Tag: nursing

Water in the Wilderness

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excerpt

Maybe they were still asleep. Opening the door, she walked cautiously down the hall but picked up her pace when she heard muted voices from the kitchen.
Moe and Ken sat at the table, fully dressed and with mugs of coffee in front of them. They turned towards her.
“Good morning, kiddo. You had a good long sleep.” Moe jumped to her feet. “Okay, first a cup of fresh coffee, then I’ll make your breakfast.”
Tyne glanced from one to the other, trying to read their expressions. But Moe, in spite of dark patches under her eyes, exhibited her old cheerful demeanor. Ken was smiling. “Morning, Tyne,” he said as he got up and pulled a chair out from the table.
Tyne hesitated. Did they have something to tell her? Were they acting normal to lessen the shock? Before she allowed herself to sit down and accept the coffee Moe handed her, she had to know.
“Have you heard anything?” Her voice was little more than a whisper.
Both of them shook their heads, and Ken said, “It’s a little soon. I’m sure they’ll be in touch with us today.”
Tyne’s sigh was louder than she expected. “I know, I’m being overanxious.” She sat down across from Ken and stirred cream into her coffee. “I didn’t mean to sleep so long. I told Bobby and Ronald I’d be back to the see them this morning, at least for a few minutes.”
“You’re too late, kiddo,” Moe said as she broke eggs into a bowl. “Aunt Millie left over an hour ago for the hospital. The boys are well looked after. Right now you’re going to have breakfast.”
“Thanks Moe, but I’m not really hungry.” Tyne took a sip of coffee. “I don’t think I can eat.”
“Nevertheless,” Moe said as she whisked the eggs, “you’re going to try. And I’m going to stand over you until you do.”
Tyne had to smile. “Do you realize you’re beginning to sound more and more like Aunt Millie?”
In spite of her assertion that she was not hungry, Tyne ate most of the scrambled eggs and toast Moe placed before her…

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Wellspring of Love

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“Bobby won’t give you a minute’s anxiety,” Emily said, “and neither
will Katie. I don’t think I can be so confident about that little monkey,
Susie.”
“Strangely enough, Mom, it’s not Susie I’d be worried about, it’s
Katie. She’s sweet and gentle but I also think she may be easily led.
We just pray she’s led in the right ways.”
Millie put her needles and unfinished sock on the coffee table in
front of her. “As far as you and Morley are concerned, she will be.” She
started to rise but sat back quickly with a hand grasping her abdomen.
Tyne sat upright, ready to go to her aunt’s aid. “Are you all right,
Auntie?”
Millie’s face had paled, but she relaxed and forced a smile that
didn’t reach her eyes. “Yes, I think so. Just a stitch in my side. I’m
fine.” She reached for the coffee table, but Tyne gently touched her
hand.
“Sit for a minute until you feel better. I’ll wash up the tea things.”
She collected their cups and plates and carried them to the kitchen.
As she ran water into the enamel sink, Tyne said a silent prayer
for her aunt. And suddenly she realized there had been something
different about Aunt Millie recently. She didn’t have her usual spark,
and it was obvious she had been losing weight.
Tyne dried the dishes and hung the tea towel over the bar on the
oven door, all the while berating herself for being unaware of changes
in her aunt. Had her nursing skills deteriorated so much that she
didn’t notice something so basic about one of her own family? Where
had her attention been? Was she so absorbed in the children’s needs
that she hadn’t looked beyond them to the senior people in her life?
Maybe it was time she returned to work to brush up on the things
that used to be second nature to her. One thing she knew – from
now on she would spend more time with Aunt Millie than she had in
recent months. And Rachael would have to step up and help with the
twins. And maybe, just maybe, that would also solve the problem of
the amount of time she spent with Lyssa.

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763327

Water in the Wilderness

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excerpt

Tyne did not know what to say. If Morley were here, he would know how to respond to Ruby’s outrageous suggestion. She lowered her head and mouthed a silent prayer. “Oh God, help me say the right things. Give me wisdom, Lord, because I’m scared. I’m scared for Morley because I don’t know what’s happened to him. And I’m scared for these children you have seen fit to bring into our lives. But God, I’m not ready for all this; too much has happened too fast. Please keep Morley safe and send him to me.”
She looked up to find Ruby staring at her. Tyne shook her head. “I can’t give you an answer, Ruby. You know I’ll have to talk to Morley about it.”
Ruby nodded. “Yeah, sure I know. But I also know I can’t take him back, Tyne. I’m just dreaming when I say he has to come home.” She burst into tears.
Tyne jumped to her feet. Crossing to the sofa, she sat down beside the distraught woman and put her arms around her. “Hush, it will be all right, I promise. We’ll work something out.”
In a few minutes Ruby dried her tears and stood up. “I have to see Ronald again before it’s time for my bus. I have to go home tonight.” At the door she turned with a half smile. “Thanks for listening.”
Tyne watched her leave, her thoughts in turmoil. Another promise … she had just made another promise that she didn’t know if she could keep. Her life was spinning out of control. She and Morley had been married for less than half a year when their world was rocked by that first promise she had made the night Lydia Conrad had come to the nurses’ station in Emblem Hospital. As a result of that brief encounter with her patient, she and Morley had known the joy of loving two small children; they had known panic when those children went missing; and they had known the heartache of losing their own unborn child.
And now, Morley was missing after going on a mission of mercy to find the children’s father and bring him to them.
What more do you want of us, God? Tyne cried in her heart. What more do you want us to do?

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Still Waters

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“You mean with tax collectors and sinners,” Tyne had said, tonguein-
cheek.
“Well, I didn’t mean it quite like that,” Morley said, grinning, “but
how can people be saved if they don’t hear the Word? And how will
they hear the Word if no one tells them?”
Morley may not be preaching the Word as he mixed with people
but, Tyne was quite sure, his life and the way he lived it would be a
testimony in itself.
Tyne had spent a troubled week, and it was only because of Aunt
Millie’s persuasive powers that she was here tonight. Since the morning
her dad had dropped the bombshell of Morley’s involvement
with Jennifer Sears, she had been determined not to attend this
meeting. Now she knew why the schoolteacher had suggested a combined
meeting with the Building & Grounds Committee. Although,
Tyne had to admit, Aunt Millie had been receptive to Jennifer’s idea,
so she must have thought it had merit. Unless ….
Why had the schoolteacher’s suggestion appealed to Millie? Had
Jennifer played right into her hands? Without any effort on her part,
had Millie seen the perfect way of getting Tyne and Morley in the
same room together?
Tyne’s thoughts were jumbled. Why would Aunt Millie want to
throw us together again? Doesn’t she know how much it hurt me
when we broke up? And even if she’s entertaining hopes of us getting
back together, can’t she see it’s all so hopeless?
Tyne was jolted from her thoughts when she heard her name spoken.
Startled, and not a little disoriented, she looked up.
“I’m sure you all know my niece, Tyne Milligan,” Millie was saying.
“She came home to look after her father when he had a stroke.” Millie
turned her head to look fondly at Tyne. “Since she’s now a graduate
nurse, I’m sure she’ll be a great asset to our committee.”
There were murmurs of assent around the table, particularly from
the men who had been unaware of Tyne’s involvement. She tried
to avoid looking directly at Morley, but her eyes were drawn to his
face. His look was inscrutable as he said, “Welcome, Tyne. We can
certainly use all the help we can get.”

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Water in the Wilderness

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excerpt

Tyne sat on a chair across from her. Several seconds passed in silence. Tyne did not intend to make it easy for the woman.
Finally Ruby said, “I know you’re mad at Bill and me because the kids ran away. I know you didn’t want us to have them in the first place. But we … I did my best for them.”
“Did you?”
Ruby looked up sharply. The fire that Tyne remembered from their encounter in Emblem Hospital had returned to her eyes. “Yeah, I did, no matter what they … what Rachael says.”
Tyne sat forward, her eyes riveted on Ruby’s face. “And was doing your best making Rachael work like a woman in the house? Letting your daughter bully her – even going so far as to mutilate the doll? Telling her that she and Bobby would be sent to an orphanage?” She took a deep breath. “Was that doing your best for her?”
Ruby sat straight, ready to defend herself. “I didn’t know a lot of that stuff until later when Lark told me. And anyway, I can’t see it’s any of your business because they’re not your kids. You’re not even related.”
“No,” Tyne said quietly, “we’re not. But your sister left them in our care, and I promised to look after them for her. And both Morley and I have grown to love them which is what you don’t appear to do, even though they’re your own flesh and blood.”
Ruby’s face turned red and she lowered her head. “I do love them,” she whispered, “an’ I’m sorry about what Lyssa did. I try, but I don’t have any control over her.”
Tyne tried to quell the unexpected twinge of compassion. “Okay Ruby. I’m sure it’s difficult at times. But what about Ronald? You don’t deny his dad beat him?”
Still looking at the floor, Ruby shook her head from side to side. “No, I don’t deny that. Bill is hard on him, always has been.”
“Couldn’t you stop him?”
There was a long pause, during which Tyne became aware that someone stood nearby. She looked up to see a middle-aged woman hesitate in the doorway, then move on when Ruby spoke. “I tried to stop him at first, but he’d turn on me. I couldn’t stand up to him; he’s a big man.”
Tyne felt revulsion. “Did he hit you?”

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Fury of the Wind

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Sarah smiled. “Oh surely, Ben, they wouldn’t ban movies in Nimkus
because they thought they were sinful. I think you’re exaggerating.”
“Yeah? Well, you don’t know them yet, do you?”
She shrugged and got up to clear the table. “Can we go to a movie
in Bradshaw sometime, Ben?”
“Maybe. We’ll see.” He got up to fill his pipe.
She could hardly wait until he went back to work. Finishing up
the dishes quickly, she shoved her feet into a pair of old runners and
went to find him.
In the yard, almost bare of vegetation between the house and the
horse stable, the dust swirled and danced in the incessant wind.
What few patches of grass remained were being uprooted by the
chickens that scratched happily in the earth all day long. She paused
for a moment when she passed the chicken house, a building as
dilapidated as the others around it. There had once been some sort
of wire mesh fence to contain the fowl, but it had long since rusted
and fallen apart. Now the chickens had free range of the yard. No
wonder the coyotes came so close to the house, especially with no
dog to run them off.
A grey tabby cat, sunning itself in front of the cow stable, looked
up at Sarah’s approach then skittered through the door which hung
on one hinge. Inside the stable a calf bawled, but she resisted the
urge to go in to see it. She wanted to find Ben before he got too far
away.
She found him behind the buildings, hitching an old tractor to
a sickle mower. She stood and watched for a few minutes before he
glanced up and saw her.
Sarah shouted above the roar of the motor, “I’d like to see Flicka.
Can you tell me where she is?”
“I haven’t time to be bothered now. I want to start cutting hay
over yonder.” He nodded towards what Dave McNeill had called
the north pasture.
“I don’t want to take you from your work, Ben. If you’ll tell me
where she is, I’ll find her.”
“Over there in the field.”
She followed his gaze to where three horses were standing near a
small dry slough bed in the shade of a stand of poplar trees.

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Fury of the Wind

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Back in the Saddle
Two weeks after her marriage Sarah Fielding had a visitor. She
was cleaning and rearranging cupboards in the pantry when she
heard the thud of a horse’s hooves in the backyard. Through the
window she could see that it was not Ben as she had expected, but a
stranger dismounting from his horse.
He stood for a moment and looked towards the stables before
walking to the back door. When Sarah opened it, the young man
removed his hat to reveal a head of curly auburn hair. His smile
reached to his eyes and lit up his face.
“How do you do, Mrs. Fielding? I’m Dave McNeill. Live over there
about a mile.” He jerked his thumb in a south-westerly direction.
“I’m pleased to meet you, Mr. McNeill,” Sarah said cheerfully,
“you’re the first neighbour I’ve had the privilege of meeting.”
“It’s Dave, please. Is Ben around?”
“Yes, I believe he’s gone over to that field behind the stable.” She,
too, pointed.
“Oh, the north pasture. Thanks, Mrs. Fielding, I’ll see if I can find
him.”
He replaced his hat, and was turning away when Sarah, surprising
even herself, said quickly, “But won’t you come in? I was just
going to make a cup of coffee. Would you like one? And,” she added
stepping aside to let him enter the kitchen, “I’d be pleased if you’d
call me Sarah. I’m not used to Mrs. Fielding yet.”
“Right, Sarah it is then. We’ve been anxious to meet you, Penny
and me.” At Sarah’s questioning look, he added, “Penny’s my wife.”
Sarah bustled from the pantry to the kitchen and back again,
anxious to get the coffee started before her visitor should become
impatient and decide he had to go. But he seemed in no hurry.

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Water in the Wilderness

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“Coffee, soup and ham sandwiches,” she announced as she laid the tray down on the table in front of them. She handed a paper napkin and a bowl of soup to Tyne. “Now eat. I don’t plan to take any of this back to the cafeteria.”
Tyne grinned at her aunt, and told herself she would do her best to comply.
Their lunch finished, they waited for Moe to come from the ward to tell them they could go in again. When Tyne looked at her watch, she realized that little more than an hour had passed. Then suddenly Moe, in her crisp white uniform, appeared at the door.
“Okay kiddo, you can see Bobby again. He’s rousing, and his vital signs are stabilizing.”
Tyne jumped to her feet and turned to her aunt. But Millie shook her head. “You go ahead, Tyne. I’ll see him tomorrow. He doesn’t know me well, and he doesn’t need to see a strange face staring at him when he wakes up. And take your time, dear. I’m fine here.”
Tyne reached down to pat Aunt Millie’s hand before she followed Moe through the door and towards the childrens’ ward.
“How about Ronald? Has he settled? He was upset when I saw him.”
Moe opened the door and motioned Tyne to go ahead of her. “He had a sleep, and he ate something when he woke up. He’s going to be all right … except for the frostbitten parts. Those are still a question mark, I’m afraid.”
Tyne stepped through the door, but stopped when she saw Dr. Bryce Baldwin speaking to a white-clad nun near Bobby’s bed. Moe left her side and walked towards them, and the three of them conversed for several minutes. The sister was making notes on a chart – Bobby’s chart, presumably. Then she turned her head slightly in Tyne’s direction. Dark lively eyes below her wimple highlighted a pretty face as she spoke to the two people with whom she consulted. Moe said something, and nodded in Tyne’s direction. The sister turned towards her, a smile lighting her eyes. She handed the chart to Moe and started towards the door where Tyne stood.

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Fury of the Wind

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When she recovered from her grief over Danny, Sarah accepted a
teaching post at Corkum in the northern part of the province. But
her tenure there was short lived. In the spring of 1942, Mrs. Roberts
suffered a stroke. Sarah applied for a leave-of-absence to take care
of her mother during her convalescence. But Mrs. Roberts never
did convalesce satisfactorily, and Sarah was forced to admit that her
mother had won. For five years Sarah found herself tied to the neat
brick house in Tillsonburg – nursing, cooking, cleaning, gardening
and doing everything except that for which she had been trained.
Apart from trips to the store to purchase their meagre supplies,
Sarah went nowhere. She saw no one except Margaret and Elizabeth
and, since the former was preoccupied with wedding plans
and the latter was nursing in a hospital in Toronto, she didn’t even
see much of them. Visitors to the Roberts’ home were few because it
hadn’t taken Mrs. Roberts long after her husband’s death to alienate
almost all of their friends.
There was no hope of meeting a man. The veterans began to
drift back to town when the war ended, some with brides, some to
the sweethearts they had left behind. But even the unattached ones
seemed to have forgotten that Sarah existed, or maybe they still regarded
her as Danny’s girl. Soon, almost all of the young men had
married or had drifted off again to more promising venues.
When her mother died Sarah applied for teaching posts but the
school year had already started and a shortage of teachers was a
thing of the past. She had been out of the profession for more than
five years, as had most of the teachers who were now returning to
it. But ex-servicemen and women were, naturally, given preference
over someone who had been caring for a sick parent.
On a grey, cold day in October, three weeks after her mother’s
death, Sarah sat dumbfounded in the office of Roger Corbett, her
parents’ lawyer. She was trying to understand what he had just said
but she felt too numb to take it in.
“I’m sorry, Sarah,” Mr. Corbett continued, “I wish there was
something I could do. Twice during the past year I went to see her,
as you know. And I went specifically to suggest that she change her
will. But she acted as if she didn’t understand what I was talking
about.”

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Wellspring of Love

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“You’re not eating much, Aunt Millie. Perhaps that’s your trouble.
Don’t you feel hungry?”
Millie had smiled and got up to put preserved peaches and peanut
butter cookies on the table. “Just a result of feeling weary, nothing
more. Don’t worry yourself, dear boy. I’m fine.”
But she had not convinced him, and the thing he had been hoping
to talk to her about – Rachael’s problematic friendship with Lyssa –
had been put off. He knew he couldn’t burden Aunt Millie further,
even if she was, as she said, just tired.
Ronald turned over in bed – again – and looked at his alarm
clock. Almost midnight! He may as well have gone to the dance in
Spirit Lake after all, except that he didn’t have a date. Not that it mattered
much, but his friends were all dating now and he didn’t want to
appear more of an outsider than he already knew he was. Sometimes
those same friends razzed him for not drinking or smoking. He had
tried smoking when he was fourteen but decided he would rather be
an outsider than suffer the choking and coughing that resulted from
his first drag on a cigarette. They also razzed him occasionally for
going to church, especially Morley’s church.
“Holy Rollers,” they would say with disdain. “Hey, Harrison,
what do they do in that church, anyway?”
And more than once Ronald, refusing to be riled or offended, had
answered, “Why don’t you come see for yourselves?”
With the realization that in just a few hours he would be getting
up to go to church, Ronald sighed, settled his head more comfortably
on the pillow and tried to put Aunt Millie, Rachael and every other
thought out of his mind.
ͣͣ
Tyne closed her Bible and placed it on the bedside table, being careful
not to disturb Morley who had been asleep for some time. Rachael
must be due home, but so far Tyne hadn’t heard her come in.

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763327