10. Chapter 8
Caroline was utterly frozen as she scrambled for the best response for Lucy. It was a miracle that her maid caught her snooping rather than Valeria herself.
“I was looking for Lady Valeria,” she said as she turned, giving her maid a small smile. “Have you seen her?”
Lucy’s eyes flicked to the shift still in her grasp, and Caroline let go. The flimsy garment fluttered down and landed on her feet.
“Not this morning, Miss. I saw her just after sunset yesterday. She mentioned she was going to visit you, but we haven’t spoken since.”
Caroline frowned. “Does she frequently go missing?”
Lucy set down the silver tray she held and removed the cloche, revealing the same meal she had for dinner the previous evening. It answered one of her questions, since Valeria never shared a meal with her. It was comforting to know the woman was still eating.
“I dunno, I haven’t been looking out for her. Sometimes I only see her when she’s still asleep when I’m dropping off her first meal. Sometimes when I come in in the morning she’s here, and we speak for a few minutes. I don’t keep track of her in the hours between; should I?”
“No,” Caroline sighed. “I’m merely curious because I don’t know where she goes when she’s missing like this. Whenever I ask, she insists she was in her room all night.”
Lucy’s fingers drummed against the silver cloche, the drumming sound making Caroline flinch at the thought of being caught by the racket. “Do you want me to spy on her?”
“No, I was just being nosy.”
She kicked away the shift on her feet and walked out of the dressing room. Her face was still hot from being caught, but she mustered up as much dignity as she could as she walked past her maid.
“I don’t mind spying on her. My loyalty will always be with my lady.”
Her face was so serious that Caroline softened. “Thank you for the offer, but we can leave Lady Valeria to her privacy. This was a helpful reminder that I should be less nosy. She isn’t a prisoner here. If I was only awake while the world slept, I would also wander the halls to pass the time.”
“It does seem like a lonely existence.”
Caroline’s heart squeezed as she left Valeria’s room. While she frequently spent long stretches of the day alone—especially in her parents’ absence—there were always people around. She never needed to wander the house to find company.
Certainly, that was an explanation for where Valeria was. If Caroline wandered the house for a bit longer, surely she would find her houseguest in time to escort her back to her room before the sun rose.
It may be a tidy explanation that she would give to Lucy, but deep inside she doubted it. She couldn’t help her fear that Valeria’s arrival and the beginning of this mysterious illness weren’t a coincidence.
What she didn’t know was how all of the pieces of the puzzle fit together.
When she met Valeria at sixteen, they spent their days frolicking under the expansive blue sky of Tuscany.
There wasn’t even a hint of sunsickness in her back then as her olive skin turned bronze at the peak of summer.
They shared nearly every meal during those four glorious months—it didn’t matter if it was in the fancy dining rooms with her parents, the rough kitchen of the vineyard Valeria’s family ran, or sneaking plump grapes from the vine.
As long as they were together, nothing else mattered.
Caroline’s shoulders dropped as she entered her empty bedroom.
It had been so easy for her feelings to revert to what they were eight years ago.
When she was a girl, she didn’t know why sometimes Valeria’s smile made her heart race.
Why they always longed to touch one another.
They were best friends, but not like how she was with Diya.
She never dreamed of the softness of her skin, and her gaze never lingered after they swam in the lake.
Weeks ago, she fretted over never feeling such urges for Edgar. She worried she was incapable of such things. That if she only worked a little bit harder, the feelings would arrive and she would live happily ever after.
It should have been a relief to discover there wasn’t a defect with her after all.
She felt the urges her mother lectured her over—quite strongly, in fact—though she didn’t feel them for her fiancé.
She couldn’t feel them for Edgar, not when Valeria’s name was carved into her heart so deep that not even eight years of separation had dulled her feelings.
But she didn’t know what to do with her love if it turned out Valeria had something to do with this illness.
* * *
Caroline squinted in the bright sunlight as she continued weaving the lace for her veil.
It was the first properly sunny day of the year, and while there was a bite in the air, she layered her shawls so she could work outside.
It was a relief that the sun felt pleasant instead of burning her skin.
She wasn’t sure how long her good health would last, but the illness had yet to get its grasp on her.
“A letter has come for you, Miss Blythe. Two, actually.”
Caroline blinked up to see Mrs. Thomas before her holding two envelopes: one a pristine white and the other a heavier cream colored envelope.
Weighing the letters in her hands, dread pooled within her.
The handwriting on the envelopes was familiar, and neither was bound to hold good news.
Sighing, she opened the letter from Dr. Murnau.
She would rather deal with a possible plague than read Edgar’s letter.
She had been waiting for word from him for ages, so of course he only wrote once she didn’t want to hear from him.
“Mrs. Thomas,” she said, brow furrowed as she read the letter, “Have the coach readied for me. Dr. Murnau needs me at the hospital. I’ll be back before sundown.”
It didn’t take her long to put on her most practical dress, and she grabbed her notebook before she left for the hospital.
No one questioned her as she rushed in. Instead, she was sent up to the ward where the newest patients were kept.
The nurse told her the doctor was working there, and while the word “plague” wasn’t used, the nurse kept her mouth covered as she detailed the need for isolation for any new patients.
“Miss Blythe, thank you for coming so quickly,” Dr. Murnau said, his eyes were tight with heavy bags beneath them.
“As I said, I’m happy to help in any way I can.”
“Has there been any new sickness in your household?”
Caroline shook her head. “No, we have been well.”
She had debriefed with Mrs. Thomas as she ate breakfast that morning to make sure everyone was well. The housekeeper reported no one had even complained of a sniffle, but she would keep vigilant in case anyone tried to push through an illness to continue with their duties.
“Good, I’m glad to hear it.” He removed his glasses, wiping the lenses with a sensible handkerchief. “Unfortunately, others in the town weren’t quite so lucky. Many have fallen ill overnight.”
“Any deaths?” Her stomach sank as her brow furrowed while she waited for her question to be answered. She wouldn’t be there if the situation wasn’t dire, but she still hoped that maybe he wanted to tell her he had found a cure for this strange illness.
“Only one, but I fear we are at the edge of a precipice. If we aren’t able to provide treatment, I fear our patients will start dying quickly.”
“Which is what I wish to avoid. I want to find the cause of the illness so we can eradicate it.”
The doctor replaced the glasses on his face, and with that, she saw the man replenishing his shields.
“Good. For now, I need you to meet with the patients and interview them as you did with those in your household. Not everyone is lucid enough for this, but you will be able to figure out who is useful. Once you’re finished, find me so we can go over your findings. ”
Caroline nodded before going to the other room to drop off her purse, removing her pencil and notebook.
Her eyes caught on the aprons the nurses hung on hooks along the wall.
This was the room where she usually dropped her belongings when she volunteered, but she never grabbed an apron before.
She never needed to, as her usual duties were folding linen or delivering soup, but it seemed like a good idea now that she would be interacting with patients.
She prayed no one got sick on her. She had little medical experience, but even less experience with someone getting sick on her.
It sounded like a nightmare. Not even when she had her own children would she have to worry about one of them getting sick on her.
That was what nannies and governesses were for.
She was still tying her apron strings when she got to the patients’ ward and stopped in her tracks.
Even with the warning that many new patients had arrived overnight, she was still shocked to see half of the dozen beds filled.
This was the final ward, one she had never seen anyone in before.
Not even when consumption ripped through the town the previous year.
There was a chance the whole ward would be filled tomorrow—and that was only if matters didn’t grow worse.
She didn’t even know where the new patients would go once they were out of beds.
Rolling her shoulders back, she straightened. Dr. Murnau had tasked her with an important job. She would help him diagnose the malaise of her village before more people died.
“And when did your symptoms come on?” Caroline very patiently asked a young man writhing in his cot. He was one of the few in active pain. It reminded her of visiting Nelly the other day when sweat dotted her brow. His skin was a little pink, but she wasn’t sure if that was his natural complexion.
“I don’t—I’m not sure. It hurts.”