“I love you, darling, but go pack. Come on, Mick, let’s go out to the barn.”
“Can we come too, Pa? I hate women’s talk,” Harry asked.
Mick smothered a laugh at the expression on the young boy’s face.
“Not today, son, your ma will have kittens. You have to get rid of that cold before we can go on the train.”
“I don’t like trains,” Steven, Harry’s younger brother muttered.
Alicia was by his side almost as soon as the words came out of his mouth. “Darling, it won’t be anything like last time. We will have comfortable seats, nice food and nobody will be shouting at you. I promise.”
Mick gulped trying to dislodge the lump in his throat. Since when had he become so sentimental? He’d heard of the boys’ experiences on the same train Alicia had travelled on from Boston. He watched as the little boy wrapped his arms around Alicia’s neck.
“Thanks, Ma.”
“Where’s this horse?” Mick was getting eager to get some air. He hated being reminded of past tragedy involving young children. It always made him think of his sisters.
“Thank you so much for saying yes,” Erin said snuggling into her husband’s arm as they traveled home. It was cold and she was looking forward to getting home and seeing her daughter.
“Do you think Doc will be able to cope?” Mick asked. “He missed you when you were away studying.”
“I don’t think he will mind. It will only be for two weeks. Mrs. Grey and Mrs. Shipley are here to help.” Erin glanced up at him. “Are you saying you have changed your mind?”
“No. I wouldn’t do that. But, well…it doesn’t sit right, the Higgins spending all that money on us.”
Erin went to talk but changed her mind realizing he hadn’t finished.
“I know how much you want to go back and see everyone. I totally understand you wanting to show those old fogies you did it. You became a real doctor.”
“Childish of me I know but…well, I can’t help it.”
“It’s perfectly understandable.” Mick gave her a quick hug with one hand. “I will go with you, although you might want to leave the room when I thank them.”
“Thank them? Why would you do that?” Erin asked, totally mystified.
“For being so ignorant, judgmental and downright old fashioned. If it hadn’t been for them, I would never have met you.”
Erin giggled as she snuggled closer. “I guess I should thank them too.”
Chapter 6
“Doc Erin, do you have a minute?”
Erin looked up from the periodical she had been reading to see Karl, the logger who was helping run the mill while waiting for his arm to heal. Seeing him reminded her she should visit the logging camp when she got back from her vacation. She had caught up on everything in preparation for her trip to New York and was now relaxing. “Come in please, Karl. How is your arm? Are you in pain?”
“No, not in pain. Not from arm anyway. I is, I mean I would like to... This is difficult.” Karl twisted his hat around his fingers. Erin had to hide her smile, the hat wouldn’t be fit to wear if he worked it so hard for much longer.
“Karl, sit down please and take a deep breath. Now tell me where it hurts,” Erin said using her most soothing doctor’s voice.
“In here.” Karl pointed to his chest. “I think... My heart, it is broken.”
It took Erin a couple of minutes to work out Karl wasn’t looking for medical advice.
“Karl, are you trying to tell me you are in love?”
“Ya. Ya. With woman.”
Erin smiled, waiting but he just continued to stare at her. “Karl, which woman? And why do you need my help?”
“Mrs. Hofmeister. She is fine woman. And baby Mia is beautiful little girl. I like Max too,” Karl supplied.
“So what's the problem?” Erin asked, wondering how many male doctors found themselves consulted in matters of the heart.
“Mrs. Hofmeister no like you. She real stubborn. She want to go live in other place. I want to stay here. Good business in the mill and good friends in town.”
Erin hid her smile behind her hand. Who would have thought someone wouldn’t think she was stubborn? That was one to tell her husband, Mick. What was she supposed to do? She wasn’t well versed in matters of the heart having only recently allowed herself to trust the man she loved with every bone in her body. She looked helplessly at Karl.
“Karl, I fixed your arm when you hurt it at the logging camp. I don't think...”
“Yes, you fixed arm real good. So now you fix heart too. Yes?”
“But...”
“Mrs. Hofmeister listens to you. She think you have big brain. You tell her marry me.” Karl stood up, his head nodding so fast, Erin grew dizzy. She stood up too.
“Well, I can try speaking to her. It hasn't been that long since she lost her husband.” The accident at the mill had happened the first day Erin arrived in town. She would never forget Hans Hofmeister for as long as she lived. The poor man had been so brave, even when she had to amputate his arm. She still wondered if she could have done anything to save him. He’d left a pregnant widow and young son devastated.
“It’s been almost one year. I lost my wife two years now. My girl needs mother. Mrs. Hofmeister needs father for two children. It’s perfect, yes?”
Erin just stared at him. She wished someone else was here to help. Mrs. Grey was out checking on some patients and Emer Shipley had gone home to her beautiful twins.
“You come now and talk. Take no time.” Karl held her cloak out for her. “Now, please.”
Erin found herself agreeing. The smile on his face was worth it.
They soon arrived at the mill. Erin asked Karl to wait outside leaving her to talk to Mrs. Hofmeister in private. The widow was nursing her little girl, immediately making Erin think of Michelle. She missed her adopted daughter when she was working. Lily looked after her really well, but she couldn’t help being a little bit jealous. Mick wouldn’t mind if she stopped doctoring to stay home all day with Michelle. But much as she hated to admit it, she wouldn’t find that satisfying. She loved being a doctor. Well, most days anyway.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Hofmeister. How are you and Mia today?”
“We are good but you call me Greta, please. You are my friend.” Mrs. Hofmeister beamed at Erin making her feel worse. How much of a friend would she think she was after she put forward Karl’s proposal?
“Greta, I was wondering, I mean as your doctor, I thought I would check on your plans.”
“My plans?” Greta looked confused.
“You said before Mia came, you wanted to go to Kansas to be with your friends. Are you still planning to move?”
Disappointment flooded Greta’s face, leaving Erin completely confused.
“Yes, we go. We not stay long here.”
“But why?” Erin asked gently.
“Why?”
“Why are you going? Dickinson is gone—he was hanged last month for Kathryn’s murder among others. So why leave?” Erin asked.
Confusion replaced disappointment in the other woman’s eyes. “You not tell me to leave?”
Erin wasn’t often lost for words but this time Mrs. Hofmeister succeeded. Erin tried again. “Greta, we would love if you, Max, and baby Mia stayed in Clover Springs. Karl is a fine man. He would like to stay here too. He doesn't want to go back to the logging camp.”
Greta stopped nursing and took her time to readjust her clothing. Then she stood up and put baby Mia into the cradle.
“That’s a beautiful cradle, Greta.”
Greta touched the cradle, a smile on her lips. “Karl make it. He is good man but people talk. They say it too soon. After my Hans.”
Erin wished people would mind their own business. It seemed there was always someone telling someone else what they could and couldn't do.
“Greta, never mind about anyone else. What do you feel? Do you think it is too soon?”
Greta shook her head but she
wouldn't meet Erin's eyes.
“Tell me, please. I am your friend and your doctor. I won't say a word to anyone else.”
“I think it would be nice to be a real family again. It is hard being mother and father to the children at same time. Max needs a father. He is growing boy.”
“Karl would make a good father. But what about you? What do you want?”
Greta flushed. “I think Karl make good husband.”
“Well then, please say you will stay. If you like, you could start courting Karl. That would give people time to get used to the idea, although if I was you, I would just get married. Life is far too short to worry about what other people think.”
“What other people?” Greta was confused again.
Erin would have smiled but she didn't want to offend the lady.
“Greta, do what you think is best about Karl. Now there is something else I wanted to ask you. Would you come to English classes if I could organize some?”
“English classes?”
“Your English is very good but sometimes you find it hard to understand people. Or they misunderstand you. We have a lot of new people in Clover Springs. I was thinking I might start some English classes for the adults.”
“You could make me speak like you? That would be wonderful.” Greta nodded so hard, Mia protested with a wail. “Shush little one. Mama wants you to grow up American. I need to speak good English so I can teach children.”
Erin stood up, pleased to have had such a successful visit.
“Thank you, Doc Erin.”
“Can I please tell Karl to come and speak to you. I think the poor man will eat his own hat, he is so nervous.”
Greta smiled as she raised her head shyly. Erin glimpsed the beauty she must have been before the worries of the last few years had made her careworn.
“You tell Karl to come talk,” Greta said in her broken English.
“I will. Goodbye, little Mia. See you soon, Greta. Don't forget to invite me to your wedding.”
Erin went out the door smiling. Karl was pacing up and down the street outside.
“Did she listen?” Karl asked.
“Why don't you go inside and ask your fiancée?”
Karl looked at her, confusion in his eyes. At Erin's wide smile, the confusion disappeared to be replaced by a look of sheer delight, it took Erin's breath away. Before she knew what was happening, Karl lifted her up as if she was a small child and swung her around. She was breathless when he put her back on the ground. “Sorry, Doc. I got excited. Thank you.” He moved inside quickly, closing the door behind him.
“Did I just see you being manhandled in the street?” Mick said, the grin on his face showing her he had seen the innocence in Karl's embrace.
“I've decided to give up doctoring and take up matchmaking instead.” Erin leaned in for a kiss from her husband. She couldn’t believe how much she enjoyed being married. Mick hadn't changed into a beast as soon as he put the ring on her finger. In fact, he was more patient and happier in himself. Marriage suited them both. They knew they had been blessed to adopt Michelle even though it wasn’t formal yet. Their little girl meant their family was complete.
She linked his arm as they walked down the street.
“Erin, you know what you said about matchmaking?”
“I wasn’t serious, you know.”
“I know that and anyway the town wouldn’t let you stop doctoring but you could still be a matchmaker in your spare time.”
“Who do you want to marry off? Lily? I don't think she is ready yet do you?”
No, he didn't, and if he was honest, he wasn’t sure she would ever be. It was such a shame as the more they got to know Lily the more he liked her. She was a victim of Dickinson just as much as Mollie, Kathryn, and the others. But because she was over eighteen she didn't get the same sympathy. It was stupid as Dickinson had entrapped her as a thirteen-year-old runaway.
“No, it's not Lily, although I wish it was. I was thinking of Cookie and Mrs. H.”
Erin stopped right in the middle of the street. “You want me to set up your best friend with your old housekeeper?”
“Well, Davy's housekeeper but yeah.”
“Ha. I am not that good. Mrs. H has been widowed for years. If she wanted to get married, she would have done so already. It's not like there aren’t plenty of single men around. Cookie has never been interested in settling down. I am not a miracle worker.”
Mick didn't respond, he just looked at her.
“You're serious, aren’t you?”
“Yes, dear wife, I am. Not just because you have shown me the joys of wedded bliss, but I really care for both of them, and I think they will make a good match. I owe Cookie a lot.”
Erin rubbed his arm. “Cookie doesn’t see it like that. You don't have to pay him for looking out for you. He says you are the son he never had.”
“Well, maybe now he could have children of his own.”
Erin laughed but stopped at his expression. “Mick Quinn, do I have to explain the facts of life to you? Mrs. H is too old to have a baby, and I am not at all sure she would want one after all these years.”
“Not her own baby but I think she would make a wonderful mother to some orphans.”
“Ah, why didn't I think of that?”
“Because you, my darling wife, are not always the best at seeing the obvious.”
He brushed her lips lightly only showing restraint because they had reached the clinic and the room inside was bound to be occupied by patients. “See you for dinner.”
Chapter 7
Mick walked on down to the Haven. The property had been completely transformed inside and out. There was no resemblance now to the Red Feathers. Little Beaver and some of the other men had helped him plant a row of trees between the saloon and the Haven to make sure everyone knew the properties were not linked.
Mick rubbed his chin as he passed the saloon, thinking of Gary the barkeep.
It was about time Gary settled down and met a nice woman. Mick chuckled loudly making the man walking down the street toward him, cross to the other side. Who would have thought a year ago he would be matchmaking all his friends? He, who had been a confirmed bachelor, was now trying to get everyone married off.
“You seem in a very happy mood,” Lily said as Mick walked into the Haven still chuckling.
“I am, Lily. How’s Michelle?”
Lily’s face lit up. “She’s asleep now, the little angel. She is such a beautiful child. I can’t understand how her father let her go.”
“Neither can I but I am so thankful he did.” Mick turned his attention away from the crib back to Lily. “How are you? How was your day?”
The smile slid off her face faster than ice melting in the summer sun. He thought she was about to cry, but instead, she took a deep breath. “It was same as always.”
“Lily, remember what we promised each other when you decided to live here with me and Erin? No lies.”
“I took Michelle to the store. I shouldn’t have. I should know better.” Lily crossed her arms across her chest.
“Lily, come into the kitchen and sit down. I’m starving. I will make us both some lunch.”
Lily laughed. “I am not that upset. I will make lunch, you can make the coffee.”
Mick took his lead from her and pretended to be upset. “Are you saying I am a bad cook?”
“Let me see. Before you came here, Cookie did all the cooking for you. Unless Mrs. H was around. Before that you ate army rations. You never really got the chance to learn.”
“Now listen here, miss, you take that back. I can make a decent…” Mick couldn’t keep it up. She was right. He was particularly useless in the kitchen. “Okay, you win. I will make the coffee. I can’t burn that.”
“Well, you would think not but you could.” Lily said teasing him back, her eyes letting him know she was grateful to him for lightening the atmosphere.
She would tell him what happened in town when she was
ready. He had the time to wait. Erin had taught him a lot of things. They included never to try rushing a lady. With everything Lily had been through, he needed to take things slowly. Difficult to do when his first instinct was to throttle whomever had hurt her earlier today. She had been hurt enough to last a lifetime.
“Lily, are you ready to tell me what upset you today?” Mick asked.
She looked up wondering if she could distract him. She knew he was going to be upset if she told him the truth but then she had promised never to lie to him or Erin. She ran her fingers along the counter.
“I took Michelle to the store. Usually, it's only Katie or Daniel Sullivan in there. They are both nice. But yesterday I got lucky.”
“Who?”
“Mrs. Kelley, Mrs. Shaw, and someone else.”
“A younger woman?”
Lily nodded. “Mrs. Kelley started making comments about the air smellin' bad. Katie told her to shush but it made no difference. She kept on saying nasty things until I left.”
“You were right to leave, Lily. Nobody should have to listen to Ma Kelley. Her son and daughter-in-law won't have anything to do with her.”
“I know but that's not why I left. I got so angry I could have slapped her. Sheriff told me I had to stay out of trouble, but it was almost worth sitting in a cell just to have wiped that smug look off her face.”
Mick laughed at the sight of Lily making a fist with her hand. He stopped at the look she gave hm.
“It will never stop, will it? People don't forget. There isn't a future for me here in Clover Springs. My own brother wrote me off. Why did I expect ordinary people to treat me better?”
Mick would have given her a hug but it was not appropriate. He was a married man and she was a single woman, not a family member.
“Lily, it is easy for me to tell you things will get better with time. But I don’t know if that is true. People do have long memories. But you know Erin and I would do anything to help you.”
“What are we doing now?” Erin walked in the front door. She was smiling but then she must have sensed the atmosphere. She dropped her bag and went to Lily straight away.
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