Chapter 7
January 26th, 1898, Eagle Creek, Montana
The days simply flew by. The work was challenging, but working as a part of the small team in Eagle Creek gave Rachel the most satisfaction of any job she’d ever had. Andrew and Maud were both so knowledgeable, and Matthew was incredibly skillful. Just last night, she’d watched him operate on Aidan O’Shaunessy’s leg, after it had been broken when a fully laden cart’s brakes had failed, and it had rolled over him. Matthew had carefully cleaned his wounds, pinned the bones in place and then sewn up the wound with complete composure.
Mr. O’Shaunessy gave her a sleepy grin as she approached his bedside to inspect the wound and check for any signs of infection. “So, will I ever walk again?” he asked, trying to keep his voice bright.
“Dr. Inglis is sure of it,” she assured him. “But it may take a while for you to recover.”
“Why aren’t I in the clinic, over there?” he asked. They’d placed a bed in the little room that had been their place to have a coffee or eat their lunch, as Matthew hadn’t wanted him to be out of sight for at least the first day or two after his surgery. It wasn’t ideal for anyone, but it had been the best they could do under the circumstances.
“We wanted to keep you separate from the influenza patients,” she said. “Your wife will be here later today, hopefully to take you home if Dr. Inglis is happy with everything. It won’t be the ideal circumstances we’d like for your recovery – we’d rather keep you here for a few weeks, but we think it’s for the best considering everything else.”
“Meredith is coming?” he smiled, his eyes lighting up as if he were a young man thinking of his sweetheart. Rachel couldn’t help wishing that she could find a man who looked so happy just at the thought of her. He obviously loved his wife very deeply.
“She is, but if you are cleared to go home you must promise all of us not to put any weight on this leg. You’re not to do anything on the ranch, until Dr. Inglis says so.”
“I’ll be good. I’ll lie as still as a board if I must if I can go home and be with my family.”
“We’ll hold you to that. One of us will call on you every day. We’ll know if you’re lying to us.”
He grinned. “I’ll get Meredith to take on an extra hand if there are any with all this sickness around. It’s a quiet time for us. Do you think I’ll be on my feet in time for calving?”
“When will that be?”
“March into April.”
“I think that may be a little optimistic, but it’s something to aim for. The more you rest now, the more likely you’ll heal well enough to be walking then.” She quickly made a couple of notes on his chart, then left him alone, closing the door behind her.
Andrew was in his office. “How is he doing?” he asked as she knocked on the door softly.
“Very well considering. He’s a little groggy, but the wound is clean. He promises to be a good boy if we send him home.”
“He’ll keep his word, too. Aidan is a good man, honest as they come.”
“I hope so, or he may lose the use of that leg entirely. I’ve seen wounds like that come in from battles. Most don’t heal well. Field hospitals aren’t ideal places for surgery like the one Matthew performed, and the wounds get infected fast. Even once we can get them back to the fort, there is so much pressure on the men to recover that they push too hard and end up losing the limb entirely.”
“I’ve been a doctor nearly forty years, and I’d wager that you and Matthew have seen far worse than I ever will, even though you’re both so young.”
“We aren’t that young,” Rachel protested. “But in comparison with you and Maud, our years of experience are definitely just a drop in the ocean. Though, while Matthew and I are good with accidents, wounds and so forth, I think we have a lot to learn about patient care and how to manage longer term conditions from the two of you.”
“I’m so glad you said that,” Andrew said with a chuckle.
“What, that I don’t know anywhere near enough?”
“No, because that would be a lie. You know your strengths and that is a good thing. No, it was your willingness to learn from us. How would you like to do just that? I know you don’t have anything particular lined up to go to when you leave us here, and we are in desperate need of more help. Even without the influenza outbreak, we were struggling. It only highlighted by how much. Would you consider staying?” Rachel’s heart skipped a beat. Was Andrew really asking her to stay? Her breath grew shallow and fast, her heart pounded in her chest. She tried to say yes, but the word wouldn’t reach her lips.
“Don’t give me an answer now,” Andrew continued, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was offering her all she had wanted ever since she’d arrived in Eagle Creek. “But think on it. I know we’re a long way from your family, and it would be asking a lot, but we like you and you fit in well with us.”
She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself a little. “Have you asked Matthew to stay, too?” Her voice was strangely high-pitched, but Andrew didn’t seem to notice.
“I have, but I don’t think he’ll stay,” he said shuffling through a file on his desk. “He’s still got a little wanderlust in him he needs to work off, I think. But I might be able to convince him to hang around until we find someone suitable.”
“I don’t need to think about it,” Rachel said firmly. “From the moment I walked out of the station, I knew that Eagle Creek was a place I would gladly call home. If it means I get to keep working here, too, then what possible reason would I have to go anywhere else?”
Andrew looked up, took off his half-moon spectacles. His eyes were twinkling, and she knew that he was beaming beneath his mask. “Oh, my dear, are you absolutely sure?”
“Oh, I most certainly am,” she said, smiling back at him hoping that he could see it in her eyes, too. “Thank you, so very much.”
It was his day off, but under the circumstances, Matthew felt that he should stop by the clinic to check on Aidan. The man’s leg had looked like it had been put through a mangle, it had been so badly damaged. He only hoped that he had done enough to prevent Aidan from losing it altogether. When he arrived at the clinic, he found Tom perched on the edge of Aidan’s bed. Aidan had been helping out at Tom’s when the accident had happened, and Tom had been the one who had brought Aidan in. He’d been white as a sheet when he’d burst into the clinic demanding someone come quickly. “Well done, Doc,” Tom said, giving a low whistle. “I thought he was a goner but looks like you’ve patched him up nicely.”
“It’s too soon to be sure,” Matthew warned them both.
“But Rachel said you’re hopeful,” Aidan said, his eyes pleading.
“I am. But it’s a long road you have ahead of you.”
“She said that, too,” Aidan said grudgingly. “But am I good to go home? She said I might be.”
“I think so,” Matthew said cautiously. “But there is going to be a very long list of instructions going with you.”
“I’ll follow ‘em to the letter,” Aidan promised. “Merry will make me.”
“I’ll just go and let Nurse Falmer know so she can ensure everything is ready for you when Meredith arrives,” Matthew said.
Rachel was applying hot compresses to the chest of one of their elderly patients when Matthew found her on the ward. He paused for a moment, watching her deft movements and the gentle way she moved the man’s limbs and body so he might be more comfortable. She talked to him constantly, a stream of cheerful thoughts and observations, talking of his children and grandchildren as if she’d known them all her life. It was remarkable how much she learned about everyone, within mere moments of meeting them. People instinctively trusted her.
She looked up when she heard his footsteps. “How is he?” she asked, “The wound seemed really clean when I checked on him earlier.”
“He’s doing surprisingly well, given the damage. I’ve said he can go home. I’d be happier if he’s away from here. There’s flu, and now pneumonia,” he nodded towards her patient whose breath was coming in wheezing gasps. “I don’t want him sick as well as injured. I’ll just write out a list of instructions for his wife and leave it on Andrew’s desk. Can you ensure she gets it?”
“I will,” she said and continued her work. He paused for a moment, watching her. She always gave every patient her utmost attention. She was so focused and diligent, so gentle and tender. He’d never met anyone so suited to their work as she was, except perhaps Maud, but the way Maud did things did not have quite the same impact on him for some reason. He shook his head almost imperceptibly and left the room to go and write out the list for Aidan and Meredith.
Tom and Aidan were laughing and joking when he returned. “What’s so funny?” he asked.
“I was just telling Aidan about the damage his bones did to my wheel,” Tom said. “I doubt even your skills will resurrect it, Matthew.”
“I’m not so good with wood,” he admitted.
“But are you as good with the ladies?” Tom asked, giving him a knowing look. “Have you placed your advertisement yet?”
“You’re looking for a wife?” Aidan asked, looking surprised.
“No, I’m not,” Matthew said firmly. “But this fool here thinks he knows me better than I know myself and forced me into a little wager.”
“That he’ll find a wife within a year,” Tom said. “But you have to actually look, my friend. That was all a part of the deal.”
“Well, I can’t think why I haven’t managed to place an advertisement for a wife,” Matthew said drily. “I’ve not been busy at all.”
Tom chuckled. “That is fair enough, I suppose,” he agreed.
“Why don’t you let us write it for you?” Aidan asked. “I’ve got all the time in the world now, after all. I can help you with the replies, as I’ve little better to do now.” He gave his leg a meaningful look. “And then when it comes time to meet them, you’re on your own with destiny?”
“I think that sounds fair,” Tom said. “We can’t have the good doctor here weaseling out of a bet on a technicality – that you didn’t even take part in it. And if Aidan’s involved in it all, he can make sure it’s fair.”
“But I really don’t want a wife,” Matthew said. ”I won’t fall in love, because there isn’t a woman in the world that will change my mind about that.” But even as he said it, an image of Rachel, her head bowed as she tended to her patient, her long neck stretched, a couple of wisps of her strawberry blonde hair escaping her nurse’s cap, sprang into his mind unbidden. He banished it quickly. He most certainly did not harbor any feelings for her. They’d simply been working together closely, that was all.
“You’ll change your mind,” Tom said. “Though, d’you think he’s just trying to hoodwink me, Aidan? Perhaps he’s saying that because there’s already somebody who has caught his eye? A pretty nurse, perhaps? Nurse Falmer is very pretty, after all.”
“Get out of here, Greening,” Matthew said exasperated with his nonsense. “You’re tiring my patient and driving me crazy. Nurse Falmer is here to work, as am I. We barely have time to blow our noses, the idea that we might have found the time to get to know one another and fall in love since I made that bet with you is madness.”
“Madness, eh?” Tom queried. “She’s mighty pretty and mighty sweet, don’t think there’s much more a man needs to know, is there?”
“I’ll tell your Elise that, shall I?” Matthew asked.
“He’s got you there, Tom. Elise’d have your guts for garters if she thought you just thought she was a sweet-tempered pretty face.”
“She knows I know she’s more’n that,” Tom grumbled. “Anyways, how did we get around to whether and why I love my wife? Everyone knows that. What we don’t know is why you’re so dead against finding love and being happy, my friend.”
“I have my reasons,” Matthew said firmly. “And I’m not going to be talking about them any time soon.”