The Doctor's Office
Nicholas’s office was busy. Hope had no idea what to expect having never visited an office for medicine before. She pushed open the door to find a woman comforting a crying child, an older man cradling his arm, and a woman with a bulging belly all sitting in chairs while someone in the back of the space shouted as if he was being tortured. Part of her wanted to back right out the door, but a friendly smile from a woman behind a desk caught her eye, and Hope knew she couldn’t leave.
“You must be Miss Tucker!” the middle-aged woman with jet black hair and sun kissed skin proclaimed. Hope thought her accent sounded peculiar, like perhaps she was from much further south. “It’s lovely to meet you. I’m Lluvia, Dr. Howard’s nurse.” She offered a slender hand, and Hope took it.
“Yes, I am Miss Tucker. It’s nice to meet you as well.” She glanced around the waiting room and thought she should come back some other time. “I don’t want to inconvenience Doc, though. He seems awfully busy.”
“Oh, it’s always like this. He’s with a patient right now. A little boy fell out of a tree, hurt his leg. I just came up to fetch some more bandages. I’ll let him know you’re here if you’d like to have a seat.”
Hope glanced around, not sure where she should sit. It seemed as if the little girl who was crying might have a fever, so she decided to sit on the other side of the room, nearer the pregnant woman. At least that wasn’t catching.
The child couldn’t have been more than three, and she sobbed into her mother’s apron. Her cheeks were red with fever, and Hope prayed it wasn’t anything too serious. She looked at the old man who was staring at the wall across from him, almost completely still, but the woman next to her was rubbing her stomach, humming a quiet song.
Hope turned to take her in, wondering why she might be there. She didn’t appear to be in any distress and her disposition implied she wasn’t in any pain. “How far along are you?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“Well, Doc says it could be any day now,” the woman said with a broad smile. “I’m a little anxious, but I’m sure we’ll be just fine. Doc ain’t never lost a baby or a mother.”
“Really?” Hope thought that sounded impressive, though she had no idea how many babies he’d birthed either. “What brought you in?”
“He wants to check and make sure everything’s all right. It’s what he calls prenatal checkups. He likes to see me every month or so. Now that my baby’s comin’ soon, he wants to see me even more often. Wants to make sure everythin’ looks right. This is my first baby, so I’m nervous. But knowing I have a good physician is reassurin’.”
Hope had never heard of such a thing, but it sounded like a good idea. If there was something wrong, would Doc be able to detect it in time to save the mother or the child? Was that why he had never lost either?
The shouting from the back room finally stopped, and Hope could hear Nicholas’s voice, though he was so far away she couldn’t make out what he was saying. Still, the tenor of it was soothing, and she could see why so many folks spoke so highly of him.
A few moments later, a man stepped out from the back, carrying a boy who looked to be eight or nine, and Hope assumed that would be one of her students—as soon as he was well enough to come to school. Her eyes followed him out the door as she tried to commit his face to memory, so she didn’t even realize Doc was there until she heard his voice beside her. “How are you today, Miss Tucker?”
She startled, and then looked over at him, trying to keep the color out of her face, but he looked a bit rosy himself. “Just fine, thank you. I didn’t mean to bother you when you’re so busy.”
“Oh, it’s all right. Sorry I alarmed you.” He gave her a sheepish grin, and Hope waved it away like it was nothing. “I’m always busy, particularly this time of morning. But if you’ll let me tend to Mr. Sullivan’s arm right quick, get little Sally here some elixir for her fever, and do a quick check on Mrs. Talbot, I should be good for a few minutes, then I can show you around.”
“How do you know no one else will come in?” Hope asked.
The doctor shrugged. “They might, but they can wait a few minutes, ‘less they’re bleedin’ heavily.”
Hope had nothing else she needed to get to, other than the book she had sitting in her lap, and she could read it here just as well as at home in her tiny room. “All right then.” She smiled, and he grinned back at her like she’d just given him the best news he’d ever heard.
“Mr. Sullivan, let’s have a look,” he said, helping the elderly gentleman to his feet and leading him to the back.
The room was silent, except for the soft hum of Mrs. Talbot soothing her baby, so Hope could hear Nicholas speaking to his patient in the examination room, but she didn’t want to eavesdrop, and it was difficult to distinguish the words. She decided to open her book. By the time Doc was finished seeing the last of the three patients, another had come in, an older woman who wanted him to look at a bunion on her foot. The nurse said it might be a few minutes, and she settled into the chair Mr. Sullivan had vacated and took out some knitting.
Hope watched the woman curiously for several minutes over the top of her book, wondering how she could look so comfortable sitting in the doctor’s office waiting to be seen.
Log in with Google Account
Chapters
Favorite
Settings
