Her Healing Ways Read Online Free PDF Page A

possibly know?’ Over and over.”
    â€œWhy do you put up with it?”
    She chuckled again.
    The sound irritated Lon. “I don’t know what’s funny about this. You should be taken seriously. How much did the town pay you?”
    Mercy sighed, handing him the envelope. “Human nature is what’s funny. Even when confronted by the truth about the cause of the epidemic, the average male and most females refuse to believe a woman would know more than a man would.”
    They’d paid her less than five dollars. He voiced his disgust by saying, “But your idea about the cause of cholera is based on what male doctors have discovered, isn’t it?”
    She nodded, tucking the envelope into the small leather purse in her skirt pocket. “But I could havegotten it wrong. I am, after all, just a poor, inferior, weak female who must always defer to men who always know better than women do.”
    Her words grated against his nerves like sandpaper on sensitive skin. Why? Was he guilty of thinking this, too? He found himself moving toward this woman. He shut his mouth. He didn’t want to know more about Dr. Mercy Gabriel. He didn’t want to walk toward her, but she drew him. He offered her his hand to cover how disgruntled and confused he felt by his reaction to her.
    She smiled and shook it. “I thank thee, Lon Mackey. Thee didn’t balk very much at following a woman’s directions.”
    He didn’t know what to say to this. Was she teasing him or scolding him? Or being genuine? He merely smiled and turned away. The saloon was open again and he had to win some money to pay for his keep.
    He would be staying in the saloon almost round the clock for the next few days—he’d seen the men of the town coming back full force. How had he come this far from the life he’d been born to? The answer was the war, of course.
    He walked toward the saloon, hearing voices there louder and rowdier than usual. No doubt watching the wagons carrying people to the cemetery made men want to forget the harsh realities of life with lively conversation and laughter. Nearly seventy people had succumbed to cholera. How many would they havelost if Dr. Mercy Gabriel hadn’t shown up? Was he the only one who wondered this?
    And why wouldn’t the Quaker woman leave his mind?
    Images of Mercy over the past few hectic days popped into his mind over and over again. Mercy kneeling beside a patient and then rising to go to the next, often with a loud, burdened sigh. Mercy speaking softly to a weeping relative. Mercy staggering to a chair and closing her eyes for a short nap and then rising again. He passed a hand over his forehead as if he could wipe away the past week, banish Mercy Gabriel from his mind. But she wasn’t the kind of woman a man could forget easily. But I must.

Chapter Three
    T he morning after the final patient had recovered, Mercy decided it was time to find both a place to live and a place to start her medical practice. She wondered if she should ask Lon Mackey for help.
    As she stood looking down the main street of the town, Indigo said, “Aunt Mercy?”
    Mercy looked into Indigo’s large brown eyes. Indigo had always called her Aunt Mercy—the title of “mother” had never seemed right to either of them. “Yes?”
    â€œAre we going to stand here all day?” Indigo grinned.
    Mercy leaned her head to the side. “I’m sorry. I was lost in thought.” She didn’t reveal that the thoughts had been about Lon Mackey. He had vanished several days ago, returning to the largest saloon on the town’s one muddy street. His abrupt departurefrom their daily life left her hollow, blank, somehow weakened.
    Indigo nodded as if she had understood both Mercy’s thoughts and gaze.
    Mercy drew in a deep breath and hoped it would revive her. This was the place she had been called to. Only time would reveal if it would become