Page 121 of The Sisters of Sea View
After their family dinner that evening, the girls all gathered in Mamma’s room with their tea and pudding. Emily glanced at Viola, and by silent agreement began relaying a softened version of the accident, minimizing the situation to avoid upsetting Mamma’s nerves and spurring Sarah’s remonstrances.
“The machine overturned?” Mamma sat upright in alarm, perching on the edge of the bed. “You might have been drowned.”
“We are perfectly well,” Emily hurried to assure her. “Don’t upset yourself. We were not in any great danger.”
Excitement flashed in Georgiana’s eyes. “That’s not what Bibi told me. She said Tom and some other men had to rescue you.”
“Bibi exaggerates,” Emily said. Then added dryly, “Perhaps she will be a novelist one day.”
“Oh, Emily,” Mamma said, eyes downturned. “I told you not to do anything rash. Did we not warn you to wait for better weather? You endangered not only yourself but Viola as well.”
The old defensiveness flared. The wordsWhy is it always my fault? Why not Viola’s?rose to her tongue, although she managed not to say them.
Viola discreetly reached over and took her hand. “I am just as much to blame as Emily, if not more. And no one could have foreseen that wave and the bathing machine going over. We just wanted you to hear what happened from us, before the rumor mill begins spinning its wheel, but evidently we are too late.”
Mamma patted the bed beside her. “Come here, the both of you.”
Sharing an uncertain glance, Emily and Viola rose to obey. Thankfully Mamma’s pique faded, and as the two sat on either side of her, she wrapped an arm around each of them, drawing them close. “Oh, my dears. I thank the Lord you were not injured or worse. I don’t know what I would have done if the sea had taken you.”
“We are right here, Mamma. We are not going anywhere.”
Emily braved a glance at Sarah, expecting to see anger, and was taken aback to see tears in her eyes and her usually stoic expression contorted with emotion.
Voice hoarse, Sarah said, “I am just so glad you are both safe.”
———
Later that night, Emily decided to make use of the bath-room between the Henshalls’ rooms and the Eltons’ to indulge in a hot bath after her cold dip in the sea.
She helped Lowen carry the pails of heated water, since he began huffing and puffing after a single trip up the stairs.
Now, after a long, luxurious soak, she emerged, wearing a warm dressing gown and a towel around her shoulders. Her newly washed hair, towel-dried as best she could, hung around her like a cool, velvety curtain. She longed for nothing more than to sit by the fire with a cup of rich, steaming chocolate and a book.
As she walked toward the room she shared with Sarah, Mr. Stanley came up the stairs, likely having spent the evening with his sister.
He did not smile when he saw her. Instead his brown-eyed gaze swept over her with unusual intensity, his thin mouth drawn tight.
“What’s this I hear about you nearly drowning today? I hope it isn’t true.”
Emily paused on the landing, the light from the lamp at the top of the stairs illuminating his approach.
“Not quite. Although it was certainly frightening. I have read accounts of bathing machines overturning in other seaside towns, but not here.”
His mouth parted and his eyes slanted downward. “The bathing machine overturned?”
“Yes.”
“Thunder and turf. You might have been killed! Are you truly all right?”
Emily was touched to see him so concerned. “You are kind to worry, Mr. Stanley. But as you see, I am perfectly well. And so, thank God, is Viola.”
“You do indeed look well. Then again, you always do.”
In the flickering light, his gaze lingered on her face, then shifted to her hair, loose around her shoulders. She felt suddenly self-conscious standing there in such a state.
He cleared his throat. “Well. I am relieved. Georgiana said some man rescued you? I wish it had been me.” He gave her a crooked grin, signaling a return to lighthearted teasing, yet it did not quite reach his eyes.
“He rescued Viola,” Emily clarified. “Whereas I walked from the water on my own two feet.”
