by Al Lacy
“Did you explain this to him?” queried Shirley.
“No, but I will. He’s still under the chloroform right now.”
“Oh. Of course.”
“Did anyone come in while we were doing the surgery?”
“There were three women and one man, but none was an emergency. Each time Barry and I explained what was going on in the back room, they said they would come back tomorrow.”
“Good. Thank you for helping us in that way.”
“Glad to.”
They noticed Tharyn come out of the back room and head toward them as Dr. Dane said, “I want to keep Michael here at the office overnight. I’ll spend the night with him, and sleep on a cot close by. If he’s doing all right by morning, you can take him home.”
Tharyn drew up. “Michael’s resting peacefully under the anesthetic.”
Shirley smiled at her, then worry lines furrowed her brow as she said to the doctor, “Barry has chores to do at home, including cows to milk. But I don’t think I can go home and leave my husband. I’ll be glad to stay and look after him through the night.”
Dr. Dane met her worried gaze. “I appreciate the offer, Mrs. Chandler, but it would be best if I stay close to Michael tonight, just in case there should be a problem. Please trust me in this. It’s important that you go on home with Barry, get some food in your system, and have a good night’s rest. Michael is going to need a great deal of care when you get him home. Right now you need to lay some extra strength in store for the task ahead of you.”
Shirley looked at her son, then back at the doctor. “Well, I—I—”
“I promise I’ll be right here with him all night. He’ll sleep for a few more hours, and when he does start to come out of it, he’s going to experience quite a bit of pain. I’ll administer whatever is needed to alleviate the pain, and he will no doubt go right back to sleep again.”
Worry still was evident in Shirley’s eyes. Dr. Dane patted her arm. “I promise I’ll take real good care of him. Really, you need to go home and get some rest yourself.”
Shirley bit her lower lip and nodded. “I understand, Doctor. You’re right. Barry and I will go on home and prepare the house for Michael.”
Dr. Dane smiled. “Good. I need to emphasize to you as I will to him—it’s important that he get plenty of rest. And he’s to do absolutely no lifting until I say so. I’ll keep an eye on him by coming often to check on him.”
“I’ll see that Michael obeys your orders, Dr. Logan. He is one energetic man, and will want to help Barry with the work around the ranch. But maybe between you, Barry, and myself, he’ll listen to reason.”
“I’m sure you and Barry will have the proper influence on him, ma’am, and at least for the first couple of weeks, I’ll be there every day to check on him.”
The doctor’s calming voice relieved Shirley’s apprehensions about her husband. “All right, Doctor. Barry and I will head for home as soon as we go in and look at Michael. It is all right if we just slip in and take a look at him, isn’t it?”
“Certainly. Tharyn and I will take you in. Ah … one other thing.”
“Yes, Doctor?”
“You need to do something about that bull. He could have killed Michael.”
Barry grinned. “We’re needing some more beef to salt away for winter, Dr. Logan. I’ll take care of the bull.”
Dr. Dane nodded. “Let’s take you in to see Michael.”
The four of them made their way to the back room, and into a corner where Michael Chandler lay on a single bed under the influence of the chloroform.
Mother and son moved up to the bed and gazed down at Michael’s pale face while doctor and nurse looked on. Shirley took his inert hand in her own, and brought it up to her cheek. The patient did not move. Shirley kissed the hand and laid it back on the bed, gently caressing it. Leaning down, she placed a soft kiss on his forehead and whispered, “Sleep well, my love. Barry and I will see you tomorrow.”
Tears dimmed Shirley’s eyes as she turned away from the bed.
Tharyn put an arm around her and said, “He will have the best of care, Mrs. Chandler. Of that, I can guarantee you. We’ll see to his every need.”
This small gesture of kindness was enough to start the tears rolling down Shirley’s cheeks. She quickly covered her eyes with her hands.
Tharyn squeezed her tight. “It’s all right to cry, Mrs. Chandler. You’ve been through a tremendous ordeal today. Let the tears heal your distress. God gives us tears sometimes to relieve the stress we’re feeling.”
Shirley took a handkerchief from the cuff of one of her sleeves and mopped at the tears. “Thank you, dear, for understanding.”
“We’re here to help in any way we can,” Tharyn replied softly.
Shirley saw that Barry was looking down at his father, with a hand on his arm. “Well, son. Let’s go home.”
The Logans followed Shirley and her son to the office, and when Barry opened the door, Shirley said, “Dr. and Mrs. Logan, I want to thank both of you for the way you have taken care of my husband, and are continuing to take care of him. It means more than I could ever tell you.”
Dr. Dane smiled. “That’s what we’re here for, ma’am.”
When Barry and his mother pulled away in the wagon, Dane closed the door and turned to Tharyn. She smiled and said, “Well, honey, I’ll go home, cook supper, and bring some to you.”
He took her in his arms, kissed her tenderly, and said, “Thank you, sweetheart. I am sort of feeling a little hungry.”
“So tell me. How did the peace treaty signing go?”
“Couldn’t have been better. Chief Tando was fully cooperative. He was definitely ready to make peace.”
“I’m so glad. And it is a blessing to me to know that it wouldn’t have happened if my husband hadn’t saved Latawga’s life and taken him back to the village.”
Dane shook his head. “Give the glory to the Lord, honey. I’ve already had plenty of glory showered on me for the deed.”
Tharyn reached up, tweaked his nose, and giggled. “You needn’t be afraid of a little praise.”
He laughed. “By the time we got the treaty signed, I’d been given more than a little praise. I just did what any doctor would have done.”
The next morning, Marshal Jake Merrell and his deputy, Len Kurtz, were sitting at their desks when they looked up to see Dr. Robert Fraser coming through the door.
Fraser entered, holding his medical bag, and said, “Good morning, Marshal … Len.”
“Good morning, Doc,” chorused the lawmen.
Merrell frowned. “Doc, you don’t look like you feel well.”
“Just some trouble with my back,” Fraser said as he approached the marshal’s desk. “How’s the swelling around Earl’s eye?”
“It’s almost gone. You want to see him?”
“Best that I do. I’ll check on him, then go back home.”
At the same time Dr. Robert Fraser was checking on Earl Dubose at the jail, Tharyn Logan was at her desk at the doctor’s office. She smiled when she saw a wagon pull up to the hitch rail out front. It was Shirley Chandler and her son.
When Shirley and Barry entered the office, Tharyn greeted them and said, “You’ll be glad to know that Michael had a good night, and no complications have set in. Doctor is with him right now.”
“So we’ll be able to take him home. Right, ma’am?” said Barry.
“Mm-hmm,” replied Tharyn as she rose to her feet. “Take a seat in the waiting area. I’ll go tell Doctor you’re here.”
When Tharyn entered the curtained section where Dr. Dane had Michael stretched out on the examining table, she said, “Shirley and Barry are here.”
A thin smile curved Michael’s lips.
Dr. Dane nodded. “I’m almost finished, honey. Would you bring them in here, please, so I can talk to them?”
“Be right back.”
Less than two minutes later, Michael’s eyes brightened when he saw his wife and son st
ep up to the table.
Barry smiled. “Good morning, Papa.”
Shirley bent down and kissed his cheek. “Mrs. Logan told us you had a good night, without any complications.”
“That’s right.”
“So, how are you feeling?”
“Well, I’m experiencing some pain in my chest, but Dr. Logan said this is normal. He expected it.”
“I did,” said the doctor. “I just gave him some powders to help relieve the pain. I’m sending some of the same powders home with you, Shirley. You’ll need to mix them periodically with water and administer it to Michael as per my written instructions. It will keep the pain from getting too bad.”
“All right.”
Dr. Dane glanced at Tharyn, then looked back at Shirley. “I wish we had a clinic here so there would be several beds to care for patients on a long-term basis, and the medical staff to go with it. I’m hoping that someday we can do just that.”
Shirley smiled. “Well, I hope so, too, Doctor.”
Dr. Dane looked down at Michael, then ran his gaze between mother and son. “As I told you yesterday, for the next couple of weeks, I’ll come to your home every day and check on him.”
“I’d better draw you a small map so you can easily find the place, Dr. Logan,” said Barry.
Tharyn moved toward the medical cabinet. “There’s paper and pencil right over here, Barry.”
Barry followed her, and made a sketch on a slip of paper. He carried it to the doctor, explained a couple of things in the sketch, and Dr. Dane assured him he would find the Chandler ranch with no problem.
Barry looked at his mother. “Well, I guess we’d better get Papa in the wagon so we can head for home.”
Dr. Dane said, “I want to caution you, Barry. Drive the wagon very slow on the way home. Even though your father has the mattress to lie on, he must not be bounced hard. It could tear the sutures loose.”
“I assure you, Doctor, I will drive very, very slow.”
Together, Dr. Dane and Barry carried Michael out to the wagon with Shirley and Tharyn following, and carefully placed him on the mattress in the wagon bed.
All three Chandlers thanked the Logans for their good work and kindness toward them, then Barry helped his mother into the wagon bed and climbed up onto the wagon seat.
The Logans watched the wagon pull away, then stepped back into the office.
Since they were alone for the moment, Dane folded Tharyn into his arms, kissed her, and said, “Sweetheart, I hope except for the house calls I have to make, I can stay home for a while, now, and spend some time with you. I miss you very much when I’m away. Of course, I even miss you when I’m making those house calls many miles away.”
Tharyn looked up into his eyes and smiled. “I miss you, too, when you’re away from me, darling. But your having to make house calls sometimes many miles away is just part of being a country doctor.”
Dane chuckled. “Well, at least I won’t be having to leave town to help the government make peace with the Indians anymore. I was glad to have a hand in the Chief Tando situation, but as for me, my part is done.”
A serious look captured Tharyn’s features. “Darling … what you said to Shirley about wishing we had a clinic and the medical staff to go with it …”
“Mm-hmm?”
“I hope someday we can realize that dream.”
“Well, with more people moving into the area, and the way the practice is growing, a clinic with several beds for long-term care will become absolutely necessary. It will mean far fewer trips to Denver for surgery. There will, of course, have to be some surgeries still done at Mile High Hospital, because it’s far better equipped than even our clinic will be, but at least half of the surgeries that would usually have to be done at Mile High can be done right here.”
“That will be a real blessing.”
“It sure will. Of course, in order to have the clinic, we’ll have to build a new building to house it. So it will probably be a year or two, at least, before we can afford to do it.”
Tharyn nodded.
Dane chuckled. “Of course by the time we have the clinic, you and I will be getting our family started, and you’ll be staying home to take care of our baby … and then babies.”
Tharyn smiled. “I’ll miss the nurse’s work, but I know I’ll enjoy taking care of little Dane Junior and little Tharyn Juniorette even more.”
Dane laughed and raised his eyebrows. “Dane Junior, eh? And I never heard of a juniorette.”
“Well, you have now!” Then in a serious tone: “I’m just kidding, of course, but as that time grows closer, we need to talk about names for our children.”
There was a twinkle in Dane’s eyes. “Well, I have a good Bible name for our first-born son.”
“You do?”
“Uh-huh. Tiglath-pileser.”
Her eyes bulged. “T-Tiglath-pileser? Tiglath-pileser!”
“Yeah. Wouldn’t you just love little Tiglath-pileser Logan?”
Tharyn clipped his chin playfully. “Well, of course I would. And how about you? When our first daughter is born, will you love little Secacah Logan? Secacah is a Bible name, you know.”
He made a mock frown. “Secacah? I don’t recall any female in the Bible named Secacah.”
“There isn’t. But there was a village in the wilderness of Judah by that name. It’s in the book of Joshua.”
“But at least the name I suggested was the name of a person in the Bible. A man.”
She snickered. “Well, you’re going to come as close to naming any son of ours Tiglath-pileser as I am of naming a daughter of ours Secacah!”
They laughed together, then as a buggy pulled up in front of the office, Dane said, “I agree, though, we do need to talk about names for our children sometime soon.”
They both looked at the couple in the buggy outside and saw that it was Jack and Sally Miller, who were members of their church. The Millers lived just a few blocks away, and Sally was due to give birth to their first child any day.
As Jack hopped out of the buggy and was helping Sally down, Tharyn said, “Speaking of having babies, it looks like Sally is about to have hers.”
“I’d say so,” said Dane, and hurried out to help Jack assist Sally into the office.
As they came through the door, Tharyn looked at Sally with concern. “How far apart are the contractions, honey?”
Sally winced and bent low. “Ab-about three minutes.”
Tharyn closed the door behind them, then hurried ahead and opened the door to the back room.
Minutes later, Sally was on a table in one of the curtained sections, and Dr. Dane said to her nervous husband, “Jack, you can go out to the waiting room. We’ll let you know when the baby is born, and you can come back in and see him or her and Sally.”
“Okay,” said Jack, glancing at his wife, who was in the grip of another contraction. “She’s all right, isn’t she?”
“Sure. What she’s experiencing is only natural.”
When the fidgety Jack Miller was gone, Dr. Dane hurried to the counter where the wash basin was positioned.
Sally was experiencing increased pain as the contractions were now coming no more than a minute apart. While Tharyn was collecting the necessary items to have on hand during and after childbirth, Dr. Dane was hurriedly making his own preparations.
When he returned from the wash basin, he stood over Sally, who was just getting over another contraction. “Sally,” he said, “you’ll recall that in the last two or three months, you and I talked about administering chloroform if your pain became extreme. What do you think?”
Though Sally was hurting a great deal, she said, “I want to bring my baby into the world without anesthetic if possible, Doctor. I’ll let you know if I need it.”
Tharyn came in, wheeling the supply cart.
Suddenly another contraction came on, and Sally gritted her teeth and let out a tiny wail.
Tharyn grasped Sally’s hand and squeezed it t
ight. “Sally, take deep breaths and let them out slowly.”
Sally looked up, and between breaths said, “You and … Dr. Logan have been married … three months, Tharyn. Any plans … for a baby yet?”
While Sally was taking another deep breath, Tharyn said, “Not yet. Dr. Dane and I have agreed that we’ll give it a couple of years before we start our family.”
As Sally was once again taking a deep breath, Tharyn glanced at her husband, who was positioned to deliver the baby when it started to come, then looked back at Sally. “Of course, the motherly instincts within me have aroused my desire every time I’ve assisted in childbirth since I first became a nurse. My desire is even stronger now that I’m married. I can hardly wait to be a mommy.” Dane smiled at Tharyn, then Sally jerked, jumped, and let out a tiny cry.
The doctor went to work.
Some twenty minutes later, a slap against soft skin was heard, followed by the cry of a newborn baby.
Tharyn still had a grip on Sally’s hand. Both of them looked at Dr. Dane, who smiled and said, “You’ve got a new baby girl, Sally!”
Sally gasped and cried in a half-whisper, “Oh, praise God!”
SEVEN
Tharyn Logan took the wailing baby from her husband, saying, “I’ll clean her up, honey.” She looked back at the joyful mother. “I’ll have her in your arms shortly, Sally.”
Sally smiled and nodded.
Tharyn rushed away with the baby, and Dr. Dane went to work on his usual postnatal duties.
Across the room at a counter where she was gently laid on a small, folded blanket, the newborn infant continued to cry as Tharyn dipped a soft cloth into a basin of warm water and ever so gently washed mucus and blood from her tiny body.
With extreme care, Tharyn bathed the baby’s eyes, clearing away any matter left there. Then, picking up a fluffy towel, she dried the tiny one off and pinned a diaper on her.