Free To Have and to Hold by Rebecca King

truly
snowed in.  
    Drawing the
curtains closed he crossed to the fireplace and stoked the fire, shivering at
the howling winds outside.   The storm was
indeed a fierce one.   He didn’t envy
anybody caught outside on such a night.
    Squatting before
the fireplace he paused and considered just what implications a storm such as
this would have had on Isobel had he not discovered her.   Already she was seriously ill, without the
freezing temperatures and dampness of the snowfall.   She would have most certainly succumbed, even
if she had managed to find a warm enough place to wait out the storm, what
then?  
    He frowned as he
listened once again for the strange noise. It stopped.   He went cold all over as he realised what the
noise had meant.   Racing towards the bed,
he frantically lit the candles on the table beside the bed, cursing fluidly as
their meagre light encased Isobel in a soft halo of golden colour.
    “Sweet
Jesus.”   Dominic whispered , his voice laced with horror as he took in her alabaster features.   Placing a palm against her cheek, his concern
rose alarmingly as his fingers touched her skin.   It was like cold, damp marble.   She had indeed been sweating but now was so
very cold, despite the warmth of the room.  
    “Isobel?” Tugging several
times upon the bell pull he paused only briefly to light more candles before
returning to the bed.   “Isobel,
darling?   If you can hear me, open
your eyes.” He hated to acknowledge the fact, but he had witnessed a complexion
like hers many times on the battlefields.   Soldiers mortally injured had become pale and unresponsive moments
before succumbing to the great Lord.   Frantically grabbing her shoulders, he sought to awaken her.   He desperately needed to see her beautiful
blue gaze once more.  
    “Isobel!”   Shaking her shoulders far harder than he
ought, he watched as her head fell back helplessly against the soft mound of
pillow behind her.   “Isobel,
please?”    His voice was pleading
as he carefully lay her back down before placing his hand in the hollow between
her breasts.   It took several moments
before his panic eased enough for him to feel her faint heartbeat.   “Thank God!”   It was weak but still there.  
    Seconds later
there was a soft knock upon the door, and Manvers appeared.   “My Lord?”   His face was stark.
    “Go and fetch
Mrs Holcombe.   Isobel’s taken a turn for
the worse!”   Dominic’s voice was
brusque.   “Quickly
man!”   He snapped carefully
tugging the blankets around Isobel and sitting beside her on the bed.   He didn’t quite know what he expected Mrs
Holcombe to do, but she was wise and had readily helped tend to Isobel since
her arrival with a calm matter of fact manner that had instantly allayed
Dominic’s fears.   Mrs Holcombe would know
what to do.   Whenever anyone was ill in
the house, family or staff, Mrs Holcombe always had a remedy to set them on to
the road to recovery.   Certainly, they
would not be able to send someone to fetch the Doctor until the snow eased and
if the increasing winds rattling the window panes were any indication, that
wouldn’t be any time soon!
    Moments later a
dishevelled Mrs Holcombe appeared beside him.
    “Please Mrs
Holcombe, what do we do?”   He hated
sounding so helpless but was at a loss.   Being beside a mortally wounded soldier on the battlefields as he met
his maker was different to sitting beside someone you loved and watching them
give up their fight for life.  
    “Sir, we shall
bathe her and change her clothes.   We
need to warm the room up.” She failed to add she didn’t like the sound of the
faint breaths that were coming from the unfortunate young girl who had such a
claim on the Master’s heart.
    Dominic nodded
and stood back, desperately running a hand through his hair as he watched and
waited.   Over the past two weeks, Mrs
Holcombe had become used to the Master’s unconventional manner towards the
young