Jamie didn’t have to spend the night in the stable as he thought he might. Nurse Randall took pity on him and let him sleep on a couch in the nurses’ gathering room. At daybreak, a couple of nurses were surprised to find him there, but then laughed and brought him breakfast. They even pointed him toward the shower, but since he didn’t have a razor, he still looked rough when he went to see Miss Danson.
Nurse Thompson, back on duty, let him peek in on Piper’s aunt, who was sleeping with her casted arm on a pillow.
“She’s doing fine. We’ll let her sleep.” She pulled Jamie back out into the hallway. “Mrs. Breckinridge called to see where you were. Seems she’s ready to let you interview her for your paper.”
“So no sweeping today?”
“You only halfway cleaned two rooms yesterday.” Nurse Thompson let out an exaggerated sigh.
“You sent me off to the mountains.”
“So I did. Where it seems you decided to take on a mountain look with those whiskers.”
“No razor.” He rubbed the bristles on his cheek.
“I’ll find you one. Mrs. Breckinridge likes her people to look neat.”
“I’m not exactly her people.”
“Are you sure about that? You’re here, running errands for us. Sleeping at Wendover.”
“In a tent.”
Nurse Thompson cocked one eyebrow at him. “Mrs. Breckinridge’s tent, I’m told.”
Jamie gave in. “You’re right. I should shave before I see Mrs. Breckinridge.”
The roadster was no longer parked in front of the hospital when Jamie, freshly shaven, went outside. He hoped that meant Braxton Crandall had gone back to Louisville, but that was surely an empty hope.
The same as expecting Piper to choose him over Braxton was a vain hope. Braxton wanted to marry her. Love would grow, the man said. In comfort. Better than comfort. Luxury. Piper would never lack for anything. How could Jamie deny her?
He pushed aside those thoughts. He was here to get a story. Maybe not the love story he’d hoped for, but a story about the frontier nurses. He should have taken pictures at Wilder Ridge. Maybe one of Mann Taylor with the snake draped around his neck. Or of Nurse Freeman riding away to attend a birth or Piper holding that plucked chicken. Before she kissed him.
But things had happened too fast for picture taking. He had his camera now, with time to focus in on the hospital building. He considered sneaking back inside to get a picture of Miss Virgie, but no time for that. Nurse Thompson said not to be slow about heading to Wendover, that Mrs. Breckinridge was not a patient woman. When she was ready for something to be done, she was ready for it to be done now.
At Wendover, he unsaddled and brushed down Dickens. A couple of the pups came out and grabbed his pants legs. He pushed them back. “Hey, guys. Don’t tear my pants.”
“Got to whack them harder than that to get them to pay you some mind.” Kermit looked up from repairing the stirrup on a saddle. “These pups are a plain aggravation. Be glad when they’re gone from here. Thinking Ginger there is feeling the same.” He nodded toward the mother dog, going out of the barn while several pups kept trying to nurse her. “Sometimes a body just wants to be done with something.”
“Surely not a mother with her pups.”
“Yep. All kinds of mothers get wore out with kids before they move on.” Kermit laughed. “My ma would chase us outside and bar the door. ’Course there was fifteen of us. I reckon you city folks don’t have the same boatload of kids.”
“Only three of us.” Jamie finished with Dickens and pushed one of the more determined pups away from his leg again. “You want me to put him in a stall?”
“Naw, he’s earned a day off. He can go out to the pasture field today.” Kermit spit on his fingers to smooth the end of the lacing he was winding through the stirrup. “Less’n that city feller decides he needs a ride back to Hyden.”
Jamie looked out the barn door. “Oh? Braxton Crandall’s here?”
“Nobody told me no name, but Suze brung him over last night. Said Mrs. Breckinridge would be glad to see him. I figure he must have loaded-down pockets.”
“Family owns some railroads.” Jamie gave up on getting the pup to leave his pants alone and picked him up. The pup wriggled up to lick Jamie’s face.
“Is that right?” Kermit shook his head. “Mrs. Breckinridge brings them all in. That Mrs. Ford whose husband makes them cars comes down now and again too.” The man looked up at Jamie. “Ain’t no telling what that dog’s been eatin’. Pups ain’t too particular.”
“He probably thinks the same thing about me.” Jamie laughed and rubbed the pup’s ears.
“Well, long as you ain’t too particular either.” Kermit stood up and put the saddle on a rack. “You into railroads too?”
“No loaded-down pockets here.” Jamie put the pup down. When it tried to climb up his leg, he squatted to pet it. “Are you married, Kermit?”
“Nope.”
“Ever been married or wanted to be married?”
“Did want to once.” Kermit blew out a breath and stuck his hands in his pockets as he stared out the barn door. “I woulda swum a river for that girl.”
“What happened? Didn’t she love you back?” Jamie looked up at the man.
“I’m thinking she did have some caring for me in her heart, but she went off with a man from the next county what had fuller pockets than me. Later on he went broke and they had some struggles.”
“Guess it served her right.”
“Naw, I never took no joy in their misfortune. I wanted her to have a good life. She couldn’t have known that I’d land this here job with Mrs. Breckinridge and be the one better off. Last I heard, she and her husband were living with one of her daughters. Husband went to work in the mines and got the lung trouble.”
Jamie stood up. “You could have married somebody else.” The pup finally ran off to find the others.
“I guess I coulda.” Kermit shrugged. “My ma always used to say coulda, shoulda, woulda never got you nowheres.”
“Sounds like your ma knew.” Jamie picked up the lead rope on Dickens and started out of the barn.
Kermit spoke behind him. “You’re sweet on that Danny girl, I’m told. Known her long?”
Jamie looked over his shoulder at Kermit. “Forever. But she’s promised to somebody else.”
“That guy with deep pockets, I reckon.”
“Afraid so.”
“Well, deep pockets ain’t everything and promises ain’t necessarily permanent if’n you aren’t speaking them in front of a preacher.” Kermit put his fists on his hips. “Remember that coulda and shoulda, then maybe somebody woulda.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Oh, and when you see that Danny, tell her to come down to see Puddin. The poor old thing got that sore leg hung up somehow. I’m feared it’s broke. Mrs. Breckinridge was down here looking at him earlier. Said we might have to put him down.” Kermit’s face darkened. “Ain’t something I’m wanting to do.”
“Sorry to hear that. I’ll tell her.” He’d noticed the horse hanging his head when he went by his stall earlier.
Jamie turned Dickens into the pasture. He kicked up his heels and trotted across to two other horses under a tree, as if he had plenty to tell and he knew the other horses would be happy to hear it. Jamie leaned on the gate and thought about Kermit’s coulda, shoulda words. He could try to step between Piper and Braxton Crandall, but the question was, should he.
Not a question he was ready to answer today. Instead he was supposed to be getting answers from Mrs. Breckinridge. He found her in the rose garden in front of her house.
“Ah, there you are,” she said. “I had about given up on you.”
“I had to take care of the horse I brought back.”
“Of course. Horses more than earn their place around here.” She clipped off a cherry-colored rose and held it to her nose. “So lovely, but this one never has the scent you might wish for it. Do you appreciate roses, Mr. Russell?”
“Appreciate? I’m not sure what you mean.” When she just kept giving him that quizzical look, he went on. “But yeah, I guess so.”
She put the cut rose into a basket and moved to clip off a white bloom. “This one lacks the vibrant colors of the last one.” She gave it a sniff. “But it smells heavenly.” She put it in the basket too and then looked out at the other bushes lining a rock walkway. “Many of these roses have been developed with grafting.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, but the thing to remember is that whatever man does develop, he does so with the materials and intelligence the Lord supplies. That’s what I’ve tried to do here at Wendover. Develop something to help these people with the gifts the Lord has given me. I’ve invited many along to help make this successful, and it is working. Mothers are not dying in childbirth. Our babies are healthier.”
“Why did you decide to build here?”
“You mean here on this hillside?” She looked back at the log house behind them. “Or do you mean why did I pick Leslie County for my grand experiment with midwifery services?”
“Both.” Jamie pulled a little notebook and a pencil stub out of his pocket. He was relieved the pencil showed lead.
“I like a reporter who lets me talk without telling me what he expects me to say.” She picked up her basket. “Come walk with me down Pig Alley.”
“Pig Alley?”
She laughed. “You have been here a short time if you don’t know the road past the barn and the Garden House is Pig Alley. And before you ask, it got that name from Stella, a very bossy sow we had a few years ago, who wandered up and down Pig Alley looking for dogs or people to terrorize. We eventually had to get rid of her, but she left behind enough progeny to continue the chance of finding a pig in your path. Looks as though the way is clear today and we can take these roses to Aileen. She does love a rose on her desk.”
“So your animals have free range?”
“Not all of them. The geese, dear things, and Matilda, our pet cow. Along with the pigs. Even the dogs know not to bother Matilda or the Stellas of now. And of course, they all make wide circles around the geese.” She chuckled. “I’ve heard our girls make wide circles around them too. The horses have to stay contained to be ready, should someone need to go to Hyden or out into the districts.”
“I’ve been told you traveled by horseback on all these trails before you started the Frontier Nursing Service here.”
“Oh, I didn’t answer your earlier question, did I?” She shook her head a little. “Pig Alley distracted me. But yes, I did interview every granny healer I could locate and talked to the local people too about the need for proper healthcare. That was before I had my fall from Traveler and broke my back. Since then, riding is more difficult. I do still ride, but I can’t stay in the saddle for the hours and days I did at that time.”
“I’m sorry.”
“So am I, but the good Lord did allow me to get things up and running here before my accident. That was a blessing.” She looked around. “And this place. Another blessing. I rode past here, and it was as though the sun shone brighter on this hillside. I simply knew this would be the place for the headquarters of my midwifery service.”
She started walking again. “The mountain people helped build my house. They have been so welcoming, appreciative of our service bringing their babies into the world. And they are blessed with many babies.” She sighed. “As you know I was not. I had two babies of my own. Dear Polly did not live out the day after her birth, and my cherished Breckie died not long after his fourth birthday. A sudden illness. Heartbreaking. But he was so brave. How could I be any different?”
She blinked back tears. “His dear little cousin said my Breckie always said he was a bird and could fly. He might fall down, but he thought he could fly. I want other children to have that same feeling. That they can fly as well as fall. That is why I started the Frontier Nursing Service.”
“He must have been a special little boy,” Jamie said.
“Oh yes.” She smiled. “Breckie has been with me through all my endeavors, and whenever I have had the misfortune to lose a baby at birth or to illness, I know Breckie is there waiting to usher them into paradise. Not that it happens often.”
She pointed toward his notebook. “Make sure you note that. We have a wonderful healthy-baby rate here due to our prenatal care and midwifery training.”
“That’s great for an area like this with so much poverty.”
Her look hardened on him. “No. For any area, no matter the family income. You can check the records. Our midwives have a better mother-baby survival rate than anywhere in the country. Be sure you put that in your story. And I don’t want to read any nonsense about our people here. These are good people. The men love their families, and the women are strong and resourceful. And the children, who wouldn’t love these children?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She smiled then, as the hard look slipped away. “I told you about our Christmas party, didn’t I? On the train?”
Jamie nodded. “I saw all the toys stored in the attic when I got the tent.”
“Yes, we get donations all year long. Not only toys but layettes, so our babies can have soft new clothes. Then we’re always happy to get shoes for the children. We do all we can to keep our people healthy. Early on, we began an inoculation program for diseases like typhoid and diphtheria, but when we first came to the mountains, deaths from such were common.” She looked sad. “So common in fact that we treated one little boy at the hospital who begged us not to send him home because he said everybody died there. He was sure if he went home, he would succumb too. Fortunately, he is doing fine. I see him now and again.”
Jamie scribbled notes as fast as he could.
“The hospital has been such a blessing. People were so kind to send donations and now we have a good place for those who need extra care our nurse midwives can’t supply in the patients’ homes.” She pointed up the hill to the tent Jamie had set up. “I told you, didn’t I, that I slept in that tent awhile. Before we had the hospital, Wendover was the hospital, and sometimes things would get very crowded. My nephew was one of the first couriers, and the two of us slept in the tent to free up room at the house. Not the most comfortable bedroom, as I’m sure you have discovered.” She laughed.
“Are all your midwives from England?”
“Trained in England. There’s no midwifery school in America. I trained as a midwife in England, and so did a Texas girl who is working with us now. You may have met her at Wilder Ridge. Nurse Hankins.”
“No. The other nurse, Nurse Freeman, said Nurse Hankins was away taking care of a sick girl.”
Mrs. Breckinridge chuckled again. “Oh, Alice. That young’un is tough. She can handle anything.”
“She had Piper plucking a chicken.”
“Good for her. Your Piper needs to learn some survival skills. My courier girls come here having been served all their lives. Here they learn to serve others.” She gave him a sideways look. “She is your Piper, isn’t she?”
He blew out a breath. “I would like to say yes, but she’s been promised to another.”
“Oh yes, that Braxton Crandall. I met him at breakfast. A nice young man. Says his mother is quite interested in our work here.” She shook her head. “I don’t believe I’ve ever had a girl here that had two fellows chase after her to the mountains. That is why you’re here, isn’t it?”
“Partly.” He knew better than to lie to this woman. “But I do want to write this story. Is it all right if I take some pictures before I leave?”
“Are you leaving soon?”
“I should.” That made Jamie think of Kermit’s mother’s coulda, shoulda, woulda advice again.
“Should you?” Her lips turned up in a little smile. “I don’t think you’ve interviewed enough people to get the full story. You should talk to Danny about how it feels to be a courier. That would add to your story. Young society girls coming down and working with horses and running errands. Oh, and plucking chickens.”
“Piper is still up at Wilder Ridge.”
“Then talk to Suze. This is her second time here. She’s a wealth of information.” Mrs. Breckinridge waved her hand toward the barn. “She’s been showing young Crandall around. Seems their families are connected through business somehow.”
“All right. Anybody else I should talk to?”
“Mrs. Miller, who helps me with my flowers, can tell you more about the mountains. And I’m sure you’ve already talked to Kermit.” She looked toward the barn again. “Dear Kermit. I fear he’s facing a difficult task with Puddin. Poor horse, but worse, poor Kermit. Perhaps you can help him dig the horse’s grave before you leave.”
“I’d be glad to help however I’m needed.”
She reached over and patted his cheek. “Why don’t you stay out the summer? Be a courier like the girls. My first two were my nephew and his friend. They were such help in those early months. You could follow their tradition.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“You do that. And think about other things as well. I note you said your Piper was promised. Not that she had promised.” She turned toward the Garden House door. “Something to consider.”