So, this entire
chapter is about Heather. Just so you know. When the men bring Tim
into the house on a stretcher, they take him to a sitting room with a
bed in it, because Tim's room is up in a turret and it has too many
stairs. So, they manage to get Tim onto the bed in this room, and
most of the men leave. Richard stays long enough to ascertain
whether or not he should summon Caro and Michael. That's seriously
all the description we're given of who these people are. Oh, also
that Caro will know how to get in touch with Tim's two sisters.
Once he leaves,
Catriona and Algaria start bustling around and Heather wants to help.
Algaria tells Heather to go wash herself, change into something warm
and comfortable, and to eat a meal. They've got this for the next
hour or so and Heather will need her strength. So, about an hour
later Heather comes back in and sees the women bustling out except
Catriona. Tim is still alive and the horn didn't puncture anything
vital, but now they've got to worry about infection. Tim, by the
way, looks awful and it's really scary seeing someone you love look
like that. Poor Heather. Oh, Algaria is there too. She tells
Heather that the key to Tim living is that he has to want to live,
and that they all have to believe. Heather realizes the double
meaning of belief in life and love and the two witchy women scoot out
while Heather starts her first night's watch for the man who is her
everything.
So, the days and
nights blur together as Tim still doesn't wake up. Heather realizes
that she will love Tim until the day she dies, whether he lives that
long or not, and she prays to whoever is listening that he'll
survive. Then we jump to Tim. He's in a half-dream state between
life and death and he has the choice to die. Sure he's got his
family as a reason to live, but there's also Heather, which he
puzzles over for awhile before remembering that she'd told him she
changed her mind and that she did want to marry him. He can see her,
sleeping next to him and he can see where her tears have marked her
face, and he knows the tears are for him. Well, life is going to be
super painful and sucky for several days, but he can't just die and
leave Heather alone and unprotected because he loves her. So, Tim
decides to live.
Sometime later,
Tim has a super high fever. They try putting ice and cold sheets on
him, but none of them work. So they call up the guys and dip Tim in
an ice bath for a short bit. They do this several times that day.
Awhile later, Catriona explains her theory to Heather, that Tim isn't
unconscious but in a kind of healing sleep while he fights this
infection and that he'll probably pull through this. Probably. That
night, Catriona and Heather take turns watching Tim to see if he
starts getting too hot or cold. They dunk him in the ice bath again.
So, yeah. Tim
is kinda comatose, although he is restless and moves and then hurts
himself by moving. And Heather's voice soothes him. Also, when no
one else is there, Heather talks about her dreams of life with Tim
and she doesn't hold anything back. At one point, Catriona starts
grilling Heather about where she and Tim are in their relationship.
Catriona advises that Heather make sure that Tim knows, absolutely,
where she stands when he wakes up. It's super important that the two
of them be together and Heather will have to lead the way to make
this work. Because the Lady told Catriona this, you see.
Conveniently, a
few days later, Heather lets herself be talked into taking a bath,
changing her clothes, and all of those pesky things she didn't have
time for, just before Caro and Michael show up. Caro is Richard's
brother's sister-in-law and related to Heather. So, anyway, they
show up and Heather tells them her whole story of the journey to this
house. She leaves out the incredibly aggravating hot potato of her
and Tim's relationship once they reached the house because they
haven't settled it yet. But she does tell them about how he got
hurt. Once Heather is done with her stories, Caro offers to sit with
Heather and pass on the messages from Heather's mom and sisters. So,
Michael leaves to go find the men.
As time further
passes, Heather sees the kind of relationships built on love and
mutual trust that she's always wanted in the couples around her and
she notices that in their give and take relationships, it always
starts with giving. Because they're good couples, it's a reciprocal
kind of thing. Anyway, Heather further realizes that this is exactly
what she wants and needs and she tells an unconscious Tim that she
promises to marry him and love him forever. Apparently, this
cemented her position on this. I mean, I thought she came to this
decision several pages ago, but I guess this time she means it.
So, we've just
got one chapter and an epilogue left. Tim's got to recover in this
last chapter. Otherwise there's no way they can talk about the
wedding in the epilogue. So, I think he will wake up and he and
Heather can finally have their yes-I-know-you-love-me-too smoochies.
I'm doubting we'll see more of the Highlander. I guess his much more
interesting story wasn't central to this plot, so we probably won't
see it resolved. Le sigh. Also, in the next chapter, there will be
turnips. Probably.
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