The Doctor's Undoing. Allie Pleiter

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СКАЧАТЬ Parker shut the French doors of the staff dining room behind him and pulled a chair out for her at a small oval table. Three other adults were already seated, but the two men rose at her entrance. “May I present Mr. Arthur MacNeil, who keeps things in running order around here.”

      “It’s a pleasure to see a new face around here, lassie.” A red-haired man bulging out of his suspenders offered a friendly nod. His congenial features arranged themselves around a bushy ginger mustache. Narrow gray eyes framed in wrinkles gave him the look of an overworked but kindhearted soul. He looked to Ida like a man who would offer assistance in a tight spot but grumble about it endlessly afterward.

      “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. MacNeil.” Ida hoped her wide smile would gain her access to whatever gardening information the man had accumulated over the years.

      “And this is Mrs. Jane Smiley, who serves as our girls’ schoolmistress.” Dr. Parker gestured toward a lady with a surprisingly angled face. How Mrs. Smiley, who had such a happy name and such a jolly plump build, managed to have such pinched, hard features was beyond Ida’s reckoning. She looked as though she ruled her classrooms with an iron fist.

      “Good evening,” Mrs. Smiley said, allowing Ida to discover the woman’s voice was as sharp as her nose.

      “Hello, Mrs. Smiley. How do you do?”

      The woman offered no answer—and certainly no smile. Ida made an immediate mental note never to cross the fierce Mrs. Smiley.

      “And finally, may I present Fritz Grimshaw, who serves as the boys’ schoolmaster.”

      “Miss Landway, welcome to our facility.” Ida craned her head to meet an astoundingly tall man’s eyes. Long and thin, he resembled a tree with large, blinking eyes that peered over bottle-glass spectacles. She couldn’t hope to guess his age, for he seemed both young and old at the same time. While he didn’t seem to possess the authority Ida thought his position might require, she couldn’t help but wonder if Mr. Grimshaw’s sheer height allowed him to keep a large group of rambunctious boys in line. One could never hope to outrun legs so long.

      “Thank you,” Ida said, feeling as though she were addressing the chandelier. While she was pleased Grimshaw had said “welcome,” she was equally displeased that he referred to the place as “our facility.” Facility? The clinical term matched the clinical decor. Even coming from the monochromatic army world, Ida found the lack of color in the Parker Home for Orphans nearly suffocating. First thing tomorrow she was going to write her dear friend Leanne and beg her assistance in finding some cheery curtains for her “suite” of rooms.

      Parker took his place at the head of the table, at which point everyone sat. “Let us give thanks.”

      Ida gave a sigh of relief. Table grace had always been a particular comfort to her, and she was glad to know the practice was in place at the Parker Home. She folded her hands and lowered her head, curious to hear the doctor’s deep voice in prayer.

      “Bless us, O Lord, for these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

      Ida had never heard such dear words uttered with such a complete lack of emotion. In truth, the doctor’s grace was as hollow as the children’s greeting. He did mean the words—there was no doubt about that—but she could hardly guess if he felt them at all.

      “There were times at Camp Jackson when table grace was a test of faith,” she offered, smiling at her new colleagues as she draped the dull gray napkin on her lap. “Army food isn’t always worthy of much thanks, you can imagine.”

      No one laughed.

      It was going to be a long meal. Gracious, it was likely to be a long year.

      * * *

      Daniel watched his mother’s ringed finger tap against the rim of her tea glass. He’d learned it as a sure sign of her irritation. It was a suffocating Tuesday afternoon, and she blamed her slow movements on the season’s wretched heat. He could hardly blame her for that. As immune as he often was to the humidity, today it bothered even him.

      “How are you feeling?” he asked as gently as he could. “That ache bothering you again?”

      She shooed away the question with a flap of her hand and a muttered, “Pshaw, Daniel, don’t you start. I am old and it’s a steam bath out this afternoon. I should be in the mountains.”

      He refused to reengage in that battle. He’d given Mother endless permission to go, but had been just as persistent in his unwillingness to go with her. He was needed here. Instead, Daniel changed the subject. “The new nurse arrived yesterday.”

      Mother’s eyebrows shot up. “Did she? The one from Camp Jackson?”

      “Yes. Miss Ida Lee Landway.” The sight of Miss Landway peering through the Home’s front gate came back from his memory. He’d expected someone so much more sensible looking. Ida Landway struck him as a barely contained whirlwind.

      “A war nurse.” Mother waved her hand in front of her face as if to fend off the unpleasant thought. “To tend to children. Whatever got into your head?”

      Daniel sipped his coffee rather than reply.

      “Why do you drink that dreadful coffee in this heat?” His mother had always accused him of preferring coffee simply to irritate her tea service. He could never truly dispute the theory.

      “You know I dislike tea. Hot coffee makes me feel cooler by comparison.” It was a trick told to him by a schoolmate who had summered in Turkey. While it had some scientific basis, today it sounded like a childish prank when repeated to his mother. How had Ida Lee Landway become the least unpleasant choice of conversation topics? “And as for Miss Landway, we needed someone sensible and...stout hearted.” It was a terrible choice of phrase. Sensible and stout hearted were the last adjectives he felt could apply to Miss Landway—though he hoped and prayed he was wrong. The orphanage couldn’t bear a third vacancy lightly.

      “Heavens, Daniel, you sound as if you were buying a mule, not hiring a nurse for children.” He watched her shift weight gingerly off one hip.

      “With the war over, Camp Jackson is the best source of experienced nurses. We tried hiring ones fresh out of school, and you know what happened.”

      Mother snapped her fan open. “I can’t believe Charleston has no other fine nurses.”

      “There are plenty of fine nurses, Mother.” Daniel set his cup back down on the rattan table between them. “Just not many willing to work for what the orphanage can pay. I stand by my choice.”

      “March over and tell Buxton Eckersall you need more donations.” Mother threw a scowl in the direction of the Eckersalls’ impressive house just down the street. According to Mother, she’d been over there yesterday pleading the orphanage’s case. “They lost no boys in the war. I’d expect them to show a little more gratitude.”

      “I take it the Eckersalls didn’t...”

      “They did, but not nearly what they ought to have,” she said, cutting him off. “It was all I could do not to be offended. And now we’re resorting to army nurses.” She made it sound like the most drastic of choices, sniffing a final proclamation of annoyance in the Eckersalls’ direction. “I’d expected more of Lydia Eckersall, СКАЧАТЬ