Chapter 39 A Proper Wife
Prince Edward Island
A week later, Gilbert made a house call to Old Lady Gibson's house. Old Lady Gibson lay in bed, recovering from pneumonia. Nobody called her Old Lady Gibson to her face. Gilbert merely thought of her as Old Lady Gibson. When Gilbert spoke aloud, he referred to her as "Mrs. Simon Gibson."
Old Lady Gibson's daughter-in-law, Mrs. Carter Gibson, waited in the kitchen with a family member.
As Gilbert finished his exam of Old Lady Gibson, he heard Mrs. Carter Gibson's booming voice through the wall.
"My word, can you believe how the doctor and his wife let their youngest walk around looking like a ragamuffin? One would think that he could afford some new clothes for her. Are folks just not paying his bills now?"
Another voice, much lower, replied.
Then, Gilbert heard Mrs. Carter Gibson speak again.
"I wonder if that uppity housekeeper of theirs, that Susan Baker, is stealing from the doctor and his wife. Why, I have it on good authority that Miss Baker haggles with all the shopkeepers in Four Winds. Wouldn't be surprised if she cuts corners on the shopping and pockets the difference. That would explain why the cake that Miss Baker made for the church picnic tasted like river silt. And why that youngest Blythe girl dresses like a Hopetown orphan. A shame that Mrs. Blythe can't manage her own help. She needs to forget all this writing nonsense and focus on being a wife. A real wife. Not some suffragette who writes books with other men. She needs to keep a better house. The poor doctor. Well, I guess that he got his comeuppance when he chased the skirts of college girls. I tell my boys all the time to choose wives who can mend a shirt properly. The doctor's shirts are always ripped when he comes here. That poor man."
His cheeks burning red, Gilbert exited the bedroom to talk to his patient's family.
The trained nurse, Lucy Marks, waited outside the door.
Gilbert spoke to the family. Still feeling humiliated, Gilbert left the residence and prepared to leave.
"Is everything all right, Doctor?"
Lucy Marks stood beside his phaeton.
"She is recovering nicely, Nurse Marks," said Gilbert. "Can't say that she'll ever be back to doing backflips, but she won't be in the ground just yet."
Lucy Marks said, "Well, the family is fortunate to have you at the helm as her doctor."
"I suppose," said Gilbert.
The nurse lowered her voice. "Forgive my forwardness, Doctor, but I daresay that you should disregard anything that Mrs. Carter Gibson says. Everybody else in Four Winds does. She just likes to run her mouth."
Lucy Marks had golden curls and a young face. Gilbert recalled that Susan had once told him that Lucy had been a nursing student at the hospital when Susan's brother died. Susan's brother had died about six years ago. Anne had once guessed, when she jokingly pretended to be jealous of Lucy's youth, that Lucy was somewhere in her early 20's. So, Lucy had been somewhere in her late teens when she started her nursing training. Perhaps seventeen?
Prior to today, Gilbert had never thought about Lucy Marks as a seventeen-year-old nursing student. Nurse Marks presented as a solid, dependable nurse. Nurse Marks was one of Gilbert's first choices for nursing assignments. One of Dr. Parker's first choices as well. And, no, it had nothing to do with Nurse Mark's attractiveness, he insisted to Anne when she teased him about his beautiful nurses.
If Lucy Marks had nursed Susan's brother, then she would have trained at the Prince Edward Island Hospital School of Nursing. She would have lived with the other student nurses at the Cundall Home. Gilbert heard stories from the other doctors and from some of his other nurses about patients who landed in the Charlottetown hospital. He shuddered at the thought of his own daughters nursing such patients at the age of seventeen.
Not that he found anything wrong with girls growing up to become nurses. Many of his physician colleagues married nurses. If Jem grew up to become a doctor with a former nurse for a wife, well, that was fine with Gilbert. It was just – well – Gilbert had hoped to be so financially successful that his own daughters never chose nursing because they had no other options.
Gilbert nodded. "Thank you, Nurse Marks."
When Gilbert arrived home that evening, he spoke to his wife.
"Anne-girl, it seems to me that Rilla is growing like a weed. You should make her some new dresses."
"You handle the medicine, dear, and I'll handle the wardrobe," said Anne.
Gilbert responded. "Her clothes are starting to look a bit worn, Anne-girl."
Anne sighed and set down her sewing. "Oh, Gil, Susan and I have been so busy this spring and summer. All the kids need something made for them. Or something mended. Jem keeps tearing up his clothes from climbing over the fence to the Merediths. I had to patch his jacket three times, Gil. Three times. Walter ripped his pants. I suspect it was on the same fence."
Anne pointed a finger at Gilbert.
"Susan spends so much time getting stains out of your clothes, Gil. Do you know how much goes into taking care of a doctor's wardrobe? Your stuff is always such a mess. For instance, that shirt that you're wearing today. I mended that shirt three times already, Gilbert. You keep pulling out the stitching. And now, I see that you've done it again."
Anne put her hand down. Then, she kissed Gilbert's cheek.
"We just can't get to Rilla for a while. Rilla is fine. She has all the twins' old frocks. They were a little short, but Susan took down the hems. We'll get her some new clothes for winter."