Page 69 of A Duke's Lustful Riddle
With her stepfather away on business, Vivienne felt an increasing sense of dread creeping over her.
What was she to do with her mother?
Frightened and unsure, Vivienne sent for the family physician.
She sat with her mother the few hours it took for the physician to arrive. Vivienne stroked her mother’s blonde hair as her mother continued to rock back and forth like a lost child. Her mumbling became even more incoherent as time passed.
The physician finally arrived just before rain started to pour in the late-night air.
“Doctor Oliver, please help my mother,” Vivienne begged the physician.
“I will do my best, how long has she been like this, Lady Vivienne?”
“For hours.” Vivienne’s voice shook with full emotion.
Doctor Oliver did some tests and looked over Cressida. His face registered concern.
“She seems to be in a state of heightened distress.”
“What does that mean? What can you do?” Vivienne could feel the hot tears forming in her eyes.
“Something must have set her off, but for now, I am prescribing her laudanum. It will soothe her.”
Vivienne nodded. “Thank you doctor.”
“Do not thank me yet. You must keep a close eye on the Duchess, as her condition seems precarious. If she worsens, send for me again.”
With that, Doctor Oliver left Sagewood Manor in a bit of a haste. As if Cressida was a strange woman that he need not spend too much time with.
“You will be alright soon, Mother. Here. Take this laudanum. It will calm your nerves,” Vivienne spoke calmly to her mother.
Cressida took the dosage before Vivienne helped her into bed.
As Vivienne watched her mother shake and moan beneath the covers, she was unsettled by her own thoughts.
When would her mother return back to normal?
As the night wore on, Vivienne grew tired, so she called for her mother’s loyal maid, Miss Martha.
“Miss Martha, I am going to retire to my bedchamber. Please come get me either in the morning or once my mother comes out of this state.”
Martha nodded and Vivienne retired for the night.
***
“Vivienne darling, are you there?” The countess moaned out in her feverish state.
Martha looked up from her spot on the chaise next to the bed.
“My lady, it is me, Martha.”
Martha noticed sweat on Lady Sagewood’s brow, and she used a cloth to wipe away the sweat.
“Vivienne, your father was a great man. Too bad he had to die,” the delirious woman moaned as she rolled onto her side away from Martha.
Martha stood there shocked, never hearing the countess speaking of Vivienne’s birth father before.
“What of my father?” Martha asked, pretending to be Vivienne as she wanted to hear more.
