Beloved Physician (17 page)

Scott chuckled. “Well, Mrs. Logan, I see you brought your assistant with you!”

Dr. Dane laughed. “There’s more truth than fiction to that statement, Mr. Thomas.”

Tharyn laughed along with the Thomases. “I guess an introduction really isn’t necessary, but I’ll do it anyhow. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, this is my husband—” she grinned at Dane—“and my assistant, Dr. Dane Logan.”

Dr. Dane and Scott laughed while they shook hands, and then Susan offered her hand. The doctor took it gently and bowed. “I’m very happy to meet you, ma’am.”

“And I’m happy to meet you, Dr. Logan. Please come in. I think Bobby’s awake.”

As they were walking down the hall toward the rear of the house, Susan and Tharyn were side by side, with the men behind them. Susan said, “Mrs. Logan, I want to thank you again for saving Bobby’s life. You are truly a gallant lady.”

“You’re right about that, ma’am,” said Dr. Dane from behind. “The Lord gave me the exact lady I needed.”

When the foursome entered Bobby’s bedroom, the boy was awake and clear-eyed. He smiled up at Tharyn. “Hello, Mrs. Logan. You saved my life. Mama and Papa said I would have died if you hadn’t done the operation.”

Tharyn smiled, leaned over, and hugged his neck. “I’m just glad to see you doing so well, Bobby.” Letting go of him, she stood up and pointed at Dr. Dane with her graceful chin. “Bobby, this is my husband, Dr. Dane Logan.”

Gingerly, the boy raised his right hand toward the doctor. “I’m very glad to meet you, sir.”

Dr. Dane set his medical bag on the small table next to the bed and closed his hand over Bobby’s. “And I’m very glad to meet you, Bobby. I have to say that I’m quite proud of my wife. She certainly did save your life. She wants me to look at the incision and make sure she did it correctly. Okay?”

“Yes, sir. I think she did.”

“Me, too. But she still wants me to check it.”

Bobby waited patiently while the doctor carefully removed the bandage and studied the incision and the stitches while Tharyn and the Thomases looked on.

After a thorough examination, Dr. Dane smiled at Tharyn. “You did a perfect job, sweetheart.”

Tharyn let out a tiny sigh. “Thank you, Dr. Logan.”

Scott and Susan exchanged glances and chuckled.

Dr. Dane opened his medical bag. “I’ll go ahead and put on a new bandage. Once I’ve removed a bandage to look underneath, I’d rather put on a fresh one.”

Moments later, with a fresh bandage over the incision, Dr. Dane said, “Bobby, I’ll have Dr. Fraser check on you while Mrs. Logan and I are in Denver for the surgery we must do there.”

Bobby let his lips curve in a slight smile. “That’ll be all right. I really like Dr. Fraser. Since both of my grandfathers live back East and I don’t get to see them much, Dr. Fraser has me call him Grandpa.”

Dr. Dane nodded. “That’s him all right. He is a fine man. I’ve never met one of his patients who didn’t like him and respect him.”

Bobby smiled again. “Thank you, Dr. Logan, for coming to check on me.” He swung his gaze to Tharyn. “And thank you, Mrs. Logan, for doing such a good job on me.” As he spoke, he slowly lifted his arms up to embrace her.

Tharyn bent down and kissed his cheek. “I’ll come back with my husband to see you when we return from Denver.” She kissed his cheek again, then looked at Dane. “Well, darling, we’d best be going.”

Scott and Susan thanked both the Logans as they walked them outside to the buggy.

When Dane and Tharyn were eating supper at the café, he thoroughly explained about the Ute attack on the Bates family. He went on to describe Jack’s wound and because as a nurse she would be interested in the removal of the slug from Jack’s chest, he described it in detail.

Tharyn took a sip of hot tea and placed the cup back in its
saucer. “So what do you think? Will Jack be all right?”

“I believe so. He’ll be a long time healing, but once the wound is healed, he should be able to do ranch work again. The Wilsons are going to keep him at their house, expecting Dr. Fraser to come and check on him while you and I are in Denver. They are also going to take care of the burial arrangements for the rest of the Bates family.”

“Good neighbors.”

“That they are.”

“Were you able to discern if either the Wilsons or Jack Bates are Christians?”

“There was no indication of it. Nice people, the Wilsons, but there was nothing said that would lead me to believe they know the Lord. That’s something to pray about and work on in the future.”

“Yes. We certainly want to witness to them when the circumstances are better and bring them to Jesus if we can.” She took another sip of tea. “What a horrible thing to happen to that poor Bates family. I know the Indians were here in the West first and that when white men came, they were usurpers, but we’re here now. Oh, how I wish this Indian problem didn’t exist.”

“Me, too. Let me tell you some things I learned from Rex Wilson on the history of the Utes and the Arapahoes in the recent past.”

Tharyn listened intently as Dane gave her the details of the recent history of the Utes and Arapahoes, and how the Utes’ spokesman, Chief Ouray had tried to keep the peace between the Utes and the whites in Colorado.

She nodded. “I’ve heard enough from residents of Central City about Chief Ouray since I’ve been here to understand that he is very unhappy with the renegade chiefs and their warriors. They have told me that Chief Ouray has tried hard to keep the peace between his people and the white man.”

She sighed and shook her head. “Honey, something’s got to be done about these renegades. I hate to think of more ranchers facing the theft of their livestock and the guns of the renegade Indians.”

Dane was buttering his third bread roll. “Well, that brings up the second part of my story, and why I was riding into town from the north and was so late in getting home.”

He went on to tell her about riding to Fort Junction and informing Colonel Perry Smith about the incident at the Bates ranch. He also explained that Rex Wilson felt sure the band of hostile Utes who stole the Bates cattle and shot the family down were from the village run by the bloody Chief Tando, which was located some twenty miles southwest of Central City.

“And what was his reaction?”

“He was quite angry. Tomorrow morning he is taking a large unit of men with him to Chief Tando’s village. He told me that he knows Tando will deny any knowledge of the Bates incident, but that he is going to warn him that things are going to get real bad between Tando and the army if this kind of thing happens again.”

“I’m glad to hear this.”

The waitress came with their dessert, which was apple pie. When that had been devoured, Dane paid the bill and they left the café.

Dane helped Tharyn into the buggy by the glow of a nearby street lamp, then climbed in beside her, took up the reins, and put Pal in motion.

As Dane drove the buggy down Main Street in the direction of their home, he said, “Well, sweetheart, I guess you’ve got a taste of the medical business in Central City by now. We’re staying quite busy, wouldn’t you say?”

She giggled. “Yes, Dr. Logan, I would say so. But, of course, that’s what we want.”

“Sure is. It gets pretty hectic for both of us sometimes, with
me having to make house calls outside of town while you’re running the office, but I love it.”

She patted his arm. “I’m sure you don’t love having to ride to the nearest fort and having to deal with renegade Indian problems.”

He nodded. “No, I don’t love that. When I was a boy, dreaming of becoming a doctor, I didn’t have Indian trouble in mind at all.”

“I can’t really say I enjoyed doing that appendectomy today. That’s really for a man with an M.D., not a woman with a C.M.N.”

At that moment, Tharyn noticed that Dane had just driven past the intersection of Main and Walnut Street, which would lead them to Spruce Street, then home. She squeezed his arm. “Ah … darling, are you aware that you just passed Walnut Street?”

Dane chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”

A frown puckered her brow. “Where are we going? Do you have another house call this evening that I don’t know about?”

He glanced at her and smiled. “No more house calls tonight.”

“Then where are we going?”

“We’ve had very little time for romance these past several days, so we’re going to take a little moonlight drive.”

Tharyn’s eyes widened. “Well, you don’t have to twist my arm to get my positive vote on that!”

He laughed. “Good! I’m not in an arm-twisting frame of mind right now.”

Tharyn cuddled up closer to him and slipped her arm around his neck. “Drive on, O husband of mine!”

Dane drove out of town to the south for a couple of miles, then veered off the road and pulled rein on a slight rise above a gurgling creek.

The full moon was clear edged and bright above them in the starlit sky. Its silver reflection was dancing on the surface of the rippling water.

Tharyn, looked around at the pines in the moonlight, casting their dark shadows on the ground and the creek. “Oh, Dane, isn’t it beautiful? I just marvel at the handiwork of our wonderful God.”

Dane hopped to the ground, rounded the back side of the buggy, and lifted her down. He folded her in his strong arms and kissed her soundly. Then he held her and gazed into her eyes. “All of this around us is Gods handiwork, all right, and it is indeed beautiful. But His most beautiful handiwork is right here in my arms.”

Tears misted Tharyn’s blue eyes.

At the same moment, the howl of a wolf in the higher country to the west pierced the night.

Dane smiled. “See there? That wolf heard what I said and he agrees.”

Blinking at her tears, Tharyn placed a tender palm on his cheek. “Oh, darling, how can I ever thank the Lord for bringing us together when it looked like we would never see each other again?”

“Well, I can never thank Him enough for that, but now that we’re together again, I want to make up for those ten years we were apart.” He glanced down at the gurgling creek. “Let’s go down there.”

“Okay.”

Dane took hold of her hand and together, they made their way down to the bank of the creek. Looking around, he said, “Come over here, honey. There’s a fallen log right on the edge of the water.”

Dane looked at his lovely wife in the silvery light of the moon. “I was just thinking on my ride home from Fort Junction this afternoon about the very first time we met. You were thirteen, and I was a mature man of the world at fifteen.”

Tharyn chuckled. “Mature man of the world, eh? Well, if you say so.” Abruptly, a lump came to her throat and she frowned.

“Honey, what’s the matter?”

“I—I can’t help but think about my parents being killed when that frightened team of horses hitched to that wagon loaded with building materials charged into them. And—and—”

“What, sweetheart?”

“Dane, I would have been killed, too, if you hadn’t been there and so courageously risked your own life to remove me from the path of those same charging horses.”

There was a loving expression on his handsome face as he seemed to catalogue each of her features.

He reached out and with a forefinger, tipped up her chin. He kissed her tenderly. “I would do it again if called upon to do so.”

They held on to each other for a long moment; then Tharyn said, “You not only saved my life, but with Mama and Papa gone, you took me to the alley where you lived with all those other orphans and so willingly gave me a home with you.”

Dane grinned. “Mm-hmm. I just had this feeling toward you like a big brother has about his little sister. My own little sister, Diane, was dead like the rest of my family, and you filled an emptiness in my heart.”

She reached up and stroked his cheek. “And it didn’t take you long to show it.”

He chuckled. “No, it didn’t. And it didn’t take you long to respond to it. We hadn’t known each other but a matter of weeks when we were calling each other ‘brother’ and ‘sister.’ ”

“Uh-huh. I really loved having a big brother.”

“We indeed had a brother-sister love between us.”

She smiled. “We sure did. And I owe you so much.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you—who had only been saved a short time yourself—began witnessing to me about Jesus. You were already doing that with the other orphans in the colony, and it was because of your testimony that the others and I turned to Jesus when you had Dr.
Lee Harris come to the alley and show the rest of us from the Bible how to be saved.”

Dane nodded. “It was my pleasure and joy.”

They both looked down at the bubbling creek with the white foam floating on its rippling surface.

After a moment, Tharyn lifted her head and put her soft gaze on him. “You know what?”

As he looked at her, he saw the reflection of the moonlight in her eyes. “What?”

“Even though you’re my husband now, I still have a feeling about you as my protective brother. Do you understand what I’m saying? You were such a protector back in those days when I called you my brother, and that particular relationship still lives in my heart. I believe it always will. That’s not wrong, is it?”

Dane chuckled and tweaked her nose lovingly. “Of course it’s not wrong, sweetie. In fact, it is quite scriptural.”

A surprised expression flitted across her features. “Really?”

“Mm-hmm. Just a few days ago in my devotions, I was reading in the Song of Solomon about the love between King Solomon and his wife, the Shulamite. This took me back to one time in Manhattan just before you came into my life, when Pastor Alan Wheeler preached a sermon from the Song of Solomon and pointed out that Jewish history said her name was Solyma.”

Tharyn nodded and waited for him to go on.

“The Jewish historians had no way of knowing if she changed her name to Solyma after she married Solomon, or if it was the name given her by her parents. Anyway, when I was reading in chapter 4 a few days ago, it struck me that Solomon called her my sister, my spouse’; and I thought of how I still had brotherly love for you, in addition to the love that I have for you as your spouse—your husband.”

She moved her head slowly back and forth. “Hmm. I recall
reading that term in the Song of Solomon not so long ago, but I didn’t give it much thought.”