The Wings of the Truly Beautiful

fourteen.

The healing was a slow process. And for Winifred that was a hard pill to swallow because she was itching to get back to work. But her hand was not healing as fast as she hoped and it frustrated her to no end. But two weeks later found her in much better strength and closer to a full recovery.

Ed had been back a few times to check her progress and bring her medicine. He noted that while her body was healing her disposition remained the same. She was very remote, almost a shell of a person. There was a fervor, yes. He could sense it as he asked her to move her hand and gave her exercises to do to strengthen the muscles in her arm that had atrophied from disuse. But nothing shook that look in her eyes, the haunted fear that followed her. He told Lord Blackheart of his observations after a checkup and watched his friend's eyes darken.

"I know," Lord Blackheart said gravely, leaning back in his chair. "She has not been the same. She was always quiet and reserved, but this is different."

"She wanted to know how soon she will be able to get back to work," Ed informed him, pouring himself some wine. "I told her that she is making great progress but her hand is in no shape to return to the kitchen. I don't know what she did, but her hand was shredded. It is going to take a while to heal. She still needs the laudanum for the pain and it makes her drowsy."

"I don't know what to do. But I have to do something," Lord Blackheart sighed, going back and forth between an idea that was beginning to form.

"Can I ask you something?" Ed asked, walking to the window that overlooked the garden.

"Do you really need to preface the question with a question?" Lord Blackheart countered wryly.

Ed breathed out a chuckle. "You've found her."

"Was that the question?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot I was talking to the king of grammar. Let me rephrase, "Ed paused dramatically. "You've found her, haven't you?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh come on, Ric! You are not stupid and neither am I," he stated, turning to face his friend. "I've seen how you act with her. How attentive you are. I've never seen you act like that with a woman before."

"Mostly because the women I'm around see me as a walking fortune that they want to leech off of."

"Don't avoid the question."

"What was the question again?" Lord Blackheart said innocently, enjoying the ire of his friend.

"You know exactly what I'm asking."

"Do you mean to tell me that you think I have found the woman of my dreams based on the observation that I am attentive to her?" He asked, pouring himself a drink.

"Yes." Ed retorted, turning to face Lord Blackheart. "That is exactly what I think. In all of the years I've known you I can count on one hand the number of times you've gone doe-eyed over a girl. There was Nicolette in primary school, you remember her don't you," Ed said holding out one finger and lightly pacing around the room. "Then there was Margaret in the college years, she was a real beauty."

"She was a bitch. She was way too cunning and so was her mother."

Ed chuckled, "Well if I remember well, you were a bit of a bastard in college so it was well matched." He felt the eye roll even though his back was turned. "After that came Henrietta when you moved to London, although I always felt that was really just a cry for help."

"I'm sorry, do you have a point?" Lord Blackheart sighed in exasperation.

"Yes!" Ed wheeled around with absolute glee. "Winifred is the first woman in ten years to make you stop everything. She is nothing like the other women that have caught your eye in the past."