Page 23 of A Letter to Carolina
Once she was off the table, Carolina quickly stripped off the top part of her dress, covering Molly’s front with a sheet, and Nate put down the gauze bandages. His wife was smart. Abused women weren’t something he was familiar with, and the urge to go shake everyone in the saloon was overwhelming.
“Ok. Carefully, Tater. Her shoulders need to go down first.”
Carolina coated the bruises in salve. Nate followed behind and wrapped the bandages tight. Before she was ushering them out of the room, he could hear her humming through the door and Nate assumed she was finishing up making the other woman comfortable.
Carolina handed a mug of coffee to Tater, who’d taken up a post outside of Molly’s room.
She felt ruffled, her clothes wrinkled and disheveled. The day didn’t start off how she planned.
No time for what had become her daily routine of breakfast, coffee, and devotions with Nate before they opened the clinic. At least she had time to go upstairs and get washed, change her clothes, and braid her hair.
The bell jingled on the clinic door. Two women wearing elaborate evening gowns carefully entered the room, colored plumes attached to their hair pieces. An older woman in a green day dress walked in behind them.
“May I help you?” Carolina plastered a friendly smile on her face.
“Who are you?” The older woman stepped forward; the other two growing more nervous at her greeting.
“Carolina Pickett. I am the doctor’s wife.” The words felt foreign to her tongue.
“You must be new to Flat River. I’m Libby Matthews, these are Carly and Dot. Was a woman brought in this morning?”
“Molly is resting,” Tater answered, blocking the hallway, a deep frown on his face.
“You took her away!” Carly accused, pointing a finger at him. “This is your fault.”
Libby took up a position beside Carolina, watching the scene play out.
“I brought her to be seen by the Doc. Did you two know about the bruises on her ribs? Or that she could have died? Don’t you come in here talking to me about who’s at fault.” His face was red with rage. She couldn’t imagine loving someone who refused to see a better future.
“You know Doc won’t treat us!” Dot stomped a foot and Carolina felt her chest tighten.
“What do you mean Nate won’t treat you?”
“Not the boy, the old doc. We all knew we couldn’t come here to be treated.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Carolina said.
“No, the girls are right.” Libby weighed in. “They didn’t like us coming here. If needed, Doc would come to the saloon. Miss Marcy didn’t like the attention of having him come out, either. If we were broken enough to need Doc, we were too broke to work. So, we had to choose.”
“We?” Carolina looked over at the other woman. She looked like any of the other townswomen she’d met this week, maybe with more lines around her eyes.
“I got married a few years ago and left. I knew that my stay there was only temporary.”
“What are you all doing in here?” Rose Arden snipped, coming out of the back room. She had just finished getting dressed from seeing Carolina, and was leaving when she saw the women in the lobby.
“Mrs. Arden,” Libby cautioned.
“Is there a problem, Mrs. Arden?” Carolina asked.
“Those women have no right to be here. This is for decent folk. What ails them is clearly punishment for the choices they’ve made.”
Rage boiled up inside her. It was one thing she’d struggled with in school. All people deserved proper care. God commanded it, and human decency pushed her further in her mission to serve all humanity.
“If your appointment is over, you are welcome to leave. These women are here to be seen, and their medical care is really none of your business.” Carolina stepped around Dot and Carly, who backed against the wall when Mrs. Arden had first spoken. She held the door open, giving her best smile. “Heaven welcomes us, even though we have no right to be there. I will not turn away anyone in need of care, and neither will my husband.”
She knew she spoke with a confidence that she didn’t have, but all there was to do now was pray that what she defended was, in fact, true for Nate.
“I never.” The woman stormed out of the office, and Carolina knew that the gossip would spread soon enough. It wasn’t like it took long in a city. She imagined it would be much faster here.
