Her Hesitant Heart - By Carla Kelly Page 0,37

however.”

“Why didn’t you take that road instead of the practice of medicine?”

“A sensible question. After the Confederacy fired upon Fort Sumter, no one needed theory. I finished my last year of medical school in six months—we all did—and went into the army.”

“I think you should go to Paris,” she said, as he helped her into her coat. “Perhaps someone in the medical department would send you there, courtesy of the U.S. Army.”

He shook his head. “Such plum assignments require patronage in Washington, something a son of Virginia has not. I would have to do it on my own dime.”

“Well? What is stopping you?”

He seemed in no hurry to reach the Dunklins’ quarters. He stopped, obviously contemplating her question.

“I suppose nothing is stopping me. I have enough funds. Maybe when this summer’s Indian campaigns are over.”

“Only don’t do it until my teaching term is up, Major,” she said impulsively, then felt her face grow warm again. “I mean, I think you are my only ally.”

He patted her hand and started them in motion again. “You have several allies, but we could not consider the Rattigans or the O’Learys as possessed of patronage, either, could we?” He stopped again. “What are the Dunklins up to? I own to some uneasiness. You already know your students’ parents. I saw to that.”

“I’m uneasy, too,” she agreed quietly, and told him that Bobby Dunklin was home from school today, and the Dunklins had chosen to give a party, anyway.

“Let’s not take one more step toward the Dunklins’. In fact, I …”

He stopped, because Captain Dunklin opened the door, gesturing them inside. She saw through the front window that the parlor was full of people.

“No,” she whispered, suddenly fearful. But there was Captain Dunklin, w aiting.

“I’ll stay close to you,” Major Randolph promised. “What could have changed since yesterday, when you were everyone’s favorite teacher?”

Chapter Ten

Captain Dunklin took their coats and walked away with them, leaving Susanna looking at his retreating back wistfully. Every instinct told her to run, but the last time she had done that had led to total ruin. She tried to swallow, but her throat was dry. The parlor door opened and there was Mrs. Dunklin, her smile as insincere as her husband’s.

“Mrs. Hopkins, we’ve been waiting for you. Major? How nice to see you.”

Terrified, Susanna looked around the parlor. Only the parents of her students were there, wearing expressions ranging from curiosity to hostility. Her bowels felt suddenly liquid, so she took several deep breaths.

Mrs. Dunklin just waited until her husband returned from hiding their coats somewhere. Susanna glanced at his bland face and swallowed again. She waited for him to speak—it was his house, after all—but he only gestured to his wife, who cleared her throat and picked up a crumpled newspaper. Everyone seated themselves and Susanna looked around for a chair before she fell down. There were none. She and the major were left to stand there.

“Do you have a chair, Mrs. Dunklin?” Major Randolph asked.

“No chairs. She won’t be here long.”

“Then we’re leaving,” Joe said.

Susanna shook her head. “Get on with it, Mrs. Dunklin.”

Silence. Mrs. Dunklin looked around, a smirk on her face. “I had been racking my brain to remember why your name was familiar, but couldn’t come up with anything. Then when our Christmas box arrived, I found this balled up in the newspapers used as packing material. Take it.”

She thrust it at Susanna. The newspaper rattled in her hand, so Major Randolph took it from her.

“You read it then, Major,” Mrs. Dunklin said, “if Mrs. Hopkins is too much of a coward.”

The look he gave Mrs. Dunklin could have cut through lead. The woman stepped back involuntarily.

He read it. Susanna watched the blood drain from his face and then surge back. He handed it back to Mrs. Dunklin.

“You are sorely in need of honest facts, Mrs. Dunklin, before you do something that might ruin a life.”

“I know what I know!” the woman snapped. She glared at Susanna. “You came to us pretending to be a war widow.”

“I didn’t,” Susanna said, wishing her voice was strong right now, like Major Randolph’s. “Someone else started that story and—”

“Liar!”

“I don’t lie,” Susanna said. She wanted to back up against the post surgeon, but knew that would give this vicious woman ammunition for other charges.

Mrs. Dunklin thrust the newspaper at Susanna. “To think we trusted our children to a woman who abandoned her own child!”

The room was absolutely silent. Susanna forced herself to look at the faces staring at