These Healing Hills

by Ann H. Gabhart

  “Best take off your socks and wring the water out of them too,” Ben told her, no doubt from the experience of many marches in the rain.

  Without comment, she did as he said and then pulled the sock and boot back on before doing the same with the other foot.

  She turned to untie Jasmine’s reins when Ben spoke up again. “Thank you, Francine.”

  His use of her given name stopped her in her tracks. And then she surprised herself even more by saying, “That’s Sergeant Francine to you.”

  When he laughed out loud, she smiled at him with no thought of what was proper or not.

  15

  Sergeant Francine. That was the last thing Ben expected the woman to say after she’d been so stiff and uneasy while working on his cast. Nothing stiff or unfriendly about her now as she smiled at him. A smile as bright as the sun that suddenly popped out from behind the clouds and streamed down through the trees.

  He should have known better than to try to get the upper hand on a nurse. He’d been around enough of them during the war to know they didn’t quail at much and certainly weren’t bothered by a wisecracking soldier. But those women were battle-tested. He didn’t know about this Francine Howard. But she was here. Alone on a mountain, making her way from one house to another through rough country. That showed some backbone.

  He was glad they could part friends, even if he’d done plenty to make her do nothing but frown and hope she never saw him again.

  “Time to keep your part of the bargain.” Her smile disappeared from her lips but remained settled in her hazel eyes. She pulled a folded paper out of her saddlebag. “Directions. Here’s the map I have of the area. If you can show me where I am now and point the way toward the Nolans’, I’d be grateful. It can’t be too much farther, can it?”

  Ben studied the hand-drawn map with creeks and paths and houses marked. Easy to read for him. It was home. But a glance up at the nurse’s worried face showed the marks didn’t mean much to her.

  He stepped over beside her. “Face that way.” She turned the way he pointed. “That’s west. Toward the sun heading down.”

  “If another storm doesn’t hide it,” she muttered.

  “Clouds don’t change it being west.” He put his finger down on the place where the spring was marked and traced a line up the paper. “This is Redbud Spring where we met, but we climbed up a ways to this cave.” He stooped a little to make his face on the same level as hers. “See that ledge of rocks.”

  She leaned forward to get a better look, then shook her head. “I don’t see anything but trees and they all look alike. How do people ever figure these paths out?” No smile remained on her face. “Half the time I can’t even see a path.”

  “I guess it helps that I was born here.”

  “Nurse Dawson, the nurse I’m working with, has no problem at all and she’s from New York. But she says I could get lost in the backyard at the center.” She sighed. “And she’s not far wrong. Is there a trick to knowing your directions?”

  “Just a matter of paying attention to where you are and learning a place.”

  “I’m trying.” She peered down at the map and then back up at the trees. “Granny Em tells me to listen for the rhythm of the woods. I sort of know what she means, but I can’t see how that will help me figure out how to get where I need to go.”

  “Granny Em? Is she still kicking?” Ben smiled. “That old woman had cures for everything.”

  “So far she hasn’t been able to cure me getting lost. She was at your mother’s house eating apple pie when I started this way. That had to be hours ago. Mrs. Nolan’s baby will be long birthed before I find her place.”

  “Maybe you should just head back to the center then,” Ben suggested.

  “No. I promised Mrs. Nolan I would be there. So I will. You say it’s that way.” She turned to stare back in the direction he had indicated. “About how far?”

  “Two, three miles. Farther than you’ve come from my house.”

  “But not that far. If Jasmine doesn’t dump me again, we should make it easy enough if I can keep on the right trail.”

  With the tip of his finger, Ben traced off her path on the map, pointing out the landmarks. She watched him carefully, repeating some of what he said before she folded the map and stuck it back in the saddlebag. With one easy movement, she mounted her horse and did appear comfortable in the saddle.

  “Thank you. And be careful with that arm.”

  He slid it back in the sling. “Yes, Sarge.”

  Another smile and then she clucked her tongue at her horse and at least headed out in the right direction. Ben watched her, feeling something like he had in the army when he pointed fresh recruits toward the battlefield. Like he should go along to guide them, protect them. To see that they made it through.

  But she had made her way in the hills before he got home. If she got lost again, somebody else would find her and point her in the right direction. Home was calling him. Maybe there would still be a piece of that apple pie the nurse had mentioned. It would be good to put his feet under his mother’s table again.

  He slung his duffel bag over his shoulder and slid down the damp hillside until a path ran along the ridge. Then he walked fast.

  It gave Ben a start at the sight of a man working on a fence around the sass patch in front of the house. He could hardly believe that man was Woody, even after the boy looked up, let out a whoop, and jumped the fence in one bound to run toward Ben.

  “Ma told me to keep an eye out for you. She had the feeling you’d be making it home today. ’Course she’s been saying that ev’ry livelong day for a week.” Woody’s smile went practically from ear to ear.

  Ben dropped his duffel bag and forgot the nurse’s warning as he slipped his arm free of the sling and grabbed Woody in a hug, lifting him off the ground. The boy might be almost grown, but Ben was still bigger.

  The boy laughed and then pulled free to run ahead of Ben, yelling for their mother. Ben didn’t run. He wanted to take it all in. The sight of the house. The smell of the rain-washed dirt. The cow mooing in the pasture and his pa’s old coonhound barking and then hobbling toward him with his tail whipping back and forth.

  Ben leaned down to look the dog in the eyes. “Good of you to come out to meet me, Rufus. We’ve both changed some since I last saw you.”

  The dog nuzzled his hand and then licked Ben’s chin.

  Ben’s mother stepped out on the porch, drying her hands on her apron. Sadie leaned against her, a shy smile on her pale face. Woody came back down off the porch to take Ben’s bag and circle around him like a happy puppy.

  At the bottom of the porch steps, Ben stopped to look up at his mother. “Hello, Ma.”

  She’d aged while he was gone. New lines creased her face that had nothing to do with smiling. But a smile was in her eyes now. “Good to have you home, son.”

  “Good to be home.”

  She put her hand on the girl’s shoulder and gently pushed her forward, away from her side. “Tell your brother hello, Sadie.”

  She was a pretty child. Her white-blonde hair lay in curls around her face, and she had her father’s sky-blue eyes like Woody. Ben had gotten a mix darker. Still shy, she hunched up her shoulders and said, “Hello.”

  “Hi there, baby sister of mine. You weren’t knee high to a grasshopper last time I saw you and look at you now. Half as tall as your ma.”

  She giggled a little. “Ma said you wouldn’t hardly know me when you got home.”

  He climbed up on the porch to squat down in front of her. “Now don’t you be worrying about that. A brother always knows his sister no matter how long it is between sightings of her. Think you could give me a hug?”

  She stepped into his arms and giggled again. “You’re wet.”

  He gave her a quick hug. “Got caught in that storm a while ago. Along with that nurse lady who said she’d just been here to see about you.”

  “Nurse Howard is nice.” Sadie leaned back against Ma
.

  “She left here some time ago.” Ma frowned. “She should have done been on the next hill way before now.”

  Ben stood up. “Her horse pitched her off and ran away. I happened to come up on it and caught it for her.”

  Woody laughed. “That Jasmine does give Nurse Howard fits. Was she lost? Not Jasmine, but Nurse Howard.”

  “Actually she was.”

  “I was feared she would be. I should have took her over the way to the Nolans’, I reckon. But I figured I’d just slow her down. Me with no horse.” Woody slid his gaze over to his mother and quickly away when a corner of her mouth turned down. “She was some anxious to get there.”

  His mother shook her head a little. “The poor girl does get in a quandary about directions. But it appears the Lord sent a different Locke to help her out this time.” She reached over and put her hand on Ben’s cheek. “Your pa prayed for you every day ’fore he passed, son. And I don’t have a doubt in the world that he kept on laying your name before the throne even after he was walking those streets of gold. He was a praying man.”

  Ben swallowed down the tears tightening his throat and managed to nod.

  His mother’s eyes softened on him, but no tears showed there. “I sent away a boy and you’ve come back a man. But good to see you haven’t turned hard.”

  “A war can turn a man that way,” Ben said.

  “I know it can.” She held both her arms out to him. “Grown man or not, you can still give your old ma a hug.”

  She was rail thin, but there was strength in her arms as she tightened them around him. Then she was stepping back. She’d never been a woman with much time for hugs, even in her gentlest moments. “I baked some pies. Come on in and get on some dry clothes whilst I put on some coffee.”

  It was good to be dry, even if the shirt he found in the chest was tight across the shoulders and the jeans loose in the waist. The army rations had changed his body. But if his mother kept making pies like the one she set before him, he’d find those pounds he’d lost soon enough.

  They sat at the table talking about things that didn’t matter and things that did while he ate three pieces of pie without his mother once saying he was going to ruin his supper.

  “Becca’s coming home.” His mother looked toward the door almost as if she expected to see her coming in right then. “I thought she might be here today, but they must’ve decided to stay over at Carl’s folks an extra day. He’s gonna head up to Ohio and look for work.”

  “It’s hard to think about Becca married.” Ben pushed his saucer away.

  “And in the family way.”

  “Sure enough?”

  “She’s young, but no younger than I was when I carried my first. She’s staying here till the baby comes. Be a while. Not till December, she says. But that will give Carl time to find a job and get settled up north. All my children seem to be wanting to leave the mountains.” She reached over and touched his arm. “I’m glad you let the mountains call you home.”

  “I wanted to see home again.” There was no need in adding how, as much as he was glad to feel the mountain back under his feet, he didn’t know if he could stay forever. Forever plans could wait for another day.

  Sadie looked up from playing with her rag doll. “I don’t ever want to leave here, Ma.”

  Ma smiled at her. “You’re my girl, Sadie bug.”

  Outside the cow started bawling. Woody stood up. “You want me to milk her tonight, Ma?”

  “No, I’ll do it. You take care of the hog and the chickens.”

  Woody hesitated at the door. “You think I oughta head down to the center and milk their cow? If the Nolan woman has a long lay in, won’t nobody be there to take care of Bella.”

  “No need going all the way yourself. Go down and see if Jeralene can do it. She used to work for Nurse Dawson there. She’ll know where everything is.”

  “Yes’m.” Woody had a bounce in his step as he went out the door. “I’ll hurry back to tend to my other chores.”

  Ma almost laughed when he was out the door and running down off the porch.

  “You must have given him a chore he favored,” Ben said.

  “It’s Jeralene he’s favoring. He’s sweet on the girl.”

  “He says he wants to marry her someday,” Sadie spoke up. “Soon as he’s old enough.”

  “Well, that’s not yet.” Ma gave Ben a look. “Could be you should have a talk with the boy. Make sure he knows how to behave. That Woody is so all awhirl with ideas that sometimes he don’t stop to think out things in a clear manner. He’s ever bit a boy, but man enough to get hisself in a fix.”

  That pushed the one missing at the table back into Ben’s thoughts. His pa should be the one talking to Woody. Ben wasn’t ready to take on a father role. He wasn’t sure what he was ready for. Maybe not anything. He just wanted to let his feet get used to home again, but sometimes a man couldn’t step back from what needed to be done. He’d learned that lesson well enough in the war.

  “If you think I should.” Ben took a sip of coffee.

  “He might listen to you better’n me. He’s a good boy. I’m not saying he ain’t, but he can be willful.” Ma stood up to put what little was left of the pie back in the warming oven. “I guess I worry too much, even though the Bible speaks against it. But I think the Lord understands a mother’s concern for her children.” She laid her hand on Sadie’s head in passing. “This one here gives me plenty of concern, what with how she picks at her food. Can’t even get her to tuck into that pie.”

  “I ate some of it.” Sadie looked up at her mother and back at the pie left on her saucer.

  “I’ll save the rest for your supper.” Ma picked the saucer up. She handed Sadie a bowl of scraps. “Go on and feed Rufus. He’s got his nose to the door waiting for you.”

  His mother watched her out the door. “She just keeps punying around. Ever since your pa died last year. Some before too. The child’s never been sturdy the way you and the others were.”

  “The nurse I met said she had an earache.”

  “Ear troubles all the time. The nurse give me some drops for her.” Ma leaned against the cabinet. “Nurse Howard has a good way with Sadie. Better’n Nurse Dawson, but they both aim to help her. Nurse Howard is new. Did she tell you that?”

  “She said she was learning to be a midwife.”

  “I hope she stays on after her training. She’s different from some of the others. Not to say the other nurses aren’t fine, but Nurse Howard has a spirit of kindness. She don’t look down on us. Even Granny Em has taken to her and she don’t take to many outsiders.”

  “The nurse said something about Granny Em being here. I was glad to hear she’s still around.”

  “You just missed her. She was here, but headed on home a little bit ago.” Ma poured them both more coffee and sat back down at the table.

  “She still concocting her cures?”

  “Don’t make light.” Ma twirled her cup in her saucer. “She knows her herbs and there’s times her doctoring works as good as the nurses’ brought-in pills. She fixes me up a tonic from time to time.”

  “What do the nurses think about that?” Ben raised his eyebrows at his mother.

  “Nurse Dawson does everything she can to make sure we don’t pay no mind to Granny Em. I’m thinking the new nurse ain’t so set against her. If she thought Granny Em’s herbs would put apples in Sadie’s cheeks, she’d be for it.”

  “You sound like you like her.”

  “She’s a nice enough girl. For somebody from off of here. And she’s done won Sadie and Woody over.” She sipped her coffee.

  “She must bring them candy.” Ben leaned back in his chair and thought about Nurse Howard. Francine. Sergeant Francine. A smile tickled around his lips. He could see why people were taken with her.

  “Peppermint for Sadie and she lets Woody ride her horse now and again.”

  “She had a nice mare.”

  His mother’s eyes sharpened on him. �
��Did you talk to her long?”

  “We took shelter from the storm in a shallow cave up from Redbud Spring. Then I talked her into cutting the cast off my arm.” When his mother frowned a little, he went on. “It was wet and crumbling. We were in a gully washer rain.”

  “I see. Did she think it was knit back together?”

  “She wasn’t sure about that, so she fixed a sling for me. It’s drying over there on the chair.” He pointed toward it. “She made me promise to fall on my nose and not catch myself with my arm if I slipped.” Ben smiled and flexed his arm a couple of times. “It’s fine.”

  “I reckon you know best after your medic training.” She stood up again and touched his head as she had Sadie’s a moment ago. “It’s good to have you here at my table. And Becca coming. It’ll be nice to have the house full again after Woody and Sadie and me have been rattling around in here all of a lonesome.”

  She turned to pick up her milking bucket. “Best see to Blondie. I hear her mooing again.”

  “How come you didn’t let Woody have a horse? I had one at his age.”

  “But Woody ain’t like you. That boy wanders all over the hills as it is. No telling where he’d end up if he had a horse.” She stopped at the door and looked back at Ben. “I wanted him home.”

  “You can’t keep a person home that’s wanting to leave.”

  “That ain’t something you have to tell me. But he just turned fifteen. He’s got a few more home years without no more wars to steal my boys.”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  Ben followed her out on the porch, where Sadie was sitting with Rufus and Woody was just coming into sight on the path up the hill to the house. Home. A few home years. He could live with that.

  16

  August 30, 1945

  Fran caught Lurene Nolan’s baby boy just after daybreak. Granny Em had been right when she told Fran she had no need to hurry. First babies did have a way of taking their time being born. After laboring for over twenty-four hours, the young woman could barely lift her head off the pillow to look at the baby when Fran held him up after she cut the cord. The baby seemed almost as stressed and his cry was weak. Fran handed him off to Betty, who began gently massaging his arms and legs.