Dorothy Garlock (27 page)

Doc returned to the house, swept Caroline up in his arms and settled her in the car.

“Come on, Silas. We’ve done everything we can do here.” “I come back, Doctah. Don’t want nobody breakin’ in.” “If they do, they do. You can’t stay here, man. There’s a place for you with me and Caroline. Come on before the water gets so high we can’t get out of here.”

Silas climbed onto the running board, and Doc backed down the lane to the road.

Chapter 21

“A
CAR IS STOPPING OUT FRONT NOW
, Mr. Appleby. It may be Dr. Forbes. He’s bringing in a patient. Shall I have him call you?”

“In five minutes or I’m coming down there.”

April smiled at the threat in his voice. The man was in a panic. She hung up the phone and went to open the door. Doc was coming up the steps with a young woman.

“I’m glad you’re back, Doc. Mr. Appleby is about to blow a fuse.”

“Annabel having pains?”

“Ten minutes apart.”

“It’s just my luck that she’ll deliver tonight.” Doc pulled the young woman up beside him. “April, this is Caroline Deval, soon to be my wife.” He put his arm around the beautiful girl, whose eyes were large and apprehensive. “Sweetheart, this is April Asbury, the nurse I’ve told you about.”

It seemed to April that five minutes passed before she could take her next breath. She had never received such shocking news delivered so calmly. However, she quickly recovered.

“Hello, Miss Deval.” The training in the trauma center helped to keep the shock from her face as she held out her hand. “I’m happy to meet you.”

The girl shyly extended her hand but said nothing. “Caroline will be staying here with me.” Doc paused to get April’s reaction, then said, “I want to keep her presence here as unobserved as possible in order to prevent any unpleasantness.”

April nodded. The girl, slim and beautiful with dark glossy hair, large amber eyes and dainty classic features, looked as if she were ready to flee. She held tightly to Doc’s hand. She glanced once at April, then fastened her eyes on Doc’s face.

“It’s going to be all right, honey.”

“Tell her,” Caroline whispered.

Doc looked into her face for a long while, then his hand went up to caress her cheek. She turned her lips to his palm. It was plain to April that the doctor had deep feelings for the girl and she for him.

“She wants me to tell you that she has colored blood and that most of those who live in Shanty Town know it. She’s afraid that if it’s known that I love her and want to make her my wife, I will be ruined in this town. I’m hoping that she and I can leave here before that happens.”

April didn’t know what to say. She had never faced a situation like this. She could only go on instinct and do her best not to stammer.

“Is she afraid that . . . I’ll . . . be unkind?” April spoke to Doc while looking at Caroline. “Please don’t worry about that. I might be jealous because . . . you’re so pretty.” She smiled and added the last in an attempt at humor. Neither Doc nor the girl smiled.

“You know what folks will say about a young lady staying here... much less Caroline.”

“There’s no reason for them to know . . . if she’s willing to stay out of sight. Oh, I almost forgot. Call Mr. Appleby. He said to call in five minutes, or he’d be up here.”

“I don’t want that to happen. I’ll make the call.” As he passed the door, he spoke to Silas on the porch. “I’ll help you bring in the trunk in a minute.”

April seldom felt big and gawky when with another woman, but she did standing beside this girl. She wanted to say something to ease the tension between them.

“You’re very pretty. I’m not surprised that Doc fell in love with you.”

“Thank you.”

After a silence April, determined to make conversation, asked, “Did your house flood?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Her eyes clung to Doc, who was speaking on the phone to Corbin Appleby.

“I’ll be down in a while, Corbin. It isn’t doing Annabel any good for you to shout the house down. She’s not going to have that baby within the next thirty minutes. Go hold her hand, tell her you’re sorry you got her into this fix and tell her to breathe deeply.” Doc hung up and rang the operator.

“I’m going to the Applebys. Yes, Mrs. Appleby is having her baby tonight. If you have an emergency, and I’m thinking there could be some with all the folks moving back from the river, Miss Asbury will be here. If it’s something she can’t handle, she’ll call me.” Doc hung up the phone.

“Silas, let’s bring in the trunk.” Doc went out onto the porch, and shortly after, he and Silas, the big colored man who had come looking for him the week before, carried in a trunk. They took it into Doc’s bedroom; then Silas went back to the car and brought in two stuffed pillowcases. Doc put those in his bedroom, too.

“Come in here, honey, and I’ll show you where your things can go.” With an apprehensive glance at April, Caroline went to the bedroom.

April felt like a fifth wheel. If she hadn’t heard Doc tell the operator that she’d be here, she would leave. So many thoughts were spinning around in her mind they crowded out, for a moment, the hurt and disappointment she felt when Joe gave her the cold treatment.

Oh, Lord. What would Miss Davenport, Shirley Poole and others do if they found out Caroline was here in Doc’s house? Was she the colored “whore” Mrs. Poole had referred to who didn’t dare show her face in town? Doc would not only be ruined in this town; newspapers would pick up the story, and his medical career would be over. He evidently knew the risk and was willing to take it.

It must be wonderful to have a man love you so deeply that he’d chance so much to be with you.

April could hear the murmur of Doc’s voice, then he and Caroline came from the bedroom.

“If you have any problem with this, now is the time to say so,” he told April.

She chose her words carefully. “You have the right to choose the woman you want as your wife. I thought we were friends as well as employer and employee. As your friend, you can depend on me to support whatever decisions you make as long as they are not hurtful to someone else.”

“Marriage between me and Caroline will be illegal. I could be arrested—”

“Maybe in the eyes of the law it’s illegal. I doubt that it is in the eyes of God.”

Doc’s shoulders seemed to slump in relief. “See, sweet girl, I told you it would be all right.” His arm pulled Caroline close. Then to April: “You and Joe are the only ones who know about me and Caroline. It’s only fair that I tell you that I have applied for a job in Canada. I should know in a week or two if I get it. If I don’t, I will be leaving anyway.”

“Will another doctor come to take your place?”

“In time. I don’t know how soon. I would appreciate it if you’d consider staying on and taking care of emergencies and sending those you can’t handle to the doctors in Mason.”

The phone rang. April went through the door into the clinic to answer it. “The doctor is out right now, Flora. Tell them to bring him here, and I’ll do what I can until the doctor gets back.

“A man sliced his thigh with a knife,” she explained when she returned. “An accident. It may be something I can handle; if not, I’ll call you. You’d better get going before Mr. Appleby calls again.”

“You’ll be all right here with April.” Doc’s voice was soft when he spoke to Caroline. “Silas is here. When I get back, I’ll fix him a place to sleep in the shed out back.”

Caroline stood quietly behind Doc’s chair after he had left, her hands held tightly to the back. She looked uncertain and scared. April’s heart went out to her.

“I would like for us to be friends. I think the world of Dr. Forbes. Not as a sweetheart,” she added quickly, “but as a friend, a person I respect a great deal. I’ll do anything I can to help him . . . and you.” When the shy girl didn’t reply, April continued. “I’ll be here in the clinic.” She indicated the open door. “You may want to turn the light off in the living room and on in the bedroom or kitchen. I checked the shades. No one can see in.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Caroline’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“Please call me April. May I call you Caroline?” Caroline nodded, then said, “I’m worried for Todd. I’d leave if I could.”

“It would break his heart if you did. He must love you very much.”

“My papa was disowned by his family because he loved my mama.”

“How long have you been alone?”

“Papa died last Christmas Day.”

“That must have been hard. My mother died on Thanksgiving Day. You’re lucky to have Doc. He is one of the smartest, kindest men I’ve ever known. He’ll take you someplace where you can be happy together.”

The slamming of a car door and quick steps on the porch sent April scurrying into the clinic, closing the door behind her. A short, stocky woman came in, breathing heavily.

“I can’t get him out of the car. I think he fainted.”

April grabbed up a bottle of smelling salts and followed her to the car. The man who sprawled in the backseat was large. His belt was buckled beneath a protruding belly. A bloody towel was wrapped around a leg that looked to be as big as the branch of an oak tree. When she leaned into the car, she caught the unmistakable smell of alcohol. When she waved the bottle under his nose, he sat up, his arms flying out like a windmill. It was then that April realized the man hadn’t fainted. He was drunk.

It was going to take more muscle than she and the woman with him had to get him into the clinic. April called out to the man sitting on the floor at the far end of the porch.

“Silas, will you help us?”

“Yes’m.”

“He won’t like that a-tall,” the woman said when she saw Silas. “He don’t have no truck with coloreds.”

“He will this time,” April said firmly. “Or he’ll sit there and bleed to death. Silas, grasp him under the arms and pull him out.”

“Whatsha doin’? Get ’way, nigger. I’ll kick your black ass—”

“Calm down,” April said patiently. “We’ve got to get you inside so I can look at your leg.”

The man’s arms flailed, trying to hit Silas, and he hit her instead. “Hey, stop that!”

“Get ...’way! No black sonabitch is . . . touchin’ me. No split-tail, neither.”

“Hush up!” April’s temper flared.

“Don’t ya tell me . . . to hush, ya uppity . . . bitch.” The eyes fastened on her were hate-filled. “Shit . . . eatin’ nigger— ain’t goin’ to push me.”

“Shut your filthy mouth! You’re damn lucky he’s willing to help a drunken mouthy sot. Now, settle down and let Silas help you, or your wife can take you back where you came from. It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference to me.”

“Shee-it—”

“Why’re ya talkin’ to him that way?” the woman said. “Can’t ya see he’s hurt?”

“I can see that he’s drunk and has a nasty mouth.”

“That ain’t none of your business if’n he’s drunk. Where’s Dr. Forbes?”

“The doctor is away delivering a baby. If you don’t want me to help him, I suggest that you take him to a doctor in Mason.”

“Who’re you anyway?”

“Dr. Forbes’s nurse.”

“You don’t look like no nurse.”

“Well, I am. And I’m well qualified to take care of a cut. What’s it going to be? I’ve got more to do than stand here and argue with a drunk.”

The woman leaned in the car. “Hon, ya gotta let the nigger help you, or we’ll have to drive to Mason, and the road may be flooded by now.”

The man cursed continually as Silas pulled him out of the car and supported him with a strong arm while he hopped on one foot up the steps and into the clinic.

“Bring him back here, Silas, and help him up onto the examination table.”

Flat on the table, the man glared up at Silas. “Get the hell out. I ain’t carin’ for nigger stink.”

“Stay, Silas.” April removed her suit coat and pulled on one of Doc’s white jackets. “I might need you to hold this big-mouth down while I sew him up. Take off his shoes,” she said to his wife, and she unwrapped the dingy blood-soaked towel from around his leg. The gash was long and deep across the front of his thigh. “Take off your pants.”

A grin came over the whiskered face. “Ya wantin’ to see what I got in ’em?”

“I know what ya’ve got in ’em, and I imagine it’s about as insignificant as the rest of ya.” She mimicked his speech. “Are you taking them off, or do I cut the leg off your britches? Silas, hand me the scissors.”

“Don’t ya ruin my britches. I’ll take ’em off.”

April flung a sheet over his middle and began to load the cart with the supplies she would need to clean, stitch and bandage the wound.

“What did he cut himself with?” she asked the woman, who hovered over his head after she had pulled off his britches.

“Skinning knife. He was skinning out a couple squirrels he killed today.”

April poured the antiseptic directly into the wound. The man would have jumped off the table if she and his wife had not held him down.

“Bitch!” he shouted.

“Call me that name again and you’ll regret it. Do you understand me?” She glared directly into his eyes, her lips tight with anger. “You don’t scare me a bit. I’ve treated far tougher than you; so button up your foul mouth, or I’ll slap some tape over it.”

Thirty minutes later she was wrapping a bandage around the man’s thigh. She’d had to call on Silas to hold the leg still while she closed the cut with twelve stitches.

“You’d better bring him back day after tomorrow,” April said to the woman; she had stopped talking to the drunk. “Doc will want to be sure there is no infection. I’ll give you a few pain pills, but don’t give them to him until he sobers up. I’m not sure how they’d mix with alcohol.”

The woman helped him back into his pants and to sit up on the side of the table.

“For the record, what is his name?” April asked the woman.

“Gilbert. Morton Gilbert.”

“You owe Dr. Forbes two dollars. If you don’t have the money now, you can stop by later and pay. Now, will Mr. Gilbert be kind enough to permit Silas to help him back in the car?” April knew how to use her voice to cut, and she did that now.

“You don’t have to be so snotty about it,” Mrs. Gilbert snarled.

“Silas, help him to the car, please. I want him out of here. If he falls and breaks open the stitches, I’ll have it to do all over again.” April was tired to the bone. It was three in the morning, and her patience was at an end, especially with the ungrateful drunk.