Chapter 7

"It's a father's duty to give his sons a fine chance." George Eliot, Middlemarch

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Chapter Seven

"I forgot, I forgot I was blind. I am so sorry. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I am so sorry." Luke repeated those sentences over and over, but Isabella could not pay attention. Her attention was solely on her wailing toddler as blood was pouring down his face.

Isabella was in a momentary state of shock. As an infant, Isabella had come to understand each and every one of her son's cries. The cry of pain was the cry that broke her heart. His pain cry had never been so loud or true. Her poor son was in terrible pain.

Isabella rushed over to Jamie and picked him up off of the marble. The white marble was now stained with Jamie's blood. His poor, distressed face was covered with a combination of blood and tears. His cries kept his mouth open which meant that Jamie could taste the blood.

"Shh, shh," Isabella hushed.

No matter their disagreements, Isabella was thankful that Mary knew how to act quickly.

Mary immediately brought the basin of water over to the dining table and motioned for Isabella to bring Jamie over. Mary began to rip the bed sheet into strips, creating makeshift bandages.

Isabella obeyed immediately. She carried Jamie quickly over to the table and sat down on one of the chair, sitting Jamie on her lap facing Mary. Isabella wrapped her arms around her son and repeatedly kissed his hair, feeling very helpless.

Mary had a very serious expression on her face as she began to wash Jamie's face. In ten seconds or so, she found the source of the bleeding. There was a gash along Jamie's hairline. It was not nearly as big as Isabella had been anticipating. Mary held a bandage against the gash.

"Would you hold this against the cut, Mrs Cassidy?" she asked quietly.

Isabella nodded. She held the bandage against Jamie's cut which only made him cry more. Isabella's instinct was to pull it away but Mary shook her head firmly. Mary continued to clean Jamie's face until he was free of blood.

"Good, the blood has clotted," Mary said upon inspection of the wound a few minutes later. "We often find that head wounds bleed more severely, no matter how big or little the injury. You have been very brave, Jamie."

Jamie had settled down by then. He was still whimpering, and he was still frightened, but he was not sobbing as violently as he had been. Isabella was very proud of him. Such an amount of blood would have been terrifying for him. It had been very terrifying for her.

"I will need to put in a few stitches," said Mary, more to herself.

Mary left the room momentarily to collect her medical bag, leaving Isabella alone with Luke and Jamie. Jamie was still audibly whimpering. Isabella looked over at her husband and sighed sadly.

The shock of what had happened had passed now that she knew Jamie was not more seriously hurt.

Luke's head was in his hands and he appeared to be muttering something over and over. Isabella felt great sympathy for him, regardless of their argument. Isabella had felt that way the first time that she had accidentally dropped Jamie. Of course, she had not dropped him on marble, nor had he been hurt, but she had still felt jut as guilty.

Luke was only experiencing it a few years later.

Isabella balanced Jamie on her hip and walked over to Luke. He only noticed her presence when she sat down next to him on the settee and he had felt the weight change.

"Is he alright?" Luke asked, his voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Yes, he will be fine," replied Isabella.

Luke's face was contorting in utter turmoil. Isabella hated to wonder at what he was thinking.

"Luke," said Isabella softly, "you must not punish yourself. Accidents happen."

Luke looked as though he was trembling. Was he really so panicky? Isabella supposed he could not see exactly what Jamie's injuries were.

"He has only a little cut," she assured him. Isabella leaned over and leant against look, resting her head on his shoulder. She hoped that this would offer him some comfort.

For a moment, for only the briefest of moments, Isabella felt as though she were living out a dream. She was sitting down with her husband and son, simply being a family.

Mary had stolen their first moment as a family. This was their second, and though it was not perfect, it was realistic. Families were not perfect. Life was not perfect. Husbands were certainly not perfect. Isabella knew that for certain.

Isabella moved her head up ever so slightly so that she could place a kiss on his jaw. Luke did respond to the affection and he leaned in to her.

"I forgot I was blind," he confessed quietly.

Isabella had seen that. For a moment, Luke had been his old self. She adored that part of him.

"I forgot I was blind and I hurt him," he continued, his voice thick with shock and guilt.

"It was an accident," Isabella insisted. "You tripped. It could have happened to anybody."

"No, it would not have," Luke said firmly. "Had you or anyone else been holding him you would have seen whatever I managed to fall over. You would not have dropped him. Had I been able to see, I would have orchestrated the landing better, I would have ensured that he landed on me, or on something soft if I was falling as well." The guilt and regret were evident in Luke's frustrations.

Isabella knew that Luke could not have done anything to prevent Jamie getting hurt, regardless of his eyesight. Accidents did happen. "Jamie is going to be perfectly fine. Jamie, give Papa a cuddle. Show him that you are all better," Isabella encouraged.

But much to her heartbreak, and as it seemed, Luke's as well, Jamie murmured "No" and snuggled into her arms instead. Luke's face fell further that the floor.

Isabella sat there feeling thoroughly helpless, more helpless then she had felt only moments ago when Jamie had been hurt. She was sitting in between her husband who looked to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, and her son who appeared to be slightly frightened on his father.

How had their lives come to this? Was this some sort of cruel trick? What had any of them done to deserve such a fate?

"Please forgive me, Isabella. I never meant to hurt our son," Luke apologised softly after a few moments of silence. "I love you both, more than you could ever know, but how is this supposed to work? Are you going to hover over me to ensure that I do not drop him again? I would in your position. How could a family ever be successful with my condition?"

In only a moment, Isabella had gone from feeling tenderly towards Luke, to feeling very annoyed. "Now you are just feeling sorry for yourself," she snapped. "Men came back from that war in coffins, Luke. You have lost your sight, not your life. You have been blessed with a child. Even though we are in a difficult and emotionally trying situation, we are in it together. Yes, I will be in here with Jamie, but only because I want us to be together. Our family will be successful if you choose to focus on what you do have, instead of what you do not. The same goes for me. We could all do with a little positivity around here."

"I do not even know what he looks like," Luke whispered miserably.

Isabella huffed, just as Mary entered the bedroom again carrying a medical bag. "He looks just like you," she muttered as she rose from the settee. Isabella brought Jamie back over to Mary and sat down at the dining table.

Mary was threading a needle that looked a lot like a fish hook. The sight frightened Jamie and he clung to Isabella tightly.

Jamie was very brave as Mary began to stitch his wound. Isabella was relieved that he did not cry as Luke would have been able to hear that. Isabella simply hugged and kissed him while Mary tied each stitch.

"There," she said, satisfied, once she had placed a bandaged over the stitched wound. "All better."

"Mama has to kiss it," mumbled Jamie.

Isabella smiled and placed a soft kiss on top of the bandaged. Kisses from Mama always made things feel better, according to Jamie. "I do appreciate this, Mary," Isabella said sincerely.

Mary smiled slightly. "It was nothing. A few stitches and some gauze."

"Thank you," Isabella said gratefully.

"Mrs Cassidy, you ought to know that I never meant anything malicious by what I said with regards to your visiting Captain Cassidy. I was honestly just trying to protect my patient's mental wellbeing." She looked over to Luke and smiled sadly.

Isabella could see sense in those words. Luke looked emotionally exhausted, and that was after one accident. Perhaps Mary was telling the truth. Perhaps she and Jamie would make him miserable to a certain degree until he learned to live with his condition.

"Do you think that we could try to be friends?" asked Mary. "I do think it would be mutually beneficial if we could try to get along." Mary leaned in and whispered, "It would help me to better care for your husband if you could teach me some of the things that he likes. You know, breakfast foods and pastimes, so that we might get him on the road to recovery that much sooner."

Isabella wondered if Luke would find enjoyment in those things anymore. But something brought her memory back to the first time that they had shared a kiss in the dressmaker's shop in Sussex. Isabella had been eating a liquorice stick. "Liquorice," she whispered fondly.

"Pardon?" prompted Mary.

"Never mind," replied Isabella. That was private. "He needs to be out of this room. It is too restricting and nobody can feel any better without a little sunlight and exercise."

Mary smiled. "Sunlight and exercise it is. I am glad we could agree on this, Mrs Cassidy. I do so hope we can become good friends. We both want the same thing."

Isabella furrowed her eyebrows. "We do?"

Mary nodded. "We both want Captain Cassidy to be able to live a life where he can be happy with the woman that he loves," she said genuinely.

A smile tugged at the corner of Isabella's mouth. She supposed that they did want the same thing, and it seemed that it would take a great deal of team work to get Luke to that stage.

"You are quite right. We do want the same thing," agreed Isabella. "I am going to go and fetch Jamie something to eat. Thank you again, Mary."

"It was my pleasure, Mrs Cassidy."

Isabella quickly crossed the room and placed a kiss on top of Luke's head. He reacted to it immediately. "I am not so very cross with you. I love you, and so does Jamie."

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Hey everyone :)

I'm sorry this chapter is short. I couldn't include what is going to happen in the next chapter in this one as it needs a whole chapter to pan out if that makes sense.

I promise that Mary's ulterior motive will unfold over the next few chapters. You think she's a nutcase now ....

I don't know if you remember this, but a year ago I was writing in my author's notes telling you to keep my little cousin in your thoughts as he was on a feeding tube etc. Well, today was his first birthday party. He was such a little cutie and he loved all his presents.

But that wasn't the biggest news of the day. My cousin walked in a little way into the party and held up her left hand. SHE'S ENGAGED! Her boyfriend, who we all love, proposed on their 2 year anniversary yesterday. I'm so happy for her. We've already started planning the wedding. I chose the colours for the bridesmaids dresses already and she's going with it :P

What's weird is that she's 8 weeks younger than me. We've grown up together, we used to sleep top and tail in our single beds together, we used to play weddings with our barbies together, and now she's getting married! I'm crying just thinking about it. I'm going to ball my eyes out at the wedding, I just know it.

I'm also bound in complete secrecy, which is why I'm telling you all here ;) Her younger sister doesn't even know yet so we all have to shush!

Okay, I have to go and Instagram spam you pics of us now :P

Vote and comment!!