A Nurse for Daniel

by Marlene Bierworth

  Why did Daniel have to be so stubborn?

  Her head told her to forget her growing feelings for the man, but her heart refused.

  A couple of hours later, Arthur returned the items they’d taken from her cottage to mind the boy. Gwen settled Jake’s small bed into the spare room and covered the mattress with clean blankets. He kept pulling them off playfully and running, making her chase him, and they ended in a tumble on the floor, laughing hysterically.

  Gwen did not notice Daniel standing by the door. When she did, she scrambled to her feet and felt her face glow red with embarrassment.

  “Forgive my interruption,” he said. “I just wanted to tell you that I did my exercise regime today and convinced Father to allow Arthur to take over the construction project while I’m gone. Surprisingly, he seemed interested in my venture, not so much updating the row houses, but the idea of including forestry in the McAlister empire.”

  “I am pleased to hear that,” Gwen said. “Your future is looking up.” She picked up the toddler and buried her face in his hair. “Jake will be here, waiting for his parents to return. I’ll prepare him for the transition.”

  “You’ve grown close to the boy,” Daniel said, his tone softening.

  “He is easy to love.”

  “Easier than his father?”

  “You are speaking inappropriately for a man about to embark on a mission to bring another woman home. I will leave the moment you return.”

  She saw his face cloud over. “I’m confused, Gwen. My emotions do not empathize with my duty.”

  “We all make choices, Mr. McAlister,” Gwen said. “Yours have apparently been made, and we will not discuss it again. I will pray for your safety while traveling.” She turned and headed for the adjoining room. “Jake and I are putting his things away. Goodbye.”

  Gwen did not see Daniel ride out, and her mood remained subdued. She tried to stay chipper for the child’s sake, but when she laid him down for his nap, she escaped to her room and cried useless tears of heartbroken agony. She had never wanted to find love, but it had found and deserted her all in the same tragic afternoon.

  Still, she had succeeded in her job, and for that, she was grateful. Her patient was whole again in mind and body and moving forward with his role as the son of a Kentucky Plantation owner. Gwen would soon be free to move on to another assignment.

  She sat upright and wiped away her tears. Gwen needed to focus and prepare for Mrs. McAlister’s visit. Encouraging love to flourish between her and Jake became Gwen’s primary goal.

  Promptly at two, a knock came at the door. At first sight, the woman appeared agitated and unhappy to be there. Gwen was disappointed, but played the hopeful hostess.

  “Mrs. McAlister—we have been looking forward to your visit. Please, come in.”

  Inside the kitchen, she directed her guest to sit across from Jake’s highchair. She could not run the risk of the woman being attacked by a piece of cookie that had been flung from her grandson’s hand.

  “I baked cookies this morning. Jacob is too young to assist, but he did encourage me by sniffing the air and rubbing his belly.”

  “I suppose a boy’s place is not in the kitchen, anyway, although I do recall the cook continually shoving Daniel from the kitchen in his early years. He, too, appreciated the smells generating from the oven.”

  “Ah, then it runs in the family,” Gwen said. “Good to know.” She placed a teacup and saucer in front of the lady, brought a plate of cookies to the table, sat beside Jake and smiled. “Thank you for coming.”

  “I almost didn’t. Daniel stopped by this morning to announce that he was off to do his duty with the woman he’d spurned, and I am quite upset about his misguided sense of justice. Men do all sorts of inappropriate things that women have accepted as the norm.”

  “Perhaps in the past, but apparently not so in a gentleman’s heart of the new day. Possibly Daniel feels that Shannon did not accept his rejection as the norm, and now needs to settle the issue.”

  “Fiddle-de-dee—the woman needs to face the real world.”

  “I beg to disagree,” Gwen said. “When your husband repented of what was considered the norm in days-gone-by—what had been a part of the real world in which you all lived—he became a different man, eager to love his wife and family. So, as much as I hate to see Daniel pursue this wild-goose chase, I am very proud of his conviction and strength of character.”

  “I must admit, I am enjoying my new man,” said Mrs. McAlister. “My husband believes you care for our son.”

  “I do. He has been my patient…”

  “That is not what I meant,” Mrs. McAlister said. “You have a romantic interest in Daniel, yes?”

  “It doesn’t matter anymore. He will return with Jacob’s mother, and I will leave, as it should be.”

  “Oh, no. You’d ruin all my plans, and for once in my life, my husband is listening to me as if I had a head on my shoulders worthy of offering advice.”

  Jake chose that moment to applaud, not because he understood his grandmother’s newfound joy, but because he was lost in the moment, smearing the chocolaty mass of cookie over his face.

  The women laughed, and Gwen retrieved a damp cloth to wipe the boy’s face.

  “We are working on his manners,” Gwen explained.

  “He is a baby,” Mrs. McAlister said, “but thank you for persevering in the etiquette department. I mean, should the boy ever come to the big house for a meal, we would be most grateful for his good behavior.”

  “Perhaps you should start picking out a nanny from your staff to further his education after I leave.”

  “There you go, talking of leaving again.” Mrs. McAlister seemed irritated. “My husband and I would like to offer you another position on the plantation, one that would allow you to use your nursing skills.”

  Although Gwen was not interested, she encouraged the woman to continue. The idea seemed to be her first step into independence, and Gwen hated to quench it before hearing her through to the end.

  “I’m listening.”

  “Things are evolving on the plantation. We’ve had to downscale our cotton production and are dabbling in other, more urgent crops that will help feed many families who are struggling. And now it appears our son has this idea about full-scale forestry and mill production to help rebuild our country. Heaven knows we have been blessed with thousands of acres of timber,” she paused and took a breath, “which means we will need many more employees in the very near future, and with them will come families that may require simple medical attention that a nurse with your skills could provide. We would like to set up the spare room in the cottage here as a mini-hospital of sorts. The doctor services a large territory and is often not available when workers make the trip to town with cuts and minor ailments. We are confident you would know your limitations, and would set up regular times for the traveling medicine man to stop by to see your more difficult cases.”

  Gwen could not stop her heart from doing flip-flops. The idea of her own clinic for this mini-community excited her. She attempted to remember her resolution to leave and responded calmly. “You have given much thought to this plan.”

  “Oh, I have, and Mr. McAlister is one-hundred percent behind me. Please, say you will consider our proposal. We shall pay you handsomely.”

  Gwen smiled at the excitement in the woman’s face. She was ecstatic, and the lady had known so little encouragement from men in her lifetime that Gwen could not burst her bubble entirely. “I suppose we could see how it all plays out if the people here would feel confident in coming to me, but I won’t promise to stay when your son returns.” Gwen could not push back the tears that gathered in the corners of her eyes.

  “I am sorry,” Mrs. McAlister said. “He loves you—you know that, right?”

  “All the more reason for me to be gone. I will not be the other woman and hinder their happiness. He deserves everything good that life has to offer.”

  “I hope and pray
the boy’s mother is happily married and with child,” Mrs. McAlister said. “You and my son deserve each other, especially you after the grief that boy has put you through since coming to Kentucky.”

  “Enough about me,” Gwen said, moving to the chair to pick up Jake. “You are here to see your grandson. Let’s go into the parlor.”

  For the next hour, the three played with blocks of wood, drew unrecognizable pictures on paper, and laughed at the child’s antics.

  Mrs. McAlister fell back against the settee. “How ever do you manage the boy and tend to my son’s needs, too? I’d be exhausted.”

  “I do have a nanny that comes when I need her. I have been trekking out to the woods on occasion to try my hand at chopping the branches off the trees the men drop.”

  “Such labor! Surely you don’t enjoy it.”

  “I do. The smell of the wood and to see the logs pile up on the wagon ready to transport to the construction site—it does my heart good. Daniel is in his element. He was meant to be in the logging business.”

  “Yes, my son does appear excited about adding forestry to our growing list of ventures. He’s even managed to get his father on board with the idea.”

  “It is a good move,” Gwen said. “The need is great.”

  “Four years of burning, looting, and destruction has changed the landscape. Wood to rebuild will be a profitable business for us and continue to supply the needs of our countrymen.”

  “Exactly what we thought,” Gwen said.

  “I was so pleased that my husband was permitted to stay home from the war. It was enough to sacrifice my son.” When she noticed Gwen’s questioning glance, she added, “Money, my dear. It covers a multitude of sins, but we did supply food to the army, and soldiers stayed quite regularly in one of the larger cottages on the property. It made me feel safer to have them around.”

  It was four o’clock when Mrs. McAlister set out from the cottage. She hugged Jake before she left and commented that he was a good boy. Gwen left the invitation open for her to visit anytime, and she often came over during the next three weeks. Her husband accompanied her on four occasions. The lad and his grandparents were growing closer, and Gwen was pleased with the progress.

  Chapter 14

  For three days, Gwen searched the stores in the nearby town for the equipment and supplies she’d need to operate the clinic on the McAlister plantation. She had to order some items from the catalogue, but Jenkins from the mercantile offered to deliver them the moment they came in.

  At the cottage, the employees seemed to accept her expanded role, and the on-site infirmary grew in popularity and the daily number of patients increased steadily during her hours of operation. From one until four her door was open for sniffles, infections, cuts and minor injuries. Afterward, she hung a sign that she was available for emergencies only.

  A nanny came by daily to watch Jake during her working hours. She reasoned that the separation was all good preparation for when her departure time arrived—the final parting might prove less difficult for the child. But she doubted any of it would help her, for when the patients and nanny left the cottage, Gwen was more than eager to have the boy’s company all to herself. The late afternoon and evening hours were her favorite time of day.

  On the mornings the doctor was not scheduled to call on the more serious cases, Gwen either went into the woods or helped at the row houses; cleaning, painting, and even pounding nails into the new boards that were transforming the shacks into decent homes for the growing number of employees.

  Mr. McAlister surprised them all one morning by showing up to offer his expertise and recommendations to Arthur before walking away and leaving things in the lead man’s capable hands. Arthur had found his passion with that side of the business, and he loved working outside with the wood in any stage of development.

  When Gwen noticed sweat on Arthur’s brow, she went to the well for a cold glass of water and brought it to him.

  “Thank you,” he said as he downed the refreshment. He passed the empty tumbler back to her. “Has anyone heard from Daniel yet?”

  “No, he is still in the land of the missing,” Gwen said. She added in a lighter tone, “But I was told by his mother that Daniel and the senior Mr. McAlister came to see you before he left the plantation for parts unknown.”

  “They did. Offering apologies for the past abuse of my mother and my blood-father’s neglect during my upbringing. It was different back then, and I will not be bringing any grudges to my grave. Took a lot for the man to come, so I let him say his peace. Feels good to have it behind us.”

  “You are a generous man, Arthur. And what of you and Daniel? Did you speak on more familiar terms, now that he knows you are his brother, and all of his playful memories with you have returned?”

  “He came alone once. Our talk was brief, only long enough for him to say that he remembered the good and bad times we’d shared as children. He wants to get reacquainted when he returns,” Arthur said. “Made me proud when he chose me for his right-hand man in the upcoming forestry business. I’ve been doing some research and have picked the perfect spot for us to set up the mill for cutting the timber. It’s right handy having the river run through the land. It’ll sure be a lot less work to have a big saw doing the slicing.”

  “Sounds like you two will be very busy in the days to come,” Gwen said.

  “Mr. McAlister has put out feelers and come across a lead on a good used mill operation. An entire business is being sold off. Guess all the males in that family got wiped out during the war, and the wife wants it off the property.”

  “That’s exciting! Daniel will be thrilled to see the progress you’ve made in his absence,” Gwen said. “I hope, for your sake, that he returns soon. It must be overwhelming.”

  “Been talking to men hereabouts, and I already have a full sheet of names of those wanting to put in orders and another sheet of qualified men willing to work the mill. It sure is helping that Daniel taught me letters on the sly. Yep, sure will be glad to see the man come home so we can get started.”

  Gwen looked away. She’d become too comfortable with her life on the plantation and knew it was fast coming to an end. As much as she loved the clinic and tending to the medical needs of the employees, she understood there was no way she could stay and watch the new Mrs. McAlister take her rightful place next to Daniel.

  Her heart had ached every moment he’d been away. To have known love for such a short time and then have it snatched from her kept the wounds open, and she expected she’d never heal from the loss of her first love.

  As she flipped the sign over to read “Closed for the Day,” a movement on the porch caught her eye. Fearful she’d missed a patient, she turned apologetically toward the man, and her breath caught in her throat. Gwen mumbled, “Daniel.”

  He walked toward her, smiling. “You are looking lovely today, all dressed in your professional attire. My mother told me of the clinic hours when I dropped by the homestead earlier. Am I on time for a cup of tea, Nurse Gwen?”

  “You know my habits far too well.” Gwen managed a laugh. “I’ve craved a cup of tea all afternoon. Yes, please, come in, Daniel and we will catch up on the news. So much has happened here in your absence.”

  “Yes, and on mine as well.”

  As she fussed with the kettle to make a fresh cup of tea, she babbled on, suddenly nervous to be alone with Daniel. “All the old row shacks are renovated, and the inhabitants are extremely pleased with their homes. We are now working on the inside of the bunk house for the men you will hire to run your mill. And Daniel, did your father tell you of the progress there? Arthur is so excited he can hardly contain his enthusiasm.”

  She turned abruptly with two full cups of tea in her hands to find him standing within touching distance. The hot liquid nearly splashed out over his clean suit of clothing.

  “Whoa—you are one chatterbox today,” he said as he took his cup and stared at her. “I was hoping to do most of the talking bef
ore receiving an update on the McAlister Plantation.”

  She gasped, thinking he had misinterpreted her intentions. “Are you upset that Arthur and your father have moved ahead with your vision? Summer has arrived, and there is much to do to get the operation up and running.”

  “I am not upset—relax, Gwen. I am relieved that things have progressed. That’s why one hires a foreman, and Arthur will be the best.”

  “Certainly the most enthusiastic,” Gwen said. “I believe this passion has been lying dormant in his subconscious for years. Are you quite certain it’s not a dream you two youngsters schemed up years ago?”

  “Not to my recollection, which, I now thank God, He has returned to me in full measure.”

  “I’m so pleased for your recovery,” Gwen said, barely able to choke out the words.

  “It is a feather in your cap, my dear. Your first patient, fully recovered.”

  “But you have not been my last,” Gwen said excitedly. “The clinic is full daily, and I’ve only had two cases for which I’ve needed to burden the doctor.”

  “My parents are proud of your accomplishments. In fact, my mother speaks very highly of you and my son. I understand you’ve been visiting a lot.”

  “Yes, and Jake has won the heart of his new grandparents; another prayer answered.”

  “And have you prayed for me, Gwen?”

  “Daily.” She’d neglected to say every moment of every day.

  “The Good Lord has heard you, and somewhere in the loneliness of the night, I bowed my knee and rededicated my life to Him. Such peace has escaped me for a long time.”

  “That is the best news. God is good.” She could barely stop from jumping into his arms to celebrate his surrender to God.

  “Just one in a number of miracles. Seems He has been busy on both fronts. Do you care to hear of my search for Shannon?”

  He was standing far too closely. They were breathing the same air.

  Gwen sidestepped him. “Come to the table. Our tea is getting cold.”