only known Edwards for a short while but already had the impression that the nurse was dour, surly, and obnoxiously rude. She felt sorry for the master for having to deal with her.

At any other time, she could have been considered pretty. Right now, though, with her hair swept fiercely away from her face in a way that sharpened her looks, she looked quite spiteful. Petal had no doubt that if she told the master he was going to take some medication then the master was going to take some medicine.

Petal shuddered and turned away. If she were ill as the master reportedly was, the last person she would want to look after her was someone who appeared so strictly forbidding that everyone took a backward step when she drew near. Still, it was none of her business. She was there to work and work she would. For someone like her, it was a miracle she had managed to get this job in the first place. If she had to endure the occasional meal at the table in the kitchen with the wretched woman, then she would. As long as she didn’t have to take any medication the woman gave her, or talk to her, then everything would be alright.

“What do you think he was staring at you for?” Agatha asked suddenly from beside her.

“I don’t know but it was darned unnerving,” she replied quietly. She threw Mrs Kempton a furtive look and lowered her voice. “Come and help me fold these sheets?”

Both young women scurried into the laundry room and began to fold the baskets of freshly washed laundry. Now that they were alone they were free to talk.

“I don’t like the look of that nurse,” Agatha murmured.

“She looks a bit severe doesn’t she?” Petal replied with a sigh.