Tabitha

by Vikki Kestell

  “If those Germans think the United States will take this laying down, they had better think again,” Tabitha heard one doctor at her hospital declare in anger.

  If I am called over to England to serve, could my ship suffer the same fate? Tabitha wondered.

  No. God will not call me but that he will not also make a way. Tabitha put her chin up and tended to her duties.

  The United States, in response to Germany’s sinking of the Lusitania, protested heartily, but the president did not declare war as some had hoped he would.

  Late in the month, Tabitha received a letter from Claire.

  Dear Tabitha,

  I have passed all my examinations and will graduate June 12. I so look forward to entering nursing. I know I am not strong enough to work in a hospital ward as you are doing, but I hope to find a family with an ill child whom I can nurse back to health. Perhaps in this way I will render service to God by being a blessing to them.

  Is there any possibility you could come to my graduation? My entire family is coming, and they have planned a light lunch after the ceremony. I would count it an honor to have you here and to introduce you to them.

  Tabitha shared the letter with Rose. “I would dearly love to go,” Tabitha confessed, “but going by train would mean staying overnight, maybe even two nights. The hospital would not grant me that much time off.”

  Rose thought for a moment. “Could Mr. Carpenter’s man perhaps drive you? It would make for a very long day but we did so for your graduation. Two or three hours to Boulder and the same back, returning late?”

  Tabitha’s answer was dubious. “I am not certain. Mason did say to call upon Banks, but—”

  “If Mr. Carpenter were here, he would, no doubt, take you himself,” Rose answered.

  Tabitha nodded. “Yes, he would.”

  “Then, I should think Claire’s graduation is an occasion to contact Mr. Carpenter’s man.”

  Banks called for Tabitha early the morning of Claire’s graduation. Tabitha sat alone in the spacious interior of Carpenter’s motorcar, cradling a bouquet of flowers that filled the car with their fragrance. She was still marveling at Banks’ response to her telephone call. He had not paused or hesitated a moment over her request.

  “But of course, Miss Hale! It would be my pleasure to drive you to your friend’s graduation. I know Mr. Carpenter would send his congratulations to Miss Claire as well. I shall order flowers for Miss Claire in Mr. Carpenter’s name.”

  When they arrived at the school, Banks opened the door for her near the entrance to the school’s great hall. “I shall be parked just there, miss.” He pointed with his chin to a patch of grass already filling with other motorcars. “If you would care to stand here on the curb, I will watch for you and bring the car around directly.”

  “Thank you, Banks,” Tabitha whispered, struck by his kind attention. He smiled, nodded, walked around the vehicle, and drove away to make way for others pulling up to the entrance.

  When Tabitha disembarked on the familiar campus, she viewed it with fresh eyes. It is so hard to believe an entire year has flown by, she reflected.

  The crowd was pressing her, so Tabitha moved with the flow to enter the hall and find a seat. Soon after, the graduation ceremony began. Tabitha stood with the crowd to honor the new nurses as they paraded into the hall. Dean Wellan and Dean Gunderson addressed the graduates, commending them for their achievements—and their dedication to a profession that would entail even more commitment and hard work.

  Afterward, the graduates filed onto the platform and, one by one, received their caps and nursing pins. Tabitha smiled with pride as she watched Claire receive the marks of her accomplishments.

  When the ceremony ended, the graduates filed out. It took Tabitha many minutes before the crowds exited the hall. She looked for Claire and found her friend surrounded by her happy, proud family.

  Just as I was only a year ago, Tabitha recalled. As she drew near, it was obvious that Claire had been watching for her.

  “Tabitha! Oh, I am so glad you came!” She reached for Tabitha and the two of them embraced.

  “I am so proud of you, Claire,” Tabitha murmured into Claire’s ear. “These are from Mr. Carpenter.”

  “Oh!” Claire’s eyes glistened. “He is so generous.” She hugged Tabitha again.

  When they broke apart, Claire introduced Tabitha to her family. “Tabitha, these are my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Silverstine, and my brother, Robert.”

  “We have heard many good things about you, Miss Hale,” Claire’s mother said as she squeezed Tabitha’s hand. “You were a strength and encouragement to Claire when she returned to school. Thank you. Thank you for helping her.”

  Tabitha’s smile was glowing. “I saw Claire as the answer to my prayers, Mrs. Silverstine. She was the friend I never had at school. I am grateful to God for her.”

  “Will you join us for lunch, Miss Hale?” Claire’s father asked.

  “I would be honored. I am here with a friend’s car and driver. May I meet you at the restaurant?”

  Tabitha thoroughly enjoyed her time with the Silverstines. She could see that they were a simple, close-knit family. Their pride in their daughter was evident, and Claire basked in their approval and love.

  As the little celebration began to break up, Tabitha said her goodbyes. “I shall watch for your letters,” she told Claire, “and I expect to hear soon that you have found a good situation.”

  They embraced again, and Tabitha walked outside to find Banks and the waiting car.

  As the next days passed by, Tabitha began to believe that she would not receive an answer from the British nursing service.

  I prayed and asked you to lead me, Lord. I am sorry if I jumped ahead of your plans for me. I trust you, Father. I will continue to serve you here until you lead me otherwise.

  But an answer did arrive, and its impact was immediate.

  Dear Miss Hale,

  We have reviewed your credentials and accept at once your kind offer to volunteer with Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service. Your services are needed most urgently. You will be enrolled in a Voluntary Aid Detachment through the British Red Cross and seconded to the QAIMNS.

  We have arranged for you to come to us aboard the U.S. passenger ship Arabic, departing New York harbor July 1, scheduled to arrive in Liverpool, England, July 8.

  Please make your way to New York City in a timely manner and present your U.S. passport at Pier 114 no later than June 30 where you will be issued travel papers and itinerary. Keep expense receipts from Denver to New York for reimbursement purposes.

  We will receive you at the enclosed address, our headquarters in Surrey, where we will process and assign you to an appropriate hospital accordingly.

  Cordially,

  Lady Marie Perth–Lyon

  Assistant to Dame Flora Becher, Matron-in-Chief QAIMNS/QARANC

  Tabitha gulped. “Lord, you did answer! And I leave soon. So soon!” The two words caught in her throat. “My ship leaves in only two weeks. I shall have to tender my notice at the hospital immediately. I must factor in how long it will take me to reach New York by train so that I arrive in time. I—” The nearness of her departure stunned her.

  Tabitha reread the letter and had another realization. She found a map of England and scanned it anxiously. Her breath hitched when she located it: Surrey was in the south of England. Yorkshire, the location of Catterick airfield, was north and east.

  “Not close, but not too far! Close enough that, when I am able to obtain a pass, I could go to Mason,” she whispered, “although they may certainly post me to a hospital elsewhere.”

  She grasped at another insight. “Oh! I must tell Rose I am leaving! O Father, I know she has grown to depend upon me. Please! I ask that you bring someone to fill my place, to ease the many burdens on her shoulders.”

  When she finished praying, Tabitha went downstairs and found the puzzle box with the ship on its lid. She took the box upstairs,
dumped the pieces on her bed, and sorted through them. When she located the corner piece she sought, she set it aside and scooped the remaining pieces into the box.

  I hope they are not terribly put out when they cannot find the last corner piece next time they assemble this puzzle, but I must take this with me as a reminder of what God spoke to me.

  “Miss Rose? May I have a word with you?” Tabitha waited until morning after the girls had left for work before approaching Rose. They sat down in the great room, as they often had while Tabitha was dictating her testimony, and faced each other across the low table.

  “What is it, Tabitha?” Rose asked. She appeared calm, but Tabitha noticed the hanky she clenched in one hand.

  She knows. She knows something of what I am about to tell her, Tabitha perceived, and her heart ached. I am one more support Miss Rose so depends upon who will be leaving her. O Lord!

  Tabitha licked her lips. “Miss Rose, the letters from Mr. Carpenter have spoken of the great need for nurses in Europe,” she began. “The numbers of war wounded are filling British hospitals to overflowing.”

  Rose nodded. Her grip on the hanky tightened.

  “I-I felt the Lord lead me to volunteer with the Red Cross, so I wrote to them. As it turns out, they cannot do much more than they are doing at present unless the United States enters the war.” Tabitha stared at her hands folded in her lap. “They suggested that I might serve in the British Nursing Service as a volunteer. I wrote to them weeks ago.”

  Rose sighed and nodded again.

  “Yesterday I received their reply. They have accepted me.” Tabitha swallowed. “They have already booked passage to England in my name. I must leave in less than two weeks,” Tabitha whispered.

  Rose nodded a third time but still said nothing.

  “Miss Rose? Please do not be disappointed in me. I need your blessing—I could not go without it.”

  Rose lifted her tired eyes to Tabitha’s. “My darling girl. I am not disappointed in you! How could I be? You must do what the Lord leads you to do.”

  They studied each other, many unspoken words flowing between them, before Tabitha choked out, “And will I go with your blessing?”

  “Of course you shall have my blessing,” Rose murmured. “And you know I will keep you in my prayers.” She smiled as she spoke, but Tabitha had never seen such sadness in a smile. She could not bear it.

  “I am sorry, Miss Rose,” Tabitha sobbed.

  Rose went to her and gathered her into her arms. “We must never be sorry for following where Jesus leads us.”

  “But I am hurting you,” Tabitha sniffled, “and I said I would be here for you! This house and all its cares are too much, too much for you to bear alone!”

  Rose did not say anything for a long time. She just kept her arms about Tabitha and kept stroking her back in a soothing manner. When she did speak, her voice had a dreamy quality.

  “Once, long ago, God spoke to me to leave what remained of my family. I recall how hurt my mother was, how she protested my leaving her, my brother, and my childhood home.”

  “What did you do?” Tabitha lifted her wet eyes to Rose’s.

  “I did what God called me to do,” Rose answered, still far away in her memories. “I never saw my mother again. She passed away a year or so later.”

  Rose took a cleansing breath and returned in her thoughts to the present day. “If I had not followed the prompting of the Holy Spirit? If I had listened to the voices of ‘reason’ and ‘convention’ rather than to God?”

  She smiled and Tabitha was comforted to see the well of strength Rose still possessed. “If I had not obeyed God, I would not be here with you today. Look at all the things that would have gone undone had I not obeyed God when he spoke to me.”

  Rose gently took Tabitha by the shoulders and turned her so she could look in her eyes. “God called Abraham out of his own country and into a land he did not know. God called, but before he could show Abraham all he had in store for him, Abraham had to leave all he knew. In the same way, at some point in our lives, God calls each of us to ‘go,’ often without knowing what he has in store for us.

  “Tabitha, my daughter, as much as it pains me to see you leave us, it would pain me more to see you disobey the call of God on your life. You have my blessing and my love. Whatever lack we suffer here when you depart, the God of all grace will fill out of his abundant provision.”

  Tabitha laid her head on Rose’s shoulder. “Thank you, Miss Rose. Thank you for obeying God. I cannot imagine where I would be had you not followed his leading.”

  They were both thinking of the old Tabitha, the selfish, angry, bitter woman Marshal Pounder had delivered to Rose years before.

  Rose placed her hand on Tabitha’s fiery hair and stroked it. “God has redeemed and restored you, Tabitha. Now it is your turn to follow as he directs. Go and bear much fruit, my daughter.”

  Tabitha’s preparations were complete: She would leave Denver in two days. Her train would take her to New York; there she would find the berth reserved for her on the White Star Line liner, SS Arabic.

  As it was a Sunday afternoon, some of the Palmer House family were gathered in the great room; others were clustered in the gazebo where Corrine was reading aloud to a small knot of the young women while they did light mending or knitting.

  Rose was nodding in her chair; Tabitha was in deep conversation with Sarah.

  “I am praying,” Sarah whispered to Tabitha. “I am asking the Lord if I should leave my position in Joy’s shop to come help Miss Rose here.”

  “If it is God’s will, I will be quite glad of it,” Tabitha replied as a knock sounded on Palmer House’s front door.

  Mr. Wheatley answered the door and showed a young woman into the room. Rose awakened from her dozing when Tabitha leapt to her feet.

  “Claire!” Tabitha rushed to embrace her friend. “Oh, Claire, my dear friend! I am so happy to see you! Everyone, this is my friend Claire from nursing school.” She walked Claire from one to another until they had all shaken her hand. Of course, Rose had met her at Tabitha’s graduation. She greeted Claire fondly.

  “But what are you doing here?” Tabitha demanded.

  “Oh, isn’t it wonderful, Tabitha,” Claire exulted. “I have just taken a position here in Denver! I arrived last week and am nursing a little boy who survived scarlet fever. His family is very kind to me. I have the whole of Sunday off each week, so we can see each other often and—”

  Claire stared at Tabitha’s shocked expression. “But aren’t you happy I am here?”

  “Oh, goodness, I most certainly am.” Tabitha wiped away the dismay that her friend had to have seen. “It is only . . .”

  “What is it, Tabitha?”

  Tabitha sighed. “Claire, I am leaving on Tuesday.”

  “Leaving? But where are you going?”

  Tabitha led Claire into the parlor where they could speak in private. After she explained she added, “So you see, I must leave on the train early Tuesday morning if I am to reach New York in time to meet my ship.”

  “Oh, my.” Claire’s disappointment was evident. “I had so looked forward to us . . .”

  “I am so sorry,” Tabitha whispered.

  “No. You must not be sorry.” Claire lifted her chin. “I know you will do great things for God . . . over there.” She shrugged. “I had high hopes we would have lovely times together. I even hoped I would come to know your friends here at Palmer House, perhaps partake of the amazing fellowship of which you told me so much.”

  Tabitha smiled. “That hope,” she answered, “is entirely possible. Even though you live with your patient’s family, I know Miss Rose will welcome you to sit with the Palmer House ‘troop’ at our church!”

  They both laughed. At school Tabitha had described the long line of Palmer House girls marching two-by-two to church each Sunday.

  “I know, too, that Miss Rose will enfold you in her little flock, Claire. I am only sorry I will not be here with you.
”

  “You will write to me?” Claire asked.

  “Of course! As often as I can.”

  Quite early Tuesday morning, Tabitha finished dressing and closed the only suitcase she would be taking. The house, for the most part, was still shrouded in darkness and sleep.

  I said my goodbyes last night, she recalled. No one need see me off this morning.

  Tabitha felt in the pocket of her dress. Her fingers traced the edges of the corner puzzle piece. She had pinned a clean handkerchief—with the piece folded within it—to the pocket’s inside. Neither the handkerchief nor the puzzle piece would fall out of her pocket.

  She slipped on a light sweater, slung her handbag over her shoulder, and carried her case down the two flights of stairs. A cab would be waiting for her at the curb to take her to Union Station.

  Resolute, Tabitha stepped toward the front door—but was stopped by the soft glow of a light coming from the great room. She set her case by the door and peeked into the room. She was alarmed to see Rose slumped over her desk, her head resting upon her folded arms.

  Tabitha tiptoed to the desk and heard the breathy sounds of deep sleep. Under one of Rose’s hands lay her open Bible.

  Has she been here all night? Did she stay up late praying for me? Tabitha wondered.

  From outside Tabitha heard a horn honk once. My cab.

  She leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Rose’s hair, careful not to disturb her. Then she let herself out of Palmer House.

  Perhaps for the last time?

  O Lord! I pray you will not let this be my last sight of this dear house and its dearer people!

  ~~**~~

  Part 3:

  A Good Amen

  And we have a priceless inheritance

  —an inheritance that is kept in heaven . . .

  pure and undefiled,

  beyond the reach of change and decay.

  (1 Peter 1:4, NLT)