Page 71 of The Journal of a Thousand Years
He received a round of scolds from everyone. Then they turned accusatory glares onto me.
I’d not been aware of having rushed forward when he collapsed, but I found myself standing several steps inside the room, so I must have.
Gabe patted the bed beside him. “If you don’t come here then I’ll have to try and stand again.”
“This is emotional blackmail.”
He smiled smugly.
Petra made a shooing motion. “Everyone out.”
I turned to go, but Daisy, the nearest to me, caught me by the shoulders.
“Not you.” She stood in front of me, blocking my line of sight to Gabe. “As your best friend, it is up to me to tell you that you are being an idiot, Sylvia.” She put a finger to my lips as I began to protest. “I’ve already heard your excuses, and I think they’re bollocks. We all do.” She took my hand and dragged me over to the bed. She released it, only for Gabe to capture it instead.
I was trapped.
But I still had some fight left in me, and I still had right on my side. The only way to stay on course, however, was to not be in the orbit of Gabe’s magnetic presence. I indicated the tray Murray had set on the bedside table. “Eat your breakfast, Gabe. Tilda, tell him he needs to eat.”
There was no answer.
I turned around to see they’d all left, and the door was closed. I tugged my trapped hand, but Gabe’s grip only tightened. “This conversation needs to happen when you’re better,” I said. “You’re too weak now.”
He pulled me down onto the bed beside him. His beautiful sea-green eyes raked over my face, as if he’d not seen me in a very long time. I was so distracted by his eyes that I didn’t see his mouth until it was too late. “I’m not too weak that I can’t do this.” The smile teasing his lips vanished.
He kissed me.
There was no hesitation in it, no question that I might reject him. It was an utterly confident kiss, certain that I’d already given in and was going to stay.
It was wonderful.
Every reason I’d had for leaving fled. There was a part of me that still tried to listen to my head and not my heart, but it was drowned out by the tide of yearning. Gabe’s kiss branded his point of view on me as thoroughly as his lips seared mine.
It took his dizzy spell to separate us. He sank into the pillows, his face dreadfully pale again.
“Gabe!” I searched his eyes and was relieved to see them refocus.
“I’m all right,” he murmured. “I probably should eat.”
I settled the tray across his lap and watched as he tucked into his steak. Only when he’d eaten half did I ask him what he knew. “Did they tell you what Thurlow did?”
“That he abducted you? And that my former fiancée and her mother helped?” He lowered the knife and fork to the tray with a shake of his head. “I can’t believe how badly I misjudged Ivy. I knew well before I ended the relationship that I didn’t love her and never had, but I thought she was a decent person. Then again, apparently I’m not a good judge of character, as evidenced by Stanley’s actions.” He heaved a sigh as he went back to cutting the steak.
“Both Ivy and Stanley have been driven to the brink, making them do things they wouldn’t normally do. In Stanley’s case, the war changed him. Returning home to a society that dismissedhis shell shock as his own fault for not coping when other men did…it left him feeling isolated and alone.”
“He wasn’t alone. He had friends. Juan and I wouldn’t abandon him.”
“I know you wouldn’t, but Stanley’s mind is in a very dark place.”
“Do you think he can be brought back from it? He was taking medication before. Perhaps he could have a stronger dose.”
I curled into his side and hugged his arm. “I don’t know, Gabe. I don’t think anyone knows, including the doctors.”
“I’ll try to talk to him.”
I sat up straight. “Don’t deliberately place yourself in danger or Iwillleave.”
He gave me a grim-faced nod. “I won’t.”
