Dorothy Garlock (21 page)

“I’ll walk April home, Doc, then come back and bed down on your couch.”

“I was going to s-suggest that.” Doc looked up at the big harvest moon hanging high over the treetops. “Don’t linger. My n-nurse needs her sleep.”

Chapter 16

F
RED WAS IN A GRUMPY MOOD
after only three hours’ sleep and didn’t appreciate his sister’s criticism. He ignored her remarks about the stubble on his chin and sat down at the breakfast table.

“Are you going to shave before you go to the store?” she said for the second—or was it the third—time.

Refusing to answer, he helped himself to the bowl of scrambled eggs, reached for a biscuit and began to eat. He was tired and didn’t feel like sparring with her. He had waited until after two o’clock for April to come in; and when she did, she was with one of the Joneses. He thought it had been the newly appointed police officer.

It was beyond him why the city council would hire a dumb farmer to keep law and order in town. It was even more puzzling to him why a girl like April, who was everything a woman should be, would risk letting her reputation be besmirched by keeping company with a clod with manure on his shoes.

This morning, instead of undressing in her room, she had taken her nightdress and gone to the bathroom. He hadn’t dared to leave his room and go to the storage room, where he could watch her, because there was the chance that she would catch him in the hallway. Besides, he knew she wouldn’t stay long in the bathroom. It was too late for her to take a bath.

Fred doubted that he would see her this morning. He had dressed while she was in the bathroom, then he’d had to come down to breakfast in answer to Shirley’s persistent calls.

“Did you hear April when she came in last night?” Shirley asked.

Fred finished buttering his biscuit before he answered with a blank face that supported his lie.

“No. Did you?”

“It was after two o’clock. I’m beginning to doubt the wisdom of renting a room to her. No decent girl stays out with a man until two in the morning. I looked out the window, and I’m sure it was the younger Jones this time. She’s playing the Joneses against each other, or I miss my guess.”

“She may have a perfectly good reason for being out that late.”

“And cows can fly!” Shirley snorted and got up to get the coffeepot. April came in while she was filling Fred’s cup.

“Morning.” April looked refreshed in spite of her short night of sleep.

Shirley murmured a greeting.

Fred, however, said cheerfully, “And a good morning to you, Miss April.” He felt a stirring in his private parts as he remembered seeing her lying naked on her bed.

“It’s cool this morning. Fall is here.”

“Is the house too cold for you?” Shirley asked and moved the plate of eggs toward April. “I suppose we could light the gas heater in your room.”

“No need for that. I like it rather cool.” April knew immediately that Shirley was miffed about something by the tone of her voice and the way she avoided looking at her. It had been her intention to tell the pair why she had been out so late last night, but she decided that she didn’t owe them an explanation about her comings and goings.

“We’ll be having a cold supper tonight,” Shirley said. “I’m meeting with a committee from the church.”

“The kids again?” Fred asked and raised his brows. “Why do you say it like that?” Shirley demanded. “This party is very important to them.”

“Sure, sure.”

“You don’t think what I’m doing is important, do you?” his sister barked.

“Yes, I do, Sis. It’s just that—”

“Just what?”

“You don’t have much time for the store anymore.” “That’s what I’m paying you for.”

April glanced at Fred and saw the red that came up to flood his face. She had thought that she could never feel sorry for him, but she did.

“I’ve got to run.” April gulped down the last of her coffee and moved her chair back from the table. “Don’t count on me for supper tonight, Mrs. Poole.”

“Another date?” Shirley asked, her mouth twisting. “Which Jones is it this time?”

April turned and looked the woman straight in the face. “It will be with both of them, if I can manage it. See you later, Fred.” She waited long enough to see Mrs. Poole’s mouth tighten before she headed for the stairs.

Take that, you old busybody.

As soon as April was out of hearing, Fred said, “What’s put a bee in your bonnet this morning?”

“That girl . . . traipsing around at all hours of the night . . .”

“What she does outside this house is none of your business, Shirley. She only rented a room here and has the right to come and go as she pleases.”

“Not so, Brother. I’ll not have a harlot living in my house.” “Harlot? Whatever gave you that idea? Are you out of your mind?”

“Are you out of yours? You are, if you think you’re going to get a piece of . . .
that.
”

Fred stood up and looked down at his sister. “I’m warning you, Shirley. If you do anything to make Miss Asbury move, I’ll leave here. I’ll leave you to run your precious store by yourself. You can count out the nuts and bolts, cut glass, move around the spools of barbed wire, and—”

“Ha.” Shirley cut off his tirade. “Where could you make a living anywhere else? You’ll not leave here. This is all you know. You’ve had your living handed to you on a platter for the past ten years. I could have hired a hundred clerks to take your place.”

“Then I suggest you start looking for one.”

“Come down off your high horse and go shave before you open the store.” She gave him a look of dismissal.

On hearing her words, Fred’s nostrils flared with anger. “I’m tired of you running roughshod over me, talking to me in front of folks like I’m a servant. I’ve put ten years of my life into running that store for you—”

“I don’t ...run roughshod over you.”

“Yes, you do. Maybe you should see what it would be like without me. I’m not going over there today, Shirley. If you want your damn store opened, go open it yourself.”

Fred left the room. In a complete state of shock Shirley managed to get up from the table and catch him as he mounted the stairs.

“Brother!” She grabbed his arm. “What do you mean you’re not going—”

“Just what I said. I’m not going to open
your
store, and I’m not shaving today.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just that ...I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately.”

“You were sour even before Ron was killed, and it’s worse now since you’ve been meeting with those kids.”

“I have to help them!”

“Are you sure that’s all there is to it?”

“I’m sure, Brother. Please, don’t let us quarrel.”

“It’s up to you, Shirley.”

“I’m sorry that I took my spite out on you. I wish I’d never rented a room to that woman.”

“Does she remind you of what you could have done if you hadn’t married Ron?”

“He . . . was a good catch.”

“So were you. You had the store Papa left you. What did Ron have?”

“Papa would have left it to you if you had been here.” “That’s all water under the bridge.”

“As this should be. You’ll go to the store?”

Fred hesitated for a moment, prolonging his sister’s anxiety. When he finally spoke, it was with a new dignity.

“I’ll go. But you’d better heed what I said about Miss As-bury and about embarrassing me in front of people, or I’ll catch the next train out. Then try to hire someone to run
your store
who won’t steal you blind.”

“I’m sorry. I truly am. I didn’t realize—”

“I know. You didn’t think I had enough backbone to stand up to you. But I do and don’t you forget it.” Fred moved on up the stairs feeling better than he had in a long time.

Saturday was usually a busy day at the clinic, and today was no exception. By noon Doc had already seen four patients and pulled a wisdom tooth. As a rule, he tried to avoid anything to do with dentistry, but the young man was suffering excruciating pain and begged Doc to pull it. The tooth broke, and Doc had to dig out the roots. By the time he was finished, he was sweating and cussing and the young man was almost faint with relief that the ordeal was over.

“Now you see,” Doc grumbled to April, “why I h-hate anything to do with teeth.”

Corbin called. He wanted to make sure that Doc would be in town today. On the heels of that call came one from Annabel, Corbin’s wife, telling Doc that Corbin was being ridiculous and that she was not going to have the baby today and that he needn’t plan his day around the event.

Doc was grinning when he hung up the phone. “I don’t know who is w-worse, Thad or Corbin. Which reminds me, I’ll be g-gone for a while this afternoon. I need to go out to the Taylors and check on Jill and the baby, even though Thad would have been in h-here if either one of them had as much as sneezed.”

“Have they named the baby? I forgot to ask Jack last night.”

“Joe said they n-named him Thomas Joseph, but will call him T. J. Poor little cuss.”

“Why do you say that?”

“It will be hard to live up to Thad’s expectations that he be the next Thomas Edison and Joe’s that he be a circus clown and Jack w-wanting him to be the next Babe Ruth.”

After Doc had left, April put the back room in order and had sat down to work on the records when Mrs. Maddox came in with a basket on her arm.

“Hello, Mrs. Maddox.”

“Hello. Is Dr. Forbes busy?”

“He isn’t here. He went out to the Taylors to check on Mrs. Taylor and her new baby.”

“Well, shucks! I brought him a pumpkin pie, you see. Pumpkins are especially good this year.”

Mrs. Maddox, a short, plump little woman with a head of thick brown hair, was the most pleasant of the women who brought treats for the doctor. She was a widow with three half-grown children. They lived on an acreage outside of town.

“He’ll enjoy it, I’m sure.”

“Maybe it’s just as well that he isn’t here.” Mrs. Maddox had lowered her voice, although there was no one else in the office. “You see, as a loyal friend of Dr. Forbes, I feel it’s my duty to let you know what’s going on. This is strictly confidential, you see. I would hate for Dr. Forbes to think that I was carrying gossip. But, you see, Hattie Davenport”—she spat out the woman’s name as if it were nasty in her mouth— “is going around saying the most awful things about you and the doctor.”

“Really?” April tilted her head in a listening position. “You see, she’s saying that she came here and waited two hours to see the doctor and you would never tell her where he’d gone or when he would be back. Meanwhile, you were seeing patients and dispensing medicine as if you were a doctor and not just a nurse. You see, she’s saying that she doubts that you even have a nurse’s certificate. She said that she is watching the child you gave medicine to and intends to turn you over to the sheriff if the child takes sick.”

“Miss Davenport will have to do what she feels is right.” April was beginning to wonder how many more times the lady would say “you see.” She wished that she had counted them.

“Hattie is telling everyone that Dr. Forbes was rude to her, you see, and asked her to leave when she questioned him about you giving the child medicine. She told at Church Circle how you were in the house with him ...late at night.” She whispered the last few words.

“How would she know that?”

“She swears that someone saw you and Dr. Forbes through the window, you see. But she refused to name the person.”

“Miss Davenport has been quite busy.”

“That isn’t all, you see.” She lowered her voice even more. “Hattie is telling around town that Dr. Forbes’s car has been seen at that colored ...ah... woman’s place down on the river.”

“And what if it was? The doctor treats folks down there as well as in town.”

“She’s making it sound like he’s going there for . . . well, you know . . .”

“Well, for goodness’ sake!” A flood of irritation washed over April. “Surely anyone with any sense at all wouldn’t believe vicious gossip.”

“Don’t be too sure. Hattie belongs to everything in town, you see. Her daddy was a game warden here for years before he was elected county treasurer. Her mother died a long time ago, and now that her daddy is gone, you see, she wants to marry Dr. Forbes; but I’m guessing she must be ten years older than he is. She’s no spring chicken,” she added firmly.

“Evidently Dr. Forbes doesn’t want to marry her, or he’d have asked her.”

“Hattie is blaming you for breaking them up.”

“Me?” April wanted to laugh but didn’t. Malicious gossip was nothing to laugh about. “There was nothing to break up, Mrs. Maddox.”

“I just wanted to warn you, you see,” she said quickly when she heard footsteps on the porch.

“That was kind of you,” April managed to say before Joe stepped through the doorway.

“Hello, ladies.” Then, “Am I interrupting something?” “No. Hello, Joe. Do you know Mrs. Maddox?” April’s voice was a little strained.

“Sure I do. How are you, Mrs. Maddox? And how is Harry?”

“Harry’s fine. He helped the Davidsons put up hay this summer.” Mrs. Maddox used the full volume of her voice and stepped back from the desk.

“Is he going out for basketball again this year?”

“Oh, yes. He loves to play, you see.”

“He was pretty good last year.”

“He put up an iron hoop off a barrel up on the barn, you see. Every chance he got this summer he was out there throwing a ball through it.”

“That’s a great idea. Didn’t he score the winning basket in that last game? Everyone in the stands was on their feet.” He turned to April. “Harry was only a freshman and he won the game.”

April watched Joe chat with Mrs. Maddox. The woman beamed when he praised her son.
He knows just how it’s done.

He could probably charm the bark off a tree if he set his mind to it.

Mrs. Maddox took the cloth off the basket she had placed on the desk and took out a pie.

“Holy smoke,” Joe exclaimed. “That looks good. Pumpkin, isn’t it?”

“With walnuts on top,” Mrs. Maddox said proudly. “That Doc is a lucky son of a gun.”

“It’s for all of you. I thought you’d like a little treat in the middle of the afternoon, you see.” She spoke to April, then her eyes went to Joe.