Tabitha (22 page)

“Oh!” Claire’s eyes glistened. “He is so generous.” She
hugged Tabitha again.

When they broke apart, Claire introduced Tabitha to her
family. “Tabitha, these are my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Silverstine, and my
brother, Robert.”

“We have heard many good things about you, Miss Hale,”
Claire’s mother said as she squeezed Tabitha’s hand. “You were a strength and
encouragement to Claire when she returned to school. Thank you. Thank you for
helping her.”

Tabitha’s smile was glowing. “I saw Claire as the answer to
my
prayers, Mrs. Silverstine. She was the friend I never had at school. I am
grateful to God for her.”

“Will you join us for lunch, Miss Hale?” Claire’s father
asked.

“I would be honored. I am here with a friend’s car and
driver. May I meet you at the restaurant?”

Tabitha thoroughly enjoyed her time with the Silverstines.
She could see that they were a simple, close-knit family. Their pride in their
daughter was evident, and Claire basked in their approval and love.

As the little celebration began to break up, Tabitha said
her goodbyes. “I shall watch for your letters,” she told Claire, “and I expect
to hear soon that you have found a good situation.”

They embraced again, and Tabitha walked outside to find
Banks and the waiting car.

As the next days passed by, Tabitha began to believe that
she would not receive an answer from the British nursing service.

I prayed and asked you to lead me, Lord. I am sorry if I
jumped ahead of your plans for me. I trust you, Father. I will continue to
serve you here until you lead me otherwise.

But an answer did arrive, and its impact was immediate.

Dear Miss Hale,

We have reviewed your credentials and accept at once your
kind offer to volunteer with Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing
Service
.
Your services
are needed most urgently. You will be enrolled in a Voluntary Aid Detachment
through the British Red Cross and seconded to the QAIMNS.

We have arranged for you to come to us aboard the U.S.
passenger ship
Arabic
, departing New York harbor July 1, scheduled to
arrive in Liverpool, England, July 8.

Please make your way to New York City in a timely manner
and present your U.S. passport at Pier 114 no later than June 30 where you will
be issued travel papers and itinerary. Keep expense receipts from Denver to New
York for reimbursement purposes.

We will receive you at the enclosed address, our
headquarters in Surrey, where we will process and assign you to an appropriate
hospital accordingly.

Cordially,

Lady Marie Perth–Lyon

Assistant to
Dame Flora
Becher, Matron-in-Chief QAIMNS/QARANC

Tabitha gulped. “Lord, you did answer! And I leave soon. So soon!” The two
words caught in her throat. “My ship leaves in only two weeks. I shall have to
tender my notice at the hospital immediately. I must factor in how long it will
take me to reach New York by train so that I arrive in time. I—” The nearness
of her departure stunned her.

Tabitha reread the letter and had another realization. She found a map of
England and scanned it anxiously. Her breath hitched when she located it:
Surrey was in the south of England. Yorkshire, the location of Catterick
airfield, was north and east.

“Not close, but not too far! Close enough that, when I am able to obtain a
pass, I could go to Mason,” she whispered, “although they may certainly post me
to a hospital elsewhere.”

She grasped at another insight. “Oh! I must tell Rose I am leaving! O
Father, I know she has grown to depend upon me. Please! I ask that you bring
someone to fill my place, to ease the many burdens on her shoulders.”

When she finished praying, Tabitha went downstairs and found the puzzle box
with the ship on its lid. She took the box upstairs, dumped the pieces on her
bed, and sorted through them. When she located the corner piece she sought, she
set it aside and scooped the remaining pieces into the box.

I hope they are not terribly put out when they cannot find the last corner
piece next time they assemble this puzzle
,
but I must
take this with me as a reminder of what God spoke to me
.

“Miss Rose? May I have a word with you?” Tabitha waited
until morning after the girls had left for work before approaching Rose. They
sat down in the great room, as they often had while Tabitha was dictating her
testimony, and faced each other across the low table.

“What is it, Tabitha?” Rose asked. She appeared calm, but
Tabitha noticed the hanky she clenched in one hand.

She knows. She knows something of what I am about to tell
her
, Tabitha perceived, and her heart ached.
I am one more support Miss
Rose so depends upon who will be leaving her. O Lord!

Tabitha licked her lips. “Miss Rose, the letters from Mr. Carpenter
have spoken of the great need for nurses in Europe,” she began. “The numbers of
war wounded are filling British hospitals to overflowing.”

Rose nodded. Her grip on the hanky tightened.

“I-I felt the Lord lead me to volunteer with the Red Cross,
so I wrote to them. As it turns out, they cannot do much more than they are
doing at present unless the United States enters the war.” Tabitha stared at
her hands folded in her lap. “They suggested that I might serve in the British
Nursing Service as a volunteer. I wrote to them weeks ago.”

Rose sighed and nodded again.

“Yesterday I received their reply. They have accepted me.”
Tabitha swallowed. “They have already booked passage to England in my name. I
must leave in less than two weeks,” Tabitha whispered.

Rose nodded a third time but still said nothing.

“Miss Rose? Please do not be disappointed in me. I need your
blessing—I could not go without it.”

Rose lifted her tired eyes to Tabitha’s. “My darling girl. I
am not disappointed in you! How could I be? You must do what the Lord leads you
to do.”

They studied each other, many unspoken words flowing between
them, before Tabitha choked out, “And will I go with your blessing?”

“Of course you shall have my blessing,” Rose murmured. “And
you know I will keep you in my prayers.” She smiled as she spoke, but Tabitha
had never seen such sadness in a smile. She could not bear it.

“I am sorry, Miss Rose,” Tabitha sobbed.

Rose went to her and gathered her into her arms. “We must
never be sorry for following where Jesus leads us.”

“But I am hurting you,” Tabitha sniffled, “and I said I
would be here for you! This house and all its cares are too much, too much for
you to bear alone!”

Rose did not say anything for a long time. She just kept her
arms about Tabitha and kept stroking her back in a soothing manner. When she
did speak, her voice had a dreamy quality.

“Once, long ago, God spoke to me to leave what remained of
my family. I recall how hurt my mother was, how she protested my leaving her,
my brother, and my childhood home.”

“What did you do?” Tabitha lifted her wet eyes to Rose’s.

“I did what God called me to do,” Rose answered, still far
away in her memories. “I never saw my mother again. She passed away a year or
so later.”

Rose took a cleansing breath and returned in her thoughts to
the present day. “If I had not followed the prompting of the Holy Spirit? If I
had listened to the voices of ‘reason’ and ‘convention’ rather than to God?”

She smiled and Tabitha was comforted to see the well of
strength Rose still possessed. “If I had not obeyed God, I would not be here
with you today. Look at all the things that would have gone undone had I not
obeyed God when he spoke to me.”

Rose gently took Tabitha by the shoulders and turned her so
she could look in her eyes. “God called Abraham out of his own country and into
a land he did not know. God called, but before he could show Abraham all he had
in store for him, Abraham had to leave all he knew. In the same way, at some
point in our lives, God calls each of us to ‘go,’ often without knowing what he
has in store for us.

“Tabitha, my daughter, as much as it pains me to see you
leave us, it would pain me more to see you disobey the call of God on your
life. You have my blessing and my love. Whatever lack we suffer here when you
depart, the God of all grace will fill out of his abundant provision.”

Tabitha laid her head on Rose’s shoulder. “Thank you, Miss
Rose. Thank you for obeying God. I cannot imagine where I would be had you not
followed his leading.”

They were both thinking of the old Tabitha, the selfish,
angry, bitter woman Marshal Pounder had delivered to Rose years before.

Rose placed her hand on Tabitha’s fiery hair and stroked it.
“God has redeemed and restored you, Tabitha. Now it is your turn to follow as he
directs. Go and bear much fruit, my daughter.”

Tabitha’s preparations were complete: She would leave Denver
in two days. Her train would take her to New York; there she would find the
berth reserved for her on the White Star Line liner,
SS Arabic
.

As it was a Sunday afternoon, some of the Palmer House
family were gathered in the great room; others were clustered in the gazebo
where Corrine was reading aloud to a small knot of the young women while they
did light mending or knitting.

Rose was nodding in her chair; Tabitha was in deep
conversation with Sarah.

“I am praying,” Sarah whispered to Tabitha. “I am asking the
Lord if I should leave my position in Joy’s shop to come help Miss Rose here.”

“If it is God’s will, I will be quite glad of it,” Tabitha
replied as a knock sounded on Palmer House’s front door.

Mr. Wheatley answered the door and showed a young woman into
the room. Rose awakened from her dozing when Tabitha leapt to her feet.

“Claire!” Tabitha rushed to embrace her friend. “Oh, Claire,
my dear friend! I am so happy to see you! Everyone, this is my friend Claire
from nursing school.” She walked Claire from one to another until they had all
shaken her hand. Of course, Rose had met her at Tabitha’s graduation. She
greeted Claire fondly.

“But what are you doing here?” Tabitha demanded.

“Oh, isn’t it wonderful, Tabitha,” Claire exulted. “I have
just taken a position here in Denver! I arrived last week and am nursing a
little boy who survived scarlet fever. His family is very kind to me. I have the
whole of Sunday off each week, so we can see each other often and—”

Claire stared at Tabitha’s shocked expression. “But aren’t
you happy I am here?”

“Oh, goodness, I most certainly am.” Tabitha wiped away the
dismay that her friend had to have seen. “It is only . . .”

“What is it, Tabitha?”

Tabitha sighed. “Claire, I am leaving on Tuesday.”

“Leaving? But where are you going?”

Tabitha led Claire into the parlor where they could speak in
private. After she explained she added, “So you see, I must leave on the train
early Tuesday morning if I am to reach New York in time to meet my ship.”

“Oh, my.” Claire’s disappointment was evident. “I had so
looked forward to us . . .”

“I am so sorry,” Tabitha whispered.

“No. You must not be sorry.” Claire lifted her chin. “I know
you will do great things for God . . . over there.” She
shrugged. “I had high hopes we would have lovely times together. I even hoped I
would come to know your friends here at Palmer House, perhaps partake of the
amazing fellowship of which you told me so much.”

Tabitha smiled. “That hope,” she answered, “is entirely
possible. Even though you live with your patient’s family, I know Miss Rose
will welcome you to sit with the Palmer House ‘troop’ at our church!”

They both laughed. At school Tabitha had described the long
line of Palmer House girls marching two-by-two to church each Sunday.

“I know, too, that Miss Rose will enfold you in her little
flock, Claire. I am only sorry I will not be here with you.”

“You will write to me?” Claire asked.

“Of course! As often as I can.”

Quite early Tuesday morning, Tabitha finished dressing and closed the only
suitcase she would be taking. The house, for the most part, was still shrouded
in darkness and sleep.

I said my goodbyes last night,
she recalled.
No one need see me off
this morning.

Tabitha felt in the pocket of her dress. Her fingers traced the edges of
the corner puzzle piece. She had pinned a clean handkerchief—with the piece
folded within it—to the pocket’s inside. Neither the handkerchief nor the
puzzle piece would fall out of her pocket.

She slipped on a light sweater, slung her handbag over her shoulder, and
carried her case down the two flights of stairs. A cab would be waiting for her
at the curb to take her to Union Station.

Resolute, Tabitha stepped toward the front door—but was stopped by the soft
glow of a light coming from the great room. She set her case by the door and
peeked into the room. She was alarmed to see Rose slumped over her desk, her
head resting upon her folded arms.

Tabitha tiptoed to the desk and heard the breathy sounds of deep sleep.
Under one of Rose’s hands lay her open Bible.

Has she been here all night? Did she stay up late praying for me?
Tabitha wondered.

From outside Tabitha heard a horn honk once.
My cab.