Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match(58)

Before dawn, Will asked in the silent room, “What possessed you?”

“Your ring,” Angelika replied.

“You were planning on marching down there, to that big wild man, and taking it from his hand?”

“Yes.”

Will let out a huff of disbelief. “What is it like, moving through the world with the confidence of an empress?”

“It’s nice.” She looked around the room with her eyes only opened to slits. “What’s it like, living as a pauper?”

He echoed back, “It’s nice. You really would do anything for me, wouldn’t you?”

“I will prove it, again and again. Why aren’t I in my own room?”

Will hesitated for a few moments. “I was half out of my mind with worry. I . . .” He looked sideways, wincing at a memory. “Victor could barely get a hand on you. I gathered you up from the ground and was growling and guarding you like an animal. I brought you here.”

“You don’t lose control often. I wish I’d been conscious,” she said teasingly, but he remained serious.

“I was no more civilized than that giant beast. You must never do that again.”

“But—”

“Do you understand me?” He was kneeling by the bed now, his lips moving on the back of her hand. “Not for that ring, not for me. Never. You could have been killed. He flung you like a doll. There was a rock on the ground beside you. Six inches was the difference between you lying in my bed rambling about toadstools and you lying on a slab in that nightmare morgue.”

“Victor would have brought me back.”

“Not with a rock clean through your skull. What if he had sought to take vengeance on Victor? Men do terrible things to women. He could have taken you deeper into the woods and . . . hurt you. I could not survive it.”

Mary’s old advice ran through Angelika’s mind: No hesitation, no politeness, run.

He was shaking as he kissed her hand and then began speaking. Latin became English, and it was crystal clear: he was praying. They were words from her childhood; he was asking the Lord to keep her safe, to watch over her and keep her.

On Frankenstein ground, it was absolute sacrilege. Lucky Victor wasn’t here.

Will didn’t even seem aware of what he was doing; a long-held script from his past life was being recited. A devout husband could prove to be a very big problem.

“You shouldn’t do that.” She eased her hand away. “How did you find me?”

“I was walking down to invite you to dine with me. My cottage is finished now, as you see,” Will explained shyly. “I saw you from across the orchard, fleeing the laboratory. Then you stopped in the most peculiar way and waved like a child, but not at me. The way you walked toward the forest made the hairs on my body stand on end. I ran for you.”

She remembered the tenuous moment with the stranger, and their shouts ruining it.

“And now we’ve lost him. I wish you’d just let me deal with it by myself.”

He heard her grouchy tone and smoothed her hair back. “I will never leave you to deal with things by yourself. When you face monsters, I want to be with you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to catch you.”

“He isn’t a monster. He is lost, and suffering, and oh, his poor feet. I’m sure his hands don’t work properly. He needs me to massage them. We need to find him and help him. I feel like I can never be comfortable again, knowing that he is out there, and Sarah has a cold room, and Mary bends in half underneath the eaves to not hit her head.”

“Empathy has found you later in life, and I think life’s cruelties will burden you more than most. What happened with Mary?”

“I suggested that she consider retiring. She took it badly.” Angelika looked around the cottage again. Could the other four vacant cottages be made this lovely with some hard work? “How do you feel about having an irritable old neighbor?” She thought about the people in her employ. “Add Sarah, so two neighbors? Or three, if Jacob wants to live closer to the horses? Four, if we persuade Victor’s big friend to stay?”

“Now there’s my Angelika.” Will was deeply pleased with her. “Generosity is the garment that suits you best.”

“Jacob apologized to me when we first met. I didn’t understand what he meant.” Angelika closed her eyes and the truth came to her, knowing Will as she did. “He’s the boy from that night, isn’t he? The thieves in the house. He’s the one you scolded and let go.”

“Yes.”

Her past self would have been furious. She would have run to the stables, to check her valuable horse, and to order the thief to never set foot on her land again. But now, she just nodded her head. “Fine.”

“His family has not been able to survive—”

“It’s fine. I forgive him. I’m sorry things are bad for him.”

He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Feeling sorry is one thing, but being practical is the better solution, in view of his family’s poverty. He is paid handsomely to muck out the stalls and untangle Solomon’s tail.”

“You did well.” She stretched against him. “Is my invitation to dinner still current?”

“Let’s wait until your eyes are not big strange stars.” He was quiet for a while.