Now she stared down at Dory in confusion as she had in that moment before she had recalled herself and continued her work. Could she have possibly meant what she said or had she been hallucinating? Emmy studied Dory’s face, it’s similarities to her own and wondered if she had heard correctly and if she had what it meant to everyone in this house.
“Is she going to be all right?” Connor whispered by her side.
“I think so,” Emmy sighed leaning back against him. “She’ll need to take it easy for a long time and hope there is no infection. I have a few Tylenol in my bag I can give her for a fever, but not much I can do for the pain. Did you see the boys?”
He grunted noncommittally. “They’re not much to look at.”
Emmy gaped at him. “How can you say such a thing? They are beautiful!”
“Ye’re beautiful,” Connor dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I am so proud of ye. Ye look worn out, though. Shouldn’t ye get some rest? Ye’ve been in here for more almost a whole day.”
“I am beat,” she admitted, “and hungry. Maybe we could raid the kitchens before we go to bed?”
“I will have Chilton send someone up with a tray.”
“Dory needs someone to sit with her as well,” she told him. “I sent Margo and Susan to bed a while ago.”
“I will have Chilton send someone up to sit with her.”
“What about Ian?”
“Shall I send Chilton up to see to him as well?” Connor teased. “Our valet will see that he gets some rest. He mothers Ian excessively.” McBride, the men’s shared valet, had been with them since they were boys, Connor had told her, but Emmy had not seen hide nor hair of the man since she had been at Duart. She’d often wondered where he hid himself.
Emmy sent a long look back at Dory and finally nodded. She turned and went over to where Ian stood by the bassinet the two babies shared. “What do you think?”
“They are amazing,” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “Thank you, Em, Connor told me what you had to do. Thank you for saving their lives and my wife’s.”
Emmy gave him a tired smile. “Just fulfilling my destiny,” she told him wondering again if it were true and she would wake up in the morning back in her own bed in Baltimore. “If Dory wakes, do not allow her to move around, she might rip her stitches. The babies will probably fuss as well…”
“We have a full nursery staff ready for them,” he assured her and she nodded.
“I’ll be back to check on her in the morning.”
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Thank you,” he repeated.
“You’re welcome.”
Emmy ate by rote when returning to her room, bathed quickly before climbing into bed to wait for Connor. What if this was it? She thought again. What if in giving Dory and her children a chance at life, I am done here? What if Connor had absolutely nothing to do with it? But didn’t he deserve a second chance too? What else was she to do?
Emmy didn’t want to wake up in the morning and have it all be gone. Connor slid into bed and Emmy rolled into him, clutching him desperately. “Tell me again how it is my destiny to stay here with you,” she begged. “Tell me you won’t let me go…”
Connor’s hand fisted in her hair in surprise and her pulled her head back so he could meet her eyes, see her fear. “It is our destiny to be together, my love. Do not fear it. Have faith.”
“I’m scared,” she confessed and told him of her fears.
“Ye’ll save the lives of many babes in the coming years, my love,” he kissed her lightly and cupped her breasts in his hands. “Dory is but the first.”
“You sound so certain.”
“I am. I must be.” He lowered his mouth to hers capturing her lips in a kiss that promised the world and more. Connor rolled her under him and raised himself up on his elbows as she cradled him between her thighs. “Ye must be as well.”
“I’m trying,” she whispered. “Give me another reason.”
He did.
Chapter 40
Emmy woke the next morning in Connor’s arms and felt an elation unlike any she had ever known. She had remained! The joy plummeted as fast as it had come. Emmy moaned pitifully.
She had remained.
Connor had risen and left their bed urging her to get some more sleep, but Emmy had lie awake pondering the flash of desperation that had followed so quickly on the heels of the jubilation she had felt on awakening. She wondered where it had come from that dejection that it had flooded her so quickly. She wondered what it meant.
Added onto that, now she truly had no idea how much longer she would be here. A week or a lifetime, she was back to wallowing in the unknown but without the optimism she had faced the last week with. She couldn’t get out of her head that this day might be her last. Whether that was should have brought anticipation or trepidation, she couldn’t decide. She wanted to go home, back to the safety of her perfectly planned future, yet Emmy wanted to stay at Duart as well with her new patients, with Connor.
The indecision tore at her.
She should be wholly, solely triumphant that she remained with Connor. She loved him and so there should be no doubts about what she wanted.
What was is that had brought them on?
And how was she to hide her reservations from Connor? Just twenty-four hours ago, she had been reveling in their love, happy and content. She had indeed taken each day as a gift. Should she confess her doubts or was he better-off not knowing? Still he could read her so well that if Emmy tried to hide it from him and failed…
Emmy buried her head in her pillow, trying to
