The Hungry Heart Fulfilled (The Hunger of the Heart Series Book 3) by Shannon Farrell Page A

he
    brought him into the library.
     
     
“Yes, of course,
    we’d be happy to
    look after him. Here,
    lay him
    down, and let’s get a bed and so on organised for him.”
     
     
“I want to check
    him over again in
    the light, if you don’t mind, and if you could make sure you
    give him plenty to
    drink?”
     
     
Emer poured Charlie
    a glass of water
    from the carafe on the sideboard, and held it to his lips as he
    drank
    thirstily.
     
     
“Again, another
    glass, only this one
    with opium in it,” Adrian instructed.
     
     
“Do you have any
    lead and red
    pepper? That’s
    what we used in
    Grosse Ile.”
     
     
The doctor looked
    at Emer oddly, and
    then took two more bottles out of his case, and stirred a
    small quantity of
    each power into the water.
    Emer
    forced Charlie to drink it, and then he lay back exhausted.
     
     
“I’ve seen your
    sister, Brona,
    Miss. I was out
    west with them
    working, and logging as well.
    They
    said to send their love, and hoped they would get a letter
    from you soon.”
     
     
Emer looked at her
    carpet sadly for
    a moment. “I
    should have
    written.  I
    should have tried
    to persuade them to come here to share in my good fortune.”
     
     
“But Miss, it’s
    been nothing but
    hard struggle since you started in November. There wasn’t much you
    could do for her
    then, now was there?”
    Sissy said kindly.
     
     
“No, but things are
    going well
    now. I shall
    write to her at once,
    if I may, Doctor, and ask them to come.”
     
     
“I think that would
    be a fine idea,”
    Adrian said, with a conspiratorial wink at Charlie.
     
     
The doctor helped
    Charlie remove his
    dirtiest outer clothes, while Emer scribbled furiously, and
    then folded the
    letter and gave it to Sissy.
    “Put
    it in your pocket, and when you go into town tomorrow, please
    see that it's
    posted.”
     
     
“I shall, Miss,
    never fear. Is
    your sister anything like you?”
     
     
Emer smiled. “No,
    not at all, but I
    can only try to see if she and her husband are willing to join
    our endeavour. And a letter to Cara,
    my other sister, wouldn’t be amiss, in case she decides that
    the sea-going life is not to her taste after all.”
     
     
“No one took to the
    sea like you
    did, Emer,” Charlie said proudly, earning an astonished look
    from Adrian and
    Sissy as he regaled them with tales of Emer’s bravery on the
    high seas.
     
     
“Don’t exaggerate,
    Charlie, and
    don't exhaust yourself with idle chatter,” Emer scolded
    playfully, as she sat
    back down and wrote another letter, and then handed that to
    Sissy as well.
     
     
“How is he,
    Adrian?” Emer asked more
    quietly, as Charlie ran out of steam and began to doze again.
     
     
“He’s a tough boy,
    despite all the
    hardships he’s had to endure.
    I
    think I caught him early enough, but don’t be too hopeful,”
    Adrian warned.
     
     
“I’ll try not to
    be, but thank you
    for all your help,” Emer sighed, and patted her friend on the
    shoulder.
     
     
Adrian saw his
    opening, and said
    quietly, “Emer, I know this is not really any of my business,
    but I wish you
    had confided in me about your friendship with Dalton Randall.  
    I thought he
    was in love with
    Madeleine Lyndon. Well, you just naively assume these things
    when you find out
    someone is getting married.
    I
    didn’t really like to interfere."
     
     
Emer stared at him
    in surprise, but
    said nothing.
     
     
“But Charlie here
    says you and
    Dalton were in love with each other on the ship. I don’t understand
    what separated you,
    but I think I can see
    now all the terrible pain and suffering you’ve gone through
    because of it. I'm
    really sorry if I embarrassed you
    by being too friendly with him, and inviting him to dinner on
    Sunday.”
     
     
She patted his
    forearm soothingly.
    “It isn’t you fault. You had no way of knowing. He was your friend
    long before I was,
    and he is now a
    colleague as well. I
    don’t wish to
    come