by Merry Farmer
When they reached her parents’ house, Grover was standing on the back porch. He had his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed and fixed on Thomas. Rebecca’s heart withered into a ball of prickles that dropped into her stomach. How long had her son been standing there? What had he seen?
“Grover,” she greeted him, picking up her pace to step away from Thomas. “How are the girls doing?”
Grover continued to stare bullets at Thomas, even though Thomas approached him with all the respect he would show to a full-grown man.
“They’re sick, Ma,” he said, turning his adolescent anger to her. “They’re up there moaning and calling out for you, and you’re back here with him.”
Rebecca sighed and picked up her skirts as she reached the porch. Her heart and soul were torn between too many emotions for her to count. First and foremost, though, she was a mother.
“Dr. Smith went with me to the Frye’s house to see if he could examine Claire. He was here earlier treating Rachel and Lorraine, so you will show him respect, young man, and not sass him.” She hoped Grover couldn’t see the guilt that had crept onto her cheeks.
Grover’s shoulders dropped, but only by a hair. “Yes, ma’am,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Thank you, Dr. Smith,” Rebecca said to Thomas. “I’ll send Grover over for you if there’s any change in the girls.”
“And I’ll stop by tomorrow morning to see how they’re doing,” he replied. “I’ll find out if they definitely intend to hold a town council meeting once Michael West gets home and let you know.”
“Thank you.” She hated to be so dismissive with a man she’d just kissed, with a man who made her insides jump and twirl like a girl splashing in the sunshine, but with Grover standing by, a kind smile was the best she could manage.
“Grandma’s got supper almost ready,” Grover told her as if he was scolding.
Rebecca fought the urge to sigh again. She nodded goodbye to Thomas, who smiled and nodded in return.
“Let’s go see to it then,” she said and headed for the door.
Grover held his ground for another moment. He fixed Thomas with a stare that left no doubt what he thought of him. Thomas nodded to Grover with all the seriousness of church before turning to stride across the lane to the back door of the West’s store. Grover continued to watch him as though planning when to fire the first shot.
Chapter Four
Thomas stood in front of the mirror at his sister’s house, working far harder than he should have to in order to make a clean knot in his necktie. It had been two days since he had kissed Rebecca, but he felt as green and excited as if he was a boy hoping to impress his first sweetheart.
“I never understood how any nation that constricts their necks with these high, stiff collars and miniature nooses could defeat an entire continent,” he commented to Lily over his shoulder. He dropped his hands with a sigh and stared at the mess he had made.
Lily sat in a rocking chair near the small front room’s open window, feeding her six month old son. “What I don’t understand is why you are wearing a tie to make a house call on a pair of girls who were feeling so much better yesterday.” Her eyes were alight with mischief.
Since she already knew the answer, he confessed with a sheepish grin. “I thought I might take Rebecca out for a walk once I look in on her girls.”
“Did you?” Lily shared his grin.
He turned to face her. “Rachel and little Lorraine were so improved yesterday that now I’m not certain there was anything wrong with them besides a small bout of gastroenteritis. From all reports I’ve had, the other children are on their way to recovery as well. It’s possible all this ruckus was for nothing.”
“I see.” Lily said with a sage nod. “But if that’s the case, why would Dr. Greene be so vocal about Sobel’s Pond being the source of the illness? What evidence does he have that the pond is the problem and why would he fight to close it?”
“I don’t know.” His sister had a point. He wasn’t giving up his curiosity too soon, was he?
“More importantly,” Lily went on, “why are you dressing up to impress a woman who—judging from the way she looks at you—would be happy to see you in rags?”
Thomas lowered his head with a guilty grin. He may have spent most of his life separated from Lily after they were both taken from their tribe and raised in different schools back east, but she could still see right through him. His chest squeezed tight with regret and longing.
“Rebecca may have escaped from a hellish marriage, but she is still a tender shoot in the wind,” he said.
Lily nodded and hummed in agreement. “And you hope to win her trust by treating all of the children who are sick?”
“I attempted to visit several of the other sick children,” he confessed with a sigh, “but only Rebecca and that tailor, Mr. Upshaw, would let me into their homes. Fred Upshaw is a lively nine-year-old as eager to go back to swimming in the pond and teasing the girls as anything.”
Lily arched an eyebrow. “Freddy would rather play with Rachel Turner than focus on his school work. Just as someone else I know would rather play with Rebecca Turner than investigate why Dr. Greene has made the diagnosis that he has.”
A stab of indignation hit Thomas’s chest. “That’s not true. I am still dedicated to finding out what made those children sick and preventing it from happening again, but there is more to life than work. Something I believe you learned from your husband.”
A flicker of affection softened Lily’s features before she pushed it aside and stood.
“Christian is a wonderful, infuriating, passionate man with enough mischief for a class of adolescent boys,” she said. “I may not be in a classroom anymore, but I still instruct and correct and keep him in order on a daily basis.”
Thomas laughed. “I’m sure he’d say the same thing about you.”
Lily’s stern expression cracked. She laughed as she tucked baby Kyle into his bassinet. When he was cozy, she crossed to Thomas and undid the knot of his tie.
“Christian knows better than to talk out of turn about me,” she said.
Thomas raised an eyebrow.
Lily caught his look and shook her head over a smile. “At least he knows not to let on that he’s talking out of turn about me. The point is, you can go to recess after you’ve finished your school work.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered. The image of Grover Turner answering his mother’s scolding on the back porch of their house returned to him.
“Court Rebecca all you want,” Lily finished. “I, for one, wish deeply that you will earn her trust and her heart. But don’t forget who you are and what your purpose is.”
“And what if my purpose is to love a woman?” His question was intended to tease, but the truth of it flared through him as soon as the words were out. “For most of my life I’ve been called Seeks For Her, after all. What if I’ve finally found her?”
“I thought I was the ‘Her’ you were seeking?” Lily asked, mostly to rib him, but there was a hint of jealousy in her eyes.
He leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “You, my sister, will always be in my heart. But there is another part of that same heart that has been empty and longing for someone to fill it.”
Lily smiled, finishing his tie with a pat. “And you think that’s Rebecca?”
“Yes, I do.” He grinned at his reflection in the mirror. Neckties were still an evil invention, but he had the sense that Rebecca would like the sight of him.
“Well then, I’m happy for you.” Lily squeezed his arm. “I’m happy for both of you. Poor Rebecca deserves a little happiness in her life after all she’s been through.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
With a final kiss on Lily’s cheek, he reached for his jacket, not quite able to bring himself to put it on, and strode to the front door and out into the street.
The heat that had oppressed Cold Springs all month hadn’t let up. There had been rain now and then, but it had
been the kind that fed the crops and left the rest of the land bathing in steam. Thomas’s shirt clung to his back before he could make it halfway across Main Street. Where he would normally have drawn disapproving stares for going without his jacket, he now received an occasional nod of camaraderie. They were all steaming together.
At the corner of Second Street, a group of boys sat in the shade of a porch, halfheartedly playing with marbles. Their downturned faces and heat-reddened cheeks filled Thomas with concern.
“Shouldn’t you be down at the pond swimming?” he paused to ask.
The boys glanced up from their game. “My pa won’t let me go,” one of them answered.
“Mine neither,” a second one agreed. “My ma says it’s poisoned.”
Thomas frowned. Michael West was due home any minute, and the town council meeting to discuss Sobel’s Pond had already been scheduled for that night. If Dr. Greene had already convinced half the town the pond should be closed down, however, meeting or no, there would be more miserable children than he wanted to see.
“What about you?” he asked the third boy.
The sandy-haired lad glanced to his friends. “Who wants to go all the way down there for a bunch of water anyhow?”
Thomas smiled. The boy was a loyal friend. “Don’t you worry,” he told the boys. “The pond is not poisoned. You’ll be swimming around and cooling off by the weekend.”
The boys seemed to brighten as Thomas walked on. “Thanks, mister!” one of them called after him.
Thomas continued down the street toward Rebecca’s parent’s house, still smiling. He understood completely why Lily had become a teacher, why she had chosen to dedicate her life to helping children. No matter what their parents thought or believed, children still had the potential to see everyone as an equal. Their souls brought joy into the world.
Something deep and powerful tugged on his heart as he walked on. He’d dreamed of a family since the day he was taken away from his own—a large family filled with laughter and joy. Rebecca touched that place in him. If he could find a way to explain to her that he loved her for being a mother as well as a woman, if he could get across that he would gladly give his life to her and her children, to make a family with her, perhaps she would let her defenses down.
His burst of confidence carried him up to Rebecca’s front door.
It sank when Sadie McGee opened that door to let him in.
“Thank God you’re here, Dr. Smith!” she greeted him, face drawn and pale.
Thomas was instantly on the alert. “Is something wrong?”
Sadie stepped back and showed him in. “Those poor girls,” she said, shaking her head. “They were so cheerful yesterday. I don’t know what to do!”
Without waiting for further explanation, Thomas shot into the front hall and up the stairs. He rushed into the room that the girls shared. Rebecca sat on the side of Lorraine’s bed, holding a damp cloth to the girl’s head. Lorraine was pale and glistened with sweat. She moaned and clutched her stomach and had kicked back the sheet that was covering her.
The moment Rebecca saw him she let out a yelp of fear and relief. “Thomas, help!” she said, swabbing Lorraine’s head fitfully.
“I’m here, don’t worry,” he told her.
She gave him a weak smile as he sat on Rachel’s bed to examine her. Rachel wasn’t much better than Lorraine. She was hot and clammy and pursed her lips as though she was thirsty.
“Have you been giving them water?” he asked. There was a pitcher and two glasses on the bedside table. He poured a glass for Rachel and helped her to sit and drink.
“I was at first,” Rebecca confessed with a sniff to hold back tears. “But their urine was so dark I got scared. What if all the water in town is poisoned now?”
Thomas swallowed a jolt of frustration. “It’s not the water, I’m certain of it. I’m afraid the girls are dehydrated. They need to drink as much as possible.”
“But my tummy hurts,” Rachel moaned.
“I know, sweetheart,” Thomas told her, resting a hand on the side of her face to comfort her. “The water will make you better, I promise.”
He caught Rebecca watching him out of the corner of his eye. She wore such a look of gratitude and admiration that he felt as though he could take on the world.
“How are Grover and Helen today?” he asked.
“Um….” Rebecca bit her lip to gather her thoughts. “Fine, I think. I asked Grover to watch out for Helen and to keep her away from the girls and my father while they’re sick.”
“Your father?”
“He’s sicker than I’ve ever seen him,” Sadie answered from the doorway.
He hadn’t realized Sadie had followed him upstairs. She stood wringing her hands and watching him with fear and hope.
“We’ve been married for more than forty years and I’ve never seen him take to his bed like this,” she finished.
Thomas smoothed a hand over Rachel’s hair and stood. “Could I examine him?”
Sadie nodded and gestured for him to follow her. She led him down the hall to a simple bedroom at the back of the house. Angus lay on the bed, writhing in pain. Thomas rushed to him and rested a hand on the old man’s forehead.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Angus insisted. “I just need another peppermint to calm my stomach.”
Angus reached for a large tin on the bedside table. The lid was off and even half full it must have contained at least a hundred peppermints. The bright painting on the side of the tin read “Doc Jolly’s Medicinal Mints.”
The light of an idea went off in Thomas’s mind. Angus had tried to give him a peppermint the other day, when the girls were first sick. It was probably still in the pocket of his trousers. He should have figured it out sooner.
“Have you been eating a lot of these peppermints?”
“Yes, I’ve needed to with my stomach like this.”
Thomas frowned and picked up the tin before Angus could reach it. “Where did you get this?”
“Special order,” Angus groaned. “Came all the way from New York City, from a real doctor, Dr. Aloysius Jolly. Do you know him?”
Without answering the question, Thomas took a mint from the tin and sniffed it. The scent of peppermint was so overpowering that he couldn’t detect anything else. He would have tasted it, but he feared it would be the same story. There was no doubt in his mind that the mints contained something they shouldn’t have.
“Did you give these to any of the children?” he asked.
“Sure did,” Angus said, then winced. “A bag each to share with their friends.”
The thrill of finding the answer zipped through Thomas’s blood. “Did you give any to Rachel or Lorraine recently?”
Angus nodded, face contorting as he caught on to what Thomas was thinking. “The poor things were complaining so about their tummies. I had them eat a few last night and this morning. They’re bad mints, aren’t they?”
Thomas nodded and stood. “I believe they are.” He put the lid back on the tin and picked it up, looking for any information he could find about the manufacturer.
“What do we do?” Sadie asked, staring at the tin as though it contained the devil himself.
Thomas thought fast. “You’ve had a lot of these, haven’t you, Mr. McGee?”
Angus nodded clutching his stomach still.
“Then I’m afraid you’ve been poisoned. If you feel well enough, I suggest taking the next train to Butte. They have a hospital there that would be far more capable of treating you than anything we have in Cold Springs.”
“But what about the girls?” Sadie asked, her worry doubled.
Thomas took a breath and knit his brow in thought. “They were better yesterday, so they must not have eaten as many mints as Mr. McGee. I believe I should be able to treat the girls here at home.” He turned to Sadie. “I can keep an eye on Rebecca and the others while you’re gone too, if you’d like.”
“Thank you, Dr. Smith,” Sadie said. She
moved to her husband’s bedside and circled an arm around his back to help him to sit.
“I’m going to telegraph this Doc Jolly in New York to see if there are any known issues with the peppermints,” Thomas said.
He took the tin and left Sadie to help Angus get ready for a trip to Butte. When he strode back into the girls’ room he had a smile on his face.
“I think I know what’s been making the girls sick,” he announced.
Rebecca straightened from where she was helping Lorraine to drink a glass of water. “Will the peppermints help?” she asked.
“Far from it.” He put the tin on the bureau and went to sit on Rachel’s bed across from Rebecca. “I believe the peppermints are contaminated somehow. I’m going to telegraph the manufacturer as soon as possible. Rachel, how many peppermints did you eat?”
The pale, sagging girl’s lips quivered. “I don’t remember.”
“Did you give any to your friends?”
She nodded.
“You gave some to Freddy Upshaw, didn’t you?”
Again, she nodded.
Thomas was so certain they had found the answer to the rash of illnesses that he couldn’t help but grin from ear to ear.
Rebecca caught his hope and sat straighter. “Did you share the peppermints Grandpa gave you with Claire?” she asked Lorraine.
“We’re supposed to share,” Lorraine answered, eyes round and forlorn.
“Yes, you are, sweetheart.” Rebecca hugged her daughter, kissed the top of her head, then encouraged her to drink more water.
The switch from wan and anxious to relieved and purposeful made Rebecca glow. Thomas watched her as her color returned and a smile lit her face. Even in a crisis, she was radiant. If the two of them hadn’t been nursing sick, weak girls, he would have swept her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly. Instead, he smiled at Rachel and poured her another glass of water.
“Whatever the contaminant in the peppermints is, it can’t be very strong. Rachael and Lorraine both seemed on the road to recovery yesterday, and I have it on good authority that Freddy Upshaw is feeling better as well. A little care and a lot of water to flush out their systems, and I believe the girls will be well again in no time.”
