The Doctor Takes a Wife (7 page)

It was foolish to hope to be alone with a particular woman at a party, he told himself. “It looks like marriage agrees with you two,” he told the couple when they joined them a few moments later, along with Reverend Chadwick.

“Yes, I quite recommend it,” Brookfield answered, grinning. “”How's the doctoring business?” he asked in return.

“For a small town, it certainly keeps me busy. I've already helped usher Simpson Creek's newest citizen into the world today, out at the Hotchkiss ranch.”

“Ah, a new baby for the new year,” Sarah said, her face brightening with pleasure.

“I trust Mavis had an uncomplicated lying-in?” Milly asked. “That's her fourth, you know.”

Nolan had just opened his mouth to answer her when a shrill cry rose over the hubbub of chattering and the clinking of silverware against china.

“So there you are, Nolan!”

A
da Spencer pointed at him, her tone shrill. Her other hand fluttered down to her abdomen. She wore a green hooped gown that would have been the height of fashion before the war, but now it looked decidedly out of place. Her mother was a larger woman, so perhaps it had been hers, for it hung loose as a sack on Ada. Her hair had been pinned on top of her head in a parody of an upswept chignon. Her eyes were unnaturally bright. Two hectic flushes of color blotched her pale cheeks.

Antonio, the Gilmore's manservant, hovered uncertainly behind her as if he hadn't wanted to admit her to the party, but he hadn't known quite how to stop her.

Conversation hushed and people turned to stare. The fiddler stopped playing.

Nolan stared, and darted a glance back at Sarah. “Excuse me…” he whispered. “Reverend, perhaps you'd better come with me,” he added in an undertone, and started across the room, feeling as if he had blundered into a nightmare.

Sarah rose. If there was trouble from Ada Spencer,
she didn't want Nolan to face it alone. Milly stood, too, and they followed Dr. Walker and the preacher.

“Miss Spencer, what's wrong?” Nolan said, when he reached Ada, “Are you ill? Is it—” He kept his voice down, wishing they didn't have such a large, curious audience.

“Ill? No, Nolan…the baby's just fine, kicking away,” Ada announced in tone of brittle gaiety that was audible to at least half the room. Her hand remained protectively over her abdomen. “Naturally, since you and I…well, I thought you would be by to escort me to the party, but you never appeared. And here I find you consorting with another woman!” She stared at Sarah as if she had never met her.

“Ada, we were only talking…Nolan?” Sarah said uncertainly, even as Milly put a cautionary hand on her shoulder.

“Miss Spencer is ill,” Nolan said, making sure his tone was firm and would carry at least to the closest fringe of people who were avidly listening. He figured they could inform the rest. “Miss Sarah, Mrs. Milly, Reverend Chadwick, would you mind coming with me? We're going to help Miss Spencer home.”

“But, Nolan, I came for the party!” Ada protested, looking over her shoulder at the party behind her. “I haven't wished Happy New Year to anyone, or had any of the food over there on the buffet table, and our child makes me so hungry!”

Nolan felt the blood drain from his face. He fought the impulse to recoil from this woman. “Come with us, Miss Spencer, please,” Nolan said in the kindest,
gentlest tone he could muster, the kind of voice one used with a fractious animal—or the insane.

“Nolan, we really
are
on a first-name basis aren't we? After all…” Ada glanced meaningfully downward and laughed. Her eerie merriment made his skin crawl.

“We'll take you home. You want to take good care of yourself, don't you?” What must Sarah be thinking? If he'd ever had any hope that Sarah would change her mind about him, it was surely lost now.

They managed to herd Ada out into the vestibule, and while Reverend Chadwick was wrapping Ada's shawl around her shoulders, Nolan turned to Sarah, hoping to whisper that he'd be back later to explain.

But Ada must have seen him out of the corner of her eye, for she whirled away from Reverend Chadwick, fury in her eyes.

“Is it too much to expect you to be faithful to the
mother of your child?
” she demanded. “You stay away from him, you—you—” Thankfully, words failed her then, but she started gathering herself as if she meant to lunge at Sarah.

Nolan and the reverend took a firm grip on the struggling woman, and suddenly Nick Brookfield was there too, helping them, putting himself between Ada and his wife and Sarah.

Nolan wanted to shout at the crazed woman, “Be quiet! You know that's not true!” but all he could do was turn to Sarah, and let his eyes plead with her to understand. “I'll be back as soon as I can,” he managed to say, even as he struggled to keep a hold on Ada.

“Now, Miss Ada, you mustn't excite yourself, you
know it's not good for you…” Reverend Chadwick was saying in his soothing voice, but it was obvious she wasn't listening. The mayor, his wife and Prissy hung back at the entrance of the ballroom, their eyes wide, obviously unsure what to do. All the partygoers were gathered behind them, their mouths hanging open in fascinated horror.

Sarah was pale, but to his relief, Nolan saw no suspicion or condemnation in her eyes, only pity as she gazed at the thrashing crazy woman, then back at him. He thought she saw her nod, but he couldn't be sure.

 

Shaken, Sarah watched the door close behind the three men herding Ada Spencer.

“Well, I never,” breathed Prissy, who had come up beside her. “It's not true, is it? What Ada said about a baby—hers and Dr. Walker's?”

“No, I'm sure it's not,” Sarah said quickly, though she could not have said why she felt so certain. She didn't know Nolan Walker that well, she reminded herself. Was this why Nolan had thought Ada needed a friend, because she was expecting a baby and had no husband? Or because Ada was losing her mind? Or both?

“No, it's not true,” Milly said behind her. “Sarah, let's walk to the cottage, shall we? I think it's time to discuss something with you. You don't want to stay longer at the party anyway, do you?”

“No, I…I don't,” Sarah agreed, feeling perilously close to tears. “You don't mind, do you, Prissy?”

“Of course not. If it's all right—” her gaze sought
Milly's permission in addition to Sarah's “—I'll come, too. Mama and Papa will understand.”

 

Revisiting in her mind the October day the Comanches had attacked in the midst of the Founder's Day celebration was hard for Sarah, but she felt relieved when Milly had finished speaking.

“So Ada had just told you and Nick that Harvey Blakely had abandoned her while she was with child when his horse brought him, mortally wounded into town?” Sarah murmured. The saucer rattled as she set down her cup of tea with a shaking hand. “How dreadful.”

“And you never told a soul her secret,” Prissy breathed. “You're so good, Milly.”

Milly shrugged. “It wasn't my secret to tell. I in tended to be a supportive friend to her, but I hardly saw her after that. And what with getting ready for the wedding and all…” She threw up her hands.

“I know what you mean,” Sarah said with a guilty sigh. “I meant to do the same when she started acting so oddly….”

Milly's brow furrowed. “You know, for a woman who's four or five months along…I wonder if that's why she wore that loose gown…” Her voice trailed off and she refused to elaborate. “Never mind, I was just thinking out loud. It's none of my business.”

“Poor Ada,” Sarah said, her heart aching as she remembered the wild look in Ada's eyes.

“I think you'd better stay away from her, after how she acted tonight,” Prissy muttered.

“But now she needs friends more than ever!” Sarah cried.

“I'm afraid what she may need is an asylum, dear,” Milly said, putting a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder, “since Harvey's death seems to have unhinged her mind. And if anyone's foolish enough to believe Ada's wild accusations even a little, it'll be Dr. Walker who may be needing friends.”

Sarah stared at her sister. As usual, Milly was right. “I won't stop being his friend,” she said. “He's a good man.”

“I agree,” Prissy said.

Sarah sighed. “What we
can
do for Ada is pray for her,” she said.

“You're right,” Milly said, and joining hands with her sister and Prissy, they did so, right then, asking the Lord to give Ada a clear mind so she would know what was true and what wasn't.

Nick arrived at the cottage shortly after that to collect his wife, reporting they'd succeeded in getting Ada home, and that Dr. Walker and the reverend had stayed to explain what had happened to her elderly parents. Then he and Milly left, wanting to reach the ranch before darkness fell.

“Looks like almost all the guests have left,” Prissy remarked, standing on their porch step after she and Sarah had waved goodbye to Milly and Nick. The drive that curved in front of her parent's large house and the street beyond was now nearly bare of carriages.

“I imagine Ada's outburst put a damper on the festivities,” Sarah said. She could imagine all too well that the scene Ada had made would be the talk of the
town for a long time to come.
Please, Lord, don't let anyone believe Ada's unbalanced raving.

“I think I'll go help Mama and Papa finish up for a while. I'll bring back some of the leftover food for our supper,” Prissy said.

“I'll come help, too.” Sarah reached for her shawl.

Prissy put out a staying hand. “You'd better stay here, in case Dr. Walker comes back soon. I have a feeling he's going to need to talk.”

Sarah paced the cottage restlessly after Prissy left, dusting furniture that didn't need it, rearranging things, going to the window to stare out into the gathering dark.

Nolan arrived, looking haggard and careworn, about an hour after the Brookfields left.

“Ada's sleeping. I gave her a sedative and her mother put her to bed,” he replied to her wordless question as she let him in. “No, I won't stay that long,” he said, when she would have taken his coat. “I just wanted to come and see if you were all right, after what happened, and to explain….”

“I'm all right,” she assured him, touched by the anxious look in his eyes. “And perhaps it will make it easier if you know that Milly told me and Prissy about Ada's being…um…with child,” she said, feeling herself flush as she spoke about the delicate matter, “and that Ada told her the father was that Englishman, Harvey Blakely. Then the Comanche attack happened and he was killed….”

Nolan sighed, clearly relieved. “Yes, that does make it easier. Then you know there's no truth to what she said about me being the father.”

“Of course. Nolan, at least come sit by the fire and have a cup of tea before you go,” Sarah insisted. “You look exhausted.”

Following her to the settle in front of the fire, he admitted he was. “The reverend and I stayed awhile to talk to her parents after she finally fell asleep.”

“How are they?” Sarah asked.

“Worried, of course,” he said, giving her a grateful smile as he accepted the cup of tea she had poured. “They've been concerned about her odd behavior for months now, and didn't know what to do—they were too ashamed to speak to anyone about it. I think as much as they were embarrassed to learn that she had sneaked out of the house in that outlandish dress and made a scene at the open house, they were relieved to know there was a cause for Ada's…shall we say, unusual behavior. Reverend Chadwick and I assured them we'd help in any way we can.” He took a breath and added, “Your pastor is a good man.”

“Yes, he is.”

Nolan stared into the fire. “They didn't know about her claim that she's expecting.”

“They didn't?” Then her mind focused on the way he had said it. “Why did you put it that way, Nolan—‘her claim'? You don't think she's with child?”

He shook his head. “I didn't want to talk about this, but after what happened, and especially the way she acted toward you, I think the time for silence is over—for your safety, if for no other reason. I examined Ada once in my office, and I wasn't sure she was with child then. I helped her mother get her to bed tonight, and…well, to put it as delicately as I should to a lady, there's
no changes to her body that should be there by now, if her story was true.”

“There aren't? Then why would she tell such a story?” Sarah asked. “She has to know the truth will come out eventually when there's no baby.”

“Because I think she believes it's true. It's my opinion she has what's called a hysterical pregnancy, Sarah. Throughout history some women who wanted a child badly enough have somehow tricked their bodies into displaying some of the symptoms of pregnancy. I don't know if you ever read any English history, but Queen Mary, sister of Queen Elizabeth, suffered from this delusion too, back in the sixteenth century.”

Sarah stared at him, trying to take it all in. “Did you tell this to her parents?”

Nolan nodded. “I've urged them to consult another doctor in the closest town, just to confirm what I'm saying. I've told them I'll remain her doctor if they're willing, but her mother must come with her to her appointments.”

“Now I understand why you said she needed a friend to confide in,” Sarah said. “Nolan, I tried, but I never had the chance to speak to her,” she admitted. “I'm sorry.”

“No, I'm the one who should be sorry for even suggesting it,” he said. “I didn't realize until the scene at the party how brittle her hold on sanity is. It might have been dangerous for you to reach out to her.”

“You meant well,” she told him. “Nolan, Milly says she might need to be in an asylum.”

He sighed again. “It's possible, though I hope not. Mrs. Spencer told me that there's been a history of
insanity in the family tree. Her grandmother died in an asylum.” Then he studied her for a long time. “Perhaps I shouldn't have told you all that, but after the way she reacted toward you, I thought it was best that you know.” His gaze locked with hers. “And I find you so easy to talk to, Sarah.”

She looked down, her heart beating faster at the directness of his gaze. “You may trust me not to gossip, Nolan,” she assured him.

“I knew that,” he said. The clock struck the hour. “And now I must bid you good night.” He rose.

She stood up, too, and went to the door with him.

He looked down at her as he opened the door, the planes of his angular face shadowed by the darkness. He smiled.