Page 18 of Just Think of the Scandal (The Fairplace Family Novellas #2)

E liska read the single line.

She doesn’t love me.

Confusion dulled her senses. She looked up at Theo, the man who was suddenly so dear to her. Who’d followed her not out of pride, she realized, but pain. Who piggybacked her so she wouldn’t get muddy, who tried his drunken best to protect her even before they were friends. “Why is this a flaw?”

“Because even then it was important to me, even though I didn’t understand why.” He stared at her, his brown eyes so bright with emotion she felt the need to shield her eyes. “I considered it a flaw that you didn’t love me. Because I wanted, no, needed you to. Because I loved you , even before I recognized the sentiment.” He took one of her hands in both of his. “Dearest love, my Eliska, please make me the happiest of men and marry me.”

Eliska hadn’t expected this. She didn’t know what to say.

“If you don’t love me, I don’t mind. Much,” he said desperately, bringing her hand to his lips. “I’ll happily spend the rest of my life convincing you to love me.”

“Oh, Theo, no,” she said in dismay. “You deserve so much better than coaxing a woman to value you. You’re far too wonderful to settle for anything less than a wife who chose you fully and freely with love in her heart.”

Theo’s face went slack, as if she’d dealt him a mortal wound. “You’re refusing me.”

“No!” Eliska rubbed her forehead. “I just…I’d just resigned myself to being ruined and going back to Prague on my own.” She tangled her fingers through his, trying to think. The train rattled and clacked around them.

She imagined a life with Theo. Breakfasting with him each morning. Buying a dog together. Making babies in their bed each night. Each stage of life she could imagine had Theo in it beside her. When she tried to replace his image with another, faceless man, the image dulled immediately, as if all sunshine had been sucked from the frame. The deep longing in her heart ballooned and grew, until she thought her ribs might break from the pressure. “Theo,” she whispered. I think I love you.

But he wasn’t paying attention. Instead he was frowning, peering out the window. “Something isn’t right.”

“What?” Eliska’s senses went on alert. She pulled the curtain back from the edge of the window.

“Do you feel the difference?” Theo’s frown deepened. “The locomotive is jerking around. It’s swaying more than normal.”

“Could it be the rain?” Eliska’s heart skipped a beat.

“I’m not sure. I think—”

The carriage jerked to the side, sending Eliska to the ground and Theo bracing himself against the walls. With a heavy thud and metallic crash, the world went sideways.

Eliska screamed as she went tumbling head first.

Theo launched himself and tackled her against the seat, wrapping his arms around her and ducking his head.

They crashed as the carriage tilted around them. Eliska’s breath was driven out of her lungs by the sharp edge of the lamp on the wall. Her head hit the wood paneling, and Theo grunted. Pain jarred through every point in her body. Her skirts and petticoats flew around her head, making her go blind.

Shocking pain ricocheted through her body. Her head began to pound. Her abdomen screamed at her, and the rest of her body throbbed with sensation that she knew would turn into pain once her mind had cataloged them.

The world stilled.

Eliska’s ears rang in the deafening silence. Her vision was still coming back into focus as she took stock of her body. Everything hurt. The handle of her valise dug into her ribs.

Outside she could hear the faint sounds of crashes and shouting. Eliska strained to hear telltale signs of the locomotive exploding from overpressurized steam, but eventually gave up.

“Theo,” she croaked, turning her head gently enough it didn’t make her vision go white. “Are you hurt?”

He gave no response.

Her pulse, already high, shot even higher. “Theo!” Her voice came out shrill and sharp. “Theo, answer me!”

Oh, God, no, please, no. Her heart in her throat, she tried to roll over to examine Theo. He slumped against her, pinning her to the wood paneled wall that had become the floor. She tried to pull herself out from under him, but there was very little place to go. Theo was deadweight atop of her.

Blood trickled down her forehead, coating her eyelashes and blocking her sight. She blinked and wiped her eyes with the back of one hand. It only made her sight more limited. She dragged herself out from under his limp body, using the dented metal lamp as leverage. The broken wire hoops of her crinolines dug into her legs when she turned, making her gasp in pain.

Theo lay crumpled on the floor. The light from the window streamed down on them, now a shattered skylight. Glass shards gleamed across every corner of the compartment.

Eliska clambered over her skirts, gritting her teeth against the pain as sharp points of wire pierced her skin. “Theo, please say something.” She reached for him, stroking the hair back from his face with shaking hands. “Theo?”

The back of his head was wet with blood, and it was already swelling into a goose’s egg. She tenderly felt his neck and shoulders.

His back rose and fell almost imperceptibly.

She sighed with relief. He was alive. “Please wake up,” she whispered. Eliska looked up at the broken window. “I don’t know how to lift you up out of this mess.”

Muffled sounds of whistles and yelling cut through the mangled carriage. Far off in a distant corner of her mind she recognized rescuers might be coming their way eventually. She thought about stripping her skirts off and climbing out the broken window.

Theo moaned.

Eliska’s heart skipped a beat, and all thoughts of escape evaporated. She put a hand to his forehead. “Darling, can you hear me? Where does it hurt?” She remembered the way his arms closed around her as he shielded her from the worst of the impact. Tears welled in her eyes, and she blinked them away.

“Eliska?” he asked, voice slurred with pain.

She put a fist to her mouth to stifle a sob. “Theo, darling. Theo. How is your neck? Your back?”

His hand spasmed against the wood paneling. “Everything hurts. What happened?”

“The train crashed as we neared the station.”

He groaned again. “It’s coming back to me.” He paused. “My leg hurts like the devil.”

“But your neck?” Eliska prompted.

“Blinding headache. My vision keeps going…black.” Theo paused between words, and his voice was thick and fuzzy. His brow creased in pain and his face was bone white.

Eliska tried to remain calm. “I’m going to set your head in my lap. If it hurts, tell me and I’ll stop.” She waited for a response, but none came, so she went ahead. She carefully slid into a sitting position next to him, hunched over to avoid hitting her head on one of the seats. Eliska carefully lifted his head into her lap. He grunted loudly and she froze, his head half lowered. “What hurts?”

“My leg. Fuck, my leg.” Theo’s eyes drifted closed and he lost consciousness again.

Panic welled up inside her chest, beating its wings against her ribs and clawing its way up her throat. She choked down a scream.

Clever and strong, mein liebchen, her father’s voice whispered.

I need to take care of him, as he cared for me. She forced her breathing to be steady and even as she settled his head in her lap and stroked his hair. Her fingers turned bright red with his blood but she didn’t stop.

He couldn’t die. She didn’t know what she’d do without him. She needed him like she needed water and air.

I love him, she realized. He can’t die just as I’ve found him.

He jerked, moaning and grimacing. “Shhh, my love, shh,” she tried to comfort. “Help will be here soon.” She hoped.

Eliska hummed through her numb lips. He quieted at her voice. “Spi mé malé poupě, spi malé holoubě,” she sang quietly, images of beautiful Czech summers and warm, strong arms holding her high flitting through her mind. The lullaby never failed to bring comfort. She sang it now for both Theo and herself.

Still unconscious, his face twisted in pain, then he whimpered, making Eliska’s heart ache for him. She wished she could go back to say something, anything that would soothe any discomfort he currently had. Why couldn’t she have known her heart faster? Answered him more confidently? Why had she resisted him?

Eliska could only hope he didn’t have internal injuries. She hadn’t seen his front; he still lay chest-down. She didn’t know if he was slowly bleeding out and the blood was seeping into his clothes. Blood smudged her skirts.

“I love you,” she crooned after the lullaby. “I’m sorry for not saying it sooner. I love you and I need you to be well.”

He didn’t respond.

After a few moments the sounds of people outside grew nearer.

Eliska carefully slid out from beneath his head, letting him rest on a pile of ripped petticoats. Then she climbed on the seats, lifting until she was eye-level with the compartment door.

“Help!” She shot her hand out the window, sending shards of glass tinkling down. She shut her eyes and turned her face just in time. Fire cut down her forearm where she’d cut herself, but she pushed past the pain. “Help! We’re in here! Help!”

Someone shouted and footsteps thumped closer.

A head suddenly appeared. “You alive in there?” The man adjusted his railway uniform hat, ginger sideburns bristling and squinted down at her. “Is it just you?” His Scottish bur was so strong it took Eliska a second to translate.

“No,” Eliska called back. “My…my…I have someone with me. He’s unconscious.”

Another face peered down, this one with features often found in people from East Asia, and the two heads blocked most of the sunlight. “Hmmm. I’ll get the ropes.” His Scottish accent was even stronger. He disappeared.

“The locomotive won’t explode, will it?” Eliska asked, fear making her heart pound. “How trapped are we?”

“You’re safe, miss. Almost.” The first Scotsman glanced toward the site of the crash, where Eliska couldn’t see. “It appears the engine jumped the tracks right as it was coming into the station. The steam burned the engineers, surely, but there won’t be an explosion. It would’ve already happened.” He whistled. “You’re lucky you’re in first class near the back. The injuries I’ve seen at the front….” The rail worker shook his head.

That did very little to reassure Eliska.

“He hit his head. It’s bleeding. He needs a doctor immediately.” Eliska gripped the edge of the window hard enough the frame cut into her fingers. “Please get him out. Please.”

“We will, lass. Don’t you worry.”

Suddenly rope was thrown through the window, smacking Eliska in the face. She covered her face with her hands too late.

“Right.” The second face was back. “Is he still unconscious?”

Eliska looked down. “Yes.”

“I’ve already got a loop tied. You just need to get it over his head and arms and then we’ll pull him up.

“I can do that.” Eliska scrambled down. She pulled her ragged skirt and remaining petticoat up, ripped the crinoline off as fast as she could, and shoved it away. Her legs had blood trickling from multiple puncture wounds. It took her several minutes to get the rope around Theo’s upper body the way the men directed. Then she stuffed ripped sections of her petticoat between the rope and Theo’s body so it wouldn’t cut into him. Another section she draped across the edge of the window to blunt any remaining fragments of glass.

“Take him up,” she called. “Is there a doctor?”

“We’re taking the wounded to the local tavern,” one man told her as they pulled on the rope.

Eliska bit her lip to fight against tears as she watched Theo be hoisted into the air. His leg hung awkwardly, and blood stained his trousers. She didn’t take her eyes off him until he disappeared over the edge.

“Your turn, miss.” The first man stuck his hand down. “Any luggage?”

Eliska told herself that everything would be fine. The rescuers wouldn’t care about luggage if an explosion was imminent. She handed up her valise, then climbed as high as she could and grabbed his hands. Theo’s gloves were long gone, so she didn’t search for them. The man pulled her out.

Her skirt ripped as she went, and the strain in her arms made her cry out. But she was free.

Eliska blinked in the late morning light, glancing around to orient herself.

The station house stood up ahead and behind it sat stone houses and shops of the village. The great black locomotive had turned on its side and skidded up the rest of the track and onto the platform, sending wood shattering and flying off like giant-sized toothpicks. Rescuers clambered over the sideways carriages with ropes, ladders, and even saws. A few passengers stood nearby, a glazed expression across their faces. Eliska suspected she wore it, too. And closer up ahead lay bodies, still in the dirt. Blood pooled into the ground around them, and she could just make out clothes burned onto red, shriveled skin.

Her stomach turned, and the horror of it struck her anew. She turned and retched up breakfast into the grass. Some splattered on her skirt, now missing its hem completely, and her scuffed boots.

“Here now, you’re out.” The Scottish-Asian rail worker awkwardly patted her shoulder. “Do you have any family? I can take you to the church. Uninjured survivors are going there.”

Theo.

Eliska looked frantically for him, and saw him being laid on a makeshift stretcher of broken wood and canvas tied into knots. The blood on his trousers had grown in size and already bruises were forming across his gray face.

She cried out and flew to him, landing on her knees in the mud beside him. “Theo,” she sobbed. “Theo, you have to wake up. They’re taking you to the doctor.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed. I love you, I love you.

Theo groaned and his eyes fluttered open.

“You know him?” The second rescuer stood nearby, hands on his hips and breathing heavily from the hard work.

Theo turned toward Eliska, clenching his jaw. “Eliska,” he whispered, eyes clearing. “Are you well?”

“Yes,” Eliska answered both men. She longed to kiss Theo’s brow and promise all would be well. “I know him well.”

“We’re not betrothed, remember?” His whisper was rough with pain.

Eliska looked up at the rescuer. “That’s right. It was our wedding yesterday.”

“Oh, you’re married? Why didn’t you say so?”

“Yes,” Eliska said firmly, looking back at Theo, who stared at her as if she were his anchor to life. She smoothed hair wet with sweat and blood from his face. “Yes, I’m his wife.”

“Let’s get you somewhere more comfortable,” the man said cheerfully. “The vicar may have room for you both.”

Eliska held Theo’s hand even as the men lifted the rough stretcher. She walked beside it all the way, smiling reassuringly until Theo’s eyes closed again.