shade his eyes. He yearned to lie down in the shade and rest, but there was no shade to be had, only this beastly, burning sun from which there was no escape.
Had he gone miles or only a few hundred yards? His mind had lost track of time and distance. His limbs had grown leaden. His eyelids drooped, refusing to stay open. The empty canteen dropped into the grass, to be left behind. He took one more step, then another, until the toe of his boot stubbed a badger hole. Joe stumbled and pitched forward, facedown into the long grass. He didn’t get up.
Three days later
Sarah filled a plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, and beans, and placed it on the table for her great-uncle. He gave her a smile. “My, but that looks good,” he said. “I’ll have some more of that coffee, too. Then sit down and have some breakfast with me. I enjoy seeing a friendly face across the table.”
Sarah refilled his cup and poured another for herself before she sat down across from him. Once she’d gotten him sobered up, Dr. Harlan Blake had turned out to be kind and generous, even charming. He’d apologized profusely for failing to meet her train in Denver and had even offered her a trip back to the city, to have a nice dinner and go to the theater as he’d promised. Sarah had thanked him and turned him down. Such a trip would be a needless extravagance, especially now, when what the good man really needed was to get his life in order.
While he recovered from his bender, she’d cleaned the house, thrown out his liquor stash, and used what little cash she’d found to buy a supply of nourishing food. Other aspects of his life, including his medical practice and his finances, were in even worse condition than the house. But she couldn’t just step in and take over. Uncle Harlan needed to pull himself together and take responsibility for his own affairs.
“Aren’t you going to eat something?” he asked. “Coffee’s not much of a breakfast for a young lady.”
“I’ll eat later,” she said. “This morning I’ve got too much on my mind—like the notice I put up in the post office yesterday, to let folks know you’re accepting patients again. As the only doctor in Ogallala, you’re bound to get plenty of business. Are you sure you’re ready to get back to work?”
“I’ll be fine,” he said. “But before the day gets busy, there are some things you need to understand.”
He really was a dear man, Sarah thought. But there was a great deal she didn’t know about him. What he had to say might be brutally honest. She had to be ready to hear it.
“I’m listening,” she said.
He took a deep breath. “I’ve never told you why I missed your train in Denver, or why you found me passed out drunk,” he said. “I’ve always had a struggle with alcohol. For years now, I’ve managed to keep the craving under control. But then, some things happened.”
Sarah sipped her coffee and waited for him to go on.
“Your grandmother probably told you that my first wife, Annie, died in childbirth years ago, and the baby with her. Annie was the love of my life. After I lost her, that was when I started drinking. I had a position as a surgeon in a prestigious New York hospital. But showing up drunk on the job got me fired.”
“I’m sorry,” Sarah said.
He shook his head. “No need for pity. It was my own damned fault. With the help of some friends, I finally managed to get sober and stay that way. But no hospital would have me. That’s how I ended up here, at the end of the line, in Ogallala.”
“But you’ve been needed here, and you’ve done a lot of good.” Sarah had talked to people in town and knew this to be true. “Doesn’t that give you some satisfaction?”
“I tried to tell myself it did. But something was missing from my life, and I didn’t know what it was—not until last year when I met Lenore.”
“Everyone needs love.” Sarah remembered Joe, and the way she’d felt when she was with him. She couldn’t call it love, but she’d liked it. She’d liked it a lot.
“That’s true, my dear. It’s also true that there’s no fool like an old fool. Lenore had come to stay with her uncle, who owned the dry goods store. She was working there when I