Page 15 of The Red Woman on Mars

“It matters to them.”

Felicia nodded. “Don’t let her miss a day, Viv. She wouldn’t want to be behind.”

“Fine.” Vivian added the two bags to her duffel and rushed across the grounds to catch up with the stretcher.

Delilah gave a small moan and blinked open her eyes. Vivian grabbed her hand. “I’m here. Caspian is taking you to his hospital.”

“Caspian?” Delilah struggled to sit up. “Vivian, no! I don’t want him to see me like this.”

Hearing her, Caspian raised a hand. The stretcher paused. He knelt in the ground cover and ran a thumb over Delilah’s cheek. “Let me take care of you, Miss Bowen. Please.”

A single tear dribbled out of the corner of Delilah’s eye. “I wanted to be beautiful for you.”

“You’ve never been more lovely.” He nodded to the men, and they continued moving. Caspian stood, brushing dirt and thyme leaves from his trouser knees.

“Is that what you’re looking for?” Vivian asked. “The most beautiful girl you’ve ever beheld? Isn’t that what you told Xavier Dorsey at the luncheon?”

“I didn’t realize my private conversation was overheard,” Caspian said, a bit stiffly.

“She’s more than that, you know.”

“More than what?” Caspian began walking again, and Vivian hurried to keep pace with his long strides.

“Blond curls, long lashes, and eyes the color of a Martian sunset.”

“I can see that, Miss Bowen. That is why I wish to know her better.”

At the open gates of the compound, a small vehicle waited, flashing red and blue emergency lights. Delilah’s stretcher was already loaded into the back, and Vivian and Caspian squeezed beside her. Vivian was close enough to him to notice that his trouser knees were stained with green, and she liked him better for it.

Pedestrians and the few groundcars scattered out of the way of the ambulance as it sped through the streets. In a matter of minutes, the car approached towering wrought iron gates that swung open at their arrival. They drove past a stately house with wide decorative columns perched on a sloping rocky hill and came to a sprawling utilitarian building topped with a red cross.

The doors to the back of the vehicle opened. Two intent medics lowered Delilah and her stretcher to the ground. Vivian exited the vehicle and watched the medics wheel Delilah through a set of double doors labeledHospital Staff Only.

Vivian wanted to run after them and keep Delilah in sight. But instead, she stood, helpless and adrift, in front of the doors. Mars was supposed to be their new beginning, and now less than a week after arriving, her sister was already worse off than before they’d left.

“Miss Bowen?”

Vivian looked up into Caspian’s grave eyes. She’d forgotten he was there.

“They’ll do all they can for your sister. I pledge my word. Please, will you accept the hospitality of my home while we wait?”

Vivian cast one last look at the double doors and nodded reluctantly.

CHAPTER SIX

55 Sols to Presentation Day

Xavier Dorsey was there.

Vivian drew up short in the wide parlor of the Hayes Estate. The sun shone through the arched windows into an elegant, if oversized, sitting room with two opposing periwinkle sofas and a lush, patterned rug. Xavier glanced at Vivian indifferently before returning to his reader. Next to him on the sofa sat Caspian’s sister Ivey, who immediately sprang to her feet.

“How is dear Delilah?” Ivey inquired.

“Too soon to tell.” Caspian took a seat in a stiff-backed chair of faux wood next to the sofas. “I expect the doctors will need some time before they make a report to me. I’ve invited Miss Bowen to join us while we await news.”

Xavier made a low noise that might have been a scoff, but no one else seemed to hear.

“We’re happy to have you, Vivian,” Ivey said. “May I call you Vivian?”