Julie Hamilton had coped with all kinds of strays that her brood of three boys had brought home over the years, but this was the first human with which she’d ever been presented. The poor thing was kneeling in the now empty tub trying to lift herself out but her strength seemed to have run out with the dirty bath water.
“Please let me help, Ruth. It would be rather poor hospitality to let you slip in the tub and hurt yourself worse than you already feel.” Her words covered her lifting the stranger up and out of the tub while wrapping a towel around her. “Now, sit here so we can get you dried off. Do those scars hurt as bad as they look?”
“Not anymore.” She husked out. “I never realized how very therapeutic a bath could be. Thank you for the shampoo. It smells like . . . roses. Something I never thought to smell again.”
Julie thought about that odd statement while soaking up the water on the head beneath her hands with another towel, blotting rather than rubbing. The cuts there were shallow and better healed than the ones on her face and body. Just thin red lines now. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. My husband, Edward, first gave it to me on our honeymoon, many years ago. I keep using it because it seems to like my hair.”
A rusty chuckle came from the depths of the towel. “I tend to just use the cheapest shampoo I can find. And it has been two weeks since I was able to indulge.”
“There. It’s so short, it dries almost instantly.” Julie touched the short bristles of white. It was silky and almost startling in color.
“Easier to take care of.” She started coughing again and Julie braced her to keep her upright. When the spasm ended, she stepped away a pace, her hands on the towel-clad shoulders.
“Let me get you a nightgown. I found an old flannel one from a few years back.” She stepped over to the heated towel rack and felt the old blue sleep shirt to make sure that it was warm through. “I kept it because it feels so comforting. Are you dry enough?”
“Yes, thank you. I appreciate all your care and trouble.” She stood and let the towel fall back to the toilet seat. Her body was a strange sight, half of it scarred and the other half the normal body of a middle aged woman.
Julie dressed her in the soft flannel, helping her get the weaker left arm through the long sleeve. It fell below Ruth’s knees and she measured her against her own height of 5 foot, 6 inches, estimating her at about two inches shorter. “Come on then, let’s get you into bed so Sam can do a better job than he did in the dark.”
“He did all right under the poor conditions. I am very lucky that he was willing to come at all.” She moved shakily to the bedroom. “Are you quite sure that your mother won’t mind me staying in her bedroom?”
“Oh, my dear, she’d be the first one to welcome you.” Julie pictured her white haired terror of a mother-in-law and chuckled. “Of course, the inquisition she’d put you through would probably send you screaming out into the night.”
Ruth quirked up the right side of her mouth and sat on the edge of the turned down bed before swinging her feet up. “Sounds like my old drill sergeant. Military Intelligence lost a real interrogator when he went into training recruits instead.”
Julie laughed and tucked her in, noticing the little shivers that raced over her battered body. Feeling her forehead, she realized that Ruth’s temperature had spiked again. Raising her voice, she called out to her son. “Sweetheart, you can come in now.”
The clink of crockery alerted them both to Sam’s presence. Julie took a good look at the pretty tray he’d arranged for their guest and smiled approvingly. She’d taught him well. Grabbing another pillow, she raised Ruth up and stuffed it behind her. “That looks very nice, Sam. All those etiquette lessons appear to have paid off.”
“You always said they would, Mom.” Sam smiled that boyish smile that had always melted her into a puddle. He’d inherited her brown hair and dark eyes but the beak of a nose came straight from Edward and Mother Penelope. His caring nature came from her mother, Sophie.
Ruth accepted the tray onto her blanket-covered lap. “It looks very good indeed.” She raised the cup with both hands and the left sleeve fell away to reveal the criss-cross scars that laced her arm.
Sam brought a chair from the dressing table to sit by his patient while Julie remained perched on the side of the bed. “Was it an explosion that caused the scarring?”
She finished the soup and put the cup down with a long contented sigh. “Someone planted a bomb in my place of work. We’d just finished a major remodeling that took two bloody years to finish. I was damned if I was going to let some terrorist undo all our hard work. So while the building was being evacuated, I moved the suitcase bomb out the back. I got as far as the loading dock when it went off, blowing me through the work bay and two sets of glass windows. Luckily I was the only one hurt. I’ve been on the disabled list ever since.”
Julie shivered at her matter-of-fact recital. “Eat your toast, dear. Is that cold water in the mug, Sam?”
“Yes, Mom. Okay, I understand why the scars but who’s after you that you’re afraid of going to the hospital? The terrorists?” Sam opened his bag and took out an electronic thermometer. Sticking it in her right ear, he waited for the beep. “Damn, its back up to 103. Mom, is Dad still at the hospital?”
“Yes, they’re having finance committee meetings all week. Do you want me to call him so he can bring home what you need?” She hoped she’d always be able to read his mind.
“Thanks, Mom.” He cast her another of his grins and began writing down what Ruth would need.
She was busy eating the small rectangles of toast with a look of bliss on her face. Julie approved of her priorities. “More toast, dear? Or perhaps a nice hot cup of tea?”
That single eye opened and in the subdued light of the room, it appeared almost silver instead of the gray she thought she’d seen in the bathroom. “By any chance, might you have some chamomile tea? It will soothe any upset I might get from putting real food into my stomach.”
“Of course, Ruth. I’ll go make it while I’m talking to Edward. Give me the list, Sam and I’ll call him now.” Julie got up and took the list from her son. “I’ll be right back.”
Julie strode briskly to the kitchen phone and hit the speed dial for the hospital. “Hello, Jean, this is Julie Hamilton. Is Dr. Hamilton still in that dreary meeting?” She turned up the gas under the teakettle and stretched the cord to the cupboard where she kept her teas. “Really? What in the world can they find so interesting for four solid hours?” She found the gray box with the mix of herbal teas in it and searched until she found a bag marked ‘chamomile’. “Oh, they’re breaking up now. Wonderful, could you have Edward come to the phone? Thanks, Jean.”
A few moments later, the deep tones of her husband came across the wires. “Julie? Is everything all right?”
“Well, we have an unexpected house guest, dearest. Sam brought home a very sick woman who’s afraid of hospitals. He gave me a list of things he needs you to bring home.”
“Good heavens. What will that boy do next?” He sighed heartily and Julie giggled under her breath at the familiar question. “Fax me the list and I’ll see what I can do. I should be home within the hour.”
“Thank you, dearest. She’s really quite sick with a temp of 103. Starving as well. But for some reason, she’s quite serious about not letting anyone in authority know where she is.” Julie poured the boiling water over the teabag in the blue mug. “We put her in Mother Penelope’s room.”
“Mother would be so pleased.” His dry humor echoed across the airwaves and she laughed at him.
“I’ll fax it to your office. How about a nice hot cup of tea when you get home?”
“Hm-m-m, how about a nice hot wife instead?” The sexy innuendo made her blush, even after all these years.
“I think that could be arranged, Doctor. Hurry home.” She made her voice go sultry with a hint of promise.
He made a kissing sound and hung up. Julie laughed out loud and shook her head in fond memory of other phone calls when they’d made love to each other long distance. Not to mention her clever husband’s playacting would ensure that anyone on the other end of the conversation would just think that her call was to hurry him home. She put the sheet into the fax machine and hit the speed dial for Edward’s office.
Then deciding that the tea had brewed long enough, she picked it up and went back to the sickroom. Ruth was finishing a coughing spell in Sam’s arms, her head buried in his shoulder. The look on her son’s face was grim and his eyes met hers over the bowed white head. Julie nodded and sat back down on Ruth’s other side.
She watched as her son tenderly laid Ruth back against the pillow. He was a good man just like his father and just as good as a doctor. He would go far in his profession if he could just find the right path. His gentleness and caring set him apart from some of the doctors that she’d seen come and go over the years. Julie had worried when he’d shipped out with his unit to one disaster zone after another but he’d thrived and grown in experience until he’d returned after this last deployment silent and thoughtful.
Something had happened. Something he was still coming to terms with. She’d given him openings, made sure that he knew he could come to her when he wanted to talk but so far he hadn’t. Perhaps this patient would provide her with a way to find out what was wrong. Sending up a silent prayer to the Goddess of Sons Who Were Too Big To Dictate To, she handed over the mug of fragrant tea to the woman who trembled against the white pillowcases, looking as pale as they.
Ruth took a sip and closed her eye, the old black patch covering the socket of the lost eye. “Thank you, ma’am. I really appreciate this. After all these years, I still find this simple herb soothing.”
“I know what you mean. My mother used to make us drink it when we were small.”
“Grandma Sophie was always making us drink it before we went to bed when ever we visited.” Sam sat back and cast a look her way. “Did you get hold of Dad?”
“Yes, I faxed your list to him and enticed him to come home early for a little quality time.” Julie batted her eyes and mock simpered at Sam’s groan.
Ruth chuckled then fought back another spasm of coughs. “It’s good to know that there is still love in the world. How long have you been married?”
“35 years, next month. Our oldest son, Peter, turned 35 this year as well. We were in a bit of a hurry to have a family.” Julie said with an exaggerated wink to the other woman. “Sam here followed two years later. Now, Toby was a surprise fifteen years after Sam. But a lovely surprise indeed. He’s off to college right now but he’ll be here over Christmas break. Perhaps you’ll meet him then?”
Ruth’s face looked as if she were communing with someone they couldn’t see. Then she shook her head. “I must be on my way as soon as I’m better. There isn’t much time left. The Winter Solstice this year will be an . . . interesting one.”
“You celebrate the solstices, then?” Julie had never met a practicing Wiccan before but she’d always wanted to. “Or are they called Sabbats instead?”
Ruth smiled her one sided smile and the silver eye winked at her. “Either. The traditions have been handed down for many years. The memory is strong in my family.”
“Well, if you’ve got a good spell for healing, I’d use it now. Your remaining lung is filling with fluid at a rapid rate and your fever has gone up again.” Sam shook his head and felt for her pulse.
“The Goddess takes care of her own. At the time of the . . . accident, I was out of shape and over weight. Four months in hospital and rehab took care of both those problems. I wouldn’t be able to fulfill my commitment to Her if I was not in . . . fighting trim.” Ruth took another sip of tea. “It’s only for a little while longer now.”
“Goodness, dear, you sound like those people who just knew the millennium bugs would herald all sorts of disasters last January.” Julie laughed and thought back over the spotty power outages and small crashes of hardware that had occurred on the 1st of January 2000. The dreaded Y2K had proven to be a tempest in a teapot.
Ruth chuckled and shook her head against the pillow. “Not the millennium bug I’m talking about. This has more to do with the alignment of the stars. I’ve studied astrology for some time now and it’s time for a rather unusual pattern to occur. It has been two thousand years since the last time.”
“How fascinating, my dear.” Julie rescued the cup before it could spill out of the wavering hands. “Right now though, I think you should take a little nap. We’ll wake you when Edward gets home.”
When she went to take the pillows from behind the dozing patient, Sam stopped her with a little headshake. Beckoning her to the kitchen, he followed her out with the tray and whispered in her ear. “She will have to sleep propped for awhile. Her only lung has fluid in it and her breathing would be impaired if she went flat.”
“Of course!” Julie was angry with herself for not thinking. “Here give me the tray so I can wash up. Why don’t you put on some more water so we can make a pot of tea? Ruth might like another cup when she wakes up. And while you’re at it, bring the cookie jar to the table, too. I could use a little chocolate pick-me-up.”
“You’re the best, Mom.” Sam kissed her cheek and headed for the counter.
“If I am, it’s because you’re one of the best sons a woman could ask for.” Julie smiled at him and surprised a wistful look on his face. What in the world? Maybe he’s ready to tell me what’s wrong.
“Toby is a better student than I ever was. And Peter will be a general before he retires.” Sam sat down and looked at the cookie in his hand as if it had all the secrets of the universe in it.
“You were a very good student. You just preferred hands on training rather than book learning while you were growing up. I never knew you wanted to be a general. Didn’t you say something about not going for the next promotion to major?” Julie sat down across from him and eyed him shrewdly.
“No, I didn’t mean that.” He looked at her uncertainly. “I just don’t want Dad and you to be disappointed in me.”
“Sam, as long as you’re doing what you want to do with all your heart, your father and I will be as proud as we can be. I thought medicine was what you wanted to do.” Julie was stumbling in the dark here, trying to feel her way to the heart of her son.
Sam shook his head and smiled ruefully. “I do want to be a doctor, Mom. It’s all I ever wanted to be and I think I’m doing a good job. But I like being a GP so I’ll never bring home awards like Dad does.”
“It’s not about awards, Sweetheart. It’s about saving lives and helping people to live better lives. And you know that. What is really bothering you?” Julie was ready for any more evasions. But the slamming of a car door interrupted them and Sam was up and moving to the back before the new arrival could reach it.
Damn, damn, damn! I almost had him.; Julie sighed and twirled her teacup in her hand. The soft kiss on top of her head and the scent of Old Spice aftershave told her who was home. “Hello, dear. Did you bring everything?”
“A fine welcome, Jul. Here I am after a long day at work and all you can say is ‘hello dear, did you bring everything’? I guess the honeymoon’s finally over.” Edward’s mock mournful accents sighed against the crown of her hair.
Julie giggled and pulled him down into a kiss that started soft and ended with a lack of oxygen on both their parts. Opening her eyes, she caught that wistful look again on Sam’s face. Ah, ha! It’s not his job but his love life that he’s not sure of. I wondered why he’d begun dating Eleanor Wenton. She’s not right for him at all. Ruth is more his type if it comes right down to it. Except for her age. Could that be it? He’s fallen in love with someone he thinks we’d find unsuitable. Maybe someone he met on this last mission?
“Honey?”
Julie came out of her thoughts to find Edward looking at her anxiously. “I’m sorry, love. I just had an odd thought. I’ll tell you about it later. For now, we need to get Ruth started on the drugs she needs to conquer the pneumonia.”
“Pneumonia? That could be serious.” Edward left her and followed Sam into the bedroom with his medical bag.
Julie sighed and began making the tea that Sam had forgotten. She moved slowly about her kitchen, her hands creating by rote memory while her thoughts scattered over the epiphany that she’d just had. She hated to think that any of the boys would be afraid to bring someone they loved home. Had she and Edward set such impossibly high standards that they had intimidated their sons into hiding that part of their lives?
No, Peter dated when he was home but his career meant too much to him at the moment to take the time to wed. He tended to date beautiful women who just needed a handsome man on their arm. Oh my God! It’s the same pattern. He chooses women that he couldn’t possibly be interested in except for play. Just like Sam dates that society wench, Eleanor.
She sat again at the table, shaken by her thoughts, her eyes staring at nothing at all. At 35 and 33, her eldest boys were far beyond the age that she and Edward had married. But times were different now. People lived longer these days and they liked to take their time in choosing a mate. A lot of their friends families still had unmarried men and women in their number. It didn’t mean there was anything wrong.
Did it? Julie promised herself a heart to heart talk with Sam before another day was done. The young man came back into the kitchen with a smile on his face and she put her worries away for the moment. “Is she awake? Do you think she’d like another cup of tea?”
“I think she would. Dad just helped her into the bathroom. I’m going to stay down here tonight. I moved Grandma Penelope’s recliner over to the bed so I’ll be fine.” Sam stopped talking and cocked his head. “Are you okay, Mom?”
“I’m fine, Sweetheart. I just had a scary thought or two. She seems like such a nice woman to be living in the streets. And she never did answer your question about the terrorists.” Julie knew when to blur the trail.
“Well, at the moment, I think she’s safe and hopefully on her way to getting better. But for now, we should probably keep silent about our . . . guest.” Sam shrugged and picked up the tray with teapot and cups her hands had unconsciously set.
“Darn, I was going to tell my book discussion group about her tomorrow night.” Julie sighed dramatically and enjoyed her son’s laughter. “Well, I guess it can’t be helped. Lucky for you, I don’t have the book club here tomorrow night. We’re meeting over at Sylvia’s. You didn’t have plans, did you, dear?”
“Nope. Just some racquetball with a friend at the YMCA.” Sam headed for the bedroom and Julie followed him.
“I don’t leave until seven if you still want to meet with him right after work. I’ll have dinner ready so you won’t have to fix any. Bring your friend home with you. Oops, that won’t work.” Julie grimaced.
“I trust Eli, he wouldn’t give her away.” Sam smiled down at his patient where his father was settling her in. “More tea, Ruth?”
“Heaven, Sam. Pure heaven. That shot has already started to work.” Her speech was just a touch slurred and her right hand wavered a bit as it accepted the cup of tea.
“Jul, you weren’t kidding about the tea.” Edward pouted over Ruth’s propped up body.
She laughed and crooked her finger at him. “I believe it was a ‘hot wife’ you were promised, Doctor. And if you’ll come upstairs, I’ll see what I can do.”
“Hot damn!” Edward shot up and circled the bed to the accompaniment of choked laughter from the other two.
Julie fled out the door and up the stairs with her husband hot on her heels. At the top of the stairs, he caught her and picked her up to carry her down to their bedroom. They were kissing all the way until he dropped her on the bed and rubbed his hands with a leering look.
“You got me, love. How about we share a shower before I trip you into bed and make mad passionate love to you?” She did a little leering of her own.
“You’ve got a deal, babe. But you have to promise that you’ll tell me what’s bothering you.” Edward was already unbuttoning his shirt, his shrewd eyes assessing her like the diagnostician he was.
“Damn, you caught me.” Julie swung her legs over the bed and studied the toes of her penny loafers before kicking them off. “I’m a little worried about Sam and the reason he’s dating that Eleanor.”
“We’ve never interfered before in any of the boys dating. They have the best example of all in the two of us. Through thick and thin, we’ve hung together. I can truthfully say that I love you more than I did the day we married.” His eyes softened and his hand was gentle as he tucked her hair back behind her ear.
“I know, love. But we come from the same social strata and neither of us dated much outside of our ‘group’ before we married. The world is a different place these days. What if Sam fell in love with some woman down in Guatemala last year or Kosovo, just two months ago? One who doesn’t speak our language or come from a well-to-do family? Wouldn’t he know he could bring her home?” Julie looked up at him beseechingly.
“Of course, he would. And we’d welcome her with the same care and concern that we’ve just shown to little Ruth. If he loved her with all his heart, we would too. And in time she’d learn our language while we learned some of hers. Is that what you’ve been worried about since he got back home two months ago?” Edward drew her to her feet and into his warm embrace.
“It just came to me this evening. What if she’s scarred or a paraplegic? We haven’t ever talked about that before.” She hugged him tightly. “I’m being silly, I expect but for some reason I felt all discombobulated tonight.”
“It’s the sudden guest and her horrible injuries that have you flustered. But you’ve seen worse in the wards before. Remember that car crash last year with the five victims from age six to thirty?” He rocked her a little and she nodded against his chest. “You were great with the little boy with the burns over 70% of his body. His own mother could hardly bear to look at him and you read to him every day.”
“I know, Edward. It’s just that sometimes I’m afraid that we think they ‘know’ something because we do and they really don’t know it would be all right when it would really be all right.” Julie knew she wasn’t making much sense but just saying it made her feel better.
“Oo-kay, I think I got that one figured out. If it is really worrying you, why don’t you talk to Sam tomorrow?” He kissed her forehead and stepped back far enough to see her face. “I’ll bet that he’s been dying to tell but just didn’t have the nerve. Withhold the cookies until he’s told you. That ought to do it.”
Julie laughed out loud and nodded. “Tomorrow, love. But for now, I believe I promised you a hot night in the old town tonight.”
“All right!” Edward ripped off his tie and stalked her into the bathroom, tickling her as they went.
She protested not at all.