Page 30 of Beneath the Harvest Moon

Her body sank into the mattress, the tension oozing from her. “Is being a doctor as wonderful as you dreamed it would be?”

“I am most content with my situation.” He re-took his seat. “It gives me great pride to know that I live to serve others.”

“I always knew you would be an excellent physician.” She turned her head towards him. “You need to do a better job of collecting your fees, though. Mama says you allow her to pay you with a side of pork and a goose at Michaelmas.”

“You know what it is like for people here. They do not always have the blunt available to pay for my family’s services.”

“My parents have more than enough coin to pay you properly.”

His mouth quirked at the corners. “Do not worry. I charge my affluent patients enough to keep my purse full.”

“You would need to, to live in Squire Rodgers’ former house.”

He rested his elbows on his knees. “I always said I would buy that house for us one day.”

The pang of guilt struck like an unexpected stumble. James’s wheezing breaths and the crackle of the fire continued while she stared at the rafters above, unwilling to open that festering wound. Instead, she said, “Elijah was very impressed by your discussion regarding the inoculation.”

“He is a promising young man. You should be proud.”

“I am.” She yawned and covered her mouth. “Excuse me.” Her lashes drifted closed, but she forced them open again. “I suspect he may consider joining your profession.”

“What about his father’s business?”

“No doubt it will cause… tension in the family, but he will have my support no matter which profession he chooses. I will not force him into something in which he has no interest, unlike…”

Thankfully, Gabriel did not question her pause. “Did you not enjoy your life in York?”

“No, it was tedious.” She yawned again but could not find the energy to excuse herself. “Nothing but gossip and parties and… money. That was all people talked about. Who had so much money and what they would spend it on. No one cared about the beggars who stood at the doors of the abbey or the sick in the infirmary. I wish I could have made myself useful there. But the wife of a banker should not do such things. The most I could do was donate to the charitable funds that ran the city’s hospital. I enquired about sitting on the board of trustees but was not permitted.”

Gabriel chuckled. “I cannot imagine you gossiping in drawing rooms. To me, you are still the girl who liked to be in her garden, tending the soil, drying herbs and helping my mother make her recipes.”

Blythe sighed. “I wish I were that girl again.” Her lashes drooped. It may help to close them for a moment—nothing more.

Gabriel’s deep voice washed over her, and her mind wandered back to the times when they would sit beneath the big oak tree in the pasture in companionable silence while they watched the sun set over the golden fields beyond…

“Blythe.” A warm hand nudged her shoulder.

She blinked. Dust motes danced in the soft beams of light from the window.

Gabriel, his dark brown eyes filled with sadness, came into focus.

Her heart skipped a beat. “Is he⁠—?”

“He has passed.”

She sprang upright.

“No.” Her vision blurred. “Why did you let me sleep so long?”

“You needed the rest, and there was nothing more to be done.”

The back of her throat burned. “He was just a boy, not much older than Elijah.”

“I sent for Reverend Worthing, but he has yet to arrive.”

Tears fell freely down her face and dripped onto her chest. She clasped the boy’s stiff hand. “Lord, I pray you welcome the spirit of James Farrer into your keeping. May he suffer no more and enjoy eternal rest in heaven.”

She swiped at her tears with her free hand. Her gaze wandered over the bandage still wrapped around James’s arm; his pale skin now mottled and his lips blue. His dark lashes fanned over purple smudges beneath his eyes. “I shall cut some rosemary and prepare his body.”