The following was inspired by characters in the 2007 BBC miniseries Cranford, which was based on Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford, Mr. Harrison's Confessions, and My Lady Ludlow.

Chapter 2: Altered Perspectives

Edward Carter had spent hours drifting in and out of sleep. It had been a strangely exhausting night – a succession of images from dreams, from reality, interspersed with fitful rest, always with an undercurrent of pain. He'd dreamed of the dead – of his father, his mother, his wife – and then of the living, of Harry Gregson and Lady Ludlow and Captain Brown and Miss Galindo and Dr. Harrison. For years he had not been able to say whether dreaming of someone he'd lost comforted or saddened him. Now it seemed he was beyond any emotion, and spent by the night and the day that had come before.

When he opened his eyes again in the early morning and took in the presence of Miss Galindo, of Miss Smith, he was drawn slowly back through all that had taken place in that day, that night.

He did not want to think of any of it, would have gladly closed his eyes and forgotten it all, even the truth that he had survived, that Dr. Harrison and Mary Smith had possibly saved his life.

And then there was Miss Galindo, and the secrets she knew of him, that she'd seen him at his worst and possibly his best.

But all was altered now; he had not died, but neither was he able to…what was he able to do? Immobilized on his cot, watched over by two decent souls, he nevertheless wished to close his eyes again and avoid all that was to come.

"Mr. Carter. Mr. Carter." Mary Smith's voice was calling him back, and he was forced to open his eyes, to struggle with a smile – to submit to inquiries on pain and hunger and a multitude of things. And then suddenly there was Dr. Morgan, ready to examine him, to monitor his progress. Mrs. Rose had suddenly appeared as well, ready to assist with nursing. What had become of Dr. Harrison?

"Mr. Carter." Another voice – Miss Galindo's. He looked up at her as he had done the previous afternoon, and wondered at how things had so changed between them in a few hours.

"Mr. Carter, I will speak to Lady Ludlow –"

Lady Ludlow? No! Why speak to Lady Ludlow? She did not know –

"She will want a report on your condition, and then wish to arrange your convalescence at Hanbury. I will return later to see you."

She did not dare touch him, not in the presence of this cobbled-together medical staff, but managed the slightest of smiles – their accustomed acknowledgment when they had been unwilling colleagues at Hanbury – and then she vanished from his view.

While Dr. Morgan was seeing to Mr. Carter, Dr. Marshland appeared as well to receive an account of the night's watch from Mary Smith, and to persuade her to return home to rest. If Miss Galindo had been less distracted, she might have noticed that the heedless, charming Dr. Marshland was quite transformed this morning, and that if Miss Smith quietly but firmly refused his offer to escort her home, she was also looking at him with new eyes.

At that moment Miss Galindo would have given a great deal for some words of comfort herself, and as she prepared to leave the surgery, Captain Brown came in, anxious to see how his friend Carter had passed the night. The two men had been at the railway site when the explosion occurred, though the captain had been spared the worst of it. Still, he walked in with a bandage across one eye, a touch that lent him a fierce aspect. Seeing Miss Galindo, however, his expression softened.

"Good morning, Captain Brown," she said quietly.

"My dear Miss Galindo." Captain Brown took her hands in both of his. "Have you been here all this time? What a long night it must have been for you! Surely you must go home and rest."

"Thank you, Captain Brown. I was here to assist Miss Smith last night, as you see, and was just setting off towards home. But how are you, sir?"

"Oh, quite well. Dr. Harrison and Dr. Marshland put me right, even if I look rather a one-eyed ruffian at the moment. I gave Jessie such a fright when I walked in the door! But the more important question is," he said, dropping his voice, "how does your patient?"

"Mr. Carter is resting quietly, and Dr. Morgan and Mrs. Rose are with him."

"Is he out of danger?"

She hesitated. "Captain, I am afraid I can't tell you that."

"Well, surely he is in able hands." Captain Brown patted her hand. "Do not worry, Miss Galindo; the rest of us will see to Mr. Carter. Now you must look after yourself."

As Miss Galindo walked back to her rooms, spent and stunned, she fought the urge to weep. And it was only after she had arrived home, and had locked the door behind her, that she allowed herself those secret, painful tears.

To be continued...