Dorothy Garlock (5 page)

“I’ll be back in.” He kissed her again, this time on the nose, and went out the door.

Eudora brought a pan of hot biscuits from the oven to the cloth-covered table. She poured coffee for herself and April, then sat down.

“That man,” she exclaimed and shook her head. “He’s just as sweet and loving as the day we were married eight years ago.”

“You’re very lucky.”

“I know. I’ve got a wonderful family that I love. Jethro’s children accepted me into the family wholeheartedly. I took care of my mother for many years and married late in life. I never thought this happiness would be mine. I’d fight an army for any one of them.”

“Doc Forbes spoke highly of the Jones family when he was telling me about Fertile. That’s how I knew that I could trust Joe to bring me here.” April buttered a biscuit and lifted her brows. “He comes on pretty strong. He even assured me that the Jones family were pillars of the community.”

Eudora smiled. “Both of the older boys have glib tongues. Wait until you meet Jack. He can be a little shy at first, but watch out after he gets to know you. Jason is the serious one. They are all different—from Joy, the youngest, to Julie, the oldest. Our Jacob, like Jason, loves books. He is curious as a cat. I’m surprised he didn’t wake up when Jack and Joe came down. He tags after them whenever he can.”

“How old is he?”

“He’s six. He’ll go to school this year.”

“Doc Forbes told me that it was quite unusual, but the names of all the Joneses start with
J
.”

“All except mine. They have threatened to change my name to Judora. Of course, they were teasing me.”

April told Eudora a little about herself and why she left her hometown to come to work for Dr. Forbes.

“I’ve always wanted to work with a doctor in a small town and jumped at the chance when it was offered.”

“Times are not good, but this town is no worse off than any other this size. At least our bank is still solvent. Evan, Julie’s husband, is on the board of directors, and he’s got a good head for business.”

“Does Julie live close by?”

“Evan’s farm joins ours on the north. Jill and Thad live three sections over from Julie. Joe and Thad farm together. We are lucky to have the family close. They all pitch in and help one another. Joy lives with Julie and Evan. Jethro’s wife died shortly after Joy was born, and Julie took care of her. She’s sixteen now.”

“Mama, where’d Joe and Jack go?” A small boy came from the stairway and closed the door.

“Hello there, sleepyhead. Come meet Miss Asbury. She’s Dr. Forbes’s new nurse.”

The boy stepped forward and offered his hand. “How-do, ma’am?” He touched April’s hand briefly.

“It’s nice to meet you, Jacob.”

“You, too ...ah... thank you . . .” He looked at his mother for guidance. She smiled and nodded. “Where’d they go, Mama?”

“They went to get Miss Asbury’s car. She got stuck in the mud up near where Joe lives.”

“Shucks!”

Jacob was a dark-haired child with a sprinkling of freckles on his pale face. April noticed immediately that he was not as big as a normal six-year-old child would be. Her nurse’s training kicked in, and she wondered if he’d had a serious illness.

“They’ll be back soon.” Eudora moved a box step over to the wash bench. “Wash up and come eat breakfast.”

A misty rain was falling when Joe rode into the yard with Jack leading the mules. April went out onto the back porch.

“Where’s my car? Couldn’t you find it?”

“What kind of car was it?” Joe turned the horse toward the porch.

“It’s a Ford coupe with a canvas top and sides. I left it right in the middle of the road.”

“Maybe Daisy got tired waiting for you to come back and took off on her own.” The grin on his face was irritating.

She glared at him and mouthed. “You . . . jackass!” Then, “Where is it?”

“At the end of the lane. I’ll give you a ride out when you’re ready to go.”

“Don’t trust him, ma’am.” Jack lifted his hat briefly. He turned to his brother. “She isn’t so ugly that she’d make a freight train detour through the woods. I’m going to tell Pa you’re lying again. Ma’am”—he turned back to April—“I’m Jack Jones, the reliable one in the family.”

“He’s about as reliable as snow on the Fourth of July. Blabs everything he hears,” Joe snorted.

“How do you do, Mr. Jones? And thank you for rescuing my car.”

“It was a pleasure, ma’am.”

“If it was so pleasurable, why were you swearin’ like a sailor when you were attachin’ the chains to it?”

“Pay him no mind, Miss April. He’s seein’ the writin’ on the wall and knows that I’m goin’ to beat his time with you.” Jack gave his brother a scornful look. “He just can’t stand to take a backseat when there’s a lady involved. He’ll tell all kinds of windy stories so she’ll favor him. If that don’t work, he’ll cheat—”

“How would you like a punch in the nose?”

“Boys! You’re going to scare her off before she even gets to town.” Eudora and Jacob had come out onto the porch.

“Whatcha doin’, Jack? Can I go?”

“Right now I’ve got to rub down the mules, peanut. It’s muddy out there, and you hadn’t ought to be around the mules. See if your mean old Uncle Joe will give you a ride down to the barn.”

Jacob giggled. “He ain’t mean, Jack.”

“I say he is. Now, who’re you goin’ to believe, me or him?” Jacob turned his laughing little face to April. “They’re funnin’.”

“You’ll see who’s funnin’ when you get up here,” Joe growled. “If you don’t believe me, I’ll take a bite out of you.”

Joe reached down and scooped the giggling child up and set him in front of him on the horse. It was easy to see that the two big men adored the boy and he them.

“I’ll give you a ride down to your car when you’re ready to go, Miss April. That is, if she behaves herself,” he said to Jacob and walked the horse slowly to the barn.

Arriving at her new job was not as April had pictured it. Rain was coming down in sheets by the time she crossed the railroad tracks just outside of town. She drove slowly down Main Street and turned left as Joe had instructed. At the end of the block she saw the low square house with the wraparound porch. There was a sign in front, but it was raining too hard for her to read it.

She stopped the car and waited, hoping the rain would slacken. She didn’t want to meet her new employer looking like a drowned cat. After a while she thought the rain had let up a bit and put on the old coat. Holding the umbrella over her head, she left the car and dashed for the porch. After shucking off her wet coat, she draped it over a chair and left the dripping umbrella beside it. After slicking her hair down with her palms, she followed the arrow to the side of the house and to the door marked
OFFICE
.

The small reception room was empty. Its cluttered desk faced the door, and there were two chairs and a handsome deacon’s bench for patients.

“Hello. Anyone here?”

The only sound was the ticking of a large schoolhouse-type clock that hung on the wall above the bench. When the phone rang, it startled her. She looked at it sitting on the desk and waited for someone to come from the other room to answer it. After the third ring she picked it up.

“Dr. Forbes’s office.”

“Who’re you?”

“Dr. Forbes’s nurse. I’ve just arrived.”

“This is Diane Ham, the operator. Is the doctor back?” “There isn’t anyone here.”

“Then he’s still out at the Barges’. Their little one has whooping cough. George Belmont, over at the creamery, cut his hand. I told him the doctor would be back by the time he got to the office. I can’t reach Doc; the Barges don’t have a phone.”

“When Mr. Belmont gets here, I’ll look at it. It may be something I can take care of.”

“What did you say your name was?”

“I didn’t say, but it’s April Asbury. I would have been here yesterday, but I got stuck in the mud out north of town.”

“If Doc calls in, I’ll tell him you’re here.”

“Thank you.”

April looked down at her soiled dress and knew that it would take a stretch of the imagination for anyone to accept her as a nurse. She hadn’t dreamed that she would be starting her duties today. Even if she had, she thought now, there wasn’t anything she could have done differently.

She wished that she looked more professional. She loved wearing her white starched uniform with the perky little cap perched on her head. She had worked hard to get the black stripe that circled it.

April hardly had time to look around and locate the supplies she would need when she heard heavy boot heels on the porch. The door was flung open and two men came in, water dripping off the brims of their hats. One had a towel wrapped around his hand.

“Where’s Doc?”

“He isn’t here. But I—”

“Dammit. Diane said he’d be here.”

“Come into the surgery and let me look at your hand.”

“Who are you?”

“Doc Forbes’s nurse. I just arrived today.”

“You don’t look like a nurse.”

“I would if I had my uniform on. If you want to wait, I’ll go to the car and get it. I’ll have to iron it before I put it on. That might take some time.”

“Let her take a look, George.”

“Dammit. Diane said Doc would be here,” he said again. “He was detained by a sick child with whooping cough.” “All right. Ya better know what yo’re doin’.”

The man, who removed his hat and dropped it on the floor beside the door and followed April into the surgery, had an unremarkable though pleasant face framed with a mop of dark unruly hair. His shoulders were broad, his arms heavily muscled, no doubt from lifting milk cans if he worked at the creamery. She motioned for him to sit down on the stool and put his arm on the examination table. While he was removing the towel, she scrubbed her hands at the chipped sink that had been installed in the corner of the room.

“Holy cow!” April exclaimed when she looked at the palm of his hand and the deep cut that reached from the base of his thumb to the base of his little finger. “That’s a devil of a cut.”

“Ya ain’t tellin’ me nothin’. It hurts like a sonofabitch.” He peered into the face bent over his hand. “Ain’t ya a bit young to be a nurse? Nurses ain’t supposed to be young and pretty.”

“How are they supposed to be?”

“Old and ugly and mean. Not . . . like you.”

“Are you flirting with me, George?”

“Naw. Ah . . . dammit to hell!” He swore when she poured antiseptic on the wound.

“This will need stitches. Do you want me to do it, or do you want to wait for Doc Forbes?”

“Have ya ever done it before?”

“I worked for six months in the emergency room of a hospital located in a rough part of Kansas City. I’ve seen fingers torn off, stab wounds, patches of hair pulled from the scalp and noses bitten off. Course, I couldn’t do anything about that. I’ve sewn ears back on, George. This little old cut is a piece of cake. But I’ve got to warn you. It’ll hurt like a son of a gun.”

“Wal, if a skinny little thing like you can do it, I guess I can take it.”

She looked at him seriously. “Do you prefer plain or fancy stitching?” She cocked a brow as she waited for his answer.

“Any way ya want to go, honey. As long as I can take ya to the show Saturday night.”

“Shucks, George. You’re number eight on my list for Saturday night. If the seven before you chicken out, I’ll call you. How’s that?”

“It’s a deal. Fix me up so I can play in the horseshoe tournament Sunday next. You’ll not turn down the chance to go out with a champion.” He winked at her.

April gathered the supplies she would need and sat down on a stool across from George.

“I pitch a mean game of horseshoes myself,” she said as she began the stitches that would close the wound. “Where do you play?”

“Over by the baseball diamond. When we pitch here, there’s usually quite a crowd.” George gritted his teeth and looked out the window.

“I used to play with my grandpa and some of his friends on Sunday afternoons. I’ve been known to get five ringers in a row.”

“You’re kiddin’! I’d like to see that.” She had his interest now.

“Maybe I’ll stroll down to the park, watch your game and give you a few pointers.”

“Horseshoes and baseball are big around here. I don’t suppose you play ball?”

“Just in school. Do they have a women’s softball team here?”

“Naw.”

She looked up to see that sweat had broken out on his forehead. His jaws were clenched, and he kept his head turned away from her. April worked fast. She’d had big men faint while she was stitching them up. She clipped the last stitch and stood up.

“I don’t think you should pitch horseshoes for a while. I’ll be mad as sin if you ruin my pretty stitches.”

“How about teamin’ up sometime?”

“I’ll have to see how good you are before I commit to being your partner. I’ve got one more thing to do here.” She reached for the bottle of iodine. “It’s going to hurt like a—”

“—sonofabitch.”

“I wasn’t going to say that, but it’s all right if it makes you feel better.”

The door to the outer office opened. April heard a male voice speak to the man who waited for George.

“Howdy.”

“Howdy, Doc.”

“Come take a look, Dr. Forbes.” April looked up as Doc came into the surgery. “And reassure George these are the best-looking stitches he’ll ever have.” She spoke as if it hadn’t been almost a year since she’d seen him.

Doc set his bag down and looked at the hand that lay on the table.

“Fancy. R-red thread?”

“I couldn’t find any. I had to dye it with iodine.”

“That’s a s-sneaky way of getting out of playing in the tournament, George. You kn-knew I’d win.”

“Horse hockey, Doc. I could beat ya pitchin’ with my left hand.”

“What’re ya betting?”

“A hind quarter of venison against the delivery of my first kid.”

“Hell, George. You’re n-not even married.”

“What’s that got to do with it?”

April finished with the bandage and busied herself putting away the supplies.

“Better come back in a couple d-days, George, and let me take a look at that.”

“Ma’am, are ya sure ya won’t go out with me Saturday night?”