As soon as Meg was awake, Nick left Tess in her care and helped his dad and Terry move the horses to Kilarney stables. Wilgul didn't have enough room and, at Kilarney, someone could still carry through with the contracts, no one would lose anything else. Nick had his doubts about moving them the day after the fire and Claire lost the baby, but acknowledged the fact that Claire probably wouldn't be able to domuch and that Alex probably would want to be with her and Charlotte.
Alex was still in the chair outside Claire's room when the doctor arrived again. The glimpse of Claire that Alex got when the door opened terrified him. She was pale, still, and, for the first time, seemed almost fragile.
When Nick came back, he took Charlotte downstairs to feed her breakfast so that Tess could be upstairs to hear what the doctor said. She stood by Alex as the door opened, giving her the same view that Alex had earlier, and closed.
"I gave her something that will help her sleep. She needs rest, to eat, take her for a walk, some form of exercise, make things as normal as possible for her. There's still some damage, but she'll heal and she can have more children."
Alex went inside the room, not knowing how to say, like he'd felt when Jack died, unable to do anything to help his best friend. She was asleep and he brushed brown hair from her face, touching her cheek softly. They were both good at visiting sick neighbors, going to funerals, but when it came to actually sitting in a room, trying to say something, they were both at a loss. When Peter had broken her heart, he could do something, talk her through it, help her move on with their horse program, almost beat Peter up, but there was nothing he could do here. He didn't know how to help. Suddenly he stood, needing to get out of there, unable and unwilling to think of Claire like that for a minute longer.Tess watched him go and then sat beside her sister, throwing the pills away as she had when Claire'd been given them after Peter, then holding Claire's hand, staying with her.
Meg and Nick looked up when Alex came back downstairs. "How is she?" Meg asked.
"Asleep." He looked at Nick. "Where are the horses?"
"Dad, Terry, and I moved the horses to Kilarney." He looked at his brother, recognizing the look on his face. "No. No way. Claire needs you. We'll handle it; you need to stay here and take care of the girls."
"Tess is with her." He walked out.
"I'll take some breakfast up to Tess," Meg said, putting some toast on a tray.
"I'll do it."Nick kissed Charlotte's soft hair, handing her over to Meg,and went upstairs to his girlfriend.
Tess came out, not hungry. She'd been thinking about her parents again, how her mother had loved Jack so much thatshe'd tried to kill herself, how Claire had been hurt so badly by Peter, noweveryone was grieving over this baby. Loving anyone, husband orchild, just didn't seem worth it."I think we should stop seeing each other," she told Nick quietly.
"Tess, we can't stop seeing each other; Wilgul's right..." He looked at her. "Oh. Tess, just because..."
"I don't want it." She went back to her sister and he went downstairs.