The Sultan's Bride (19 page)

He let go and moved towards
the door.  Sarah reached out and grabbed hold of his arm.  ‘Richard,
you mustn’t.  If you were to become ill as well I’d never forgive myself. 
It’s bad enough that you have been this close.’ 

Richard looked at Sarah.
‘I’ve been such a fool, if she dies without knowing how I feel about her I’ll
regret it for all of my days.’

Richard entered the house. To
the left James was playing in the middle of the living room floor and beamed at
Richard.  A happy looking child he was so much like his mother, the
chocolate brown hair and big blue eyes with the olive skin tone he’d inherited
from his father.

James stood on shaky feet and
made his way to Richard, the wooden toy horse in his hand being presented to
him like a trophy.   Picking him up, he hugged and kissed the boy,
taking a deep breath in his hair before putting him back down with his toys.

‘She’s in her old room,’
Sarah said, ‘Last time I checked on her she was asleep.’  Promising not to
wake her Richard crept up the stairs.  All thoughts for his personal
safety went out the window at the thought of Catherine dying and he realised he
no longer cared about her past or even if she’d been unfaithful while he was
away.

He heard her breathing before
he got to the door, it was heavy and forced, sounding as if she was struggling
with every intake of air.  Her eyes were closed and she was as her mother
had told him, asleep. 

Leaning over her he kissed
her forehead, feeling how hot her skin was, springing back when her body was
racked by a coughing fit.  ‘Oh my poor Catherine,’ he murmured. 

Her eyes opened. 
‘Richard?’ she said, her voice raspy from coughing. 

‘Yes love, I’m here.’ 
Taking her hands in his he felt their warmth, squeezing them in his hands and
putting them to his lips to kiss. 

‘You shouldn’t be here;
Father has already died from this.’

‘I know,’ he said, ‘but I
would not be anywhere else right now my love.’  She coughed again and he
reached for the cloth beside the bed, dipping it in the water that her mother
had put there.  Stroking her face with the cool water he kissed her
forehead again.

‘Why are you here, I thought
you didn’t want anything more to do with me?’ she asked. 

‘I love you,’ he said,
‘Although we have been apart my feelings have never changed for you.  I
have struggled to stay away these past weeks Catherine, I’ve missed you so.’

‘If these are to be my last
days I have some things I want to say to you,’ she said, pausing for breath
before continuing.  ‘I love you Richard, I wanted our marriage to be a
proper one when you returned.  I missed you a great deal.  I realised
that I wanted to be in your bed as well as hold your heart.’

‘When you are better we can
talk again.  Right now Catherine, save your energy.  You need to be
resting and not worrying about anything.’

Lifting a cup of water to her
lips he let her take her fill before putting the cup back beside the bed. 
She sighed. ‘There is one more thing I have to take care of and I need your
help.’ 

‘Anything my love,’ he said.

‘If I die then I want you to
watch over James.  Mother will be able to raise him, there is plenty of
money now for the two of them but I want him safe.  Until
Arif
has his own heir James will need protecting.’ She
coughed again before taking a big breath and closed her eyes, the effort
showing on her face.

‘I will always look out for
him love,’ Richard said softly, ‘He may not be my flesh and blood but he is
very dear to me.’  She nodded and drifted back off to sleep.

Then he sat and held her
hand, praying for her to find relief in sleep, praying for her to wake
up.  ‘You can’t go,’ he whispered, ‘It’s my fault we’ve been apart, I
thought you should follow your heart and choose where you wanted to be. 
It’s so clear now that it was me you loved after all and now my heart is
breaking at the thought of losing you.  I love you so much Catherine.’

The tears rolled down his
face as he looked down at the woman he was so in love with and wished he could
start again.

Catherine’s body continued to
burn with fever through the night though her breathing began to ease and in the
morning Richard was woken by the little boy in the next room crying for his
mother.

As he opened the door it
creaked in the otherwise quiet house and James, hearing the door squealed
excitedly thinking his mother was coming for him.  He pulled a face when
Richard walked into the room and Richard laughed.

‘Sorry little fellow, I know
I’m not the person  you are looking for but whatever happens to your Mama
we are going to have to put up with each other for a very long time. 
You’re not getting rid of me.’  Scooping the boy into his arms and kissing
his face, James giggled.  ‘Now let’s get you some food, I bet you’re
hungry.’ 

Sarah was in the hallway when
they emerged.  ‘Good morning,’ she said, ‘how is Catherine?’ 

‘Sleeping,’ Richard said,
‘she had a quiet night.’

‘Good, that would be the
first in a
while,
I’ll check on her and then join you
downstairs.’

The trio ate in silence,
Catherine was sleeping peacefully, her fever still unbroken and Sarah and
Richard both worried for the little boy who was now fretting for his
mother.  Although it wasn’t likely he would become ill again the doctor
had said it was best to keep them apart and the separation was taking its toll
on James.

To distract him Richard
offered to take him to the park.  Sarah protested at first arguing that
since Richard had been exposed to the illness he should stay inside with them,
quarantining himself away from everyone else.  ‘James needs fresh air, it
will be good for him,’ he said. 

Sarah sighed.  ‘I just
wish you would leave it for just a while longer, it’s possible that you will
get this illness and then what?’

‘I promise we’ll stay away
from other people,’ he said, his hand reaching out to her shoulder. ‘We’ll
stick to ourselves and James can chase the ducks they were in force in the park
when I was there and I’m sure he’ll love it.’

She laughed.  ‘I will
give you some food scraps you can take to feed them, he’ll love that more.’

Richard smiled, realising
he’d just been given leave to take his stepson out. 

‘I’ll dress him warmly and
don’t you be out there for long,’ Sarah said.  ‘I’m just looking forward
to spending some time with him, it’s been too long since I got to do that,’
Richard said.

Setting off down the street
the pair made their way slowly to the park, James pointing at everything along
the way and wanting to look.  Richard smiled at the little boy who had
picked up a few words and when they got to the park he most definitely knew
what a duck was.

The two of them laughed as
James alternately fed and chased the ducks, putting down the food to entice
them closer, only to run after them.  Legs running as fast as they could,
wings flapping the ducks made an awful noise in protest of their treatment but
would soon come back when more food was produced. 

Richard smiled at the boy’s
attempts to catch them, he had clearly not been walking for long as he was
unsteady on the short, chubby legs but the grass was soft and James’ laugh was
infectious as he stumbled and rolled around.

All too soon they had no food
left to continue the game and Richard picked up the now tired James to carry
him home.  ‘Soon you can see your Mama,’ he said to the boy, ‘she’ll be
well and we can start our new life all together.  We’ll come to the park
all the time.’

James was fast asleep by the
time they got back to the house where Sarah anxiously waited for them. 
She had news.  ‘Catherine’s fever looks to have broken,’ she said. 
Richard’s face broke out into a wide smile.  ‘We can’t celebrate yet,’ she
said, ‘there is still the cough and she is so tired.’

‘It’s a start,’ Richard said,
hugging the sleeping boy in his arms tightly.  James squawked in protest
and Richard made his way upstairs to put him into his bed gently, kissing him
on the forehead as he tucked in the blanket.

‘He had so much fun,’ Richard
said, turning back to the door where Sarah was waiting, ‘I look forward to
sharing more time with him and his mother.’

Entering the next room he
found Catherine sitting up, she coughed as he walked in the door almost as if
she was reminding him she was still ill but he sat on the bed and put the palm
of his hand to her face to feel her skin against it.

She was much cooler than
earlier in the day, and he grinned at her before leaning forward and kissing
her forehead.  ‘Much better,’ he declared and she smiled. 

‘Sleeping made a difference I
think, I’m so tired still but a lifetime away from how ill I felt earlier.’

‘Let’s hope you get better
from here on,’ he said, a grin playing across his face, ‘the sooner you get
better the sooner we can start our life together.’

Catherine reached for his
hand. ‘I like the sound of that.  Mama said you were out with James when I
woke up, is he well?’

He smiled.  ‘He is fine,
I took him to the park where we used to walk and he fed and chased the ducks
until he was so tired he fell asleep.’

She laughed.  ‘He has
grown so much since the time we spent together before your journey to
Ajara
.’

‘He has, a delightful little
boy your son is now.’ 

She squeezed his hand. ‘Our
son Richard, I want you to be his father as if he was our own.’ 

‘That won’t be a problem, he
is a lovely boy and I adore him as much as I adore his mother.’

She smiled, looking at him
slyly.  ‘I think I would like to bathe now I’m feeling better, would you
help me husband?’

‘Catherine, if you are suggesting
what I think you
are
I think it would be best to wait
until you are healthy and strong again.’

‘Who me?’ she said, innocence
written all over her face.  Richard laughed.  ‘I understand but I
would like you to help, perhaps you can sponge me down.’

Richard raised an eyebrow.
‘Perhaps that would be a good
idea,
I am your husband
after all.  Besides, I’m sure this means you are definitely
mine
now.’ 

She grinned.  ‘Yes, you
are responsible for my wellbeing and I would hate to see you remiss in your duty.’

He laughed, calling out to
Sarah to help him prepare the bathtub which she did happily, seeing Catherine
and Richard together again was something she had hoped for and it appeared that
they had put their differences aside.

Sarah left them to themselves
and Richard took his wife’s arm to help her out of bed.  ‘You will need to
help me remove my nightgown,’ she said wearily, her body aching just by
standing.  In one quick movement he had the garment over her head and she
was naked in front of him.

‘Richard,’ she whispered as
he pulled her closer, nuzzling her neck with his lips. 

‘My love,’ he murmured,
bending to sweep her into his arms before lowering her gently into the tub of
warm water.

Rolling his sleeves up, he
wet and soaped up the wash cloth as she sighed, sinking into the water, her
aches and pains suddenly feeling much better.  ‘It’s amazing what hot
water can do,’ she said. 

‘Sit up,’ he said, kneeling
beside the bath.

‘You know you could join me
in here, I’m sure there’s enough room,’ she said with a pout. 

Richard laughed. ‘There is
plenty of time for that my love, I don’t want you over-exerting yourself.’

She sighed as she leaned
forward and he started to run his hand up and down her back with the
cloth.  ‘I was scared that I would lose you forever,’ he said quietly, ‘I
don’t know what I would have done if I had.’

Turning towards him she
looked into his eyes. ‘It looks like you’re stuck with me instead.  So
what are you going to do now Mr Black?’

He leaned towards her
pressing his forehead to hers, ‘I thought I just might love you for the rest of
my life,’ he said then kissed her tenderly before returning to washing
her.  She smiled as he told her to lay back in the tub while he washed her
breasts before making his way between her legs, looking her in the eyes while
he stroked her thighs before gently reaching between her legs and making her
gasp at the touch.

‘Oh Mr Black, I thought you
were going to be good,’ she said, laughing at the face he was pulling as if he
had discovered some hidden treasure. 

‘I am being good,’ he said,
‘you need washing.’

She laughed but was soon
caught up in a coughing fit. 

‘Oh sweetheart,’ he said,
helping her sit to gain relief.

When she stopped coughing he
resumed his washing then sat beside the bath while she soaked in the warm
water.

‘I’m sorry for everything
Catherine, I should have listened.  I was so confused when I returned and
I thought you should give thought to
Arif’s
offer.  He is James’ father after all.’