Chapter 4
August, 1871Teddy
The tightness in Teddy’s throat made it difficult to breathe. Her eyes burned but remained focused on the misshapen cracks in the street. She slowed her steps, causing a hurried passersby to swerve and curse.
The weight of Teddy’s legs matched the heaviness in her heart. She worked to remain upright while climbing the boarding house stairs. The railing assisted in her labored ascent.
Smells of bacon, eggs, and something sweet assaulted Teddy’s senses, and she moved more quickly up the interior staircase and into the lavatory. Her gut roiled, and she lost the remaining contents of last evening’s meal into the porcelain bowl.
Splashing water on her face, Teddy allowed the droplets to meld with the tears streaming from her red-rimmed eyes. The mottled mirror added to the distressed look of the image peering back at her.
Teddy clenched her teeth to keep her quivering jaw from opening. Her heart leaped at a knock at a door nearby.
“Ready, Thomas?”
Teddy slowed her breathing at the familiar whine of Mr. Ferret’s voice and the creak of a door in the hallway.
“Thank you, Reggie. I’m excited about our adventure today. Let me grab my jacket.”
Thomas’s voice was smooth and friendly and helped steady Teddy’s nerves.
“I have our day mapped out,” Mr. Ferret said. “We’ll be back in plenty of time for the evening meal.”
Teddy could practically see the movement in Mr. Ferret’s body from the excitement in his voice. She eased her back against the wall and thought she heard a tinge of laughter in Thomas’s reply.
“A good plan is always prudent.”
She closed her eyes at the click of the door, thankful neither man had mentioned needing the facilities before leaving. Their two sets of footsteps grew quieter, but she remained behind the closed door for a few more moments.
Peeking out, she tiptoed to her room, then threw herself on the bed and let the tears flow freely.
Teddy struggled to catch her breath. She rubbed at her throat, desperate to relieve the tension. Her damp skin caused her to shiver even though the still air of the room remained warm.
Standing, she shook her hands as if to let go of the last remnants of what she wished was a dream, then wrapped her hands around her shaking body.
It wasn’t a dream. Dr. Whitaker had moved beyond his flirtatious words and touched her. She squeezed harder, wanting to remove the feeling of his hand on her waist where it had trailed down her backside.
Why didn’t she wear a corset like every other respectable female? She was respectable, wasn’t she? She might not be of the upper or even middle class, but she was a good girl. There had been no acceptance of his verbal advances. Right?
Teddy paced the small space, replaying every seemingly harmless comment from Dr. Whitaker and some outright lewd ones. Not once had she batted an eyelash or let a smile cross her lips. She had given the head physician no encouragement. After the initial shock, she’d ignored the remarks and remained stoic, earning her a few names she did not appreciate.
Surely, she had not aided the behavior.
She needed her nursing job. If she changed shifts, she would not receive the few extra cents of pay for working the late-night hours. A different shift would also make it impossible to keep her second job at Les Madeleines.
Teddy swayed and grabbed the desk chair. She would have to avoid him. Perhaps another floor in the hospital had openings.
“How unfair.” Teddy balled her fists and pushed them into her hips. “I love my patients and am good at what I do. Why should I have to change? He’s the one making unwanted advances.”
Teddy sank onto her bed. The deep breath was welcome, but it cemented what she already knew. Teddy had no recourse. Dr. Whitaker was an esteemed physician and prominent man in the community. Most nurses would swoon at his advances.
Teddy’s gaze shot up to the window as if it would provide clarity. Were there other women being subjected to what she was experiencing? The previous ten hours played in her mind. She pulled her lips in and flopped back on the mattress. She would pay closer attention.
But first, she needed sleep. “Lord, please. Let me sleep.”
The hall clock’s chime carried up the stairs. Was it time to get up already? Teddy wiped at her crusty eyes. She needed to hurry so she’d have time to put something in her empty stomach. Teddy removed her wrinkled deep blue nurse’s uniform and hung it, hoping it would be wearable by the evening. A hairpin that had pushed into the nape of her neck from her cap begged to be released. She removed each pin and brushed the waves of her hair; the motion calmed her nerves.
“Lord, I didn’t get my Bible time in yesterday or today. Forgive me. Help me know what to do about . . .” Not wanting to speak her offender’s name aloud, Teddy placed several hair pins in her mouth. God knew, even if she didn’t utter a sound.
She twirled her unruly locks, trying to capture each wayward strand, then secured the mass at the back of her head. It wasn’t the latest fashion, but if she wanted time to eat before work, she had to make it the priority out of her choices. A simple updo would have to suffice.
Teddy didn’t enjoy seeing the puffy eyes looking back at her in the small room mirror. She rubbed whipped beeswax over the dark circles, then added some to her dry lips. Coffee. That would at least give her the energy to make it through the next hours.
The stairs creaked under her weight as she descended. She willed herself to forget the ordeal she’d been through.
“Hi, there, Doc.”
Teddy’s hand flew to her chest. “Oh, David, you scared the living daylights out of me. And you know I’m not a doctor.” She lowered her hand and winked at the boy.
“I know, Miss Teddy, but it suits you. Are you headed to that uppity lunch place?”
Teddy loved this boy’s forthrightness. “That I am, but I was hoping to have a cup of coffee and maybe a biscuit before I left.”
“Come on. Cook said one loaf of bread fell. She was going to feed it to the chickens, but I snagged it.”
Teddy wasn’t sure if he meant it had fallen on the floor or hadn’t risen well, but his conspiratorial tone and movement toward the kitchen on tiptoes had her following.
David reached under the table, pulled out a basket, and produced a loaf that looked as if someone had put a finger into the center before placing it in the oven. The red tip of David’s nose made her wonder if it had been him.
“You can have it. I got extra eggs this morning,” he said.
“Thank you.” Teddy sat and sliced the bread, then slathered room temperature butter over the soft center.
David placed a mug of coffee in front of her.
“You didn’t have to do that. Thank you.” She slid the remainder of the loaf in his direction.
“I know, but I figured you’ll be serving all day. Might be right nice if somebody did it for you.” The tips of his ears matched his nose.
“That is very thoughtful.” David consistently surprised her. The boy was of school age but worked all hours at the boarding house. She watched the muscles in his arms flex as he carried in the wood for the stove, then he swept the mess he’d made out the door and off the porch. He’d had good training.
Teddy leaned back in the chair even though it wouldn’t do to be caught in the kitchen. Her fingers rubbed at her temples, and she felt a curl loosen.
“You okay, Miss Teddy?” Worry twisted David’s naturally congenial expression.
“Thank you for your concern, but I’m just tired.” Teddy forced a smile.
“Yeah, your eyes are all puffy. Mrs. Jones gets those dark circles. She uses powder to cover them up, but it don’t do no good.”
Teddy had never considered the life of their boarding house owner. Besides the evening meal, the woman did most of the cleaning. Maybe Teddy should approach her about working here to ease some of the woman’s load, though Teddy doubted the matron could match her fifty cents a day at Les Madeleines.
The door off the kitchen opened, and the disheveled hair of Cook appeared. “Thought I heard voices. Just taking a beauty rest. Been up since before dawn.”
David opened his mouth to say something Teddy knew would not be appropriate, so she said, “David was being quite the gentleman this morning and served me bread and coffee.”
Cook smiled like a proud mother and winked at the boy. Teddy watched as David’s cheeks took on a new hue.
The woman turned her way. “You’re looking a little peaked, dear. Did you not sleep well?”
Teddy’s chair scraped the floor. She didn’t want to talk about it. She put on a practiced smile. “I slept, just didn’t get the same beauty rest as you.” David’s brows furrowed, and Teddy nearly laughed.
“It’s you that needs checking on. How is your thumb?” Teddy held out her hand, but Cook flicked it away.
“Nonsense. I’m keeping it clean.” She lifted the soiled bandage.
“So I see. Let me just take a peek. You’ll be doing me a favor; otherwise, I’ll worry all through my shift.”
Cook narrowed her eyes and didn’t look like she believed Teddy, but she obediently sat on the long bench and offered her injured thumb. Teddy unwrapped it, applied a salve mixed with comfrey around the edges to keep the area soft, and replaced the bandage with one from her pocket.
Cook put her other hand out. “Good as new. Now, give me that soiled bandage, and I’ll wash—I’ll have David wash it up.”
“Thank you for breakfast, David. I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I’ve got to run. You two have a marvelous day.” Teddy took one more swig of coffee, then made an uncharacteristic move and gave Cook a quick hug. She turned to David, but his eyes went wide, and he scooted out the door.
Cook wiped at the corner of her eye with the hem of her apron. “Well, isn’t that a delightful gift? Thank you, dear.”
Teddy could only nod. Her feet felt lighter as she walked across the foyer and into the humid air of the August afternoon.
Silver tinkled against the signature pattern of Les Madeleines china. Teddy watched as napkins raised and lowered as if dancing, while the ladies patted at their pursed lips and non-existent crumbs. The stuffed, straight-backed chairs were no match for the spines of the young women sitting in them.
Teddy stood against the wall and watched every movement, anticipating any need. She refilled water glasses, replaced pots of tepid tea with hot ones, and kept the crumbs at bay. Emmaline Whitaker, whose neatly coiffed blond hair should still be in long, cascading curls, was the leader of this clutch of women, even at sixteen.
The small, almost indistinguishable movements of Emmaline’s eyebrows and lips gave away the girl’s true feelings on whatever the others were discussing. Her father had mastered showing manufactured emotions and covering up real ones. Teddy watched in amazement as Emmaline’s fingers, so like her fathers, tapped once on the tablecloth. She’d witnessed Dr. Whitaker do the same. It was an indicator many new nurses missed before receiving the wrath of the physician.
Teddy’s nose itched, but she did not twitch as Miss Whitaker’s pert one wrinkled when the dark-haired debutante to her right took a larger-than-appropriate bite of a flaky pastry. The girl’s hands looked boorish compared to Emmaline’s slender fingers, which moved to her lap and tapped twice on her napkin.
Teddy’s tall frame often commanded respect when in her nursing uniform, but the piercing blue-eyed stare of Miss In Charge was all it took for the underling to put her fork down and swallow the bite with difficulty.
Teddy had been on the receiving end of such a look from similar but more masculine eyes. An involuntary shiver moved through Teddy’s body. She scrunched up her toes, then spread them as wide as they would go in her clunky shoes.
Quiet settled over the group as if Emmaline had conjured it. A practiced smile showed a hint of straight teeth without causing early wrinkles to form in the girl’s flawless skin.
The only piece of Emmaline Whitaker that didn’t match her frame was the volume of her champagne voice. It was light and bubbly when it should have been soft, yet everyone within three tables knew what she was saying. Exactly as the girl desired.
“My father, the Doctor William T. Whitaker the third, has taken on a new group of students.”
Whether or not they’d finished with their meal, the girls set down their forks and listened with rapt attention. Teddy waited for each girl to nod before removing their plates and sweeping the tablecloth clean.
“Daddy says I may have first pick this year.” Emmaline ran her slim fingers over the chain at her neck and pressed the locket to her creamy skin. “I suppose I’ll be the first of our little circle to marry.”
It took all of Teddy’s willpower not to roll her eyes at the girl’s light sigh.
A mousy girl with sleeves big enough to clothe another human leaned in from Emmaline’s left. “Have you considered what you will wear when you meet them?”
Emmaline flicked her wrist. Teddy steadied the teapot, then continued pouring into each cup around the table. She watched as Emmaline drew the attention of each girl as they anticipated her answer.
“After my coming out, Mother ordered a new fall wardrobe. Madame Molloy measured me last week.” Emmaline looked over the rim of her cup at the responses of the others until the first dropped her gaze, then she set her cup on her saucer without a sound.
A girl in a frock made of something between drapery and furnishing fabric kept her head down. Teddy felt for the girl. The sign of weakness would fuel the cruel side of Emmaline.
“Opal, dear. We all know your family’s assets in South Carolina suffered in the war. No one will hold it against you if you have to wear the same things you have for years.”
Teddy breathed out slowly. The others at the table did not catch the slight, but they also didn’t notice the napkin balled up in Opal’s fist in her lap. Each girl gave a nod of agreement or a look of pity to support their leader, but Opal kept her head down, seeing none of it.
“What you are wearing now is at least the right color. All the ladies’ magazines say rich, dark colors are en vogue this fall. Though the fabrics will be more plush. I’ve chosen an emerald satin brocade, a crimson velvet, and an embossed blue as deep as a stormy sea. Mother said I had to have it, no matter the price, when she saw how it accentuated my eyes.”
Teddy refilled tea and brought a plate of petit fours, doing her best to ignore the discussion of the three-dimensional effects of bodices, bare shoulders, and ridiculous adornments on hats.
A stately woman approached the table, and Teddy moved farther into the wall.
“Good afternoon, ladies. What a delight to see the next generation keeping the traditions of our station.”
Emmaline stood and offered her hand to the woman. “Aunt Pauline. I didn’t realize you were in town. When did you arrive? Father will be pleased to see you.”
“I doubt that, but thank you for your kindness. I arrived just this morning.”
“You’ll stay with us, won’t you?” The little girl in Emmaline peeked out from beneath the polished exterior.
“Not this time. I’m staying with . . . a friend.”
These girls were too na?ve to catch the pause. Teddy smiled at the thought of a skeleton in the Whitaker family closet.