The Physician's Irish Lady Page 6

  “Three?” She slipped from beneath the covers and gathered her discarded clothing. “I have to finish up by six or me boss will throw me into the streets.”

  Rogan grinned. Working at the brothel in New York, he’d acquired a talent working his wiles on young women and keeping them in line. Except for Keara Fagan. He grimaced as he caught an eyeful of the comely maid wriggling into her chemise and petticoats.

  Once she’d completely dressed and tied on her apron, she sedately exited the room, closing the door behind her.

  Rogan waited a few minutes before leaving. He inquired at the front desk for the location of the nearest tavern.

  After the sheriff of Fairfield had banished him from town, he’d traveled to the next small town, hoping to hide out until he could plan his abduction of Keara and his escape.

  He found the tiny corner tavern, sat at the bar, and ordered a lager. The bartender, a large man with a balding head and dark, full mustache filled his order, then leaned on the bar.

  Only two other customers were in the tavern, seated at one of the small tables near the window.

  “You in town long, sir?” the bartender asked.

  Rogan smirked. “I’m only here because I’m searching for me wife.”

  “Your wife?” The man frowned.

  “I’m from New York City, you see. But me wife ran off and I followed her to York, then to a little town called Fairfield.”

  The bartender shook his head. “Didn’t you find her?”

  Rogan nodded. “Aye, I did. But a doctor living in town is keeping her with him, and the sheriff is backing him up. He made me leave town without her.” He fisted his hands. “Wouldn’t even allow me to see her.”

  The bartender whistled. “That’s rough. But if she were my wife, I wouldn’t let any man take her from me. You have every right to go right back there and get her.”

  Rogan nodded. “Aye. You’re right. I just need a plan to sneak her out.”

  “Good luck, sir.” The bartender turned away to fill an order for the couple at the table.

  Rogan nursed his drink while formulating a plan.

  Chapter Seven

  Monday afternoon, Keara decided to ask Aunt Millie if she knew of any place she might find employment.

  Millie sat in the parlor knitting a new pair of socks for her nephew.

  Keara perched on the settee across from her. “Aunt Millie, I’ve been feeling bad about being such a burden on Dr. James. I’d like to find employment here in town. Do you know of any place I might be finding work?”

  Millie frowned, then brightened. “Oh, yes. Mrs. Hobart lives just a few homes away. She’s just had a new baby. Elliot delivered the boy.” Millie smirked. “And she told me she’s in need of domestic help as well as a caretaker to aid her with the children.”

  “Children?” Keara asked.

  “Yes, she has four now. All under the age of five.”

  Keara smiled. “Aye. I think I’d like the position.”

  “It’ll be hard work,” Millie warned.

  “Oh, posh. I’m used to working hard.” She waved a hand. “And if I can earn me own money, I could afford a room at the boardinghouse.”

  Millie frowned. “I’ll not hear any more about the boardinghouse. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you like.”

  “But it’s your nephew’s home,” Keara protested.

  Millie winked. “I do believe Elliot’s taken a shine to you. He won’t be in any hurry to put you out.” She set her knitting in her lap.

  Heat rose to Keara’s face at the thought of the handsome doctor having any interest in the likes of her. “If I find work, I’ll be more than happy to put up some of my pay to aid in the household expenses. I’ll not be having the reputation of being a kept woman.”

  Millie frowned. “Oh, no, my dear. I didn’t mean to imply anything like that. My nephew is a gentleman. But if you stay here much longer, he might be wanting to make you more than a houseguest, if you get my meaning.”

  Keara smiled but shook her head. “I think your nephew deserves a much better and more respectable woman than me.”

  “I have a feeling Elliot thinks much more of you than you believe.” She rose from the chair. “I’ll write you a note you can take to Mrs. Hobart, giving you a high recommendation.”

  “You’ll not be needing to do that, Aunt Millie,” Keara protested.

  “But it’s the truth.” Millie waved her hand then pulled open the drawer to the desk in the corner of the small room. “You’ve been an absolute godsend to me, in more ways than one.”

  ****

  Half an hour later, Keara sat in the Hobart’s kitchen. The dark haired woman held a golden-haired infant boy on her shoulder, while a fair-haired year-old girl curled up on Keara’s lap. A dark-haired three-year-old boy raced around the large table.

  “Sam, stop your running,” his mother said. “Go on outside and play with your wagon.”

  The boy frowned but pushed open the door to the back yard.

  “Do you think he should be out there alone?” Keara bit her lip, a bit concerned after her encounter with Rogan.

  “We have a small fenced in yard for the younger children so they don’t wander off. The dog is out there for protection.”

  Keara blew out a sigh. “I suppose I’m not used to the ways of a small town anymore after me travels through New York City.”

  Mrs. Hobart shifted the infant to her lap. The child’s eyes were closed, brow relaxed. He appeared as a sleeping angel. Keara couldn’t help but smile.

  His mother stood and settled him in a small cradle near the stove. “He should sleep for a bit.”

  Keara glanced at the plump little girl she held. Mrs. Hobart had called her Abigail, Abbie for short. When Keara smiled, little Abbie smiled back. She hoped she’d get this job. The thought of spending her days with these delightful children would brighten her spirits and help her forget about her sordid past.

  “If you don’t mind my asking…” Mrs. Hobart settled back at the table. “…how long has it been since you arrived in this country?”

  Keara shook her head. “Not very long.”

  “So, you didn’t spend much time in the city.”

  “I wasn’t in New York long, at all. But it seemed danger lurked on every street corner.” Keara glanced around the warm room with inviting cooking smells. “I have to be saying, you live in the perfect place to raise children.”

  “I agree. I was born and raised in Fairfield. My husband too.”

  “Aye. What a wonderful thing. To stay in one place all your life.” Keara felt a sting behind her eyes but blinked so the woman wouldn’t see her distress.

  But Mrs. Hogan’s eyes showed nothing but sympathy. “You must have had a hard life to leave everything behind to come to a brand new country. I hope you’ll stay and take a position with us. You could even sleep in the small room behind the pantry, if you have no other place to stay.”

  “I’m grateful for your offer, ma’am, but for now at least, I’m staying in Dr. James’s home. I help his aunt with cooking and household tasks. I plan to go back each night when my duties here are through, if it’s fine with you.”

  “Yes. Once the babies are in bed for the night, you may leave.” She smiled. “But you mustn’t call me ma’am. It makes me feel like an old lady. Call me Dorothy.”

  Keara smiled. “Thank you, Dorothy. And what time will you be needing me in the morning?”

  “If you can be here by seven, I’ll be grateful.”

  “Seven it is then.” Keara nodded.

  Dorothy rose to lift the baby from Keara’s lap. “I think we have an agreement. You’ll be paid each Saturday and can have Sunday as your day off.”

  “Thank you, Dorothy. I’ll be seeing you bright and early tomorrow.”

  ****

  Tuesday afternoon, Keara and Mrs. Hobart hung laundry on a line at the side of the house, while her oldest daughter, four and a half year old Lilly, hovered beneath handing up the wet clo
thing. The infant, Thomas, lay in a basket set nearby, while Abbie sat in the grass, playing with a rag doll, and Sam played with the dog.

  Keara noticed Thomas squirm, then he let out a howling wail.

  “Oh, dear.” Dorothy stepped to pick him up.

  “I’ll get him.” Keara sidestepped and lifted the infant. She propped him on her shoulder, then started to hum a lullaby she vaguely remembered her mother singing. At first the words didn’t come, but a few began to form in her mind. She crooned and rocked the baby, until he settled back to sleep.

  She set him gently back into the basket.

  “Is that a lullaby you learned in Ireland?” Dorothy eyed her sleeping son. “I didn’t recognize the language.”

  Keara nodded. “Me grandma used to sing it as well as me ma. It’s Celtic.”

  “Oh.” Dorothy lifted her admiring gaze to Keara. “It’s beautiful. Almost haunting. I’m sure it reminds you of home.”

  “Aye.” Keara shook out a damp bedsheet and hung it on the line. “But it’s sad to think of Ireland. I’ve nothing but hurtful memories attached to it.”

  Dorothy stepped to Keara’s side and settled a hand on her arm. “They can’t all be hurtful, if you remember such a beautiful lullaby.”

  Keara nodded. “You’re right. I should keep the good memories.”

  “And try to forget the rest,” her employer agreed. “You’re in a new land now. Make the best you can of your new life.”

  “With such fine people aiding me, I’m sure I will.”

  “Doc Elliot is a fine man.” Dorothy smirked. “And an eligible catch, too. He just needs a little urging. And I’m sure his aunt will want to see him married with a family of his own. He’s like the son she never had.”

  Keara’s face heated. “I’m sure Dr. James has his share of suitable women looking to wed him.”

  Dorothy laid a hand on Keara’s arm. “From what Millie told me, he’s fallen under the spell of his new houseguest.”

  Keara shook her head. “Oh, no. He wouldn’t be after wedding the likes of me.”

  Dorothy smiled. “I think you underestimate yourself, Keara. Any man would fall for you. You’re beautiful, hardworking, sweet, and charming. What more could a man ask for?”

  Keara shrugged but wondered what Dorothy would think if she knew of Keara’s past.

  ****

  Tuesday morning, Elliot returned from a call to a local farm to tend to a sick calf. With no other physicians in the general area, he was often called upon to care for non-human ailments. On the way back, he’d stopped at the post office to see if they’d received any mail. He stepped into the house glancing at the two posts. One from his friend, Alex Hart. He’d befriended Alex, a Southerner, before the war when he’d stayed in Pennsylvania to attend school in York. He’d then persuaded Alex to join the Union army, leading to his family, living in Virginia, to disown him.

  Elliot hadn’t seen his friend since just after the war ended. Alex had married an Irish immigrant who’d served as a soldier in the Confederate army. He’d met her in the field while serving as a Union spy. They’d married after the war and had a small daughter.

  Noting the parlor doors stood open, Elliot hastened inside, eager to read his post. Keara would be at her new position at the Hobart residence, but Aunt Millie sat in the parlor mending a pair of his trousers.

  The old woman glanced up, adjusting her spectacles as Alex settled on the settee.

  “I see you stopped at the post office.” She eyed the posts he shuffled through. “Anything interesting?”

  “Why yes, Aunt Millie. Looks like a post from Alex Hart.” He tore at the sealed envelope.

  “Alex Hart!” Millie placed a gnarled hand on her chest. “How intriguing! What does he have to say?”

  Elliot chuckled. “Give me a minute.”

  “I so enjoyed that young man when he stayed with your family before the war. And his career as a spy, so exciting! But also sad, since he had to go against his own people.”

  Elliot pulled out the letter. “His conscience wouldn’t allow him to fight for something he didn’t believe in. It’s why I thought it best he joined our side.”

  Millie nodded and pushed her needle through the seam of the pants.

  Elliot studied his friend’s scrawl, then smiled. “He’s coming to town. He and his wife, Katie.”

  “And the little one?” Millie set down her mending and sat up straighter.

  “Yes.” He nodded, continuing to read. “He says they’re visiting friends and plan to stay here for a bit. He thought it would give us a chance to reconnect.”

  “Oh, my!” Millie rose and paced. “I’ll have to get the other guest room ready.” She clapped her hands. “It will be so exciting to have old friends and a little one in the house.”

  His aunt bustled from the room, leaving his trousers behind. Elliot glanced at the letter again. He looked forward to spending time with his old friend and his family.

  ****

  Keara spent an exhausting, but rewarding day, doing chores with Dorothy and attending to her children. It had been so long since Keara had felt she belonged anywhere. Dorothy was like the big sister she’d never had, and the children her nieces and nephews. She loved working alongside her employer and took pure delight in caring for her little ones. She finally had a family again, if only for a time. But she hoped to remain employed here for many years.

  She arrived home to find Millie in the kitchen preparing dinner. Keara tied on an apron. “I’ll help you, Aunt Millie.”

  Millie smirked. “I’ve got great news to share.”

  Keara’s eyes widened at the older woman’s enthusiasm. “What’s happened?”

  “Elliot’s friend is coming to visit with his wife and baby. He hadn’t seen him since just after the war, going on two years.”

  “Aye,” Keara agreed. “That is exciting.” But as she stirred the pot of potatoes Millie had boiling, Keara wondered if there’d be a place for her when Dr. James’s friends arrived. She’d best be prepared to find a room at the boardinghouse or to board temporarily with the Hobarts.

  As the women carried platters to the dining table, the doctor appeared and took his seat. Keara hadn’t seen him since early this morning, but he seemed subdued, only asking how her day with the Hobarts had gone then digging into his meal.

  “Alex Hart is a Southerner by birth,” Millie explained while they dined. “He stayed with Elliot in York before the war broke out, then returned home, but refused to join the Confederate army despite his family’s entreaties. His fiancée jilted him over the matter, isn’t that right, Elliot?”

  Dr. James glanced up. “Yes. He returned to York hoping to avoid the conflict, but I’d signed up as a surgeon with the Union army and talked him into joining up, too.”

  Keara gasped. “He actually fought against his own people? I find it hard to believe.”

  “Alex hated the very idea of slavery. His conscience wouldn’t allow him to fight to keep the institution alive.”

  After dinner, Elliot excused himself to record medical records for one of his patients. Keara and Millie retreated to the kitchen to wash the dishes and cook pots.

  “The story of how Alex met his Irish wife is very exciting,” Millie said.

  “His wife is Irish?” Keara’s interest piqued.

  “Yes. She was married and lived in Virginia on her husband’s family farm. She met him on the immigrant ship.”

  Keara shuddered, recalling her harrowing voyage from Australia and before that, as a prisoner from Ireland. “And they moved to Virginia?”

  Millie nodded as she dried the plate Keara handed her. “His family had come on ahead and had a farm there. But just after the war started, Yankees invaded the farm and killed Katie’s father-in-law. Her husband and his brother joined the Confederate army and Katie went along, disguised as a man.”

  “She fought with the men?” Keara immersed a pot in the dish water.

  “Yes. And after her husband was killed
in battle, Alex came across her.”

  “He served in the Confederate army, too?” Keara asked.

  “Oh, no. He spied for the Yankees. She didn’t recognize him as a spy when she met him because he’s a Southerner and was dressed as a civilian.”

  Keara gasped. “And now they’re married?”

  “With a little daughter. I can’t wait to see her.” Millie dried her hands on her apron. “And don’t you worry none about taking up room, you hear?”

  Keara stared after her hostess as she bustled from the room. She felt a bit out of place with the doctor’s old friends coming to visit, but it would be wonderful to talk to someone from Ireland. The woman sounded very brave and heroic to fight with the men. Keara wondered what Katie Hart looked like.

  Chapter Eight

  Wednesday night, Elliot returned home and nearly dropped from his mare. He’d spent hours traveling from farm to farm, tending to patients on his list. He wondered if he’d be better off in a city practice where he could set up an office in his home and see a few of his patients in their nearby dwellings, but he could never sell his family home. And the city life he saw when attending conventions and seminars didn’t appeal to him. He liked the small town atmosphere where he knew all his neighbors. The farmland surrounding the town offered him a sense of freedom and tranquility, despite all the travel he had to do.

  As he stepped onto the porch, voices rose from inside the house. One of them distinctly male. Had something happened to Millie or Keara? He reached for the doorknob, then remembered Alex and Katie were scheduled to arrive today.

  Millie met him in the doorway, beaming. “They’re here,” she announced.

  Elliot stepped toward the parlor, but Millie motioned him to the kitchen. “I thought the parlor too formal for old friends.” She opened the kitchen door and preceded him into the sunlit room.

  Alex’s familiar drawl rose to him. “You have so much in common with my wife, Miss Fagan.”

  “Please, call me Keara.”

  “Keara it is, but you call me Alex.”

  “Aye.” Katie’s voice chimed in. “Any friend of Elliot’s is a friend of ours. He saved Alex’s life during the war, you know.”