The Doctor's Newfound Family (18 page)

S
ara Beth had not asked her brothers to call her “Mama” it had simply happened naturally after she and Taylor had had a son of their own.

Luke was currently apprenticed to a saddle maker in Benecia while Mathias continued his schooling back east. Josiah, now nearly ten, had no recollection of Isabella or Robert Reese, so the transition had been easiest on him.

“Mama, there’s a man here who says you’re needed,” Josiah called from the front of the house.

Quickly removing her apron, Sara Beth hurried to the parlor and found a harried husband, pacing, hat in hand. “Is it time?” she asked him.

“Yes’m. She says so.”

“Well, it’s her fourth baby, so we have to assume
she knows,” Sara Beth said. She turned to Josiah. “Watch your brother for me till your papa gets home, will you? He was making the circuit to Mission Dolores today, so he shouldn’t be very late getting back. Supper’s on the stove and there are cookies you can share if you get hungry before then.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And tell your father that he won’t be needed unless I send for him.” The look on the boy’s face made her smile.

“I have been a midwife for longer than he had been a doctor when we met,” she said. “My patients and I will be fine.”

Swinging a shawl over her shoulders, she picked up a black bag that was identical in size and shape to the one Taylor carried. He never seemed to tire of telling her how much he admired her and her work. That, and having a chance to help other women, was enough for Sara Beth.

She smiled as she turned to the expectant father. “Let’s be going. Babies don’t wait for anything and I can hardly wait to greet your newest family member.”

Dear Reader,

As I was researching this book I found an amazing number of disturbing facts about life in San Francisco in 1856–57. For the sake of carrying the story along I have compressed the outcome slightly. The results remain accurate. Naturally, the Reese family and Dr. Hayward are fictitious, but the background is all too real. If I had not read this history for myself I would not have believed it.

Sara Beth has the spirit of a pioneer and the heart of a loving Christian, yet she faces many hardships and dangers during the course of this book. That kind of difficulty is not unusual, as I have learned during my years as a believer. We may be saved for eternity, yes, but we still have to do the best we can with what we are given. I firmly believe that it is by finding God’s peace amidst trials that we truly blossom and grow.

I love to hear from my readers. The easiest way to reach me is by e-mail, [email protected] or send a letter to P.O. Box 13, Glencoe, AR 72539. You can also see my other work at valeriehansen.com.

Blessings,

1. Did it seem unusual to you that Sara Beth would venture out at night? Why? Is she acting irresponsibly by taking her younger siblings along? What else could she have done?
   
2. Have you ever known and accepted someone as different from the mainstream as old Abe Warner is? How did you manage to get past first impressions?
   
3. Do you think that being a Christian helps people accept others, or can it be an additional reason to be overly critical? What did Jesus do?
   
4. Once her parents were deceased, Sara Beth sought out the orphanage for help for her family. Was there something else she could have done?
   
5. Dr. Taylor Hayward actually studied at a medical school. Had most doctors in that era done so? Why not?
   
6. When Sara Beth says she wants to become a doctor, too, Abe and others laugh at her. Why was this dream so laughable back then? Did a young woman have any other options? Why or why not?
   
7. Politics in nineteenth-century San Francisco were in turmoil. Now that we have become more aware of what is going on in the world, would it still be possible for the authorities to be so corrupt without being caught at it? Why or why not?
   
8. Were you surprised that there were so many newspapers in the city and that they were also very politically oriented?
   
9. When the Vigilance Committee took the law into its own hands, was it right or wrong, given the unfairness of the legal system? What would you have done?
   
10. Earthquakes were very common in San Francisco in the 1800s and still are today. Would you be afraid to live there, or would you just accept the shaking because it happened so often?
    
11. Sara Beth is worried that Taylor will not want to marry her because of her stepfather’s tarnished reputation. Is that a fair assessment, or should she have given him the benefit of the doubt?
    
12. Why do you think she failed to ask him to be specific about his intentions? Was she afraid of what he might say?
    
13. When Taylor takes on Sara Beth’s whole family, is he exceptional, or was that the norm in those days? What would you have done?