Chapter Thirteen
Kinnelow was nothing short of heaven. How Winnifred had missed it during the four years she’d been in Dublin. She’d not been back even once, fearing she’d never convince herself to return to the city. Here, she was loved and welcomed and valued. Here, she was herself.
She’d been back in her home village for nearly a month and had already put her education to good use.
She had a little house just off the market cross.
The village had set it up for her. When she’d arrived, it already had furnishings and was ready for her to move in.
The village hadn’t known what she would need to do her doctoring, but they’d done their best. She had made a trip to Bray a week after arriving and obtained the rest of the things she was in need of.
Now she had her own place to live and was building a new life.
The people of the village had kept Winnie busy the past few weeks.
They didn’t bother attempting to affix “doctor” to her name in any way.
They knew she had the skills she needed.
They knew she had the ability to treat them.
But she was still Winnie, their friend and neighbor, the brave and determined orphan who had taken such a monumental risk for their sakes.
The Crimean War was over; all the young men who were going to return from that conflict had.
The number was two. Only two. The future of Kinnelow was a little uncertain with so few young men there and so many villagers having been lost in such a short amount of time.
But there was hope that others would come.
They had already had a couple of families arrive to settle on farms that had been left empty.
And those families, despite not having known Winnifred growing up, had come to trust her very quickly upon her return from Dublin.
In this little corner of Ireland, she was afforded something she could not have found anywhere else: the chance, as a woman, to be a doctor.
She was happy, content, fulfilled. But there was part of her that felt a stab of regret.
Her mind, of its own accord, often wandered back to Liam and their strolls through Dublin, their pleasant conversations, their shared interests.
She often thought about how easy it would’ve been for him to reveal her secret and earn himself an extra degree of approval from two very important men.
But he hadn’t. He was a deeply good and compassionate person.
It could take a lifetime to discover that about someone.
She felt she had been given a glimpse at the person he truly was, and it had only added to her admiration of him.
Her heart didn’t feel whole. She wasn’t sure it ever would. But on that last afternoon in Dublin, when she’d hoped he would express some interest in trying to build something together, or at least speak of some regret at being separated, he hadn’t. Not truly.
For a month now, she had attempted to pull her head out of the clouds and plant her feet on the ground. For the most part, she had succeeded. But now and then, the longings of her fickle heart caught up to her.
“Keep your arm in the sling,” she told Mrs. Devon, “and you’ll be feeling right as rain soon enough.”
The woman nodded, taking her medical advice as seriously as everyone else in the town did. They trusted her with their well-being, and that meant a lot.
“’Twould be a fine thing if we had a parcel of young men move to the village,” Mrs. Devon said. “You and the other young girls are facing slim pickings, you are.”
“’Twould take an odd sort of young man to overlook the strangeness of a woman doctor. I’m not certain we’d find one.”
“Oh, there must be one somewhere,” Mrs. Devon said.
There was. In Dublin. But that felt worlds away.
Mrs. Devon slipped out and went on her way.
Winnifred put away the items she had pulled out for the visit, knowing there would be another soon enough.
Kinnelow wasn’t a large village, but she found she was needed more than she would’ve anticipated.
Many of these good people had left off seeing to their ailments for years, waiting for someone to arrive who knew how to help them.
She heard the door open and footsteps approach. Another patient already.
“I’ll be with you straight off,” she called as she set out her medical tools.
“I’m in no hurry.” She knew that deep, rumbling voice with a heavy hint of the city and the tiniest remnants of a country upbringing.
Slowly, she turned around, trying not to get her hopes up, but all the while praying it really was Liam.
He smiled when their eyes met, and her heart jumped to her throat.
“Liam, what is it you’re doing here?”
“I heard Kinnelow had a new doctor. I wanted to come see for myself.”
“You’re a far piece from Dublin,” she said.
He nodded. “I am.”
“Are you meaning to stay long?”
He tucked his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “That, I don’t know yet.”
She motioned for him to sit. She sat as well. For a moment, nothing was said. It was every bit as awkward as the day he’d arrived at her flat as she was packing to leave the city.
“How have you been, Winnie?” he asked after a time.
“Well. The village welcomed me back warmly. I’ve this house and enough patients to keep me busy and give me an income. I get to be m’self again,” she said, motioning to her dress. “I particularly appreciate that part.”
“I didn’t dislike Fred,” Liam said, “but I can’t honestly say that I would rather see him here than you.”
She smiled. “I, for one, don’t miss him.”
Again, an uncomfortable silence settled between them. Winnifred felt like she had a million things to say to him, and yet no words came at all. He didn’t seem at all sure what to say either. But she could take the same approach he had a moment earlier.
“How have you been since last we met?” she asked.
“Well,” he said, echoing her same answer. “I have found a job.”
“I didn’t doubt for a moment you would. Especially with the recommendation of the provost to speed you along.”
He nodded, but there was hesitation in the gesture. “Rev. MacDonnell’s support did proffer me several very prestigious internship offerings in Dublin.”
“That is a fine dilemma to have,” she said. “How did you eventually choose one?”
“I accepted none of their offers,” he said. “Instead, I found a much more humble position in a place where I am far more needed.”
“And where is that?”
Liam’s eyes held hers, his gaze intent and communicative. “I am living and working in Bray.”
Bray? “That’s only a couple hours’ drive from here.”
“Which was a great deal of its appeal.”
Winnifred didn’t know what to say. He had found a job, one without the accolades and opportunities of Dublin, and had chosen it specifically for its proximity to Kinnelow. Dare she hope he was saying what she thought he was?
He rose and moved to her chair, sitting on the ottoman at her feet.
“I could not clear my mind of you, Winnie. Every time I passed the shops you and I visited or walked down a street you and I traversed, I thought of you. Again and again, my heart asked, ‘What of Winnie? What if she were here? What if you were there?’ It happened so often and so powerfully, I could no longer ignore it.”
“You missed me?” Her voice was quiet, a little broken with emotion.
“More than I could’ve imagined,” he said. “Dare I hope that you missed me?”
She slipped her hands around his. “More than I could’ve imagined.”
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “You have no idea how pleased I am to hear that.” His voice held a hint of relieved laughter.
“But will you be miserable at this job in Bray? ’Tisn’t what you were hoping for.”
He kept their hands entwined. Speaking as easily with her as he once had, he said, “The work is very interesting. There’s a great deal that needs to be done. Bray is growing. Men with my skills are needed there. That part of it is exciting.”
“And you’re near enough to Kinnelow that we might see each other now and then.”
Again, he kissed her hand. “And that part is crucial.”
Liam stood, and pulled her to his feet as he did.
He set his arms around her, but kept enough of a distance between them to look her in the eye as he spoke.
“We have not known each other long, and I’m not asking for you to take so enormous a leap of faith.
But I would very much like the opportunity to come to know you better.
And if the tenderness that has started between us leads to something more, I want to be near enough that we don’t have to give that up. ”
With every word, he was giving Winnifred hope. But she worried that hope was hollow.
“I cannot leave Kinnelow,” she said. “Not only would I not be permitted to practice medicine as myself anywhere else, but also the people of this village paid for my education. Remaining here and serving them is how I am meant to repay that.”
Liam pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I know it. And should we decide that building a future together is what we both want, then we will sort that part, I’m certain of it.”
“Is the bridge designer suggesting we ‘cross that bridge when we come to it’?”
He grinned. “I suppose I am.”
“I like that idea,” she said. “Very much, indeed.”
His expression turned mischievous, and even a little wicked. “Then I suspect you are also going to thoroughly enjoy my next idea.”
He kissed her. A warmth she hadn’t known but had somehow been longing for filled every inch of her. Her arms wrapped around him, his around her. Their kiss was one of affection, budding love, of promise, and hope. Hope that served as a bridge between a lonely past and a bright future.