“Is there any chance I can … walk?”
Jay sat down across from Eliza and planted his arms on his legs. “I honestly don’t know. Your original diagnosis indicated you had broken your back and had lost all feeling in your lower extremities. But I sensed a reaction when I touched your toes.”
Eliza’s eyes sparkled with anticipation. “Does that mean—?”
“I can’t promise anything. For anything to happen, you will have to work hard. You probably will hate me some of the time.”
She laughed, but he silenced her. “Before we discuss this with your sister, I want to know if you are willing to work hard without any guarantee of success.”
Silence stretched between them while Eliza considered. She wasn’t rushing the decision, which he was thankful for. Laura must be getting impatient in the front room.
Something made a thunk outside the door. Jay thought about the possibilities and smiled. Maybe Laura was a busybody, at least where her sister was concerned.
“Yes.” Eliza said. “I’ll do it.”
“Wonderful.” Jay sprang up and opened the door, and Laura fell into his arms. “Whoa there.” He steadied her on her feet. “Would you like to join us?”
He managed to keep laughter from escaping, but he couldn’t control the heat in his face. Laura’s cheeks turned tomato red, changing her beautiful face into a cartoonish distortion of itself.
Eliza straightened in her chair. “Laura Elizabeth Evans, were you listening outside the door?”
Laura stared from one to the other until she brought her expression under control. “Of course not.”
An unreasonable sense of glee seized Jay, making him want to lift the gloom that had attached itself to Laura.
Her face had returned to its normal color. “I merely wondered if your visit was over, or if there were any questions I could answer for you. You see, I just realized I need to purchase a few things at the store on the way home and wondered how much longer the visit might last.” The longer she talked, the faster the words came out.
She was a terrible liar. He decided to tease her. “You were? Wonderful. I was going there myself. Give your sister and me a few minutes to wrap up our discussion, and then I can accompany you.”
Her lips thinned in mutiny. “Don’t you need to speak with me?”
“Not today. I think we have it under control.”
She dropped onto a chair.
“He’ll talk with you at my next visit.” Eliza looked as agitated as Laura looked despondent. “Won’t you, Doc Jay?”
He cleared his throat. “If it’s all right with you, certainly.” For Eliza’s treatment to work, she would need Laura’s active participation.
Laura stood with her usual grace, one Jay enjoyed watching.
She said, “I’ll wait for you in the outer room, then.”
Jay rushed through the remainder of his visit with Eliza, thinking of Laura pacing in the living room. When they finished, he sat on his desk, file in hand. “Tell me the truth. Were you planning to go shopping today?”
Eliza giggled. “No.”
Jay nodded. “We’ll all go shopping, and we’ll enjoy it.” He wheeled Eliza out of his office to join Laura and left Mrs. Cook to close up shop. Within a few minutes, he had his hands on the handles to Eliza’s bath chair. Laura walked beside him.
Her arms dangled at her sides, as if she didn’t know what to do with them. Of course, she was usually pushing the bath chair. She settled into a rhythm of pumping them in time with her legs. So much of Laura’s life revolved around Eliza. If he took away her role as caretaker would she feel stripped of her purpose for life?
They crossed the street in front of Carter’s store. The entry was fairly wide, probably designed to allow customers to leave with packages in hand, but in this case, the bath chair could fit comfortably.
Laura dug in her reticule and removed a scrap of paper with a triumphant smile. “Here’s my shopping list. Do you know if Carter’s carries any post cards of Plymouth?”
Jay had no idea, so they wandered the store looking at the displays. Laura pushed ahead when Eliza dawdled. He whispered to Eliza, “Someday you will wheel yourself, and then you can set your own pace.”
She shook her head, gesturing helplessly at Laura, who had reached the farthest corner of the store. A sign announcing “Prepare for Winter! Buy early!” hung on a wooden board, curled at the end like a toboggan, with photographs of local outings.
Laura backed away from the sign until her foot caught on Eliza’s wheels. She stumbled and righted herself. “I’m ready to leave.” She headed for the door without making any purchase.
Jay turned to Eliza. She didn’t say anything, but the fear on her face told the story.
The toboggan had something to do with Eliza’s accident.
CHAPTER SIX
Laura walked at a steady pace, not faltering until she reached the end of the boardwalk, her aunt’s house visible down the street.
Eliza. Laura had repeated her mistake. At the sight of the toboggan, she had run away as fast as she could, the same way she had on the day of the accident. She whirled around, but not soon enough.
Jay was pushing Eliza’s chair, lightly scooting the bath chair over the dirt. Of course he had rescued her sister. Seemed lately, every time Laura made a fool of herself, Jay witnessed the debacle. That rankled, because in spite of everything, she wanted to make a good impression on him.
She waited while they approached and she saw the cautious look in Eliza’s eyes. Jay brought the chair to a stop. For a moment, no one spoke.
Laura regained her power of speech first. “I apologize for taking so much of your time, Dr. Andrews.” That was the right tone. Dr. Andrews, not Doc Jay or Jay. “I can take Eliza home from here.”
“That’s not necessary.” Jay continued down the street. “I think we could all use some coffee, and Mizz Bell is bound to have some brewing.”
Laura glared at his back then forced herself to relax. At least he hadn’t run away from the hysterical female. She caught up quickly, since Jay was so careful on the uneven ground, making the trip as easy as possible for Eliza.
“Thank you for wheeling Eliza.” Laura didn’t know what to do with her arms when she wasn’t pushing her sister’s chair. She bent over and picked up a leaf. “I’m not sure I recognize this one. An elm?”
“I believe so.” Jay stared overhead. “They’re fairly common around here.”
Laura examined the leaf, its edges just changing from green to yellow. “This makes me want to place it under a piece of paper and rub my pencil over it, so that I can see its impression.” She held it gently in her palm. As they approached Aunt Minnie’s front yard, she noticed a cat perched on the fence in front of a neighbor’s yard, a birdhouse in another place, and a rosebush elsewhere. All things she had made herself blind to when she wheeled Eliza herself, only looking ahead to check for obstacles.
Thanks, she repeated to herself silently. Thank you, Jay, for this gift. He smiled at her, as if reading her mind, and she returned in kind.
If only the sight of a—that thing in the store, which she couldn’t name even in her mind—didn’t cause her to fall into a fit of fear.
Forgetting those things which are behind … Laura had memorized Paul’s brave words to the Philippians in an effort to let go of the memories, but they returned at the most unlikely moments. Help me to put it behind me, Lord.
Aunt Minnie stepped into the entry as soon as they entered the house. “Oh, good, you’re back, and you’ve brought company. Not that Jay is company. He’s like a part of the family.”
I wish he were part of my family. The thought jumped into Laura’s head and refused to leave. “Can I help you with lunch?” The canned beans she’d planned on buying at the store would have helped with the offer. She had let fear chase her away.
“That’s not necessary. I’m making a vegetable stew with this year’s crop. I’m so eager to share it with you.”
; “I’m glad to hear the garden grew properly.” Jay sniffed the air appreciatively. “I was afraid I would kill the plants with my brown thumb.”
So the man pitched in with the garden when her aunt had been sick? Laura said, “I’ve never met such a multi-talented Jack-of-all-trades before.”
“I help out where I can.” He let go of the chair and turned Eliza around. “Would you like to sit here?” He touched the upright chair, the one Aunt Minnie said helped her get up more easily.
“May I?” Eliza looked at Laura, but Jay didn’t wait for permission. He scooped up her sister and settled her before propping a pillow next to her.
Above Eliza’s head, he seemed to ask Aunt Minnie a silent question.
She nodded. “I have some more ripe vegetables to pick. You all just visit.” She shuffled away, and a minute later, the back door closed.
Laura wasn’t sure if her aunt was playing matchmaking or if the principal wanted to see her in the office. She joined Jay on the sofa, where she could keep an eye on Eliza. The air between them sizzled with tension.
They managed a polite conversation, although Eliza said very little. Laura hated it when that happened. “Eliza—”
Jay lifted his finger to his lips. “Look,” he whispered.
Eliza’s head lay back against the chair, her eyes closed, a slight snore suggesting a nap.
Jay kept his voice lowered. “While she’s sleeping, do you want to talk about what happened at the store?”
~
Jay had told himself the sisters’ evident fear was none of his business. Then his medical training kicked in, insisting the more he knew about the accident that caused Eliza’s injury, the better he could help. Mizz Bell had told him some of the story, but decided he should hear it from the girls themselves.
Laura’s foot tapped the floor nervously, but she didn’t answer.
Now that he had brought up the subject, he had to continue. “Or maybe you can start by telling me about Eliza’s accident.”
Angry lines twisted her face for an instant. She seemed to force her expression to relax. “Talking about it won’t change anything.”
“Talking can’t change the past—but it may help the future.” Jay kept his voice calm, the way he addressed patients. Laura wouldn’t respond to an “I’m a doctor, so I know what is best” approach, so he spoke in a friendly tone. “I like to think I can help.”
Laura’s sideways glance evidenced her continued wariness, but she nodded. “Unless you’ve lived with something like this, you don’t know what it feels like.”
Now Jay glanced away. He knew that feeling, all too well, but he had rarely shared the experience. Now he felt compelled to tell Laura something of his story. “I was a surgeon during the Civil War, Miss Evans. I know how awful an accident can be. Every day I amputated arms, and legs. Every day I saw men die. After the war, I worked with amputees. Some of them reentered life at home and have done very well.” He took a photo out his wallet. “Here is a photo of one of those men.”
She looked at the photo, then back at him. “That’s must be a good memory.” She said the right words, but he sensed the lack of interest in her voice.
“It is, but there are others who didn’t do as well. Those who couldn’t, or wouldn’t adapt, whose families didn’t understand or help. Too many of them died from infection or complications. Some at their own hand.” He probably shouldn’t have shared that last fact, but Laura might understand. He stood, opened the door, and took a deep breath of the fall air.
“I’m sorry.” A soft hand touched his shoulder.
He turned around. “When I had no more to give, I moved with Pa to Plymouth. It was a fairly new town. No one here knew anything about me. If I was moody and stayed to myself, who cared?”
Laura’s mouth formed a perfect O.
Don’t you dare feel sorry for me.
Instead of tears or words of sympathy, Laura’s response came in the form of a giggle.
She found his war experiences funny? That was worse than sympathy. He passed and returned to the sofa, crossing his arms.
Laura’s giggle was short-lived, the horror in her face reflecting his own. “You must think I’m a simpleton, to laugh at something so personal.”
“I didn’t expect it.” He couldn’t leave it alone at that point. “But what was funny?”
Pink climbed in her cheeks. “You came here to recover from the horrors of the war, yet you have devoted energy and influence and time to make life as easy as possible for my sister. Far more than anyone would have expected, least of all me.” She sat beside him. Minutes passed before they continued. “We have something in common, Dr. Andrews. We both believe that if we try hard enough, somehow we can make up for the harm we see all around us.”
Jay stood and crossed to the front window, staring at the farm fields just visible at the end of the roads in town. He rarely shared his past, mostly for fear people wouldn’t understand. Laura Evans had not only understood, she’d identified with him.
“What do you have to feel sorry about?” Jay’s voice came out gruffer than he intended. Spilling his guts was the price he paid for getting Laura to open up to him. He had to follow through. He came back to the sofa. “Is it something to do with Eliza’s accident? On a toboggan, maybe?”
Laura stiffened. Minutes ticked by in an uncomfortable silence. She crossed to the window, her back to him. “When we were children, winter was our favorite time of year. Snow stayed on the ground most of the time from December to March, and we played outside as often as we could.”
Her fingers touched the glass, tracing a line as if drawing a picture. “We enjoyed our sleds, but we loved going to the mountains for a toboggan run. We’d climb to the top over and over again until light disappeared from the sky.”
Watching the side of her face, Jay could see a shadow of a smile, and he responded with a smile of his own. “That does sound like fun.”
“It was.” The bright sunshine outlined her form like a dark shadow. Her voice deepened. “When we were old enough to participate in youth activities at our church, we went on a tobogganing party. That’s when it happened.” She said the last sentence in a single breath, avoiding any detailed descriptions.
Laura’s shoulders trembled, and Jay joined her. “Let’s sit down again.” He put his arms around her shoulders and led her back to the sofa. When they sat this time, they turned toward each other, their knees only a couple of inches apart. He took her hand. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
Laura swallowed hard, fighting her fear. “One of the young men invited me to go down the hill with him. You might say we were sparking.”
No pink showed on Laura’s cheeks. She was lost in the story.
“Eliza insisted that I say yes, that she could go down by herself.”
The last was the hardest, Jay could tell. He didn’t interrupt.
“She started first, then we followed. With the two of us, our toboggan ran faster, and somehow our toboggan bumped into hers. Nothing happened to us, but Eliza veered in a different direction and slammed into a tree.” A long pause followed. Finally, she said, “We didn’t know if she would even survive.”
Jay knew better than to say God had spared her. He only shook his head.
“Don’t you see? It’s my fault she had the accident. I’ve spent every day for the last seven years making up for it, but nothing can undo the harm I’ve done.”
Tears trickled down her cheeks, showing the sorrow Jay lived with every day. He leaned forward and took her in his arms, resting her head against his shoulder.
He understood Laura so much better now. After the war, he’d worked so hard to help men who’d been injured in the war, but no amount of therapy, no new ramps for bath chairs, could make up for all the amputations he had performed.
Maybe God had brought them together to help them heal.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Laura couldn’t believe she had said so much, to Jay of all people. She had never told
anyone how guilty she felt. In Maine, every time someone stared at Eliza’s chair or passed them on the street, she felt the weight of their disapproval.
And Jay … she had seen and heard of amputations from the War. But she had always thought about the person mutilated, not about the doctors who had made life and death decisions all day, every day.
As her mind cleared, Laura realized Eliza’s breathing was no longer even and she had stopped snoring. She was most likely awake. Whatever she had overheard was too much.
Laura and her sister had never discussed the accident. Why had Laura discussed it in her presence? Jay had thrown her off balance, with his honesty and his compassion. What harm had they caused by discussing it?
Eliza snorted, shook her head, and opened her eyes. Laura wasn’t fooled.
“How long have I been asleep? Did I miss anything important?” She included Jay in her gaze.
Jay’s cheeks reddened, proving his vulnerability, and Laura relaxed. “Exchanging our life stories, that’s all.” She smiled, her eyes daring Jay to disagree.
Jay looked from one sister to the other, his expression unreadable. A small shake of his head—had their conversation affected him as much as it had her?
“We’re glad to have you rejoin the conversation.” The smile that spread across his face indicated a lack of regrets. “In fact, I’m glad you awakened. I wondered if you were planning to go to the hayride and campfire next Saturday?”
“No.” The word came out of Laura’s mouth abruptly, short—angry. She had already refused, for both of them. Now he had bypassed her decision and asked Eliza directly. She had forgotten the hayride as soon as he’d mentioned it, the same way she’d reacted to any other activities ever since the accident. That one day had robbed her of so much joy.
Jay’s eyebrows shot up. “I was asking your sister.”
Eliza sighed. “If I can’t go, she won’t go, although I always tell her to. Aunt Minnie and I can manage between us.”
Jay’s smile turned into a frown. “That kind of talk ends right here and now. There is no reason Eliza can’t go on a hayride. We can get you onto the hay bundle where you sit. If you’re worried, we can sit on either side. Maybe even bring the chair with us.”
Love's Sporting Chance: Volume 2: 5 Romantic Sporting Novellas Page 10
