The Doctor's Undoing. Allie Pleiter

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СКАЧАТЬ move societal mountains. “The Parkers are a force to be reckoned with,” Father would always say when Mother had achieved one of her social victories. The name still commanded—and demanded—respect, but not on the scale it once had.

      “The war has ground down many fortunes.” Daniel sighed. It was what he always told himself to ease the sting of shrinking donations. All while the mountain of need continued to grow.

      “Well, not his,” Mother nearly hissed. “All the more reason to show some kindness to the unfortunate, I said.” Daniel huffed, and she turned to look at him, her eyes softening. He held her gaze until she backed down. “Well, of course I didn’t actually say that, but I tell you the thought hung in my mind. You should go over there and make him see why he of all people should contribute more.”

      Difficult as she was, it was hard to stay annoyed with his mother. For years, Amelia Parker had nearly single-handedly funded the causes of her choice, bending the pockets of Charleston society to her will in the name of any number of philanthropies. His father had been named chairman of the war-bond effort not so much for his persuasive skills as for his wife’s. But the orphanage had always been their special project—the one to which they had given their name, and their direct supervision. Daniel’s mother felt charity to be her God-given gift, and she wielded it with a boldness the Lord Himself surely admired. Her stories from after the War Between the States, her tales of generosity to friend and foe alike, were the foundation of his faith, shaky as it was.

      Only it seemed as if those rules of Southern culture were shifting without this generation’s permission. Mother couldn’t fathom that the playing field had so shifted, and every time her application of social pressure failed to achieve desired results, she would command, “You go over there and make him see.”

      “I will,” Daniel conceded, returning to his coffee. And he likely would. He could leave no stone unturned, no pocket unbeseeched, in the name of the Home. For the Home was his “gift,” a yoke settled on his shoulders by both earthly and heavenly fathers. His earthly father had since joined his heavenly one, leaving Daniel to run the Home and its ever-growing operations. “Only I doubt I’ll have better results.”

      Mother folded the fan shut and pointed it at Daniel. “A Parker prevails, always.” She invoked the family motto whenever Daniel expressed doubts as to his ability to call forth charity out of thin air as his parents once did.

      He had begun to wonder if the adage had crumbled with Charleston’s other traditions.

Chapter Three

      By Wednesday morning, Ida had settled in sufficiently to launch a thorough examination of her new infirmary. It was a small, tidy place, brighter than the rest of the facility thanks to the traditional white of the furnishings. A wall of cabinets and a small desk, as well as three chairs and a meager examining table, completed the room. Ida had spent the past hour peering into cabinets and opening drawers, stopping far too often to wrangle her hair back into place.

      She’d been here not even two full days and already the humidity had wound her curls into a bird’s nest. Wasn’t it supposed to be cooler by the sea? Either it was the humidity or the closed-in feeling of these buildings, but Charleston seemed to be poaching her composure. Not to mention the woeful lack of supplies—if there was one thing the army had been, it was well stocked. Not so here. Counting far too few rolls of bandages, Ida blew out an irritated breath.

      “Something not to your liking, Miss Landway?”

      She startled, banging her head on the cabinet. Hard. The blow sent her backward into her desk chair, nearly toppling furniture and nurse over in an undignified heap.

      “Don’t you knock?” she snapped, head stinging. Ida looked up, cringing in recognition as her eyes met the owner of that voice. “Pardon me, Dr. Parker, I hadn’t meant to be so direct. You startled me.”

      “The door was already ajar. And somehow I think you always mean to be so direct.”

      Ida grabbed the chair arm, seeing stars. “It seems I can’t find enough open doors and windows in this heat. And what’s that supposed to mean about being direct?”

      Dr. Parker pushed the infirmary door farther ajar and peered at her. “You’re bleeding.”

      Ida reached a hand up to her hairline only to feel a wet warmth that confirmed the doctor’s diagnosis. “Your cabinet has teeth.” She went to walk toward the cabinet, but found rising to be a rather painful enterprise.

      “Sit back down,” Dr. Parker ordered, motioning her into the chair. “I am a doctor, you know.”

      “Why Dr. Parker, that could almost be called a joke.” Ida sucked in a breath as a change of expression sent a stinging pain through her forehead.

      “Despite what you may have heard, I do possess a minute portion of bedside manner.” He reached into the predatory cabinet and handed back a bottle of disinfectant and a roll of bandages.

      Ida took them gingerly. “I’d have preferred to discover your lighter side under more dignified circumstances.”

      He turned and narrowed his eyes at her forehead. “Let’s hope you don’t need to discover my skill with sutures, shall we?” He made an odd motion toward his own head with his hands.

      She cocked her head at the gesture, an unfortunate choice since it sent sparks of pain flying across her hairline. Furrowing her brow against the ache only made things worse.

      Dr. Parker made the motion again, then finally rolled his eyes. “Your hair, Miss Landway. You’ll need to move it out of the way.”

      “Well, why didn’t you say so?” Ida slipped off her nurse’s cap and went to smooth her hair back—only to be rewarded with bloody fingers and an additional stab of pain. “My stars, but that smarts.”

      Dr. Parker unrolled a swath of bandage, snipped it from the roll and handed it to her. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you to apply gentle pressure.”

      “No need to tell me to be nice to my own noggin. Not when it hurts like this.” She gave the cabinet an angry look. “What in blazes bit me in there?”

      Dr. Parker must have been wondering the same thing, for he was already running his hand around the corner of the shelf. “This. There’s a nail that’s come loose from the hinge.” He returned his gaze to her. “I don’t think it’s cut too deep or you’d be bleeding more than you are. You’ll be spared my stitchery, I suspect, but I’ll send MacNeil in here immediately to take care of this cabinet.” He leaned against the small desk. “Let’s have a look.”

      Looking up at him, Ida felt small. She’d tended everything from sergeants to generals and never felt ill at ease, but Daniel Parker made her jittery. Yes, he was her superior, but that didn’t explain the discomfort that always walked into a room ahead of him. “I’m sure I’m fine.”

      “Did you know,” Dr. Parker said as he peeled her hand away from the bandage and lifted it himself, “one of the first things they told me in medical school was that when a patient insists he’s fine, he seldom is.”

      “I’m not a patient, I’m a nurse.” He was close enough that she could smell the soap on his hands. She could see the spot on his cheek where he’d nicked himself shaving this morning. She closed her eyes, mentally putting a dozen СКАЧАТЬ