by Faye Sonja
He shook his head, as he picked up his piece of bread and went back to chewing. "And how do you suppose you're going to do that?"
"There's a small empty shop in town, and I believe it will do splendidly as a small practice. Patients can come and visit me as they see fit, and after some time I'll be able to make visits to people's homes, if they are too ill, or elderly, to make the trip in."
Kit scoffed, as Isabella continued. "Susan is going to help me - she's smart and industrious, and she can see what needs to be done. With a fresh coat of paint, and a woman's touch, I think the building will be perfect."
"No," Kit said, finishing up his bread and pushing the plate away from him.
"What do you mean 'no'?" Isabella asked. She'd guessed Kit would be against the idea, that his pride would get in the way, but she hadn't thought he would issue her with a flat 'no'. "Who does he think he is talking to, a child?" Isabella thought. "He can't tell me yes and no - yes I will respect his opinions on issues, now that we are married, but he can't simply tell me what to do."
"We don't need no fancy medicine practice around here," Kit said, as though that was the end of the subject. "People will think you're trying to push your modern ideas onto them."
Isabella opened her eyes wide. "Everyone needs medicine Kit, and access to medical care. There's a young girl in town now, pregnant with a baby. Soon there'll be a small child living here amongst us. Who do you suggest take care of them? Or should they just hope to survive, and pray they never get sick, or injured?"
"You've got it, Isabella - God takes care of us out here. We don't need this medicine nonsense."
Isabella took a small breath and chose her words carefully. "Of course God takes care of us. I've no doubt of that. But one of the ways he takes care of us - of you, me, and young Mollie and her baby - is by sending doctors to help him, to do His work for him here on Earth."
Kit shook his head. "We've done just fine so far."
Isabella turned around and kept tidying, moving briskly around the house. "Yes, well, that was before you had women living here. Babies and families to worry about. It's time for a change here in White Elk, and I intend to see it happen."
* * *
"Wow," Susan said, stunned as she admired the shiny new building in front of her. "I'll say one thing - this sure stands out in this town." She turned to Isabella. "If I do say so myself, I think we've done a wonderful job. You especially. I've been away while you've done the final round of renovations, and I didn't expect to come back to find it looking this good."
"Yes, well, I don't think anything else around here has seen a fresh coat of paint in years," Isabella said, opening the front door. "Come in, take a look."
"When I say it stands out, I mean it stands out in a good way," Susan commented, taking a step inside. The smell of fresh paint hit her nostrils, as she took in the clean, sparkling exterior. "This will be a welcome change for the town. The beginning of a new era, I dare say."
"I certainly hope so," Isabella murmured. "Now, if we could only get the men to see it that way."
"They'll come around..." Susan said, walking through from the reception area to the doctor's office. "We just need to give them some time. Let them get used to the idea."
Isabella followed her into the room, less convinced. "They've had time - all their lives, to come around! That's the problem; too fixed in their ways, the lot of them."
Susan pondered for a minute, quiet, lost in her thoughts. "It must be difficult for them, to adjust though."
"Do you mean adjust to the idea that they've got wives to worry about now, not just themselves?" Isabella asked.
"Mmm, yes, that as well," Susan mewed. "But I think the men have trouble being back home, after fighting in the war. Kit and Jedediah, especially." She stopped and turned to Isabella. "What with their injuries, and everything."
Isabella hung her head. "Yes, that must be true. I ought to learn to be more understanding and patient with Kit when he gets his back up. Perhaps he is against change because he's been through so much of it. Losing an arm must be a terrible burden. Perhaps he just wants some things to stay the same."
"Don't be hard on yourself, Isabella. I'm sure you are plenty calm and patient with the man."
"Yes, well, I can always try to be better."
Susan brightened up and waved around the doctor's office. "We can all try to be better. And with a practise like this in town, we're all going to do much better."
* * *
Isabella beamed at her first patient. "Hello there, sweetheart," she said, bowing down so that she was on eye level with the small boy, who must have been only four or five by the looks of him. Scrawny, too.
His mother, a thin women wearing a dirty bonnet and old clothes, looked worried. "I don't think he's been quite right," she said, her voice hushed.
"Well, what seems to be the problem?" Isabella asked, switching her attention back to the boy. He had bony knees and grubby hands and feet.
"He's had no appetite, upset stomach..." the women said, her voice nervous.” My husband didn't want me coming down to see you. Thinks all this medicine stuff is nonsense."
Isabella sighed. "I'm not sure what's the matter with the men in this town. Between you and me I think we need to drag them into the modern age, whether they want to come or not. Now, listen, you've done the right thing bringing Teddy in to see me. You're right - he's not looking well."
"What's wrong with him?" The mother asked, her face tight with anxiety.
"I'll dare guess he's been drinking fresh water from the lake, without any sterilisation," Isabella said, raising an eyebrow at the boy. "Does that sound right?"
"Well, yes," the women admitted, her face a picture of surprise. "I didn't think there was any problem giving him water from the lake - it's clean, isn't it?"
"Fresh, yes," Isabella commented, picking up her stethoscope so she could have a better listen at the boy's chest. "Clean is another matter entirely."
The woman brought a trembling hand up to her mouth as she used the other to soothe her son's head, stroking his thin hair. "I had no idea. Oh, I'm mighty sorry I ever gave him that water."
"Now there, you weren't to know," Isabella said. "You were only doing what you believed was best by your boy. There's no sense in feeling guilt and shame, if you didn't even know it was wrong."
"What should I do now?" the boy's mother asked, as she picked him up and sat him on her lap.
"All water that comes from the lake needs to be sterilized before it can be drunk. That means it needs to be cleaned, to rid it of germs and bacteria."
The women looked confused. Isabella had to wonder for a moment how the population of White Elk had managed to survive at all, they were so shrouded in ignorance, unaware of how to practise even the most basic of hygiene. But it was a remote, insular place, where superstition ran rife.
"You can sterilize it by boiling it on the stove, or over a fire?"
"But won't it be too hot to drink?"
Isabella smiled gently. "Yes. You'll need to wait for it to cool."
The women laughed a little and turned her head down, embarrassed. "Of course. Thank you so much for your help, Doc. I'm so relieved to know that it's something that I can fix, that Teddy won't need to suffer any longer."
"He will need plenty of fluids," Isabella said. "To get back into peak condition. Just make sure those fluids are clean and safe to drink."
The woman nodded and Isabella said goodbye to her and her son, a warm feeling flushing through her stomach. "Well, the first patient out of the way! That calms the nerves down a little," she thought. "And it couldn't have gone better."
She was feeling very pleased with herself as she waved her second patient in, till there was suddenly an awful commotion outside and the front door flew open, then a man came bustling in.
"Kit?" Isabella said. "What are you doing here?" She looked around at her patients, trying to gauge their reactions to this large man heaving his way inside, covered wit
h pine needles all over his clothes, and mud on his boots. "Is everything alright?" she whispered, desperate to avoid a scene.
"No, it's not!" he bellowed. "The front door was left open at home, and the entire front half of the house is flooded with rain water! No one was there to see it, or to fix the problem, Isabella, All the items in the front room are ruined!"
Isabella turned, with her mouth wide open, to look at her patients, attempting to apologize to them while Kit was still yelling at her, in complete ignorance of the fact that he was causing a scene.
"Isabella, you need to come home at once and tend to this matter," he said, placing his hand on his hip. Around them, the other people tried not to look directly at the couple, embarrassed to be witnessing a private argument made so public.
Isabella contorted her lips into a thin smile and said, as calmly as she could, "Kit, let's talk about this in my office. Sorry everyone, I'll be back out with you in just a few moments, if you could just excuse me."
Kit followed her into the room and Isabella shut the door behind them.
"How could do this to me Kit, how could you embarrass me like this?" Her voice came out in a furious whisper, and she felt the blush of crimson creep up her cheeks till her entire face was flushed red. "And on my first day. What must they all think of me now?"
"Embarrass you?" Kit was indignant. "It's you who's making me look like the fool around here, Isabella."
She slammed her stethoscope down on the table, knocking the dish next to it. "How exactly have I done that?"
"When I tell you not to do something, and you do it anyway, like coming to work here, it makes me look stupid. Like I can't control my own wife. Like I'm less of a man! You should hear what the other men are saying about me. Then you go out and neglect all your household chores, and a disaster happens like today!"
Isabella's jaw was wide open, aghast at what she was hearing. "I am not someone you control, Kit! I make my own decisions, and if you can't handle that, or are too ashamed to be married to a woman like me, then maybe this was all a huge mistake."
"You got that right."
Isabella wasn't easily stung by her husband's words, though a lot of women would have been very hurt to hear a man say such a thing, to agree that marrying her had been a huge mistake. She recognized that Kit was speaking in anger, and that he didn't mean what he was saying.
She took a step closer to him. "Why don't you just admit what your real problem is with me opening this practice?"
"I've already told ya," Kit said. "We don't need no doctors around here."
She shook her head. "I don't think that's it at all. Yes, you are silly and superstitious about modern medicine, but that's not the full truth of the matter, is it? That's not what makes you so angry."
"Well what is it then, huh? If you think you know what it is, just come out and say it."
"I think you don't like seeing a women work. You don't want me out in the world, working, earning a living, because you think my place is at home." She stood indignant, waiting for her husband to answer.
He stood and stared at her for a moment, blinking slowly. "Okay, yes, you're right."
"I thought so..."
He cut her off with an angry remark. "It does make me look bad, Isabella. It makes it look as though I can't support you."
"It's got nothing to do with whether you can support me or not, Kit. It has nothing to do with you at all. This is about my place in the world, and my contribution to it. About me feeling needed, and wanted."
"I need you, Isabella. I need you to stay home and..."
"And to do what I'm told?" Isabella asked. "That's it, isn't it? Well, that's not enough for me, and not the way I want to live my life."
Kit shook his head. "So I'm not enough for you, is that what you're saying?" His eyelids hung low, and there was a sad, distant look in his deep brown eyes.
Isabella softened. "No, Kit, that's not what I'm saying. It's not about one person being enough. As a husband, you are enough for me. But I need more than that. More than just staying at home and being useless..."
Kit looked down. "I still don't see why you needed to open up this place. You say you want to be needed - well, this town don't need a place like this."
Isabella crossed her arms. "I'll have you know you're wrong about that, Kit. Dead wrong. There was a child in today suffering from malnutrition and dehydration, because neither he nor his mother understood about not drinking the water from the lake. The poor little boy could have died! Can you really say that medical advice isn't needed here? Would you rather see children sick, or dying?"
"No of course not," Kit said, his voice also softening. "Nobody wants to see that, least of all me."
"Then you can see I am needed. I am doing good work here today. Or at least I was, till you came blustering in, ruining all of it."
"I'm sorry," Kit said, hanging his head. "I wasn't aware little kids were getting sick around here."
Isabella walked over to her husband and placed a hand on his arm. "I know you weren't. Half the problem is the ignorance around here, after all. And I know you'd never want any harm to come to anyone. Kit, please, I need you to see that I can do good work here. As my husband, I need your support."
He nodded. "I understand, Isabella. I've been foolish, I know that. I'm sorry about the way I burst in here today. Must have looked awful odd to those people out there, and made you seem unprofessional. I'll apologize on my way out. And Isabella, I'll try my best to support you from now onwards."
* * *
5
Kit’s Change of Heart
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
“ How could I start over again,
here, even if I wanted to? "
.
White Elk, 1871,
One Month Later
"Is that a cough I hear?" Isabella asked, peering over at Kit, who was trying to hide his wheezing by using his hand to conceal his mouth.
"It's nothing," he said, waving her away. "Now go on, my dear, you're going to be late."
"Why don't you come in to my practice today, to see me about it?" Isabella finished buttoning up her coat and reached across to the hat stand to grab her hat.
He shook his head. "I'll be fine. It's nothing to go fussing over."
"Kit. You said you would support me and the practise from now on."
"I am supporting you, but that doesn't mean I have to go in there myself. Not for such a small thing as a cough."
"Well what if it gets worse? How are you going to manage it?"
"It won't get worse," Kit replied. "I rarely ever get sick, and when I do it don't last for long. I've never needed a doctor before and I don't need one now."
Isabella stood in the doorway for a moment, watching him in silence. She looked at his left shoulder, where his arm was amputated above the elbow. "Surely he's seen a doctor at some stage in his life, with an injury like that? Who else would have performed the operation? But he refuses to talk about it, so I can't ask. But why would he say he's never been to a doctor when he clearly has?"
She was suddenly shaken from her thoughts by thunder banging, rumbling in from over the mountains, and she remembered she was running late and needed to make a move. "You take care then, Kit. And if it gets much worse you come and see me."
"Not much chance of that."
* * *
"Oh bother," Isabella thought, running to try to get out of the rain, as she pulled her hat down to shield her face from the icy raindrops that tried to pierce her skin. "With weather like this, Kit's cough is only going to get worse. Why does he have to be so stubborn?"
She raced along, her purple skirt flowing behind as she tried to make it inside before there was a total downpour and her outfit was ruined. She didn't think it would look very professional if she did her day's work in a soaking wet dress.
"Isabella!" a voice called out from up ahead. Squinti
ng in the rain, Isabella looked up to see Mollie waiting for her outside her practice. "Hurry!"
Isabella chuckled as she called out, "I'm trying! Trust this weather to turn nasty the first day I start making house calls."
Finally reaching the shelter, she ushered Mollie inside. "Did you not know that I'm beginning house calls today? You didn't need to come all the way down here, my dear, not in your condition." She glanced down at Mollie's heavy belly, which was growing bigger by the day.
"Yes, I know you're making house calls now," Mollie said as Isabella helped her into a chair. "But I didn't want Thomas to know anything was wrong."
Isabella frowned. "Is something wrong?"
Mollie looked uncertain. "I don't know if I'm just worrying for nothing, but I've been getting these pains in my stomach."
Isabella tried not to look too concerned, as she didn't want to frighten the younger woman. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Let me have a look, though."
* * *
"You look exhausted," Kit said, greeting Isabella as she came home through the door.
"Been a long day," she said wearily, her dress still damp from the storm, and her hair stuck to her forehead.
"House calls?" Kit asked, as he started to make a pot of tea. "How did they go?"
"They were fine..." Isabella murmured. "It was actually one of my patients who came to see me at the practice that got me worried though."
Kit frowned. "What happened?"
Isabella took a seat, glad to finally rest her legs. "I shouldn't say too much, really. Just a little worried about her and the baby. She was having pains, and something didn't seem quite right."
Kit placed a cup of tea in front of Isabella, before he burst out in a coughing fit.