Page 78 of A Touch of Charm
When he met her gaze, he indicated “no” with his eyes, and she inhaled as understanding dawned on him.
“Daca îmi pastrezi secretul, îl voi pastra ?i eu pe al tau, frate.” If you keep my secret, I will keep yours, brother. Thea subtly gestured in the direction of Nurse Wendy.
Stan inhaled, nodded, and then looked at the nurse again. She was pretty, young, and seemed to blush furiously under Stan’s intense gaze. But what struck Thea the most was how well she worked with Andre.
Once Stan had taken off his shirt, it was Nurse Wendy who took the tweezers and held the wound down as Andre removed the stitches. Mary grimaced a little when she first saw the dark scab wash away with the witch hazel solution and the bowl tinged with the dissolved red blood.
“I’ll remove the stitches because there’s an infection, but I will bandage the wound so that it won’t open,” Andre explained for Stan’s benefit as much as Mary’s. “This is called a roof tile bandage,” he said when he placed one piece of muslin in a crisscross over the other. “The pressure comes from both sides to draw the skin together.”
“How long until the wound closes?” Stan asked, wincing when Mary joined Wendy and patted his shoulder.
“You don’t just need it to close; you need the infection to heal. This could otherwise take a dramatic turn,” Andre said firmly. Wendy handed him another bandage while gently nudging Mary’s so she wouldn’t rub.
“Just pat, pat, see?” Wendy showed Mary and Stan shot Wendy a grateful look.
And Thea now knew why Stan inhaled and flexed his muscles for them—well, he didn’t want to show the pain of the deep infection to the little nurse, but he wanted to show off his muscles to the adult one. Thea knew her brothers better than herself sometimes.
“We must repeat this at least twice daily until the wound is closed. Only then can we immobilize the arm, so the scar remains narrow and smooth.” Andre turned to Thea. “It seems we will keep him as a patient to Cloverdale House after all.”
“Wendy, could you—” But Andre didn’t need to finish.
She nodded eagerly, and it was a little too obvious that she averted her gaze from Stan, who was pulling his shirt back over his exposed torso.
“I’ll look after your wound at Cloverdale House,” Nurse Wendy said.
It was a promise that hinged upon a practicality Thea knew should soothe her, but instead, it sent an ache spiraling through her chest. Cloverdale House. The place where he would be—where she could see him again.
The thought took root, unbidden yet undeniable, sparking a restless hope in Thea’s chest. She could still see the faint curve of his lips before their kiss, feel the pull that defied reason. Her cheeks warmed at the memory, her pulse quickening with a longing she could neither quell nor justify. She shouldn’t feel this way, shouldn’t crave that spark again, but the idea of seeing him at Cloverdale House was enough to set her heart racing. It would be her chance—her excuse—to be near him once more.
Except that the next day at Cloverdale House, Andre didn’t come. One of doctors said that there was a large carriage accident, and he had a great number of patients, but Thea hadn’t heard everything. Instead, some of the other doctors had arrived, introduced themselves to Anna when Thea had been sharing tea with her, and then withdrew into the various rooms Thea didn’t keep track of. Thus, Thea distracted her mind from the intense kiss with Andre with a little homework for Mary.
“Why are you making me learn French and Latin?” Mary asked, holding the pencil and writing simple words.
“Because you are so young now, you can learn three or four or even five languages at the same time easily.”
“It’s not easy,” the little girl pouted.
“I know.”
“But you said it is.”
“It’s easier now than learning the languages when you grow up. I never said it’s easy altogether.”
“How many did you learn when you were five?”
“Five.”
“Yes, when you were five.”
“No, I mean, I learned five.”
“Which ones? French, Latin, and English?”
“And Romanian and Hungarian.”
“Say something in Hungarian!”
“Bármit elérhetsz, amit kituzöl magad elé.”
