“I’ll keep an eye out for it. Is that all?” She asked him with an eyebrow raised.
He felt his mouth turn up at the corners. She was feisty and had recovered from her initial unease very quickly. He liked that.
She looked weary, tired and hot. He moved toward her and she moved hastily behind her desk, sitting down in her chair.
If she thought she was going to sit down at that desk and create a barrier between them, she was sadly mistaken. He moved around the desk toward her left and sat down at the edge closest to her. She had to look up to meet his eyes. Hers were golden brown with yellow flecks that seemed to dance when she was angry or frustrated—like she was now. He wondered what they did when she was happy. He hadn’t really seen her happy although she had seemed happy for Claire and Sully at their wedding.
“How are you?” He asked, curious about what she would say. Would she be honest with him, or would she deflect?
“I’m fine, and you?”
Hm. That was something they would have to work on. She needed to learn to be honest with him, although he’d found that many women, and men for that matter, responded with a pat answer to that question.
No, she knew exactly what she was doing. Her eyes held a challenge, and she would learn over time that he could read her body, regardless of her words.
“Make sure you stay hydrated,” he advised. “Philadelphia is hot in the summer, but Texas takes heat to a whole new level.” He studied her. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes guarded, and her pulse still racing. Ratcheting up, in fact.
She took a deep breath, sat up straight in her chair, determination shining in her eyes.
“Class is dismissed, doctor,” she turned and her gaze locked on his. He watched uncertainty flicker before her eyes veiled. “Thank you for your concern about the children. I’m sure Sister Theresa will be in touch if further cases develop. Have a good evening and please close the door behind you.” She rose from her chair, gathered a few books, then swept through the door, leaving it ajar.
He chuckled. She could deny or fight it all she wanted—he knew she felt the attraction between them. He was determined to break down the walls and get to know the woman behind them.
ELEVEN
“Miss Allen?”
“Yes, Raphael?” Magdalena turned toward one of her star pupils.
“I don’t feel so good,” he warned, right before he vomited all over the table, books, and the two students sitting across from him. They jumped back with a scream.
“Oh,” she whispered, racing toward the table. “Raphael, Joseph, and Millie stay right where you are. Everyone else—you are dismissed—except for Jesse. Jesse, I need you to go get Sister Theresa for me right away, okay?” Her eyes pleaded with him.
Jesse wasn’t known for doing what he was asked to do, but he nodded immediately. “Yes, Miss Allen.”
“Jesse,” she warned, “go straight to Sister Theresa.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed.
Magdalena immediately grabbed a cleaning cloth from the corner of the schoolroom and cleaned the vomit from Joseph and Millie’s clothes. “Joseph, take your shirt off and go back to your room. Ask one of the sisters to help you with a bath.” Then she turned to Millie, “Millie, I want you to go with Joseph. The sister will help you change your clothing and get cleaned up. Tell them that Raphael is sick. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Miss Allen,” they agreed in unison.
Raphael groaned, holding his stomach.
“Go!” She encouraged. Millie and Joseph ran.
“Miss Allen?” Raphael moaned right before he vomited the rest of his lunch all over the table.
Well, she thought, at least he’s consistent.
She heard the schoolroom door open and Sister Theresa stepped through. “Miss Allen?”
“Hello, Sister. We have another sick child, and two more have been exposed. I think it would be wise to we skip a day of school to see if we can get this stomach flu under control.”
“Agreed. I’ll talk with the other sisters and see if we can get some volunteers to help with the sick children.”
“No, I’ll stay,” Magdalena argued. “There’s no point in exposing anyone else to this virus, and the Lord knows, I’ve already been exposed We have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in front of us. Hopefully, it will be enough.”
“Should we call Doctor Holloway?” Sister Theresa asked.
“No, he was clear that there was no need to involve him unless a child was sick for longer than twenty-four hours. Go with Sister Theresa, Raphael. I’ll join you shortly.”
“Yes, Miss Allen,” he moaned, moving back from the table while holding his stomach.
Sister Theresa nodded, then turned to leave with her hand on Raphael’s shoulder.
Magdalena finished cleaning the table, barely able to keep her own nausea at bay. She’d only had the stomach flu once in her life, but she’d been violently ill with it.
The memory forced her to pause. Her father had been unbearable—as though he could hardly believe that his own offspring could succumb to an illness. It was one of the few times she’d seen her parents argue. Shivers ran down her spine.
She hoped that she had an immunity to this one, she thought, as she dumped the vomit-covered rag into the cleaning pail, and moved out of the schoolroom and across the yard toward the hall where the children stayed.
She stopped first at the laundry area, dropping the dirty rags in a bleach solution, then moved to the residence hall where the children stayed.
Sister Theresa was standing in the hall. “We’ve segregated the children between sick and well. One sister is with the sick children, and two are with the well. You’ll join the group of sick children.”
“Of course,” Magdalena agreed.
“Do we need to send a message to Miss Mary?” Sister Theresa asked.
“I warned Mary and Jim there could be a possibility I would need to stay at the orphanage if the flu continued to spread, so they won’t worry. I’ll send a message tomorrow.” Magdalena moved with quick steps toward the sick room, soft moans greeting her ear when she reached the door.
She took a deep breath and stepped inside.
TWELVE
He loved this time of the day on the porch. The sun was peaking over the horizon, creating pink hues unique to Texas, yet somehow never exactly the same on any given day.
Lance rubbed his hand across his face, tired from a week of seeing men, women, and children weak and dehydrated from a stomach bug. His thoughts moved to the orphanage—he’d told the Sister to let him know if any of the children were sick beyond twenty-four hours, but he hadn’t heard from them, so maybe it had stopped with the few children who had been ill.
It was Sunday and his office was officially closed today. The cases he’d seen yesterday had slacked compared to earlier in the week. He could only hope that meant it was on the downswing.
“Good morning,” Lee Jamison, his medical school buddy greeted him, a cup of coffee in his hands. “Rough week, huh?”
“It was busy, for sure. Thanks for your help, Lee. You didn’t have to, in light of the fact that you’re on vacation—,”
“Don’t mention it. It’s not a bad thing to be reminded of just how good I have it in Philadelphia, and it has been good to be brought back to the foundation of why we started this journey to begin with. Mrs. Collins said breakfast would be ready shortly,” he added.
“I’m thinking about taking a ride to Mary Trost’s farm after breakfast—care to join me?”
His friend’s face lit up with a wry smile. “Really? Want to tell me what would take you there today? Missing a beautiful teacher, by chance?”
Lance laughed. “I think we both might have a vested interest in this visit, although I can’t use Jim’s injury as an excuse any longer, so we’ll need to think of another.”
“Three months isn’t a lot of time, and nearly two weeks have passed,” Lee commented. “You’ve got to make hay while the sun shines,
my friend.”
“Don’t I know it,” Lance agreed, his tone thoughtful.
“Doctor Holloway? Breakfast is ready,” Mrs. Collins announced from the front door.
“Thank you, Mrs. Collins, we’ll be right there,” Lance confirmed.
“She’s something, isn’t she?” Lee asked.
“She’s a lifesaver, literally.”
“According to Mrs. Collins, you saved her after her husband died.” Then Lee added, “She’s grateful, you know.”
“I know she is. She tells me every day, but the truth is, having her here has made an enormous difference for me.”
“Let’s go eat. My stomach can’t wait to experience what she’s made for us today.” Lee grinned at his friend. “Think she’d have any interest in moving to Philadelphia?”
“Don’t even think about it,” Lance growled.
* * *
When Lance and Lee reigned their horses in, the farmyard appeared empty apart from the longhorn in a side corral—the one Claire had affectionately named Colossal.
“There’s the infamous longhorn,” Lee commented with a chuckle.
“Sully has his work cut out for him, that’s all I can say,” Lance confirmed. “The barn door is open, let’s tie the horses and check there first.”
Once the horses were secured, the men turned toward the barn and then moved to a full-out run when they heard a huge crash from inside the barn. They rushed toward the door in tandem, then stopped.
“Mary!” Lee exclaimed, his eyes moving up to a support beam ten feet up in the air, where Mary sat straddling the beam. Wisps of hair framed her face, red from the effort. “Are you all right?”
“What on earth is going on?” Lance asked, moving toward the stall she balanced above.
Mary chuckled. “If you could see your faces.”
Suddenly Jim popped up from inside the large horse stall. “Hey docs,” he greeted. “Your timing is impeccable.”
Lance’s eyes roamed over Jim’s body. Everything seemed to be working perfectly.
“I’m fine,” Jim confirmed, “but the beam I spent hours making yesterday is not.”
He was right. The beam had a split right down the center, deep enough to compromise its integrity.
“What, may I ask, are you doing?” Lance looked at Jim like he had lost his mind.
“Mary, come down from there,” Lee Jamison demanded.
Mary cocked an eyebrow at Lee and then jumped off the beam, landing gracefully on two feet beside Jim.
“I was trying to get the beam up to Mary. We need extra support if we’re going to get Colossal in a stall for winter.”
“Jim,” Lance stood eye-to-eye with him, “while I gave you a full bill of health, that didn’t mean that you should be lifting heavy beams by yourself, and certainly not hefting it up to your sister who was unsecured while sitting on a beam ten feet above a hard floor.”
Jim took a step back, looking sheepish, then glanced over to his sister. “You’re probably right, doc.”
“Not probably. I am right. Next time ask for help and take better care of Mary.” He added for good measure.
Lee moved to Mary. “Are you sure you’re all right?” He took her hands in his, and pulled them out slightly, his eyes roving over her from head to foot.
Mary blushed bright red, jerking her hands from his. “I’m perfectly fine, and perfectly capable.” She growled with narrowed eyes, turning away from Lee toward Lance. “To what do we owe the honor of this visit?”
Lance chuckled. If he didn’t know better, he’d think steam was coming out of her ears. God certainly had a sense of humor with the women he’d brought into their lives.
“Lee and I were out for a ride and—,”
“Magdalena isn’t here,” Mary announced with pointed looks at both men, “but you must know that already.” She brushed past them, moving out of the barn toward the house.
“Why would I know that?” Lance asked, following her as she moved out of the barn toward the house.
“Because she’s at the orphanage.” Mary stopped, squared her shoulders, and looked Lance in the eyes.
“Why is she at the orphanage on a Sunday?” His brow furrowed.
“Doc, I just assumed you knew. Magdalena hasn’t been home for three days. She’s staying at the orphanage to help with the sick children. Haven’t you been there?”
“No,” he growled.
Lance and Lee both moved for their horses.
“Wait!” Mary exclaimed. “Jim and I will come with you.”
“No,” Lee answered for them both. He stopped and turned back toward Mary, moving to stand in front of her and taking her hands in his. “No one else needs to get sick. You stay here with Jim, we’ll bring Magdalena back here.”
Mary looked down at her hands held by Lee.
“Do you hear me, Mary? Promise me you’ll stay.”
“I promise,” she whispered, looking up into Lee’s eyes. “I’ll have Magdalena’s room ready for her. I’m sorry—I just assumed you knew.”
“Let’s go,” Lance commanded. “We should stop at my office on the way.”
Lee nodded as he swung up onto the saddle of his horse, and they took off at a full gallop.
THIRTEEN
Magdalena groaned, pushing herself up from the edge of little Jose’s bed, pressing her hands into her lower back to quell the ache from sitting next to the weak, feverish child for two days.
Sister Theresa opened the door to the room, placing a glass of water on the table near the door, her eyes filled with worry.
“We’re down to three,” Magdalena confirmed, “but Jose isn’t getting better. I think we should call Doctor Holloway.”
Sister Theresa nodded. “Sister Constance is resting, but as soon as she’s up, she’ll come and relieve you.”
Magdalena nodded. She’d moved past exhaustion two days ago. The bug had made its way through nearly all the children and two of the sisters. Fortunately, it seemed to last for only twenty-four hours, well, except for Jose, who groaned at her side.
“Get the doctor, quickly.” Worry creased her brow, and she dipped a cloth into a pan of water at Jose’s bedside, pressing it on his forehead and cheeks. Next, she moved to the two other children in the room. Both had stopped vomiting hours ago and were now sleeping. She touched their foreheads, both cool. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Brushing the hair back from her forehead, she washed her hands, then reached for the glass of water Sister Theresa had left for her, taking a sip. Exhaustion rippled through her body, and she felt nauseous, but she also felt certain the nausea was more from exhaustion than anything else.
Surely if she were going to get the stomach bug, she would have gotten it by now, right?
She moved back to Jose, taking the already hot cloth off his forehead, dipped it in the cool water, and gently wiped the sweat from the fever from his neck and face.
She turned when the door opened, surprised to see not just Doctor Holloway, but his friend Lee Jamison, as well. Relief flooded her veins before exhaustion seeped back into her bones. “How—?”
Lance reached her side, taking her face in his hands, studying her.
“It’s not me—I’m fine. It’s Jose,” she protested, standing, then swaying on her feet. She steadied herself on the corner of his bed. “He’s not getting better. H—how did Sister Theresa get you here so quickly?”
Lance swept Magdalena up into his arms and set her on the chair near the table. “Stay put. Don’t move.” Anger and worry flickered through his eyes.
Next, he moved to Jose’s side, opening his bag and taking out his stethoscope.
Lee moved to the other children, feeling their foreheads.
“I think they are both on the mend,” Magdalena offered, her voice weary.
“When did they last vomit?” Lee asked, looking back at Magdalena.
“At least four hours ago,” she confirmed. Her eyes moved to Jose. “Jose last vomited an hour ago, but his fe
ver is still raging. I’m worried—,” she managed before dropping her face into her hands.
“Lance.” Lee got the attention of his friend, eyebrows raised, his head jerked toward Magdalena. “You take care of her. I’ve got Jose.”
Lance handed his stethoscope to Lee, moving quickly to Magdalena’s side. Tilting her head up carefully, he felt her forehead, then gently pulled the skin down beneath each eye.
“I’m fine,” she protested—“help Jose—," and then her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed into Lance’s arms just as Sister Theresa entered the room.
“Oh, my!” She exclaimed.
“Has she complained of nausea?” Doctor Holloway asked the sister, sweeping Magdalena up into his arms.
“Complained? No, not once. She has worked tirelessly caring for these children without a break for three days.”
“You should have called me,” Lance gently scolded the sister.
“Magdalena insisted you instructed that we should only call you if a child was sick for longer than twenty-four hours. Those were your words, but then two of the sisters got sick, as well. It was all Magdalena and I could do just to take care of the sick children while the sister who was well cared for those who were not sick. Magdalena insisted that I rest while she stayed with the children.”
Lance released a deep breath. “You look exhausted, Sister Theresa. You need to rest. Doctor Jamison and I will take care of things from here and we’ll bring some women in to help.”
“No, Magdalena said we shouldn’t risk exposing anyone else.”
“Yes, well, Magdalena isn’t the doctor—I am,” he clarified. “I’ll take her back to the farm and return with reinforcements. At this point, I think you’re all likely past the point of being contagious. Have you been sick?” He asked, examining Sister Theresa with his eyes.
“No, and I don’t think I will be. I’ve been with the first children who got ill, and all of those since.”
Lance nodded. “You still need rest.”
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