“No, we will take care of her.” Victor promises him.
Chapter 13
Summer wakes to the sound of silence. The house has fallen quiet and she needs to change. She sits up slowly and waits for the pounding in her head to dim. Finally, she stands and moves carefully to the bathroom. The room is lovely with a fireplace and private bathroom, and her trunk! They must have moved it to this room. She decides to wash up and change into her nightgown and wrapper. Gingerly removing her scullery clothes and corset, she fills a bowl with water.
With her hair down, she washes her body and dries off, before pulling her gown and wrapper on. Slow, deep, breathing helps fight the waves of nausea and pain. Everything hurts and her neck is getting sorer by the second. She rubs at her neck and moves to the mirror. When she looks at her face, she begins to laugh. “Oh, my heavens, Summer. You get beat to a pulp and lose your job,” her laughter turns to tears again.
“Who said anything about you losing your job?” Victor asks from behind her. Summer is so startled she spins around, and the room continues spinning.
“Oh no you don’t,” he snaps and catches her easily before she hits the floor again.
Summer clutches onto him for support, “You startled me, do you always sneak up on people, Mr. Yates?”
He lifts her with a laugh and carries her back to bed.
“I knocked, but you didn’t answer. You are supposed to be in bed, Miss Summer.” Summer rests her head on his shoulder and prays the throbbing in her head will stop soon. Unable to open her eyes against the pain, she snuggles in and decides to sleep.
“Miss Denning?” Summer murmurs. “My first name is Summer, and I needed to change,” she whispers against his neck and her hand curves around his neck with her voice fading out as she snuggles into his throat. Exhaustion beats at her and his voice fades.
“Why don’t you tell me about how you came to be here, Summer.” He asks, shaking her a little to wake her up. He really should put her down, this isn’t appropriate, but she feels so good. It’s like she has been custom fit just for him. Her lush breasts are pushed into his body and he’s all too aware of what little she is wearing beneath her gown and wrapper.
“Where? In your arms? It’s a lovely dream, better than the nightmares,” she asks in a sleepy voice.
“What nightmares, Summer,” he whispers, looking down at her. She is so lovely, in her delicate pink silk robe and gown, with her long blonde hair falling about her.
In a heartbroken voice she whispers, “They burned them at sea and left me alone… I’m so tired.”
He stops walking and shock flows through him. “Who did they burn, Summer? Who?” He asks urgently.
“My family.”
Victor is shocked. Her family died on a ship, and they burned them at sea? His mind is reeling as he walks to the bed. Placing her gently along the bed, he pulls the covers up and stares at the mystery in front him.
She is stunning and educated and it is apparent that she is from a well to do family. It is dinner time, he will come back to check on her in a few hours. In the meantime, he needs to speak to the housekeeper.
Mrs. Evert is finishing up the library when he asks her to join him in his office.
“Please sit-down Mrs. Evert, I need you to tell me who this Miss Denning is and how she came to be in my employ?”
The housekeeper looks at him, “I hired her after the last maid quit. You had only been gone to Boston a day when she ran off with her man. After checking on her story, Miss Denning came recommended to me from a well-known family in Boston. They said she lost her family on the trip from England, they did not mention anything about who she or her family was. I hired her, of course after she had the health clearances.” She says, ringing her handkerchief.
“That’s horrible. To lose all your family at once,” he looks out the window and remembers his heartbreak over losing his wife. She was fragile and when the baby came her body was not strong enough to survive it. Something about her story rings a bell in his mind. Ship, family, Boston, Denning… “Lord, it can’t be?” He says, looking at his housekeeper.
“She is Summer Denning? Her Father was Charles Denning, the doctor and family who died on board the steamship Kharon. The one that was quarantined!”
Mrs. Evert whispers, “Oh my heavens, I didn’t know that, or I wouldn’t have hired her.”
“Truly? You said you checked her health clearances, is there anything else I should know?”
“Not that I know of, but why is a fine lady working as a maid? I will fire her as soon as she is well enough to move on sir. Is she going to be alright, sir?” Mrs. Evert asks, shaking him from his memory.
“No one is firing her! For now, we will let her heal and get the rest of her story. The bruising is beginning, I imagine the next few days will be rough on her and painful, but she seemed tough enough to me. You should have seen how she defended Jonah. How long has this been going on for? What kind of father am I, that I didn’t know it?”
“Acch, you
