A troubled face gazed out a hotel room window. He was discouraged. There was little hope for his patient. There was someone he needed to contact.
Miss Alice Henderson. His mother-in-law. His patient's mother.
Neil was quite perturbed. Margaret was doing very poorly. Simple acts, such as eating her own meal, had become strenuous, draining her of what little strength she possessed. While Neil might not love her as a wife, and he probably never really had, he still cared for her. She *was* his wife, after all. They had had an honest, good talk since deciding to give up the marriage. Margaret had realized Neil could not honestly love her after all she had done to him. And he knew she was aware the young woman at the mission whom Alice had all but adopted as her second daughter did not help things, either.
While Neil was contemplating what to do with himself, Margaret was laying in her hospital bed. It was the last place she wanted to be. But it was where she needed to be. Margaret began to feel a need to live. She wanted to start over. If perhaps not with Mac, for she was not starting over with Mac, then she wanted to start over her life. Margaret had always possessed a beautiful voice, one which could stop a man in his tracks. She wanted to put that voice towards more than drunk men wanting to grab at her. Margaret's feelings of lowliness had kept her sarcastic front up for the past twenty years. First, she was the 'bastard child' and then she was the singing showgirl. No, the singing *married* showgirl. How many times she had broken her vow of faithfulness to Mac! It made her ashamed to think about. And Mac had been faithful. Even when he thought that she was dead. Even when....
Margaret turned on her side in emotional pain and realized her mistake as she began coughing up vulgar blood in body shattering gasps. A nurse rushed in but Margaret pushed her away. The nurse left after several harsh words from the sick woman and Margaret lay back again. She finished her thought.
Mac had remained faithful even when he fell in love with Christy.
To realize her husband was in love with another woman not only hurt Margaret's heart but injured her pride. She had always been a desirable woman. But Mac, her own husband, did not want her. He was pining away for an innocent teacher who loved the mountains and its people as much as he did. Margaret realized her own selfishness, her lack of wanting to love what Mac did, had caused the marriage to fail, among other things. It was the first time she had acknowledged her selfishness and it hurt her.
Margaret felt that she was dying. She did not feel the life. She did not know for sure she was going to die but her gut feeling was death was of hovering over her hungrily.
Margaret thought about the irony of where she was. She might die in the same city she had married Mac. And, ironically, this was the city where Christy Huddleston was born and raised. Margaret had to wonder if there was more reason Mac had taken her to this city than what he said. After their talks, he wanted to talk to the judge who gave them a marriage license since the judge still resided and practiced in Asheville. Mac also had said, in Cutter Gap, there were excellent doctors in Asheville. But Margaret suspected Miss Huddleston might be coming to see her family for at least a portion of the summer. Mac surely must suspect the same thing! But he was faithful. Would he really set up an 'accidental' meeting with the teacher?
Truth be known, Neil had already thought about it. While he was sitting in his hotel room, poring over medical journals, the thought had suddenly occurred to him he sat just a few blocks from Christy's old house. He knew where it was since he had taken a walk to clear his head and had seen it. It was a beautiful, large house. Neil wondered what ever made her leave it to go to 'God forsaken' mountains to teach poverty stricken schoolchildren with little to no education before her.
Her warm heart of gold.
Neil shoved his hands further in his pockets in irritation with himself for thinking of her as he walked along the fancy walks. He had altered his appearance to fit in more. He got a haircut, bought suits.... all he did when he went to school in Scotland and served out his internship and residency in Pennsylvania.
Dr.MacNeill heard the shrill whistle of a monstrous train in a distance as he mounted the steps of the station platform. He ignored it. All he was going to do was send out a telegram to Alice telling her to come. Neil rebuked himself for wishing Christy might come on that train. Or perhaps Alice would bring her for support. He knew how close the two were.
Stop it! he mentally chastised.
Neil took his place in a fairly short line of people waiting to send out telegrams. He knew he had to be vague and brief in the telegram. Alice would get concerned enough as it was. He did not need to bother her with the repulsive details, not even in person.
The doctor took in a deep breath and tried to run his hands through his normally long unruly curls. It was shorter now and it annoyed him. He realized he squeezed the tips of his hair when he was especially irritated, upset, or pondering something. Neil became determined to let it grow back out from the trimming he had received.
Neil glanced around the station in boredom. Would the line move already? The crowd was not very large waiting for the train. It approached and heaved a sigh as Neil's hazel eyes fell upon a man and a woman he would know anywhere.
William and Julia Huddleston. A young man around sixteen stood with them impatiently. What were they doing at the station? They were talking together excitedly until William said something that stopped them. Neil was afraid this might happen. He hoped William nor Julia spotted him. His previous experiences with Christy's mother had not been pleasant. He did not mind, of course. He dealt with unpleasant people constantly. And she had given in after all, even specially acknowledging him for what he had done for her husband. Neil felt pride rush through his blood as he saw William Huddleston standing without the cane. The young man held the cane, gripping it like a baseball bat.
Must be George, Neil mused thoughtfully. A young man who was completely infatuated with baseball. Christy had commented on it while David was attempting at teaching the finer points of the game which was rapidly stealing the attention, and money, of the nation. Neil saw little point in hitting a "wee ball with a stick" as he so eloquently described it with a hint of repulsion months before.
Then it hit him. Christy was probably on that train. Surely not! But what if she really was? It would make sense as to why the family was all waiting so anxiously around the platform.
Neil watched the three from a safe distance. He stood in line at the telegraph post and watched the train as porters rushed to unload baggage. He glanced over the passengers and his breath caught.
There was Christy. She was dressed more formally than she did in Cutter Gap but, come to think of it, so was Neil. Where's the bounce, lass? Neil asked her tenderly in his thoughts. She no longer seemed to be walking more on air rather than on the ground like the rest of the mortals. Christy never had been a normal person. But the despondent look on her face and firmly grounded step made her seem more human.
Neil stared in shock and dread, mixed in with an embarrassing amount of joy and pleasure, as Christy's family greeted her. George, or so he assumed him to be George, rushed forward and fairly pulled her off the train. He swung her around once and Neil knew that was her cue to laugh with that beautiful, musical voice. But she only slightly smiled and said something quietly to him.
The young man passed her to Julia Huddleston. Christy hugged her. Her stance became more rigid at seeing her mother. Neil was well aware of how much Julia pressured manners and most emphatically had lectured her only daughter about her posture. Christy had complained about it sometimes to him. He thought her posture was fine. The stiffness of her back looked uncomfortable and unnatural and he pitied her.
William Huddleston looked upon his daughter with such love and affection it made Neil wish he still had his parents. Christy forced a smile at whatever he said to her and she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly. There was none of that joy she had had before. Where had it gone? Why was she so sad? Surely something had not happened in Cutter Gap while he was gone! Neil hoped not. Then again, only Jeb knew where they were so he could not be reached. And Jeb only knew Asheville. He did not know the hotel or anything.
Neil thought about approaching them until someone lightly poked him. "Hey, it's your turn," said a robust man in gaudy dress behind him. His collar was choking his neck, therefore, flushing his face. Neil wondered if the man knew how ridiculous the entire get-up looked.
Neil let his annoyance with the man slide as he attempted to hide himself from the reuniting Huddleston family. Neil wandered how he was going to avoid them. Well, it's a big city, Neil thought to himself. I'll do just fine. Neil told himself he was not patronizing himself.
With that 'settled,' he sent the telegram to Alice.