by Lori Wick
“He’s here, Finn,” Troy assured him, a hand to his arm. “I’ll get him right now.”
It wasn’t two minutes before Dannan was leaving with Eli’s man. They stopped briefly at Dannan’s house so he could get his bag. The two walked swiftly back down the green and then west to the Peterson house. Beyond a brief explanation of what was needed, Finn had not spoken. His legs were not long, but his stride was swift, his heart hoping things had not grown worse in his absence.
“He’s better,” Scottie was waiting to tell Finn the moment he arrived. She glanced at the doctor, but her eyes were mainly on Finn. “He began to feel better just after you left, but thank you for going.”
“Of course,” Finn assured her.
“Maybe I’ll just take a look anyway,” Dannan put in, not sure he was comfortable with what Finn had told him.
“Come this way,” Finn said, starting toward the stairs. Dannan followed. Scottie held her place in the parlor. She had never been a part of her husband’s medical exams, always waiting for Finn to summon her when Eli’s clothing and bed covers were back in place.
She took a seat, her eyes going up the open staircase to the upstairs hall and resting on her husband’s closed bedroom door. She wasn’t anxious, but neither did she want to be out of sight when Finn came looking for her.
“Your pulse is good,” Dannan announced, still bent over Eli. Having checked his eyes and listened to his heart, he put the stethoscope away, having also summed up the fact that the man in the bed knew more about his condition than any doctor ever would.
“It came on suddenly,” Eli supplied as he buttoned his shirt and Finn adjusted the covers, “and went away just as suddenly.”
“Is that normal?” Dannan asked. “You’ve had that happen before?”
“Not quite so sudden, but shortness of breath is sometimes a problem.”
Dannan was vaguely aware of Finn exiting the room, but he was mostly concentrating on the man in the bed. It was obvious that he had not been up and around for many years, if ever, but that he was also at peace with his situation. Dannan also didn’t miss the fact that this man possessed a keen mind. Dannan found him fascinating.
However, almost all thoughts of the man flew out of his head when the small, redheaded woman from downstairs came in the open door. Dannan had forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand, but now that he could see that Eli Peterson was breathing well, his mind made an immediate shift to the redhead, especially when she stopped short and looked at him in surprise.
“I stabbed you in the head!” Scottie exclaimed, her eyes looking at Dannan and then at her husband.
“This is the man you hit with the rake handle?” Eli confirmed.
Scottie’s eyes were very round as she nodded in the affirmative.
“Our new doctor?” Eli added, not having pictured anyone like this when his wife told her story.
“Well,” Scottie reasoned quietly, “at least he’s a doctor.”
Eli’s slim fingers came to his mouth, but they would not hide the smile.
“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” Scottie said as she tried to recover, looking between the men and then back at her husband.
“Dr. MacKay,” Eli began, a full-blown smile now covering his mouth.
“Everyone calls me Dannan,” that man said, offering a smile of his own.
“Dannan,” Eli said, starting over. “Please meet my wife, Scottie, and trust me when I tell you she is not a violent person.”
Dannan’s smile froze a little, but he still managed to offer his hand to Scottie, who shook it and apologized.
“Please don’t give it another thought,” Dannan told her, the oddest mix of emotions running through him.
“Did it hurt or bleed very much?”
“No,” Dannan answered.
Scottie looked unconvinced. She felt terrible about what she had done, and even the things she’d said today.
“I’m fine,” Dannan assured her again, not wanting her to trouble over the point and also wanting to exit as soon as possible.
Eli sensed this and rescued him.
“Thank you for coming. I’m sorry to interrupt your Sunday.”
“It’s no bother. I’m just glad you’re doing well. May I stop back tomorrow for one more check?”
“If you think that’s wise, certainly.”
Dannan nodded, put his hat back in place, and said, “Until tomorrow, Mr. and Mrs. Peterson.”
After both Eli and Scottie bid him goodbye, Finn saw Dannan to the front door, not aware of the way the doctor walked just out of sight of the house, leaned against a large tree, and laid his head back, his eyes on the leaves above him.
He had done such a good job of keeping his mind on Eli Peterson, telling himself he could later enjoy the fact that he’d learned where the redhead lived. Not any scenario in his mind had included marriage. And to Eli Peterson, a man who looked to be 20 years her senior! It was none of his business how this marriage had come about, but he wished desperately that he knew.
What does it matter, Dannan? he asked himself. She’s not available, and that’s the end of it.
Dannan pushed away from the tree, knowing he was going to have to keep his mind busy whenever he saw her. He didn’t know why he was so drawn to her, but it had happened on that first meeting, and he’d done nothing to deal with it. Well, now he had no choice.
Walking back down the green, Dannan remembered his uncle’s advice to pray fervently for all of his patients, and Eli Peterson now fit that bill. Dannan covered the distance to his house, praying all the while, completely unaware that his patient’s wife was thinking about him at that very moment.
“I’m feeling terrible,” Scottie told Eli from where she was sitting on the bed beside him. “Just awful.”
“I don’t think you need to,” Eli said honestly. “You don’t smile like Dannan did when you’re upset.”
Scottie’s brow furrowed. “So you think he’s all right?”
“Yes,” Eli answered her kindly. But he also thought, A bit taken with you, but physically all right.
Scottie studied her husband, wondering if something more might be on his mind, but before she could ask, he reached up to rub her forehead in an attempt to erase her troubled expression. It worked, as it usually did, and Scottie relaxed.
“I’m glad you didn’t really need him.”
“I am too. It’s not much fun when I get sick.”
“You haven’t been for a while, have you?” Scottie suddenly realized.
“Not for at least two years.”
A contented silence fell over both of them. Scottie was the one to break it.
“How about an early tea tonight?”
“How early?” Eli asked.
“Now?” Scottie suggested—the visit from the doctor and Eli’s trouble breathing had made her hungry.
“Can we wait an hour?”
“Yes,” Scottie agreed, but she didn’t linger long in the bedroom, needing to find something to do. She went to the kitchen and spent more time than she needed preparing the tray. But it did the trick: The hour seemed to pass at a rapid pace.
“Well, Hillary,” her mother said after tea that evening, finding her daughter sitting on the back porch stoop. “I didn’t know you were out here.”
“I was hot in the kitchen and looking for air,” the younger woman explained.
“It’s a nice evening,” her mother agreed, sitting beside her.
“Is Jeff sleeping?” Hillary wished to know.
“Yes. He cried when your father left to see the Petersons and didn’t take him, and because he didn’t get a nap, he fell asleep on my shoulder. I changed him and put him to bed.”
The women fell quiet then, both deep in their own thoughts. Hillary was thinking about dinner that afternoon and the fascinating mix of people around the dining room table. Alison’s mind was on her three absent sons and hoping they were having a wonderful time with her mother.
H
illary glanced at her mother, whose face was a bit wistful, and guessed her thoughts. “Thinking about the boys?”
“I am,” Alison admitted. “Part of me wonders if they might not be a little homesick.”
“I suspect Grandma will keep them very busy.”
Alison heard a note in her daughter’s voice. “Do you wish you could have gone, Hillary?”
Hillary’s smile was just a bit wicked before she answered. “No. Next time it will be my turn, and I’ll get Grandma all to myself.”
Alison loved this and continued to chuckle about it until they went back inside.
“Well, Douglas,” Eli spoke with pleasure when his pastor was shown into the room. “I didn’t expect you until tomorrow.”
“And I didn’t expect you to need the doctor.”
Eli smiled. “Heard about that, did you?”
Douglas smiled back. “I hear everything. Eventually.”
Eli laughed, and Douglas pulled up the chair he used each Monday to give Eli an abbreviated version of the sermon.
“So how are you?”
“I’m well. A bit of breathing trouble earlier, but it seems to have mended itself.”
“What do you say to yourself during those times, Eli? What does peace look like?”
Eli thought about this for a moment. He’d not thought about it in those terms.
“I try to remember, long before my breath shortens, that each breath is from God. That way I can trust Him for the next one, or even if there isn’t a next one.”
“Do you fear at times?”
“It’s not fear, but this time the problem came on swiftly, and I was startled. I was suddenly gasping, and I had no idea why. It took a moment to figure out that I hadn’t done anything to cause it, and I was going to have to work through it.”
“So you weren’t eating? You hadn’t started to choke?”
“No, nothing like that. That’s why it came as such a surprise. I just suddenly couldn’t draw a deep breath.”
“What if you had died? Any concerns or regrets there?”
“Only for Scottie. She’ll do fine, but she’s never been completely in charge here, and I hurt when I think about her trying to adjust.”
“Not to mention the way she would miss you,” Douglas added with quiet sincerity.
“Yes,” Eli agreed, knowing how true it was.
With plans to return on his regular afternoon, Douglas didn’t stay overly long, but the men had a good visit. When Douglas took his leave, glad to know his friend was faring well, Eli and Scottie had their nightly ritual, the one where Scottie read to her husband from one of the many books on his shelves.
On Monday morning, Eli talked Scottie into going back to Doyle’s store to look at dress fabric. She still wasn’t sure she should agree, but she did as he asked, thinking at the very least she would bring home a swatch or two. Something in green or yellow. He liked those colors.
Iris had given her a short list of pantry needs, and Scottie exited the house just minutes before Dannan left his own abode, the Peterson house his destination.
Dannan felt his footsteps slow as he neared the Peterson home. At some point after he’d left the day before, he remembered this man was his landlord, but that wasn’t what made him dread this return trip.
He did not want to have thoughts of interest toward another man’s wife; it was all wrong. But since seeing Scottie Peterson outside the mercantile that first time, she had lingered at the back of his mind.
Dannan shook his head a little and had a little talk with himself as the house came into view. You live in the same town, you attend services at the same meetinghouse, and now her husband is a patient. You’re going to have to make this work.
Even having said this, Dannan knocked on the front door, not sure he was ready.
“How is Cathy doing?” Scottie asked of Doyle before she headed toward the bolts of fabric.
“Coming along,” he answered. “She’d like to be doing more, but that’ll have to wait.”
“It must help to have the baby to play with.”
“I suspect,” Doyle’s eyes twinkled, “that Val might be the only reason Maddie is not losing her mind.”
Scottie laughed at his mischievous face more than his words. She was still chuckling when Doyle asked what she needed. Scottie stalled and started with Iris’ list but before too long had no choice but to ask about the fabric.
“I just got some new pieces in. I think you’ll like what you see.”
Scottie didn’t comment about her reluctance to do this but followed Doyle to the wall with fabrics and watched as he took down some lovely prints and calicos. Unable to help herself, she was taken with several, her hand going out to finger them.
Doyle watched her face and smiled a little, knowing that she would be pleased with the colors and subtle prints.
“I might need to get some swatches, Doyle,” Scottie finally said.
“I’ll get a pair of scissors.”
“This is an amazing collection,” Dannan said to Eli, surprised at the turn of the conversation in the last several minutes.
“My mother indulged me,” Eli admitted, “or I should say spoiled. And Finn took up where she left off.”
Dannan had seen in an instant that his landlord was feeling just fine, and almost at the same moment noticed the bookshelves he’d missed the day before. There were four of them, tall and filled from side to side with volumes that could not have been easy to come by. Some authors Dannan did not recognize, but others were like old friends. James Fenimore Cooper and Sir Walter Scott jumped out, as did Johann Wyss, author of the Swiss Family Robinson.
“You’re welcome to borrow whatever you like,” Eli offered. Not many folks had access to these shelves, but he liked Dannan MacKay and felt confident that a book loaned to him would be returned in good shape.
Without moving his body, Dannan swung his head around and looked at his host.
“Have you been in that bed long?”
“Since I was ten,” Eli had no trouble admitting.
“What happened?”
“I was born with a crooked spine. Walking was always an effort, it took me years to learn, and when it became too awkward and painful, I was forced to stop.”
“And your mother took care of you,” Dannan put the pieces together.
“Until puberty, and then she found Finn.”
“Your father?”
“Died before I was born.”
“That must have been hard on your mother.”
“If it was, she never let me see it.”
Dannan nodded, thinking what a strong person she must have been. Eli didn’t say anything else just then, so Dannan’s eyes went back to the shelves. He spotted several textbooks and realized that this man had quite literally lived his life in this room. Dannan looked to the bed again and found himself under Eli’s scrutiny.
“Pick a book,” Eli said, not wanting to give his thoughts away just then.
“Thank you, I will,” Dannan accepted.
“Now it comes with a condition,” Eli warned before Dannan had even made a choice. “When it’s read, you must come back and discuss it with me.”
“Something tells me I’ll be in over my head.”
“What makes you say that?” Eli asked, unable to mask the laughter in his voice.
“You’ve been through each of these volumes a thousand times. I’m a novice.”
Eli let a smile break through but wasn’t given a chance to reply. Both men heard Scottie’s voice in the hall. Eli turned toward the door with a welcoming smile, but Dannan did everything he could to brace his heart for her appearance.
Four
“You’ll be so proud of me” were the words that escaped Scottie before she realized her husband had a visitor. “I’m sorry, Dr. MacKay,” she said as she pulled up short and stopped.
“Please call me Dannan,” that man requested. “My uncle was the doctor in this town for so long, that title makes me feel old.”
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Scottie smiled at him before turning to her husband.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. If you recall, Dannan said he wanted to check back with me today. We’ve been talking about my books.”
Scottie turned again to the doctor and found a volume in his hand. She couldn’t stop another smile.
“Did he tell you they come with conditions?”
“He did, and I’m looking forward to our first discussion.”
The eyes she turned on her husband were full of laughter and fondness. Eli smiled at being caught out, and Dannan felt something catch inside. The things he’d been imagining about this couple were fading away. Clearly there was love and caring and not just an unaffectionate or convenient arrangement.
“I’ll be going,” Dannan announced when it seemed the time was right. “I’m glad to see you so improved.”
“Thank you for stopping,” Eli said sincerely. “Do let me know what you think of the book.”
“I’ll do that,” Dannan promised. “And if you like my evaluation enough, maybe I’ll be trusted with another.”
Eli’s eyes twinkled as he agreed to this, and Dannan noticed absently the way it took years off his face. A moment later, Dannan was gone, and husband and wife were alone.
“That was kind of him,” Scottie said, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Yes, it was. I think kindness comes easily to him.”
“You must be impressed if you trusted him with a book after such a short acquaintance.”
“I am impressed,” Eli agreed, keeping most of his thoughts concerning Dannan MacKay to himself. “Now, to you. You said I would be proud.”
Scottie smiled and reached for the shopping basket she’d placed on the floor. Spreading her swatches carefully, she put samples from six different fabrics on the bed. The first had a green background with a yellow pattern running over it; next was a small yellow and blue check; then a yellow on yellow print; and then a green fabric with small white flowers. The last two were vertical stripes, one in green and the other in rust.
