by Kip Gayden
ANNA SPENT THE REMAINDER of that summer wishing she had gotten an address from Walter—or at least the name of his hometown, for goodness’ sake!—so she could write to him of her undying love. For all she knew, he was back at college, courting the older girls and forgetting all about her. The thought of it made her want to weep and throw herself across her bed, to shut herself in her room for a week and eat nothing but stale bread, like the heroines of those stories she’d glimpsed in Mama’s issues of Godey’s Magazine.
Fall approached, and Anna began her eleventh year of school. She was a bright girl and a good student—if “a little too liberal with her opinions,” as some of her teachers put it. Her favorite subject was literature, despite the fact that some of the stories the teacher assigned were as dry as last year’s bird’s nest. That year, Julius Caesar was on the curriculum. That wasn’t too bad, but Anna would have very much preferred Romeo and Juliet, or at the very least A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She would have preferred something with a little romance in it, at any rate. Still, each time in class when they read aloud from Shakespeare, her thoughts went flying back to the camp at Red Boiling Springs, and to handsome Walter, sitting so straight and proper at the front of the group, wearing his clean white shirt and reading in his strong voice. She thought of his clear brown eyes and his perfectly combed hair, and the way his smile tipped slightly higher on one side than the other. She thought of his hands, the fingers so sensitive, yet so strong. Each time he’d shown her how to hold the violin or touched her wrist to adjust her hand position, all she could think about was wishing he’d cradle her in his arms and tuck her head under his chin . . . Oh! It was almost enough to make a girl desperate.
The Christmas holidays came around, and following the high school principal’s recommendation, Anna applied to do volunteer work at Lafayette City Hospital. She had volunteered there during the previous summer, and with her bright disposition, eagerness to learn, and utter lack of reticence at trying new things, she soon won the hearts of the nurses and other hospital staff. The director of nurses quickly made a place for her on the volunteer roster. Anna looked forward to going back to the hospital, and she hoped that her past experience would qualify her to help more with patient care, which she especially enjoyed.
On her first day at the hospital, Anna was assigned to the front desk in the main reception area, greeting patients and their families and helping with room assignments. Anna saw a paper on the desk that listed doctors on duty for the months of December and January. As she idly scanned the list, she saw the name, “Dotson, Walter.” Her pulse quickening, she also noted that someone had written beside the name, “Arr. Wed., Dec. 23.” Two days from now! Was it possible?
A few minutes later, the director of nursing happened by. She smiled at Anna and walked over to her table.
“So glad to have you back with us, Anna. Are you getting settled in?”
“Yes, Nurse Hawkins, thank you very much. I’m glad to be back.” Anna took a deep breath, reminded herself to keep her tone casual, and said, “I noticed a name on the doctors’ list that I don’t remember from last summer. It’s a . . . Dr. Walter Dotson?”
“Oh, yes. Dr. Dotson is actually an intern from Nashville. He’s in his final semester at Vanderbilt Medical School, and he has been assigned to our hospital for four weeks, beginning—” She glanced at the list. “—next Wednesday, it appears.” She looked at Anna. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, nothing,” Anna said. “I just . . . didn’t recognize the name, that’s all.” She said a silent little prayer, asking God’s forgiveness for the fib.
“Well, let me know if you need anything, all right, Anna?”
“Yes, Nurse Hawkins, I will.”
As the director walked away, Anna had to concentrate on taking slow, deep breaths. Walter Dotson, a medical student from Nashville! It had to be her Walter, it just had to be! He had remembered where she lived, and he had requested assignment to this hospital for his internship, just so he could see her again! It made Anna want to weep and dance in the hallway, by turns. Walter was coming for her!
Anna had a mischievous thought: Walter had no idea she was volunteering at the hospital. Wouldn’t he be surprised if he were to walk in here on Wednesday morning to be greeted, ever so coolly and professionally, by the girl of his dreams? For the rest of the day, almost everyone who passed her desk asked Anna what she was smiling so broadly about. But she wouldn’t tell.
Anna barely slept at all Tuesday night. She got out of bed when the first hint of dawn seeped around the edges of her bedroom curtains. She agonized over the best way to arrange her hair, and over which of her dresses to wear beneath the pink hospital volunteer pinafore.
She hurried down the front steps of her house, disregarding the curious stares of Mama and Papa, and was at her desk well before her usual time. Whenever the hospital door opened, her head would swivel eagerly toward the new arrival, only to be disappointed over and over again when it proved to be someone other than her Walter.
But finally, he walked in, and Anna had to actually grip the edges of the desk to prevent herself from rushing toward him. He was even more handsome than she remembered—especially now, when he was wearing his crisp, spotlessly white physician’s coat. He approached her desk, but he was studying a piece of paper as he walked, and he barely glanced in her direction. Anna was practically holding her breath by the time he stopped in front of her.
“Yes, Miss, I’m Dr. Walter Dotson. This is my first day on call, and I need to find Room 117. Can you help me?”
“Dr. Dotson, you said?”
“Yes,” he muttered, still poring over his paper.
“Dr. Walter Dotson?”
“Yes, that’s me, Walter Dotson. Where can I find Room—”
“Dr. Walter Dotson, interning from Vanderbilt Medical School, who was formerly a counselor at Red Boiling Springs Christian Camp?”
His head bobbed up then and his eyes went wide as he looked at her. “Anna? Is that you? What are you—”
She leaned forward and extended her hand. “Anna Dennis, Dr. Dotson. I’m a volunteer here at Lafayette City Hospital. How may I assist you?”
He stared at her for perhaps a full five seconds before he collected himself. “Anna, I . . . I don’t know what to say.”
“You might start by telling me why you came to this hospital in the first place.”
“Well, isn’t it obvious? I saw ‘Lafayette, Tennessee’ on the list of openings for internships, and I snapped it up. Did you really think I’d forgotten you?”
Anna actually managed a bit of a pout; she was so proud of herself! “How was I to know? All those weeks, then months, and no word from you . . .”
“Oh, Anna, dear Anna! I—” He seemed to remember where he was, and lowered his voice. He leaned toward her, still keeping a respectful distance. “I’ve thought of nothing and no one but you since the moment we—since I watched you and your father driving away from the camp. I had to at least try to find you. I was so hoping that while I was here for my internship I might be able to locate you . . . and here you are!”
“I’d say it was a favorable sign, wouldn’t you?”
They knew they couldn’t continue their conversation in the hospital lobby. Anna directed Walter to Room 117 and made sure he learned that she left at four o’clock that afternoon. He asked to walk her home and she was thrilled to agree—though she tried not to let him see just how thrilled.
The hours until four o’clock crept by like tortoises wearing stone shoes. But at last, Walter came and offered Anna his arm as they went toward the front door. Anna was sure tongues were wagging behind their backs, but she didn’t care. Her Walter had come for her, and nothing could ever separate them now.
Anna removed her hand from Walter’s arm as they neared the Dennis home, and he grew very quiet as they walked toward the front steps. Anna guessed he was feverishly composing a speech aimed at convincing her father of the honor of his intentions toward her. Well
, he didn’t need to worry; if he couldn’t convince Papa, Anna would see to it, herself.
Walter opened the door, and Anna’s father was standing in the entry hall, a confused look on his face. Walter stuck out his hand, but before he could speak, Anna said, “Oh, Papa! You remember Walter Dotson, from camp last summer, don’t you? He’s a doctor, Papa, and he’s interning at the hospital during the Christmas vacation. Isn’t that grand? I insisted that he walk me home so you could see him again.”
Papa, his eyes flickering back and forth between Anna and Walter, extended his hand and took Walter’s in a firm grip.
“Well, then . . . what a coincidence,” Papa said.
“So pleased to see you again, Pastor Dennis,” Walter said.
“Yes, well . . . yes. And you were . . . at the camp?”
“I was a counselor there, sir. I met you and your daughter on the first day, when you arrived? Carried the luggage?”
“Oh, yes.”
Mama came from the kitchen, drying her hands on her apron. Papa turned toward her. “Mother, this is Dr. Dotson. He’s a . . . a friend of Anna’s, from the hospital.”
“Walter Dotson, Ma’am,” Walter said, taking Mama’s hand.
“From the hospital?”
“We met at the camp last summer, Mama,” Anna said. “Walter taught Bible classes and Shakespeare.” She smiled up at him. “He’s a wonderful teacher.”
“I daresay,” Mama said. Anna didn’t miss the look she gave Papa.
3
In later years, Anna would say that the thing most instrumental in bringing about her marriage to Walter was the influenza outbreak of the winter of 1896–97.
Of course, it also didn’t hurt that Walter made sure he was in attendance at Lafayette Christian Church every time the doors were open. He sat with their family and listened closely to her father’s preaching, never failing to discuss the main points of the sermon on the walk back to the house. Anna was pleased when Mama invited Walter to Sunday lunch. At first, Anna’s younger brother, Bobby, gave Walter a wide berth and a baleful look, but Walter’s courtesy and knowledge of so many interesting things soon won the boy over. Flora, naturally, was no problem at all; four years younger than Anna, she was hopelessly smitten with the dashing Walter from the first moment she laid eyes on him.
When Walter would leave to go back to the room he rented at the home of one of the local doctors, Anna would endure the quiet, yet urgent, questioning of her parents: Had Walter ever behaved improperly toward her? Wasn’t Anna concerned about the difference in their ages and experiences? She had known him only a short period of time; how could she be sure what sort of person he really was? Anna kept a strict rein on her tongue and gave Mama and Papa the answers they wanted to hear, as much as she could, and used her best powers of persuasion at all times. She also told herself that things like proper behavior, age, and character were in the eye of the beholder. Anna was already thinking of certain behaviors that she longed to pursue with Walter, and they extended considerably beyond last summer’s kisses.
On a cold morning just after New Year’s Day, Anna went to the hospital, only to find a sign on the front door that read, “Quarantine: No Admittance Except for Hospital Staff.” In front of the sign was a uniformed constable. As Anna approached, he held up a hand. “Sorry, Miss Dennis. Only doctors and nurses.”
“But . . . I’m supposed to work.” How would she see Walter if she couldn’t get into the hospital?
“You’re a volunteer, Miss. I can’t allow you inside, on orders from the hospital superintendent.”
As Anna pondered what to do, the director of nursing approached. The policeman stood aside and opened the door for her. As she was about to go in, a haggard nurse emerged from inside.
“Nurse Hawkins, I was watching for you. I don’t know what we’re going to do. The influenza has spread to the staff; we have so many nurses sick now that we’re having trouble assisting the doctors.”
Nurse Hawkins gave a worried look; Anna saw an opening. “Nurse Hawkins, can I help? It sounds like you’re shorthanded.”
Nurse Hawkins looked at Anna, then the constable. “I don’t know, Anna. This influenza is bad; you could become very ill.”
“I don’t care. I want to help, and even the doctors can’t do anyone any good if they don’t have adequate assistance.”
The other nurse nodded her head. “We’re really in dire need.”
Anna decided to press her advantage. She strode toward the door. “All right, then. I’m coming in to help, just until the situation improves.” She walked right past the constable and Nurse Hawkins, and that was that.
For three days Anna never left Walter’s side. It was heartbreaking to watch the suffering of the old and the infants, those most susceptible to the disease’s effects. Walter hardly slept; with the other doctors and nurses, he was attending patients around the clock, trying to help as many as possible to gain strength enough to go home in order to free up beds for the dozens still arriving each day.
An unexpected advantage of the quarantine was that it prevented Papa from dragging her away from Walter, back to the house. Even the minister of the Christian Church wasn’t allowed into the hospital. Despite her growing fatigue, Anna was happy to be able to be with Walter, performing the nursing tasks required to support his efforts.
About halfway through the second day, Walter tried to convince her to go home. “You’ll get sick, Anna. I couldn’t bear that. Why don’t you go home and get some rest?”
She refused. Anna knew that once she was outside the doors of the hospital, she was back in Papa’s control and, worse, shut away from Walter. “Besides, what if you get sick?” she said. “I’m staying here with you until the epidemic is under control.”
He gave her a long look, and a slow smile spread across his weary features. “You’re a stubborn little outfit, aren’t you?”
“I am when it’s something I believe in.”
“All right then, Miss Dennis. I guess I’ll just have to remember that.”
“You’d do well to.”
THE EPIDEMIC EASED and life returned to normal, more or less. But the day came when Walter’s internship ended, and he had to return to Vanderbilt. Unlike the previous summer, Anna was scrupulous about getting his address and giving hers in exchange. She extracted promises from Walter to write her every single day, promises he seemed more than eager to give. Going through the grueling experience of the influenza epidemic had done nothing but increase Anna’s admiration for Walter and her determination to have him for her own. She also believed he was looking at her differently: less as a young girl and more as a potential helpmate. Anna reasoned that if she could stand up to the rigors of the influenza crisis, she could manage the day-to-day business of life as a doctor’s wife. At least, that was what she told Mama and Papa.
She and Walter bid a long farewell at the train station. True to his word, letters bearing his handwriting began arriving at the Dennis home on a daily basis, and Anna reciprocated. And then, on a rainy afternoon in late March, Anna read the words she had been longing to see.
Dear Anna,
It must surely be apparent to you that my heart is yours and yours alone. Accordingly, I want to tell you that I intend, upon the next convenient occasion, to request from your father the honor of your hand in marriage. That is, of course, if you are of similar mind. I think that you are, and I fervently hope that you are, but I shall await word from you. Please write soon, for I fear that the anticipation and worry over your response may interfere with my studies, so great is my feeling in this matter.
Anna clasped the letter to her and twirled around her room. She ran downstairs to Papa’s writing desk and scrabbled for paper and pen. She dashed off her rapturous response—“Yes, my darling Walter, yes, a thousand times yes!”—and practically ran to the post office to put it in the mail with her own hands.
They agreed that Walter would come to Lafayette during Vanderbilt’s Easter break, by that time on
ly two weeks away. During those intervening days, Anna took every opportunity to speak to Mama and Papa about Walter, about how well he was doing in medical school, about all the wonderful opportunities that were sure to open to him upon his graduation. She dropped barely veiled hints that they had serious intentions for their relationship. One day, she even asked Mama if she could borrow the latest issue of Godey’s, since she’d noticed the front fashion plate was of a bridal gown in the latest style. By the time Walter arrived on the Tuesday after Easter and sat down with Mama and Papa in the parlor, dry-mouthed and swallowing after every other syllable, Anna knew very well that her parents had no reasonable choice but to consent to her marriage to Walter Dotson.
THEY MARRIED THE FOLLOWING JUNE. At Walter’s request, Anna’s father officiated. All of Walter’s family and many friends from Westmoreland came to Lafayette for the ceremony. Combined with the high standing of the Dennis family in the community, there was hardly an empty space in the church by the time the wedding started.
The newlyweds departed the church in a hired carriage, amid a flurry of waving handkerchiefs, flung rice, blown kisses, and shouted admonitions. They drove to the railroad station and boarded a train for Nashville, where Walter had rented a room at the luxurious Maxwell House Hotel for their wedding night.
Anna knew some things about what to expect, and had guessed many others. That night, after a delicious dinner largely spent in long gazes into each other’s eyes, they went upstairs to their room on the fourth floor. Anna gave Walter a long, lingering kiss and went into the washroom, promising to emerge not long after. She undressed, then put on the nightgown trimmed in white lace Mama had bought for her. She unpinned her hair and brushed it until it was smooth and silky. She applied some of the new French perfume bought for her by the ladies at the Christian Church, blushing as she recalled some of the shockingly bawdy remarks that had accompanied the gift. She looked in the mirror and assured herself that she was ready, then quietly opened the door to go to her husband.