It didn’t take long to get there. His house and that of her parents were both on the sides of their respective properties closest to the other. No wonder Kaleidoscope wandered over so easily. She probably thought their property was part of hers as well.
The house was a typical large home ready for a big family, with an even larger barn as well as a dawdy haus for his parents. Did he have one or both of them living in the smaller dwelling? Not likely. Mum had said he had no one to cook for him, and he hadn’t worried about informing anyone last night when he stayed to supper at their house.
She wished her parents had a dawdy haus, then she wouldn’t have to build a clinic, but then it might be occupied with her grosseltern, which would be nice. Both sets of grosseltern lived on her parents’ older siblings’ properties.
A sleek black shepherd and a small corgi trotted up to her and her detainee, all tails swinging at a different tempo. She petted them each in turn.
If Kathleen had any doubts that this was the right place, they were brushed away with the wagging tails. She untied the rope, feeling it safe to free Kaleidoscope to run with her pals, and walked to the barn. “Noah?”
When she got no answer, she crossed the yard to the big house and knocked on the front door. Still no answer, so she headed around to the back and found the key. She turned it over in her hand. It didn’t feel right to walk into someone else’s home uninvited. She didn’t know Noah well enough. This would be an invasion of his privacy. So she replaced the key and sat in a rocking chair on the front porch, hoping he would return soon.
Some time later, she heard her name being called.
“Kathleen?”
“One more minute.” She needed just one more minute of sleep before her shift.
“Kathleen?”
That couldn’t be a nurse or orderly. They wouldn’t call her by her first name. Where was she? She forced her eyes open and focused on the tall, handsome man standing over her. Not medical personnel. Noah! She smiled, then jerked fully awake. “I’m so sorry. I must have dozed off for a minute.” She’d learned to sleep anywhere, and her body knew to catch sleep whenever it could.
“Don’t worry.” He chuckled. “You weren’t snoring.”
As she pushed to her feet, the rope on her lap slipped to the porch floor. “I didn’t sleep much last night.” She was used to taking five- and ten-minute naps throughout the day. No more. She would need to teach herself to sleep at night again and stay awake during the day.
He picked up the makeshift leash and offered it to her. “I must say, the last thing I expected to find when I came home was a pretty lady sleeping on my porch.”
She took the rope. “You’re not going to let me forget this, are you?”
“Probably not.”
His smile did funny things to her stomach. And he’d called her pretty. That didn’t matter. She had no room in her life for men. One man in particular. She couldn’t have a husband and still be a doctor. She’d made that sacrifice years ago. But still, her heart longed.
She held the lead out and teased him back. “Then maybe next time, we’ll keep your dog.”
“Kaleidoscope?” He shook his head. “I closed her up in the barn. How did she get out? Danki for bringing her back. And because you did, I promise not to mention your afternoon nap.”
“Danki. I’d appreciate that.” Then she remembered her reason for staying. “Mum has invited you to supper. Shall I tell her you’re coming? Or not?”
“I never pass up an invitation from your mutter. Let me hook up the trap, and we can head over.”
“What time is it?”
“Nearly supper time. I’ll be right back.” He jogged to the barn.
How long had she slept? Longer than she’d thought, apparently. She hadn’t realized the number of things she’d have to get used to again. No chance of slipping back into her Amish life as though she’d never been gone.
Noah returned shortly, leading a horse and the two-wheeled trap he had been driving yesterday. “Kaleidoscope dug her way out. I’ll need to figure some other way to contain her. Hopefully, she’ll stay put in that stall. I gave her plenty of food and water.”
Kathleen climbed into the vehicle. He settled in beside her, along with the aromas of wood and honey, and put the trap into motion.
“May I ask you a question? Do you hear an accent when I talk?”
He nodded. “It’s slight but comes out on certain words. Nothing to worry about.”
“But it is. If the church leaders think I’ve become too English, they might not accept me back.”
“How you talk isn’t going to get you thrown out or shunned.”
“I need them to accept me as the community’s doctor. I can’t have anything they can use against me. I went through a lot of trouble to gain special permission to be able to wear my plain dresses and kapp instead of scrubs while working in the hospitals.”
“You did?” He sounded surprised.
“Though I haven’t joined church, I am Amish.”
He didn’t respond. What did his silence mean? Would everyone meet her declaration of being a doctor for their district and being Amish with silence? She wanted him to approve.
After a moment, he said, “May I ask you a question now?”
She smiled.
“Why are you so determined to be a doctor? As you said, you went to a lot of trouble and time away for something that isn’t likely to be sanctioned, regardless how you speak.”
“I didn’t want to leave,” she replied. “Gott called me to be a doctor. A doctor for our community.” She should tell him about Nancy. It would give her practice for speaking to the church leaders.
“My sister was stung by a bee when she was eight. She went into anaphylactic shock. Because medical treatment was too far away, she died before my dat could get her to the help she needed. With a simple injection, she would have lived. A simple injection almost anyone could administer.”
She hadn’t spoken aloud about Nancy in years. Every other time she’d told someone, her eyes flooded with tears and the words lodged in her throat. Not this time. All of her medical training had wrung those emotions out of her. She couldn’t help people if she became overwrought.
“I’m sorry about your sister.” The sincerity in his tone touched her heart.
“Danki. I made a commitment to do all I could to help prevent future senseless deaths.”
“I commend you for your determination. So what are you going to do now?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“What’s your next step? Other than planning to build a clinic with your own two hands.”
“You don’t think I can do it?”
“I think your medical degree didn’t include a course in construction.”
“Ne, it didn’t. But I think I can manage.”
He harrumphed.
“You don’t think I’m capable?”
“I think your time would be better spent on other endeavors.”
Other endeavors? Like getting married and keeping house and having babies? A longing tugged at her heart. All things she wanted but couldn’t have. “I’m going to petition the leadership to give me a trial period. Like they do for testing out the use of new technology in the community. If they can see the benefits for everyone, and people get used to not