The Doctor's Newfound Family

by Valerie Hansen

  Making her way to the waiting buggy, she held tight to Taylor’s arm and scanned the crowd that thronged the street and nearby business establishments. Somewhere in that multitude was the man who had tried to steal her brother, and surely he hadn’t acted alone. Were they connected to William Bein? Or was that too simplistic a notion?

  Shivering in spite of the balmy evening, Sara Beth stumbled and had to lean on the doctor’s arm to keep her balance.

  He laid his hand over hers where she had grasped his arm. “Are you all right?”

  “No,” she said honestly, fighting the tears that brimmed and threatened to slide down her cheeks. “I am far from all right. I feel scared and lost and nearly at the end of my endurance.”

  “Little wonder.”

  She saw the doctor cast a disparaging glance at Luke as the boy clambered into the buggy ahead of her and took a seat on the floor, legs crossed.

  “It’s not just because of what my brother did,” she insisted, letting her protector assist her in climbing aboard. “It’s everything. I feel as if there are villains lurking everywhere, ready to pounce. It’s very disconcerting.”

  “You’ll be safe enough once we get you home and inside those stone walls where you’re among friends.”

  “The orphanage is more like a prison than a home,” Sara Beth told him as he joined her and took up the reins. “I know I shouldn’t feel that way. Perhaps it seems worse because I dare not leave. If I did, I’d always be jumping at shadows and wondering who is plotting to harm me or my brothers.”

  “This, too, will pass,” Taylor said. “Be patient.”

  She knew he was right. And wise. And privy to much more inside information than he had chosen to share with her. Still, she was adrift in her current situation because she didn’t know enough details about those who stood against her.

  Would old Abe Warner know anything useful? she wondered. She was overdue for a visit with him and there was no time like the present.

  “I’d like to swing by the Cobweb Palace on the way home, if you don’t mind,” Sara Beth said. Before the doctor could object she added, “I owe Mr. Warner for taking care of my parents’ final arrangements, and I’d like to make sure everything is in order.”

  Sighing, the doctor nodded. “All right. It’s not far. Just promise me you won’t go running off again.”

  Sara Beth placed a hand on her brother’s shoulder and answered, “We will stay together and remain beside you at all times. Won’t we, Luke?”

  Although he merely mumbled, he did deign to nod so she was satisfied. The boy had to be suffering and confused. Although he did not have to shoulder the full responsibility for everyone else in the family the way she did, he was still to be pitied. They all were.

  Which was another reason why she wanted to see Abe. He had gone beyond normal kindness in order to assist her. She wanted him to know how much she appreciated his efforts as well as demonstrate that she was happy and well cared for at present. He was like the grandfather she had never known.

  That thought made her smile wistfully. Abe Warner was not only a colorful character; he was quite unlike the real grandparents her mother had spoken of so fondly. However, since those dear ones had gone to Glory long before Mama and Papa, she had no one else. Her fondness for Abe had grown as she had, with maturity bringing understanding. He was a lonely old man whose animals were his only real family and whose business served as his social circle, such as it was.

  She and Mama had both tried to get him to come to church with them, but he had always begged off. That was probably just as well, since he didn’t exactly smell like a rose. His heart, however, was as pure as the very gold her father was accused of stealing.

  “I will clear your good name, Papa,” she whispered. “I will. I swear it.”

  Beside her, she felt Taylor tense and sensed that he was looking at her so she forced a smile for his sake.

  “That’s more like it,” he said, returning her grin. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”

  Better? Perhaps, she reasoned. Then again, maybe she was merely getting to the point where she could accept what had happened and move forward. There was certainly no option of going back. Her days as the cosseted daughter of a trusted assayer and a member of polite society were over.

  Sara Beth, Lucas, Mathias and Josiah Reese were now nothing more than numbers on the books of the Protection Society.

  Still, she reminded herself, she should be doubly thankful for Ella’s kindness in taking them all in when she and Luke were technically beyond the ages specified in the society’s charter. He was a year older than was generally allowed for boys, and she was not at all qualified because she was neither an unwed mother nor a widow with small children to support.

  Thank You, Father, that they bent the rules this time, Sara Beth thought, amazed that it had taken her this long to realize how truly blessed she was.

  The buggy stopped in the dusky alleyway next to Meigg’s wharf. She shivered, remembering the last time she had been there and hating the fact that she’d have to pass the place where the bodies of her poor parents had lain so recently.

  Taylor reached over and covered her hand. “Are you sure you want to go through with this? I can take a message to Abe for you instead.”

  “No. I’m going to go speak with him, to thank him in person. I owe him that, and more.”

  She watched him climb down, circle the buggy and offer her his assistance. As she placed her hand in his, she was struck once again by his warmth, his gentleness. He had long, tapering fingers, skillful surgeon’s fingers, she noted, just as the medical texts had described.

  Right now, however, it was not the doctor’s medical expertise she was appreciating. It was his caring expression and the slight smile he was bestowing upon her. If she lived a hundred more years she didn’t think she’d ever see a kinder look in anyone’s eyes.

  That thought, and the one that followed, made her falter. Taylor caught her by the waist and lowered her feet carefully to the ground.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, frowning.

  Sara Beth was not about to tell him what tricks her mind was playing on her. When she had thought of having many years of life ahead of her, her imagination had immediately countered with the notion that this next breath might be her last.

  She had wobbled when she had realized how real that possibility might be. The man who had slain Mama and Papa had died, too, but if he had not been working alone the threat of assassination was still there. Still lurking in some black-hearted knave like William Bein who might easily hire another scoundrel to slay her. Or her whole family.

  Chapter Nine

  The Cobweb Palace was not an establishment Taylor would have chosen for Sara Beth or her impressionable brother to visit, particularly at this time in the evening. Dock workers and others had bellied up to its bar till there was no room for one more man to squeeze in. Raucous laughter echoed from the celebrants enjoying French brandy, Spanish wine or English ale, and the aroma of hot food mingling with that of the old man’s menagerie was anything but appetizing.

  Sara Beth shrank back in the doorway. “Maybe this was a mistake. I’ve been here with Mama many times and it was never like this.”

  “That’s probably because you came on a Sunday afternoon. A saloon is a saloon, even if there is enough stuff crammed in here to make it a museum or a zoo.”

  Spotting the top-hatted old man behind the bar, Taylor motioned him over. As soon as Abe recognized Sara Beth, a grin lifted his whiskered cheeks.

  She greeted him tearfully and gave him her hand. He patted it affectionately, sending a twinge of jealousy through Taylor and leaving him shocked by his untoward reaction. The young woman had intimated that she thought of Abe as a grandfatherly figure, so why did his innocent attention to her seem so off-putting? Might he covet the easy affection between the two despite his vow to keep his feelings out of it?

  “I—I just wanted to thank you in person,” she told Abe,
watching as Luke played with a monkey that was chained atop a keg at the rear of the room.

  “Nothing to thank me for,” he said. “Have you been to the cemetery yet?”

  The doctor saw her glance at her brother before she said, “No. I know Mama and Papa are in heaven. There’s no need for me to see their earthly resting places.”

  “Well, I put up a marker for them anyway,” Abe told her. “It’s just temporary till I can get one carved proper.”

  “I will repay you, somehow, someday,” Sara Beth vowed.

  “Ain’t no need for that. None at all.” He gestured toward the bar. “These fine gentlemen ponied up plenty for the graves and there’s enough left over for a nice headstone.”

  “I thought stone markers weren’t allowed at Yerba Buena.”

  “It ain’t that. It’s the way the sand hills drift over the graves that hide ’em. But don’t you fret, Miss Sara Beth. I’ll see to it that the plots are kept clean so you can find ’em when you’re ready to go pay your respects.”

  “Thank you.” She leaned close enough to kiss the old man’s cheek. “And God bless you.”

  “He has, He has,” Abe said with a chortle. “I’m a happy man with a place of my own and plenty of good company. Couldn’t ask for more.”

  Taylor snorted in the background, drawing Abe’s attention.

  “We can’t all be highfalutin like the doc here. I’m just glad he’s taken such a shine to you, little girl. Your Mama and Papa would be pleased.”

  Before Taylor could deny any personal interest, Sara Beth did it for him.

  “We are just acquaintances,” she insisted. “However, he is going to teach me all about medicine so I can work with him at the orphanage. Isn’t that wonderful?”

  Abe looked surprised, then started to roar with laughter, tightly clasping his sides as if he were about to shake them apart. When he recovered enough to speak he said, “You? A doc? That’ll be the day. Imagine. A woman doctor? Might as well move right into my collection. I can put you up next to the sea monkey or the mermaid. Yes, sirree.”

  She looked to Taylor. “I think it’s time we left.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.” He had noticed that their presence was attracting far too much attention, especially since Abe had begun hooting and hollering, and he wanted to take her away before things got further out of hand.

  “Luke,” the doctor shouted. “Come on. We’re leaving.”

  The boy came slowly, scuffing his feet on the dusty floorboards. “Aw. Do we hafta?”

  “Yes,” Sara Beth said firmly. “We have to.”

  In Taylor’s opinion the boy was far from being as reformed as his sister seemed to believe. There might be hesitant compliance in his actions but he retained a defiant look, a posture that indicated he was inches from outright refusal.

  Now was not the time to bring that up, of course, but Luke would bear watching. His young mind had obviously not yet grasped the gravity of the situation and he was still a danger to everyone. Any boy who would take money for betraying his sister was not going to change his ways after only one good talking-to. Nor was he likely to think things through himself and decide to do right in the future.

  No, Taylor decided easily. That boy was trouble. All he had to do was figure out how to warn Sara Beth without alienating her completely. He would have felt a lot better about the situation if he’d had a clue how he should proceed.

  Well, one problem at a time, he told himself as he escorted her and the boy back to his buggy. The sun was already so low over the bay that twilight was upon them. The sooner his charges got back to the orphanage the better.

  Once he saw Sara Beth and Luke safely inside, he’d finish his rounds of patients in town and quit for the day. His practice had suffered greatly since he’d become so involved with the Reese family. Nevertheless, he was going to persevere until things were settled properly, although their modest estate might not be worth much by the time Bein got through milking it and they overcame the additional problem of government involvement.

  None of that mattered in the grand scheme of things. There were some events over which man had little or no control, just like the flurries of earthquakes that kept shaking up the city. Taylor knew that. He also knew at this point there was nothing he could do to stop caring too much about what happened to Sara Beth and her siblings for his own good. It was as if he had been designated her protector without any option to decline.

  Unfortunately, that task seemed to suit him so well he no longer had any desire to quit.

  Ella McNeil was beside herself when Sara Beth and Luke finally arrived with the doctor. She pulled both her charges into her ample embrace as if they had been away for months. “Land sakes. I thought you’d never get back. What on earth is going on?”

  “It’s a long story. We’re fine. Really, we are,” Sara Beth assured her as Luke extricated himself and edged away. “Dr. Hayward has been escorting us.”

  “Fine kettle of fish.” She glared at Taylor. “Don’t you have a lick of sense? These poor things missed supper and evening devotions already.”

  Sara Beth noted that he had already politely removed his bowler and was trying to look suitably contrite. He was also failing miserably. She came to his defense.

  “Actually, it was Luke who left first, on an errand for me, and if the doctor had not taken me down the hill to search for him, things might have turned out for the worse.”

  “Mercy me.” Ella fanned herself with fluttery hands. “What happened?”

  Choosing her words carefully, Sara Beth explained in detail while her brother sulked. When she was finished, she sighed. “Do you suppose Clara would mind if we looked for a bite to eat? I know I’m probably too late to help with the dishes and I don’t want her to think ill of me.”

  “Of course she won’t mind. You all just go out there and have whatever’s left. Nobody will mind a bit.”

  “Come with us?” Sara Beth asked, addressing the doctor. “You haven’t eaten either, have you?”

  “No. I almost did. I had to leave the table before I was served.”

  Although he was smiling, she realized everything was her fault. “I’m so sorry. Let me fry you some eggs and side pork to make up for it.”

  “I’d love to stay, but duty calls,” Taylor told her, making a slight bow before he put his hat back on his head. “I’ll be by tomorrow and we’ll look in on the children together.”

  “You haven’t changed your mind about letting me help?” Her cheeks warmed. “I wondered, after the way Abe Warner acted.”

  Taylor smiled and Sara Beth felt extremely blessed by his beneficent expression.

  “Abe has no idea how intelligent you are, Miss Reese. If he did, he wouldn’t have laughed.” He sobered. “I know it hurt your feelings. Just remember, there may come a day when your understanding of the practice of medicine will prove your mettle.”

  “I sincerely hope so.” She offered her hand to him. “God’s speed, Doctor. Be careful out there. The world is a far more unfriendly place than I had dreamed.”

  She stood in the half-open doorway as Taylor took his leave, climbed into his buggy and drove away. Her last statement kept echoing in her mind and heart. Unfriendly? More like perilous. And fearsome. And volatile beyond reason.

  Sara Beth momentarily closed her eyes, offering up a silent prayer for the doctor’s protection. He was so kind. So helpful. So…dear, her heart insisted.

  Her eyes popped open and she stared into the dimness of the garden, not seeing any of what lay before her. Instead, her mind’s eye was focused on the handsome doctor and all he had done for her, even agreeing to teach her the art of healing when so many other men would have laughed the same way Abe Warner had.

  Dr. Hayward, Taylor in her heart, was more than her benefactor. He was special beyond words, beyond thoughts. It was probably a terrible sin to covet his presence and think so highly of him, but she couldn’t help herself. The only thing she truly looked forward to was seein
g him again. Listening to the timbre of his voice as it sent shivers up her spine. Perhaps even holding his hand the way she had that very evening.

  She blinked, trying to clear her head. It was no use. She was besotted. Smitten. A hopeless romantic caught up in a tangle of intrigue and beginning to care less about her current trials than she did about one special gentleman.

  “This will never do,” Sara Beth insisted, taking a quick step backward and preparing to secure the heavy door for the night.

  As it swung closed she heard a loud noise. It wasn’t until she glanced up at the edge of the mahogany door and saw a splintered hole that she realized she had just been shot at!

  “Well, did you get her?”

  Scannell shook his head. “Naw. She ducked at the last minute and my man missed.”

  Bein cursed.

  “Simmer down. We’ll fix her. We fetched you her letter, didn’t we?”

  “A fat lot of good that does when she spent an hour talking to King at the Bulletin.”

  “He can be dealt with, too, you know.”

  The stylish businessman shook his head as he brushed invisible dust off the cuff of his jacket. “Not yet. We don’t want to call too much attention to him or to his paper, especially not when the governor has sent Sherman to take over as major general of the second division of militia.”

  Chuckling, the sheriff snorted. “I wouldn’t worry about Sherman. He’ll be hamstrung by General Wool and maybe Farragut, too, if he asks the Navy for help. We’re the Law and Order Party, remember?”

  “Yes. And we have Governor Johnson hoodwinked. I just don’t trust everyone to continue to act in my best interests. Neither should you.”

  “I don’t see why you’re so worried about one newspaperman. King doesn’t control all the press.”