-=*=-To Austria With Love -=*=-
Chapter XI
The days passed slowly, but blissfully. I enjoyed seeing Neil's face once again and watching every expression on it! I didn't remember his face being so full of expression before, but everything that was before I ever fell from my horse, didn't matter in the least now because I wanted to enjoy every minute of today. Most especially my husband, for this was the first time I had seen *my husband*. The last time I beheld Neil he was my fiancé. I recalled the very last time I had set my eyes on Neil was on the train platform in El Pano the day I departed for Asheville as I left for the final fitting of my wedding gown. The journey that turned my world upside-down. That seemed an eternity ago!
"Do you know what I'm anxious to see, Neil?" I asked one afternoon as Neil was sitting with me during one of his breaks at the hospital.
"What's that?"
"I can hardly wait to see our wedding portrait!"
"I might be persuaded to bring it along with me tomorrow, for a small fee." Neil teased as he moved from the chair to the side of the bed with a mischievous grin.
"And what might that be, Mr. MacNeill?" I asked with a coy smile.
"A kiss." Neil answered softly, placing one hand on either side of me.
"I haven't gotten my Doctor's permission to do that yet." I teased.
"Well, you have Dr. MacNeill's permission to do a *small amount*, and only under the strict supervision of your close *personal* physician!" He said as he leaned into my face.
I smiled. "But Dr. Friese isn't here." I joked some more.
Neil smiled as he claimed my lips. Oh how I had missed being close to Neil!
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Dr. Fuchs came to see how I was faring later that same day. Neil apologized to him for spending so much time with me and not attending to his duties at the hospital as regularly as he had been. Though he was back to work now and came to visit me when he had a break in his schedule.
"I understand, Neil. But I would like to tell you what it was I wished to discuss with you in my office. It involves the two of you, so if it does not interfere, I have the time to do so right now. If you do not mind my discussing your career before your wife, of course."
"I don't mind." Neil said. "I have no secrets from Christy, so she'll either hear about this from you now or from me when our meeting is over."
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Neil sat, awestruck on the chair beside my bed. I found myself staring unabashedly at Dr. Fuchs. Though all the good Doctor did was smile at us both he ended with, "I will leave the two of you to discuss my proposal. Take your time, this is not something you should jump into without a lot of forethought in the matter for you must, of course consider your plans for the future and your family." After he had shaken Neil's hand he turned on his heel and left my room.
In a nutshell he had said:
After hearing from Neil and reading the reports by the Health Department of the rampant Trachoma, as well as other eye diseases in the Appalachian Mountain's and surrounding area, he decided to build an Eye Hospital in Tennessee where the diseases were the most prominent. "The Appalachian Eye Institute" was to be it's name.
What he spoke with Neil and I about was the fact he wanted Neil to be the hospital administrator. Although Neil was honored by the offer from Dr. Fuchs he couldn't see himself as an administrator. I was a bit taken aback by Neil's refusal, but I also knew my compassionate husband well enough to understand he would be miserable in a position such as that. Neil MacNeill needed to be active! He would feel cooped up inside of an office behind a desk. He was trained to be a physician, a surgeon, not an administrator.
Dr. Fuchs did not allow Neil's refusal to dissuade him. "If you do not want to be administrator, then name your position. Which position would you like? I want you as part of this hospital, Neil! Any position you want, claim it and it is yours! You want to be chief-surgeon? Just say the word and the position is yours. You want to be the head of the research department? Tell me and you shall be the head of the research department. Any position in the entire hospital is at your disposal. You may write your own ticket. ANY position is yours for the taking-- all you have to do is tell me which one you want." Dr. Fuchs looked intently at Neil. By the way he looked at Neil I knew he was dead serious about his offer.
Neil on the other hand was speechless. He had been hoping for a promotion, but this was far more then he had ever dreamed of! *Any* position he wanted was at his disposal! "I know I should jump at this opportunity, Dr. Fuchs. But I need to discuss this with Christy and of course pray about it before I give you a final decision. Could you give me some time to think it over?"
"Take all the time you need Neil. I understand this is a huge step for you and your wife. You're not accustomed to the idea. Take your time and discuss it in detail. Find out what your wife wishes. Make the best decision for you and your family, Dr. MacNeill."
'Your family'… I hadn't thought about that, but it was true, I was Neil's family and very soon, we hoped, we would have a child as well. Even though we had no child yet, this decision would affect our child--our children, also.
Neil sat stunned for the longest time after Dr. Fuchs had left. He shook his head with a smile, then he would blink his eyes for an extended period. He'd swallow hard and shake his head again.
Finally, at some length, he spoke, "Christy, I can hardly believe what I just heard! I've never had an offer like this before."
**I remembered what Neil had told me of his discussion with Starr Gatlin: "At that time I had three offers to consider for a beginning practice. Two were flattering offers. I was confused, torn about where my duty lay, how to make such an important decision. So--I went to see Dr. Gatlin. He was a wise old man. Just sat there smoking, let me do the talking.
"By the time dusk was falling, I had talked myself out. And I knew what I had to do. The call of the mountains and my own people was too strong to deny. I knew how desperately they needed a doctor back in these hills and coves. Personal ambition didn't matter really. I've never regretted that decision, simply because I wouldn't have been happy anywhere else. One of these days some of the men I interned with will probably be as famous as Gatlin, McDougall, and the rest. I follow their careers with a lot of interest, rejoice in their successes, keep closely in touch with them… As a matter of fact, they're the ones whose gifts of money and drugs make it possible for me to practice in the Cove."
I had gotten in to trouble for what I had said next, but Neil was correct I was impulsive. I didn't know the mountain people then the way I did almost a year later. I had made some sweeping judgments of this man at that time… I would not allow myself to do so again.**
Today, I would be just as Dr. Gatlin had been to Neil, without smoking a pipe. I would sit and let him do all the talking. I would only give my input where it was needed. And only *when* it was needed!
Neil sat back in the chair for some time. Then got up and paced, standing occasionally to look out the window. All the while squeezing and pulling on the ends of his hair, though there was far less to hold on to then there had been when he did the same back in the Cove. He spoke of what he considered the pros and cons of each hospital position. After a few hours of talking he finally looked at me. A smile crossed his face and he came to sit on the edge of my bed. Taking my hands he looked into my eyes. "I'm sorry Sweetheart. I've not given you a chance to give your input. This is *our* life I'm discussing, not just my own. What are your views?"
"Neil, I don't know anything about the different positions in a hospital. All I know is that I want you to be happy. I want you to choose the one that is best for *you*!" I paused for a moment of thought. "Have you given any thought to returning to the Cove?"
He looked pensively into my eyes, for a moment. Biting his lower lip. Once again pulling on the ends of his hair. "When I made my first decision to return to the Cove after finishing my internship I knew the Cove was the place for me. But now with Graham and Anderson taking over the 'Doctoring' in the cove, there is really no need for me back there."
"Yes, but you told me once before that the call to the mountains and your people was so strong; you knew how badly they needed a Doctor back in the hills and coves. You told me personal ambition didn't matter really. You said you never regretted going back to the Cove, that you would never have been happy anywhere else. You need to give all of that some thought once again as well, Neil. I've received a blessing from the Lord. I have my sight back again. We can live anywhere you feel led to go. I can cope just as well in the Cove as I can in Vienna, or Knoxville, or… *anywhere*. We can raise a family in any of those places Neil. What do you feel is the leading of God in your life?"
With that he rose again and went to the window. It would take a lot of prayer and soul-searching for Neil to make this decision. I was immensely impressed with the way Neil never allowed his personal ambition to interfere with what was the right thing to do. He put others before himself every time.
I looked over at my struggling husband, "Neil, I want you to think about where *you* would be happiest. Where do *you* want to raise our family? What do *you* want out of life? Where do you want to be ten years from now? Five? Even in one year?" He continued to gaze out the window. The struggle etched on his face.
A smiled played on the corners of Neil's mouth as he turned his face to look at me. "*Our family*!" He chuckled softly. "I need to consider that too, don't I?" I nodded my head slowly. I didn't want to press the issue, but a family was a very real possibility for us one day…
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End of Chapter 11.
Chapter 12 Coming Soon!!
