Chapter 14
April 20th, 1898, Eagle Creek, Montana
Dear Miss Caitlin,
Your letter brought such a smile to my face. I have read it over and over, and every time, I find myself grinning like that Cheshire Cat in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Thank you for that. Being a doctor, life can often be far too serious, so it was most welcome.
So, in response to at least some of your questions. I am tall, almost six feet I think, with sandy blonde hair. My favorite color is emerald green. The woodlands here are full of such rich greens and they bring me such happiness. My favorite food is roasted beef, and like you I do not have much of a sweet tooth, but I do love coffee and with lots of sugar in it as I like the burst of energy it gives me. I promise I will not tell a soul your secret, as you are quite right, we would have to end your employment as a nurse immediately. I cannot imagine any hospital running smoothly without it!
I don’t have a particular favorite book, but I do enjoy Dickens’ and Mark Twain, like you. I love opera, but don’t have a favorite, and my favorite tune is usually whatever I heard last. I find they echo around my head for days, and I love them utterly until something new distracts me. I have been humming Greensleeves to myself ever since your letter arrived, so it will be interesting to see how long that stays with me!
I believe that I was born in Ohio, but we moved around a lot, even when I was small. My mother was an angel, and she did all she could to make it fun, but it can be hard on a young boy to never fit in anywhere. I have no siblings, and my mom passed away when I was just ten. I think it was seeing her sick, and wanting to help but not being able to that made me want to be a doctor.
Now, I have just told you more about myself than I have anyone in more than twenty years, so I must now turn the limelight back upon you. Tell me what it was like, growing up with seven siblings, please. I can hardly imagine it. Was there not absolute mayhem, constantly? Why did you want to become a nurse? And in particular, one working within the military and moving around a lot?
Did you enjoy the experiences that it offered you, and do you want to keep moving to new places, or would you prefer to settle down somewhere? A part of me longs to stop moving on, but I fear I am too set in my ways to ever really manage it.
I so look forward to hearing from you again. I do hope that you are enjoying our correspondence as much as I am. I would very much like for us to meet, in person, soon. Please let me know if you would like to do so. I can come to you, Sheridan isn’t very far away from here, now that the trains are so fast, though I will understand if you choose to get to know me better before we take such a step.
Yours, most hopefully
Matthew Inglis
It was a surprisingly revealing letter. Rachel smiled as she read it. She was glad that her letters were bringing him happiness, too. He could be quite solemn and though he did smile he did not laugh often, and never heartily. She wondered what illness had taken his mother from him, and why he said nothing at all about his father. It must have been very hard for him to lose a loved parent so young. These little glimmers of who Matthew really was, where he had come from, were giving Rachel a lot of insight into why he had become the man he was.
What she wasn’t surprised by, however, was the last paragraph of his letter. Elise had warned her that his intention seemed to be to meet with each young lady he was writing to, as quickly as possible. She said that his argument to Tom and Aidan had been that it would save both parties time and energy if they discovered whether they enjoyed each other’s company sooner, rather than later. Rachel, secretly, rather agreed with him. But she needed to keep him occupied, not learn her true identity and have him dismiss her straight away. Elise needed her to make him fall in love with Caitlin, so Tom could win the bet. Once he knew the truth, there would be no chance of that.
His invitation to meet was very carefully worded, to make it seem that he was not insisting upon it. She knew that most young ladies would find it hard to resist, given that they were trained from so early to acquiesce to the wishes of the men in their lives. If they liked him and thought him the answer to their prayers, no doubt most women receiving such a letter would immediately agree to his visit. But he had given her a way to say no, even though she wondered how long it would take before he was truly insistent upon meeting her.
But she did not have time to ponder it now. Hurriedly she finished dressing and hurried out of the door. When she reached the clinic, it was quiet. She changed into her work clothes and checked on the three patients in the ward before she knocked on the door of the office Matthew and Andrew now shared. There was no answer, so she tried again, and twisted the handle and peered around the door. Matthew was asleep in the chair by the fire, his long legs sprawled out in front of him, his head lolling to one side as he snored gently.
Rachel smiled. He looked so young, so peaceful as he lay there. She closed the door quietly and went to the little kitchen and made them both some coffee before she returned to the office and woke him gently. His eyes blinked rapidly and he gulped a little before he yawned and stretched. “What time is it?” he asked, sleepily rubbing his eyes.
“A little past seven o’clock,” she said handing him a cup of hot, strong coffee. She watched as he added two lumps of sugar to his, then did the same. He watched her and his lips curved into a little smile. Rachel wondered for a moment why, then remembered that Caitlin had told him that she did not like coffee unless it had lots of sugar in it. A tiny surge of pride surged through her, that her words were having some impact upon him. It felt like a tiny victory along the long road to make Matthew fall in love with anyone. “Was it a hard night? I didn’t think you would have too difficult a time of it, nobody is very sick and in need of constant care at the moment.”
“In some ways, it is the quiet nights that are the most exhausting, don’t you think?” he asked then took a sip of the coffee. “Mmm. That is perfect. You really do make the best coffee.”
“Something I am told often, and find most odd as I don’t much like it myself. I’d much prefer a nice cup of tea, or some hot chocolate.”
“Yet you drink it here all the time.”
“I do, because it is what we have here, and because it does give a little boost of energy when you’re flagging. And everyone else likes it, so it’s easier if I drink it, too.”
“You should still be able to have a cup of what you like though. I’m sure nobody would mind making you a pot of tea from time to time. I know I wouldn’t. I might even join you. I’m partial to it, too.”
She smiled and took a sip of her coffee. Unlike Matthew, who took his strong and black, she poured almost half a cup of cream into hers to make it palatable. He grinned at her as she put the cup back down on the table. “You have a milk mustache,” he said, offering her his handkerchief.
“How embarrassing,” she said, taking it and wiping it away. “I’ve admitted I don’t much like coffee, and can’t drink it without making myself messy.”
“I think it’s rather cute,” he said. “But you need to stop trying to please everyone else, and look after yourself and your needs a little more, Rachel.”
“I come from a big family, your own needs aren’t much considered when you have so many to try and keep content. Everyone learns to compromise, except maybe the very youngest in the family who get spoiled.”
“I was an only child,” Matthew admitted, “so, I don’t know much about that.”
“You know, I’ve been here for almost four months, and that is the first thing you’ve told me about you.”
“I’ve told you lots about me,” he protested.
“About your career, perhaps. But not about you, personally.”
“I am my career.”
“No, you’re a man first, a doctor second – whether or not you wish to admit to that. And you should take your own advice, Dr. Inglis, and do a little more for the man from time to time.”
“You are probably right, but work is all I know. I am happiest when I am busy.”
“Well, it is time for you to go home now, and to get some proper rest,” she said firmly.
“I’ve arranged to help Tom build a new cowshed,” Matthew said with a grin.
Rachel shook her head in disbelief. “Do you even know how to relax?”
“Not really,” he admitted. “But helping people makes me feel better.”
As he left, his choice of the word better, rather than good struck Rachel. It implied that any time that he wasn’t caring for others, being useful, he did not feel good. She found that rather sad. He was, no doubt about it, a good man. He selflessly gave up his time and energy, taking extra shifts to spare Andrew and Maud, as well as having taken on a lot of administrative work on behalf of Dr. Hartshorn for the new hospital. He kept himself too busy to stop and think. And that meant that there was something he did not want to think about. Rachel wondered if Caitlin might be able to help him with that, to give him a place he could turn to and pour out his troubles, without fear of judgment. More than ever, she was certain that he needed it.
But she did not have time to dwell on Matthew Inglis’ troubles. She had patients to care for and a clinic to prepare for. She checked over Matthew’s handover notes, and undertook the actions he’d laid out, then cleaned the reception room from top to bottom, before opening the doors to let in some fresh air. Today would be the first day that they held a normal doctor’s surgery here at the clinic since the beginning of the influenza outbreak. Finally, their days would take on a more regular rhythm, with morning surgery, followed by house calls, then evening surgery. Hopefully, the occupants of the ward would dwindle to those who had injuries that required attention for twenty-four to forty-eight hours afterwards, and they would put the difficulties of the past months behind them. The sun was shining, there were flowers blooming in the pots by the door, and it felt like a brand new start.
It seemed quite remarkable to her that Eagle Creek had so quickly become her home. She loved it here. As she stood in the doorway of the clinic, watching as people made their way to work or ran their errands, as they waved and smiled to her, she felt glad that she had accepted Dr. Hartshorn’s offer, and blessed that it had indeed led her to a place she could call home. Her happiness though was tinged with sadness that Matthew hadn’t found the same contentment here. She was certain that no man truly wanted to make his way through life with no real home, with no loved ones around him – at least, no man that wasn’t haunted by something too painful to speak of. She wished there was more she could do for him, though she knew all too well that he would say he was quite happy and she need not worry about him.