"...bit slow, but that's alright. We'll continue in the same direction tomorrow."
"Thank you, Doctor," said Anne as she and Dr. Lebrun came out of the office.
"Ah, Mr. Garrison. We've had an excellent session today."
Jack's throat constricted: he swallowed past an nodded. "Doctor, might I have a quick word with you?"
The older man's eyebrows came up, but his face showed no other sign of emotion. "Certainly. Please step in."
"I'll just be a minute," Jack whispered reassuringly to Anne as he passed her, and entered the office. Dr. Lebrun gestured to a seat, and took the other one.
"What can I do for you, Mr. Garrison?"
"Dr. Lebrun, I wanted to thank you for everything you're doing for Anne. She seems to be doing much better - I think the change in her is, well, quite obvious."
The eyed him pensively. "It's very nice of you to say so," replied the doctor, "but it does not answer my question."
"Right. What you can do for me." Jack scolded himself mentally for sounding like an idiot. "Doctor, I..." he sighed, and straightened his back. "I'm afraid I'll have to leave."
The man stared back silently. Jack continued: "I'd stay if I could. But you see - well, with my funds running out...I don't want to take Anne away when she seems to doing better here."
Still no response from the doctor. Jack went on, his yammering officially out of control. "I- I have a business to run. People under my employment, who need to earn their keep." He gulped, and admitted the full truth. "I don't want to take her away, but I can't stay."
The doctor shifted in his seat, but still said nothing, forcing Jack to spell it out.
"So I suppose you could tell me - could you? Tell me, I mean...whether she would be alright if she returned with me."
"I see," was all the man said, piercing him with a stare quite like his old schoolmistress's, the terrifying Mrs. Ratchwood. "Well, Mr. Garrison: what I can tell you is that Ms. Shirley's state is quite fragile at the moment. I am reluctant to cease her treatment altogether."
"That's the other thing - I could probably cover the cost of this week's sessions, but I couldn't keep up without returning to my company. And...I don't want to just leave her behind. She's had enough of that for a lifetime."
The man's moustache twitched, indicating facial contortion of some sort (hopefully not a scowl). Jack felt like he had said all he could, and so he finally shut his mouth, sticking his chin out defiantly though he felt anything but confident.
"I have a proposition for you."
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"Oh, Doctor! Goodness, we are ever so glad to have you back home. You must be exhausted from the trip! Supper won't be ready for another two hours or so, we weren't sure when you would be back from the station: your wire said late afternoon, we could only guess the time. But you could have a light bite between now and then, Celeste will fix something for you in a minute."
Gilbert smiled tiredly at the fussing bestowed on him by the flustered lady. "Thank you, Susan. I'm fine. I'll just go check the messages at the clinic, I promise to be back in time for supper."
"Doctor dear, you really ought to rest! You only just got back," she noted in a way that reminded him of his mother.
"I did nothing but rest on the train. Were there many calls for me while I was away?"
"Mrs. Gladys with a foot cramp, and the Fairfields' newborn with jaundice. I referred them both to Doctor Kerry, as you instructed."
"Thank you, that's perfect. I'll be back in a bit."
"Oh, Doctor dear, while you're out and about, would you mind giving Celeste a lift? I have a short list for the drugstore, she'll be quick about it while you stop by the office."
"What's on the list? I'll pick it up myself," offered Gilbert.
"Really, there's no need to trouble yourself. Celeste is happy to run errands for me. Let me just fetch her quickly..."
"Perhaps another time, then," he said, glancing at his pocket watch. "I'm afraid it's already quite late-"
But the agitated woman had already fetched her niece, and though Gilbert was in no mood for company right now, he couldn't think of a polite way to refuse her.
And so the two were off, driving the buggy on the path into town. As they made small chat, Gilbert mentally scolded himself for having resented Susan's insistence on having Celeste tag along. She was an amiable, good-natured girl, and a helpful boarder in his home who certainly earned her keep. They chatted on the road, and he was surprised to find it quite pleasant for a change. Her bright disposition and youth were refreshing: how could he have felt poorly about the poor girl in the first place? He berated Diana in his head for reading too deeply into the situation: he knew how she was. Diana couldn't help behaving like such a - Lord, he hated the term, but it was so true - a typical housewife, feeding upon gossip, creating drama where there wasn't any. He blamed her for influencing his mind so easily with her farfetched ideas, and himself for buying into them in the first place.
After a quick visit to the clinic and a promise to be in again tomorrow first thing in the morning, Gilbert found Celeste waiting for him already outside the store, her basket now heaped with purchased goods.
"That would be Susan's 'short' list?" asked Gilbert, helping her up in the buggy. She smiled at his teasing.
"You know how Aunt Susan is - it's always 'just one or two things - oh, and while you're at it, would you mind, and also,' and by the time I head out the list is as long as my forearm."
He chuckled at her spot-on imitation and flicked the reins, setting the horse in motion back toward home.
"Thank you for letting me tag along," she said once again. "I know you were eager to get going, I hope I haven't delayed you too much. You must be exhausted after your journey."
"Like I said, I really don't mind," he replied earnestly. "It's nice, being able to converse on the road."
"I imagine you haven't had much company since...well, Mrs. Wright, but it's not quite the same, is it?"
The last remark stilled him. What in the world...?
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, nothing by it, Dr. Blythe! I was just noting...Please, I didn't mean it anyway." Her quick retraction sounded genuine enough, but there was something in her voice that suggested more than an apology. As he tried to grasp what exactly was bothering him, another memory assaulted him out of nowhere:
He had just fetched his horse, and was securing it to the buggy. Anne stepped out of the house, locking the door behind her.
"Are you certain you want to come along?" asked Gilbert for the third time. "It's getting to be quite cold out."
As if on cue, a gust of icy wind swept upon them, ruffling their hair and clothes, but she fought valiantly to show her indifference towards the chilly November weather. "I'm alright, Gil. Really."
"I only have to meet with Dr. Olgartz, I'm not sure how long it might take."
"Please, Gil, I'm yearning for a change of scenery. I've been cleaning and dusting all day. I need to get out, or I'll go mad."
At the time, he'd found her aversion to housekeeping amusing, even endearing. She was so different from the women in his life - and while she made conscientious efforts to satisfy her role as his wife and woman of the house, it seemed that even marriage couldn't change her rebellious nature, or penchant for the outdoors. Little did he know, this would become fuel for more than a few arguments in the future.
"Honestly, Anne. You'll be bored out of your mind." He recognized that with their honeymoon freshly behind them, she was already missing their time spent together. "Why don't we go on an outing next Sunday, after church?" he proposed. "There's an indoors market in town, it'll be more fun than just sitting around in my office."
But she merely shook her head. "I want to come with you. Please," she tugged on his sleeve like a pouting child. He couldn't help but grin at how adorable his wife was. "There's something about riding in the buggy with you. It's...intimate."
"Intimate?" he parroted dumbly, mesmerized by a stray lock of her orange hair waving in the breeze.
"We're in public, yet it's just the two of us," she explained. "I love the way you keep your eyes on the path ahead and steer carefully around the turns. It makes me feel safe and cared for. But at the same time, you let your guard down - we can talk about anything, without fear of being overheard by anyone. And...I like sitting close to you."
Her saucy smile thrilled him, and in the end, he'd been persuaded to let her come along. He'd be lying if he'd claimed not to enjoy slinging his arm around her shoulders, his thigh closely pressed up against hers...
"Dr. Blythe?"
Gilbert blinked and snapped out of his memory. Celeste was eyeing him cautiously with wide eyes.
"Sorry," he muttered, and gave his head a little shake. He hadn't realized they'd already reached the fork in the road, and pulled a hard left turn. His horse obeyed the sharp command, making the buggy sway from the momentum. The two passengers were jostled, and when the wheels had realigned of their own accord, Gilbert found himself sitting with Celeste halfway on his lap. Which he wouldn't have minded, had she immediately gotten off. But instead, she stared directly at him, unmoving, her face dangerously close to his.
With an unceremonious shove and some less than graceful shuffling, Celeste was once again seated on the bench, almost a foot away from Gilbert. Neither spoke: her, out of embarrassment, no doubt. And he, well, he was busy calling himself all sorts of names in his head. Diana had been right all along anyway, Susan was almost certainly pressing things that were not appropriate, and he was a delusional fool. He spent the rest of the ride in silence, resigning himself to having a conversation once they got home, one he'd been avoiding for a while.