One More Sunrise (22 page)

The others saw Kathryn’s eyes roam his features as though committing them to memory. “But you don’t know that, Gib. We all thought Darryl would come home from that stagecoach robbery—but now he lies in a cold grave at Cheyenne.”

Gib lifted the hand that she held, and with both hands, cupped her face tenderly. “Honey, you have to keep your mind on the fortune we’re building toward our retirement in sunny California in just a few years.”

She closed her eyes and the tears spilled freely onto his hands. He kept them there and dropped his head, biting his lips.

The others could see that Kathryn’s attitude was weighing on Gib.

He wiped away tears from both her cheeks and kissed her lips. “Honey, all of us will be back in three weeks, richer than ever.”

Kathryn struggled to keep her composure while the men were filing out the door to mount up and ride away. When Bart was
kissing Lucinda good-bye on the porch, Gib took Kathryn into his arms and said, “Remember, now. Keep your chin up and just keep dreaming about our retirement in California with all that money.”

With her throat tight, Kathryn nodded, then kissed him.

After the men had ridden out of sight, Lucinda turned from the porch railing. “Kathryn, you shouldn’t act this way. It can only hinder Gib, not help him. It bothers the other men too. I could see it in their eyes.”

Kathryn blinked at the tears that were still forming and looked at Lucinda. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to do better. I really will.”

“Good. You’ll help all of us if you do.”

That same morning in Cheyenne, Dr. Dane Logan was at the Minard home. Walt was doing quite well, which made his doctor very happy. Loretta tearfully looked at Dr. Dane and said, “How can I ever thank you sufficiently for saving Walt’s life? I’ll be forever grateful.”

Dr. Dane smiled. “Loretta, I already have all the thanks I need just seeing Walt alive and doing so well.”

Walt said, “Doctor, I deeply appreciate your dedication to your work. If you hadn’t acted as wisely as you did, I would have died.”

Dr. Dane smiled and laid a hand on Walt’s shoulder. “If the Lord hadn’t given me the wisdom, I couldn’t have saved your life, Walt.”

Moments later, Dr. Dane drove away from the Minard home and headed out of town. His next stop was the Ballard farm. “Lord,” he said, “thank You for allowing me to fulfill my lifelong dream to be a physician and surgeon.”

Some twenty minutes later, Dr. Dane guided the buggy onto the Ballard place, and when he pulled up in front of the house, the door came open. Clyde and Frances stood at the open door and welcomed him.

As he stepped into the house, he looked at both of them. “So how’s Bertha doing?”

“She’s napping right now, Doctor,” said Frances, “but I’ll go wake her up.”

“Oh no. I don’t want to disturb her nap. She needs the rest. Is she doing all right, though?”

“She’s doing very well,” said Clyde. “She’s walking with her cane, and as you prescribed, she is walking a little more each day.”

At that moment, they saw Bertha come out of her room down the hall, and she smiled as she walked slowly toward them.

The doctor smiled back as he watched her move their direction. “She
is
doing well, isn’t she?”

When Bertha drew up, she looked into the doctor’s eyes. “I’m doing well because my surgeon did such a beautiful job in replacing my hip with the ivory ball. It’s given me a new lease on life.”

“Well, praise the Lord,” said Dr. Dane. “He is the one who made it possible for me to become a surgeon, Bertha. Well, I’d better be going. I just wanted to stop by and check on my patient.”

The Ballards stood on the porch and waved as the doctor put his horse in motion and headed up the lane toward the country road that led to Cheyenne.

As the buggy reached the end of the lane and Dr. Dane guided it onto the road, he said, “Thank You once again, dear Lord, for allowing me to do this work that I love so much. I’ll enjoy it even more when someday I have my own practice.”

A moment later, with the sound of the horse’s hooves pounding the surface of the road, Dane Logan let his mind go back to the dismal days when he was orphaned at the age of fifteen. His parents had been so encouraging to him as he contemplated his future as a physician and surgeon. When they were murdered by the street gang, not only was he devastated by this horrendous loss, but the hope of having a medical career was lost too.

He had a few medical books that his parents had bought him
and a dream in his heart, but when he had to take up residence in one of Manhattan’s back alleys with a colony of other orphans, it seemed impossible that he would ever have the funds to cover the cost of medical school.

As Dane was guiding the buggy on a turn in the road, a smile curved his lips. He thought of dear Dr. Lee Harris, and how Dr. Harris had taught him how to treat the injuries and mild illnesses of the other children in the colony. And then, Dr. Harris got him the job at Clarkson Pharmacy. This put him in touch with medicine, which brightened his life.

Then came that dreadful day when he was arrested for murdering Benny Jackson. A few days later, he was sentenced to life in prison. All hope for ever becoming a doctor was gone.

He thought of the long, hopeless months he spent in the Manhattan prison, then, a smile curved his lips again when he remembered that wonderful day when he was released from the prison because the real killer had been caught.

Romans 8:28 came to mind. “
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose
.”

God had used Dane Weston, even in the bleak days of his imprisonment, to lead precious souls to the Saviour. His heart thrilled anew at the thought of God’s faithfulness, even though he had despaired at times. God had a purpose for him being in the prison, and that purpose had eternal results.

Cheyenne lay ahead of Dane in the beautiful autumn sunshine. “Thank You, Lord, for working out Your purpose in my life. Look where I am today! My dream has been realized. Thank You, precious Lord, for Your faithfulness and Your wonderful blessings. Here I am doing the work I love so much. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!”

When Dane arrived in Cheyenne, he stopped at the hospital to look in on a couple of patients. Just as he was coming out of the
second patient’s room, he met up with Dr. Jeremy Winstad.

Dane’s face brightened at the sight of his friend. “How was your trip to Denver last week?”

Winstad smiled warmly. “It was fine, Doc Dane. I’ve been wanting to talk to you ever since I got back yesterday. While I was in Denver, I visited Dr. Matt Carroll. You know who he is, don’t you?”

“Uh-huh. Head man at Mile High Hospital.”

“Right. You’ve mentioned to me several times that someday you’d like to have your own practice.”

Dane let a grin form on his face. “Yes, I have.”

“Well, Dr. Carroll told me that Dr. Robert Fraser in Central City is looking for a young doctor to come and take over his practice. Central City is in the mountains some thirty miles west of Denver. There are several towns in that area that have no doctor. He’s the only doctor in a thirty-mile radius. Dr. Carroll says it is a good solid practice. Dr. Fraser will turn seventy-five next month and is finding it more difficult all the time to keep up with the workload.”

Dane’s pulse throbbed. “Sounds good! Thanks for giving me the information. I’ll look into it right away.”

“Let me know how it turns out.”

“I sure will. See you later.”

When Dane arrived back at the office, his parents were looking over a patient’s file at his mother’s desk.

They asked how it went with the house calls and with the two patients in the hospital. Dane gave them the details, then said, “And something else happened when I was at the hospital.”

They both listened intently as he told them of his conversation with Dr. Jeremy Winstad about the pending sale of the practice in Central City.

“I’ve heard of Dr. Robert Fraser, son,” said Jacob, “but I’ve never had the opportunity to meet him. Since Dr. Carroll thinks
so much of him, I’m sure it is indeed a solid practice. So I assume you’re going to be making a trip to Central City.”

“I really feel I should, Dad. You … ah … you told me that you understood my wanting to have my own practice.”

Jacob and Naomi looked at each other, then Jacob said, “Of course I do. Your mother and I have been praying that the Lord would guide you about it when it was His time.”

Naomi smiled at her son. “Of course your father and I have mixed emotions, Dane. We will miss having you close to us, and we will miss having you here in this practice. But we both understand.”

“Especially me,” said Jacob. “I well remember how very much I looked forward to having my own practice when I finished my internship. You go talk to Dr. Fraser. And don’t fret about my having the extra workload here. I’m not an old man yet, and I’m sure I won’t have a problem finding a new partner. Memorial Hospital has several young doctors doing their internship, and I know of two or three who are just about finished.”

“Okay if I go tomorrow?”

“Sure. I’ll look after your patients.”

The next day, Dr. Dane took the early train to Denver and rented a horse from a stable near the railroad station.

It was a glorious autumn day. As he rode west into the Rockies and moved up into the high country, he drew in a deep breath of the clean, fresh air and ran his gaze in a panorama. The aspen and birch trees were brilliant with their shimmering golden leaves and the dark green pines towered over them as majestic sentinels. All around were the lofty peaks reaching toward the pale blue sky, some with white caps of snow that had not melted in the relative warmth of the summer.

Drawing in another deep breath, Dane said, “It’s just a great day to be alive.”

The sight of the wide-open sky and the sun casting its deep shadows in the canyons filled him with wonder at God’s handiwork.

“I could be very happy living in this marvelous mountain country. Lord, if it’s Your will, I’d love for it to work out with Dr. Fraser.”

Riding through the high country was a slow process. It was just after four o’clock in the afternoon when Dane drew near Central City. The town’s setting was beautiful. By reading signs at the edge of town, he learned that there were gold and silver mines nearby. The Holton Coal Mine, he learned, was just two miles west of town.

As he rode into Central City, he let his eyes roam from side to side. The town was laid out in an attractive manner. People were moving about on the boardwalks, and there was steady traffic on Main Street.

Soon Dane spotted the sign that identified the office of Dr. Robert Fraser. He guided the horse to the hitch rail, dismounted, and entered it.

He was greeted by the nurse-receptionist at the desk whose name plate identified her as Nadine Wahl. Dane estimated her to be in her early sixties.

Smiling at her, he said, “I need to see Dr. Fraser if he’s in, ma’am.”

“Dr. Fraser is with his last scheduled patient for the day at the moment. He should be finished in a few minutes. He will see you, of course. May I tell him your name and your ailment, sir?”

Dane shook his head. “I’m not here as a patient, ma’am. I’m Dr. Dane Logan. I am a partner with my father, Dr. Jacob Logan, in Cheyenne. Yesterday, I was talking to Dr. Jeremy Winstad at Cheyenne Memorial Hospital, and he told me of learning a few days ago from Dr. Matthew Carroll at Mile High Hospital in Denver about Dr. Fraser’s plans to retire. I would like to talk to him about taking over his practice.”

Nadine’s face brightened. “Oh! Well, I can tell you, Dr. Logan, that Dr. Fraser has a wonderful practice here. We—”

Nadine was interrupted by the front door opening. Dane turned to see a sprightly little lady enter. Her hair was as white as the snow on the high peaks that surrounded the town, and her blue eyes were as bright as the wide sky on a sunny day.

“Good afternoon, Nadine,” the little lady said to the nurse, then glanced at Dane. “And who might you be, young man?”

Before Dane could reply, Nadine said, “This is Dr. Dane Logan from Cheyenne, Esther. He is here to talk to Dr. Fraser about taking over the practice.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. Dr. Logan, this is Mrs. Fraser.”

Dane smiled warmly. “I’m glad to meet you, ma’am.”

Esther extended her hand, and as Dane took it gently, the door to the examining room opened, and the doctor came out with his patient, telling him to be sure and take the medicine he had given him as directed.

The elderly man said he would, and after bidding Esther and Nadine good day, he moved out the front door.

Dr. Fraser smiled at his wife and kissed her cheek. Esther blushed at the kiss as she had for over fifty years. “Dear,” she said, turning to the smiling young man, “this is Dr. Dane Logan. Nadine just explained that he is here to talk to you about taking over the practice.”

Dr. Robert Fraser’s silver eyebrows arched. As they shook hands, Fraser said, “Glad to meet you, Dr. Logan. Where are you from?”

“Cheyenne, sir. I’m partner with my father, Dr. Jacob Logan, there. I’m a graduate of Northwestern University Medical College. I did my two-year internship at Memorial Hospital in Cheyenne, and have been partner with Dad in his practice since last May. Of course, I want a practice of my own.”

Fraser smiled. “I understand that.”

“Dr. Jeremy Winstad at Memorial Hospital told me yesterday that he had learned from Dr. Matthew Carroll in Denver that you are planning to retire soon and are looking for someone to take over your practice. I came to talk to you about it.”

Dr. Fraser removed his spectacles and wiped his hand across his tired eyes. “Son, I am delighted to see you, and we most certainly will talk about it. I have a date for dinner with this lovely wife of mine, but I’m sure she won’t mind if you join us so we can talk.”

“Of course I won’t mind,” spoke up Esther. “We’ll enjoy having you dine with us, Dr. Logan.”

At Central City’s finest restaurant, the Frasers and their guest ordered their food, and while they waited, Dane told them his story—including his becoming an orphan at fifteen years of age in Manhattan, New York, his ride on the orphan train, and his adoption by Dr. and Mrs. Jacob Logan of Cheyenne. He went over his education and internship again and told of becoming partner with his father just over four months ago. He then took an envelope from his coat pocket and showed the Frasers his diploma from Northwestern and a certificate of internship completion from Cheyenne’s Memorial Hospital.