Bride for a Duke
Page 25
* * *
“If you have an emergency then come fetch me or one of the doctors. You get to whomever you think you can get to fast enough.”
* * *
“Now, if you will excuse us, Dr. Parsons and I must get to our next patient.” She smiled at Jane and Lee Schmitt
. “She really is doing great. The baby will be here any day. I’ll stop by tomorrow in the morning.”
* * *
Lee ran a hand along the back of his neck. “It’s been kind of you to stop by every day this week. I know you all have a lot of patients.”
* * *
“It’s my pleasure.”
* * *
Lee Schmitt extended a hand to Liam, who had remained nearly silent for the entire visit. He had wanted to see Ellie’s bed side manner and how well she handled the more nervous patients. Once they were outside Liam stopped her, placing both hands on her upper arms.
* * *
“I’m impressed.” He smiled warmly
. They stared into each other’s eyes and the world seemed to be slowing down. His face became serious. “You really are amazing, Ellie Fowler.”
* * *
Ellie opened her mouth to respond. She wanted to tell him he was the amazing one. She wanted to tell him how he was the last thing on her mind before she fell asleep each night, and that he was the first thing she thought of when she woke. Like a slap to her common sense, Ellie remembered her vow to not become romantically involved. She took a step backward and lowered her eyes.
* * *
“Thank you,” she mumbled and climbed into the buggy by herself.
* * *
Liam stood without moving for several breaths. The sting of her dismissal took his thoughts away, leaving him blank.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Liam stared at his reflection before leaving his home. The previous day had been awkward with Ellie, and to make matters worse, when he had driven Ellie home, Eva had come out and invited him and his brother and Mary to come out and have dinner tonight. He didn’t want to make Ellie feel any more uneasy, but he had agreed to come. Had he agreed too readily? The ride to the
Goodalls’ farm was tortuous as he pondered these things over and over.
* * *
He soon forgot his trepidation once he was at the farm. Robert and Mary were already there and unloading a couple of their chairs from their wagon.
* * *
“Was I supposed to bring a chair?” Liam whispered.
* * *
“Nope. I brought one for you, little brother,” Robert grinned.
* * *
“Hi, Uncle Liam!” Carrie Parsons corralled her uncle with a bear hug around his legs
. Liam noted with a hint of sadness that her little girl frame was growing like a weed.
* * *
“My goodness, I almost didn’t recognize you! You have grown an inch in just a week!” Liam smiled and produced a shiny coin from his pocket for her
. She laughed delightedly, snatching the coin and running back into the house.
* * *
Roy met them at the door, his demeanor unusually chipper. “Here, let me help you with those. Hopefully, this soon won’t be a problem.”
* * *
“What do you mean?” Robert asked
.
* * *
“I’m going to build on to the house.”
* * *
“Harvest must be going well for you,” Liam smiled.
* * *
Roy nodded. “Yes. The Lord has blessed us heavily.”
* * *
The women chattered incessantly as they finished the meal, each taking turns cooing over and playing with Roy Jr. while their voices washed over the men on the porch. The afternoons were becoming cooler and the trees had long since begun to change. It was a peaceful time and Liam could feel himself relaxing.
* * *
“How are things at the office?” Robert ventured.
* * *
Liam shrugged. He had hoped no one would mention Dr. Hughes’ office that evening. “I’m not sure he’s feeling very good these days.”
* * *
“Do you know what it is?” Roy asked
.
* * *
“I think it could be his heart, but he is reluctant to allow me to examine him.”
* * *
Roy nodded his understanding while Robert remained silent, his eyes on Liam.
* * *
“He can be a bit crusty at times,” Roy said. “It comes with age, I suppose. Give him time. I’m sure he’ll come around.”
* * *
“He’s been here over a year. Actually, a year and a half.”
* * *
Liam gave his brother a warning look which, thankfully, Roy didn’t see.
* * *
“I understand.” Roy nodded
. “Just give him time. Dr. Hughes is a good man. He’s just may be overworked.”
* * *
“I agree,” Liam said, and breathed a sigh of relief when Eva announced that dinner was ready.
* * *
Dinner was a mouthwatering experience. Roy had been blessed with a woman who could cook as well as any seasoned matron, if not better. Fried chicken, green beans, biscuits and gravy, and blueberry pie for dessert. They even topped the evening off with a game of charades. Ellie smiled the entire evening. Her personality was vibrant and big. He had a hard time keeping his eyes off of her.
* * *
Liam waved goodbye to Robert and Mary and watched their lantern light fade. He too would need to light his own lantern and hang it on the pole of his buggy.
* * *
“Thank you for coming, Liam,” Eva said, and handed him a bundle of cheese cloth.
* * *
“What’s this?”
* * *
“A couple of Eva’s famous biscuits,” Roy winked. “Come round anytime, Liam.” Roy led Eva into the house and closed the door
.
* * *
“Yes, come round anytime,” Ellie teased.
* * *
“He’s very happy tonight.”
* * *
Ellie agreed. “I think this year’s harvest already turning out so well has been a lot of it. Plus, the decision to finally add on to the house has been the rest of it.”
* * *
“I’m happy for them.”
* * *
“Me too.”
* * *
Liam brushed a leaf from Ellie’s hair and caught his breath as her dark eyes reflected the moonlight. She was far more beautiful than she understood.
* * *
“Ellie, will you have dinner with me? I can ask your sister if that would make things more proper.”
* * *
“No, don’t ask her. She’ll just say yes.” She laughed
. “Liam, it’s not that I don’t appreciate your interest. I’m just not ready for a date or a courtship of any kind. My last relationship was heartbreaking.”
* * *
“I understand. I hope you will feel safe enough to share that with me.”
* * *
“There isn’t much to tell.” She lifted a shoulder
. “I thought I was in love. I thought he was too, but in the end, he chose someone else.”
* * *
“I see.” Liam hurt for her
. He couldn’t understand someone letting her go by choice. “I understand why you don’t want to risk it then.”
* * *
“I promise you one thing. When I am ready, I will go to dinner with you.”
* * *
Liam felt a flutter in his heart. “I’m going to hold you to that, Ellie Fowler.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The screaming could be heard before Ellie was even to the side yard of the Schmitt household. She stopped and made sure it was in fact a human that was screaming before she took off running. She didn’t bother to knock, letting
herself in to the Schmitt home. Anna Schmitt was holding a corn husk doll and tears were running down her face; she was watching from the doorway of her parents’ room.
* * *
“Momma is dying,” she whimpered.
* * *
“No, honey. Go out to play.” Ellie motioned for Anna’s brother to take her hand
. “Stay in the yard for now,” Ellie whispered. She wasn’t sure how much good that would do. She had heard Jane long before she arrived.
* * *
“Get up and do something!” Lee thundered.
* * *
Ellie rushed into what was utter chaos. Dr. Hughes was in the corner, his face crimson and sweat dripped down the sides of his face. Jane was writhing in agonizing pain, and Lee was his own shade of crimson as he glared at Dr. Hughes.
* * *
“How long has she been in labor?” Ellie peeked under the covers and felt the stab of panic
. There was way more blood than should be. Judging from her quick assessment, Sarah could be ready to start pushing within the hour.
* * *
“She started having pains about three hours ago. Dr. Hughes just happened to come by. He said he just wanted to check in and see how Jane was doing. She started having trouble about an hour after he got here.”
* * *
“Has any water been boiled?”
* * *
“Not yet.”
* * *
“We need to do that.” She rolled up the sleeves of her blouse and pinned Dr. Hughes with a scathing look
. “Why wasn’t Dr. Parsons fetched once you realized you were in no condition to help this family?”
* * *
Lee pointed across the room. “He wouldn’t let us!”
* * *
Ellie laid a hand on Lee’s arm and moved into his line of vision. “Lee, I need the water, and any of the cloth I had told you and Jane to prepare.”
* * *
He looked down at Ellie and nodded, his lips thin. Ellie moved swiftly to the front door.
* * *
“Charles!”
* * *
The boy bounded over to her with his sister on his heels. Ellie grabbed Anna’s hand. “I need you to run as fast as you can to the doctor’s office and fetch Dr. Parsons. Can you do that?” She had her doubts; the boy was only nine years old.
* * *
Charles nodded his head up and down rapidly and took off running. Ellie handed Anna off to her father and went back into the bedroom. She winced as Jane cried out. It was an agonizing sound. Ellie pulled the covers up and examined again.
* * *
“Dr. Hughes, are you able to make it home?”
* * *
“I’m not going anywhere!”
* * *
Ellie cast him a sidelong look. “Sir, you are in no condition to be here. You need to care for yourself right now”
* * *
“Jane Schmitt is my patient,” he rasped.
* * *
“Not anymore!” Lee yelled from the kitchen.
* * *
Ellie closed her eyes for a moment. The tension was thick enough to be cut with a knife. Ellie touched Jane on the knee and called her name softly.
* * *
“Jane, I need you to concentrate on me. Your baby is in breach. I’m going to have to try and turn it.”
* * *
“Don’t you dare lay another finger on that woman!” Dr. Hughes angrily spat. “The baby is already in the birth canal. If you try to turn it now, you will kill her and her baby!”
* * *
Ellie ignored him and kept her eyes on Jane Schmitt. “You have to trust me. One of my sisters had a breach birth and I helped turn that child. It can be done.”
* * *
“Ha! Helped!” Dr. Hughes heckled.
* * *
Lee came back with a cast iron pot of water. “One more word, Levi, and I’ll remove you to the yard.” He dipped a corner of cloth into the hot water and handed it to Ellie so she could wipe her hands
.
* * *
“Please!” Jane screamed
. “Do something, Miss Fowler!”
* * *
“Take Anna out.” Ellie waited until Lee and Anna had left the room before she began to turn the baby
. The pain was excruciating for Jane and Ellie had to stop.
* * *
“Couldn’t do it, could you?” Dr. Hughes sneered
.
* * *
“She needs a few minutes rest. These things take time.” Ellie refused to let him, or Jane, see her worry.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Liam pushed his horse at a breakneck speed and hoped that young Charles would be ok to hold on to his waist. He hadn’t taken the time to hitch the horse to the little buggy that morning, and he was grateful. A galloping horse was faster than a trotting one.
* * *
When he entered the house, he found Lee sitting at his kitchen table with young Anna on his knee. His lips were in a thin line and his fingers drummed the wooden table. A scream ripped through the house and sent him bolting into the bedroom.
* * *
“Just stop it!” Dr. Hughes demanded. He was struggling to stand, and it was obvious his plan was to push Ellie out of the way.
* * *
“What’s happening?” Liam asked
, shrugging out of his jacket and rolling his shirt sleeves up.
* * *
“The baby is breach. I have been trying to turn it. One of my sisters had a breach birth and I helped turn that baby, but this…”
* * *
“Get out, Liam!” Dr. Hughes yelled
. “Stop trying to steal my patients!”
* * *
“Stop thinking about yourself for a moment, Levi! This is about this woman and her baby.”
* * *
“Ellie, please tend to Dr. Hughes.”
* * *
“No.” Ellie growled
. “He’s been like this for nearly an hour. I’ve been with her; I want to stay with her.”
* * *
Liam didn’t want to have to tell Ellie she wasn’t ready for this birth. He didn’t want to have to embarrass her like that.
* * *
“Ellie, I’m not asking you at this point, I’m telling you.”
* * *
Ellie backed away from the foot of the bed, her face a mask of disbelief. She raised her voice and asked for Lee’s help. Together they got Dr. Hughes up and into the kitchen.
* * *
“Let’s take him to the sitting area,” Lee suggested.
* * *
Ellie nodded and they got him to the settee and eased him down. Dr. Hughes’s eyes were watering and his face had taken on an ashy look.
* * *
“I just need to rest. I’ll be fine. All this fuss…for nothing.”
* * *
Ellie’s brow came down as she frowned. She dug out her stethoscope and unbuttoned the buttons of his shirt directly over his heart. She listened as her frown deepened. His heartbeats were faint and widely spaced apart.
* * *
“He’s going to be alight?” Lee asked in a hushed tone.
* * *
“I hope so.” Ellie rose from her crouched position and darted back to the bedroom
. “Liam? Liam, can you please come check Dr. Hughes?”
* * *
Jane cried out as Liam manipulated the baby again.
* * *
“I’m a bit busy right now, Ellie. Handle it.”