TWO

 

 

May 28th, 1902

Boise, Idaho

 

Megan awoke in the hospital. The smell of piss and blood almost gagged her. And her chest hurt as if she had been stepped on by a horse. A woman with dark black hair and a stained uniform that had been white at one point was sitting beside Megan, clearly monitoring her.

Megan tried to sit up, but the nurse instantly held her from doing so. “You can’t be moving. Your heart will not stand for it.”

“What happened?” Megan asked, her voice dry.

The nurse gave her a sip of water that felt wonderful.

“About an hour ago you fainted on the sidewalk in front of me,” a male voice said from the other side of her bed.

She turned to see Mr. Vaughn standing with his hat in his hand, looking worried.

“Did you bring me here?”

“I did, along with two of the staff at the Idanha,” he said. “They needed to return to work, so I told them I would report in on your condition.”

“Thank you,” Megan said, now feeling even more embarrassed that such a gentleman had to have been bothered by her.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Mr. Vaughn said, “but at the institute I reside out in Warm Springs, there is a major heart doctor from the East who happens to be visiting. I have asked him to come take a look at you.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Megan said.

“It is,” the nurse said. “Your heart is not sounding good so we want you to have the best care.”

Megan looked at the stern, but clearly concerned nurse, then back at Mr. Vaughn. “Thank you.”

He smiled that wonderful smile of his. “My desire to help is purely selfish, of course. A breakfast without your wonderful bread would not be the same.”

She smiled back, but didn’t have the energy to even say thank you again.

A moment later she was asleep and back in the blackness.