Chapter 7

"Well, I don't know for sure. Maybe it was something you ate. We'll have a better idea after McColl checks with the Pattersons and sees how they are," Dr. Merar said and settled Jarrod into a chair in his recovery room.

Whatever had made Jarrod sweaty, nauseous and weak eased off once he got to the doctor and took a potion the doctor gave him to ease his stomach. Jarrod started to be very concerned about the Pattersons when that happened. "You think the food I ate at lunch was bad?"

"Maybe," Dr. Merar said. "You're over 40 now, aren't you, Jarrod?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with it?"

"Maybe nothing," Dr. Merar said, "but our systems do change as we get older. Digestion, circulation, reaction to stress – they all get more sensitive."

"Wonderful," Jarrod said. "Older is about the last thing I want to feel right now."

"Just sit there and rest for a bit, and I'll send you home if you don't feel worse again, but I do want to hear about the people you ate lunch with."

It was only a minute later the front door opened and Dr. Merar saw McColl come in, with a young man and young woman in tow. "McColl is back and he brought the Pattersons with him. Stay here."

Jarrod obeyed while Dr. Merar met McColl and the Pattersons in the waiting area. The Pattersons both looked perfectly all right, just concerned.

"Is Jarrod all right?" Michael asked.

"He's much better," Dr. Merar said. "He was concerned something he ate disagreed with him and that you might be sick too."

"We're fine," Michael said. "Can we see him?"

Dr. Merar ushered them into the room where Jarrod was still sitting. He stood up as they came in.

"No, no, sit down," Kate said quickly.

"It's all right, I'm feeling better," Jarrod said. "Are you both all right?"

"We're fine," Michael said, "but I think I'd better go check on Laura."

"I can do that," Jarrod said.

"No," Dr. Merar said flatly. "I'm not finished with you. Haven't you eaten at all since lunch?"

"No," Jarrod said.

"Then this is what I want you to do," Dr. Merar said. "Go on over to the café across the street and get some chicken soup, or broth or something very light that won't irritate your stomach again. Duke, why don't you join him and see him home after that?"

"I have a couple things to do in town," McColl said. "I can meet you at the café after I run them down."

"I'd rather have someone be with him for a while," Dr. Merar said.

"I can be with him," Kate said, "while Michael goes out to see Laura and Mr. McColl runs his errands. I could use a little bite to eat myself."

"All right," Dr. Merar said.

"I'll get a horse at the livery and go on out to Laura's," Michael said and went out the door.

"I'll do what I was coming in town to do and meet you at the café in an hour or so, Jarrod," McColl said and followed Michael.

Dr. Merar said, "Miss Patterson, why don't you just have a seat in the waiting room while I finish up with Jarrod?"

Kate smiled, nodded to Jarrod, and went back out to the waiting area.

Dr. Merar closed the door, and Jarrod eyed him. Quietly, sitting down again, he said, "So it wasn't indigestion. What was it?"

Dr. Merar came closer to him. "It still could have been indigestion. Like I said, a lot of our systems change as we age."

Jarrod waved a hand. "I understand that, Doctor, but your face is saying you're thinking of other possibilities. What are they?"

Dr. Merar took a deep breath. "Did your father ever tell you he once suffered a cardiac episode?"

"No," Jarrod said, surprised. "Are you saying my father had a heart condition he didn't tell us about?"

"Your mother knew, but I guess they chose not to tell you. It happened while you were away at war, BUT – " Dr. Merar started to emphasize something because Jarrod was starting to look distressed. "He had one episode while you were gone. He never had another episode over the last ten years of his life. And he would have probably had a lot more years if he hadn't been killed, so I don't want you to read any death sentence into my recommendation that you carry nitroglycerin pills."

"Nitroglycerin?" Jarrod suddenly felt like he might blow up.

"It's a fairly new medication that eases the blood vessels. If you have another episode like this, I want you to put one of the pills under your tongue. Just one. And see if the problems ease off."

Jarrod felt limp again, and so very old. Heart trouble was for old men, not for him.

Dr. Merar got a tiny bottle of pills out from his cabinet in this room and gave them to Jarrod. He looked at them like yes, they might very well blow up.

Dr. Merar said, "I know they make you feel like an old man – that's the way I felt when I started carrying them, and I wasn't ready to feel like an old man either."

Jarrod looked up at him, surprised again.

"I'm still going strong," Dr. Merar said, "and my hair may be gray, but I still don't feel very old and I've only had to use them once. Angina is a precursor of trouble that may never fully come about. There are other men in town who carry nitro, and no, you know I won't tell you who they are."

"I don't need to know, Doc," Jarrod said. "I just – really don't want to feel old right now, and I do."

Dr. Merar smiled. "I don't suppose that beautiful young woman in the waiting room has anything to do with you not wanting to feel old."

Jarrod smiled a little sheepishly as he put the nitro pills in his inner jacket pocket. "Let's just say feeling old will put a damper on my plans."

Now Dr. Merar chuckled. "Don't let it. Many men your age court and marry young women her age."

"We're not courting yet," Jarrod said.

"Well, don't get too discouraged," Dr. Merar said. Then he grew very sympathetic. "I understand your situation is different than most, Jarrod. You lost your wife too suddenly and too soon, and you never have found someone else. Now maybe there's a possibility, but you're a lot older than she is and now you might have an older man's problem."

Jarrod sighed a little. "I carry a lot over me from my marriage and what came after, and now I have to carry more. It's not encouraging."

"No, but since when have you let something discourage you when you believed in what you were doing?" Dr. Merar said. He shook his head. "Don't let it get to you this time either. Be honest with the lady. See what happens. That's what you were going to do anyway, wasn't it?"

Be honest. He and Kate had already committed that much to each other. "Yes, it is," Jarrod said.

"Just try not to get yourself too worn out," Dr. Merar said. "You've been a very busy man this year with weddings that weren't your own, and the physical and emotional strain may have led you to nothing more than a bout of indigestion, but you really don't want that to continue either."

"No, I don't," Jarrod said. He took a deep breath and stood up. "All right. If the prescription is carry those pills and have some chicken soup with a beautiful young woman, I'm in."

Dr. Merar smiled and gave him a slap on the arm, then opened the door.

Kate, sitting alone in the waiting area, stood up as Jarrod and the doctor came out. "Chicken soup," Dr. Merar said, smiling. "Then you both better get some rest. You have a big wedding coming up."

Kate smiled. "Chicken soup and rest sound good to me, too." She reached for Jarrod's hand.

He was touched, and he was visited again by that delightful tingle as he took her hand. Suddenly, he didn't feel as old as he had a few minutes ago.