Lessons in Discovery (11 page)

Jonty’s mouth and eyes, felt his chest and back, blanched at the heat produced there. “He needs to be over in sick bay. He can

have his own room, we’re not seeing anything like the number of

cases we were before. My girls will look after him.”

“I’m coming too, Miss Peters. You can put a camp bed up

for me in his room or I’ll sleep in a chair, but I’ll be his nurse.”

Orlando was amazed at the unusual note of authority that had

crept into his voice. It was as if some quality deep in his soul, another product of the lost year, was making itself known.

The Master’s sister looked at Coppersmith with a

penetrating eye. It seemed as if she might argue, but that was an illusion. “As you wish. I dare say that if he’s caught this wretched disease then you’ll start showing the symptoms too and it would

be useful having the pair of you together.”

Orlando coloured and studied his shoes. He wasn’t sure he

liked her implication but there were more important things to deal with, one of whom was sitting very quietly on the settee looking as if he was about to expire.

“Come on, Jonty, we need to get you along to sick bay. I’ll

fetch your things later.”

Jonty didn’t seem to register that he was being spoken to and

Orlando could only get him into the next court with the aid of two porters and a stretcher. By the time they came to put him into a bed, the man’s clothes were drenched with sweat.

“Sorry to be a nuisance.” Jonty suddenly spoke then fell

silent, not uttering another sensible word for days.

Orlando gently peeled the clothes from his friend’s limp

frame, realising for the first time what a weight of muscle he

represented. The tie was easy of course, but the jacket and

waistcoat proved a severe trial, as did anything else with arms, www.lindenbayromance.com 75

Charlie Cochrane

like his shirt and vest. Orlando refused all offers of help from Miss Peters and her colleagues—no one but him would be

allowed to touch that particular body, except to prop it up so that Orlando could strip the shirt off.

It shocked him to see Jonty’s chest—it had such muscle

tone, such lovely lines. Orlando desperately wanted to trace the contours with his hands, feel the smooth skin, rustle the hairs. Just to see if it would help him to remember, just to find out how

happy it might make him feel. He had brought Jonty a pair of thin pyjamas but was reluctant to put the jacket on the patient just yet.

Miss Peters had said that Stewart needed to cool down and that

was a valid enough excuse to keep the skin bare and let Orlando’s eyes feast.

He tenderly took off Jonty’s shoes and socks, laying them

aside neatly, as he’d done with all the garments he’d removed. He knew that he was deliberately delaying the moment of truth but it had to come. He undid the belt of Jonty’s trousers and began to

work on the buttons.
Did I do this for pleasure?
The movement seemed to be familiar, bringing back echoes of past times.
Did he
do this for me?
The trousers were easier to remove than Orlando had feared and then he debated with himself about the underwear, which was silk, beautifully made, and must have cost a fortune. In the end he couldn’t face removing it yet and simply laid a sheet over his friend’s sweating torso and awaited instruction.

This he received in plenty over the next few days, both from

the official ruler of the sick bay and her erstwhile replacement, between whom a sort of truce had been proclaimed for the first

time in years. He learned how to cool down a fevered body, how

to make his friend take in at least a minimum of liquid even

though he was dreadfully unresponsive, how to administer the few potions that the doctor could provide to alleviate the symptoms of this awful disease.

76

www.lindenbayromance.com

Lessons in Discovery

There had been more squalid things to attend to, as well,

which had called for great objectivity on Orlando’s part. It had forced him to touch Jonty in intimate ways and the thought

wouldn’t go away that there must have been a lot of such contact between them in the past. Contact for more gratifying motives. It pained him that he’d still no recollection of what such things must have felt like.

His fondness for Stewart was growing immeasurably, to the

point that he couldn’t bear to be away from Jonty in his illness, only leaving the room for calls of nature and surreptitious visits to the porters’ lodge. He kept his sleep to the minimum that Miss

Peters, who tended him with almost as much care as he tended his friend, allowed him to get away with. He would rarely let anyone except the doctor touch Jonty and the thought of anyone else

dealing with his most intimate needs was untenable. He’d bathed, washed and wiped as if his friend was a helpless babe.

As he performed these acts of service, he’d realised that

Jonty didn’t just possess a beautiful face, he was beautiful all over. Even what Orlando’s mother had constantly referred to as

one’s “shameful parts” had proved to be attractive. It saddened

him to think that he’d had it drummed into his head for so long

that the body was a vile and wicked thing, the flesh something to be tamed and mortified if possible, the functions of reproduction dirty and shameful processes that should never even be alluded to.

Jonty naked was exquisite, like some marble effigy of a

Greek god, especially so in the pallor of his illness. Orlando

recalled some of the words of the wedding ceremony which he’d

once read in the prayer book while bored during a sermon. “With

my body I thee worship.” If it was written there in the chapel, in black and white, then it couldn’t be blasphemous for Orlando to

want to pay homage at the temple Jonty represented.

The possibility of anything happening to his friend filled him

with dread. This had to be more than a tentative romance, this had www.lindenbayromance.com 77

Charlie Cochrane

to be the beginning (or reawakening) of true love. He held Jonty’s hand as often as he could decently get away with, often lying in his own bed with arm outstretched so that he could maintain some degree of contact. And all the time he talked to his one-time lover, imploring him not to go where he couldn’t follow, promising

anything if he were only to regain consciousness and look into his eyes again. He even prayed, which was completely out of

character, beseeching God to spare the life of the only person who had, in his experience, truly loved him. And asking to remember

even just a minute of those—surely blessed—times.

A year ago, the possibility of a plagiaristic scoundrel getting

his contemptible paws on papers concerning The Woodville Ward

would have been as great a crisis as any Orlando could have

imagined. “College honour, academic rigour” had been the creed

he lived by, nothing more important to him than a beautiful thesis perfectly proved. Now, Owens could have all the coded letters,

tied up in tinsel with a bow on top, if he could only have his

friend well again.

The crisis came the third night that Jonty lay on the little bed that bound all Orlando’s hopes and fears. His fever seemed to

deepen and no amount of sponging could stop the sweating. Miss

Peters had sat with them until the wee small hours, bringing

drinks for both men, trying to coax the patient and his carer into taking at least a little water in.

“Tonight will see a resolution one way or another
,
” she’d said with an honesty and simplicity that Orlando appreciated. The odd occasion when she was out of the room had seen him take the

opportunity of grasping Jonty’s hand, of whispering urgent pleas in his ear. Once he’d just leaned over and kissed his brow,

demanding that he come back to him. On this occasion he hadn’t

let Jonty’s hand out of his grasp even when Miss Peters returned to the room.

78

www.lindenbayromance.com

Lessons in Discovery

As the bells of Bride’s chimed three o’clock, the fever broke

and subsided, leaving Jonty’s breathing clearer and easier than it had been these last few days. At last Orlando could be persuaded into his own bed for a well-earned rest.

Orlando still managed to be awake early enough to watch

Jonty regain consciousness. He felt a knot in the base of his

stomach as he realised that the first words would be, “Hello,

Orlando. Lovely to see you,” and was then proven correct.

The double joy of knowing that he still retained some

memory, deeply buried somewhere, of an incredible twelve

months and the fact that his special friend looked as if he might be making a recovery almost brought him to tears. But he was

determined that Jonty wouldn’t see him cry yet, and made do with ruffling the man’s hair, upbraiding him for having worried them

all so and saying that he would go and find a pot of tea.

They drank the brew in peace, the only interruption being

Miss Peters bearing buttered toast, a thermometer and a broad

grin. She was bold enough to pinch Jonty’s cheek, calling him a

silly goose, and offering Orlando a place on her team of amateur nurses.

After Jonty had eaten some toast, drunk some tea and

demanded more of both, he asked for a full rundown of the last

few days, posing question after question and barely sparing

Orlando’s blushes. “Bed bath, eh? That was a bit daring, even for you.”

“Will you ever stop that mouth of yours? Anyone could hear

you!”

“If I had a pound for every time you’ve used that expression

or similar I’d be as rich as Croesus. People could quite easily hear and take no notice whatsoever if it weren’t for the song and dance you make of things.”

www.lindenbayromance.com 79

Charlie Cochrane

“Jonty Stewart, I haven’t nursed you for three days just to

end up in a flaming row. If you won’t stop your mouth, I will.”

Orlando leaned over from where he sat on the bed and pressed his lips to Jonty’s.

It wasn’t as clumsy as his first attempt at a kiss had been,

back in January. In fact it was almost acceptable. Weak and

strange as Jonty felt, he couldn’t resist lying back, pulling

Orlando closer to kiss him passionately in return.

With apparent reluctance, Orlando broke the embrace and

pulled away. “Sorry, Jonty. Shouldn’t have done that here. I

should have waited. Couldn’t.”

“It doesn’t matter to me, Orlando, the sooner the better as far

as I’m concerned. You have no idea how much I’ve missed

kissing you.”

Orlando smiled, gently brushing his hand along Jonty’s arm.

“Think I must have missed kissing you as well. Is it always as

nice as this?”

Jonty laughed, regretting it straightaway when the activity

ended in a coughing fit, something that made Orlando fuss over

him like a mother hen. He got his breath back and flapped his

friend away. “I’m fine. Honestly.”

“You need to take care. I shouldn’t have been making you

frolic this early in your recovery.”

“Bit of frolicking is just what the doctor ordered, or if he

didn’t, he should have done. Can’t think of any better way to

improve my mental state.” He stopped, full of suspicion. “Have

you been here all the time?”

Orlando nodded, rather shamefacedly.

“Well that was daft of you. You could have caught this

yourself. I was laid out three days, you reckon? Nasty business.”

“It was, Jonty. Very nasty.” Orlando touched his friend’s

arm again. “May I ask you something?”

“But of course, anything.”

80

www.lindenbayromance.com

Lessons in Discovery

“You must have been the first person I ever kissed.”

“As I understand it, yes, or so you told me. There may have

been droves of them, I suppose, and you kept me in the dark.”

“Idiot. You can take it as read that you were. What I would

like to know, and I assume that you’ve told me before but it’s lost to me now, was I the first person you kissed?”

Jonty considered for a moment. He remembered what

wonderful consequences had occurred when he’d first discussed

his previous love with Orlando. They could hardly repeat them

here. “No, I’m afraid not, although it would have been quite nice to have been in the same boat. When I was first at Bride’s there was a boy called Richard Marsters. We were very close.” He

watched Orlando colour, begin to study his hands, but pressed on.

“He didn’t love me like you used to.” Jonty saw his friend’s face lift, look into his eyes. He had the distinct impression that the man was going to say something—
I still love you
, hopefully—but the scene was interrupted by Miss Peters, who had arrived to scoop

up the breakfast things.

“I think you could do with another bed bath, young man.”

She beamed at the fact that Jonty had managed so much to eat and drink and then positively smirked at his embarrassment. “Oh, it

won’t be
me
doing the bathing. I’ll leave that to your very able nurse here. I’ll just go and get some warm water.” The two young men were left with a distinct cloud of awkwardness hanging over

them.

“You don’t have to bath me, not if it would make things

embarrassing. I could submit to the iron fist of Miss Peters.”

“No! No, it’s all right. I can manage.” Orlando studied his

hands. “I’d like to. I didn’t mind at all looking after you.”

“I know that. You tended me in the aftermath of the first set

of murders and it was pretty gruesome at the end. I would very