Page 24 of Until I’m Safe in Your Arms

She didn’t want to move for fear the sepoys would find her. But this was Alex. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. Summoning all her courage, she inched toward the edge of the bed. The horrid scent seemed to intensify as she moved toward more open air. Gorge rose in her throat, but she bit it back. She’d be out of here soon. Alex would take her. He’d keep her safe.

At last she steeled her nerve and poked her head out from under the bed.

Alex stood there, peering down on her, a tender look in his eyes. “Give me your hand, my love. I’ll help you up.”

“And then we’ll go?” They had to escape.

“If you wish it, yes.”

She wished it more than anything in the world.

He held out his hand and she took it. Gently, he drew her out from under the bed until she stood before him, his eyes terribly kind. “Come, my dear, sit quietly here for a moment.” He steered her to the pretty little chaise in front of the fireplace and sat her down. “Now, you rest here—”

“No, no, Alex, you can’t leave me!” She grabbed his arm and held on. “They will take me if you leave.” She clung to him, unable to release her iron grip on his arm.

“Dearest, there is no one here to harm you.” As he spoke softly, he rubbed her shoulders then dropped a kiss on her forehead. But his eyes were worried. “Are you having some sort of waking dream? About your stay in India? I assure you, you are safe here in England. No one is going to harm you.”

Cautiously, Emma sought his eyes. Her husband wouldn’t lie about such things. “We’re in England?”

“In the very heart of London, my love.”

Glancing around the room, Emma’s shoulders slumped. Her mind cleared of the frantic fog that had enveloped it and she took a deep breath. “Yes, this is England. This is our house, our room.” As she spoke it was as if everything around her came back into focus. She was safe, now and for always, with Alex by her side. “Oh, Alex.” She launched herself into his arms, hugging him fiercely. “I am so sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, love.” He put her gently from him to peer into her face. “Can you tell me what happened just now? Why you ran away? Who or what were you hiding from?”

She hid her face in her hands, regretting that she hadn’t told him what had happened before now. Well, time to pay the piper. “Yes, I need to tell you what happened to me. To us.”

He stepped to the door and rang the bell. “We’ll have some tea. It will do you good against this shock. You mean to your aunt and uncle? Out in India?”

Emma nodded. She’d never wanted to think about their ordeal ever again, but her lunatic behavior just now told her that hiding from the truth had not been in her best interest. Perhaps facing it, confessing it to Alex, would somehow exorcise the demons that still haunted her, both in her dreams and in her waking hours as well. She raised her head to gaze into the worried eyes of her husband. “It wasn’t always a nightmare, you know? When we first arrived in Bombay, the country was like a fairy tale to me. I was just fourteen, a very impressionable young lady, and thought the entire trip a great adventure.”

“I can just imagine.” Alex took her hand and chaffed it between his.

“We spent much of the first year in Oudh, some of it in the palace of the ruler, Wajid Ali Shah.” That had been a wonderful time for her, seeing everything fresh and new. “After that, my uncle toured around the provinces on business for the East India Company. I never knew what he did other than talk to different Indian rulers or British generals and other East Indian stock holders. We were visiting one of them in Sitapur in 1857 when the mutiny broke out.”

Emma squeezed his hand and Alex squeezed back. “Take your time, my love. We have all the time in the world.”

She gazed up at him, trying with all her heart to convince herself that was true. “When news of the uprising reached us, we were fairly alarmed, but my uncle and Mr. Jonas, who we were visiting, received instructions for us all to remove to the Residency in Lucknow, a little more than fifty miles away. We traveled in a small cart pulled by bullocks and it took the better part of a week, all during which we became more and more frightened of the uprising that was occurring all around us.”

The door opened and Emma jumped up, but it was only James with the tea tray.

“Don’t be alarmed, my dear. Thank you, James. You can set it just there.” Alex indicated a little table nearest him. “And can you ask Buckleigh to make certain all the dinner is taken away? There should not be a single piece of it left in the house. The servants are welcome to it, but it must all be gone before morning.”

“Very good, Captain.” James bowed and made to leave, but Alex stopped him.

“Tell Mrs. Parker to thoroughly clean the room and remove all traces of the decorations.” Alex looked at Emma thoughtfully. “And make very certain the smell of the food is gone. I don’t care if you have to burn feathers to take away the odor. I want no trace of the dinner lingering at all.”

“Yes, Captain. I will tell her immediately.” The footman bowed again and scurried out.

“Go on, my dear. I will pour the tea.” Alex gave a little nod and lifted the teapot.

Bless her husband. By some miracle, he seemed to understand rather than blame her for her bizarre behavior. Her knight in regimentals. “Well, once we arrived at the Residency, around the middle of June, we discovered they’d been besieged for almost three weeks.” The beginning of the siege seemed like a party compared to the ending of it. “We were assigned a small room in the Residency, with decent rations at first, and there was some occupation with talking with the other women seeking refuge there.”

“It doesn’t sound bad to begin with,” Alex paused to hand her some tea, “but I expect you were terribly anxious. Not knowing what to do, how to protect yourselves.”

Emma’s hand began to shake and she set her cup down on the table, her tea untasted. “There was no way to protect us, Alex. The Residency hadn’t been built to withstand the punishment of the guns and mines. We kept out of the most exposed areas, but the enemy’s guns seemed to find some people regardless.” Tears trickled down her face and she swallowed hard. “One bullet found my uncle, sitting in a chair near the window in our room.” She could see his face so clearly even now. “One moment he was talking to us, trying to assure us that Sir Henry Lawrence would see us through this ordeal, and the next he was slumped in his chair, a bullet in his neck.”

“Emma.” Without a moment’s pause, Alex had slid next to her, put his arms around her shoulders, and hugged her to him. “Shhh, love. I’m so sorry. Don’t speak of this if it distresses you so. You’ve endured enough today.”