Chapter 14

"Oh, won't you breathe life into these dead lungs I keep under my coat?

And keep life warm against the cold night as our bodies grow old."  Jack Garratt, Breathe Life

---

Chapter Fourteen

"This is mad!" cried Isabella. "This is positively mad! Annaliese will be so angry with me!"

Luke chuckled. "Annaliese will be angry with me, Isabella," he promised her. "My mother will be even angrier. She would have wanted to plan a lavish affair for my wedding seeing as Matthew had two boring weddings."

Luke and Isabella had stolen out of Cassidy House just after dinnertime, when the family had retired to amuse themselves about the house. Luke had dressed in his naval uniform and Isabella had chosen a simple ivory coloured dress.

Luke had not ordered a carriage, nor had he risked discovery or detection by venturing to the stables in order to saddle a horse. Instead, he had chosen to walk with Isabella to the vicarage.

It was nice to simply walk with her. He felt at ease when he took her hand. They would only have nine days together, but that was better than nothing. Oh, how he wished he did not have to go away again.

Luke and Isabella walked by the light of the moon. Isabella's ivory dress caught the moonlight perfectly. It was a simple gown, one that she could put on without help. Luke thought it beautiful. Luke thought her beautiful.

"I do love you, Isabella," he promised her. Luke knew this hasty marriage was probably not what Isabella had always imagined her wedding would be like, but he hoped she would be happy.

Isabella smiled up at him. She looked content and carefree. "I love you, too, Luke," she replied softly.

Luke stopped walking and quickly planted a spontaneous kiss on Isabella's lips. He could feel her smiling against him. He would never tire of seeing her smile. Isabella had the loveliest, most effortless smile.

"I will make you happy," he swore, once they were apart.

"We shall make each other happy," Isabella countered. "Why do I get the feeling you are still trying to talk me into this? I am in a white dress, am I not?" Isabella held her arms out, gesturing to her gown, as she laughed lightly. "Free will has not been a luxury of mine in my life. My decisions have always been made for me. Believe me, I make the decision to marry you whole heartedly."

Isabella was mature beyond her years sometimes. She was funny and silly, and Luke adored that carefree side of her, but she also had the ability to floor him. "The church awaits," he said simply.

Luke and Isabella joined hands again as they walked along the country road towards the village that neighboured Cassidy House.

"When war is over," Luke said a little while later, "I am going to buy us a house somewhere. Somewhere nice. A house of our own. A house where we can raise our children."

"Our children?" Isabella repeated.

Luke paused. Did Isabella not want children? Her tone was surprised. "Do you want children?" he asked worriedly.

Isabella blushed. "Of course ..." she murmured.

Luke then remembered that Isabella was innocent, not matter how confident she was. Nobody would have spoken to her about anything that goes on between married couples. But she had to know something, did she not? The blush on her cheeks told him that she did. She was bashful.

"What do you fancy?" he asked, wanting to lessen her embarrassment. "In the future, I mean. A boy or a girl?"

Isabella pursed her lips. "Well, I only have sisters, so a little boy first, I think."

A son? That suited Luke just fine. He liked the idea of a son, especially an eldest son. His eldest son would inherit his fortune. He would be able to go to university and live a good life in a safe career.

Second and third sons had little else to do with their lives than to join the clergy or to purchase a commission in the army or navy. That was how Luke had ended up in His Majesty's Navy. No matter how proud he was of his achievements, he would not want any child of his in that much danger.

Luke knew that if his mother knew the truth of war then she would never let him return.

"A boy it is," Luke agreed.

"Do you want him to be named after you?" Isabella asked.

Luke immediately shook his head. "Oh, no. Matthew was named after our father and we never knew who Mother was shouting for. No, we shall pick a name that we both like and that shall be our son's name." Luke then wondered if their first child would be born while he was away. The idea immediately saddened him greatly. There was a great possibility that he would miss the birth of his child. He supposed it was a good idea that they were discussing names and such. At least he would have a little involvement in his child's first hours.

"I like simple, pretty names," Isabella confessed. "Names that you would see in books. Mama chose uncommon names for us, certain that we would be unique, that our names would be memorable in the minds of rich men." Isabella shuddered. "I suppose Eleanor has the most normal name of the three of us."

"What about James?" Luke suggested. "Sweet for a boy, strong for a man."

"I like James," Isabella agreed.

James. That could well be the name of his child, born while he was a thousand miles away. Isabella would be alone. He would be leaving her alone.

"I do not know when the war will end, Isabella," confessed Luke.

"Soon, I pray," Isabella replied hopefully, squeezing his hand.

Luke smiled down at her and brushed a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. "I will be away for some time." Luke knew that to be true. "But know this, I will be thinking of you every minute. I will be counting the seconds until I can see you again." Until, possibly, he could see both of them. "I will give you everything in time. I will give you every fine thing you deserve."

Isabella smiled humbly. "I like fine things, Luke, but I do not need them." She stood on her toes and kissed his lips. "Come home safe. Come home to me, and we shall have a house, as you said, with lots of bedrooms for our little children."

Luke pressed his lips to her forehead. "As you wish, Mrs Cassidy."

"Luke, Luke, can you hear me?"

Luke heard a muffled voice somewhere near him. The memory of the night he married Isabella faded away as he slowly regained his consciousness.

Luke felt impossibly heavy. He felt as though he weighed five hundred pounds. For how long had he been asleep?

"What happened?" he asked groggily.

"Are you in any pain, Captain?"

Luke did not recognise the voice. "Just ... everywhere," he admitted.

"Well, your wound is healing nicely, Captain," said the stranger.

Wound?

Luke's memories were foggy, but he could remember experiencing a great deal of pain.

"You were stabbed in your lower abdomen, Captain," said the stranger, most likely a doctor. "The local doctor in your village did his best to patch you up but you were too ill. Your family had you brought to our hospital here in Bath. I needed to replace the blood that you lost and your brother was good enough to allow a transfusion. They do not always work, but we find that donors of the same gender are more successful."

Luke groaned. He had been stabled. He could recall pain in that area. He still felt very tender. Luke had no idea what a transfusion was, but if Matthew had helped to save his life, then he was very grateful.

"Your attacker managed to miss your vital organs. You should make a full recovery. We just need to keep an eye out for infection."

His attacker ... Luke's attacker had been Mary. She had stabbed him with Lord knows what after he had rejected her. He remembered now.

"Mary ... it was Mary," he grumbled.

"We know, Luke," Helena murmured.

Helena's voice came from Luke's right. His mother was sitting by his bedside. Helena did not sound relieved. Yes, there was relief in her voice, but she sounded utterly deflated.

"Where is she?" he asked impatiently. "Do the law have her?"

"She managed to slip away in the commotion," Helena replied. "Once Matthew had taken part in your transfusion, he went to London to ensure that the Metropolitan Police were involved in the search. Mary is from London. People know her there, and know where she might go."

At least the police were involved. Mary would be found. She would be put into some sort of insane asylum. He had never witnessed a more unbalanced woman in his life.

"Isabella," he murmured, calling out to the rest of the room, "are you here?"

Luke heard Helena whimper. "Oh, darling," she sniffed.

Her response sent fear and panic surging through him. His torso immediately tensed, but his preoccupation with Isabella stopped him from feeling pain from his wound.

Luke remembered hearing a scream. He remembered Isabella screaming right before he fell unconscious. What had happened? "Mother," he prompted through clenched teeth. "Where is my wife?"

"Your wife is being looked after by one of the finest neurologists in Britain, Captain," said the doctor.

"What the bloody hell is a neurologist, and why does he need to look after my wife?" snapped Luke. If he could see the man, Luke would shake him to get a straight answer out of him.

"A neurologist is a doctor that specialises in brains, Captain," explained the doctor. "Your wife presented with the symptoms of a concussion. She accompanied you to the hospital, she was conscious, but ill. Her condition quickly deteriorated. We are fortunate to have Doctor Charles Whitney as a surgeon in this hospital. He recognised the signs of a subdural haematoma and acted immediately."

"A subdural ... what?" Luke shook his head. What had happened to Isabella? Was she alright?

"The trauma your wife suffered when she fell down the stairs resulted in a bleed in her brain, or a haematoma."

"She fell?" That accounted for the scream. But to cause such an injury.

"It was Mary," whispered Helena. "She pushed Isabella during her escape."

"Doctor Whitney located the bleed by studying the symptoms and he made an educated guess on where to drill."

Luke could have vomited. He had very little medical knowledge. He did not pretend to be an expert, but how could one safely drill into the head of another? "You are telling me that someone made a guess while drilling into my wife's head?" he exclaimed.

"Nevertheless, Doctor Whitney was successful in healing your wife's bleed, Captain," his doctor continued. "She is in another room in this hospital. I believe it is Lady Cassidy, Mrs Cassidy's sister, who is with her."

The guessing doctor was bloody lucky. Blind or not, had he left Isabella any worse that she was, Luke would have strangled him. "Then she will be alright?"

The silence frightened him. There was at least fifteen seconds before his doctor answered him. "We cannot know how she will be when she wakes up. If she wakes up. Every ounce of our brains account for some function or another, Captain. We do not know if there was any permanent damage done."

Luke's fear was one thing. Fear from a doctor terrified him to his very core. Luke threw his head back into his pillow and tried to slow his breathing. He tried to stop himself from panicking. "I brought her into our lives. I brought Mary into our home," he whispered to himself. "Mother, tell me Jamie has not seen either of his parents like this. I do not want him to be frightened."

Helena then let out loud sob. "Oh, darling," she said again. "Everyone has gone with Matthew to London. Every footman and gardener. Commander Lockwood has called upon the crew who served with you to search."

Tears pooled in Luke's eyes as he realised what had happened. Luke had been holding Jamie when he had fallen to the ground after Mary had attacked him, but he could not remember holding on to him.

He could not remember holding on to him. Why did he not hold onto him?

---

Oh, what a busy week it's been. Thank you for your patience. I wish I could update as regularly as I used to, but as I'm working 2 jobs now and studying full time, plus having netball 4 days a week, that's quite impossible. So please, bear with me!

My best friend turned 21 this week :D She had her party last Saturday night which was why I didn't update on Sunday. Never drink and write. I didn't think you guys would want a hungover chapter :P Oh my god I was so hungover it wasn't funny. Her older sister brought out her hardcore American vodka she got from over seas and poured me a shot. I suck at shots and this particular vodka tasted like cough syrup and I practically spat it down myself lol. But I gave a speech! I am so nervous when I give speeches. I was 8 drinks in and still soooo nervous! I was coherent though, and people told me what a good job I did :P

One of her family friends made sure to tell me what a good job I did. I first met him when I was 16 and he was overly friendly. Ever since, at any family gathering I've been at he always make an excuse to talk to me or get close to me. It freaks me out so much. His wife is lovely! She is so nice and I just do all I can to get away from him. My mum was at the party so I told her to watch out for him and apparently he was sucking up to her about me and she wanted to punch him in the face. Ugh.

Anyway, I wanted you guys to see my speech so I've put it below. Tell me what you think!!

I was trying to think of some really funny and embarrassing things to tell you all about Tam.

But I didn't think you'd really want to hear about the time that she freaked out about our Schoolies trip to the Gold Coast because she didn't have a passport. Or that she didn't know how to change her money into Queensland money. (FYI, Queensland is a northern state in Australia. Same country, don't need a passport :P)

I didn't think you'd really want to know that she cannot say the word "pumpkin" to save her life. She says "punkin". Seriously.

I didn't think you'd really want to know about the time she got drunk and chased a bat down the street.

I didn't think you'd really want to know that Tam only wears pants when she absolutely has to.

I didn't think you'd really want to know that Tam spent most of her degree sleeping next to me and still managed to graduate.

I didn't think you'd really want to know that Tam knows all the lyrics of "Bring it all back" by S Club 7. I have the video to prove it.

I didn't think you'd want to know that one time in class, Tam spilt her coffee everywhere and cleaned it up using a tampon. It actually worked.

So I decided to tell you some things that I love about Tam.

I love that you are one of the five people since 2009 that have seen me without makeup on.

I love that we can talk about our bitch ovaries one minute and our passionate love for Channing Tatum the next.

I love that you can rap Ice Ice Baby.

I love that we talk about our netball teams as though we are coaching the Diamonds.

I love that we fully intend to make our children marry each other so that we can be grandmothers together.

I love that you know when something is up with me even if I don't want to talk about it.

I love that you make me talk about it so that you can help me get over it.

I love that you suck at bowling so that I can always win.

I love that we have been through some serious things together, seen each other at our lowest, and we can still laugh until our sides hurt.

I love that we have so much dirt on each other.

I love that we invented the Frozen drinking game and that we get drunk two minutes into the movie.

I love that you started calling me "buddy" in Year 12 and it irritated the shit out of me and now it's what we call each other.

I love that we can text each other at 3 in the morning.

I love that one time when we were texting at 3 in the morning we realised we had an assignment due at 10am the next day.

I love that you then drove to my house with Maccas frappes and we sat at my dining room table until sunrise to get it done.

I love that you know my food order for any place we go to.

I love that my opinion matters to you, and vice versa.

I love that most of my milestones, funny stories, and embarrassing pictures, involve you.

You, Tam, are the sister I never had.

And so I will leave you with the words of Tam and my favourite poet – Cher Lloyd.

Wherever you go, just always remember. You're never alone, we're birds of a feather. And if you get low, just call me whenever. This is my oath to you.

What do you think? Just imagine me stammering my way through this and you've got me last Saturday night lol.

But I love my best friend. She's amazing, and I can be myself with her. I have this theory about people. If the trust is there, I will eat in front of them. It may sound weird, but I don't eat in front of people, and if I do, I trust you. You should have seen us at the movies the other night. Went and saw Batman vs Superman and practically ordered one of everything :P

Okay, I'll leave you all to your Easter weekends now. This is hard to type anyway :P I got SNS nails a week ago. I've never had fake nails before so this is new haha. I've played netball for 15 years so I've always had to have short nails. I love them and they look amazing but they are hard to type with :P

Happy Easter everyone! I hope the Easter Bunny visits!!