Author's note: This is a long and rambling chapter, sorry. But it needed to be done. The next chapters should be more interesting, but I had to get an event and a new person in as they will be important later on.
Disclaimer: This is fan fiction. I do not own the story Christy, the novel, the tv series or the movies. The rights to Christy belong to the Marshall-LeSourd family. I seek no profit from this story. It is for entertainment purposes only.
MWL 4
Chapter Four
Asheville Society
My stay at home sped by like a freight train. Mother did her best to distract me from missing Cutter Gap. She informed me of all the gossip and got me out to the dress shops. She did limit how many shopping trips we took so not to tire me out. Fortunately I was gaining some of the weight I lost during the fever back, so I didn't need many alterations to my old clothes. Mother made me get a few new ones, but I settled for two new skirts and three new shirtwaists. I got a beautiful wine red skirt of silk and one of charcoal gray wool. The shirtwaists were white and cream, but one was a color I had never seen before. It was a blue-gray color. It reminded me a bit of Fairlight Spenser's eyes, blue at first but just a bit gray. Mother did insist on me attending one society ball while I was in Asheville. She picked out a lovely gown of lilac taffeta that glistened in the light. It was stunning. I wished Dr. MacNeill could see it. I knew that the ball was Mother's last attempt to try to get me interested in my old way of life, but she wasn't pressing too hard anymore.
I got letters regularly from Cutter Gap. I received letters from Miss Alice and David. Miss Alice talked in her letters about a renewed sense of faith from those who were connected to the mission house. Neil Mac Neill was one of them. It seemed to her that my near death caused him a great change in faith. David was still struggling with his faith, but in time he would come around, she assured me.
David's letters were quite mundane. He talked of sermons delivered, families he visited, and my pupils who kept inquiring when I'd bee back. He mentioned at a few surprise visitors to Sunday services, namely Dr. MacNeill and Bird's Eye Taylor. David seemed to have lost all romantic feelings for me. I was grateful for it. He had never said he loved me. I still needed to tell him that could not accept his proposal of marriage. I had known it long ago before I got ill, but never had told him what was in my heart.
I received just one letter from Dr. MacNeill. It wasn't so much a letter but a copy of a Robert Burns poem. I had always found Robert Burns to be a confusing poet, just like the man who sent it to me. I read the poem over and over again trying to understand it more clearly.
Complimentary Versicles To Jessie Lewars
The Toast
Fill me with the rosy wine,
Call a toast, a toast divine:
Giveth me Poet's darling flame,
Lovely Jessie be her name;
Then thou mayest freely boast,
Thou hast given a peerless toast.
The Menagerie
Talk not to me of savages,
From Afric's burning sun;
No savage e'er could rend my heart,
As Jessie, thou hast done:
But Jessie's lovely hand in mine,
A mutual faith to plight,
Not even to view the heavenly choir,
Would be so blest a sight.
Jessie's illness
Say, sages, what's the charm on earth
Can turn Death's dart aside!
It is not purity and worth,
Else Jessie had not died.
On Her Recovery
But rarely seen since Nature's birth,
The natives of the sky;
Yet still one seraph's left on earth,
For Jessie did not die.
What exactly was the Doctor trying to tell me? Apparently he thought me angelic. I laughed slightly, thinking of some of our discussions where he might not have thought me angelic. I tucked the note in the drawer where I kept the brooch he gave me.
Just before Christmas my father had a request for me. Would I be willing to speak to the Asheville Doctors' Association Christmas fundraiser? It seemed that the day Father was showing David and Dr. MacNeill around they had encountered Father's friend, William Elmerton, president of the Association. Mr. Elmerton was intrigued by my story and would like to know if I would share it. I was taken aback. Me speak to a group of doctors? I told Father I would try. Mother was excited because that meant another shopping trip for a new dress. I urged Mother not to go overboard with this, but she simply refused her daughter to look like a missionary. I sighed and let her go on about how I should wear my hair and what color of dress would look the best. I let her ramble on only half listening.
"After all catching the eye of a doctor would not be the worst thing you could do." Mother said with a wink. What on earth did she mean by that? Annoyed, I toyed with the food on my plate.
On December 20th 1912, I gave my presentation to the Asheville Doctors' Association. I was more terrified to give this speech than I had been for the University Club in Knoxville. At least there I had some inkling of what I was talking about. I was not a doctor. I only had survived a severe outbreak of typhoid fever. I didn't fully understand the where, why and how of the disease. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. I sat nervously caressing the brooch Dr. MacNeill had given me. A sudden thought came to me. I had held conversations with a doctor before. I could give this speech. They already knew about typhoid, I needed to tell them how they could help us in Cutter Gap. What would Dr. MacNeill need to help him serve his friends and neighbors? I felt William Elmerton touch my shoulder and I rose to the podium. There were faint murmurs from the crowd. My new suit had done part of the job. I picked out the serge suit to match the brooch. The dusky olive green color brought out a rich tone in my brown hair and a creamy glow to my skin. I took a deep breath and began.
"As Dr. Elmerton has pointed out, I am a fortunate survivor of typhoid fever." I pushed on and explained the difficult nature of treating severe outbreaks of any type of disease with one doctor stretched between many miles. There were no professionally trained nurses, with the exception of Miss Alice, no one place to contain the ill, and an illiterate adult population. I also mentioned about Dr. MacNeill's research on trachoma and how hard he worked to change things in the Cove, in a place where change took years. I wished that he were here, he would have known how to better deal with this crowd better than I. At the end of my talk, Dr. Elmerton pledged that the Association would do whatever they could to help.
On my way home, I managed to post the Christmas gifts I had gotten for everyone at the mission. I got Miss Alice a fine pair of leather riding gloves, David a tie tack, and Miss Ida a fine apron. I also got a gift for Opal McHone since she had been spending time at the mission with her oldest son Isaak after her husband Tom's death. I got her a new shawl and Isaak a book of poems. I had already made sure that Father had sent a box of oranges to the mission to pass out among the children who were present at the Christmas service. My gifts would probably arrive just after Christmas. On impulse I sent Dr. MacNeill a warm wool scarf of a sage green color.
My speech had exhausted me and I spent the next few days before Christmas in my bed or in Father's library. I often curled in the sofa near the fireplace and dosed after reading a book. The house was filled with the wonderful smell of the holidays; sweet potato pie, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pine boughs wafted through every corner of every room. But I still couldn't help longing to be in Cutter Gap for Christmas. There always was next year.
Mother was uncertain if I should attend the New Year's ball at the Watts' mansion. I told her I would try. After all I could sit in a chair all night and refuse dances if I felt so inclined. The last time I danced was at Ruby Mae's wedding. I would at least dance I few times I was sure. I was going back to Cutter Gap in five days and I was so happy that I could have dance by myself if no asked to dance with me. I hugged my warm evening wrap around me tighter. In five days I would be going home.
The New Year's ball did not go as well as I expected. I found it to be much more difficult than I had anticipated. I had grown so unaccustomed to Asheville society while I was away. I hated the shallow conversations and false interest people displayed. I wished Granny Barclay were there to liven the dullness with her unusual comments. The stench of mingled perfumes and cologne was nearly enough to make me faint. I tried my best to enjoy myself but it was no use. One young gentleman with flashing green eyes stomped on my toes several times in the course of one dance. Another one with bright blond hair had been gifted with a laugh like Old Theo's bray, and used that laugh mercilessly until my head ached. Dr. MacNeill was a fine dancer and wonderful company compared to these men. For more times than I could count I wished that he were here. I found my way to a balcony to get some fresh air. I gazed up at the stars. They seemed so much closer in Cutter Gap. I was so lost in the glow of the stars in the velvet of the night sky that I didn't notice someone had joined me on the balcony.
"That band of white in the center of the sky is called the Milky Way, if I remember correctly. It's filled with hundreds of thousands of stars, too many to count." I turned to face the wistful voice. It was a young man, slightly older than myself, with wavy ruddy brown hair. He seemed familiar, but I couldn't place him at the moment.
He offered his hand politely, "My name is Marcus Black."
I took his hand. "Christy…" I started to say.
"Huddleston. I was present for your speech at the Doctors' Association. You did a very fine job. It really got me thinking of what I could do to help."
"I'm glad." He seemed quite nice and I wondered how he was planning on helping. I caught a glimpse of his eyes. They were kind and gentle, but I could also see that those oddly colored gray eyes were full of mischief. "Did you want to get away from all the puppet people too?" I asked, curious as to why he was out here with me.
"You too?" He grinned. "They're nice enough, but when city folks put on their best clothes and have a party, they seem more like a turkey doing his mating dance." We both laughed. I knew why he was familiar. I must have seen him at the fundraiser, but his manner definitely spoke of a different upbringing.
"You're not from around here?"
"No. I'm originally from southwestern Virginia."
I would have stayed and talked to him longer, but Father was concerned and came to collect me. Somehow I knew that I would see more of Marcus Black from southwestern Virginia.
The next few days flew by in a mad rush. I packed books and other supplies to use at school. I packed clothes. My sheer want to get back to Cutter Gap fueled my energy. The call of the mountains fairly sang through my veins. My frenzy must have worried Mother and Father, because they had called the mission and spoke to Miss Alice to see if someone could meet me in Asheville and go back with me. She had agreed but did not say who would be coming the day before I left. I hoped that it would be Dr. MacNeill so I could tell him about Dr. Elmerton's recent letter, promising supplies to start a clinic and maybe a doctor to help him. I knew he would be excited about this information.
I had been out with Mother picking up the last of my new clothes at the seamstress' shop. I knew when we got back, whomever had come from the mission to escort me back would have arrived. I flung open the door and my heart sank. It was David. I tried my best to hide my disappointment. I was going to have to tell him what I had decided. I would wait until we were on the train tomorrow. I steeled the courage that I would need for that conversation in my heart.