Chapter 9
Diane was glad it was March. Somehow the beginning of spring always seemed to bring a new air and a new fervor with it.
She liked that. With the warmer air came a drastic reduction in the number of sick in the town.
It was as though the sun dried up their illness as it dried up the ground, melting the snow and ice and warming the world.
The air took on the unmistakable smell of new things growing. The tension that had been creeping the inhabitants of Unity’s shoulders up to their ears began to ease, and the dire state of emergency ended. The month brought fresh life and hope to the town.
Diane still had a lot of work to do, especially since she was training Sarah. Diane had her arranging the bottles of tinctures and salves on the shelves in what had been a storeroom. The young woman was doing an acceptable job reciting the information that Diane had given her to study.
“… and St. John’s Wort is for bruises … right?” Sarah asked as she put a bottle of it down on a shelf.
Diane shook her head. “That’s mugwort or comfrey. Both can be used in a salve and rubbed onto the skin. St. John’s Wort is for a depressive mood.”
“Oh, of course. I got confused because they both have wort in their name,” Sarah said, frowning. “Remembering all of this is hard.”
“When I was studying, I used to tell myself that St. John was a very unhappy man and needed the tincture to make him happy. That’s an easy way to keep it straight in your head.”
Sarah chuckled. “That’s clever. I’ll be sure to remember that now.” She took out a little notebook and made a note. She was certainly enthusiastic and studious.
Diane turned her attention to the next row of bottles she had brought from next door. There was a row missing. “Mmm, do you have the slippery elm?”
Sarah checked in her crate and shook her head. “I have milk thistle.”
“I wonder what happened to the slippery elm then,” Diane said, a little annoyed. “I must have left it behind. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Diane left her new office, headed out of her front door, down the steps, turned right, and went up the steps to the apothecary. There was no line of waiting patients. There were a couple in the waiting area, but after the whole town had spent weeks there, this felt like there was no one.
She went up to the counter and in through the door to the back. Where had she left the slippery elm? It was a wonderful tonic for the stomach and worked on the liver too in a general way. She swore by it for heartburn, upset stomachs, and all kinds of digestive issues.
“Did you forget something?” Antoinette asked when she spotted Diane.
“Yes, but I’m sure it’s around here somewhere.”
“I’ll come and help you in a minute,” Antoinette said. “I have to just finish up with the Lawsons.”
Diane went to the back room to see if she had taken the box there and perhaps left it. There was nothing there. She found the box on the counter pushed up into a corner behind some papers. “Ah, there it is!”
With her box of clinking glass bottles under her arm, Diane set off.
“Tell your beau that we need a door connecting the offices,” Antoinette said as Diane headed for the front door. “That would make things so much easier.”
“Very true,” Diane said. “I’ll speak to Ethan.” Hearing someone refer to Ethan as her beau had given her a moment’s pause.
My beau. My goodness, I guess that’s what he is. But I never thought of it like that. He’s just been Ethan. My Ethan … That’s been clear from the start, but … my beau. That has implications, doesn’t it?
Puzzling it out, she almost walked into two men standing on the sidewalk outside the clinic. One was Andrew. He was fully recovered from the flu, but from the look on his face, there was now something else wrong.
The other man was Mr. Rossi. His cheeks were red, and he was mid-sentence when Diane realized they were in her way and turned abruptly with the box in her arms to avoid a collision.
“We are terribly behind in production,” Mr. Rossi said. “Shutting the mine down like you did has consequences. We now have to push extra hard to achieve the goals Mr. MacGregor and Mr. Bernini have set. It’s that simple, Andrew.”
“It’s not that simple, Mr. Rossi,” Andrew protested, shaking his head vehemently. “These are people you’re talking about, not some magical figures in a ledger. They have lives and families. They need rest. I can’t push them any harder than they are pushing already.”
“There is always room for more,” Mr. Rossi said flatly. “Your copper mine is underperforming, and if you don’t manage to increase the yield, there will be cuts. Your funding will disappear. No one likes to back a venture that may not live up to expectation.”
“What are you trying to say?” Andrew asked, getting more and more upset as he spoke.
“I’m saying that this mine currently belongs to …”
Diane decided not to listen to their argument any longer. Even so, their words followed her up the steps into her office.
She found Sarah where she had left her, hunkered down and sorting bottles. Looking up as Diane entered, she smiled. “I think I’m getting better at this. Sage is for womanly problems, right?”
“Very good,” Diane said and smiled.
Sarah smiled. “You know, I didn’t think I would ever have an opportunity like this. Charlie raising his hand to me in the dining car of the train was the best thing to ever happen to me.”
“Well, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining,” Diane said, meaning it as she joined Sarah.
“I wonder what happened to Charlie,” Sarah said, looking thoughtful.
Diane considered her for a moment before asking, “And what would you do with that information?”
Sarah shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe write him a letter telling him how well I’m doing.”
“That may be unwise,” Diane said. “Men like Charlie, they’re never going to pat you on the back and say well done. If he knows where you are, he could always come after you, looking for trouble. I think it’s best if you forget about him.”
“That’s a lot to think about,” Sarah said, biting her bottom lip.
“I suppose I never really thought about what he would do. I’m so happy that I want to rub his nose in it just a little.
” Her expression became vindictive. “You know, I want to make him realize that I’m a person too and that I’m good at things. ”
Diane smiled and, turning to Sarah, took the young woman’s hands in hers and held them.
“Sarah, you’re letting Charlie control you from far away.
He’s making you think that you need to prove something to him.
That’s ridiculous. You’re a smart, capable, independent young woman, and you don’t need him or anyone like him.
No one should be able to tell you who you are or what you’re worth. That’s up to you to decide. Okay?”
There was a sheen in Sarah’s eyes, a glint of happy tears shining. Moving quickly, Sarah caught Diane off guard, threw her arms around her, and hugged her. After a moment, Diane hugged her back.
“Thanks for everything,” Sarah said. “I never had folks who believed in me before. This is really nice.”
Diane held her for a moment. Sometimes all a person needed was a little faith and a hug. It was good medicine, and it often healed an injured spirit.
They finished packing the bottles away, and Diane went into her examination room to make sure that everything was in order. The next morning, she would be taking the early shift, and that meant she needed to get things ready before heading home.
Ethan had sent her a message, asking her to dinner that night at Anita and Kevin’s restaurant. Diane liked the sound of that. It would be so much fun to go out on what he was calling a proper dinner date.
She was excited. What would she wear?
There was a knock at the front door. Diane ignored it, allowing Sarah to go and answer it. That was part of her job at the clinic, welcoming the patients.
Ethan had made a reservation, according to the note, for eight p.m. Perhaps she could go back to the boarding house, have a wash, and then put on a dress. She so rarely wore anything really pretty, but it would be fun to look nice for her beau …
Sarah suddenly appeared in her doorway, looking scared. “There’s a problem.”
“There is?” Diane asked, frowning. “What is it?”
“It’s my sister,” Timothy said, pushing past Sarah. “The baby!” He was white as a sheet. Critter perched on his shoulder like a baby gargoyle, also somehow managing to look worried.
“The baby?” Diane asked. “Who is your sister?”
“Lizzy!” Timothy cried. “Her husband is out of town, and she says the baby is coming. You have to help her!”
Diane ran through everyone she had met in Unity and arrived at a face. A young woman, swollen belly, dark hair, and brown eyes. Yes, she remembered her. One of the handful of pregnant women in the town.
“Okay, let me grab my bag and we’ll be on our way,” Diane said, reaching behind her desk.
Then she, Sarah, and Timothy rushed from the clinic. Timothy was a ball of nervous energy, running ahead and then stopping to fidget while the two women caught up with him.
“She’s not supposed to be in labor now,” Timothy fretted.
“But she looked about eight months when I saw her,” Diane said, panting a little. She really needed to get more exercise. This town was something else. Although she walked everywhere, she would either need to learn to run distances, or she’d have to get herself a buckboard.
“Well, she says it’s early,” Timothy cried.
“When did her pain start?” Diane asked.
“Yesterday afternoon,” Timothy said. “Lizzy insisted she was fine and didn’t need me to go get you. It’s been getting worse and worse. You have to help her.”
Nodding, Diane saved her air for propelling her muscles forward.
Soon they reached the house, and Timothy ushered them upstairs to the main bedroom. Lizzy was pacing the room in a white nightgown, right hand rubbing the side of her abdomen.
“It’s not supposed to be now,” she said, turning scared eyes on Diane. “Julie said it would be at least another two weeks.”