The Doctor Takes a Wife Read Online Free PDF

peered out, seen her emerge from the church and was coming to greet them? Perhaps she could say something to indicate she would like to talk to him later?
    But instead of Nolan Walker, she saw a female figure emerge, glance furtively at the townspeople strolling away from church, then turn away and walk quickly down the alley that ran past the side of the doctor’s office. A dark bonnet hid her features as soon as the woman turned her head, but in those brief seconds when she had been facing toward the church, Sarah recognized Ada Spencer.
    What is she doing there? Doctors don’t have office hours on Sunday mornings. Therefore she must have been there for a completely nonmedical purpose. Thinking about Ada’s secretive manner, Sarah was suddenly sure the two had been Up to No Good.
    She thought back to the summer, when Ada had been giddy with excitement over being courted by that Englishman Harvey Blakely. Blakely had come to tryto blackmail Nicholas about his past or, if he wouldn’t cooperate, to expose Nick’s disgrace in India, but after failing to discredit Nick, Harvey had been the first casualty on the day of the Comanche attack. Ada had been a virtual recluse ever since, and never came to the Spinsters’ Club meetings. When she thought about her, at all, Sarah had assumed Ada was still mourning her English beau, scoundrel that he had been. In the excitement of her sister’s wedding, Sarah had forgotten all about Ada.
    Now, though, it seemed that Ada had set her cap at a new bachelor, and perhaps Nolan Walker was all too willing to meet with the vulnerable woman in his office at a time when they wouldn’t likely be interrupted by patients.
    They probably hadn’t even remained in the office. Behind it was the doctor’s private living quarters— Sarah knew this from her long friendship with Maude Harkey, the late doctor’s daughter and also a member of the Spinsters’ Club who had shared those quarters with her father until his death in the Comanche attack. When Dr. Walker had taken over as town physician, he had been offered the space, and Maude had moved in with a married sister in town.
    Sarah’s heart sank. Though she had been looking forward to clearing the air with Dr. Nolan Walker, and perhaps more, she knew now she had been right all along about him.
    Dr. Walker was nothing but a Yankee opportunist—little short of a carpetbagger. And now, it seemed, he was a womanizer as well, and was engaged in an improper relationship with a woman who had alreadyproven she was more than willing to go to any lengths to have a suitor.
    Resolutely, Sarah turned her face away from the doctor’s office, and gazed directly ahead of her toward the hotel. She’d go straight home after her dinner with Milly and her new husband. She’d cook a fine supper for the cowhands and perhaps begin planning for her move to the cottage she would be sharing soon with Prissy.
    It was a good thing she’d found out about Dr. Walker’s true character before she’d made a fool of herself. Perhaps she should warn the others in the Spinsters’ Club, she thought, firmly ignoring the ache in her heart.
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    The time had gone by quickly. Milly and Nick had arrived home December 23, and Sarah welcomed them back with a wonderful supper.
    â€œOh, Sarah, why don’t you stay till after New Year’s?” Milly said the morning after Christmas. “It doesn’t seem right, your moving out right now. Why not stay till then?”
    â€œIt was a wonderful Christmas, wasn’t it?” Sarah said. “Your first one as husband and wife,” she said, smiling at the couple across the table. “But Milly, I can’t keep putting it off. Today’s the perfect day. Bobby and Isaiah are already set to load up the buckboard right after breakfast, aren’t you?”
    Down the table, the two cowhands nodded.
    Sarah looked forward to sharing the cottage