Lady of Milkweed Manor by Julie Klassen Read Free Book Online

weary.
    “Is everything all right?” she asked.
    “Miss Lamb. You startled me.”
    “Forgive me…. I thought I heard someone crying out.”
    “Did you?”
    “Yes. Is someone delivering?”
    “Um … no. False alarm as it turns out.”
    “Oh, I see. Are you quite all right, Mr.-excuse me Dr. Taylor. I’m afraid that will take some getting used to.”
     
    “That’s all right. And … yes, I am well, thank you. And you?”
    She nodded. “Are you always here this late?”
    “Yes. Though not always awake, thankfully. I keep a small apartment above stairs here. Makes night duty less interminable.”
    “You are very dedicated.”
    He looked at her sharply, as though weighing the sincerity of her statement.
    “Truly.” She smiled to reassure him. “It is a comfort to know there’s a physician about the place.”
    He smiled then too. “Even if the physician is me?”
    “Yes. I have heard some things about the other man that are not comforting in the least.” She said it lightly but saw his eyes widen and his mouth set in a hard line.
    “What are you implying? Wait. Let us step into Mrs. Moorling’s office, where we won’t disturb anyone.”
    “Very well.” She followed him to the matron’s office beyond the workroom.
    “You were saying?” he prompted.
    “Well, from the sound of it, the girls here do not trust him, in fact they are quite frightened of him.”
    “Frightened? That is absurd. He isn’t perfect, I realize, but is certainly not as bad as all that.”
    “I’m sorry, I am only repeating what I’ve been told.”
    “Well, in the future I suggest you don’t besmirch a man’s reputation based on rumor alone.”
    She looked at him, stung. His reaction seemed too strong, and she wondered if there was more at play here than collegial loyalty. “You are quite right. But I had no reason not to believe them. In fact, I saw one young girl shaking when she took leave of Dr. Preston.”
    “Preston?” he asked, clearly surprised.
    “Yes.” Who did he think I was referring to?
    He hesitated, seeming to study his shoes.
     
    Charlotte felt compelled to continue. “Forgive me-are the two of you friends?”
    “Colleagues certainly. Are you implying that he behaves … inappropriately with his patients?”
    “Yes, or at the very least humiliates them.”
    “Well, humiliation is no crime. It’s difficult to maintain modesty in such situations. As far as the other … well, I’d wager it’s just gossip, but if you personally have any difficulty whatsoever with Dr. Preston, please let me know immediately.”
    “Thank you. I shall.”
    The tension in his face faded, and they stood there for a moment in mildly awkward silence, Charlotte trying to think of a way to excuse herself, when she saw the side of his mouth lift in a boyish smirk.
    “And what do they say about me?”
    She smiled at him, then said imperiously, “Oh, you are the worst of the lot. Ice, they say. Distant. Impersonal. One girl compared your bedside manner to that of a man gutting fish.”
    His brows rose. “Dreadfully sorry I asked.”
    She regarded him a moment, then said tentatively, “You do seem changed. Though I suppose that is only natural after so many years.
    His expression became somber indeed. “If you had seen the things I have-death, piteous creatures, loved ones lost …” He hesitated, seemingly adrift in thoughts too bleak to share. She guessed he was speaking of more than his medical duties alone, of losses infinitely more personal.
    “Yes,” he continued, “perhaps I have distanced myself. Become harder.”
    “Colder,” she added helpfully. “More aloof.”
    “There are worse things.” He looked directly at her, and Charlotte ducked her head.
    “Miss Lamb, I did not mean … I was not referring to you, to your condition.”
     
    And there he was again. The Mr. Taylor of old, teasing but reassuring, comforting her.
    Charlotte kept her eyes lowered. “I confess when I first saw you here, I