Chapter 10

Deborah!” Timothy’s strong voice echoed from outside the classroom, interrupting her long-division lesson. Something was terribly wrong. Mr. Thompson must be drastically ill. Lord, please be with Mr. Thompson. Help him to heal. “Children, stay in here and continue with your work.” She rushed outside the building and slammed the door. Timothy stood in the schoolyard. “Deborah, wait, don’t come closer, not yet.”

“What’s wrong?” She stood at the bottom of the steps.

“Mr. Thompson has the measles. We need to quarantine the town. Ask the children if any of them have been near Mr. Thompson or his sons. Let me know if any of them have. You need to send the children home, and we need to let everyone know that they need to stay on their own property for twenty-one days.”

Deborah rushed back into the school. She needed to hurry and do what Timothy had asked. Oh Lord, we really need Your help right now.

Deborah quickly gathered all of the dried and fresh herbs that she could fit into her case. Timothy stood right behind her. “Deborah, we have to hurry. We can come back to get more if needed.”

She couldn’t argue with him. She got into his wagon, mulling over how much had happened since their noontime chat on the school steps had been interrupted earlier that day. After Timothy had made his announcement, it had been discovered that five of the children had been in direct contact with the Thompson family. Three of the children had said that their ma or pa had been feeling poorly the last few days. She’d noted their names, and all of the children had left in chaos. Some of them had been frightened, and some had been ecstatic about their twenty-one-day hiatus.

Timothy flicked the reins as they made their way to the first home on their list, and Deborah continued to think about all that had occurred. For once in her life, she thanked God for an illness she’d had in the past. She, Timothy, and her ma and pa had already had the measles.

They’d caught them when Eve insisted that they travel to Philadelphia for her wedding. Eve had always been one to put on airs. They’d contracted measles during that visit and all of them had survived. Deborah knew they could not catch the dreaded disease again. However, Timothy was concerned about Lily. Although he knew that he was immune, he was unsure about his treating other victims and then coming into contact with his daughter. Could Lily catch the disease if she were around him? He needed to make sure he protected her.

They decided that Lily would stay with Ma, quarantined on their farm. Deborah and Pa would stay with Timothy, since Timothy would need Deborah’s help while treating the victims. She knew it would be downright awful if it were discovered that the unmarried schoolteacher was staying with the town’s doctor, which was why Pa would be staying with them. Pa and Timothy would share a room and Deborah would sleep in Lily’s room.

They returned to the Thompson farm first, because one of the brothers sent word that he was feeling sick. When they entered the room, Deborah paid attention as Timothy checked the young man’s eyes, ears, and mouth and listened to his heartbeat. The man did not yet have a rash. However, he did have a fever. “How do you feel?” Timothy’s deep, kind voice echoed in the room.

“My throat hurts and my eyes hurt.”

Timothy touched the man’s forehead and felt his throat. “You probably caught the measles from your pa. I’ll be praying for you. You’ll be seeing a red rash on your skin within the next few days.” He removed a packet of white powder from his bag. “You need to take this white willow bark for your pain.” He told him how much he needed to take. “Make sure you drink lots of water.”

Deborah placed a cool cloth over the man’s eyes. “I made a mixture of peppermint oil, lavender, salt, and some of my herbs. If your skin itches, you can put the mixture on your skin. It might help you.”

All they could do was keep the patients comfortable. From what Timothy had told her, the disease had to run its course. She recalled the itchy red rash she’d endured shortly after Eve’s wedding. Lord, please help them feel better. Hopefully, everyone would survive without aftereffects. They made sure the rest of the brothers knew how to care for their two patients.

They visited several infected homes throughout that first night, Timothy giving instructions to the families. When they returned to Timothy’s home, Deborah yawned. She’d never felt so tired in her entire life. The sun was just starting to rise, and Pa had left hard-boiled eggs on the table for them. Too tired to eat, Deborah fell onto the mattress in Lily’s room and fell asleep.

Over the next twenty-one days, Timothy and Deborah worked side by side, visiting the homes of the infected and treating the illness as best they could. As they worked together, she focused on leaving her herbs for the patients and explaining how they could use the herbs to relieve their painful, itchy skin.

After two weeks the rashes began to fade and the fevers broke. The townspeople wanted to break the quarantine, but Timothy had let them know in no uncertain terms that the afflicted were still contagious.

Since most of their patients had healed, Deborah finally felt that she could relax for a few days. She’d prepared a special dinner for Pa and Timothy. After the food had been laid on the table, Pa entered the kitchen. “Looks good. I’m hungry. Where’s Timothy?”

“He’s in his workroom. I’ll go get him.” Timothy had a workroom adjoining his house. As she walked outside, she recalled that Timothy had told her he needed to take stock of his supplies. She stopped walking as soon as she heard his deep voice spilling from behind the closed door. To whom was he speaking? “Lord, thank You. I don’t think I could’ve stood another person mercilessly dying because of me. Amen.” Shocked, Deborah didn’t know what to think about Timothy’s prayer. He was a good, strong, caring doctor. Working with him over the past three weeks had made her see what a wonderful, godly man he was.

She thought about Timothy’s prayer over the following day. Should she talk to him about it? The day before the school reopened, Deborah sat with Timothy on his porch. Pa was in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. Timothy glanced at her house across the field. “I miss Lily.”

“So do I.” She paused, biting her lip. “Actually, I miss all of my students.” She took a deep breath, needing to speak what was on her mind. “Timothy, I want to ask you something. When I went to your workroom to fetch you for dinner the other day, I heard you praying.” She took a deep breath. “I feel bad that I heard your private prayer to God, but I just feel that I need to ask you about it. When you prayed that nobody would die because of you, what did you mean?”

He sighed. His jaw tensed and he pressed his hands together as if he were in pain. She touched his shoulder. “Are you all right?”

“Yes.” He paused. “I never told you about what I’ve been going through … with Eve.”

She blinked, her heart skipping a beat. “You say that like Eve is still alive.” She couldn’t believe the words that had just come from his mouth.

He sighed again. “I’ve been having dreams.”

She leaned toward him. “What kind of dreams?”

He told her about Eve’s accusations in his dreams. “When Eve got sick … well, she’d been quiet, not been herself for a few days. She didn’t tell me about her illness. By the time she told me, it had gotten worse. I tried to treat her, but it was too late. She died.” His voice broke. “If I’d treated her sooner, I may have been able to save her.”

She took a deep breath and touched his broad shoulder. “Timothy, I’m sorry.” She stroked his shoulder while he swiped away his tears. She closed her eyes. Lord, please be with Timothy. Help him understand that Eve’s death was not his fault. She pressed her hands together, tried to think of what to say. She thought about the conversation she’d had when she first met Lucy in the mercantile a few weeks ago. She’d asked her if Eve was kind and had told her to think about it. Deborah had been so busy with patients, assisting Timothy, that she hadn’t really had time to give much thought to Lucy’s question until now. “You know, Eve could have told you that she’d been feeling ill. It’s not always up to you to guess the way a person is feeling, especially if the person is able to speak and has a clear mind.”

“But I’m a doctor.” He pointed to his chest with his index finger. “I should’ve known. She probably didn’t want to tell me she was sick because she didn’t want to bother me since I’d been working so hard.”

Deborah shook her head. “Or she could’ve said something. Timothy, as a doctor, you know that people will die.”

“But I don’t want folks to die if I have the means to prevent it. I know I’ll lose some patients, but if there’s anything I can do to prevent them from dying, then I’ll do what I have to do to keep that person alive.”

Deborah sighed. She doubted she could convince Timothy that his reasoning was wrong. All she could do was hope and pray that somebody would be able to make him understand that he needed to stop blaming himself.