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“I can’t believe I missed it all. I would have totally skipped the dance to be here for such a drama show,” Cathleen remarked with a wide smirk on her face.
She, Joy and Olivia were sitting on Joy’s bed, rehearsing the happenings of the evening.
“Graham seriously threw Lydia on the dunghill?” Olivia appeared to be completely stunned.
Joy nodded. “He did. I was surprised myself. It happened so fast, too.”
Cathleen burst into laughter suddenly and couldn’t stop for quite some time. Joy and Olivia grinned too.
“Well, she deserved it and then some. This will not be the end of it, though,” Olivia said now with a sigh.
“No, it won’t. Her father threatened Graham with all sorts of things, and I know he will come after me too.”
“But you were only there, you did nothing.”
“The fact that I was there, worsens it. They already tried to blame me for the end of the marriage.”
Cathleen, who had calmed down again, shook her head. “It is unbelievable how low they go with their accusations and drama. No need to worry, though. We won’t let them hurt you, and I know the town will be behind you and Graham as well.”
“Joy Collins,” the warm voice of her father’s old friend said, when he stepped out of the stagecoach. He reached out to her right away and pulled her in for a fatherly hug. “You get more beautiful each time I see you.”
Joy lowered her eyes, but hugged him back. He then turned around and helped his wife and daughter out of the stagecoach. His wife pulled Joy in for a hug as well.
“We are so sorry about the passing of your parents, Joy. As you know, we were great friends.”
Joy nodded, and blinked away a few tears. Seeing her parent’s friends again, brought back many memories. Her uncle greeted the Preston family and invited them to follow him into his office.
Once seated, Dr. Preston cleared his throat. “I was a little surprised when we received your letter, Joy. Normally, folks in the country are even more hesitant in accepting a female doctor as their physician. Julia, is well-prepared for those situations, though.”
The young woman nodded. “That I am. The prejudice against female doctors is still pretty pronounced.”
Joy smiled. “You’ll find people like that here too, but I believe most of them are glad to finally have another option. Dr. Thomas truly is a dislikable man.”
“I would like to meet that man,” Dr. Preston remarked now, and winked at Joy. “I am sure we have lots to talk about.”
“I wouldn’t get my hopes up, Sir,” Joy’s uncle interjected while rolling his eyes. “He has excused himself with the arrival of your daughter and will be gone for a while. For how long, we do not know.”
“What a shame,” Marvin Preston said dryly, and there was a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. “My wife and I will be staying here for a week before we return to Sacramento. I would have liked to take it upon myself to give my fellow physician a warning to not attempt to intimidate or chase away my daughter. Julia is quite capable of standing her ground, but I will also not hesitate in getting the law involved if Dr. Thomas becomes a threat.”
Just as predicted by Joy’s uncle, neither Lydia nor her parents showed themselves in town while Dr. Preston and his wife were there. It was a nice break for everyone, but also gave Julia the chance to introduce herself to her future patients.
Dr. Thomas was back the minute Julia’s parents left. He was hostile toward her and tried to badmouth her to people in town, but nobody was impressed since they had enough knowledge about Lydia’s father to know what he was like.
Julia quickly made a name for herself. She was kind and inviting, but also always on top of medical things. She examined her patients thoroughly to make sure she found whatever it was that was bothering the person, and her prices were not nearly as high as Dr. Thomas’s.
He attempted to sabotage her several times, but Julia never hesitated in calling him out openly.
Since Joy and Julia knew each other since childhood, they became close friends really fast. One Sunday as they were leaving church, Julia tugged her arm under Joy’s and pulled her a little to the side.
“I don’t know what it is, but Lydia looks awfully familiar to me. Is there any way I could have met her before?”
Joy shrugged. “I don’t know. She was gone for several months, when she ran off with the son of the governor, but I hardly know anything about her.”
Julia remained silent for a while but gasped suddenly. “I remember now. I was at her wedding.”
“What?” Joy glanced at her friend as if she had lost her mind.
“One of my friends is a good friend of Lydia’s new beau, now husband, and since I was visiting San Francisco at that time, he asked me if I wanted to go as his date. I had to leave early because I was informed there was a family medical emergency back home, but I know it was her wedding.”
Joy felt as if everything was spinning around her and quickly rushed to one of the benches near the cemetery.
“Are you all right?” Julia sat next to her, with worry in her eyes.
Joy nodded. “Lydia is still married to Graham Harrison.”
“What?” This time it was Julia who looked completely shocked. “That is impossible.”
Joy shook her head. “She never signed the divorce papers. Graham and Lydia are still married.”
“But how could they have pulled that off?”
“I bet that’s why she got married in San Francisco. Lydia knew if they were to be married here, the truth would come out. Marrying someone in another state was the only solution to continue to play her game.”
“Do you think Graham or Eric know about it?”
Joy shook her head again. “No. She probably made up some lie that Graham was only a suitor, never a husband, or she told her new beau they were already divorced. I also see her capable of making up some story about Graham and that he would harass her if they would have their wedding here in Montana.”
“Wow,” Julia was still stunned. “You warned me that the Thomas family had their own rules for plenty of things, but this is outrageous. We must put an end to this charade at once.”
“How?”
“Eric is studying law. He was a student at Harvard, but transferred to San Francisco a few months ago to finish his studies. If everything we’ve just discovered is true, I wouldn’t be surprised if Lydia talked him into turning his back on Harvard, so she wouldn’t be so far away from her parents.”
“She probably also wants to be close enough to continue her games with Graham.” Joy clenched her fists. She was seething now.
“My guess is that she told her new husband she would visit her parents, while he prepares for the final exams. I believe he is nearly done with law school.”
“Do you know him personally?”
Julia shook her head. “I don’t, but it will be easy for me to get in touch with our mutual friend. Erik needs to know about this. With his connections and influence, he can divorce Lydia in no time and also force her to divorce Graham. Both men deserve to be free. If I make haste and get a letter on the way tomorrow, we might be able to see something happening just in time for when the Harrison’s invited us over to celebrate Graham’s birthday.”
“Betty, please add a few drops of chloroform to the cloth. Right above her nose,” Julia instructed, and the young nurse nodded, following the order perfectly.
Cathleen stepped closer, a large towel in her hand. Julia nodded to her. “As soon as I make the incision, Betty will pull the baby out and hand it to you.”
Cathleen nodded. She was fascinated by Julia and the things she knew and did. Not long after Julia’s arrival, Cathleen had asked her if she would train her as a midwife, which was welcomed by the young physician because it meant she wouldn’t always have to be present during a birth.
The baby began screaming, as soon as Julia lifted her in the air. Cathleen reached for the screaming bundle of joy, wrapped the child into the towel and took it to a small table where a bowl of warm water and more cleaning supplies were waiting.
She began cleaning the baby, and Julia asked the nurse to get another bottle of alcohol out of the cupboard so she could disinfect the large wound before stitching it up.
Betty reached for the bottle and pulled it out, when suddenly another bottle shattered into a million pieces, startling everyone in the room. The young nurse was still holding the bottle of alcohol in her hands, but a string was attached to it, which was also tied to the shattered bottle.
Julia looked up alarmed, when she noticed white clouds forming around the broken glass and a strong smell began to circulate in the air. Her face turned ashen.
“That’s Hydrochloric Acid. Cathleen, get the baby out of here at once, and Betty, we need to move the patient onto the bed and rush her into the second operating room.”
“But she has not been stitched up, yet,” the nurse replied, her eyes wide.
“There is no time. Quick.” She put the instruments on the table next to her and, together with the nurse, lifted the lifeless body of the patient onto the bed before putting a blanket over her and wheeling her out of the room and into the room across from it.
Julia returned to grab everything she needed to finish the operation, as well as opening the windows to air out the room, but accidentally brushed against the bottle of chloroform. The bottle fell and shattered on the ground before Julia had the chance to catch it. She called out for help, but blacked out a moment later.
Cathleen looked into the room, but the strong smells stopped her from entering. Nurse Betty appeared a moment later.
“We need to get her out of there.”
Cathleen nodded.
“I have to stitch up the incision of our patient. Otherwise, she will bleed to death. Make sure you don’t breathe in any of the fumes when you pull Dr. Preston out. This can be fatal. Hurry.”
Cathleen grabbed a few of the cloth diapers she had prepared for the baby and wrapped it around her nose and mouth before entering the room. She lifted Julia’s body enough to get access to the physician’s arm pits and pulled her away from everything and into the hallway before closing the door shut. Once Julia was out of immediate danger, Cathleen ran into another clinic room, grabbed a blanket and rushed back to the operating room to cover the gap between door and floor.
Bloody spots appeared on Julia’s clothes, indicating that she had been cut by glass pieces of the broken bottles. Cathleen took a deep breath. They needed help.
She turned on her heels and rushed out of the clinic, looking frantically around to find a strong person or two who could lift Julia on a table or bed.
“Sheriff Baker, Barry, I need your help at once.”
They must have heard the urgency in her voice or perhaps saw the blood on her apron, but followed her right away. She briefly explained the situation before they reached a still unconscious Julia, and the two men then lifted the young doctor on a bed and left again.
Betty joined Cathleen a moment later. “We need to remove Dr. Preston’s clothes and remove the glass pieces that might still be in her skin. I stitched up the wound of our patient, but someone needs to be monitoring her so she doesn’t move in a wrong way when she wakes up.”
“I go and stay with the mom and baby, since I have never done any of these medical procedures before.”
Betty nodded and hurried after Cathleen to grab everything she needed, so she could treat Julia’s wounds. Luckily, they kept both operating rooms stocked, and she didn’t have to go back into the first room again.
Julia moaned when she woke up. Betty had turned her on her stomach and was working quickly on removing glass particles out of cut open wounds. Some of the cuts had to be stitched up, but thanks to the clothing Dr. Preston was wearing, most of it wasn’t too deep.
“What happened?”
Betty filled her in before informing her that she would look after the patient once she was done and send Cathleen back in.
Julia clenched her fists when she heard the nurse leaving the room. This had been another attack and sabotage by Willard Thomas, she was sure of it. If she had been on her own, the situation could have ended badly, not just for the mother, but she, Julia, would have also been in danger.
It didn’t take long before the young physician was up and running again. The new mother was doing well enough and the baby was healthy.
Julia paced the front room of her clinic. The entire situation had not been an accident. Willard Thomas had, once again, tried to hurt her, but this time it could have ended deadly.
Cathleen entered the room the moment the front door opened and Joy, her uncle and the sheriff walked into the building.
“What exactly happened?” Dave appeared to be just as concerned as everyone else. Cathleen had only explained why Julia had lost consciousness, so Julia shared the encounter in more detail, but clenched her fists.
“This did not just happen on accident. Someone purposely tied the two liquid bottles together, knowing quite well what would happen.”
“Do you think the culprit is Dr. Thomas?”
Julia scoffed. “Of course. Who else would do something so dangerous? Plus, he knew exactly what chemical would cause such a reaction. The problem is, we have no evidence. Unless someone saw him sneaking into my clinic, we have no grounds for arrest. Sure, we could accuse him of it, but he will just deny it.”
“This is getting out of control, we can’t wait until someone gets killed.” Gerald breathed through his teeth. “I’ll be calling for a town meeting to address this issue.”
“But won’t Dr. Thomas and his wife attend as well?” Joy curiously looked at her uncle and he nodded.
“Yes, but I want him to know that we are taking this seriously and will take every measure possible, so something like that won’t happen again. Dave,” he said now and turned to the sheriff. “Perhaps you can recruit a few good men from this town as your deputies. We need more hands and eyes to solve this. I’ll also be speaking to the two marshals so they can keep an eye on things as well.”
“I am sure, Dylan Andrews would be happy to assist as a sheriff’s deputy why he is here.” Joy said now.
After her uncle and the sheriff had left again, Joy turned to Julia. “Are you all right?”
The young physician nodded. “I am, but I feel so angry.”
“I wonder why Dr. Thomas is doing this. Surely, he can easily start new in a different town or even apply in a hospital somewhere. Why is he so determined to stay here? He knows the folks of Deer Lodge don’t want him or his family here any longer.”
That afternoon, the adults of the small-town came together for a town meeting. Joy’s uncle explained the situation, but before he was even finished, men and women alike burst into outraged chatter.
“That was Thomas’s doing,” one farmer spat out, shaking his fists at the physician, and many in the room applauded loudly. Willard Thomas jumped to his feet.
“You have no right to accuse me of that. There is no evidence it was me and—”
“Order, order,” Gerald shouted now, using a gavel to silence the furious crowd. “Dr. Thomas is right, there is no evidence it was him.”
Voices got louder again, but Joy’s uncle was determined to stay in control. “I understand your anger, and I can assure you that we are taking this threat seriously. Dave and Barry will be recruiting men as deputy sheriffs to keep an eye on things and make it a lot more difficult for the culprit to do something like this again. What happened today could have ended fatal for either one of the women working in the clinic, and we will not have a repeat of that.”
“We all know it was Willard Thomas,” the same farmer erupted again, causing other men in the room to get fired up once more too. “Why don’t we just chase him and his wife and terrible daughter out of our town or, better yet, hang him?”
Joy and Julia exchanged a brief glance. This was getting out of hand. Gerald used the gavel, but nobody was listening anymore. Several men grabbed Willard and were about to drag him out of the church, when Joy jumped on the bench she was sitting on and let out a loud, piercing whistle.
Everyone was silent at once, all eyes on her.
“Listen, I understand how you all feel. I am not saying Willard Thomas is innocent, but you can’t just hang someone simply because you think he did it. What if you are wrong?”
“We aren’t wrong,” another farmer called out. “He has been bad for this town ever since they moved here. The Thomas family only care about themselves and nobody else.”
Loud mumbling indicated that many if not all in the room agreed.
“That is still not a good enough reason to kill a person,” Joy insisted. “You don’t want to have blood on your hands. I love that this town is fighting so fiercely against evil, but making emotion-filled decisions isn’t helping anyone. You need to work together to find a good and right solution. Dr. Thomas is innocent until proven guilty, just like anyone else should be.”
Willard scoffed. “I don’t need someone like you to defend me,” he spat out, but was immediately shoved against the wall by one of the men in the crowd.
“You are lucky she sees reason because if it were up to us, you would be hanging from a tree by now.” Everyone applauded the last remark, but the man wasn’t finished.
“You don’t deserve to be defended by Joy Collins because you are a piece of prairie coal and have treated her horribly ever since she set foot in this town. You’ve been blaming her for your daughter’s bratty behavior. Lydia left a good man because she was never told no. Your whole family is toxic to our town, but that is not Joy’s fault.”
“Joy Collins brought all this friction here. She encouraged her uncle to hire Miss Preston. She made eyes at my daughter’s husband and had him kiss her, even though my daughter is still married to him. That is adultery at the very least.”
“It is Dr. Preston to you,” Julia said fiercely and stepped closer. “I know there are still many men out there who can’t accept a woman as a physician, but I was trained the same way you were.”
“And stop your accusations and name-calling regarding Joy,” Graham said now, his eyes dark with fury. “I kissed Joy, she did not encourage that. Lydia is the adulterer.”
“Joy Collins is staying with your family. You are living in the same house. Nobody knows what you, and she, do behind closed doors. For all we know, you could consummate every single night,” Dr. Thomas barked loudly, causing everyone in the room to gasp with disgust.
Graham, however, punched the older man hard in the face, making him stumble backward before crashing to the floor.
Before Willard was back on his feet, Graham seized him by his shirt and was about to punch him again, but that’s when Joy forced herself between the two men, with her uncle and the sheriff right behind her.
Graham looked down and into Joy’s eyes, and she shook her head. “He is not worth it, Graham. Don’t give him so much power over you. He is a bitter doctor, who has nothing left but to spew hate and lies.” Her blue eyes expressed a silent plea, but it calmed down the young man.
Seeing that Dr. Thomas once again wanted to say something, Gerald stepped in front of his niece.
“Shut your mouth, Thomas. I am sick and tired of your constant need for attacking my niece’s virtue. I’ll be getting in touch with a lawyer and sue you for everything you ever said to and about Joy. The good people of this town will be my witness.”
“Hear, hear.” Everyone around nodded in agreement and Joy knew if the doctor made another inappropriate remark, they would not hesitate any longer and nobody would be able to stop them.
“Stop blaming everyone around you for everything and start being responsible for your own actions. Nothing inappropriate is happening between Graham Harrison and Joy, and I am telling you right now, if you accuse them again of such a wrong-doing, we will banish you from this town even before I take you to court. We tried to be welcoming, but you’ve rejected it from day one. We don’t have to put up with you and your disgraceful behavior.”
Gerald’s expression was fierce, and the mumbling around made it clear everyone agreed with him.
Willard gave the other man a withering glance, but before he had the chance to say something else, the mayor had already turned to face the rest of the people again.
“Dave and Barry, already hand-picked a few candidates to become deputies, but any man of age is welcome to volunteer.”
Joy was reticent on the ride home. The entire Harrison family watched her concerned, but left her alone until they reached the ranch. When she attempted to disappear into her room, Darlene clasped her arm to stop her.
“Joy, share with us what is bothering you. Don’t hold it in. We are your family.”
Tears welled in Joy’s eyes, but she followed her motherly friend into the sitting room, with the rest of the family behind. Everyone found a spot to sit, and Brigham sat on Joy’s other side, pulling her in for a fatherly side hug.
She looked up and into his eyes, a sudden calmness coming over her, even though the tears were now rolling down her cheeks. He reminded her so much of her father at that moment.
Darlene took Joy’s hand into hers. “Is it because of the terrible things Dr. Thomas said about you earlier?”
Joy nodded. “I just don’t understand why he attacks me in such ways. I know I shouldn’t let him get to me and I try hard to fight against these feelings, but it hurts. Why would he accuse me of adultery?”
Brigham sighed, but pulled her closer to his chest. “I believe he sees you as a threat. You are a beautiful young woman, but you are also kind-hearted, loyal, determined, confident and loving, everything his own daughter is lacking. You have a fierce spirit, carrying you through the trials of life, and Lydia made it her goal to be a victim no matter what. It is always only about her, not another person. You, however, care about those around you. You love fiercely. The way you protect your sister and nieces and are always there for them, shows that you would do anything for those you love.”
Darlene nodded. “Brigham is right. You’ve been a daughter to us from day one. Lydia is only interested in relationships as long as she is the number one. You never made you moving here with us about you. As Willard Thomas is concerned, he attacks your character because there is nothing else for him to attack. He wants to tear you down because he feels threatened by you. Your virtue is the only thing he can ambush because only those close to you will know the truth, which allows him to paint you in a terrible light in hopes of having others turn against you.”
“You need not worry about the people of Deer Lodge, though,” Cathleen interjected now and gave her friend a warm smile. “They love you just as much as we do, and nobody takes Dr. Thomas, or his wife and daughter, seriously anymore.”
“Gerald, Dave, Dylan, what are you doing here?” Brigham looked at them surprised.
“We need to discuss the situation with Dr. Preston some more. Something isn’t adding up, and we don’t know how open we can talk in town.”
“Sure, come on in.” He led them into his study, and Graham and Joy followed them. Once everyone had found a spot to sit, Joy’s uncle cleared his throat.
“We’ve talked to many town members this evening, but nobody has seen anything. I am just puzzled that Thomas, or whoever he asked to do it, can get into Dr. Preston’s clinic so easily.” He looked around the room. Everyone appeared to be thinking about it.
“Aren’t the two marshals supposed to not only keep an eye on Alice, but Julia and her clinic? How could they not have noticed anything?” Joy looked around.
“There are many ways for someone to sneak into the clinic,” Dylan remarked, clearly trying to defend the two marshals.
“I still think they aren’t doing their job the way they should. If it takes for them to patrol around the building, it’s what they are supposed to do.”
“Well, with all the new deputies we have now, it should be a lot more difficult for anyone to break into the clinic and cause trouble,” Dave interjected now and everyone nodded in agreement.
“I believe Joy is right, though,” Brigham remarked, and his expression was serious. “The marshals don’t seem overly concerned with what is going on in our town. Whenever I am in town, I see them more often talking to pretty young women, than doing their duties.”
“Perhaps Dr. Thomas talked them into ignoring what they see, or he even pays them.”
The men in the room looked up, concerned. Joy had only mumbled it, but it clearly hit a sore spot. Dylan gaped at her.
“Are you suggesting my uncle hired marshals who could be bought?” His voice was a little hostile, but Joy was not intimidated.
“I thought Mr. Gregory was supposed to get in touch with the marshal headquarters.”
“He was, but Uncle Jonas insisted. I don’t think he trusts Charles very much.”
Joy shook her head. “Maybe working together isn’t a wise thing to do then. I mean, I am no expert, but I would imagine that business partners should get along.”
Dylan shrugged. “I don’t think my uncle ever liked the arrangement. I believe it was your father who suggested for them to work together.”
“Really?” Joy stared at the young man, surprised. She was quiet for a moment, before another thought hit her. “What if the two marshals are not real marshals and are just pretending to be them?”
Everyone gasped. Even Dylan, his expression changed from irritation to shock.
“What do you mean?” her uncle asked and looked at her curiously.
“I mean, who knows what connections Willard Thomas has. He seems to be someone who would do whatever he can to get what he wants, so I don’t see it impossible that he somehow manipulated the situation and has some fake marshals working for the town.”
“That should not be difficult to find out. Dylan, do you know which headquarters your uncle contacted?” Gerald asked, the concern was growing in his eyes.
“I am assuming the one in Helena, but Sacramento or San Francisco are also possibilities.”
“I can just casually ask one of them tomorrow when I see them in town,” Dave said and nodded to Joy. “They have to tell us something.”
“We need to keep it quiet for now, though. If they are truly not marshals, we have to find out a way to deal with it and why Thomas is sabotaging Dr. Preston and this town so much.”
Although the situation with Dr. Thomas hadn’t completely escalated, people in town did blame him for the last incident at the clinic of Julia Preston and refused to use him as their physician.
He had long-lost many of his patients, but found himself without work not long after the town meeting. He was seething and continued to blame Joy and Graham for his failures, but refused to acknowledge that it was his own fault.
Many of the men in town volunteered to be a deputy sheriff, so Willard Thomas, or his family, was unable to get close to Dr. Preston’s clinic any longer and anyone who appeared sinister was stopped at once.
Despite everything that went on, the Thomas family refused to leave. It made everyone wonder what the real reason was that kept them in Deer Lodge.