Chapter 36-2

William stood immobile as he watched her turn and run, though if he had been asked by which he was made so unmoving, her kiss or her words, William would not have been able to answer. All thought had ceased the instant her lips had touched his with that glowing smile on her face. Her words lingered in his ear like some phantom echo repeating to the point that its original meaning had nearly gotten lost before he recalled it. "Baringer!" William shouted when thought and meaning finally returned to his being and he began to unbutton his tailcoat as he walked towards the stairs, a wickedly pleased grin spreading across his lips. The elderly butler hastily arriving a few short seconds before William had reached the second landing of the stairs. "You called Sir William?" Barginer asked with a breathy swallow. "Yes, I'm not to be disturbed for the rest of the day. Mayhap even all of tomorrow." William replied, as he marched up the stairs his hands now moving to loosen his cravat. By the time he had made it to the second floor William his tailcoat was off his cravat completely undone and Nan was standing in the hall holding Jamie as the boy held tightly to her crying against her stomach. Helplessly Nan looked to William at a loss for what was the matter with her boy as she mindlessly stroked the back of his head, giving wordless apologies to William that he abruptly waved off as he pulled his tailcoat back on and moved to her aid. "Jamie love, you need to tell me what's wrong." Nan coaxed once more, her heart breaking as she stared down his shaking form, feeling more than seeing or hearing his sobs as they fell from his quaking little body. "Come now lad, speaking up so we can help." William said as he kneeled down to Jamie's height. And was caught completely off guard when the boy turned from Nan only to latch onto William's neck. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for it to happen!” Jamie cried over and over. Alarm filling the features of both adults as they looked to one another for any idea what the boy spoke of. Awkwardly William wrapped his arms about the boy praying the action right since he knew of nothing else to do, as he tried to sway the child into giving more details than his tearful apologies. “Hush now lad. It’s all right. What didn’t you mean to happen?” William asked, but still no details came forth. "Jamie please," Nan pleaded as she knelt down behind him rubbing his back as he continued to hold onto William. "Tell me. I'll try to make it all right Love." "You can't." Jamie cried against William's shoulder. "He's dead." he barked out finally, causing Nan and William's eyes to meet instantly and fearing the worst with what little information he had offered thus far. "Who's dead lad?" William asked, "Tell me, please." William tried. "Willey!" Jamie cried out the name of his scruffy puppy. With a conjoined sigh of relief and a light touch of guilt for not feeling as bad as Jamie over the loss of his dog, they shared yet another mirrored look before wordlessly wondering what to do with the wailing child now. A thing Nan seemed to already have an answer for. "Oh my love. I'm so sorry." Nan stated, hugging Jamie and at the same time William as she pressed herself against the boy’s back. "What happened?" Nan asked as she carefully snaked her arms around Jamie's shoulders, pulling him back to sit in her lap as she slowly pulled him away from William's awkward hold. "I just gave him a sweet." Jamie replied, his tone so confused and sad that it broke Nan's heart to hear him so. "But then he started coughen' and...and the blood. There was so much blood Nan." Jamie cried turning in her lap as he held on to her and buried his face against her shoulder. "Blood?" Nan muttered, confused as to how a sweet could so easily and quickly kill his dog. She’d heard sweets could be bad for animal but this only if in great amounts or over a span of years. Surely one sweet would not have killed the dog. And certainly he would not have bled from it. "Jamie, where did you get the sweets?" Nan asked, for some reason already afraid of the answer to come. "Lady Horton." He replied. Those three words succeed in draining all the blood from Nan's face as they rang in her ears and she stared at the floor in front of her knees blindly. If she had seen William leave then, it was only registered in her mind as movement, the who and why of it mattered not at all to her. All she knew, all she heard was that Lady Horton had given Jamie sweets that had killed his dog. The prospect that such innocent treats were intended to do far worse to Jamie, filled her like molten steel burning where such thoughts gained strength with every reason they found for the woman to do such a thing. "Jamie this is very important. I need you to tell me, what did you do with the sweets? Did you eat any of them?" she asked, her eyes finally looking to her dear child when he pulled his sniffling face from her shoulder. "No," he shook his head as he wiped at his red little nose. "Willey got the first. When he stated coughen' and I saw the blood. I threw the rest away." He informed her, the information invoking a heavily relieved sigh as she hugged him tighter to her chest. "Oh thank God." she breathed, cradling her boy to her as tight as she could manage. "Thank you God." --- It was pitch black by the time William returned to Stonebrook and found Nan sitting in her workroom staring hard at a small round chocolate sitting innocently in the middle of her table. Without a word William entered the small room shutting the door quietly behind him and waited, uncertain what he should do or say now.  The moment he'd heard Sophia had had a hand in the dog's death he flown from the house to the stables and then to town. Only to find Sophia had switched to private coach once there, so following after her blindly was not an option he could take, though he’d already given Hoss his instructions to find his petty wife. "Do you know that is?" Nan asked nodding to the small treat. Her tone even, her expression tired as she stared at the sweet.