The drug worked quickly, as she registered the placid gaze shade his eyes and his shoulders slump against the lumpy pillows. The tenseness evaporated from her as he fell asleep, not a natural one, but one vacant of pain. Slowly standing up from the edge of the bed, she picked up her rag and bowl and turned when a young boy ran up to her. He skidded to a halt, panting hard.
“Whoa, boy, what has you scurrying so?” Only reason anyone would come barreling into a hospital was a pandemic or the Confederates attacked—but this was the capital, it was too quiet for a barrage.
“I came lookin’ for Nurse Lorrance,” he gulped, then quickly added, “Ma’am.”
She bit back a smile at his manner correction. “And you are?”
“Matthew Caruthers, ma’am.”
She rolled back on her heel. “This is she, sir.”
The panicked look in his eyes returned. “I needs you to come with me. Tole to tell ya, it be an emergency.”
“Where to, may I ask? Ladies don’t just leave with suitable young men without prior knowledge,” she stated, the grin escape her stronghold.
He inhaled, bringing his shoulders up and straight at her compliment. She’d guess he wasn’t much past twelve…
“Mrs. Turner be needin’ your help, ma’am.”
Ada inwardly groaned. Beatrice Turner, the woman who owned the boarding house she roomed at, had turned very gleeful, knowing she had a woman doctor in the house. More so after Ada helped the woman’s daughter, Miss Ellen, when the girl had fallen ill and needed a doctor. Their regular physician was unavailable but she offered her services. Since then, the woman constantly delivered Ada patients, mostly women, for feminine needs. And according to Society as a whole, that was the only type of patients she should see.
“Thank you, Matthew. Let her know I’ll be there right directly.”
As the boy scampered off, she put her supplies down, looked down her ward to find her work done. She grabbed her wool cloak and darted of out the building. Within minutes, she pounced up the front staircase to the brownstone, both annoyed and curious what the latest crisis was. What she discovered on opening the door to the boarding house, wasn’t what she expected.
“Dr. Leonard, what a surprise to see you,” she greeted, skills of etiquette not entirely washed away by the war. He was stationed at one of the other hospitals and rarely came here.
He stepped closer. “Ada, please, I brought you something of note from New York.”
That caught her attention. “Truly? Why, whatever would you find among all that mess?”
A smile full of mischief played across his face. “Shall we see?”
She frowned. “Will, this isn’t the time or place for this. Mrs. Turner has ears everywhere.”
“I hear your nursing has been excellent.” But when she shot him a dagger look, he straightened and dropped his voice. “Actually, I do have a favor for me and a challenge for you. One I hope you are willing to tackle, as it were. You recall that rebel with the ankle wound?”
The one with the striking blue eyes? How could she ever forget him? “Yes, I do. And he is one of the reasons I had a warning from Miss Dix, to refrain from doctoring.”
“Ah, yes, I figured Waxler had made good his threat to report you. But you and I both know you are more than qualified in the surgical area. And I’d wager a month’s pay, you saved not only his foot, but the respect of several other surgeons.” He paused. “Now, remember, he was sent, as a prisoner of war, to one of the confinement areas.”
Her heart kicked into beating harder as the anger roiled in her blood. “Yes, I remember clearly my patients being yanked from me so. What are you getting to?”
The mischievous cheerfulness evaporated. “I found him, at Fort Delaware. He’s not doing well.”
“Whatever do you mean?” She badly wanted to forget him.
“The wound is faring poorly. Infected.”
She shook off the concern. “Surely the surgeons there will attend to it. Why come to tell me, other than verify Dr. Waxler’s statement I’m not a doctor of means.”
“Ada, you know you are!” His face was red and it was obvious he was mad. “I was called to the Fort by the surgeon there. They hardly supply them and the wound was apparently mangled by the Federal troops who hauled the prisoners away in Virginia. You know, our boys can be rather harsh with the secesh. From what I could tell, the leg is swollen with a stench of infection. It looks off center. They’d amputate but haven’t the right staff or supplies to be able to do it.”
Ada started to pace. She shouldn’t care. Didn’t want to. “Last I saw of him, he was doing well, well, as best as I could tell in twenty-four hours after surgery.” Then she stopped and turned to face him. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I managed to…” He cleared his throat. “Bring him back with me.”
Her throat dried. “You what? How? Why? Surely that isn’t possible.”
He looked away and the tenseness thickened. “I, well my family, owe his family for a deed of years back. Once I learned his name, I couldn’t leave him there.”
“Oh dear, Will, what have you done? What could they owe you to jeopardize your position?” Shock rattled through her. To move a prisoner, just because of an injury, wasn’t something allowed, or so she believed.
He got closer and took her hand. “Ada, please. It is your work. Besides, they won’t be watching you. I know you’ve been practicing outside the army hospital—”
“Will,” she started but he cut her off.
“Please, Ada. I’ve already risked everything, asking for favors to cover this, but it is very important. What they’ve
