Keep My Heart- Prologue

Keep My Heart- 26

"The essence of romance is uncertainty."-

Oscar Wilde

I'm terribly, terribly sorry for not having updated! My computer crashed and I was on the verge of madness. Anyway, here is your update!

On your way out, please remember to vote and comment. On my last chapter, I had quite a few reads. But, I had ONE (count it, ONE) comment. I had two votes. So if you've come this far and you're still reading, show this story some love and support it.

Thanks bunches!

First a cough, then a sputter, and then she sat up.

"Ow," she mumbled, and laid back down, bringing an uncertain, trembling hand to her brow. There was a low, roaring pain in her head, and from the bed Olivia saw smoke and heard the unfamiliar noise of water rushing forward into the cabin. It didn't exactly register in her brain; she felt like she had been shaken into oblivion.

She closed her eyes. She didn't know what had happened- and what was this feeling in her foot? It burned lowly, and ached and it felt very warm. However, she was too weak to investigate.

Suddenly there was a loud sound and someone was shouting. Who in the world was shouting at a time like this? Didn't they know that her head ached greatly, and did they know that it pounded frighteningly each time they spoke?

Someone was touching her. She opened her eyes, confused, dazed. It took a second for her vision to clear, for her husband's features to make themselves clear. For a long minute, she laid there, wordless, and then she remembered that she was angry with him. He touched her again, attempting with no avail to lift her. She batted his hands away and mumbled, "Go away."

But he persisted and it grew increasingly vexing.

"Let me alone," she grumbled, and closed her eyes, for this headache was not letting up.

"Olivia, we have to go."

"Why?" she heard herself whine, and then she added to make sense, "I don't want to leave...you're leaving me."

"Please try and cooperate darling," he said quietly.

"My head hurts."

His voice was softer now, but as the minute passed she sensed, with some concern, the growing urgency. "I know that your head hurts, my love. But you must put your arms 'round my neck, and hold tight. It appears we are in peril."

"Where is Peril?"

There was a prolonged silence.

"You shan't know unless you put your arms around my neck," he said, and slid his arms beneath her knees and her back. "Hold tight."

He moved slowly, as if wading through water. Her head hurt badly, and Olivia wasn't quite so angry with him any longer. In fact, she felt that she loved him far too much- and why had she been angry with him? The passed few minutes were of nothing; she dismissed it as nothing more than a silly argument.

My, she thought, how strong he feels! How could any woman be angry with him?

At her own foolish, school girl behavior, she giggled inanely into his chest and furrowed her brows at the loud noises and unwelcomed, imposing sunlight. "Blow the lamp out."

"Are you mad, man?" she heard a voice. "Get below!"

"We're flooded." She heard her husband's voice through his chest. "And she's hurt."

Who was hurt?

"Bloody hell!" Whoever said this must have been very angry...and no gentleman. No gentleman swore in the presence of a lady.

"What are we to do?"

There was a long explanation, something that included an American ship, and a war. Somewhere, Olivia remembered some discussion of war but she hardly recognized anything, nor did she comprehend. In her rattled little head, she was trying to figure out why she had such a monstrous ache, and why her foot hurt. And why Adam had been so adamant about getting to Peril.

BOOM! The rude sound seemed to throttle her brain. The only constant was the way her husband stood- she knew that the ground or whatever he was standing on shifted, but he did not stumble. Why had she been angry? It was difficult to remember.

"Adam," she moaned.

"Just a minute, darling." His voice resonated with business, as if he was waving her away as one waved a bothersome child away in the midst of a moderately adult conversation.

"Perhaps we shall be able to strike a deal." It was so hot and she just wanted to go to sleep...

"...raise the flag and go across..."

"....make a trade...."

Then it was quiet.

"Sweetheart, I need you to open your eyes."

"Too bright," she muttered. "My head."

"I know, but this is urgent. I need your attention." He touched her hair and she opened her eyes.

He smiled. "There are your pretty blue eyes. Do you think you can stand?"

"I can try."

He released her feet to the floor, curling a knowing arm around her waist. "Olivia, we have been attacked."

"Attacked?"

He ignored her query. "The ship is going down. I must get you to the ship that is firing on us."

Her brows came down. "Why."

"The ship is badly damaged. It sinks as we speak."

"What are we going to do about it?"

"What are we going to do about it?" he repeated. "We're going to get you to safety, Olivia."

"I don't understand," she murmured, and pulled her arms around his neck. She laid her head against his chest, feeling weak all at once, her head thundering awfully. "My head hurts."

"It seems you hit it pretty hard," he told her, and with one hand, tenderly pressing it closer to his chest to shield her eyes from the light. "Now I need you to listen."

She said nothing, but did as he asked and listened.

"I have to get you to the other ship. They will take you back-"

"What about you?" she murmured.

"Don't worry about me, sweetheart."

"But," she said, beginning to make more sense, "but you said this ship is sinking. What about you, Adam?"

"Swim far and keep floating."

"You're mad!" she cried. "I won't let you-"

"Oh," he interrupted, "you haven't a choice. Do as I say."

"I'm not a child." Her brows knitted themselves together, angry, hurt, afraid. "Can you pleae come with me? Please, darling, I'm begging you, come with me."

His face fell and he almost broke--alas, he swallowed and tendely placed his hands on either side of her still pounding head. "You must go, Olivia. There is no argument." He paused. "Hear me out, now. I'm asking you, and I'm begging you, go home, and wait for me. I can give you only the hope that I. will. come. home."