Finding Bliss (2 page)

Absorbed in her latest vision, Bliss failed to notice when
Russ climbed up onto the boathouse rail. She looked up just in time to see him
testing the rope for soundness seconds before he gave it his entire weight and
swung forward out over the water. At once everything slowed to a snail’s pace.

Bliss knew this rope was something Russ had done by himself
without any permission. He often complained that he wanted to jump farther into
the water and begged their father for a way to do so. Bliss also realized that
Russ didn’t factor in the age or condition of the wood when he’d tied the rope
to the support board.

The sound of breaking, splintering wood shook Bliss from her
thoughts. She watched helplessly from the shore as the wood beam bearing the
weight of the rope and its user snapped cleanly in half. The added weight
stress after the break seemed to be the last straw for the dilapidated boathouse.
There were several more groans and then all at once the entire roof began to
list forward.

As if in slow motion the top half of the boathouse canted
forward, taking the rest of the support structure with as it fell toward the
water. Russ managed to land in the water and surfaced only a few seconds before
the entire boathouse fell into the lake.

Bliss knew that Russ would never be able to get clear of the
impact. She watched in horror as the heavily shingled roof shot forward as if
launched independently and hurtled toward her astonished brother. Russ managed
to turn only halfway before the edge of the heavy slate struck him.

Bliss didn’t wait around for her brother to swim out from
underneath the partially submerged and fast sinking wreckage of the roof. She
knew that wouldn’t be possible in the same instant that she knew she had to go
into the lake.

Despite her terror of the murky green water and the fact
that she was not the strongest swimmer, Bliss shed her slippers as she ran to
the water’s edge. She didn’t stop to consider the unknown landscape lying in
wait for her tender feet. Instead Bliss forced her skirts beneath the surface and
dove forward.

Several of the estate’s gardeners heard the breaking
boathouse’s woody report. The first man arrived in time to see Bliss just before
she went under. He shouted an alarm and tore forward heedless of boots and tools,
frantic to protect Lord Penwood’s children at any and all personal risk.

Seeing the master’s particularly beloved child heading into
the lake fully clothed was enough to make them run full-bore to try and stop
her before something horrible happened. The distance grew longer with each step
as they watched her tiny body sink with the weight of her petticoats and frock
beneath the dark water.

Bliss felt the dragging pull as the
water drenched her petticoat and skirt. She pumped her legs furiously to get beneath
the roof. At first she couldn’t see a thing. Her eyes wide, Bliss searched the
area for a sign of Russ. The lack of air in her lungs burned, but she didn’t
let that stop her.

Knowing what she was supposed to do, she kicked harder and
dove deeper into the cold water until she saw a flash of skin in the murky
darkness. Without worrying about the consequences, Bliss latched onto the first
appendage she could reach.

Russ’s ankle being larger than her tiny hand could grasp,
she let her fingernails dig into the skin as she pulled with all her might. Being
in the water did help a little. Russ’s unconscious form came free and drifted
upward on the third tug.

As soon as she could see him more clearly, Bliss wrapped her
arms around Russ’s torso and began to swim with every ounce of her strength
toward the surface. The twinkle of sunlight served to guide her and provided
enough hope for her to realize, in that rare moment of clarity, that she was
going to be successful. That was all that she needed to be calm despite the
continued struggle.

The moment her face broke the surface of the lake, Bliss let
out a surprised gasping giggle. She saw that they were now on the far side of where
the roof went into the water—further from shore than she meant to be.

Russ’s body weight proved too much to hold above the surface
all by herself, and Bliss felt her body being pulled down beneath the water as
she pushed him upward. Feeling her feet touch the silt-soft bottom of the lake
she used her feet to kick off, aiming her body up once more.

The water in front of the boathouse was shallow, at most only
five feet deep. But for two children- one less than three feet tall and the
other deliriously unconscious- five feet of water could be deadly.

Bliss quickly maneuvered her brother so that he was face up
in the water. Angling her body beneath his right shoulder, she wrapped her arm
across his navel and took hold of the trousers near his left hip bone. She then
began to half-drag, half push his body with her own as the only source of propulsion.

Bliss had to stop their forward progress every other foot or
so to take in air, but Russ still hadn’t taken a breath which worried her. Soon
enough the gardener reached them and removed the last vestiges of her panic.

“Grab Lady Bliss! I’ll get Lord Russ! Get them to the
shore!” the gardener shouted to another man who had also leapt into the lake to
assist the efforts. Bliss was content as the young stable worker scooped her up
into his arms and trudged through the churning shallows to get her on dry land.

“There now, miss. That’s a good lass! Can ye breathe? Are ye
alright? That was a fair brave thing ye did, milady! Your brother’s twice yer
size! Ye could’ve both drowned in th’ water! I believe ye scared the life right
outta me friend, there!” the man said as he placed shivering Bliss on the warm
grass.

In the distance, Bliss could see her father and Dr. Benchley
running full speed toward the excitement.

“Is Russ breathing? Someone should turn him to the side
where he’s not hurt! He’s got to spit the water out!” Bliss informed the worker
casually. She gathered her curly hair in her tiny fists and began wringing the
water from it as she spoke.

“Turn him to t’right! E’s got to get t’water out of ‘is
lungs!” the worker shouted to the gardener as he emerged with Russ.

The gardener obeyed, keeping Russ’s injured left arm cradled
against the boy’s silent form as he tipped him onto his right side. In a
wracking cough Russ began to heave and let loose a gush of water from his nose
and mouth. He was moaning and holding his left arm tight to his stomach as he
did.

Bliss watched and waited. The remainder of the scene would
play out soon. She’d done her part. The rest would happen exactly as she saw it
now.

Clarity usually improved once the worst was over. Bliss got
a clearer view of events once the outcome was favorable most of the time, too.
And today there was also the bonus of now knowing she’d been right all along.
Added confidence always seemed to strengthen her ability.

At that moment, Russ opened his eyes wide and looked around
until he focused on Bliss. A shock of knowledge seeped into his consciousness.

“How ... Bliss, I’m so ...” Russ tried to say, but his words
were cut off with another fit of coughing.

“You should remember this very moment in time whenever I
tell you something, Russ,” Bliss said softly.

Russ, for all his former bluster, only nodded as he clenched
his jaw in pain. The beloved Dr. Benchley and their father finally arrived on
the scene.

“Lord Penwood, can you see to Bliss yourself? I’ll take care
of Lord Russ. I can see bruising and a peculiar angle beneath the swelling. I’ll
need a few men to help me get him to the house before I set the bone.” Dr.
Benchley’s unruffled demeanor was music to her ears.

“Bliss, darling, speak to me! Are you alright? Bliss?” Ollie
gathered the dripping Bliss into his lap and hugged her too tightly to his
chest as he sat on the wet ground in utter relief.

“I’m fine now, Papa. But I need to see Dr. Benchley’s son. It’s
very important!” Bliss informed her bewildered father.

“In a bit, love, he’s waiting up at the house for us. Are
you hurt, darling? Your mother will skin me alive if there’s a scratch on you. Dr.
Benchley couldn’t find a thing wrong with Cori, but he did give your mother a
bit of news. Do you know what it is?” Ollie looked down at Bliss with a curious
stare.

“It’s probably about the new baby, isn’t it?”

Bliss had already known her mother was going to have another
baby. There were plenty of signs even without the vision she’d had of another
cradle rocking while baby Cori crawled nearby.

“How did you ... no, don’t tell me. It doesn’t matter
anyway! You are so very special, Bliss. I’m sorry if we didn’t take you
seriously earlier. And from this moment forward I promise I will never doubt
you, sweetheart!” Ollie gathered his daughter up in another bone-crushing hug.

“Papa, you’re squishing me! And you’re getting wet. Now, can
we go up to the veranda? I need to tell Eric something very important.” Bliss felt
impatient now to have the final task over with.

“Of course we can, my darling girl.”

They followed the makeshift litter
that carried Russ toward the house. Mrs. Pressley stood at the steps, wringing
her hands nervously for the injured boy.

Nanny Pearl was waiting nearby to take Bliss back to the
nursery. Before anyone could stop her, Bliss wriggled free of her father’s arms
and scurried over to where Eric Benchley waited for his father.

“Hi!” Bliss greeted the older boy.

“Hello, Bliss. Did you fall into the lake too?” ten year old
Eric asked with a slightly concerned expression. Bliss couldn’t let that sidetrack
her. It was irrelevant to the conversation she needed to have with the boy
anyway.

“No, I went in to get Russ. I warned him not to leave the
house today and definitely not to go into the lake, but he refused to listen. I
knew he wasn’t going to be able to swim once that roof hit him, so I had no
choice but to jump in. It was really scary, too! I don’t like the water. I
don’t like to put my feet anywhere that I can’t see where they’ll land.”

“You saw the roof hit him? That must have been really scary,
huh? You’re probably the bravest little girl I know! Did you get hurt?” Bliss couldn’t
mistake his patronizing tone.

Five was a great chasm of years between a boy and a girl
aged ten and five respectfully, but Bliss couldn’t help feeling irritated by
the way he treated her. Eric was one of the few non-family members whose future
she was attuned to with regularity.

“Nope, I just went in to get Russ so he didn’t drown. But
now I need to tell you something.” Bliss gave Eric a look of stern warning.

“Tell me later. I’m going in with Papa and see how he sets
the bone. He told me he would let me help him today. I’m going to be a
barber-surgeon too, you know?” Eric explained, trying to write the younger girl
off as he turned to leave.

“Eric, you need to stay outside while your father works with
my brother. You won’t like it if you don’t,” her reproachful warning was not
very welcome to the determined boy.

“It’s nothing I’ve not seen before! Go get a bath, Bliss! You
smell all musty and wet!” Eric scoffed.

Bliss briefly appeared pained but quickly masked the emotion.
She had plenty of practice thickening her skin against the barbs of doubt.

“Suit yourself, but you’ll be sorry!” Bliss replied loftily.
Then she turned on her heel and marched over to where a very young nursery maid
and Nanny Pearl both waited for her.

An hour later, Eric was indeed very
sorry for not having listened to Bliss. While his father repositioned the
humerus, the patient succumbed to a wave of nausea.

Russ vomited all over Eric, who stood nearby helping to steady
the patient during the process of resetting the bone. Eric barely registered
his father’s warning just as Russ rebuked his lunch and then passed out.

Dr. Benchley looked mildly exasperated as Eric jumped to
avoid the projected sickness. Then he told his son that a barber-surgeon never
reacted when administering treatment, even if it was unpleasant. Dr. Benchley
suggested for Eric to go to the housekeeper and ask for a room to wash up.

Mrs. Pressley was leading Eric up the stairs to the boys’
nursery to get a bath of his own when they encountered the newly clean Bliss
with a nursery maid ushering her toward the children’s sitting room carrying a
steaming teapot in one hand and a blanket in the other. Her still-damp hair was
underneath a mob cap, and her stocking-covered feet made no noise.

“Oh, Eric!” Bliss said with a sigh as he passed by.

“Don’t you dare tease me!” Eric whispered angrily, his face
cast down.

“I wasn’t going to. But you really ought to listen to me,”
Bliss remarked as the nursery maid nudged her onward and away from the soiled
boy. Eric merely shook his head.

Bliss, age ten, Cardiff, June 1800

At Penwood Manor Estate there was
plenty of abundance. Not only was Lord Oliver “Ollie” Penwood a most successful
shipping magnate with the largest privateering shipping export/import business,
he was a duke of the realm blessed with a wife and six children with another on
the way.

This might not seem like much, plenty of families within his
ancestry could boast more than six or seven offspring. But given the fact that
he and his beloved wife didn’t meet until she was well upon the shelf, they
were so prolific it was staggering.

Lord and Lady Penwood weren’t your average Duke and Duchess
either. Before marrying, Lady Luxury “Luxie” Donovan was the eldest daughter of
the Earl of Donovan, betrothed while still in her cradle to Lord Donovan’s best
friend’s only son, the future Count of Varenne.

On the other hand, Ollie was reared as a common sailor.
Placed in the care of a merchant ship’s captain at age six, he started out as a
cabin boy and worked his way up within the ranks until he became an officers’
cadet, his commission purchased by a generous benefactor or at least a wealthy
relative that couldn’t claim him. Ollie was believed to be the by-blow of a
sailor and an unfortunately married lady of noble birth.