Dancing in the Rain (6 page)

Carolyn shrugged, then gave the men a quick smile. “I’m here as a friend, not an aide,” she explained.

The redhead chuckled. “That’s why she ain’t wearing her clothespin.”

“I see.” Though Dwight nodded as if he understood, Carolyn doubted he did. The man was so solemn, she wondered if he did anything for pure enjoyment. The patients might think she came to the wards for their benefit, but the one who truly benefited from the visits was Carolyn herself. She enjoyed both the men’s camaraderie and the thought that she was helping them. Those things brought her pleasure. She wasn’t certain anything brought Dwight Hollins pleasure.

“If you’re free, Miss Wentworth,” he said, “I wondered if you would like to accompany me on my rounds. It seems only fair that you have a chance to see the progress our patients have made.”

For a second, Carolyn’s jaw dropped in surprise. “Our” patients? Though it was true she had thought of them in those terms, it had never occurred to her that Dwight considered her anything more than an extension of him in the operating room.

“Certainly, Doctor,” she said. After a quick goodbye to the men, she gathered her cloak and joined Dwight. As they crossed the courtyard that separated the two hospital wards, she looked at the man who walked next to her. Perhaps it was the result of the sunshine, an undeniable boost to the spirits. Perhaps it was something else. Carolyn wasn’t sure why, but it seemed that he was more relaxed today than she’d ever seen him.

“Have you always wanted to be a doctor?” she asked. Though he might freeze her with another one of those stares that the nurses dreaded, telling her wordlessly that she had overstepped the bounds, Carolyn had decided to risk his censure. The man was a puzzle, and she had always enjoyed solving puzzles.

“Almost.” Dwight’s hazel eyes shone with an enthusiasm that was not reflected in his voice. “I was seven the day I knew I was going to be a doctor.”

Carolyn noted that he had said “going to be” rather than “wanted to be.” It appeared that even at that age, he had been a determined boy. “What happened?” she asked. Though his voice had been emotionless, Carolyn realized that something dramatic must have occurred to make the young Dwight so certain of his future. At seven, she had dreamed of nothing more ambitious than getting married. She certainly hadn’t envisioned being in France, helping save soldiers’ lives.

Dwight stopped and looked down at her. This time his eyes were somber. “My youngest sister fell out of the hayloft. For a minute, I thought she was dead.” While Dwight continued to speak in his normal, calm tones, Carolyn shuddered as she pictured the scene in the barn. “When I realized Eve was alive but barely breathing, I knew there was only one thing to do. I hitched the mule to the wagon and drove her into town to the doctor.” A faint smile crossed Dwight’s face. Like the one she had seen in Miss Pierce’s office, it was fleeting, almost as if Dwight’s lips had forgotten how to smile.

“At the end of the day, I had a hero,” he told her. “It wasn’t just that Doc Sherman saved my sister’s life. He let me help him when he performed the tracheotomy. After that, there was only one thing I wanted to do with my life.”

Carolyn stared, not sure what amazed her more: the fact that the doctor had allowed a child to assist him or that a child would want to be part of so dangerous an operation. “You were seven!”

Dwight’s smile broadened and for a second Carolyn was speechless. Dwight Hollins could smile—and, oh, what a smile! In repose, he was a handsome man, but with his face softened by a smile, he could easily star in a Hollywood film.

“Why do you find that hard to believe?”

Carolyn had a moment of confusion. Surely she hadn’t voiced her thought that he looked like a movie star.

As Dwight continued, she remembered what she had said before his smile had distracted her. “Most of us were seven once.”

But very few of us would have reacted positively to watching a doctor cut a hole in our sister’s throat.
Carolyn was careful not to say that. Instead, she replied, “Most of us aren’t so sure of our vocation then.”

Dwight shrugged and looked around the courtyard, as if he were seeing it for the first time. The chateau was constructed as a square with the four wings surrounding a central courtyard, a single large gate providing access to it. In earlier times, formal gardens had edged the open space, but the war had changed that, and now there was only mud.

Though the courtyard was bleak, nothing could destroy the beauty of the building itself. Constructed of gray stone with a darker gray slate roof, it was perfectly proportioned, the courtyard large enough that the three-story castle did not overwhelm it.

Carolyn glanced up at the window of the room she shared with Helen. Like all the rooms on the top floor, the window was a dormer set into the steeply pitched roof. Carolyn had seen dormers before, but the ones at home had been utilitarian. They had not been topped with beautiful stone carvings. And none of the buildings she had ever seen in Texas had boasted towers that made them look like a castle from one of the fairytales her mother had read to Carolyn and her sisters.

When she was seven, she had listened to fairytales. The man who stood so close to her had chosen his life’s work at the same age. Carolyn looked at Dwight, trying to picture him as a seven-year-old. “I imagine your family was proud of you.”

To her surprise, Dwight shook his head. “Dad wanted me to be a farmer like him; Mother just wanted whatever Dad did. I knew I’d have to convince them that this was right for me.”

Again, she was amazed. Dwight was unlike anyone she’d ever met. “Obviously, you did convince your parents.”

As Dwight shrugged, the sun glinted off one of the brass buttons on his uniform. “Not right away. At first they figured I’d grow out of it. When I didn’t and it was clear that they weren’t going to approve, I changed my tactics.” Dwight gestured toward the corner of the chateau that was reserved for officers. “No general planned his strategy more carefully than I did.” It wasn’t a boast, merely a simple statement of fact. “The first thing I did was convince Doc Sherman to let me help him.”

“And your parents agreed to that?” It didn’t sound likely, given the way Dwight had described them.

“Not really. They told me I could go into town when I finished my work on the farm. Then they gave me more chores to do.”

“Yet somehow you managed to finish them.”

Two of the nurses left their wing. When they saw Carolyn and Dwight, though they nodded a greeting, Carolyn noticed that they walked along the perimeter of the courtyard rather than taking the direct route that would have brought them close to Dwight.

Seeming oblivious to the nurses’ shunning, Dwight continued his explanation. “I enlisted my sisters’ help. To put it bluntly, I bribed them. I used the money I earned working for the doctor to buy my sisters ribbons and lace and the other things seven young girls craved.”

“Seven? You have seven sisters?” There were days when Carolyn thought two were too many.

“Yes, indeed.” Dwight seemed faintly amused by Carolyn’s reaction. “I’m the oldest child and the only male.”

The elder Mr. Hollins’ behavior suddenly made sense. “No wonder your father wanted you to be a farmer. He wants to leave the farm to you.”

Twin furrows appeared between Dwight’s eyes as he considered Carolyn’s words. “I never thought of that.”

Carolyn knew all about dynasties and inheritances, but perhaps that was because she had lived in a town rather than on a farm. “My father took Theo to the bank from the time he was ten.”

“Theo, I gather, is your brother.”

Carolyn nodded, bemused. Who would have thought that her casual question would have resulted in her standing here in the courtyard trading family histories with Dwight Hollins? “I’m from a smaller family than you,” she told him. “Martha’s two years older than me. The twins—that’s Theo and Emily—are two years younger.”

“So you’re in the middle.” Dwight’s expression was pensive. “I sometimes wondered what it would be like to be a middle child.”

And Carolyn had wondered what it would have been like if she’d been the oldest. “Most of the time I felt as if I had two mothers, my real one and Martha.” Carolyn remembered all the advice Martha had given her and how vehemently her older sister had protested when she had announced her intention of becoming a nurse’s aide. “Didn’t you take care of your sisters?”

“I suppose I did, when there was time. Looking back, though, it seems like I spent every waking moment preparing to be a doctor.”

It was odd. When he’d invited her to accompany him on his rounds, Dwight had seemed in a hurry. Now he was apparently content to stand in the sunshine, talking. “You must have had some time off,” she said. “After all, you fell in love.”

For a second, Dwight’s expression was blank, as if he did not understand her words. Then he nodded brusquely. “Oh, yes. Of course. Louise. A doctor needs a wife like Louise.”

Carolyn stared at him. Dwight sounded the way he had when he had explained his tactics for gaining his parents’ acceptance. It was one thing to plan your education, quite another to choose a wife according to plan. “You sound as if you had a schedule. Step one, finish medical school; step two, find a wife.” Carolyn could picture him making a list the way she did when she was going shopping.

“Would it be so wrong if I had?” Dwight glanced down at her left hand. “Surely you and …” He paused, obviously searching for her fiancé’s name.

“Ed.”

“You and Ed must have planned the best time to become engaged.”

“Actually, we didn’t. It just happened.”

It had been late summer, one of those days when the sun shone from a sky so deeply blue that it almost hurt her eyes. Though the thermometer declared that it was close to a hundred, a light breeze and the shade of the live oak would have made it pleasant to sit on the swing, gliding ever so slowly, if the situation had not been so serious. Today was the day she and her sisters had dreaded. Not waiting to be drafted, Theo had enlisted in the Army.

“What will I do if he’s killed?” Carolyn turned to the young man sitting next to her. When Martha and Emily had asked the same question, she had shook her head vehemently, denying that it could happen. Although Carolyn knew the realities of war and the heavy casualties the Allies had already endured, someone needed to be strong. Someone needed to hold out hope. But now that she was with Ed, there was no need for pretense. He would understand. “I can’t bear the thought of a world without Theo,” Carolyn said, her voice cracking with emotion.

She had expected Ed to murmur soothing words. Instead, he took her hand between both of his and turned until he was facing her. “I wish someone cared whether or not I came back,” he said, his voice as bleak as her sisters’ had been when they spoke of Theo’s enlistment.

“What do you mean?” Never before had Carolyn seen Ed so serious.

“I enlisted this morning.”

Carolyn felt the blood drain from her face. “Oh, Ed! Why did you do that?” Though everything else was changing around her, she had somehow believed that Ed would remain at home, that the draft would not take him. And now he had enlisted!

The expression in his green eyes was almost reproachful as he said, “The same reason Theo did. I want to serve my country. Besides,” Ed lowered his eyes, as if he were ashamed of what he was about to say. “I figured I was expendable. No one would miss me.”

Carolyn’s heart ached at the thought that Ed would believe that. “Don’t be ridiculous!” She squeezed his hand. “We’d all miss you. Your parents would miss you. I’d miss you.”

Ed managed a weak smile. “Sure you’d miss your pal—for a couple weeks.” Beneath its thick coating of freckles, his face was pale, and Carolyn could feel his anguish. Poor Ed! He’d always been the odd one, tall, lanky, uncoordinated. When the other boys played sports, Ed was never asked to join them, for it was well known that he’d fumble the ball or trip over his feet. Though when he was with her, he could talk for hours, he was tongue-tied around other girls and—despite her coaxing—had never so much as asked one for a date. And now Ed, the boy who’d been her best friend, was going to war, thinking no one cared. She couldn’t let him believe that.

“That’s not true!” Carolyn said, her voice thick with emotion. “I want you to be safe. I love you, Ed.” The words tumbled out, unplanned, but when she saw the spark of hope that lit Ed’s eyes, she couldn’t regret them.

“You don’t really love me.” This was the Ed she knew, convinced that no one could love him. “You’re my friend.”

“Of course I’m your friend.” The droop of his mouth told Carolyn those were not the words he wanted to hear. She couldn’t—she simply couldn’t—let him go to war, thinking he had no reason to return. In another of those impetuous acts that her mother had warned her about, Carolyn laid her free hand on Ed’s cheek, turning his face so that he was looking directly at her. She smiled, then lowered her eyes for a second. When she met his gaze again, she said softly, “I know it’s forward of me to say this, but … well …” She ducked her head again. “If you were to ask me a certain question …” Carolyn let her voice trail off.

Ed gripped her hand so tightly it hurt. “Are you saying what I think you are?”

She smiled again. “Try asking me.”

Though she would have thought it impossible, Ed’s face paled even more, making his freckles more pronounced. He swallowed, cleared his throat, then swallowed again. For a second, she thought he was going to remain silent. Then he stammered, “Will you … er … will you marry me?”

She nodded. “Yes, Ed. I will.” If Carolyn had had any doubts about the wisdom of her decision, the joy she saw on Ed’s face erased them. She faced her family’s protests and the town’s incredulity calmly, refusing to explain what they all considered to be an inexplicable action, saying only that the war helped people see clearly what was important. For Carolyn, keeping Ed alive was the most important thing she could do.

“You mean you agreed to get married on a whim?” For an instant Carolyn stared at Dwight, startled by his words. She’d been so lost in her memories that for a few seconds she had been transported back to Texas in August.