Page 11 of A Groom for Lauren
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Heather said, gently pushing Lauren back on the bed.
“I have imposed on everyone long enough,” Lauren said. “I am feeling much better.”
It was a lie, as were most of the things she was saying, but she needed to get out of the parish house. The last thing she wanted anyone to know was what she had tried to do this morning. She looked up at the man who had saved her life, not once but twice. Had he told anyone what happened? Her face burned with embarrassment and shame. She didn’t want anyone to know how far she had gone.
Lauren’s eyes drifted to the man again. No one had seen her at the lowest, as he had. Inexplicably, her pain bonded them. His eyes were inscrutable.Oh, but she wondered if he felt the same connection that she was feeling as well.
“Let me be the judge of that,” Heather said with kind eyes fixed on her. If anyone else had said that, the statement would appear as being pompous and superior. Anyone who knew Heather knew she wasn’t like that. “Lauren, what were you doing at the bank of the river?”
Swiftly, her eyes went to the man.Dear Lord, have you told her?she thought
The sound of her heart beating eclipsed everything else. No one would understand. They would judge her because they would think she was a terrible mother for wanting to ease her suffering. She turned her eyes back to her friend. Concern etched Heather’s pretty features.
“I wanted to get some fresh air like you said I should, Heather. I walked too close to the bank and my foot caught on something. When I tried to get my balance, I slipped.”
“It’s a good thing that I was there then, isn’t it?” the man said. Then, he gave her a slight nod as if to say her secret was safe with him.
“Lauren, I know things have been difficult; especially after Esther was born. She’s been a very colicky baby, and you have been suffering from severe melancholy. I just didn’t know how bad it was. Once I think you have rested enough, I’ll let you go home. But for right now, Lauren, you’re going to lay right there and let me take care of you.”
Lauren blinked rapidly so the telltale sign of her tears would not be seen.Heather cared.Why did she forget that when she stood on the edge of the river?
Pastor Collins came into the room and moved behind Heather. He leaned over the midwife and reached towards Lauren. “I want to pray for you, Lauren. I was worried about you when I saw you flailing about in the water. You are part of my flock that the good Lord, Himself gave to me. And just like the Good Shepherd, I want nothing to happen to any of my sheep. I stand between my sheep and the wolves of sin that would try to wrestle you from my grasp.”
Lauren didn’t know whether to be thankful or to roll her eyes. Pastor Collins was a mix of a righteous man and a pompous man. There were times she didn’t know which one he was. Looking in her heart, she wanted to think he was being righteous in the moment. Pompous or not, she needed prayer.
“Thank you, Pastor. I’d appreciate it.”
The pastor moved around Heather and stood by the bed. Taking Lauren’s hand, he said a prayer over her. Surprising, given that the pastor was a master at pontificating, the prayer wasn’t a long one. When it was over, everyone left, except Heather and the man who saved her.
The midwife sent a questioning look to the man. “Is there something I can help you with, Dr. Spaulding?”
Doctor? He was a doctor? Lauren closed her eyes.Her humiliation was now complete.
When she opened them, Heather and the doctor were standing over the bed. Lauren took a deep swallow. “Heather, may I speak to Dr. Spaulding in private for a few moments?”
Heather raised her eyebrow as if wanting to say no. Her glance shifted from Lauren to the doctor. Finally, she nodded and picked up her doctor bag. “Only a few minutes, and then I want you to rest. Esther will be fine with me.”
The door shut behind her, and the silence encapsulated them. Lauren shifted back and forth under the covers that held her fast to the bed. She watched as the doctor sat down in the chair Heather vacated a few moments before. He rested his elbows on his knees and steepled his fingers, resting them on his lips.
His gaze was incredibly unnerving. Even though she had asked to speak to him, words weren’t forming in her throat. Lauren looked around the room, hoping that he would be gone by the time she looked back.He wasn’t.
He lowered his hands, clasping them between his knees. “What did you want to talk about?”
“W-why didn’t you tell her what really happened?”
Chapter Four
“I wish I could answer that question, Mrs. Hale,” Christopher said slowly as he leaned towards the bed. “But I figured if you wanted people to know, you would have told them yourself.”
Lauren looked away. “It is very difficult for people to understand. But thank you for not saying anything.”
He believed her.
Animals couldn’t talk like men could, but they had ways of expressing themselves without the use of words. Sadness with whines, flattened ears, or standoffish positioning of their bodies. Christopher recognized those same signs in Lauren.
Though he had rescued her from the water, there was still the darkness inside of her.
He may have saved her from herself in a physical sense, but the actual battle was on the inside. Inside her very mind.
