She didn’t answer him. Sonia trembled and seemed to be delirious. She asked to see her mother in her delirium.
“I am going to take you with her, my love.” He looked at the elderly woman. “I thank you for helping her. You do not know how much I have looked for her and only to think that she could have died in this forest without anyone to help her ...” Robert did not finish the sentence.
“It is nothing, my lord. You are a noble?”
“I am the Marquess of Wilmington, ma’am, and she's my wife, Sonia.”
“Yes, Sonia, that was the name she told me before falling into bed with a fever.”
“I should take her home right away.”
“You will have to wait if you are going to take her on a horse. It is still raining a lot and can harm her.”
Robert agreed. “How did you find her?”
“She was lying under a tree. She spent all night there because she did not know where to go. She had almost no strength and used the last of her strength to come with me to the house. I gave her dry clothes, and I took care of her as best I could, but a poor old woman like me does not have many resources.”
“I greatly appreciate your help and I will see that you are rewarded.”
“Do not worry. Any good Christian would have done the same.”
They heard several horses and Robert leaned out of a window. His men had arrived, and he immediately went out to meet them and tell them to bring the carriage. Soon he was carrying Sonia in his arms and taking her home.
*****
Upon arriving at Redwood Manor, Robert sent for the doctor. When he arrived half an hour later, she had gotten worse and Robert was going crazy. When the doctor left, he gave Robert a series of instructions.
“It is not serious, Robert. She is only weak and has some pneumonia for having been out in the open. The fever will come down shortly. I have given her some willow bark, but I will leave you more. Make sure that it is given at least three times a day. In a few days, there should be no pain, and her lungs will be less congested. I also want her to rest a lot and no arguments, or situations that bother her, do you understand me?”
Robert nodded. “I understand.” Dr. Benley had been a friend of his family for many years. Robert knew him as a child and he was present during his mother's illness. Robert had a lot to thank him for. It was him and not his father who accompanied her until the moment of her death.
“I am going, but I will come tomorrow to see how she is.”
“I will tell someone to accompany you to your house.”
“No need. I have my carriage here.”
“It is late and I would feel better if one of my men accompanied you to town.”
“Very well, I will not argue with you. You have always been a stubborn boy.”
That made Robert smile. “Thank you for everything.”
“You do not have to thank me,” the doctor said as he descended the stairs.
Two days later, Robert had not left Sonia’s bedside and Sonia saw him like this. Robert slept sitting next to her. He, sensing that she had woken up, opened his eyes, took her hand and kissed it. “How do you feel?”
“Weak, I thought that I was dead and I was somewhere strange.”
“Do not say that, sweetheart. I cannot conceive of my life without you. You are the light that illuminates every corner of my soul. I know that I did not tell you before, but believe me when I tell you that it will never happen again. I will always tell you what I feel, because I do not want you to make a mistake in thinking that I am someone cold and heartless, Sonia. Maybe I am with others, but never with you.”
“I don’t think that we can talk about this calmly. We’re always going to argue.” Sonia was still a little tired to talk.
“You and I will have a talk when things improve, and we will clear up all this.” Sonia looked at him, but could barely focus on his face due to her weakness and went back to sleep.
Weeks later, Sonia was eating better and her mother was there for her. Robert went to her room all the time and read to her for a while each day. Then he went down to attend to his business. At night he kept her company. He was very attentive and did not mention anything about what happened until one day when it was she who started talking.
“It’s been a while since I ran away,” Sonia said sadly.
“I know. I went through hell and I swear I do not want to go through something like that again.”
“I didn’t know that Leopold was so dangerous. He made me believe that you were the bad one, and he was just a victim of your hatred and arrogance. He told me that you had stolen everything from him since he was very young and not happy with that, you had taken away the love of his life.”
“That is not true, Sonia. He spent his whole life with his mother, a widowed woman with few resources and made her go into debt to please him in everything. She gave him the best education, clothes, travel and even paid for the gambling when he lost a lot of money. He asked my father for money and he gave it to him, but when my father saw that Leopold was gambling in the same place where my father was gambling. My father told him that he would never help him again.” Robert gave a bitter laugh. “It is funny how we can see the defects in others but not ourselves. After that, he was interested in a debutante at one of the dances at Almack`s but her father
