Mail Order Midwife (Brides of Beckham Book 18) Read online

  Emily jumped up and ran from the room, obviously thrilled to get her Sunday dress off. Patsy sat down beside Wesley on the couch, resting her head on his shoulder. “I was worried for a minute there when I realized it was twins. I didn’t even think to listen to the baby’s heartbeat until she said that.”

  “You have a stethoscope?” he asked, surprised.

  She nodded. “I’ve worked hand-in-hand with the doctor in Beckham for years. He would send patients to me, and I would send patients to him. A stethoscope is always in my bag.”

  “It never occurred to me you would carry a stethoscope. To me it’s a doctor’s tool and not something a midwife would use.”

  “I’m as modern of a midwife as you’ll find. I use all the latest techniques, because I care about my patients and their welfare. The number of women who die in childbirth, even in this modern age, is absolutely appalling. I will do my part to make that number smaller.”

  He frowned. “I’m sorry I was so negative about you when you first arrived. I realized today how nice it was that someone came up with an emergency, and I didn’t have to be the one to leave. Instead you rode out and I got to spend the day with your amazing little girl. Who would much rather make mud pies than spend an hour in the kitchen. And she would rather play baseball than embroider. And she would rather climb trees than wear fairy puke—excuse me, fairy vomit.”

  Patsy laughed softly. “I know she’s not what you were expecting in a new daughter, but I hope she’s not too bad.”

  “Not at all. She’s a special little girl. She’s going to keep me on my toes, though. I don’t know how I feel about her enjoying playing with the boys so much and no girls. I worry the boys will start to see her as a girl in a few years, and we’ll be so used to her playing with them all the time, something could happen.”

  “I’ve thought of that too, but right now, she’s only seven. If she likes playing baseball, I don’t see that it hurts anyone. Unless the boys talk her into gambling again, but I don’t think that would work as well here as it did back in Beckham.”

  “Wait a minute. Boys were gambling over the games? And she looked so small and sweet, the other kids were willing to bet against her, weren’t they?”

  She nodded. “They always won. Her fastball is legendary.”

  “I’ve seen it.” He shook his head. “When you wrote to me that you had a little girl, I was overjoyed. I imagined her sitting quietly embroidering and baking cookies for me when I got home from work after a long day. The reality is nothing like what I’d thought it would be.”

  She stifled a laugh. “I hope I didn’t say anything to make you draw those conclusions. I never would have deliberately deceived you. I guess I should have said she was a baseball-playing, tree-climbing little girl who didn’t believe in wearing fairy puke, but I’m not sure how well that would have gone over.”

  He laughed softly. “I think I got the best end of this bargain. She and her mama are both awfully special. How could I complain?”

  Chapter Nine

  Monday afternoon, Patsy decided to resume her embroidery lessons with Emily. She had already seen the only patient she was going to have for the day, and dinner was ready. They could spend the hour until Wesley came home embroidering to make him happy. It wouldn’t kill either of them.

  She called Emily into the kitchen. “Okay, we’re going to embroider for the hour until Daddy gets home. I know you don’t like it, but you’ve played most of the day.”

  Emily’s eyes welled up with tears. “It’s really important to Daddy that I learn, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is. I’m sorry it makes you so unhappy.”

  “I’ll go get my hoop.” Emily dragged her feet as she walked into the parlor to retrieve her embroidery and as she watched her go, Patsy thought of something she thought might work for her little girl.

  “I have an idea, Emily! How about we embroider in the tree down by the pond.”

  Emily came running back to her mother, carrying her embroidery hoop. “You mean you’d climb the tree with me, and we’d sit on one of the branches and sew? Up there in the sky where we could see the whole world?”

  Patsy frowned at the way Emily put it. She wasn’t exactly afraid of heights, but she certainly wasn’t a fan of them. “That’s what I mean.”

  “I think that would be wonderful!” Emily grabbed Patsy’s hand, dragging her toward the back door. “Come on, Mama!”

  Patsy laughed softly, grabbing her own hoop from the counter. “Let’s go.” She already had reservations, but the look of delight on her daughter’s face, even though she knew she’d have to sew, was worth it.

  They got to the edge of the pond, and Patsy watched as her daughter scrambled up the tree, her foot finding all the knots to climb on just right. In less than a minute, she was sitting on one of the lower branches, and Patsy handed both hoops up to her, knowing she’d need both hands, and every bit of concentration she had inside her, to get up to the branch beside her daughter.

  Patsy closed her eyes and said a quick prayer, before gripping the trunk of the tree with both hands. “Put your foot on the knot there, Mama. Now the other foot there. Move your hand up and grab my branch. You can do it!”

  It took two tries, but Patsy made it up beside Emily, and she looked out over the land. “You were right, Emily. It’s so beautiful from up here.”

  “I know, Mama. I could sit up here all day, but you don’t like it when I climb trees.”

  “I’m always worried you’ll fall and hurt yourself. What if you broke your pitching arm?”

  Emily looked at her with wide eyes. “That would be a true tragedy.”

  “It would!” Patsy sighed. “Now we need to embroider until your daddy is home from his house calls.”

  Emily nodded. “I’ll hate it, but I’ll hate it less, because I’m sitting in a tree.”

  *****

  Wesley got home from his house calls a bit earlier than usual on Monday afternoon, and though he found his supper ready, he couldn’t find his wife and daughter anywhere. Where had they disappeared to?

  He decided to check down by the pond, knowing both of them enjoyed going there and sitting in nature.

  When he got close to the pond, he saw there was a ball game in progress, so he decided to ask the boys if they’d seen Emily. She was already known around Butterfly Meadows as “the girl with the fast ball.”

  As he was walking under the tree by the lake, he noticed four feet dangling down from the lowest branch. It was above his head, but not by much. He looked up, and much to his surprise, he found his new wife and daughter sitting in the tree, both of them concentrating on their embroidery with frowns on their faces.

  Emily’s tongue was out in concentration, and Patsy had her brows drawn together in a line. “This wasn’t exactly what I meant when I said you two should spend your time embroidering.”

  Patsy looked down, so happy to see him. It meant her torture time doing embroidery was over. “Wesley! I’m glad you’re home!”

  He shook his head, looking up at the undisciplined pair. Why had he thought life would be calmer with a wife and a daughter? “Why are you in a tree?”

  Patsy shrugged. “I told Emily it was time to embroider, and she seemed so sad about it, I thought we might both enjoy it better from a different vantage point.”

  “And sitting beside the pond wouldn’t have been good enough? You had to be in a tree?”

  “Beside the pond would have been good enough for me. I’m not sure about Emily, though. She really wanted to climb the tree.” Patsy let out a sigh. “I’m really not sure how I’m going to get down from here.”

  He laughed softly, shaking his head again. “Sometimes, I’m not sure what to do with either of you.” Well, there were times when he knew exactly what to do with his new wife, but he wasn’t going to talk about that in front of Emily. “Let’s try this. Emily, will you hold the embroidery?”

  “Yes, Daddy. I’d be happy to.” Emily held out her hand for the
embroidery hoops, eyeing her mother.

  “Now, Patsy, I want you to maneuver yourself so you can grip the tree branch and dangle down, and I will wrap my arms around your waist. Then I’ll help you get to the ground.”

  Patsy nodded, her eyes wide with fright now that she had to think about getting down. She slowly rolled over to her stomach on the branch and carefully lowered herself. “I’m scared!”

  “I’m right beneath you. If you fall, you’ll fall on me.”

  She wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse. She felt her legs dangling, and wished she had the strength to pull herself back up, but she didn’t. “I don’t want to fall.”

  He carefully wrapped his arms around her legs. “Okay, I’ve got you. Let yourself go just a little.”

  When she did, she ended up held against him, his face smashed into her bosom. She gasped in surprise as he let every inch of her travel down his body until her feet were on the ground. Her eyes met his. “I’m not scared anymore.”

  He smiled. “That’s not exactly the emotion I’m feeling either.” He looked around for a moment to see if anyone was watching, but decided he didn’t care if they were. She was his wife. What did propriety matter?

  Lowering his head, he kissed her passionately, letting her know exactly what she’d done to him on her way down to the ground. “Feeling safer now?” He finally asked.

  She nodded, leaning against him. “Welcome home, Dr. Hardy.”

  He chuckled softly. “I’ll take that kind of welcome any day.”

  Emily was staring down at them. “I can’t climb down with these hoops. Someone take them!”

  Patsy laughed, walking to the tree to take the embroidery hoops from her daughter. “You be careful coming down!”

  “I want to jump to Daddy like you did!” Emily scrambled to her belly and quickly dangled above the ground.

  Wesley hadn’t expected it, but he ran beneath her. “We can’t let our little baseball player get hurt!”

  She dropped, and he caught her, and she giggled wildly. “I don’t ever remember having a daddy, but I’m glad Mama found me a new one. I was sad about leaving home, but I’m glad I got you.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

  Wesley felt tears filling his eyes, surprised he felt so much for this little girl he’d only known for a week. He hugged her close, before setting her on the ground. “We’d better go in and have supper.”

  One of the boys from across the pond called out Emily’s name, and she waved.

  He called her again. “Emily! Our pitcher got hurt. There’s only one inning left, and we’re losing. We need you!”

  One of the boys from the other side called, “No fair bringing that girl in!”

  “No fair deliberately hurting our pitcher!”

  Wesley sighed looking at Patsy. “Will dinner wait?”

  “Absolutely. Let’s go watch an inning of baseball.”

  Emily ran as fast as she could around the pond, taking the glove from a boy sitting injured on the ground.

  Wesley and Patsy followed at a more sedate pace, stopping at the injured boy. “Where are you hurt?” he asked.

  “I’m not bad enough to need no doc,” the boy said, glaring up at the couple.

  “No charge. I’m just here to watch my girl play, and I might as well make good use of my time.” Wesley knew the boy’s family didn’t have money for a doctor. Jared was too proud to admit it, as were his parents.

  “Fine, if you’re looking for something to do.” Jared stuck out his leg. “One of the boys tripped me as I was sliding into second. He hurt my shin something awful.”

  Wesley knelt down, looking up at Patsy for a moment. “My medical bag is in the parlor. Would you mind, dear?”

  “I’ll be back in a moment.” She hurried off toward the house, her heart already beating faster. She loved when he called her by those little endearments, and they seemed to be coming more often all the time.

  Wesley felt along the boy’s leg carefully. “This feels like a break to me. When my wife gets back, I’ll set it. You’re going to need some crutches. I have an old pair in my office that I was going to throw away.”

  “I guess I can take them if you was just gonna throw them out.”

  “I’d appreciate it if you did. It’ll save me the trouble.” He wanted to get Jared into his office, but he knew as soon as he did that, the boy and his parents would feel the need to pay him for his time, and he wasn’t going to let that happen. Medical care shouldn’t be reserved for the rich, and he had taken many odd things in exchange for his time.

  When Patsy got back to him with his bag, he rummaged until he found two short boards of the correct length that he carried for just this purpose, and some cloths. He handed the boards to Patsy along with two socks. “Would you put the socks on the boards please?”

  Patsy asked no questions as she quickly followed orders. He realized if he ever had need for a nurse, she would make an excellent one. Once the boards were prepared, he looked at Patsy again. “Now I’m going to need you to hold him still. I would have a man hold him under his arms, but you may need to flatten him on the grass, and lie across him.”

  Patsy nodded. “What’s your name?”

  “Jared, and I don’t need no woman lying on me to hold me down.”

  “Just hold him under his arms then, dear.”

  She carefully put her forearms under Jared’s arms and locked her hands together over his chest. “I’ve got him.” She watched Wesley as he carefully pulled the boy’s leg to straighten it, and then put it back in place.

  “You can let him go now.”

  Patsy was impressed the boy hadn’t made a sound, until she saw that he’d passed out on the grass. “I hope he lives close.”

  Wesley shook his head. “We’ll need to drive him home.”

  He put the two boards on either sides of his legs. “Will you hold these in place while I tie them down?”

  Patsy moved to do what she was asked, and very shortly, they had his leg splinted.

  Wesley got to his feet. “You wait here. I’m going to go get my buggy and some crutches for him. Then we’ll drive him home.” He glanced over at the ball game, just in time to watch Emily strike another boy out. “She’s really a little marvel at that game, isn’t she?”

  Patsy nodded. “She is. I’m amazed when I watch her play.”

  He was back five minutes later with the buggy and crutches, and between the two of them, they managed to maneuver the boy into the buggy. Emily struck the last batter out just as they were getting Wesley’s bag. She waved to the boys, and climbed into the buggy, putting the mitt on the seat beside Jared.

  “What happened to Jared?”

  “Someone wasn’t playing fairly, and they broke his leg. No one is rough with you, are they?”

  Emily shook her head. “No, I’m a girl. They’re all afraid I’ll fall apart if they hurt me,” she said with a grin.

  Wesley shook his head, hiding his smile. “We’re going to take him home, come back, and then we’ll finally have our supper.”

  “Good. Baseball is hungry work. Especially when you’re striking people out.”

  Patsy simply shook her head, refusing to respond. Her daughter had an ego as big as all the outdoors where baseball was concerned.

  When they pulled up to Jared’s house, his mother ran out to the buggy, wringing her hands together. “I never should have let him have the afternoon off of farm chores. He’s been working so hard, I thought he needed a break, though.”

  Wesley smiled. “He’s all right, Mrs. Jarrett. He broke his leg, but it was a clean break, and I happened to be there. I’ve put a splint on him, and I gave him an old pair of crutches I needed to toss out anyway.”

  “I know you don’t mean that, Dr. Hardy. What do we owe you?”

  Wesley shook his head. He knew the family didn’t have money to pay him, and they wouldn’t have brought their son in, even if they’d known his leg was broken.
“Nothing.”

  “I’m paying you something.”

  Patsy looked at the woman. “Are you a good seamstress?” she asked softly.

  Mrs. Jarrett nodded. “Of course. I sew my own clothes, and clothes for all six of my kids.”

  “My daughter could use a Sunday dress.”

  “Without fairy puke!” Emily called.

  “Fairy puke?” Mrs. Jarrett asked, her eyes wide with alarm.

  Patsy sighed. “She doesn’t like ruffles. She refers to them as fairy puke, no matter how many times I’ve asked her not to.”

  Mrs. Jarrett laughed softly. “I see. Would two dresses pay for a broken leg?”

  Patsy nodded emphatically. “I’ll buy the fabric. All you’ll need to do is sew them.”

  Mrs. Jarrett let out a breath, obviously relieved. “I can have them done by Sunday.”

  “It doesn’t need to be that quick. Within the next month would be just fine.”

  “They’ll be done by Sunday if you can get me the fabric and an old dress that she’s just barely outgrown tomorrow morning.”

  Patsy understood very well the woman’s pride was at stake. “I’ll make sure to get both the fabric and the dress to you. I really appreciate you being willing to help me out this way.”

  “I’m happy to be trading services with you, ma’am.”

  They helped Jared, who had since woken up, out of the buggy and into the house before leaving.

  As they were driving away, Wesley looked over at her. “You understand people so much better than I do. You knew she wouldn’t take the charity.”

  “Yes, I did. And I do need new dresses for Emily, and I don’t want to sew them.”

  “Sounds like you happened on the perfect solution then.”

  “I think so.”

  Chapter Ten

  It was after midnight when the pounding came on their door, and Patsy forced herself into a sitting position. “You get dressed,” she said to Wesley who was fighting to wake up. “I’ll put on a dressing gown and see who it is while you get dressed. I’m sure it’s for you.”