by BJ Hoff
Now the miner looked genuinely puzzled.
“Here’s the thing,” Daniel said, still uneasy about what to expect. “I need someone to help out in the office. With paperwork. Making appointments. Possibly going along on house calls now and then. A number of things, actually. I’m getting buried in work, what with trying to take care of patients on both sides of the river. Especially since we were hit with scarlet fever, I can’t seem to ever keep up with all that needs to be done.”
Murphy tilted his head a bit. “Well, I can see where that might be a problem. But I don’t understand what I could do to help.”
Daniel swallowed hard. “I thought…I was wondering…if perhaps your daughter, your oldest daughter, might be interested in a job.”
Slowly, Murphy drew himself up a little straighter in the chair. “Addie Rose? You want Addie Rose to come and work for you?”
Relieved that the miner seemed more surprised than put off, Daniel nodded and then plunged ahead. “I thought I should talk with you first. I didn’t know how you’d feel about it, so I thought it best to ask you before approaching her with the idea.”
Murphy kept his gaze fixed on the stove. “I suppose the girl is of an age to make up her own mind…”
Daniel finally drew a deep breath. “I was hoping you’d approve—”
Murphy shot him a hard glance. “I didn’t say I approve.”
Daniel blinked. “Oh.”
Murphy said nothing for a moment. Finally, cracking his knuckles, he asked, “So, there’s no one else in the office besides yourself, then?”
“Well…no. That’s why I’m looking for someone.”
Murphy ran a hand over his beard. “Surely, you could find someone if you looked a bit. Wouldn’t another doc be of more help?”
Daniel shook his head. “Not necessarily. I believe I could keep up with the treatment of patients if I had someone to help me with everything else. Besides, there’s not another doctor in the area that I know of, and I don’t have any free time to go looking for someone. I need help now.”
The miner kept his piercing gaze riveted on Daniel. “I see your problem, Doc. But I’m afraid Addie Rose isn’t the answer to it.”
Daniel kept his silence for a moment. “Do you mind telling me why? Your daughter is good with the sick. She seems to have a natural gift for helping where it’s needed.” He paused. “I’d pay her well.”
He saw Murphy’s hands go white-knuckled on the arms of the chair.
“She’s but a girl. She has no real experience in the sickroom.”
Surprised by the miner’s remark, Daniel frowned. “Really? I’ve had any number of patients mention how she’s helped them. And from what I’ve heard, it’s becoming fairly common for some folks to ask for her when they need help for themselves or a family member.”
“Addie Rose is always willing to help out a neighbor, but it’s not as if she’s had any real training,” Murphy said with a shrug.
Daniel hesitated. “Well, I’ve always thought that experience is the best training. And from what I’ve heard, your daughter has had a great deal of that.”
Murphy gave him no opportunity to say more, but went on. “I like you, Doc. You seem a decent enough sort. But that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t know you all that well. Surely not well enough to be easy with my daughter spending time cooped up alone with you and traveling about the countryside with you. I expect if you’ll just think about that, you’ll understand where I’m coming from.”
Daniel had thought about it, and because he had he wasn’t all that surprised to hear the man voice this concern. In truth, he’d given the matter enough thought that he believed he had an answer ready.
“Tell me something. I’ve been practicing in the area for more than three years now. Not as long here in Owenduffy as in Mount Laurel, I know, but still—have you ever heard so much as a word about any…impropriety on my part? With, say, a patient, or with any other woman? Anything at all?”
Murphy’s eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth as if to say something, but then he seemed to change his mind.
Daniel went on. “Look, Murphy, I probably understand your concern better than you might think. If I had an attractive daughter, I’d likely want to lock her up and keep her out of sight until I saw her safely married to a man of my choice. As it happens, you’ve nothing to worry about where I’m concerned. I’m already a bit of a fool over a certain young lady in Mount Laurel—so much that I honestly don’t believe I’ve even looked at another girl for a year or more now. I promise you, my interest in your daughter is strictly professional and would remain so.”
He stopped to catch a breath before adding, “Addie Rose would be perfectly safe with me. You can trust me on that.”
He searched Murphy’s face carefully, but if he had hoped to make an inroad on the other’s resistance, the expression on the big miner’s face quickly discouraged that notion.
Apparently, there was nothing else he could say that would convince the man he was trustworthy so, reluctantly, he stood, saying, “Well, I’ve taken up enough of your time. But I wish you’d at least think about this, and maybe even talk it over with Addie Rose.” Before he turned to go, he couldn’t resist adding, “I suppose it must be a hard thing to accept that one of our children is grown up and old enough to make her own decisions. But I can’t help but believe, based on what I’ve seen for myself and heard from others, that that’s the case with your daughter. Just let me know if you change your mind.”
Murphy said a civil enough goodbye, and Daniel left then, frustrated that he had been unable to win the trust of this man he had come to respect and somehow even admire. On the ride home, he realized with some surprise that he had been hoping Murphy might esteem him enough to trust him with the protection and reputation of his daughter.
He was even more surprised, as he grasped that this wasn’t the case, that this itself was as much a disappointment as his failure to secure an assistant.
Dominic tiptoed into the bedroom, stopping short when he saw his wife propped up in bed, reading.
“I thought you’d be sound asleep by now.”
She smiled at him. “I wasn’t about to go to sleep until I found out what the young doctor wanted.”
He sighed as he sat down on the side of the bed to take off his shoes. “What he wanted,” he said gruffly, “was to hire our daughter on as his ‘assistant.’”
“Which daughter?”
He looked at her. “Addie Rose, of course. Word apparently gets around about her being of good help in the sickroom.”
Jana nodded. “She is that.” She put her book down. Then, “You said ‘hire her.’ You mean he wants to give her a job?”
“Indeed.”
“And what did you tell him?”
“Why, I told him no, of course.”
Her reply was slow in coming. “Why ‘of course’?”
He turned to look at her. “And what else would I say? I’ll not have her going off to spend her days with a man we scarcely know, just the two of them.”
Again, she delayed answering him. “You did mention not long ago that you liked the young doctor, that he seemed a good enough sort.”
He stood to unclasp his suspenders. “I like that rascal of a storekeeper Tom Corcoran well enough too, but I’d not trust him in a closed room with one of our girls.”
“Oh, Dom! Sure and you’d not compare the likes of Tom Corcoran with the doctor.”
“I don’t know the doc well enough to compare him with anyone. And the fact that I don’t know him is reason enough to keep him away from Addie Rose, is all I’m saying.” He lifted an eyebrow. “It seems you took to him well enough.”
She pursed her lips. “All I have to go on is what you’ve told me about him. And the two minutes I spent with him tonight. But he does seem to be a nice young man.”
He groaned. “You’re not thinking I should agree to let Addie Rose work for him?”
“What, exactly, would h
e be wanting her to do?”
He explained then what young Kavanagh had described to him, what he’d be expecting of anyone he happened to hire.
When he finished, she folded her arms and took on that look she had when deep in thought.
“So?” he prompted.
She studied him for a moment. “Dom, Addie Rose is twenty-two years old. She’s not a child any longer. She’s a woman.”
“And don’t I know that well enough?”
She patted the side of the bed, and he sat down.
“I’m just thinking that it might be time to let her be her age,” she said slowly.
“Meaning what?”
“I know your intentions are good—” she stopped.
“Well, I should hope you know that.”
“But you can’t keep our girls children forever. Here’s the thing, Dom. Addie Rose is gifted with the healing. People ask for her. They trust her in the sickroom. She has something special. ’Tis as if she senses the needs of others and knows what to say, what to do.” She reached to touch his hand. “Our girl has something others need…those who are ill, that is. I’m not sure we’d be doing right to keep her away from what the good Lord may have called her to do.”
She squeezed his hand, but Dom didn’t respond. It was a rare thing when his Jana spoke her heart so. But then hadn’t he always known she was a different kind of woman from others? She knew things, Jana did. The Old Ones might have said she was fey. For certain she understood their children better than he ever would.
“I mean only to protect her,” he muttered.
Her pressure on his hand increased. “I know that, husband. I know. But we can’t keep them out of the world forever. They have their own lives to live. Addie Rose is old enough to be living hers. And so, for that matter, is Elly.”
He withdrew his hand. “Now, that one hasn’t a grain of sense. Don’t be telling me how grown up she is.”
Jana shook her head. “Elly has more sense than you credit her for. But she’s in love, Dom. All of us can be more than a little foolish when we’re in love.” She stopped, smiling. “Even a man like yourself. I seem to recall you once had a bit of leibideacht in that hard head of yours.”
He tried to pull an annoyed look, but given her smile, he figured it had had no effect at all. “If that was ever the case, it was no doing of my own,” he said gruffly. “You were the cause of my losing my wits back then. In truth, you can still turn me to a green gorsoon.”
“So you’ve said before.”
“Well, then, what is it you’re getting at?”
Again she reached for his hand. “I believe you should tell Addie Rose about this offer from the doctor and let her make up her own mind as to whether she wants it.”
He drew a long breath. “You’d trust her alone with a man we scarcely know, then?”
“As I recall, my da trusted me with you when he knew you little better than we know the doctor. And you had a far more questionable reputation.”
He drew himself up. “Your da threatened to take a horse whip to me if I so much as looked at you the wrong way.”
Again she smiled. “Aye, he did, didn’t he? Mum told me. She thought it was funny.”
“To save me, I can’t recall so much as a glint of humor in that black look she turned on me every time I darkened the door.”
Her smile broadened. “Neither of them had it in mind to make things easy for you, that’s true.”
“Indeed.” His scowl held fast. “So what is it you’re saying, then? What would you have me do?”
“Well, if you ask me,” she said quietly, “I think you should do nothing. Let Addie Rose make up her own mind. If she accepts, then of course we’ll keep a close eye on her behavior and how the job seems to suit her.”
“That’s giving the girl more freedom than I’m comfortable with.”
“Dom…” Her look was reproving, even severe. “’Tis time.”
“Oh, all right,” he growled. “But whatever comes of this is on your head, not mine.”
“Of course, dear.”
He narrowed his eyes again. “That’s it, then?”
She nodded. Then she reached to kiss him on the cheek. “That’s it,” she agreed.
He pulled her a bit closer. “That’s it for now, you mean.”
“Aye,” she said. “For now.”
SIXTEEN
AN EARLY MORNING SURPRISE
Her hair was a waving bronze and her eyes
Deep wells that might cover a brooding soul…
JOHN BOYLE O’REILLY
When someone knocked on the door of his office just past daylight Monday morning, Daniel immediately assumed there was trouble at the mine. The whistle hadn’t blown yet, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’d been summoned before news of an emergency was made known to the town.
He could not have been more surprised to find Addie Rose Murphy standing before him when he opened the door. Bundled in a dark woolen coat, her hands in her pockets, the girl appeared thoroughly chilled. Her cheeks were nearly as red as her hair, much of which tumbled free from a colorful headscarf.
“Miss Murphy!” It took a moment for him to realize he was staring. When he finally came to himself, he opened the door a little more and stood aside. “Come in! Please, come in!”
She hesitated only a moment before stepping inside.
“Surely you didn’t walk here? You must be chilled to the bone.”
“No, I came in the wagon with Da on his way to the mine.” She stopped just inside the door and stood watching him, as if she were waiting for something. Finally, she spoke. “Da said you wanted to see me.”
Caught off guard, Daniel could manage only a blank stare.
“Something about a job,” she said, eyeing him curiously.
“A job—” Daniel’s mind stalled for a moment. Dominic had made it blazingly clear that he wouldn’t so much as even tell her about the job opening. What was going on?
“Your father talked with you about my needing help here in the office?”
Her smile was uncertain. “He did. You might have noticed that he didn’t much like the idea, but Mum convinced him to let me decide for myself.”
Ah! So, thankfully, Jana Murphy hadn’t seen eye to eye with her stubborn husband!
“And you’re interested?”
“I am. Very interested. But you do know that I’ve had no real experience, not in nursing or office work of any kind?”
“Yes, I know. But I’m sure you can learn the office routine in short order, and from all I’ve heard, you’ve had a great deal of hands-on experience in the sickroom. While I need someone to handle most of the clerical work and keep the office running, I’m even more interested in a nursing assistant. Whatever you might lack in that area, I feel sure I could help you learn.”
To his dismay, her expression suddenly changed from its previous interest to one of suspicion. “Why would you do that?”
“Why? Well…because from what I’ve heard it seems you just might have the potential to make an excellent nurse.” He stopped before adding, “And because I need help and need it now.”
She blinked, and the look of mistrust gave way to the same interest he’d seen a moment before. “You’d train me then? To be a proper nurse?”
“If that’s what you want—and if you’re willing to work hard. Yes, I’d teach you as much as I can. Certainly, as much as I believe you’d need.”
He wouldn’t have wanted her to know just how much he was silently urging her to agree. As it happened, her reply wasn’t long in coming.
“I do want the job. And I’m a hard worker. What do I have to do to apply?”
“What—well, don’t you want to know about the pay?”
She looked at him and pressed her lips together. In that moment, Daniel realized that she hadn’t even thought about the matter of salary yet.
“To be honest,” he hurried to say, “I haven’t thought through all the details myself yet. But I’m su
re we can work out something satisfactory to both of us.”
“When would I start, then?” She stopped. “If you hire me, that is?”
Daniel hesitated only a moment, studying her. “How about now?”
He hadn’t expected her to take him seriously. But before he could add anything more, she began taking off her scarf and muffler.
“What should I do first?”
He wasted no time in helping her with her coat.
In spite of the good things Daniel had heard about Addie Rose Murphy, she managed to surprise him. By late afternoon, he could scarcely believe how much she had accomplished—and with so little help and instruction from him.
Moreover, his patients had clearly taken a liking to her. Vito Eneo, an irascible farm laborer who spoke barely coherent English, at first seemed to resent her very presence, but he clearly softened when she spoke a few words of broken Italian while handing him a container of ointment for the raw sores on his forearm.
When Daniel asked her later about her knowledge of Italian, she simply shrugged. “The little I know I learned from the Benedetta twins. I took care of their mother when her leg was broken.”
And then there was the almost instant rapport she’d established with the elderly Martha Arbogast, a usually sullen-natured widow who seemed to find fault with most treatments and suggestions Daniel had on occasion offered for her rheumatism.
“I’m impressed,” Daniel said when Addie Rose came back inside after helping Martha to her buggy. “That’s a different side to the Widow Arbogast than I’ve seen since she first started coming to me. What magic did you work with her?”
Addie Rose smiled. “I asked her about her two-year-old grandson, Nathan. He’s absolutely adorable, and she dotes on him.”
Daniel stared at her. “I didn’t know she had a two-year-old grandson.”
“Well, she does. I took care of him one afternoon while she helped her daughter bake pies for Lon Weaver’s funeral.” She paused. “Don’t you get to know your patients at all, then?”
The question caught Daniel off guard. It also made him think.
Did he actually treat the patient or merely the disease? Especially lately, had he been so busy, so intent on keeping up with his patient load that he had become too preoccupied with the treatment to be sufficiently interested in the patient?
