Chapter 2
December 23rd, 1897, Sheridan, Wyoming
The ward was quiet, the patients were all sleeping soundly for a change. Rachel sat down at the nurses’ station and began to carefully make notes in the files of her patients, smiling from time to time as she heard a particularly loud snore from one of them. She’d rather enjoyed her posting here. Sheridan was lovely, the people friendly – for the most part – and the hospital was new, clean and well run. It would be a shame to have to leave, but her time here was due to come to an end just after Christmas. The nurse she had been replacing for the past three months would be returning, now that her broken leg was healed.
The clipped sound of male footsteps made her look up. It was rare that any of the doctors came onto the ward so late, unless there was an emergency. She jumped to her feet and was surprised to see the tall, dark-clad figure of Dr. Hartshorn coming towards her, his coat billowing slightly behind him. He’d not sent word that he would be in town, and as the owner of the hospital, he wasn’t often seen on the wards. Rachel often thought that he looked rather like an eagle, with his sharp, icy-blue eyes and rather large, beaky nose. His expression was stern, as always, but his lips curved into a tight smile as he drew closer. “Good evening to you, Nurse Falmer, I do hope that I find you well?” he said as he removed his top hat and gave her a polite, nodding bow.
“You do, Sir,” Rachel said, bobbing a curtsey and smoothing down the starched white apron, suddenly aware of every tiny crease in her uniform. Despite having always been very kind to her, Dr. Hartshorn always made her feel on edge, as if she was under the very closest scrutiny. She supposed it was why he was such a successful physician. “I hope you are well, too?”
“Very well. Is there somewhere we can talk?” he asked, glancing around.
“I’m the only nurse tonight, so I cannot leave the ward, but we can talk here,” she said, indicating the other chair behind the desk. “As long as we keep our voices low so as not to disturb the patients.”
He nodded. “You are a conscientious young lady. It is why I was so determined to ensure that you came to work for me.” He put his hat upon the counter, removed his coat and hung it from one of the hooks on the wall behind the desk, then took the seat she had indicated.
“I am glad that you sought me out, it was quite a surprise when you called upon me at Fort David A. Russell.”
“That was a particularly tricky surgery and I was glad to find that you would be there to oversee my patient’s care,” Dr. Hartshorn said, his expression unusually softened as he said it. He smiled at her warmly.
“I was glad to work for you again. It had been quite a while.”
“Yes, it had. And it reminded me that I wanted to work with you more. You are one of the finest nurses I’ve ever known.”
Rachel felt her cheeks redden at his praise. “I am no better than anyone else. I am glad you offered me the position here, though,” she said a little shyly. “I have enjoyed working here very much and am sad that the posting will be coming to an end so soon.”
“Yes, about that,” he said with an amused chuckle. “Our situation here rather prompted me to do a little thinking, and I have an idea I hope you will consider – for you are the inspiration for what I hope will become a very lucrative business, for me and anyone wise enough to consider it.”
“I am? I don’t understand?”
“Well, when we worked together at Fort Meade, as you know, I was very impressed with your work, and told you to call on me if you ever wished to leave the military hospital.”
“Which, I did,” she said with a shy smile. “And is why I am here now.”
“Indeed, but unfortunately, when you came to me, I had no permanent positions available to offer you, and sadly, still do not, at least none as a matron.”
“I know, and I do understand. But you do not need to worry about me, I have an interview at the hospital in Buffalo after Christmas and have applied to a number of others, too. I am sure that I will find something.”
“I am not worried for you. Any hospital would be wise to take you on, especially given the reference I will be happy to give you. However, I am rather hoping to tempt you not to go to Buffalo, my dear.”
“But why? You just said that there are no positions for me?”
“Ah, I said permanent positions in my hospitals, not that I did not have a position for you at all.”
“Oh,” Rachel said, her brow furrowing as she tried to understand what he was trying to tell her.
“You see, when you were kind enough to agree to take on the position of night matron for me here, while Matron Foster recovers from her broken leg, I realized how often there are gaps in the staff roster – not permanent holes, but ones that need filling to ensure the hospital runs smoothly, for a few days, to a few months – as you have done for me here.”
“That is most certainly true,” Rachel said nodding. “Even at the military hospitals, where we could call upon the soldiers to act as porters, at the very least, there were problems due to occasional sickness and injury of all medical staff.”
“Yes, it leaves hospitals and clinics operating somewhat dangerously, for everyone. Having you here, knowing that the position was covered by a highly competent nurse has helped everyone. And so, I realized that such cover always needs to be available.”
“I’m not entirely sure I understand, Sir.”
“I spoke with some colleagues. There is a need for doctors, nurses and other staff in every hospital and clinic in the land from time to time, and finding suitable replacements who are prepared to travel for short term vacancies proves impossible. However, there are also staff who don’t necessarily wish to remain in one place, who long to see the world – but end up unhappy and unmotivated because they feel trapped. So, I have it in mind to create an agency full of staff willing to travel at a moment’s notice. At first, I thought I would just do it for my own hospitals, but every medical institution in the country will need such help at some time or another.”
Rachel wasn’t surprised that Dr. Hartshorn would have come up with a solution to his problems, what she was taken aback by was his ambition to create an agency that might serve others, too. “It sounds very expensive.”
“It will be,” he agreed. “In order to attract the best medical staff, I will have to offer them competitive wages, above what they can earn elsewhere, and there will be the costs required to send people hither and thither, but I think it has to be worth trying.”
“I agree.”
“And I want you to be the first nurse I sign,” he said, looking her directly in the eye. “You are one of the finest I’ve ever worked with. I can think of nobody better to ensure that the agency begins with the very finest reputation.”
“But I wish to settle somewhere. I feel that I’ve barely had a chance to stop and think since I qualified. A year here, perhaps two there. I’ve done my traveling, Sir. I want a position, preferably in a quiet town, where I can find a husband and perhaps raise a family.”
“Is there somewhere in particular, or a gentleman you have in mind?”
Rachel gave a wry chuckle. “I’m afraid not,” she said. “Moving so much does not make forming relationships easy.”
“Then why not use this opportunity to find a place to settle, even if it might not help find the husband to settle with?”
“That is a very sneaky argument to make.” Rachel smiled. He wasn’t making it easy for her to say no. She liked and respected him very much, and working alongside him to create such a much-needed resource could be very exciting. But she was getting older. She couldn’t keep putting off the thought of marriage and babies. Most young women of her acquaintance had been married years ago. Jo and Teddy had just had their first baby, just a few weeks ago. Even though she’d been the one to bring the couple together, Rachel had never thought that her rather flighty friend would fall in love with Teddy Heaton. She’d been blessed with many earnest suitors over the years and they’d never lasted much longer than a fortnight. But she was delighted for both of them that everything had worked out so well.
“Nurse Falmer, I understand. Believe me, I do,” Dr. Hartshorn said earnestly. “And I do think it will be far easier for me to find doctors than nurses, for that very reason. Young men are much less inclined to stay in one place.”
“You are probably right. And they don’t have to leave their work once they marry, as we do. It is such a shame, because it means we lose many very capable young women too early. I do think many of them would like to work once they are married, too, at least until they become mothers.”
“I think you are probably right and see no reason why we still let them go,” he agreed. “Many nurses in small towns are married women. I don’t see why it could not be the same in hospitals in the cities, too. But I digress.”
Rachel smiled. He was so passionate about so many things, and often a conversation with him about anything other than a medical procedure could end up taking all manner of tangents. It made him somehow seem more human and she liked him for it. He was utterly brilliant, sharp as a tack, but his thoughts could ramble as much as anyone’s.
“Please, just think about it?” he pleaded. “Becoming a part of the new agency, I mean. If you could even give me a year, that would mean so very much to me.”
“I could perhaps offer you a year, maybe two,” Rachel said cautiously. “I want to help. I think that this is something that has been needed for some time. But I have to know that you will let me leave when I want to go?”
“The freedom has to be there for both sides,” Dr. Hartshorn assured her. “As much as I can only promise to offer you work when it is available, you have to be free to accept or turn down any assignment, without question should it not suit you.”
“Then I accept your offer.”
“Oh, I am so glad. You’ll not regret it. I promise you.”
“Who else has been mad enough to join you?” Rachel asked, surprised by how comfortable she felt talking to him now. He’d shown her a rather different aspect to his personality tonight, and she liked it. He didn’t even frown at her rather teasing question, instead he grinned, completely transforming his features.
“I have four doctors interested so far, all ex-military doctors,” he said. “I am hopeful that they will speak with friends they perhaps trained with or served with.”
“That would help with recruitment. I am sure there are many young men who want a little bit of adventure, and the opportunity to perhaps work with some of the finest doctors and surgeons in the country.”
“It is an opportunity I would most certainly have wished for. But I am a little stumped as to how to attract nurses to our cause. Can you think of how we might do so? It is so much harder as we lose so many good ones to marriage.”
“I can spread the word, though many of my old friends are no longer nursing now, but I think that the military hospitals are a possibility, as you’ve found with your doctors. Many young women take positions there because they want adventure, to see the world a little, knowing that they will perhaps be moved around the country a lot.”
“You did not find that most of them were there simply to find a husband?” Dr. Hartshorn asked, raising a quizzical eyebrow.
“I won’t deny that there is a certain type of nurse who is only there to gain herself a doctor husband,” Rachel admitted and grinned.
“Or perhaps a dashing officer, too?” They laughed.
“But seriously, I think it would be hard to deny that there is a small group of women in any institution that employs them, who are only there to find a husband, but nursing is a vocation. Anyone who simply wants a husband could choose a much easier way to find one. It is impossible to do our work without a great deal of dedication. Those without it fall by the wayside quickly – especially in the military hospitals, where the wounds can be gruesome indeed.”
“Of course, you are right,” Dr. Hartshorn agreed. He stood up and smoothed down his jacket. “You know, I wouldn’t be averse to hiring married nurses, too. For local assignments, of course. It might suit them well, that they can be a little more choosy about when and how much they work? What do you think?”
“I think that could be interesting,” Rachel said thoughtfully. “My friend, Jo, I think she would love to return to nursing once her little one is at school. And I’m sure that there are others who would like to once their children are grown, perhaps. Not all of us can marry a smalltown doctor, and work alongside him.” They laughed together.
“Well, you have given me much to think about, but I must go now, and let you get on with your work. I shall be in touch with your first assignment. I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas, Nurse Falmer. You most certainly deserve one.”
“Oh, I shall be working here. I was not on the roster but offered my services anyway. It is important to ensure that our patients have some cheer,” she said.
“You see, that is precisely why I value you so highly.”