Heart Burn (25 page)

"I'm hot, Jack. So hot."

"There's a stream nearby, we'll take you there. You must live, Hannah. For me."

"We have to get her to August," Samuel barked out.

"No time," Jack said. "Myer, fetch August here.
Now
."

Myer hurried out, and I heard the pounding of a horse's hooves.

"I dare not carry her," Jack said to Samuel. "Can you?"

"No," I rasped. "I'll burn him."

Samuel ran through a door to an adjoining room and quickly returned carrying a blanket. He wrapped it around me. The familiar smell was a comfort. Wool. I laughed at the irony.

I closed my eyes. They were too heavy to keep open, and my head felt like it was going to explode if I used up even the small amount of energy needed to do that.

"Hannah, wake up," Jack shouted. Samuel picked me up, and Jack stood close. I could feel his breath on my face. It was cooler than my skin, which was odd. So odd.

"Hannah! No. No, don't go."

I had to. I was too hot, too weak to do anything but sleep. I wanted to tell him that I wanted to be with him, tell him I loved him, but my voice had been consumed by the fire. I had nothing left. Not even tears.

"Stay with me." Jack's plea clawed at my heart, his sobs wrenched a cry from my chest.

I tried to rally for him. I tried so hard. But in the end, it was too much effort. The heat blasted through me and the darkness came.

CHAPTER 15

I awoke in a stream, fully clothed. It was dark, but I could just make out the tall shapes of trees and people standing on the bank. Somebody held my head above the swiftly flowing water and the weeds. Somebody strong but gentle. Somebody who cradled me like I was the most precious thing in the world.

Jack.

I was alive. I was quite sure of it, but I wanted to be doubly certain. I tried to sit up, but lacked the energy to do it on my own.

"Hannah?" Jack sounded wondrous. He shifted and his face appeared in front of mine. He stared at me, unblinking. "Hannah. Thank God," he muttered. "Thank God, thank God." He raised me a little and pressed his lips to my forehead. I hadn't been surrounded by weeds, I realized, but by my own hair.

Jack pressed his hand to my cheek, his lips to my mouth. He was shaking and his face was wet, either from crying or the water, or both.

I tested my limbs and found I had some strength in my arms. I wrapped them around his neck and clung to him. Relief and happiness burst out of me. I sobbed against him, unable to stop myself. He held me fiercely, rocking me, as shudders wracked us both.

Water splashed, and I heard voices. Sylvia called out my name, and somebody stroked my hair. I looked over my shoulder and was greeted with kisses on my cheek, first from Sylvia then Tommy and finally Bollard. The mute's eyes shone in the moonlight. I looked past him and saw Langley sitting on the bank, his useless legs stretched out in front of him. Behind him stood Myer. He had his back to me, facing the smoking ruin of the hut beyond. His shoulders were slumped forward, his head bowed, like a defeated man.

"It's cold in here," Samuel muttered.

I laughed then stopped. Needles of pain shot along my limbs, through my veins, piercing my skin. It was back. The fire…

No, not the fire. It felt different. It wasn't heat, but something else. Something I'd never felt before.

"Samuel?" I said, my voice rough. "What does cold feel like?"

"Well, like…it's hard to describe."

Jack drew away to look at me properly. "Why? What do you feel, Hannah?"

"Like I need to get out of this water before I turn rigid."

He grinned. "You're shivering."

"Get her out!" Sylvia cried, charging back to the bank. "Dry her before she catches her…uh, before she catches a chill."

A chill. I'd never had a chill.

Jack lifted me in his arms. I expected to feel his heat warming me now that we were out of the water, but I felt nothing like that. I continued to shiver, perhaps even more than when I was sitting in the stream. Touching Jack felt like being touched by anybody else.

Normal.

"I'm cured," I said to him.

He looked down at me. It was dark, but I could see the brightness in his eyes, the curve of his mouth as he smiled. "It would seem so."

He set me gently on the bank beside Langley, but didn't let me go. He remained at my back, propping me up, his arms wrapped around me.

August's hand gripped mine. "Welcome back, Hannah."

"Did you save me?" I asked.

He didn't answer, but turned to Tommy. "Fetch the blanket. She's freezing."

What a funny thought. I laughed until a shiver coursed through me. Tommy handed the blanket to Jack and he folded me into it.

I felt their stares on me, wondrous, happy, relieved. All the same emotions that welled inside me where not long ago only excruciating heat had been.

"We ought to go now," Sylvia said. "Hannah needs dry clothes and rest."

Myer, Tommy and Samuel remained behind to ensure the fire in the hut was completely doused. We left the three horses with them. Bollard lifted Langley into his arms, and Jack picked me up in the same manner. We were carried through the woods to where the carriage awaited us on a track nearby. The driver sat huddled inside his coat, his chin on his chest. He sat up when he heard us coming. He rubbed his eyes and picked up the reins.

"Why did Myer look so sad?" I asked Jack as he set me on the seat in the cabin.

"The cure was in that hut," he said. "The original compound Tate took from me too. He wanted them both and now he has neither."

Jack sat beside me, Sylvia opposite. She fussed with the blanket, ensuring it was closed tightly at my throat. "Keep your chest warm," she directed. She sounded like a mother hen, clucking at her chicks. I didn't scold her. It was nice to be coddled.

Bollard put Langley down beside her then closed the door. The carriage dipped as he got up beside the driver. We drove out of the woods and made our way along the road back through Harborough and onto Frakingham. The sky in the east was lighter, the clouds edged with gold. Dawn was near.

"What happened after I fainted?" I asked.

"I carried you into the stream," Jack said simply.

"Keeping you cold saved your life," Langley said.

I tilted my face to look at Jack. He sat beside me, his hands on his knees, quite still. He was wet through, but as achingly handsome as ever. More so. I kissed him lightly on the lips. Saying thank you didn't seem adequate enough. There were no words to express my gratitude and love.

He grasped my hand and pressed the knuckles to his lips. He closed his eyes and drew in a deep, shuddery breath.

"We were so worried about you," Sylvia said. Her uncle held her hand between both of his own. He did not try to separate Jack and I. Not that I could be separated from him ever again.

"When Tate took you…" Sylvia bit her lip and shook her head, unable to go on. Her eyes glistened in the weak dawn light.

"By the time I arrived in Harborough, Myer had already left," Jack said, picking up the story. "I found him on the London road and brought him back to Frakingham. It was the middle of the night, but the entire household was awake. They told me what had happened." He cleared his throat, and I suspected it had been a tense time for them, far more so than his blunt retelling indicated. "Samuel, Myer and I set out for the hut immediately. Myer knew its location, thankfully."

They must have all been exhausted traveling hard and fast to return to the house and then the hut. And the night hadn't ended then.

"You sent Myer back to fetch Langley," I said. "I remember that."

He nodded. "It felt like forever before they returned."

"What happened then? How was I cured?"

"Uncle brought his notes and things with him," Sylvia said, shooting him a proud smile. "He mixed Tate's formula and his own, and voila! You were cured."

Jack laughed. "I'm sure it was a little more complicated than that, Syl."

"Somewhat," Langley admitted. "I found the ingredients of Reuben's formula in his notes. He'd come at it from a different angle to me, but our findings weren't all that far apart. I knew almost immediately where we both went wrong. I made some adjustments to my formula based on his calculations and tested it on your blood sample."

"Obviously the results were positive," Sylvia said.

"Actually, they were inconclusive. Testing on blood samples alone wasn't enough."

He needed to test it on a real human case. Me. He didn't say so, but he didn't need to. There'd been no time to conduct full tests, and he'd injected me anyway.

Tate had been right all along in that regard. He
did
need me. Myer had also been right—Langley and Tate worked better together, not alone.

Now Tate was gone, and all his knowledge with him.

***

I ate a good breakfast as Sylvia dried and brushed my hair. Then, wrapped up in blankets, I slept the entire day and the following night. It was Christmas Eve when I awoke. I felt refreshed, and cold. For the first time since my arrival at Frakingham House, I dressed in warm winter clothes, complete with woolen jacket, waistcoat and skirt. I even wore gloves inside the house.

I had hoped to find Jack alone, so I could thank him properly for saving my life, but he was with the others in the dining room.

"Hannah!" Sylvia leapt out of her chair and drew me into a hug. "You're awake! Let me look at you." She held my hands and surveyed me from head to toe. "You look wonderful. Just wonderful. Your skin is glowing, although I'm afraid you still have freckles."

I laughed. "I think those are permanent."

"Good," Jack said quietly, joining us. "Because I adore every one of them." He kissed me gently on the forehead.

"Come and eat," Samuel said.

Everyone was there. Even Langley sat in his wheelchair, eating eggs. Bollard and Tommy stood by the sideboard. Both nodded greetings at me and smiled.

To my utter dismay, tears filled my eyes. This was my family. This odd collection of people from vastly different backgrounds meant the world to me. I loved every one of them.

"What can I get you to eat, Miss Smith?" Tommy asked.

"Nothing. You don't serve breakfast."

"Today I do." He wouldn't hear of me filling my own plate, so I told him to pile it with whatever he thought looked good. I was starving.

He set the plate down in front of me, and Bollard passed me a cup of steaming tea. I sipped, scalding my lip.

"Too hot?" Samuel said, chuckling.

I ate while they chatted and finished up their breakfast. Jack spoke little. His attention hardly wavered from me. I felt self-conscious at first, but grew used to it. Indeed, I rather liked being the focus of his attention. It was a thrill to know he cared so much for me that he couldn't take his eyes off me. To my surprise, it didn't seem to bother Langley in the least.

I finished my breakfast and accepted a refill of tea from Tommy. "Mr. Langley," I said over the rim of the cup, "did you ever stop looking for a cure?"

"Never," he said. "Not since Jack has been living with me, but it only became urgent when you came here, Hannah. With your training a failure, you were never going to be able to control the fire."

"And then when we discovered Tate was dying…" I said. "Finding a cure became more urgent still."

"Fortunately I was already some way along the path to discovering it."

"Yes. Fortunate," I echoed, setting the teacup down. I swallowed and tried to smile my thanks. Once again I was aware how inadequate words were at such a time. How did you thank someone for saving your life?

Jack's hand covered mine. It was warm and I slipped off my glove so that I could feel his skin on mine. Again, Langley made no comment about our intimacy.

"Why did you try to keep Jack and I apart?" My question may have been blunt, but he seemed prepared for it. They all did. Indeed, nobody seemed surprised, and I wondered if they'd been discussing that very thing before my arrival.

"I was worried about Jack," Langley said. "And you. You saw what happened when you were together. It was disastrous. Dangerous. You had to be kept separate for your own good, or…" He wiped the back of his finger across his upper lip. "You know what would have happened."

"So you did it to protect us." It was rather ironic. What was the point of being protected when I couldn't be with Jack? "You shouldn't have tried so hard."

Jack's fingers tightened around my own. I didn't dare look at him, or I might have burst into tears.

"Love can be fleeting," Langley said, avoiding my gaze.

"Some love. Not all. Not ours."

"That may be, but you must understand that you were my responsibility. You both were. If I had to save you from yourselves, then I would try."

I frowned, not fully understanding. Bollard shifted behind his master, beckoning my attention with his hands. He pressed them both over his heart then pointed at Jack. His lips flattened and he looked to Langley then Jack with sympathy and love and I finally understood. Langley cared for Jack as his own son. He would do anything to keep him safe. Perhaps that also explained why he'd not told Jack that Wade was his father. He was worried that Jack would reject him and wish to get to know his real parent.

I sat, stunned. Langley might be selfish, but he had the capacity to love, even if he had a terrible way of showing it. To be fair, there had been small telltale signs. He'd given Jack enormous responsibility in managing the estate and worked furiously to find a cure for me. Because he cared for me, or because I was what Jack wanted?

Bollard touched his chest again. This time he didn't point at anyone in particular, but spread out his hands, encompassing Sylvia and me, Tommy and Samuel too. Was he implying that Langley loved us all?

"That's enough, Bollard," Langley said without turning around. There was no anger in his tone, no real admonishment. "I think what my valet is trying to tell you is that it's my duty to do what's best for you, and sometimes what's best is not what you want."

Bollard rolled his eyes and tapped his chest again. I smiled. I understood completely. His master was simply too proud to admit that he loved us.