A Scandal By Any Other Name-Chapter 156 - Hundred And Fifty Six

Rowan did not answer. He remained perfectly still in her arms.

Aunt Margery finally reached the bottom of the stairs. When she saw her nephew lying bleeding on the floor, she let out a broken, agonizing sob. She leaned heavily against the wooden banister, clutching her chest, praying silently for his life.

Delaney came down from the wagon. She stood on the courtyard. She did not have her shoes. She stood in her ruined, mud-soaked stockings. Her gray woolen dress was heavy with wet clay, torn at the sleeves, and stained with Rowan’s blood. Her hands were scraped and raw from climbing the steep embankment.

She felt completely numb. She was completely eaten alive by a heavy, suffocating guilt.

She stood near the steps, refusing to step further into the beautiful home she felt she had just destroyed. She looked at Ines crying over Rowan. She looked at Aunt Margery weeping.

The terrible memories of the stormy night flooded her mind completely. The same scenario had happened again.

The rain had poured down on her while she stood by a wrecked carriage. Her parents had thrown their bodies over hers when the carriage fell. They had absorbed the terrible impact to keep her safe.

She remembered the cruel, sharp words of her greedy uncle and aunt when they finally took her in.

Your parents died because of you. They died because they wanted to protect you. You are a curse.

The horrible words echoed loudly in her ears. History was repeating itself in the most cruel, devastating way possible. And once again, someone had used their own body as a shield to save her life. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Rowan might not make it because he wanted to protect her too. He had lunged across the carriage. He had wrapped his arms around her head. He had taken the brutal force of the shattered wood and the breaking glass directly against his own back and skull.

If he had not protected her, she would be the one bleeding on the floor.

"Get him inside," Simmons ordered, his calm, professional voice cutting through the panic. "Carefully, men. Support his neck."

"Clean him up," Ines added, her voice thick with tears. She gently laid her brother’s head back down. "Bring hot water and clean bandages to his chamber immediately. Help us on the way."

The servants moved with speed. The footmen carefully lifted Rowan again, carrying his heavy, unconscious form up the grand staircase to his master bedchamber. Other servants gently supported the injured driver, taking him to his quarters in the staff wing to care for his broken collarbone.

The farmer and his brother stood awkwardly near the door. Mr. Simmons quickly approached them, thanking them profusely and pressing a heavy bag of gold coins into their dirty hands before seeing them out.

Soon, the grand foyer was mostly empty. Only Ines and Aunt Margery remained.

Delaney had climbed the steps of the courtyard and stood at a distance near the open doors. The cold wind blew against her back, making her shiver violently, but the chill in her soul was far worse.

The guilt was eating her alive. She felt like poison. She felt that anyone who ever loved her or tried to protect her was destined to die a terrible, painful death.

She looked at Ines. The Duchess was standing up slowly from the floor, her hands and dress covered in her brother’s blood.

Delaney took a small, shaky step back. She lowered her head, unable to look the Duchess in the eye.

"I’m sorry," Delaney whispered. Her voice was cracked, raw, and completely broken. She sounded so deeply remorseful that it physically hurt to hear.

Ines turned her head and looked at Delaney.

"He is in this state because he wanted to protect me," Delaney confessed to the floorboards. The tears spilled from her eyes, mixing with the dirt on her pale cheeks. "The carriage broke... we were falling. He threw himself over me. He took the impact. It is my fault. I am so sorry."

She waited for the anger. She waited for Ines to scream at her. She expected the Duchess to order her out of the house, to call her a curse, just like her uncle had done so many years ago. She fully expected Ines to blame her for bringing the Farringtons down upon their peaceful family.

Ines stood perfectly still for a moment. She looked at the woman standing by the door.

Ines walked towards her.

Delaney squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for the harsh words. She shrank back into herself, her shoulders shaking with silent, agonizing sobs.

"I am so sorry, Your Grace," Delaney continued apologizing, her words tumbling over each other. "I should have ever ..."

Ines stopped right in front of her. She looked at Delaney’s appearance. She saw the bleeding scrapes on her hands. She saw the stocking-covered feet that must have climbed a muddy hill. She saw the sheer, unadulterated terror and the crippling survivor’s guilt completely destroying the young woman’s spirit.

Ines did not raise her hand. She did not shout.

Instead, Ines did something that absolutely shocked Delaney to her very core.

Ines reached out her arms and hugged her.

Delaney gasped in shock. Her eyes flew open.

Ines wrapped her arms tightly around the mud-covered woman. She did not care that the wet clay was ruining her expensive silk dress even further. She did not care about the strict rules of class or society. She only saw a woman who had just survived a terrible nightmare.

Ines held her securely, pressing Delaney’s muddy head against her shoulder.

"Hush now," Ines said, her voice incredibly soft and filled with a deep, profound empathy.

Delaney stood completely frozen, her arms hanging limply at her sides. She did not know how to react to such pure, unconditional kindness.

"You must have been scared," Ines said gently, rubbing her hand soothingly up and down Delaney’s trembling back. "It was an accident, Delaney. It was not your fault. Do not ever blame yourself for his courage."

The gentle, validating words finally broke the last of Delaney’s defenses.

Delaney slowly raised her bleeding, scraped hands. She wrapped her arms around the Duchess, clinging to Ines’s silk dress exactly like a frightened child. She buried her face in Ines’s shoulder, and for the first time in twenty years, Delaney was praised for surviving.