Five Sisters (A Romantic Suspense Novel)

by Leen Elle

  As Gail plopped down on the wooden bench, Carolyn took a deep breath and walked into the room. Before the door slammed shut though, Gail leaned forward on her seat to try to catch a glimpse of Nathaniel, but her effort wasn't rewarded. She could only see one of the nurses, a curtained window, and a bit of the end of the bed. So, she sat and she waited.

  Under the impression that she would be sitting on the bench for quite some time and be unbearably bored, it can be said that she was inexplicably thrilled when she found that the voices inside room #219 were loud enough that she didn't have to strain herself in the least to hear all that was going on inside.

  "Time for your medications, Mr. West," she heard Carolyn say, trying to sound cheerful.

  "What in the world are you smiling for?" came another voice, Nathaniel's, "Do you think I like seeing your face everyday? I dread it! It's not enough that you have to bring me those disgusting trays of slop three times a day, but that you also have to find the time to carry in a mountain load of medicines. As if they'll somehow be the magical potions that'll finally make me better again! Fools! If you truly think they're going to help you're all insane! The whole lot of you! I've known myself long enough to know how my own body operates and none of your silly concoctions are going to help me!"

  At first instinct, Gail brightened up immeasurably at the sound of Nathaniel's voice. It was quivering and shaky and terribly hoarse, but it was there and the force behind it was strong. But then, as it sunk in a bit, her spirits began to drop.

  When he'd left her, he'd been weak and delicate and barely able to do anything but whisper. She hadn't heard him speaking so contentiously since their first few meetings on the ship and, to be quite honest, it disgusted her. These women were doing their best to take care of him and bring him back to good health and all he could do was make fun of them and ridicule the hospital and its treatments.

  She continued to listen as the conversation continued.

  "Mr. West, sir," said a small, squeaky voice, obviously that of the younger nurse, "Dr. Hopson and Dr. Fitzgerald only advise us to do what they think is best for you."

  "If I have to see either of those two kooks again, I swear I'll kill them both. I'm not a murderer by nature, I assure you, but if those lunatics- with their crazy plans and those huge, magnifying glasses- come near me one more time . . . I won't even plan it, so don't try and accuse me of premeditation. It'll just be a physical reaction; one I have no control over."

  "Please, Mr. West. Please," pleaded the older nurse, "Just let us give you your medicines and we'll leave you as quickly as we can. We don't enjoy this any more than you do."

  Nathaniel laughed and laughed and then he coughed and coughed. With health as delicate as his, it was almost impossible to laugh without coughing afterwards. But once he'd caught his breath again, he said, sounding rather amused, "Well it's good to hear that you enjoy my company because I sure as hell can't stand yours!"

  Carolyn tried to ignore him and began, "First we must do the ointment on the chest and the forehead."

  Footsteps were heard and then Nathaniel ordered, "Get away from me! All of you! If I have to put on this stupid cream, I'll do it myself. I don't need your disgusting hands all over me!"

  "But, Mr. West," said Carolyn, "You're too weak, you know that."

  Nevertheless, Nathaniel screamed once more, "I'll do it myself! And don't try to tell me otherwise!"

  For a minute or so, the room was fairly quiet and Gail knew the nurses must have given in to their patient. When he had finished applying the ointment himself, there were more footsteps and his voice reappeared.

  "Alright," he groaned, "What's next?"

  "Two of these," a shaking bottle, filled with bouncing tablets, could be heard, "And one of these. And three of these."

  Silence once more, as Nathaniel swallowed, and then, "The shot now, I suppose?"

  "Two, actually," squeaked the younger nurse, "Dr. Fitzgerald wishes to try something new, he said."

  "Two!" Nathaniel shouted, "And that thing looks more like a pencil and a funnel than a syringe needle! It's practically half a foot long! And . . . My God, you can't be serious! If you try and get that whole cup of fluid into me you're going to be very disappointed, my dears. It'll never fit unless you want me to drink it! Are you sure you've got the right thing?"

  "Positive, Mr. West. We're just going to give you your regular shot first and then we'll move on to Dr. Fitzgerald's vaccine."

  There was a short silence, then Nathaniel saying "Hey! Watch it!," and then silence once more.

  "I'm telling you right now that thing's not going to work!" Nathaniel shouted, his voice starting to shake from both his weakness and from a bit of fright, "And if you try to stick that foot-long needle in my arm you're bound to kill me within instants! You'll probably get nervous and jittery and stab me right in the eye, for Christ's sake! Do you even know what you're doing? Shouldn't Fitz be doing this?"

  "Calm down, Mr. West. I assure you that I was taught how to administer this correctly and you needn't have any doubts. Everything's going to be perfectly fine," said Carolyn, "Maureen, Edith, you'd better hold him down."

  "Hold me down?" Nathaniel screamed, "What in the world are you talking about! It's so bad that you've got to pin me down like a dog? For Christ's sake . . ." Footsteps could be heard and then suddenly Nathaniel started to shout in grave panic, "Help! Help! Somebody help me! They're trying to kill me! They're trying to kill me I tell you! They're crazy! The whole lot of them! Insane, crazy, batty old women that don't know what they're doing! Help! Somebody help me!"

  Gail felt her insides begin to churn and she wrung her hands restlessly in her skirt. She hated to hear Nathaniel when he was in pain, especially when he was so desperate and childish about it. She could just see it now- Two nurses holding him to the bed as he turned white and fretful. Carolyn sticking the gigantic needle into his arm. The incision wouldn't hurt very badly, it never really did, but the vaccine inside would run through his body and tear him in to two with a pain so terrible that he moaned in agony.

  The sounds of it could be heard throughout the long corridor.

  "Is that the West boy again?" a doctor nearby asked his colleague as he scribbled some notes into a file, "They ought to have him locked up with all the ruckus he makes in here. Probably scares the other patients half to death."

  "Of course that's him," the other replied, "Who else would it be?"

  "Sounds like Hopson and Fitzgerald are trying something new again. Poor kid. But it's hard to feel sorry for him when he spends most of his time screaming at everyone."

  "I've never felt sorry for him. I feel sorry for the nurses. Poor women. Having to put up with a little prat like him everyday. I don't know how they do it."

  The doctors walked off down the hallway and their voices disappeared from earshot. Gail returned her attentions to Nathaniel's room where she could hear the nurses, who were now softly coaxing their patient and whispering "It's alright, Mr. West" and "Only a few moments more, sir." And Gail could hear Nathaniel's voice as well, though very softly, as he groaned in pain and murmured curses beneath his breath.

  And then, after nearly three or four minutes had passed, the silence was over and Nathaniel coughed loudly, as though choking on his own breath. The needle had been removed finally, it could be assumed. The nurses assured him that it was all over and tried to be kind, but he was no longer quite so weak or agonized and he began to shout again, though he struggled to get his voice out.

  "You're crazy! Crazy, I tell you! If you think that's going to help me . . . It didn't do a thing! I feel just as horrible as ever!"

  "I'm sorry, Mr. West, I'm so sorry, but I'm only doing what is asked of me. Dr. Fitzgerald says that in time it will help you. After a few days or so the effects should start to occur and perhaps you'll start to feel better."

  "You don't understand! None of you understand what it's like! Get out of my room! Get out of my room now and leave me be!"

  "B-Bu
t . . ." came Carolyn's trembling voice, "But, sir, there's a guest waiting outside for you. I was supposed to ask your permission to allow them to enter and you . . ."

  Nathaniel interrupted her, "I don't want any more doctors! Tell them to leave me be!"

  "But Mr. West . . ."

  "I'm sick of all these doctors! They come every day from hospitals all over the country with their white coats and their phony smiles and act as if they'll magically be the ones to cure me! But they won't! I'm tired of it! I'm not allowing any more doctors to come in! Tell them to leave because they're not coming in! Go! Go, I say!"

  "But Mr. West . . . It's not a doctor."

  "Who is it then? I shouldn't wish to see them anyway! I just want to be alone!"

  "Her name is Abigail St. James, sir."

  There was a short pause before Nathaniel spoke, his voice soft and surprised, "It's Gail?"

  CHAPTER 31

  The Contentious Mr West

  Gail didn't wait for Carolyn to invite her into the room or for her admittance to be accepted by Nathaniel, who hadn't spoken since he said her name in shock. Instead, she stood up, held her head high, and walked right on into the room without fear or discipline.

  It was a small, simple room with two windows, curtained for both Nathaniel's poor health and to shield his eyes from the depressingly solemn town- as if his life wasn't already solemn enough. There was a small trunk in the corner for his few garments, a single painting hanging upon the wall in a handsome black frame, a cart in the corner filled with different medications and pill bottles for emergency use, and a brass bed with a black gingham coverlet that squeaked each time Nathaniel moved.

  But the room drew little of Gail's attention compared to the invalid lying upon the bed, whom she hadn't seen in weeks and whose health she'd been worried over for countless days and sleepless nights. With Nathaniel still paralyzed at the unexpected sight of his friend, Carolyn, Maureen, and Edith standing silently in the corner and waiting for the right instant to slip out the door, and Gail observing the physical state of their patient, the room was silent for the first few moments after she entered.

  Beneath his blankets, Nathaniel looked even thinner than Gail remembered; she wondered if perhaps he truly did find the food of the hospital to be "slop" and hadn't been eating enough. His cheeks appeared unhealthily gaunt and his arms were like brittle twigs, bound to break at even the slightest impact. Surrounding his eyes, his skin was drastically darkened and plagued with great fatigue. He hadn't slept for days and it showed. His face was nearly colorless, his skin pale and waxen. Very light brown hair, nearly blonde, sat upon his head in an unkempt fashion and was in dire need of a trim. Overall, he looked only faintly better than the day he'd been carried off the ship in St. Francis County. At least he had a bit of strength back and was able to speak, though his voice may be hoarse.

  He watched with wide eyes as Gail put her hands on her hips and frowned. And then, scratching his head, he said softly, "Hello, Gail. I didn't know that you were . . . I thought you were in Brighton. I thought . . . I-I thought you'd forgotten me."

  But Gail wasn't in the mood for pleasant greetings; she was still angry over the way she'd heard Nathaniel speaking to Carolyn, "I can't believe you, Nathaniel West! I thought you were through with that terrible, childish tendency to scream over everything! I thought you'd changed after those first few weeks on Violet but I suppose I was foolish to think you'd ever overcome it. You're so rude and contentious and . . . And I can't believe they don't throw you out of this hospital! I haven't even been here an hour and already I've seen how horribly you treat your nurses! They are trying to help, you know! You needn't waste all your energy chastising them!"

  From Gail's very first sentence, Nathaniel's eyes began to narrow. And as soon as she stopped yelling, he began, "You don't understand! You're just like them! You're all the same! If you were terribly sick, perhaps you might know! If you had nurses fidgeting around you all day and trying to stick needles in your arms and rub ointment on your chest and stuff tablets down your throat, perhaps you might know! If you had numerous doctors arriving each afternoon, trying to cure your ailment with silly, ridiculous concoctions so that they can get their name glorified in a medical journal, perhaps you might know! If that goddam rod of a needle had just been pierced into your skin and had drained some mysterious liquid into your body that burned through your insides and made you writhe and groan in pain, perhaps you might know! But don't try and act as though you're some sort of moral and medical expert who can tell me what to do! Because you're not! And just because you can scream louder than I can right now and you could probably snap my bones into pieces if you wanted, that doesn't mean I'll willingly give in to you and that doesn't mean you can order me around as though you're my mother!"

  "Have you any idea how difficult it is to spend your time in the company of a boy who won't stop complaining or ridiculing or screaming at everyone? Especially when he's just a lowly invalid who you're supposed to feel sorry for! You should be praising these women for the work they do! If they wanted, they could leave you alone to die, but they don't! They stand here everyday and bear all your horrid attacks and do what they know is best for your health! Without them, you'd probably already be lying in your grave!"

  "I'd rather be in my grave than in this misery!"

  "Just say the word and we'll leave you to die, Nathaniel. Just say the word!"

  "But Miss St. James . . ." Maureen cut in meekly, "We can't . . ."

  "They wouldn't risk it!" Nathaniel retorted, "Because if they did, they know how greatly they'd be punished! And besides, if I really wanted to die I wouldn't need anyone's help! I could do it all on my own!"

  "No one's stopping you!"

  "Why are you here anyway? I never invited you and I don't recall ever approving your admission into my room! If all you're going to do is yell then you might as well go home to your perfect little house in the countryside with your perfect family and your perfect life!"

  "My life's certainly not perfect! No one's is."

  "It's as close to perfection as I've ever seen!"

  "You don't know me well enough to make that judgment! You hardly even know my sisters!"

  "I spent nearly three months on that ship with you! That must count for something! And I've heard plenty about your sisters! I feel as though I know them all personally for all you told me. No life is perfect, I know that, but I'd give both my legs to have yours!"

  "I can't help that! What do you want me to do? What? It isn't my fault that you were destined to be ill all your life and I was destined to live far more comfortably! I can't do anything about it! I'm sorry for your luck, but don't blame me for it!"

  At this point, the nurses were all thoroughly awed at Gail's reaction to Nathaniel's attitude. He seemed able to battle with her as his passion heightened, but Carolyn, Maureen, and Edith couldn't help but worry that this excessive arguing might be bad for his health and cause a sudden faint or a weakening of the muscles. Through a series of silent nods, they agreed it would be better to leave the jousting pair alone and crept out of the door. But they continued to stand nearby, in case a suddenly relapse in Nathaniel's health did occur.

  Of course, the fighting and yelling continued endlessly inside the room.

  "At least you should be thankful that you were brought to Wickensville! They've got the best hospital for miles around and it does seem as though you're a bit better than the last time we were together!"

  "Sure, I've got my voice back and a bit of strength, but that's just a fluctuation in my health. I'll bet the hospital's had nothing to do with it!"

  "You were dying, Nathaniel!"

  "We're all dying!"

  "But you were on the brink of death! If the ship hadn't made that emergency stop you'd probably already be dead! You can't deny that this hospital's helped, if only a bit!"

  "I hate it! I hate it and I hate the terribly sympathetic nurses and the crazy doctors and the useless medicines! I hate this
room and I hate this town and I hate the food!"

  "Have you even been eating? You're as thin as a stick and look even weaker than I remembered!"

  "Oh yes, and of course I'm sure this new physique is quite astonishing after seeing me fit as an athlete and as strong as an ox!" he jested with a forced laugh, "But you wouldn't be eating much either if you tried tasting the junk they make in this place! The nurses try to force me to eat it; they're probably afraid I'll starve myself to death and they'll be blamed, but I swear the only thing I can force down my throat is the stew they have every other night for supper! Other than that, I'd rather go hungry than eat their gooey oatmeal and bread that's as hard as I rock. And I swear this isn't like the food on the ship! I may have called that food slop, but compared to this I consider it a meal fit for kings!"

  "Well when you call everything slop, it's difficult to distinguish when you truly mean it!"