Dear Miss Steele was a blessing. She visited once a week, to encourage Alice. The woman listened to problems without allowing Alice to dissolve into self-pity, reminding Alice of the blessings in her life. She had her finger on the pulse of the community and told her about the growing appreciation for the doctor and his wife, Mrs. Doctor.
“They’ll never call you Nurse MacKenzie, my dear. No, they see you as a part of a team.” Miss Steele had clucked her tongue and shared that bit of wisdom today as Alice complained about the stubborn people who insisted on using that “silly title” for her.
Now, watching the other part of the team, she decided it was okay to be Mrs. Doctor. Her satisfaction ebbed suddenly as she thought of the worse part of being married to a doctor.
“Doctor MacKenzie, did I guess right? Is the child contagious?”
He opened his mouth to answer. A sharp rap on the back door cut off his words, and he moved to open it.
Dorcas Potter elbowed her way in without waiting for an invitation. The woman’s face glowed.
“Is it true, Young Doc? Do we have an epidemic starting?”
Niall shook his head, probably at the ridiculous name. Alice knew he hated that they called him that. There was no changing the people in this community, it seemed, when they got a name passed their lips.
“No, Mrs. Potter. I don’t see an epidemic happening right now. Just one child with German Measles.”
Crestfallen, the woman tried again. “Maybe it will be an epidemic?”
Disgust marked Niall’s features. He was remarkably patient, Alice thought, as he nodded. “Yes. It might happen. And I will want all of the patients to come to the house now.”
Niall used his most officious tone. “No more at your house. Do you understand?”
Dorcas Potter nodded with all the fear and awe of a new recruit facing the sergeant. “Yes sir.”
He turned to his wife. “And you need to stay somewhere far away from the surgery until this runs its course.”
Alice looked at Miss Steele. “Any suggestions on who will house me?”
With a squawk of complaint, Dorcas whined, “You’ve been at my place several times. You know you’re welcome!”
The old schoolmarm’s lips tightened. She reached out and gripped Alice’s hand. “It would be the best place for you to stay. So many others like my own sister are full to the rafters.”
She looked at Alice under her lashes and whispered confidentially. “I suspect you need quiet and a place to retreat to each day.”
Alice laughed. “Are you a witch, Miss Steele? How did you know?”
The woman only smiled. Alice turned to her husband who was grinning broadly.
“Did you know”
If possible, his smile widened. “I suspected. I am a doctor, after all.”
There, in front of their company, Niall drew his wife close, cradling her in his arms. As difficult as it was to do, he stopped short of kissing her the way he wanted. Instead, his lips grazed her cheek as they traveled to her ear.
Whispering, he told her how pleased he was. “And frightened. I’m glad you’re avoiding contagious cases.”
He looked down into her tired eyes. Her face and pink cheeks spoke of her embarrassment at their embrace. Her smile told him that he’d said the right words. And how could he not, when the Lord was blessing Niall’s perfect woman with a baby for them.
Tenderly, he put her slightly away from him and looked down. “I’m between patients. Let me help you pack a few things.”
After those words, he looked meaningfully at the women. “Sorry to interrupt things, ladies.”
At their nods of understanding, Niall focused on the minister’s wife whose mind, he guessed, was busily sorting out the hinted at but unstated bit of news. “Mrs. Potter, I’ll see you in a bit when I bring Alice.”
After they’d left, Etta Larson included since she’d finished for the day and had stayed only to visit a while, Niall locked the back door. An odd feeling of dread remained from the call he’d paid to Murphy. Something to do with Reverend Potter’s words and actions.
“Niall, I’m so tired. Will you help me upstairs?”
Her voice called from the hallway. Eager as always to get his arms around his woman, Niall shrugged off his disquiet mood and headed for Alice.
In very little time, she’d packed her carpet bag. The last time she’d used it, Alice had been traveling to the start of her career. Now, she’d been given a rest from that career, and the reason for it couldn’t please her more.
At her age, a first baby seemed almost a miracle. Honestly, being married was a miracle, and to a handsome, kind doctor, too. Someone who shared her commitment to helping others, and who was tenderhearted enough to forgive the wrong people here had done to him.
“Are you ready, sweetheart?”
The endearment brought a lump to her throat. He’d never used it before. Not even in their most intimate of moments.
She looked up at him, standing so close. He leaned down. His lips tenderly caressed even while they hinted of desperation.
“Oh, but I will miss you, sweet woman. I can’t put a name to what I feel, but I know you are a part of me. One I couldn’t and won’t live without.”
He followed those words with another intense meeting of lips and hearts. Then, without saying anything more to his joyfully beaming wife, he handed her the carpet bag. When she gripped it, Niall swung her up into his arms, clasping her tightly but so sweetly against his chest.
The Potters epitomized hospitality.
