As Daniel approached the bed, he looked back, expecting to see Sarah. The room empty besides himself and the injured lady, he shrugged and moved forward.
As Sarah inspected her surroundings, she started at the large figure moving toward her. Looking up, she recognized the man standing before her as the one who had escorted them in.
“Oh, pray forgive me. I was distracted by all of the lovely quilts.”
“That is quite all right. Yes, my wife is a wonderful seamstress,” he responded proudly.
Feeling uncomfortable that she had lingered, Sarah cleared her throat. “Well, I better go and see how Daniel and your wife are doing.”
The pair proceeded to the room where the physician was currently assessing his patient’s injury.
Sarah moved in close. “May I be of any assistance?”
“No, I think we are just about done here.” Looking up at the worried husband, Daniel stated, “There really is no need for her to remain in bed. In fact, a little exercise will help to strengthen her leg.” Knowing that the woman had little say when it came to her health, Daniel had not directed his comments to her.
“If you are certain her leg is better.”
Daniel nodded his head in the affirmative. He then turned and winked at the man’s wife, who—when it had only been the two of them in the room—quietly expressed how tiring it had been to be in bed for so many days. Like Daniel, she knew it had not been necessary.
After Sarah and the physician said their farewells, the couple thanked them for coming. Once they were out of doors, Sarah apologized for not following right behind him when he went in to see to the woman.
“There is no need to apologize, Sarah. As I was hoping to explain before we went in, Mrs. Miller’s injuries were not all that bad. You see, Mr. Miller lost his first wife so he tends to be exceedingly protective of his current wife for fear of losing her as well.”
Similar to Daniel, Sarah could fully appreciate such sentiments. “Oh, the poor fellow.”
“We understand all too well his concern for his wife, do we not?”
Sarah nodded as they made their way to the wagon. The pair spent the remainder of the day calling on two others who required a visit from the physician.
When evening came, since they would no longer be sharing a bedchamber, the couple was reluctant to turn in for the night thus they sat in the parlor for a while, discussing the day.
Chapter 18
During the night, Daniel and Sarah were awakened by a loud knock at the door. Daniel rushed from the room in the direction of the noise. Sarah peered out of her bedchamber just as he was passing by.
Upon opening the door, Daniel observed a close acquaintance from church. He had been to the man’s home on more than one occasion, not only to visit but also to see to an injury or an illness. Daniel ushered Mr. Coffman over to a chair.
“What is the trouble, Michael?”
“Daniel, you must come straight away. My little Lydia is extremely ill. She is burning up and seems to be having difficulty breathing.” Mr. Coffman leaned forward as he spoke, looking as though he himself could collapse at any moment.
“I shall fetch my bag and then set off straight away.”
Mr. Coffman quickly acknowledged the physician and then nearly bounded from his chair, and was out the door before Daniel had taken a step. Sarah came into the room as the worried father was hastening out the door.
“What is it, Daniel?”
“The Coffman’s youngest daughter, Lydia, is ill. I shall be setting off momentarily.”
“Give me a minute to dress and I shall come with you.”
Shaking his head, Daniel replied, “No, you mustn’t. There is no need to risk your health.”
“You may need me, and I am not concerned about becoming ill for having gone with you.”
Daniel could see that Sarah was going to continue arguing, so he decided to procure her help with their neighbor, whom he had, in truth, planned to look in on the following day. To keep Sarah occupied, he would send her in his stead. “Sarah, I had intended to visit Elizabeth Brown tomorrow. Would you mind going for me? Since she lives alone and is up in years, I am concerned about her going for very long without someone looking in on her. Furthermore, now that your injuries have all but healed, I’m certain she would be delighted to see you. She asked after you the last time I was there.”
“Of course. I would be happy to go. While I was on the mend from my foolishness with the bear, she must have felt quite neglected.”
“Since I explained the situation to her, she completely understood your absence. Moreover, it was not for long. You dutifully called upon her before that.”
Sarah, still feeling bad about not having been to their neighbor’s house recently, merely nodded. “Is there anything I should do for her, other than the usual chores?”
Daniel had no desire to inform Sarah of the seriousness of Mrs. Brown’s situation. “Actually, relieving her of some of her duties will be most helpful; however, you must not overdo or your injuries, though they have mostly healed, may become troublesome yet again.”
“I shall be careful.”
Hurriedly, Daniel then gathered his things and set off for the Coffman’s house. His wife made her way back to bed for a few more hours.
In the morning, after Sarah had eaten, she prepared a basket of food for Elizabeth. A short time later, she arrived at her neighbor’s door.
Lightly tapping a couple of times, with no response, Sarah poked her head in and softly called to her elderly neighbor. Still not hearing anyone about, she entered and looked around. As she approached Elizabeth’s bedchamber, she heard coughing. While knocking, she called out, “Elizabeth, it is Sarah. May I come in?”
Between coughs, Elizabeth called her young friend into the room. “Well…Sarah.” The coughing resumed before she could finish her sentence.
“Elizabeth, how long have you been feeling this way? Oh, there is no need to answer. I shall fetch you some tea. Have you had anything to eat today? You need only answer with a shake of the head.”
Sarah observed the ill woman’s response was no, but Elizabeth was also motioning with her hand that she had no desire to eat. As Sarah continued to study Elizabeth, she became quite concerned, for her complexion was extremely pale, almost greyish. She approached the bed and placed her hand upon Elizabeth’s brow. “Oh my, you are burning up.” I wish Daniel were here.
“Elizabeth, I am going to fetch some tepid water. We must bring your fever down.” With haste, Sarah made her way from the room. She returned moments later with her hands loaded down with a pitcher, basin and cloth. She went right to work wiping down Elizabeth’s face and arms.
Remembering what Daniel had always said about high fevers, she knew she also needed to get Elizabeth to drink; accordingly, she returned to the kitchen to make sack posset, which was known to be beneficial for the sick. As she looked around, she was glad to find that Elizabeth had everything she would need: sugar, dry sherry, nutmeg, cinnamon, and eggs. The final ingredient was milk, which Sarah had brought with her, fresh from earlier that morning.
Sarah spent the next few hours striving to bring down Elizabeth’s fever but to no avail. She had also had little success in getting her elderly friend to drink any of the sack posset or even a mouthful of water. As the hours slipped by, she became more and more concerned.
Elizabeth knew in her heart that her time was coming to an end. Though she was glad she was not alone, she hated to have her young friend see what was to happen. Glancing over at Sarah, in a weak voice she said, “Sar…ah, you need…a rest. I shall be,” gasping for air she continued, “just…fine.”
Sarah wouldn’t hear of it. She would stay by her friend’s side until she was well again.
When the sun gleamed through the window the next morning, in addition to being completely exhausted, Sarah’s worry over Elizabeth had only increased. Throughout the night, she had been right by the ill woman’s side. She had sensed, as the hours p
assed, Elizabeth was getting worse. Should I go and fetch Daniel? No, no. I cannot. He is looking after a sick child. If he had returned home, he surely would have come. I must manage this on my own.
Elizabeth was finding it difficult to even open her eyes, and she continued to struggle for every breath. As Sarah attempted to lift her friend’s head enough to get her to drink, she felt fearful that she might lose her. Tears came to her eyes as she laid the sick woman back against her pillow.
By nightfall, Elizabeth’s skin had cooled, but she had not spoken a word in hours, and her breathing seemed even more labored. Sarah’s concern had not diminished, even a little. Yes, her ill friend had conquered the fever, but she knew Elizabeth was still in real trouble. What Sarah had not understood was the diminishing fever had occurred because her friend was close to passing from this life to the next.
Chapter 19
As Daniel bounded along on his way home, he thanked the Lord that the sick child he had been looking after had recovered. It had taken three days of constant care and very little sleep, but it was finally over. While struggling to keep his eyes open, Daniel thought of Sarah, wondering how she managed with Elizabeth.
When he reached home, he hoped that his farmhand, Zechariah, was about the place, for he was too tired to put up the horses himself. Making his way to the barn, he was pleased to find that, as he had hoped, Zechariah was there. After thanking his farmhand, he went to the house, fully expecting to see Sarah there. Upon entering the kitchen, he called out to his wife. It was early in the evening. The sun was beginning to set, so he thought he would see the glow of a candle coming from the parlor, or even Sarah’s bedchamber. Once he had searched every room in the house, he was a little alarmed that Sarah was nowhere to be found. Quickly returning to the barn, he inquired of Zechariah as to his wife’s whereabouts. His farmhand was distressed to learn Daniel had no knowledge of where his wife was, for he had no answer for him.
Daniel then remembered that he had asked Sarah to look in on their neighbor. “Perhaps she is still at Elizabeth’s. If that be the case, there may be something wrong. I must go there at once.”
While the physician went to the house to fetch his medical bag—which he had set in his examining room only a few moments before—Zechariah readied one of the horses. He had only just put the animal in its stall. As he led the horse back out, he said to the animal, “There won’t be any rest for you at this time, my friend.” Within minutes, the worried husband was off.
Upon his arrival, Daniel observed that, just as it had been at his home, there was not a glimmer of even a single candle. Standing in the doorway, his heart began to race with thoughts of what he would do if Sarah wasn’t there.
Daniel hated to wake Elizabeth, but he felt he had no choice. After entering the house, with the moonlight shining through the window, he caught sight of Sarah quietly sitting in a chair, staring straight ahead, unaware of his presence.
“Sarah, I am here.” He made his way over to where she was sitting and pulled a chair up next to her.
As she looked in his direction, though the moon provided very little light, he could see tears streaming down her face. He quickly reached over and touched her arm. “What is it, Sarah?”
Closing her eyes, she answered, “El…Elizabeth…is gone.”
Daniel patted her hand and said, “You stay here. I shall go and see for myself.” As Daniel rose from his chair, he thought about Elizabeth and how much worse she had seemed on his last visit. She had been suffering from a weak heart for some time now. Perhaps I should have warned Sarah.
As he passed by the fireplace, he stopped to light a piece of kindling wood to carry in with him. After entering Elizabeth’s room, he lit the candle next to her bed. He then reached down and touched her face. “Yes, Elizabeth, you are with our Lord now. In fact, it seems to have happened several hours ago, or even yesterday. I wonder why Sarah did not just go home.” He spoke as though Elizabeth were listening.
As he made his way back to the sitting room, he thought about Sarah and the fact that she had stayed at Elizabeth’s a long time after their elderly friend had passed.
Sarah looked up as Daniel approached, wishing with all of her heart that he would say she had been wrong and Elizabeth was only sleeping.
Daniel nodded his head as an indication that, as Sarah had said, Elizabeth had passed. Kneeling down in front of her, he reached for her hands, which each had cloth covering them almost to the tips of her fingers. Upon closer inspection he observed that Sarah was wearing what was apparently one of Elizabeth’s nightgowns. Even though the situation was a somber one, he smiled at the way the gown engulfed her tiny frame; however, after pushing back the gown so as to caress her hands with his thumbs, he knew in an instant that she was ill. Her skin was almost hot to the touch. He had to get her home where she could rest comfortably.
With Daniel’s confirmation that Elizabeth had died, Sarah began to weep all over again. “It is all my fault. I tried to remember everything I had seen you do for someone with a high fever, but I must not have done it correctly. I tried, Daniel, truly I did.”
Daniel reached up and stroked her cheek. “Sarah, you did all you could. Even if I had come sooner, I could not have saved her. Elizabeth has had a heart condition for a long while now. I should have told you. In truth, she probably lived this long because of all that you have been doing for her since your arrival in Boston.”
All at once, Sarah felt her last bit of strength drain from her body, causing her to slump forward into Daniel’s arms. She could barely hear her husband as he spoke her name.
Fearing for her, Daniel scooped her up, grabbed the quilt on the back of the settee and headed for the door. He would send someone to see to Elizabeth tomorrow.
As exhausted as he was, lifting Sarah up onto the horse took great effort. Once he was seated behind her, he wrapped the quilt around her and they set off for home.
Upon their arrival, he alighted from the horse and then slid a swaddled Sarah down into his arms. Glancing to the side, he noticed Zechariah, with a pleased expression, was approaching.
“I see that you found your wife.”
“Thankfully, yes. She was where I suspected she might be, at Elizabeth’s. I am sorry to say that Elizabeth is no longer with us. She passed while Sarah was there.”
Zechariah was saddened by the news. Realizing that Daniel was not only exhausted but had a distraught and perhaps even sick wife to tend to, he offered to make the necessary arrangements for Elizabeth.
“I would be most grateful, Zechariah.” Confirming for his farmhand that his wife was ill, he then stated, “I really ought to stay with her.”
Zechariah nodded as he grasped the reins and turned toward the barn.
Once Daniel had Sarah settled in bed, he stretched out beside her, too tired to go to his own bedchamber. The pair slept for several hours before Daniel startled himself awake. He had dreamt he was searching everywhere for Sarah, but to no avail. His slumbering mind had carried him back to when Sarah was taken, while sitting on a bench in his backyard, by Matthew Raymond; that was when he jolted himself awake.
With his heart racing, he quickly looked beside him for reassurance that Sarah was still in the bed. Sighing with relief, he reached over and felt her forehead. She is still a little feverish. I better see to her.
Sarah stirred at his touch. As she opened her eyes, she observed Daniel rising from the bed. It still seemed rather odd to be so near her friend’s husband, especially in the same bedchamber.
Feeling weak, she remained where she was. As she looked up at Daniel, their eyes met. Since she persisted in her belief that Elizabeth had died because of her, she lowered her eyes.
Daniel had known Sarah long enough to read her expressions thus he was quite sure that she continued to blame herself for Elizabeth’s passing. “Sarah, I thought we had settled this last night. You are not responsible for what happened to Elizabeth. As I said, I was expecting her to pass long before now. You did ev
erything you could possibly do for her.”
Sarah slowly nodded. She felt Daniel’s reassuring caress on her hand a moment before he turned to go.
A few minutes later, he returned with a bowl of cool water and a cloth. Taking a seat on the bed next to Sarah, he began patting her brow with the dampened cloth. As Sarah studied him, she thought about what a handsome man he was. On top of that, he was also extremely kind, patient, and gentle. She then shook her head, attempting to rid herself of such thoughts. If I forget myself, all too soon, George will be here to remind me that I have no place here with Daniel.
Daniel glanced down when he felt Sarah’s head move, wondering if the cloth was too cold on her hot brow. “Is this making you uncomfortable?”
Though Sarah knew what he meant, she had to smile at the thought that, yes, she was uncomfortable being so near Daniel; however, what she said was, “No…no. It’s fine. But I believe I am much better now. There really is no need for you to take care of me. Having been gone from the house for a few days, you must have a great deal to do.”
Smiling, Daniel responded, “Who is the doctor here?”
Sarah chuckled. “Perhaps it is best that I not tell you what to do.”
Daniel was pleased that Sarah’s mood seemed to be improving. Setting the cloth down, he said, “I shall fetch something for you to eat. You should stay in bed today. Since your fever is not as bad as it was last night, I expect that it shall soon pass.”
◊◊◊
Daniel looked in on Sarah for about the tenth time. He was tired and ready for a little slumber himself. Reaching down, he said, “Your fever seems to be almost gone. I’ll be in my bedchamber. If you need anything during the night, you need only call out and I shall come at once.”
Sarah Anne's Faithful Friends (Unshakable Faith Book 4) Page 9
