by Cyndi Raye
She did as told, pausing for a moment when she discovered five scalers that all looked alike. “Which one, doctor?”
“The one second to the left. Hurry.”
She did as directed, her eyes widening with fascination as she peered over his shoulder when he took the scaler and pulled the gum back away from the man’s rotted tooth. He loosened the area around the tooth before nodding to her again. “I’ll need the forceps please.”
She picked up the dental forceps, handing them to him as she took the scaler and set it down. “These are impressive tools. I’m surprised a doctor from these parts would have such fine tools.”
He raised a brow but kept on working, adjusting the forceps so the tooth would come out without a hitch. “My father was a dentist from Baltimore. These were his instruments. He had wanted me to follow in his footsteps so I learned a lot about dentistry growing up.”
She nodded. “Interesting. Why didn’t you become a dentist?”
He grinned. “I wanted to be a doctor. Nothing more.”
The talking was over. Miss Jacobs moved to the head of the table, looking down at the man so he could see her. Even though he was medicated, she knew there may be a good bit of discomfort when he pulled the tooth, depending on how bad it was infected. She was smart, he’d give her that.
“Now, Jacob, don’t you worry one bit. The good doctor has one more thing to do and then you’ll be good as new. Are you ready?”
The moment she asked the question, he twisted the wooden forceps and felt the enamel tooth dislocate. It came out in one pull. James dropped the tooth on to his work table, the ding of enamel on metal reverberating through the office. “Let me get some gauze to put in the hole and you’ll be good to go.”
While Jacob was recovering, Miss Jacobs sat beside him, speaking to him softly, reassuring the man he would be able to go back to his job in the mill tomorrow. “I would prefer if you take it easy for a few hours, Jacob. The medication we gave you will take some time to wear off. Why, I’d hate to have you back here again because you got hurt. Please, will you take the day off and go home?”
After agreeing, the man paid up and went on his way. Miss Jacobs even offered to walk him home, which was three doors away from the boarding house. When she came back, he had another patient sitting on the table.
“Oh my, what do we have here?” She pushed her way through the office as if she owned the place. James was glad for her help with the last patient but she never did say why she was here. Didn’t she have little Betsy to take care of? She sure hadn’t listened to a word he had asked of her earlier to wait at the boarding house until this evening.
The patient began to ramble. “Hello, ma’am. I fell off my porch. Got a big bump on my foot now and it’s hard to walk. I may have broken my foot.”
“Let’s let the good doctor take a look at it first before we diagnose ourselves, shall we?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Oh, please, you may call me Nurse Ellie. Everyone does.”
She had a way with words, James realized. It won’t hurt him a bit to have someone around who can calm people down so he can take a look at their ills. He’d let her help for now but he was going to get to the bottom of things where the two of them were concerned.
James leaned down to check the ankle. It was swollen and bruised. When he stood up, Nurse Ellie, as she liked to be called, had poured some water in a bowl, placed a strip of material in the water and was ringing it out. She kneeled down to wrap the ankle. “I think that may help somewhat. Let’s get your feet up on the table. Can you lie back please?”
The patient did as instructed. Many doctors back east wouldn’t care for her forthright attitude but James found it refreshing. After six long months of doing everything himself, he found her skills gave him the chance to do the work he had been trained for. Running a medical office took a lot more than just doctoring.
She seemed to step right in and take over. He wasn’t about to argue any time soon. When she looked up, he hadn’t realized he was smiling at her until she blushed before looking away. She turned to the patient. “Rest your foot for a moment while I help the doctor.”
James had moved to his apothecary cabinet to get the man a small dose of laudanum to take along to ease the pain while he recovered from his bruised injury. When she moved beside him and peered in the cabinet, she sounded delighted at his supply of medicine.
“Where in the world did you get so much medication? I presumed only an apothecary carried this much.”
He glanced at her before pouring a few drops in a separate bottle for the patient. “My uncle owns an apothecary. He taught me, also at a young age, how to mix different medications, even before I went to medical school. I’m lucky to have so much knowledge from great men who paved the way in medicine.”
Her eyes went wide, her mouth opened in wonder at the myriad of bottles tucked away on the shelves. “I see you have willow bark. Perhaps our patient would rather use that then to take laudanum and feel groggy all day.”
James had to agree. He placed the bottle on the shelf and reached for the willow bark. She made him realize he had to look at alternative ways to treat his patients even though his cupboard was filled to capacity. “Excellent idea, Nurse Ellie. I may call you that, may I not?”
She smiled at him, her cheeks rosy. “Of course you may. Now, let’s get our patients ankle wrapped. Do you have something we may use as a crutch so he can lean on it instead of putting too much pressure on his leg?”
He pointed to the far corner. “I have just the thing. Old man Bart from down the street makes these walking sticks. I’ve bought several in case a patient may be in need of one.” James never told anyone he kept ordering them from Bart to help the man out. Bart was all alone in the world, his wife recently deceased with no children to help in his old age. The old man was practically blind, so it was hard to find work. Instead, many townsfolk tried to do different things to help him. This was a good town, filled with loyal townsfolk.
“Thank you, Doctor. Now, if you would like to wrap the ankle, I will assist you.”
She sure was bossy. He grinned, forgetting that he was supposed to be angry with her.
Chapter 3
Ellie was in her element in the doctor’s office. After so many weeks working in that awful orphanage doing tons of housework, she was once again using her nursing skills. She hadn’t realized how much freedom she had given away walking through that horrible solid door of the orphanage in Charleston.
After showing her patient how to use the cane, he hobbled out the door like he had been using it forever. “Good for you, sir. Now go on home and rest. We will see you back in one week to check the foot. In the meantime, continue to use the cane.”
Dr. James stared at her as she walked the man to the entrance. When she turned, he was still watching her.
They were alone in his office. She had decided to come here earlier to apologize for not telling him about Betsy. She didn’t want to wait another moment at the boarding house because she knew there was much work to be done. A line had formed outside his office that she had seen from Miss Addie’s porch. Ellie wasn’t about to stay idle and not help. She was itching to get back to work as a nurse.
“Where is your daughter?”
Ellie sighed. “She isn’t my daughter.”
His brow rose. “Then who is she?”
“Betsy is indentured to me.”
“I’m sorry, what? Do you mean like an indentured servant? She is a child, hardly able to be put to work!”
She wrung her hands. “It’s not like you think?”
He took a step closer, staring at her as if she were demented. “Then what is it?”
“It was the only way to get her out of her current situation.”
The door was flung open. “Doc! Doc! We got a gunshot here!”
Ellie’s blood rushed to her head. She swung around to see a man leaning against another one taller than him, his face white as a cloud and abo
ut ready to pass out. She took control, even before the doctor had a chance to say a word. “Bring him to the table, quickly!”
The doctor and the tall man got him on to the table as the man’s head lulled back and forth. Ellie quickly poured fresh water in a bowl, tearing some strips of cloth and hurrying to the table. She waited while James tore the material away from the man’s shoulder, not bothering to take off the shirt, but ripping at it like there was no time to waste. Ellie liked how he worked, unlike some of the doctor’s in Charleston who took their good old time at a patient’s expense. She had snapped at several doctors in the hospital, alas, becoming difficult.
Except those patient’s lives were at risk and if she hadn’t pushed the doctors, her patients may have died. She wasn’t sorry, even if it gave her a reputation as being hard to work with.
Of course, she had been fired in the end.
Ellie didn’t have time to worry about the past. Her patient now was bleeding way too much. She had to concentrate on what was going on, not what took place before today. At the doctor’s request, Ellie tied a strip of the material tight around the shoulder and underneath the arm, trying to cut off some of the blood flow. “It has slowed,” she told him while he rinsed his hands in a nearby bowl.
The tall man hovered over the patient. Ellie didn’t need him in the way. “Sir, please step outside and sit on the bench. We’ll be done here shortly.”
When the man didn’t budge, she asked him again.
“He’s my brother, I shot him by accident.”
Ellie didn’t have time to sooth him but tried her best. “An accident? It happens. If you want us to save your brother’s life, we need you to step outside. Please.” She turned, confident he would not want to endanger his brother any more than necessary. Ellie applied pressure to the cloth, helping to stop the flow of blood even more so James could find the bullet.
They worked side by side for over twenty minutes. The man was passed out, he didn’t even feel the doctor’s finger digging for the bullet. Ellie knew when he woke up things would be different, so she had a bottle of laudanum by her side in case she had to put him out with a moment’s notice.
“There it is,” James announced. He curved his finger and pulled against the skin, his bloodied hand extracting a small bullet. The young man mumbled some incoherent words, his eyes still closed.
“Nurse Ellie, give him a few drops of morphine so he doesn’t become frightened while I’m stitching the wound.”
“Right away, Doctor.” Ellie spoke kindly to the young man even if he couldn’t hear her. She forced his mouth open far enough to place the dropper under his tongue, allowing the liquid to take effect immediately.
“That’s all we can do for now. Let’s let him sleep this off. He’s going to be in quite a bit of pain. We’ll have to see the other patients in the parlor for now until he gets some rest. Can you help me move some items to the parlor?”
When she looked in to the doctor’s eyes, she noticed the fatigue. He was getting tired. In the past few hours, she knew he hadn’t eaten anything. What good was a doctor if he doesn’t keep nutritionally fit?
Ellie moved the acquired items to the parlor on the other side of the hall while Doctor James ushered another patient inside. She slipped away to find the kitchen, determined he was going to take a small break in between patients. There was no sense in falling over, she mused.
There wasn’t much in his pantry. She would remedy that once married to him. That was if he still considered her marriage material.
Little cackling sounds outside the kitchen window caught her attention. Ellie smiled. Perfect! She ran out the back door, careful not to step in the muck the chickens were making in the back yard and gathered a few eggs. Taking them inside, she started a small fire in the cook stove, and pulled down a pan hanging from a hook against the wall large enough to cook some eggs.
When the fire seemed hot enough, Ellie cracked four eggs, letting them simmer in the pan while she found some day old bread in the pantry. She cut a few slices, and placed them on a plate. When the eggs were done, she flipped them on to the plate, found a fork and covered the plate with a cloth.
She left the plate where it was on the table, slipping back to the parlor. The patient was shaking the doctor’s hand, a smile a mile long on his face.
“Thanks, doc. I can’t thank you enough for helping my sister. I just wanted to stop by and say it again.”
“No need. Now go on, I have patients to attend to.”
The man noticed Ellie. “Ma’am,” he inquired, tipping his hat before exiting the parlor.
“Bring in the next patient, Nurse Ellie.”
“No.”
He turned. “Nurse Ellie?”
“Wait here, doctor. I’ll be right back.” She turned and left the room quickly, shutting the door hard so he didn’t follow. In the waiting room, she informed the patients the doctor would be taking a short break.
“Break? Why, he never took a break before.”
“He needs to. You do want the good doctor to live a long life, taking care of your needs and those of the families of Wichita Falls, don’t you?”
“Why, of course we do. Okay then, I guess everyone needs a break. May as well go have a drink at the saloon awhile.” The man in the waiting room left so quickly Ellie almost laughed.
“Now, the rest of you waiting, don’t no one take that man’s place.”
The others nodded.
“I promise, it won’t be long. Doctor James is going to have some lunch and he’ll be back in a short while.”
Back in the parlor, James stood with his hands on his hips. “Did I just hear you tell my patients I’m taking a break.”
She placed her hands on her hips as well, staring at him with her most famous stern look. “Yes. You certainly did, now follow me.” With those words, she turned towards the kitchen, making sure not to look back to see if he followed.
Ellie sensed his presence as she stepped in to the kitchen. Surprised her ploy worked, she pointed to the table. “Please, sit down and take the weight off for a few minutes. I’ve fixed you something to eat.”
James nodded. “Sure do appreciate your kindness, but I don’t normally take breaks.”
“Now you will. If you want to get through the day without becoming exhausted, then you need to take care of yourself. I insist.”
He slipped a hand through his hair, then placed it back on his hip. She was afraid he would point blank refuse.
Instead, he sat down at the table and removed the cloth. Picking up the fork, the doctor began to eat heartily, breaking the bread and sopping up the egg yokes with it. Ellie backed out of the room, giving him time to eat and relax.
She presumed he wouldn’t tarry long, so she went back to the parlor to clean up and get ready for the next patient. In the meantime, she stepped outside on the porch to get an idea of the patient’s needs. Next, she ushered the tall brother in to sit with his kin, who was starting to stir.
When she returned to the parlor, the doctor had finished. “Thank you, Nurse Ellie.” His eyes held appreciation. He nodded. “Have you eaten?”
She nodded. “Yes, I had a hearty breakfast at the boarding house. Miss Addie makes a full meal. I do have to slip away to check on Betsy, if you don’t mind. Miss Addie offered to keep her while I was gone. I should return in about fifteen minutes.”
“We need to discuss some things this evening, after the clinic is closed. Perhaps I may stop by the boarding house later?”
She smiled before turning away. “Yes, Doctor James. I’ll make arrangements for Becky to be asleep early and you may stop by around eight. I should be back in less than fifteen minutes. There is a list of the patient’s ills on the table in front of you.”
James picked up the list and grinned. “Fine job, Nurse Ellie.”
She smiled as she left the doctor’s office. Crossing the street, Ellie was so happy the day went so well, she didn’t see the run-a-way horse galloping at full speed in th
e middle of the street.
Betsy jumped up and down when she noticed Ellie. In a flash, she ran from the porch so fast Miss Addie didn’t have a chance to stop the child.
When Betsy ran out in to the street Ellie noticed the horse barrelling down. The young girl had no idea she was directly in the path of the horse. Ellie screamed in horror. “Betsy!” She picked up her skirts and ran at full speed towards the small child. Frozen to the spot, Betsy began to cry. Ellie had never yelled at her and the poor child didn’t know what to make of it.
Someone flew past her and snatched the little girl up right as the horse veered off to the left, crossing to the other side of the street, never slowing its pace. Manoeuvring its way through an alley between two houses, the horse was long gone by the time Ellie made it to the child.
Doctor James had the child in his arms, his chest heaving from exerting himself. Betsy’s face was tucked in to his neck, her little body shaking so bad.
Ellie slowed down, out of breath, leaning over a bit to take in large gulps of air. When she had complete control of her surroundings, she held out her arms for the child. Doctor James placed the sobbing child in her arms. “Oh, Betsy. Poor child. Here now, the doctor saved you.”
Ellie would speak to her later about running out in the street but for now she wanted to shower the child with love. James placed his arm around her shoulders. His warmth spread through her. This felt so right. Like the three of them belonged together.
“Thank you for saving her.”
“I think you should stay with her the rest of the day.”
“Will you still come by this evening so we can talk.”
“Yes. Eight sharp.” He turned to cross back over to where his patients were waiting for him. “Nurse Ellie. Good afternoon.”
Ellie swiped at a tear trying to escape. What he had done was simply heroic. “Good afternoon.”
James turned back to see the tear fall. He took a finger and wiped it away. Without saying a word, he crossed the street, ushered a patient inside and closed the door. Ellie closed her eyes, determined to get herself under control. She was a professional, a no nonsense nurse who had seen bloodied bodies and helped in surgeries so horrible it would make a persons stomach twist with the thought of what she saw. Ellie didn’t have time for tears, no matter what.