The Doctor Takes a Wife Read Online Free PDF Page A

mind of their own and can come earlier or later than when a physician predicts.”
    â€œThank you, Doctor.”
    â€œYou’re quite welcome, Miss Spencer.” He rose to indicate the appointment was over, and she moved quickly toward the door.
    â€œOh, and Miss Spencer,” he said, trying to make his request sound casual, “why don’t you bring a friend with you next time you come? I’m sure it would be wiser for the sake of your reputation.” And mine.
    She looked back at him, then bolted out the door without another word.

Chapter Four
    â€œM y message,” Reverend Chadwick began, “is one I have felt compelled to preach today, the subject of forgiveness. Certainly this is a timely subject, in view of the recent national conflict that nearly tore our country in two forever. Maybe the Lord wanted me to speak on this because one person present is struggling to forgive another. But really, it doesn’t matter whether one person or twenty needs to hear it. I take my text from Matthew Chapter Eighteen, in which Peter is asking Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother.”
    Sarah winced inwardly. Of all the subjects for the pastor to preach about! And just after she had been thinking that his failure to attend church served as an additional reason why Dr. Nolan Walker deserved neither her forgiveness nor her friendship…
    Reverend Chadwick went on to describe how Jesus had decreed one should forgive seventy times seven. “Now, does the Lord mean we are only to forgive four hundred and ninety times? No, dear people, He means infinitely. If we don’t forgive, we aren’t forgiven—simple as that.”
    Sarah shifted uncomfortably in the pew, hoping the elegant Lord Edward and his kindly brother Richard didn’t notice. The white-haired pastor seemed to be speaking straight to her, though he wasn’t looking in her direction.
    â€œIn fact,” Reverend Chadwick went on, “the Bible goes so far as to say if we take our gift to the altar, and discover we have something against our brother, we’re to go and make things right with him first.”
    Very well, then. She had brought a tithe of her profits from her bakery sales to put in the collection plate, but she’d hold on to the coins until she’d had a chance to speak to Dr. Walker. That was the right thing to do. It wouldn’t be easy—much would depend on how he responded, but surely Pastor Chadwick’s choice of this topic meant that she was to forgive Nolan Walker for serving with the Union Army. She could pay him a visit this very afternoon, after she and the Brookfield brothers met with the Milly and Nick for dinner and she saw them all off to Austin. After all, she was already in town, and had left dinner on the stove for the cowhands, so she didn’t have to get back to the ranch soon.
    She sighed, at peace with herself now, and admitted she was even looking forward to seeing the blue-eyed doctor and hearing him talk in that outlandish accent again. With some difficulty, she forced her attention back to the sermon.
    â€œTime to go see the newlyweds,” Edward murmured, after they had shaken hands with Reverend Chadwick and had spoken with several members of the congregation.
    â€œYes. I think marriage will be good for Nicholas,especially marriage to your dear sister,” Richard told Sarah. “He’s made an excellent choice. Just think, Edward, now there’s only Violet for us to see safely married….”
    â€œAs she’s hardly out of the schoolroom, I hope that will be some time from now,” his brother said, but Sarah was no longer listening.
    Instead of gazing down the main street of Simpson Creek to her right, toward the hotel where they would meet Nick and Milly for dinner, she had glanced to her left, where a low white picket fence surrounded the doctor’s office.
    Just as she looked, the door opened. Perhaps Nolan had