weâll get you cleaned up and dressed and off to the doctor.â
She half carried me up the stairs, bathed me and dressed me as if I were a child. I succumbed to her attentions and let myself be coddled and comforted. It was such a joy for me to hear a human voice again, and Mrs. Blake provided a more than adequate amount of talk.
As she helped me back down the stairs, I stumbled and fell, face forward into her neck. âOh, Mrs. Blake,â I whispered, half fainting, âyour perfume is wonderful.â
âPerfume? Bah! What call would an old biddy like me have for wearing perfume? While youâre at it, have that doctor check your nose, too.â
We reached the bottom of the stairs and she realized that the parcels she had carried in were still strewn on the floor. âLet me just put these away for now. When we get back, Iâll make you a nice supper.â She gathered everything and went into the kitchen, returning with a look of disapproval. âI can see no cookingâs been done in that room for a month of Sundays. You need some looking after, thatâs a fact.â
âThank you, Mrs. Blake,â I said meekly and allowed her to hurry me to the doctorâs office under bleak, overcast skies.
After a thorough examination, I sat in a cold, uncomfortable leather chair awaiting his verdict. He sat across the desk, fingertips touching, and tapped his two forefingers against his lips. âI canât find anything physically wrong with you, other than the fact that you are close to starvation. My advice to you is go home, eat a good dinner and try to start your life over. You canât grieve forever.â He gave me a patronizing smile and pushed his chair back. âHave the dreams stopped?â
âDreams? What dreams?â I said confusedly. âI donât remember any dreams.â
âItâs probably just as well. You had some rather terrible dreams while you were in the hospital, brought on, I believe, by the shock of the accident. If you canât remember, then you must be getting over it.â He got up from the desk and stood over me. âNow, Dorothy, I want to talk to you, not as a doctor, but as one of your fatherâs friends. This part of the country is no place for a woman without a man to protect her, especially now, with the whole place in an uproar over the coming war. You should give some thought to marrying again. No, certainly not right away,â he amended, seeing the shock his words caused, âbut later on. Youâre relatively young and attractive; that, plus the money your father left you, makes you eminently marriageable. In fact, I have a nephew in Lawrence, a widower with four children who could use a wife of your breeding and background. Why donât I talk to him and see what can be arranged.â
âThank you, Doctor.â I looked away from him, trying to hide my distaste at the suggestion. I had no desire to be married to a stranger, raising some other womanâs children when I could have none of my own. But I deferred to him as was appropriate for the times.
âThatâs a good girl,â He patted my arm in a fatherly gesture, seeming well pleased with himself. âNow go home and eat something. Come back in a month or so and weâll see how youâre getting along.â He escorted me out of the office.
Mrs. Blake babbled indignantly all the way home. âI know his nephew, my dear. Already balding and round about the middle. His wife died in childbirth, you know, delivering their fourth baby in as many years. Shameful, the way some people carry on. And telling you to go home and eat; why, I could have told you the same thing and saved us all the time. Oh, no,â she cried suddenly, interrupting herself, âspeaking of time, I promised Frances Iâd meet her at the church this afternoon. Weâre setting up for the social tomorrow night. I guess if you need me, I could
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