Devoted to You

“It could have just been something you ate,” Aidan said thoughtfully.

“I didn’t eat anything everyone else in my house didn’t eat, and they were all fine. The only thing I had that was different to everybody else was the tea I shared with poor Alice, who told me about the symptoms she was experiencing. No, believe me; I think someone was giving her something. Whether it was the dizziness that made her fall down the stairs, or she was pushed, I am afraid we shall never know for definite. However, Petal may know what happened to her. Hopefully, she hasn’t had a sufficiently hard bump on the head that she will struggle with her memory.”

Now swayed by her deduction, Aidan nodded.

“Well, she isn’t going to eat or drink anything, and nobody is going to get near her without going through me first.”

“And me,” Jerry echoed. “Why attempt to kill them, though? I mean, for what purpose? I will admit that Alice’s death relieved me of a significant burden in my life I didn’t really want, but death is an extreme way of going about it. What reason could they have to want to do Petal any harm? Petal has never done anything to anybody.”

“Without Petal, I really don’t think I would be as well as I am today,” Aidan added. “Her reading to me kept me sane. She talked to me quite frankly when everyone else was walking around on tiptoes, afraid to look at their own shadow. Not only that but on occasion she actually pushed me to eat something when food was the last thing I wanted.”

“Aidan?” Petal whispered.

The world swam alarmingly when she tried to open her eyes, but she latched onto the sound of his voice. She clung to her husband’s hand while she tried to get her eyes to refocus on him. The pain in her head began to recede to a dull thud, but it still made thought difficult.

Aidan had never heard such a sweet sound in all of his life, and was choked with emotion was he watched her struggle to fight off the swirling mist of confusion he was so familiar with.

“Petal? Open your eyes and look at me, sweetheart,” he pleaded.

She blinked sleepily. At first, she couldn’t understand the worry in his eyes. He looked as if he had had endured a tremendous shock. Then she remembered something about horse riding, and looked at him in dismay.

“Are you alright? Did you fall off?” she asked in horror, her voice croaky.

“I am fine. It is you I am worried about. Can you remember what happened?” he asked in a voice that was husky with emotion.

Petal looked at him. The more she stared into his incredible eyes, the more she absorbed his quiet strength. The fog clouding her thoughts began to lift, and her memory flooded back.

“Can you remember what happened?” he prompted when she didn’t speak.

“I can,” she replied calmly. “Someone pushed me down the stairs.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Are you sure?” he asked in a hushed whisper. He was horrified, and cursed his own foolishness to have left her all alone in the house so soon after they were wed.

“I am positive,” Petal assured him. “When you left I came upstairs. Something hit the floor behind me when I got to the top. I turned around to see what it was and went to pick it up. As I bent down, someone rushed up to me and pushed me.”

“Sweet Jesus,” Jerry swore and rubbed a hand wearily down his face.

“It will be alright,” Aidan assured her. “The doctor is on his way.”

He knew that she was in pain but didn’t know what to do to help her. He had never felt so bloody helpless in his life, and hated it. It took considerable effort to remain on the bed with her. He wanted to round all of his staff up in a line and refuse to allow them to go anywhere until one of them confessed to hurting her. However, he knew that if someone was cold blooded enough to consider someone’s life so insignificant they could willingly push them down the stairs they wouldn’t be honest enough to admit to their crimes.

“Can you remember what you saw?”

Petal blinked back tears and felt truly scared. “I can’t remember anything.”

“Alright,” he soothed, kissing her furrowed brow. “Firstly, and more importantly, have you hurt anywhere? I know you must be black and blue from landing on those hard steps, but have you broken anything? We have sent for the doctor, but I think it is wise not to move unless you absolutely have to until he has seen you.”

“I don’t think anything is broken. I am just a bit sore, and my head hurts,” she replied.

“Do you have any stabbing pains or anything?” He demanded.

“No, I just ache a bit.”

She couldn’t relax; not after what had happened.

“It will be alright, Petal. We will keep you safe. I don’t know what is going on at the moment, or why, but I promise you that whoever pushed you down the stairs will be put behind bars.”