Falling for the Enemy

Lighter

                                                                               Catherine

Henry comes to join me on the bed, slowly he lifts my chemise up in the back and carefully removes the bandages. Each bandage he removes is dried to the blood seeping from my wounds, so with each gentle tug, I feel as if I am being stabbed with little needle points.  When he finishes I carefully place each one of my feet on the hardwood floor.  

“Do you want me to help you?” he says moving towards me. 

 “If you could just give me your hand,” I say reaching out for it, and in one slow but steady motion, I use Henry’s arm to pull my body to a standing position.  

This one action causes pain to emanate and throb throughout my entire body.    Everything feels so heavy.  Holding onto Henry I slowly take a step forward and another and another, but then I have to pause.  I don’t think I can move another step, the pain I feel with each step is terrifying and I don’t want to feel this pain anymore.  A tear rolls down my cheek.  Henry sees the tear and scoops me into his arms and begins carrying me in his arms just as he did the day he saved me.  

Initially, when he picks me up it causes a rush of pain to move through my entire body but now that I am in his arms with my head against his chest, the pain is bearable.  Henry carries me through the doorway and to the room that holds the bathtub.  There is a fireplace in this room and a pot of boiling water is resting over the burning fire.  Henry does not place me down on the hardwood floor instead he lowers me directly into the warm bathwater.  I am still wearing my knickers and chemise and I realize that this is exactly how I was dressed when I bathed with Henry in the pond.  The warm water instantly soothes the damaged muscles, bruises, and cuts on my body.  It is just as soothing as the cold rainwater was out in the woods.  

The bathtub is not very large so I am unable to stretch my legs out but the warm water still helps ease some of the pain.  

“Here place this behind your head,” Henry says as he places a towel behind my neck.  

I sit in the tub for minutes with my eyes closed just enjoying the warm water on my skin and I am brought to the thought of my father.  

“How is my father?  Does he know what has happened?” I ask not opening my eyes.  

“He has been resting in bed.  He has been very tired over the last few days.  He thought he heard screaming last night and he tried to investigate but Samuel assured your father that it was just Adam having a nightmare and guided your father back to bed.  He has eaten a little today and sat on the veranda reading for a while.  He asked where you were but Sarah simply told him that you were out in the field working.”  

I am happy to know that my father is in the dark about what happened to me.  There is no reason for him to know about what happened when everything is fine now.  I am safe and the three men that hurt both Susanah and me are dead.  Henry stands up to gather the pot that is warming over the fire.  He holds tightly to the handle with a piece of linen shielding his hand from being burned and slowly adds additional warm water to my bathwater.  The new water instantly warms my entire body with a deeper warmth than before. The muscles in my body instantly relax more.  I am vaguely aware of some movement behind me as my body is drifting off to sleep.  I feel my wet hair being gently lifted up from my neck and Henry’s fingers are gently massaging my neck, then the tips of my hair, and then he moves to my scalp.  He is washing my hair just as he did in the pond weeks ago.  

Last night Henry carefully removed the filth from my body and today he is washing away the last remains of the horrid men that beat me.  Yes, I will still have the bruises and the cuts that will scar to remind me of this day for the rest of my life but this is the last physical thing that can be cleansed of those men’s existence.  When Henry has finished washing my hair, he once again collects the water from the fire.  He places his hand in the water to check the temperature and then moves next to me. Slowly Henry pours the warm water over my head and all the suds from my hair wash over my body and into the water.  I feel cleaner in a deeper way, more than just physically after he does this.  I can’t explain it but something has been washed away from deep within me as the water cascaded over my face and into the water.  I feel lighter inside.