My Once Handsome Husband - Chapter 286

Delaney hurried up the stairs as fast as she could manage but Miles and Harris rushed up ahead of her.  She reached the bedroom and her heart was pounding in her chest.

Vincent was in lying on his side, curled up with his fists and jaw clenched.  His eyes were smashed closed and his breathing was coming in hisses from his nose.  Sweat was pouring from him and his scars were a fiery red.

“I-I can’t get him to take the medicine,” Harris said urgently, grabbing the sides of his own head and pressing his fingers against his skin as he watched his friend and master, “He needs to take the medicine.  His pain is worse.”

Delaney saw the bottle sitting on the table and snatched it up, hurrying to her husband.  Miles was already there leaning over him trying to talk to him.  Bernard and Duncan were on his other side.

“Come on Vince,” Miles said desperately, “Come on and take the medicine.  You just have to open your mouth.  It’ll fix this.”

A groan escaped Vincent and he was shaking.  He had his fists pulled up and was pressing them to his mouth, his muscles taut.

“We have to make him take the medicine,” Delaney said to Miles, standing beside him now and sweeping her husband’s hair from his face, startled by the heat radiating from his skin.

“How?” Miles asked, looking terrified at his older brother.

Delaney watched him for a moment as her mind spun but then it came to her.

“Lift up his head and shoulders.”

“What?” Miles looked at her in surprise, “But that will make his pain worse.”

“I know,” she swallowed, “But we have to.  Lift him up.”

Miles looked across at the other men.  Without hesitation, Bernard climbed over the bed to reach Vincent’s side and Duncan joined him a moment later.  Bernard used his good arm to slide a hand under Vincent’s head.  Miles and Duncan met each other’s gazes and, taking Vincent’s shoulders in their hands, lifted together.

A strangled sound of pain ripped from her husband’s chest but Delaney couldn’t let it stop her.  She threw the pillows away and climbed up behind him, crossing her legs and then helping Bernard to ease Vincent’s head down into her lap.

“You have to get his arms down,” Delaney said to Miles, “And Bernard can help me with his head.”

The men nodded and moved together.  Miles took the arm closest to him and Duncan took the other.  Together they worked to pull them down away from his face.  Delaney used all her strength to push her husband’s shoulders down and was relieved when Bernard joined her.

When his arms were down far enough Bernard looked down at his friend and mumbled a quick apology before moving to brace a knee to his chest, pinning him down and blocking his arms route back to his mouth.

Sobs were coming from Vincent’s chest and tears were slowly escaping his closed eyes.  Delaney moved fast.  She took his handsome face in her hands, hating that she was causing more pain but knowing it was needed.  With Bernard’s help, she turned his head until it was facing at least a bit more upward.

Delaney looked up towards where she had left the medicine, trying to think how she would grab it, but thankfully Harris was there.  He took it in hand and pulled out the stopper.  Vincent’s jaw was still locked though.

“We’re not going to be able to get his mouth all the way open,” she said quickly to Harris, “You’re going to have to pour it in his cheek and let it go down his throat from there.”

“But what if he chokes?”

Delaney swallowed hard and looked down at Vincent in her lap in agony.

“He won’t choke,” she said as she tried to convince herself, “He won’t choke.”

She didn’t believe her own words but at least Harris seemed to.  Taking a deep breath, Delaney slipped her little finger into the corner of her husband’s mouth and pulled his cheek open.  As soon as it was, Harris was quick to pour the medicine.

They were in luck.  The sudden liquid in his throat made Vincent cough and when he did he opened his mouth.  Not thinking it all the way through, Delaney curled her pointer finger and stuck it in his mouth to keep it from closing again.

When his teeth came down on her skin she gasped at the pain and shouted his name.  Even through the blinding agony he was in, he seemed to recognize the sound of her in pain and the pressure on her finger eased off a bit.

“Pour more in his mouth!” Delaney said urgently to Harris, eager to move her body out of harm’s way.

The man was quick to do as she’d said.  Vincent choked for a moment before gulping the liquid from his mouth.  Satisfied that was enough for now, Delaney pulled her hand away and told the men to let go.

Like a spring, Vincent immediately curled back up, his body trembling.  Delaney kept his head in her lap, gently brushing her fingers through his hair and whispering to him that everything would be alright.

Everyone stood around anxiously waiting and watching to see what would happen.  Delaney felt her finger throbbing but barely noticed it with her focus on Vincent.  Her heart was racing.  Every minute that ticked by when he was still curled up in pain felt like ages.

Finally, she watched his fists slowly unclench, followed by his jaw.  Like wax melting, he slowly became less and less rigid.  She was quiet but kept her hands lightly against his face, letting her cool skin bring some relief to the heat of his.

After a while, he slowly blinked and came awake.  He turned his head until he could look up at her.  She saw the fear and confusion on his face and it made her heart ache.

“D-Delaney?” he tried to look around, “What’s h-happened?  Are y-you alright?”

“I’m fine my love,” she smiled fondly down at him, “Everything’s alright.  You were just in pain so we… so we gave you some medicine.”

He slowly nodded but his confusion didn’t go away.

“Try to sleep,” she whispered, “I’ll be right here with you.”

He looked up and met her eyes again, his fear clear.

“I love you,” he said searching her face.

“I love you.” she smiled and took one of his hands to her lips to kiss it.

He took her hand to his own lips then and pressed a kiss to it, closing his eyes and holding it there.  She didn’t move, watching him until she was sure he’d fallen asleep again.

Finally looking up, she saw that everyone had left the room now except Miles and Harris.  Miles sat in a chair beside and bed and Harris stood farther back against the wall.  She could see from his expression he felt guilty and she hoped she remembered to tell him later that he’d done nothing wrong.

Now though she turned to look at Miles and found him staring at his brother.  She was surprised when she saw his eyes were gleaming with tears he refused to let fall.  She wasn’t sure she had ever seen such emotion from him but it made her hopeful.  She said his name quietly and he slowly looked up at her.

“Where is Violet?” she asked, realizing then that the woman wasn’t in the room.

“She… She can’t see him in pain like that.  The more it keeps happening and the worse it’s getting the harder it is for her.”

Delaney nodded, looking down at her sleeping husband.  Seeing him in pain like this seemed to hurt her in her very soul.  At the same time though, she couldn’t stand to be away from him even then.  When he was hurting, helping him escape that pain became her only goal.  Now though, she saw a hard truth in front of her.

“Miles,” she whispered, “It’s going to get even worse than this isn’t it?”

He didn’t look at her but he swallowed and nodded.

Delaney bit her lip, fighting back her tears.  “Soon even the medicine might not bring him peace.”

Slowly her brother-in-law nodded again.

Looking down at Vincent, her heart ached.  She wanted to stay there with him.  She wanted to make sure she was ready with the medicine whenever he began to need it.  Anything he needed, she wanted to make sure she could give him.  The most important thing he needed right now though wasn’t in Edgewood and Delaney knew she was one of the only people who could get it.

“I’m going to leave in the morning for the King’s City,” she informed Miles quietly, “I know you don’t want me to and I know you don’t like it but I have to.  I have to go and try to find something that can save him.  I can’t just sit here and watch him die if there’s any chance at all for him to live.”

She watched the younger Adair, waiting for him to yell at her or argue with her or threaten to tell her husband something.  Instead though, after a while, he looked up at her with sad eyes.

“I have to go,” she said quietly.

Miles nodded, “I know.”