“Dr. Parker!” The herd of children rushed from her side to his. Even the way he bent down to answer little Audrey’s question seemed transformed. It kindled such a warm glow in her chest that Ida felt she could face a dozen Jane Smileys and not lose hope.
“I have a job for you girls,” he said tenderly. “Run upstairs and tell all the classes that lunch will be one half hour early today.”
“That’s in fifteen minutes,” Donna said, looking around the room. “We’re not finished setting.”
“We’ll manage. I want everyone downstairs. Everyone needs to hear how our Gwendolyn is faring—” he caught Ida’s eyes above the group of upturned faces “—and Miss Landway and I have important news to share.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The girls needed no more encouragement than that to scurry upstairs and leave Daniel and Ida in the empty dining hall.
She rushed to his side, and a surge of happiness coursed through his weary body when she took his hands. Would it always be like this? He dearly hoped so. A man felt he could conquer the whole world with such a boost of spirits. Daniel longed to kiss her—soundly and more than once—but decided holding her hand might be shocking enough for anyone from the now-frantic kitchen staff who might happen into the room.
“Here? Now?” Ida asked. He enjoyed that the blissful sparkle of her eyes showed the same love-struck quality that had carried him all morning.
“Can you think of a better time or place?”
She laughed. “I was just telling Mr. MacNeil that the people here really are your family.”
Daniel joined in her laughter. “You should have seen his surprise when I told him. I believe you’ve improved his estimation of me considerably.”
She squeezed his hand. “He is so very fond of you, you know.” Her face grew serious. “I’m sure I can’t say the same of Mrs. Smiley. MacNeil warned me to stay away from her today. Do you really want her to hear it like this?”
“Believe it or not, I think it’s the best way. She’ll know there’s no going back on our plans, and she wouldn’t dare make a scene in front of the children. If she’s as smart as I hope she is, she will use it as an excuse for a quiet exit.”
“Gracious, you’re absolutely right. I declare, what a very clever man I’m going to marry.” He watched as the words struck her with delight, feeling it, as well. “I’m going to marry Dr. Daniel Parker.” She whispered it like the grandest of news. It was, wasn’t it?
“Gitch was awake this morning. I talked her through everything that had happened and that will happen. She was very brave.”
“Donna went and found my pastels and already has the girls making cards.” She took one of Daniel’s hands in both of hers. “I don’t think we should make her and Matty wait, Daniel. They’re ready. When they graduate, they should marry. I know I couldn’t stand the thought of waiting now, and Donna has been so mature in all this.”
Daniel took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I have to admit I was thinking the very same thing.” Her eyes were so warm and intense. “I’d marry you this afternoon if I thought I could manage a free hour.”
“Goodness,” she declared with a laugh, “I really have infected you, haven’t I?”
“A happy contagion to be sure.”
* * *
The unmistakable sound of fifty-seven pairs of excited feet filled the hallway, and Daniel led Ida to the front of the dining hall to greet the children and staff. Ida felt his hand solidly around hers, and she felt her stomach give a small flip as one or two of the older students noticed their clasped hands.
The staff mostly looked curious—some of them looked alarmed, worried that Dr. Parker had gathered them to hear grim news. Ida could watch their faces fill with relief as they entered the room, so it must have been obvious by her and Daniel’s expressions that good news was about to be delivered. She watched the children file into their table groupings, her heart lightening further with the chatter. So much had changed since her first visit to this room and its unnerving quiet. It was still orderly—or as orderly as hungry and excited children could achieve—but it was a happy, hopeful kind of efficiency. The kind of a busy kitchen or a bustling home. Thank You, Father, for all You have done here. For the children, for Daniel and for me.
Ida felt Daniel give her hand one final squeeze before clearing his throat loudly and raising his hands to quiet the children.
“We’ve had a difficult time since last night, but I want to say I am proud of all of you for handling it as well as you have. You all have shown Parker Home to be the family it is, both in taking care of each other and in showing care for Miss Martin.”
“Is Gitch all right?” a thin voice, pitched high with concern, piped up from one side of the room.
Daniel clasped his hands behind his back. “Gitch will make a good recovery, yes.” Ida gave no outward sign of how she recognized that reply for the merciful doctor’s answer that it was. Every nurse knew that “making a good recovery” was not the same thing as being “all right,” but now was a time for reassurances. Daniel had confided that Gitch might never speak as clearly as she had before the accident, and that she had a long road to getting better.
Ida knew, however, that Gitch had the vital advantages of a hearty spirit and lots of support. Already she’d seen more fight in the small girl than in some hardened soldiers with half her wounds. Whatever life lay ahead for Gitch, she would embrace it. Ida felt a glow in her heart from the knowledge that she would be here at the Home to help make that happen.
“Gitch will be in the hospital for a month or so, and then we hope to bring her back to us to finish her recovery. I’m confident all of you will do whatever it takes to help Gitch heal. And I’ll make sure the cards you made her last night get delivered to her as soon as possible.”
Ida felt Daniel’s demeanor stiffen a little and she looked up to see Mrs. Smiley walk slowly into the room with a narrow-eyed glare.
“I have other news that I want to share.” She heard him take a deep breath, and it struck her further what an enormous leap this was for Daniel to be taking on her behalf. On behalf of both of them, really. She held her own breath, and turned her eyes to watch Daniel rather than to do battle with the steely stare of Jane Smiley.
“We have all come to think of Nurse Landway as part of our family here.” He faltered, making Ida think he was in the process of discarding whatever carefully worded speech he had prepared. She wanted to take his hand, but knew the moment must be his to command. “I know you all join me in feeling that the Parker Home is a far better place for her...unique and colorful contributions.
“The truth of the matter is that she’s become very special—to all of us. And to me especially. And, so...” He coughed, a flush coming to his face, and Ida felt a hundred pounds lighter when he simply reached for her hand before continuing. “And so I wanted you all to be the first to know that Miss Landway and I will be married just as soon as we can make arrangements.”
Squeals—really, there was no other word for the sound—erupted from the girls’ tables while the boys gaped in shock. The room seemed equally divided into those who couldn’t be more thrilled and/or shocked, and those who nodded to each other in an “I told you they were sweet on each other” fashion. All semblance of order was lost for a boisterous bit of time, with girls tumbling out of their seats to come up and give Ida a hug and staff members, including a grinning Fritz Grimshaw, shaking Daniel’s hand in congratulations.
“I knew it!” Donna said as she crushed Ida in an enthusiastic hug. “Martha said I was imagining things, but I knew it! Now you won’t be leaving.”
Ida felt such a surge of near-maternal affection for the young woman that she found herself choking back tears. “I’m not ever leaving, Donna. This is my home now. And you were a big part in making it that way.”
“Who’d have thought you’d beat me to the altar?” Donna said, her smile enormous and stuffed with happiness.
“Well, let’s just see about that.” Ida winked, nodded toward Daniel and gave the girl another big squeeze before a trio of smaller girls grabbed at her nursing apron and began pulling her away.
She managed, as she was being tugged toward a table filled with well-wishers, to look up toward the back of the room. Jane Smiley’s eyes were alternating between popping wide in astonishment and squinting narrow in rage. As if she had two-dozen reactions to what had happened and couldn’t decide which awful one to feel first. As wounded as she had been by Mrs. Smiley’s betrayal, Ida now found herself too full of happiness not to find a tiny portion of pity for the woman.
“Oh, lass,” said Mr. MacNeil, who had just ducked in the kitchen door to catch the end of the announcement, “I’m so happy for the pair of you. You’ve been a good thing for Daniel, and he’s a smart enough man to know it, aye?” He winked. “Don’t you worry about her,” he added softly, following Ida’s gaze out the door Mrs. Smiley had just stormed through like a round, black raincloud. “She’ll make noise and fuss, but she knows better than to make too much trouble. And I’m not so sure Mrs. Parker wouldn’t have done what she did with or without Smiley’s help. She had it out for you all along, I’m sad to say.” He gave Ida’s hands a squeeze. “But like I said, Daniel’s a smart man and knows a good thing’s worth fighting for. You’ll be grand together, I’m sure of that.”
* * *
Daniel felt he had just leaped off a terribly high cliff, and had barely been able to eat with all the fuss at lunch. He had only a few minutes to spare before he would be forced to attack the mountain of paperwork at his desk, but he wasn’t at all sure his brain would focus after a day like today.
Ida came up behind him as he stood at the doorway of his study, and together they looked out over the mass of children as they took their outside recreation after lunch. She looked as happy and as spent as he felt.
“Thank you,” she said, her hand resting on his chest.
“For what?”
“For all of it. For here, and for all you’ve done.” She inhaled deeply before adding, “And for the fight ahead of you. Ahead of us.”
“It’s only a fight if you think you can’t win. If you know you will win, then it’s only a struggle. You know, my father said that to me. I think today I understand it better than I ever have before.”
“Well then, it’s a struggle you won’t have to face alone.” She drew herself up. “I hear tell the future Mrs. Daniel Parker is a very stubborn sort.”
His arm slipped around her waist. “Impulsive, even.”
“Decisive,” she corrected.
“Beautiful,” he added, letting one finger wander through the waves of her hair that had already escaped her bun.
“And rather smitten,” she said, smiling up at him.
* * *
How had he grown even more handsome? The authority had always been there, but now the severity that used to darken his eyes was gone, replaced with a warm glow. Daniel was capable of such tremendous care—it made her feel as if she sparkled like sunlight to know he loved her.
She stood on tiptoe and kissed him, not caring that they were right there in the window where the children could see. Children ought to see love every day—most especially these children. “It’s one of God’s best gifts, you know,” she said as she leaned her head against his shoulder.
“A kiss? I admit, I agree.” She could hear the broad smile in his voice as he murmured into her hair.
Ida swatted his chest gently. “No, silly—love. My mama said love never took love away, only made more love. That’s why you can never use it up.” She looked up at him, wanting to see his eyes as she tried to get the fullness of her heart into words. “I love these children. And I love you. One only gives more to the other, not less. It’s like it doubles itself because both are there. I have more love to give because I give more love.” She pursed her lips, unsatisfied with the description. “Does that make any sense?”
“As much as colored socks do in an orphanage.” His words teased, but Daniel’s eyes told her he understood completely. His arms tightened around her. They gave her strength, his arms. She’d never felt more sure this was where she belonged.
“Colored socks make loads of sense in this orphanage,” she declared. “I want it to always be that way.”
Daniel made a face as if he were committing the command to memory. “Parker Home children shall have colored socks until further notice.”
“Knit by Mrs. Daniel Parker and her friends.” Ida sighed. “Mrs. Daniel Parker. I do like the sound of that.”
Daniel kissed her forehead. “Mrs. Daniel Parker,” he echoed. A ball bounced by the window, sending one of the children scurrying after it. The girl picked up the ball, but not before stopping to offer a giggling wave at the two of them through the glass. Ida thought her heart must be spilling so much happiness, even Mama in West Virginia could surely feel it.
“Will you still be Nurse Ida to the children?” Daniel asked.
“Of course!” she replied instantly, then thought about that for a moment. “Can’t I? Is there some sort of rule about that kind of thing?”
Daniel pulled away just enough to look her in the eye. “When have you cared about the rules?”
She shrugged. “Will I have to start caring about them as Mrs. Daniel Parker?” She was ready to, if it came to that. She knew she’d have to make some changes to help shoulder the social expectations Daniel dealt with in order to keep the Home up and running. Ida dearly hoped Isabelle Hooper would help her with that, as well as John and Leanne.
His eyes gleamed. “In time, but there’s no reason to start now. We’ve broken half a dozen in the last twenty-four hours alone.” He nodded toward the window. “And look how happy those children are.” He pulled her closer. “I’m better for you being here, Ida. We all are.”
Ida wrapped her arms around Daniel as tight as she could. “Oh, it’s good to be home.”
Epilogue
June 1930
Dear Auntie Isabelle,
Thank you so much for the graduation present. Turning eighteen feels like such a grand thing! I’m very excited to be going off to nursing school in the fall, and especially glad I will be nearer to you. I’ll be ever so thankful to have you to introduce me to a much bigger city like Atlanta. I can’t wait to see your new dog as well—Chester was so loved here at the Home, the little ones cried when you moved and still talk about him.
I’m sure all the other Aunties have kept you up to date on the big party we are having to celebrate Dr. and Mrs. Parker’s tenth anniversary. Little Hal is five now, toddling around the Home and just beginning to understand how he’s come to have so many “brothers and sisters.” He is giving poor Mrs. Ida a terrible time, tired as she is with the new baby coming. Much as Hal loves the distraction, I think Dr. Parker is regretting the puppy—he is a wild thing. They named him “Chessie”—after your wonderful dog, I’m sure. Mrs. Ida says it’s a blessing she has lots of us “nannies” all ready to help out, and I agree. We are all hoping for a girl, as is Mrs. Ida, I think (she’ll never say such a thing of course, but I notice she’s been knitting far more little pink socks than little blue ones).
The new nurse—another one from the army base, too—is very nice and has been here since March. I think she fits in well, but I continue to go and find Mrs. Ida when my jaw hurts on rainy days. I still think of the silly faces she made back during all those dreadful speech exercises. I hope I become as fine a nurse as Mrs. Ida. I cannot draw like she can, but I’ve discovered how much I love writing. I have rather a decent singing voice, too—and I hardly ever lisp when I sing!
I knit my first sweater this month. You would be so proud—it turned out
quite nicely, and was just the thing for the red cotton yarn you gave me for Christmas. I’ve taught several of the younger ones to knit socks, just like you taught me. It’s funny to watch Dr. Parker explain to visitors why all the girls here have such wonderful, brightly colored socks. We’ve had lots of visitors with the new wing being built. Can you imagine the Parker Home with over a hundred children? I’m sure I’ll barely recognize it when I come for visits when school is out.
“Auntie Donna” heads up a whole other group of “Aunties” now, although they are more big sisters than wonderful, wise Aunties like you. She and “Uncle Matthew”—we certainly couldn’t keep calling him “Matty” when he became a father and opened his own brickyard, could we?—are expecting their third baby in November. We see them a lot because Donna runs the volunteers who keep up the gardens and Matthew’s firm is handling all the bricks for the new wing.
I must go and finish studying for my last exam—the girls’ matron is very strict about study halls! I promise to send word the day my feet land in Atlanta and dearly look forward to being able to visit you much more. God bless you and keep you, dear Auntie!
Love,
Gitch
PS: I’ve decided to go by “Gwen” in school—what do you think? No matter what, I trust I will always be “Gitch” to you and all my Parker family.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from WAGON TRAIN REUNION by Linda Ford.
Dear Reader,
Each of us brings special gifts to the world around us. Sometimes they are easy to see, other times they appear “odd” to others. Our uniqueness is part of God’s perfectly woven tapestry, and can always be trusted. I hope Ida and Daniel’s story has helped you see what particular gifts you bring to the world around you. If you haven’t yet read Homefront Hero (Love Inspired Historical, May 2012), you can go back and discover how Ida and Leanne became friends and read Leanne and John’s dramatic love story.
The Doctor's Undoing Page 23
