CHAPTER 8
Mary woke up clutching her bedsheets. Coming to terms with her environment, she sighed and got up from the bed. It was way before dawn, but she knew that going back to bed and trying to sleep was futile.
Sleep had eluded her for the months since she had returned home. It was a routine she was used to- going to bed late, waking several times during the night, and eventually abandoning the idea of going back to sleep.
She quietly walked into the kitchen, hoping to at least get something to eat. If she couldn’t sleep, she might as well do something else, and food was what held the most appeal to her.
She opened the plate that was covered on the table and saw the sandwich her mother had made the night before, but she hadn’t had enough appetite to eat. Who knew food could look so much better when you couldn't sleep?
"Mary." Her mother's voice startled her, and she promptly dro
CHAPTER 9Joel looked outside the eastern window of his office and sighed. The view never ceased to amaze him. It was therapeutic- soothing and calm. It was also a place where he knew he could be himself without worrying about the ghosts of the past.He had moved to Cherry Springs, California, a month ago under the recommendation of a doctor he had met after he realized he could no longer sit at home without giving his folks much to worry about. And he hadn't had a chance to regret it, not one day.At the crack of dawn, he took a walk each day, taking in the scenery and clearing his mind. The wide-open prairie and the view of the mountains held him spellbound every time. He would breathe it all in for a couple of minutes and begin his daily walk to a river he had stumbled on the first week he’d moved here.He would stand by the river and watch it flow, admire its simplicity, and feel the tension the previous day had
CHAPTER 10Mary picked up the newspaper and flipped through it. She wasn't interested in its contents, but it gave her something to do instead of dwelling on her thoughts.She briefly read some of the columns, was convinced that there was nothing in it, and was about to close it when she saw it.Opening the paper fully, she took a second look at what had grabbed her attention. It was an advertisement placed in one of the middle sections. However, it wasn't the fact that it was an ad that piqued her curiosity. It was what the ad specified. A doctor urgently needed a female nurse with experience.Well, she was a nurse, and one with a lot of experience. Checking further, she saw that the address was in California. She had heard things about California- about the sights and much more. It was one of those places she had dreamed about settling in before the war began. This could be her opportunity to move there finally.
CHAPTER 11Joel handed his patient a small bag that contained all she would need to take for her medications."Thanks, Doc."No problem. Just keep that foot away from sharp things next time," Sam admonished."Oh, I will do my best," the woman answered with a smile, her husband's hands around her waist as he supported her into the coach."And don't forget to come back later in the week so I can take another look at it. Okay?""Will do, Doctor," her husband answered.Joel nodded and walked back into his clinic, well aware that dusk was fast approaching. Today had been another hectic day. He neatly arranged his medical tools, rechecked the records to see that he had administered the right treatments to the right persons, and noted down in the notebook he carried around with him the names of the patients he needed to see on his way home.Satisfied that everything was in place, he locked the doo
CHAPTER 12Mary came down from the coach, her back aching and her legs tired- even though she had not walked from New Hampshire. The stagecoach she took had encountered some fault along the way, severally, and the journey had taken longer than she expected.All she wanted to do was find where the doctor lived, drop her bags, take a shower, and sleep for as long as possible. She knew it could present her as unprofessional, but she doubted that she could be of any use in the state she currently was. All she desired was rest- lots of it.She had tried to sleep once or twice during the journey, but the coach's nose kept her awake. After bumping her head against the door, as she dozed off at intervals, she had pried her eyes open and waited the hours out in silence.Thankfully, the driver had not attempted to engage her in small talk except when he had to apologise for stopping the coach. The last time she had taken a co
CHAPTER 13Joel stared at the woman standing before him, his eyes seeing but his mind refusing to admit. What was she doing here, in front of his house?He could not forget her, not even if a lot more years were to pass by. The thought of her brought pain and anger to him, reminded him of what he had loved and lost.He had tried so hard to move past it, wanted to let it go, but if she had done better, he would not have so much grief in his heart. She had caused his parents grief too, one they had not healed from.Her actions had created consequences that had changed his family forever. There was no way he could forgive her, ever. Sometimes he found himself thinking that if she had not gone, volunteered.“You,” he said again.“Yes, me,” she replied.“I don’t know what your business is here, but I’ll advise that you carry your bags and get the hell out of my front yard. Okay?” H
CHAPTER 14Mary walked outside the medical clinic down to the main road, dragging both bags, grumbling to herself. She was tired, and the bags felt twice as heavy as they did when she had gotten lost. At least, at that point, Mary still had a sliver of hope. She knew she had come to a place where she wanted to be, had a job she knew she loved, and would meet the doctor she so much admired. How could things have gone from a hundred to zero in the space of hours?Maybe getting lost should have been the first sign to her. Then the uproar should have been the second. Both things had not happened to her since she had returned home. But no, her mind had been fixed on an optimistic assumption. That she would get to his place, take a bath, sleep, and work would begin proper.Well, look at that turned out. A total nightmare! How could she not have figured it out? That she had applied for a job with the worst person? That she had gotten an appointment w
CHAPTER 15Sam paced up and down the space of his office, his mind churning. Why? Why did she have to come here? She was the last person he wanted to see- if he could put a thousand years between them, he would do it in an instant. If only he had known she was the nurse!The sight of her made him feel rage all over again. It made him feel his loss over and over again- all the things he did not want to feel. Her presence opened up wounds he had tried hard to close.Now he had to deal with the fact that she was stuck somewhere with no idea of where to stay the night, and she could be on in some form of trouble. It wasn’t his business, now, was it? She was a grown woman, capable of making her own decisions. It wasn’t his fault she had declined his offer and stormed off into the night.Even though he had not wanted any more of her, he had been prepared to allow her to stay the night, which was more than she deserved.If it were up to h
CHAPTER 16Mary walked behind Sam, keeping a fair distance between them. Not because she did think he would harm her- not after what he did, but because she had no idea what to say to him.When the men had walked away, leaving her standing alone, she had opened her mouth to thank him, but the look on his face stopped her from saying a word.He did not want her to talk to him. He had only said two words, "follow me," and she had followed meekly behind him.Why did he come to save her? She thought in her head over and over again. After the harsh words they had exchanged, she had expected him to be glad of her absence.Standing in the middle of the crowd, she had given up hope. There would be no one to save her, and these men- as many as they were, would be free to do whatever they wanted. Imagine her surprise when she had sighted him and a much larger surprise when he walked through the crowd.
CHAPTER 25Jane walked around, constantly checking on the patients. It had been a few hours since she had administered the pain relief medication to them and all that was left was to wait it out.At the moment of despair, she had remembered how her mother used to read the Bible to her every time she was scared as a little girl. It was a tradition they had adhered to not because they did every night, but reading from the scriptures had given Jane courage as a little girl and as a growing adult.When she volunteered as a medical staff during that war, she had carried the Bible along with her, and it had been the rock she leaned on each time things got too harsh, or she lost hope that the men they were treating would recover. She had also read specific passages to dying patients and had seen the relief come over their features, the hope that they had something to look forward to.And so when there was n
CHAPTER 24“What do you suggest we do?” Joel asked Mary. He had been confused about which medication to administer and had, at that moment, remembered a time she had told him about the influx of patients they had gotten with no foreseeable diagnosis insight. All the patients had survived at the end of the day.So, he had turned to her and asked the question he had been dreading all day. But, he had to trust her. It was the only option, the only way they could work.“We give them pain relief medication that will put them to sleep. It will stop all the jerky movements till we can figure out what is going on,” Mary explained.“Are you sure-“ Joel was about to ask but stopped halfway, seeing the look on Mary’s face. “Okay, let’s do that, then.”Grabbing the medical supplies needed and the drugs, they walked out of the storag
CHAPTER 23Mary walked alongside Joel as they strolled the road to the clinic. It was their first day as real partners, and she was pretty eager to see how it would go. Oh, she knew it would include a whole ton of arguments because Joel would not give her full rein or trust her judgment as she asked him to. He was that stubborn. Well, she was just as stubborn-headed and relatively determined to get her way.But she was happy because things had turned out differently. She had woken up this morning with heaviness in her heart. She had concluded that he would tell her to be on her way, now that the worst had been taken care of. She hadn’t wanted that. Taking care of the patients yesterday- no matter how hectic it had been, had ignited something in her that she thought had gone to sleep. Her zeal had been reawakened with renewed vigor, and all she wanted to do was stay back and help.She had also pr
CHAPTER 22Joel yawned loudly, his hands outstretched as he walked out of his room the following day. He had, after the night, gone to bed and had surprisingly slept well considering the day they had.The sun was coming out from behind the clouds, but his thoughts were already occupied.He had woken up, and the first thing he thought about was the previous day, the events of how he and Mary had worked together to treat the injured miners, the brief moment they had shared at the river, and the lightness that had filled the air despite the tension they had begun on. He had been surprised at the turn of events, he admitted to himself.When they had gotten into the buggy, the air had hummed with tension and words unsaid. Then Mary had broken the spell when she talked about needing a bath. He chuckled to himself as he remembered how scared she was to walk into the river, scared that something in the water woul
CHAPTER 21Mary walked beside Joel, wondering where he was leading her. He had given her the information about bathing in the river, and she was still trying to wrap her head around it. She had gone river bathing before, but it was when she was a kid. Although she was slightly comforted that he would be there for company and safety, it did not make her feel ultimately better.Truth be told, if she did not have to wash the grime off her body, she would have declined the offer.“You might have to watch your steps as you come further,” Joel told her,” the grasses are wet and slippery when you get closer to the river.”Okay, another thing to watch out for, Mary noted.“Just one question. How deep is the river? Is the current going to carry me away? Do I have to be worried about things that might bite or sting me? I feel like I have to get all my bases covered,”
CHAPTER 20Joel sat in the buggy as it rode off into the night, with Mary, both of them silent. He turned to look at her and saw a curious expression on her face; her brows were furrowed and his expression serious, her expression serious.He was thinking about the whole day’s incident- something he had gone over and over again without much satisfaction.First of all, there was the fact that Mary had brought up why there had been so many men outside from an accident when it wasn’t as though the mine had caved.The second was the theory that it could be a widespread infection, something he had been contemplating over. He had been truthful to Mary when he said he hadn’t seen anything like this ever. If it was an infection, what kind were they dealing with, and what was the source? And why the cuts and gashes? Had they struggled to leave the mine in the throes of pain and had caused some form of secondary accident
CHAPTER 19Mary waited for Joel to say something at the same time watching the patient.“We have to do something immediately,” she said, stating the obvious.“And that is trying to figure out where in his brain is clotting,” Joel said stubbornly.Mary looked at him and sighed. It was clear that he would not see things her way even though she knew that she was right. She would have to do it her way whether he liked it or not.So, she nodded. And moved closer to the man.“What the hell are you doing?” he barked out.“The plan of yours is not going to work, and you don’t want to see it my way. And since I know my way is right, I’ll do it by myself.”“No, you don’t dare,” Joel said but made no move to take control of the situation. He knew that any mistake he made would make the patient’s con
CHAPTER 18Joel walked as fast as he could to his office, his thoughts racing. He had been called from his home to his office a couple of times, but not with the frantic expression he had seen on the sheriff’s face. It was pure, unadulterated fear. What could be wrong that could scare him that much?And how could the accident have involved so many people that he told Mary to tag along? He thought about the worst-case scenarios he could come up with in a bid to prepare himself.Maybe a huge boulder had fallen, and some people had gotten severely injured- limbs that needed to be amputated and deep, gashing injuries.“How many patients are we talking about?” he asked Edwards. If he did not have room for them, treating them could constitute a problem.“I don’t know, Doc. I was called up to the mine, and I saw the mine supervisor bring out some of them. He told m
CHAPTER 17Mary stood up from the bed as soon as she saw the sunrise on the horizon. After a long night of no sleep, she was tired and after trying to go back to sleep without any success. After standing outside for a while, looking at Joel, she had come back inside and had tried to sort out her thoughts. The hours that had passed by felt to her like a whole day.She had given to lying on the bed because it was more comfortable than the chairs.In any case, she needed food in her body- something to fill her stomach and also keep her awake. Coffee sounded like a good idea if there was any in the house. She walked into the kitchen, opening cupboards, drawers, rummaging around for she could eat.Finally, she found a tin of coffee and some eggs in a crate.In no time, the coffee was ready, and her sunny side scrambled eggs were on a plate. She inhaled the aroma and smiled, carrying the plate and cup of coffe