All the Parts of Your Soul by Patricia Friedrich

Author:Patricia Friedrich [Jensen, Patricia Friedrich & Jen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bisexual; Romance; Historical; LGBTQ+; Time Travel; Victorian; Mystical
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Published: 2023-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Rory

One Wednesday afternoon, shortly after I began working for Dr. Cain, I found myself in a room in town, where blood had pooled on the ground and a grown man screamed on the table. On his arm, a deep wound gushed and Dr. Cain himself looked unsure of how to proceed, his hands moving from one instrument to the next, only to go back to the last one. Every time the man’s voice pierced the air, the doctor seemed to cringe in return. I myself never came to understand why I was always able to display—and feel—such calm in those circumstances, but it was with tranquility and deliberation that I made my decisions.

In that case, I had to do something about the fast loss of blood the man was experiencing. His face was already drained of all color, and his limbs were limp on the table, making it evident that he had no more energy left to fight. I couldn’t leave the poor man, who had fallen while carrying a large number of empty bottles, to bleed until expiration, nor the doctor to feel so utterly demoralized.

“With your permission, I would like to work on something that might help, Dr. Cain.” I was hoping to try a technique I had learned in London.

“What is it?” he asked with some anxiety in his eyes, putting down the long needle he had been toying with.

“A quilled suture. I can pass a double thread through the lips of the wound in an uninterrupted manner, but we will do so at greater intervals, with a curved needle, and then we will anchor everything and avoid tearing with a piece of bougie on each side.”

“That is not a bad idea. This is quite a deep wound, and he is losing a lot of blood.”

“If you could hold the skin together, I can work quite quickly. And doctor?”

“Yes?”

“Would you wash your hands? With soap?”

He looked at me, raising his eyebrows, no comprehension showing in his face. “What for? We are covered in blood anyway.”

“Trust me.” I said simply.

He did as I suggested and fifteen minutes later, the laceration was closed and the patient resting, with the help of a sizable dose of whiskey. I then used a clean cloth and boiled water to rinse other, more superficial wounds. Dr. Cain looked quite pleased at the results.

“Your help is immensurable, Rory. I look forward to discovering what other techniques you learned in London.” He wiped his hands in a piece of cloth and went to the next room, leaving me to attend to the sleeping patient, but not before stopping to observe me.

I had started to notice that Dr. Cain sometimes spent long minutes looking at me. It happened while I worked or when I sat at the end of the day to update our records or a patient’s file. Every time I looked back at him, he would quickly avert his gaze and pretend to be otherwise engaged. Yet, I was sure I was the object of his observation more often than I would have preferred.

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