The Incident by C. C. Malandrinos
Monthly Challenge Nr.1!
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. The rights to those characters and to the show belong to the creators of the show, to CBS, The Sullivan Company and to A&E.
Author's note: This story does not follow the proper DQ timeline because this challenge is based upon the writer coming up a story based upon two pictures provided at the DQ Message Board, which are taken from different seasons.
"That's it." Elizabeth Quinn's tone let her daughter know she meant business. She dabbed her face with the cool cloth again. As if the heat were not enough, she now knew that Michaela must come back to Boston right away.
"Oh Mother, Jake and Loren were just having a little fun." Michaela could barely look her mother in the eye as she imagined the thoughts running through her mind.
"Is that what you call it?" Elizabeth's eyebrows rose to a pronounced arch. "I call it disgusting and scandalous. Two men parading around town in dresses and wigs…good Lord, how can you even think of staying here another moment?"
Why did Loren and Jake have to pull such a stunt with her mother here? Loren had seemed so taken with her mother when they had gone into the store to buy some of that scented soap that he had ordered for Mrs. Quinn's arrival. "A proper lady from Boston can't be bathin' with just any darn soap," he had said.
Michaela crossed her arms over her chest. "My practice is here, Mother. I can't just leave. I have a responsibility to my patients."
"And are those two imbeciles your patients as well?" She placed the cloth across her chest. Even the open collar of her dressing gown did nothing to cool her. The heat had been unbearable since her arrival and there hadn't even been the slightest hint of breeze. How could Michaela stand it here?
Michaela lowered her gaze. "I see Loren and Jake when necessary."
"Well, I guarantee you that you wouldn't have patients like those in Boston."
"You're right Mother. The only patients I saw in Boston were in orphanages and poor houses." Michaela's lips pursed into a self-satisfied grin.
Elizabeth stood up and tossed the rest of the cool water from the bowl onto the ground. Exasperated and still drenched with sweat, she didn't feel she had the strength to continue the argument any longer, but something inside her just wouldn't let it go.
"Don't you think that Josef Quinn's daughter would have been a respected doctor in Boston?"
Michaela wiped the sweat from her hands onto her apron. "No, I don't Mother…and neither do you when you're being honest with yourself." Elizabeth glared at her daughter. Michaela reached for her mother's arm and softened her tone. "Everything changed after Father died. The few patients who allowed me to see them only did it out of respect for him. Why do you think I spent so much time in the orphanages and poor houses? No one else would take me."
Why did they always have to go round-and-round about the same things? It felt like Michaela was destined to do battle with her mother from the day she was born. If she had only been more like Marjorie or Rebecca, maybe things would be different. But that wasn't the life Michaela wanted to live. She had dreamed about working alongside her father since she was a little girl.
Elizabeth walked up the stairs to the house. If she stayed out in the heat much longer, she would faint. She heard Michaela's steps behind her and turned to face her daughter.
"Is this really the life that you expected when you went to medical school?" Elizabeth opened her arms and looked around. "A house that could fit in our parlor, dirt streets, and filthy animals to care of?"
Michaela's shrugged. "No, it's not…but it's a life that makes me happy."
Elizabeth frowned. "I always thought living in Boston made you happy."
The bottom of Elizabeth's dressing gown twirled as she turned and walked inside the house, pushing the door shut behind her.
*
It had been two days since Elizabeth had engaged Michaela in conversation about anything other than the weather or food. The children felt the tension inside the tiny home and worked to be on their best behavior. One morning, Sully arrived early to drive with Michaela and the children into town. Michaela saw her mother take in Sully's appearance with a critical eye. Hopefully her mother could remain civil on the ride into town, but the look she had given Sully didn't leave Michaela much hope.
"How long will ya be stayin' Mrs. Quinn?" Sully looked at Elizabeth, who was beside him on the wagon seat.
"Oh, don't worry Mr. Sully, I'll be gone soon enough. There's only so much rustic charm an old woman can stand."
"Mother!" Michaela exclaimed sharply.
"Beggin' your pardon Mrs. Quinn," said Sully. "I didn't mean nothin' by it. I was just curious how long we would be havin' such fine company."
Michaela caught a glimpse of her mother's eyes as she glared across the wagon seat. "I'm not an ignorant fool, Mr. Sully. No one, especially not my daughter, likes having me around." Elizabeth's head swung back around and her heated stare bore into Michaela's face.
Michaela felt the perspiration along her hairline and turned away, smiling nervously at Matthew as they continued in silence the rest of the way.
*
With appointments, one of Hank's girls coming down with a catarrh, and one of the school children falling out of a tree and breaking his arm, Michaela hadn't had time to wonder where her mother had been. But now that things had slowed down, she wandered out of the clinic to find her.
Mrs. Quinn sat on the bench outside of the clinic, fanning herself with a copy of The Gazette. The stage raced around the corner and the driver pulled to a stop in front of the clinic.
"Dr. Mike, one of the passengers passed out on the way here." The driver continued his firm grip on the reins.
Michaela pulled open the stage door. "How long ago?"
"Maybe about a minute," a weak and scared voice said from inside the coach. "Please help him." The harried woman couldn't have been more than twenty and was beside herself with worry.
Michaela slid in next to the man and placed her stethoscope against his chest. Listening, her eyes squinted, and then relaxed as she moved the stethoscope to another location before concentrating again on the sounds coming from inside the man's chest.
"Do you know this man?" Michaela asked the young woman.
She nodded. "He's my father. His doctor says he has a weak heart and should take it easy, but there's no talking to Papa."
Michaela clasped the young woman's hand. "All fathers are like that."
Michaela slid out of the coach and asked some of the men from the gathering crowd to carry him into her clinic. "Don't worry," she told the young woman. "He'll be fine. He just got overheated. We'll get his temperature down and get him to drink some cool salt water and he'll be feeling better soon.
*
Elizabeth had gotten tired of waiting for Michaela to go to lunch, so she wandered into the clinic. When she found no one downstairs, she walked through the door that led up to the recovery rooms. She could hear a man screaming down the hallway and a young girl's voice pleading with him to calm down.
"I will not calm down knowing some woman had her hands all over my body."
The young woman gripped her father's arm. "Papa, she's a doctor."
The man's face was red with anger as he continued his tirade. "What kind of town is this anyway? Who ever heard of a lady doctor? I bet she treats more animals than humans."
The door to the recovery room flew open and slammed against the wall. The young woman jumped and the man was startled into silence.
Elizabeth stood tall with her nose in the air, looking down at the fat, angry man in his bed. "That doctor is the best doctor you'll find in all of Colorado."
The man was taken aback by the pronouncement, but still not ready to concede. "And have you ever been seen by this doctor?"
Elizabeth held her head high as she walked toward the bed. "Yes, and so has every member of my family. Dr. Quinn has done you a great service, though I dare say, you don't deserve it."
The man swallowed hard. "I beg your pardon, Dr. Quinn."
Michaela could barely contain the smile attempting to curl the corners of her lips. "Get some rest now, Mr. Stanton. You'll be able to leave in a few hours."
Elizabeth glared at the man once more before spinning on her heels and sashaying out of the room. Michaela pulled the door shut on her way out.
Once back in the examination room, Michaela turned to her mother. "I don't even know what to say."
Elizabeth's eyebrows rose. "Don't say anything. Criticizing you is my job, not his." A smile crept across her face.
Michaela shook her head and smiled back. She roped her arm around Elizabeth's and the two women walked off toward Grace's Café for lunch.