Leave a Candle Burning (3 page)

“How’s your day going?” he asked of Alison.

“I keep getting distracted.”

“By Jeff?”

“Yes, and the garden. I think I put too much on my list.”

“Where’s Hillary?” he asked about their daughter.

“She’s at Opal Berglund’s, helping clean up after their kitchen fire.”

“It was kind of her to go.”

“Yes, it was, but I admit that I had big plans for the day.”

Douglas caught it then. His wife’s oh-so-subtle attempt to get him to watch Jeffrey for a time. Douglas tried not to smile, but it wasn’t going very well. Alison saw the smile that crept into his eyes and had to fight her own grin.

“I have a sermon to prepare,” he tried.

“It’s only Wednesday, and you’ve been working so hard on this subject you know it backward and forward.”

“Nothing much gets by you, does it?”

“Not when I’m trying to get into the garden,” she answered with a coaxing smile.

Douglas shook his head in mock exasperation and agreed. When Alison kissed him and left, he settled himself on the floor to play with his youngest son. It was no end of fun, but it also made him long for a swift return of his three middle children, who were visiting their grandmother in Boston.

“Good morning, Dannan MacKay,” Troy Thaden, who with Conner was one of Tucker Mills’ bank managers, welcomed the new doctor. “Come, have a seat by the desk.”

The men had spoken to each other many times at the meetinghouse and over meals but never talked about Dannan’s personal business interests. Today would be different.

“How are you, Troy?” Dannan asked.

“Doing well. Yourself?”

“Fine. Still adjusting to a new town and letting folks adjust to a new doctor, but coming along.”

“How many months have you been here?”

“Let’s see.” Dannan’s head went back. “I’ve been here about four months, maybe a little more.”

“Is there anyone to visit back in Willows Crossing?”

“Just a cousin and his family. I might go see them this winter if they don’t visit here first.”

“How is it coming with your patients?”

“Most of the time, it’s fine,” Dannan informed him, even as he began to smile. “I had a woman yesterday who came to the office. I could tell she wanted something, but it took a while for her to tell me what it was. I guessed for the better part of ten minutes about what might be bothering her, and she finally blurted it out.”

“Well, that’s progress,” Troy said, smiling in return.

“Yes, but she also told me exactly how she felt about
old
Doc MacKay leaving, and that he had no business doing such a thing.”

“He heard plenty of that before he left too.”

“Yes, I’m sure. Now,” Dannan began, “I won’t take up more of your time on this. I’m wondering if the bank owns any small houses that it’s trying to sell right now.”

“Looking to move?”

“It’s just a thought I had, and I don’t believe my landlord wants to sell.”

“Have you asked Eli?” Troy asked. He knew Eli Peterson, Dannan’s landlord, owned several properties in town. “He just might want to discuss it.”

“As a matter of fact, I haven’t met him. My uncle paid my rent for months down the road, so we never got around to my meeting him.”

“Well, it was just a thought. I have two houses, one that’s available now, and one that will be going on the market very soon. I can tell you about them right now or show them to you some other time.”

Dannan was on the verge of saying that he’d like to hear about them, but a man had rushed into the bank, and Dannan knew he was needed.

“Is the Doc here?” the man asked of the teller, even as Dannan and Troy both stood and were noticed in the office alcove.

“There you are,” the stranger said to Dannan. “Can you come? It looks like Cathy Shephard has broken her arm.”

“I’m on my way,” Dannan replied with a calm that was genuine. “Thank you, Troy,” he turned long enough to add. “I’ll check back with you.”

“Certainly, Dannan. Maybe I’ll see you at noon.”

Dannan agreed and slipped out the door. Troy and the bank teller, Mr. Leffler, walked to the front windows. They didn’t speak, but their eyes were directed down the green toward the Shephard home and store, their hearts wondering how the accident had happened.

“Hold still, Cathy,” Doyle Shephard cautioned his wife, having made her as comfortable as possible on the floor of the store office.

“It throbs,” she gasped a little, holding her right arm close to her body, still unable to believe she had fallen down the stairs at the store.

Doyle and Cathy owned Shephard Store, Tucker Mills’ general store. Cathy had come over to the store—their house was right next door—and found Doyle with three customers. He’d asked her to go upstairs to the storeroom and find an item. She’d lost her footing about halfway down and tumbled to the bottom. Now they waited for Dannan MacKay.

“It could have been my neck,” Cathy suddenly said, bringing Doyle’s eyes to hers.

“Considering how stiff your neck can be,” Doyle teased her, “that would’ve been bad.”

Cathy tried to glare at him, but a smile peeked through.

“Through the office,” they heard someone out front say. Their customers had given them space but were not willing to leave. Dannan appeared a moment later.

“Well, Mrs. Shephard,” Dannan teased gently, “lying down on the job.”

“It’s my arm,” she said a bit breathlessly. “Do you set bones, Dannan?”

“I’ve done my share.” He knelt beside the couple. “Let’s have a look.”

“It hurt every time I tried to help her up, so we stayed here,” Doyle put in.

“I think you were wise,” Dannan encouraged as he began to probe gently on the arm and wrist. Cathy’s breathing quickened. Dannan murmured words of comfort, but both knew there was a break, and the following minutes were not going to be very much fun.

Reese loved old Doc MacKay. More than old enough to be her father, they had been fast friends for many years. And it was with a great many tears that he had departed their community, but not all was lost. He had left Dr. Dannan MacKay, a fine doctor and his brother’s son, in his place. Reese and Conner had taken to him in a hurry, and whenever he could make it, he joined them for dinner, enjoying the meals Reese prepared and the leftovers and baked goods she sent his way.

Today was no different. It had taken some doing to make Cathy Shephard comfortable, but by the time the clock climbed toward noon, Dannan was at the Kingsley home, known around town as the big house, readying to eat with Conner, Reese, and Troy. Troy prayed and the meal began.

“How bad was the break?” Conner was the first to ask.

“Not as bad as it could have been. The bones in Mrs. Shephard’s arm are not broken, but the break in the wrist is bad enough that the pain is going to radiate up the entire arm. She’ll have to keep still and be patient while it heals.”

“Will it heal properly?” Reese asked.

Dannan nodded. “It should. I’ll check on the splint tomorrow, to make sure it’s still holding well.”

“Will she be in town or out at Jace and Maddie’s?” Reese asked practically.

“I hadn’t thought of it,” Dannan admitted.

“If I know Doyle,” Conner put in, “she’ll be at the farm by the end of the day.”

No one commented further on Cathy Shephard’s condition, but both Reese and Troy silently agreed with Conner. Doyle would see to it that his wife was taken care of, even if that meant moving her out of town to the farm.

“I can’t move out of my own home,” Cathy was still saying when the wagon pulled into the yard at Jace and Maddie’s after teatime that evening. Her husband ignored her, and seeing Maddie come out the kitchen door, Cathy stopped talking.

“Hello,” Maddie spoke with surprise and confusion in seeing her aunt and uncle after tea. Her eyes also took in Cathy’s cross face. Nevertheless, Maddie was ready to welcome them both when she noticed her aunt’s arm. “What’s happened?”

“She fell down the store stairs and broke her wrist,” Doyle said simply. “Dannan set it but says she needs to rest it.”

“He won’t even listen to me,” Cathy cut him off. “How am I going to look after things from out here?”

“It sounds like looking is all you can do, Cathy,” Maddie said reasonably, watching Cathy climb from the wagon and wince in pain. “Come in and see the baby,” she invited warmly, not wanting to get into a dispute with her. It helped that Jace was coming from the house, Valerie in his arms.

Cathy’s face lit with a smile as soon as she saw the baby, and Maddie knew at least one thing: Cathy might grouse about being there, but Doyle’s decision to bring her was the very best medicine.