Page 104 of Never Leave Me
Harrison didn’t make a move to draw her back and instead stared at the bottle too. From the calmness of his demeanor, it was clear he wasn’t surprised by the sight of it.
“Where did you find this?” She swished it. It was empty and the cork pieces sat in a pile on the bedside table.
He closed his eyes and pressed his lips together as if he didn’t want to have the conversation. Then he sighed. “Sybil found the bottle in a cabinet inside Reider Castle.”
“Just one?”
He nodded.
Ellen’s heart sank. Had her dad or Nicholas left it behind? If so, why? A dozen scenarios raced through her mind. If Nicholas had wanted it for himself, he wouldn’t have placed it in the cabinet. He would have taken it with him and hidden it someplace safer.
That meant maybe Dad had meant it for her. Somehow, he must have realized she had been injured or even died. And perhaps he’d suspected that the ancient cabinet survived the ages and hoped someone in the present would find the dose of the holy water to enable her to live.
But if he’d done so, why had he only left one when he’d known she would need two? Unless, of course, he’d only had one. Perhaps Dad had been mortally wounded, and Nicholas had used one of the bottles to revive him just as he’d vowed to do.
Regardless of her speculations, the bottle was here. And it was empty...
Again, she glanced from the cork pieces to the bottle and then to Harrison. He finally opened his eyes. The truth gleamed within the green depths. He’d given her the dose. And he’d left none for himself.
“We’ll find more.” She slipped off the other side of the bed, drawing a blanket around her nightgown. “We have to find more.”
“Sybil’s still looking.”
Ellen’s legs shook. She needed to go over to Reider Castle for herself and join in the search. Her heartbeat sped to a frantic pace, and she spun and crossed to the boudoir. Grabbing the closest sundress, she stepped back only to find Harrison blocking her way to the lavatory.
“I wanted you to have it.” His voice, though gentle, was threaded with a plea that matched the one in his eyes. He wanted her to accept what he’d done and not fight it.
An ache swelled in her chest. He couldn’t expect her not to do anything to save him. She ducked past him. “You shouldn’t have given it to me without talking to me first.”
“I knew you’d say no.” He stalked after her.
“And you’re right. You came out of your coma first and needed it sooner than me.”
He grabbed her arm, stopping her before she could close herself away to change into her clothes. “I don’t want you to race off, love.”
“I won’t stand back and let you die when there’s a chance we could find more holy water and save you.”
His dark brows furrowed with intensity. “There’s a chance wewon’t. And then we’ll have wasted the little time we have left. Someone very wise once told me she wanted to spend her final days relishing every second of every minute. And now I think I’d like to do the same.”
She clutched the sundress, her throat burning with the need to weep. After all she’d gone through, the months of suffering from the effects of VHL now seemed like a distant past.
He released her suddenly and grasped at his chest.
“Harrison, what’s wrong?”
He sucked in several sharp intakes. “My chest. It hurts.”
As he slapped at his heart and struggled to draw in a breath, she fought not to panic. Marian had gone into cardiac arrest before she died. Was that happening to Harrison? Was she going to lose him now, just when she finally understood how much she wanted to be with him?
28
THESTEADYBEEPOFMONITORSdidn’t comfort Ellen the same way they normally did. Even if the aspirin and nitroglycerin had brought Harrison relief from the chest pain in the short term, the reality was that he was dying.
She perched on the edge of the bed next to him, struck by the irony that only hours earlier, she’d been the one languishing there.
Now his handsome face was pale, and even with the oxygen tube, his breathing was labored. He’d rested peacefully since the doctor had prescribed the heart medicine along with a mild sedative. But no matter how much she and the doctor worked to ease Harrison’s pain with modern medicine, they couldn’t prevent him from dying, not with his body deteriorating in the past.
Of course, Drake had been on the phone with all Harrison’s contacts again, trying to track down another dose of the holy water. Now he paced in the corridor, and as he finished his call, he stopped in the doorway and shook his head, his face etched with frustration.
