Let There Be Light (25 page)

Jenny’s heart lurched in her breast. She dashed to her, sank to her knees, and took Myrna’s hands in her own. “Oh, Mama, I’m so sorry for upsetting you. What have I done?” Her own tears began to flow. “Mama, I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Please say you forgive me!”

Myrna’s lips were so pale that they stood out disconcertingly, like scars, against her blotched complexion. There was no response. Myrna continued to shake and mumble inarticulately while staring into nothingness. There was not so much as a flicker in her eyes.

“Oh no. I’ve got to get help.” She let go of her mother’s hands
and laid them in her lap. “Mama, I’ll be right back.”

She dashed out the parlor door, swung open the front door, bounded down the steps, and ran as fast as she could across the yard toward the Bowden house next door. John Bowden was retired and home most of the time. He and Dorothy would help her.

The Bowdens, who were in their midsixties, were sitting on their front porch. John was reading the day’s edition of the
Harrisburg Journal
and Dorothy was knitting.

As Jenny crossed into the Bowden yard, holding her skirt above her ankles while she ran, Dorothy saw her coming. “John. Something’s wrong at the Linden house.”

John looked up and lowered his paper. When he saw the frightened look on Jenny’s face, he rose to his feet and moved toward the porch steps. “Jenny, what’s wrong?”

Jenny drew up. “It’s Mama! I need to get her to the hospital. Would you take us?”

“Of course. I’ll go hitch up the buggy.”

Dorothy was now at John’s side. “Jenny, I’m going along. I’ll go over to the house with you.”

Moments later, the Bowden buggy was racing through the streets of Harrisburg in the direction of the hospital. Jenny and Dorothy were in the rear seat with Myrna between them. Myrna was still shaking, mumbling, and staring vacantly into space. When answering the Bowdens’ inquiry as to what happened, Jenny did not give them the real reason. She simply told them that her mother went into her present state suddenly, without provocation.

When they arrived at the hospital, John carried Myrna, as he had done at the house. The receptionist at the front desk knew Jenny and her mother, and was aware of Myrna’s depression. She called for a pair of orderlies, who came quickly with a stretcher. The receptionist told Jenny that Dr. Adam Griffin just happened to be at the hospital, visiting patients. She would find him and send him to the examining room. While the orderlies were carefully placing Myrna on the stretcher, Jenny thanked the Bowdens for bringing them to the hospital and asked if they would go by the general store and tell the Hendersons what had happened.

“Of course,” said John. “I’ll leave Dorothy here with you.”

“Thank you, but it won’t be necessary. Dr. Griffin will no doubt give Mama a strong sedative. Once she’s asleep, I’ll head on back to the store. Please tell Zack and Emma I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

John nodded. “All right.”

“Honey,” said Dorothy, “is there anything else we can do for you?”

Jenny managed a smile. “Not right now, but I’ll sure call on you again if I need you. Thanks for being such a help to me.”

The Bowdens went away, and Jenny followed the stretcher into the examining room. Dr. Griffin arrived when the orderlies were placing Myrna flat on her back on an examining table. He saw immediately the state Myrna was in, and asked Jenny to take a seat across the room. He began his examination by checking her vital signs, then started talking to her in low tones. Jenny watched as the doctor talked to her mother, and was pleased when she saw her begin to respond.

Dr. Griffin worked with Myrna for several minutes, talking to her, and asking questions. When he was satisfied that his patient was at least partially coherent, he set eyes on Jenny and motioned for her.

As Jenny joined the doctor at the examining table, Myrna looked up at her and raised a hand toward her. Jenny took her hand, then looked at the doctor. “She’s better already, Dr. Griffin. Her eyes are focused, and I saw her talking to you.”

Myrna nodded. “Jus’ a li’l bit, honey.”

“She’s in a very deep state of depression, Jenny,” said Griffin. “I just gave her a strong sedative. But before I did, I asked her what brought this on. She said she couldn’t tell me. What was it?”

Jenny bit her lip. She really didn’t want the doctor to know, but since her mother was listening and her mind was clear enough to know what she was saying, she would have to tell the truth. She cleared her throat nervously. “Dr. Griffin, it isn’t that Mama couldn’t tell you, it’s that she
wouldn’t
. She doesn’t want to make me look bad.”

Griffin frowned. “Go on.”

Jenny sighed. “Well, I’ve been in love with a young man since before he went off to the War four years ago. I thought he was in
love with me, but I was wrong. Today I ran into him on Main Street. He had come home with a medical discharge last Friday. He had his new wife with him.”

“Oh. I see.”

“Doctor, by the time I got home, I was half out of my mind with anger and grief. I stormed around in front of Mama, and when she reminded me that she had warned me not to set my heart on the man, I blew up at her. That’s what sent her into this deep state of depression.”

Griffin shook his head. “Jenny, your mother is very fragile. I’ve told you that. You must be very, very careful not to do or say anything that can upset her.”

“I know. Even though I was so angry, I should have thought of Mama and not of myself. It won’t happen again. I’m sorry. Thank you for your kindness to Mama.”

The doctor nodded. “I’ll need to keep her here in the hospital a few days so she can be tended to properly.”

“I understand, and that’s the way I want it.”

Griffin looked down at Myrna, whose eyes were closed. She was breathing steadily. “The sedative has already taken effect, Jenny. I’ll leave orders for her to be kept right here on this table for a couple of hours before they put her in a room. There will be a nurse with her at all times. She’ll probably sleep till tomorrow morning.”

Jenny thanked Dr. Griffin again for the good care he gave her mother, saying she would come back that evening after work and check on her.

Upon returning to the store, Jenny told Zack and Emma that her mother was deep into depression when she got home, so she had the Bowdens take them to the hospital in their buggy. She explained that Dr. Griffin was going to keep her mother there a few days for observation. She apologized for being late. The Hendersons told her they understood, and both said they hoped Myrna would get better quickly.

That evening when Jenny arrived at the hospital, she was given her mother’s room number by the receptionist, and when she entered the room, a staff physician was checking Myrna’s vital signs. The doctor told Jenny that her mother was still sleeping heavily
under sedation and wouldn’t awaken until sometime in the morning. She wouldn’t be clear-minded until evening. He explained that the nurse who had been assigned to her mother for the evening shift was out of the room for the moment, but was keeping a close watch on her.

As Jenny left the hospital and headed home, her mind went once again to Nate Conrad, and her anger toward him grew hotter. By the time she entered the house, she was so angry that she could do nothing but pace the floor of the parlor and rail at Nate as if he could hear her. She was also irate at Millie for daring to steal Nate from her.

In her anger, Jenny found herself picking up a flower vase, ready to smash it on the floor. She caught herself just before throwing it down and took a deep breath. “If I smash anything, it’ll be something that belongs to that two-timing skunk and that man-stealing hussy!”

The next day after work, Jenny Linden went to the hospital to check on her mother. When she stopped at the receptionist’s desk, the woman said, “Hello, Miss Linden. I happen to know that your mother is awake and is talking quite clearly. Her assigned nurse is with her.”

Jenny thanked her and headed for room twenty-four. When she drew up to the room, the door was open. Her mother was sitting up with pillows at her back, and the nurse was standing beside the bed, talking to her.

As Jenny stepped into the room, the nurse turned and looked at her.

Jenny stopped in her tracks, her eyes wide.

It was Millie Conrad.

Myrna was just focusing on her daughter when Jenny’s face flushed with fury. “Get out of here, you brazen man-stealer! I don’t want you in the same room with my mother!”

A staff doctor was passing by, but hearing Jenny’s outburst, he stepped into the room. “What’s going on here?”

Jenny turned her fiery eyes on the doctor. “I want this woman
out of my mother’s room, and I want her to stay out!”

“Why? What has Mrs. Conrad done?”

“Don’t make me tell you, Doctor! Just get her out of here! Right now!”

Puzzlement captured the young physician’s features. “Mrs. Conrad, please leave the room and send Della Martin in here.”

Millie gave Jenny a hot glare, wheeled and hurried from the room.

Myrna’s lips quivered as she looked up at her daughter. “Honey, I didn’t know she was Nate’s wife.”

“It’s all right, Mama. It’s no fault of yours.”

The doctor rubbed his chin. “I would really like to know what Mrs. Conrad did.”

“She stole the man I was to marry, that’s what she did.”

“Oh. Recently?”

“Yes. Recently. I didn’t know she was a nurse, and I didn’t know she worked here. But I don’t want her caring for my mother.”

Head nurse Della Martin came into the room. “Dr. Faulkner, Millie said you wanted to see me.”

The doctor quickly explained to Mrs. Martin what Jenny had just told him. When she understood the situation, she promised Jenny that Mrs. Conrad would not tend her mother anymore. Jenny thanked her.

Dr. Faulkner left, but by this time, Myrna was starting to slip into her disconsolate state once more. The nurse worked with her, trying to calm her, and after some twenty minutes, was successful. She told Jenny she would assign another nurse to her mother, but it would take a half hour or so. Jenny told her she would stay till then.

When Della Martin was gone, Jenny took her mother’s hand. “Mama, really, I had no idea Nate’s new wife was a nurse, nor that she worked in this hospital. Finding her right here in your room was just more than I could stand. I’m sorry I upset you again.”

“I understand, honey. I’m glad to see you.”

When the new nurse arrived, Jenny kissed her mother, saying she would see her tomorrow evening, and left the room.

As she walked down the hall, the wrath she felt toward Nate and Millie was burning like a volcano inside her. She stopped at the
receptionist’s desk and asked when the next shift of nurses would be coming in. She was told that the shift changed at eleven o’clock.

Jenny thanked the receptionist and took a seat in the lobby where a chair was in the shadows. She waited until she saw Millie pass through the lobby just after eleven o’clock, then followed her outside. Nate was there in a buggy with its lanterns lit, waiting for her.

There were a few buggies for hire just outside the hospital door. Jenny waited till the Conrad buggy was in motion, then hurried to the nearest buggy for hire, climbed in, and told the driver to follow the buggy that just picked up that nurse. As the driver pulled away from the hospital, Jenny said, “That nurse and her husband are friends of mine. They recently eloped and got married. I don’t want them to know I’m following them, so stay back a ways. I just need to know where they live so I can pay them a surprise visit sometime soon.”

The driver followed at a safe distance, and soon they saw Nate and Millie pull into the yard of a small white frame house. As the buggy moved on past the Conrad house, Jenny smiled and told the driver she appreciated his help. She then had him take her up to a house a block from her home, as if she lived there. She paid the driver, went toward the bogus house as if she would enter it, then when he pulled away and turned the corner, she hurried to her own house.

The next morning Jenny went to work as usual. At noon, she skipped lunch to take a walk and get a good look at the Conrad house. Just as she was drawing near, she saw the Conrads come out of the house and head for their buggy. Though Nate was on crutches, he balanced himself on them and helped Millie into the buggy.

When she was seated, she leaned toward Nate, and they kissed. Jenny’s blood heated up.

When they drove away, Jenny chuckled. “This couldn’t have worked out better.” Quickly she made her way to the alley and hurried into the Conrads’ backyard.

As she stepped up on the back porch, she looked around for something with which to break the window in the door if it was locked. She turned the knob and was pleased to find it unlocked.

A few minutes before three o’clock that afternoon, Nate left Millie at the hospital and headed the buggy back home. Dark clouds were gathering in the sky and thunder was rumbling in the distance.

When he arrived home, he parked the buggy next to the small barn in the backyard, removed the horse’s harness, led him into the small corral, and pitched him some hay.