A Scandal By Any Other Name-Chapter 151 - Hundred And Fifty One

Nighttime had come much too quickly, casting long, cold shadows over the English countryside. After the disastrous meeting at Miss Flora’s cottage, the journey had been suffocating. The silence in the carriage was heavy, thick with unspoken words and deep disappointment.

They had traveled for several hours before the dark sky forced them to stop. The driver pulled the tired horses into the courtyard of a quiet, respectable posting inn.

As if the universe itself was determined to keep them apart, the innkeeper had greeted them with a wide smile and announced that he had plenty of empty rooms. Without looking at Rowan, Delaney had immediately requested two separate bedchambers. She needed space. She needed to breathe away from his overwhelming presence. Rowan had simply nodded, his jaw tight, his broad shoulders stiff with guilt. He did not argue with her.

That night, they slept in separate rooms.

Shortly after they retired, a heavy, violent rain began to fall. The storm battered the roof of the inn. Delaney lay awake in her solitary bed, pulling the thick quilt up to her chin. She listened to the heavy raindrops slapping against the glass window. The sound of heavy rain always made her chest tight. It brought back the darkest, most terrible memories of her childhood. In the room next to hers, Rowan paced the wooden floorboards for hours, his conscience eating him alive. He had let his fear turn him into a bully, and he had made the woman he loved see him as a monster. He wondered what she would be thinking at the moment.

The next day, the storm had finally passed, but it left the world completely drenched.

They left the inn very early to be able to reach the Hamilton estate before noon or evening at most.

Inside the carriage, the morning air was bitterly cold. Delaney sat close to the window, wrapped tightly in her dark woolen shawl. She was giving Rowan the silent treatment. She kept her face turned away, watching the wet trees pass by.

The road was in a terrible state. Last night’s torrential rain had turned the hard dirt path into a river of thick, slick mud. The heavy carriage wheels sloshed and dragged through the deep puddles. The horses snorted, their hooves slipping slightly on the wet clay.

Rowan sat opposite her. He did not look at his books. He did not look out the window. He only looked at her. The silence was absolute torture to him.

"Del, are you still angry?" Rowan finally asked. His deep voice was quiet, rough with genuine remorse.

Delaney did not turn her head. She simply watched the muddy road.

Rowan leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He clasped his large hands together. "You haven’t said anything to me since yesterday," he said, his tone pleading. "And we will soon be arriving at the estate."

Still, she remained perfectly quiet. She was angry at him. She was angry that he had frightened Miss Flora, but she was also angry at herself for caring so deeply about a man who was entirely out of her reach.

Rowan let out a heavy sigh. He could fight other lords, he could manage massive estates, but he did not know how to fight her silence.

"Please say something," Rowan begged softly. He reached out, stopping just an inch from touching her knee. "Scream at me. Reprimand me. Tell me I am a foolish, arrogant man. I will accept every word of it. Just don’t be silent."

Delaney closed her eyes for a brief moment. She heard the raw pain in his voice. She let out a long, weary sigh and finally turned her head to look at him.

"I am not angry at you," Delaney said. Her voice was flat.

It was a lie. She was actually very angry at him. She opened her mouth to continue, wanting to tell him exactly how much he had disappointed her. "I..."

She did not finish the sentence.

Another thought popped up in her mind, completely erasing her anger. She felt a sudden, strange shift in the movement of the carriage. She looked past Rowan’s broad shoulders, staring out the window on his side.

"Why are we going fast?" Delaney asked. Her brow furrowed in confusion.

Rowan frowned. He looked out the window and realized she was right. The trees were rushing by at an alarming speed. The heavy carriage was bouncing violently over the deep mud ruts, shaking them from side to side. The horses were galloping, pulling them faster and faster down a steep, winding hill.

Rowan quickly reached up and pushed open the small wooden trapdoor near the roof of the cabin to speak to the driver.

"Slow down, man!" Rowan called out loudly. "The road is too wet for this speed!"

The driver’s voice came back through the trapdoor, completely laced with panic. "I am trying, Your Grace! But there is something wrong with the carriage! The leather trace strap snapped again! The heavy rain made the mud too slick, and the brake blocks will not catch the wheels!"

Just then, Delaney felt a terrible, freezing wave wash over her entire body.

A sudden, paralyzing deja vu vibe struck her heart. The sound of the panicked horses screaming outside. The violent, uncontrollable shaking of the wooden cabin. The smell of wet earth and rain. The helpless, terrifying speed as the carriage slid down a slippery, muddy hill with no brakes to stop it.

This was the exact same way her parents had died twenty years ago. The cut leather, the slick rain, the final, deadly fall but this time, it wasn’t intentional.

Her breath completely left her lungs. Her hazel eyes went wide with absolute terror. She looked at Rowan. She opened her mouth, about to warn him, about to tell him to hold on to something.

But the accident started before she could speak a single word.

The carriage hit a massive, washed-out trench in the muddy road. The front left wheel completely shattered.

The carriage violently lurched to the side.

Rowan saw the danger in a split second. He saw the carriage tipping. He did not try to brace himself. He did not try to hold onto to something. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Rowan shouted at the top of his lungs.

"DELANEY!!!"