Millicent's Medicine Man by Karen Leabo

Author:Karen Leabo [Leabo, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-345-53461-3
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2013-01-13T16:00:00+00:00

Saturday morning. Millicent had picked up the kids at her parents’ house the night before, never mentioning Jase, never mentioning her visit with Dr. Daas. She was jumpy as a cat, but if the children noticed, they didn’t say anything.

This morning she was trying to work off some excess tension at her potter’s wheel. This was her third attempt. Mary Jane lay in her mesh playpen a few feet away. She seemed to like the whine and groan of the wheel.

“Mom, is something wrong?”

Millicent jumped. The clay vessel she’d been forming turned into a formless lump. “Oh, hi, Nancy.” Yes, something was terribly wrong. Her baby was sick. But she hadn’t decided exactly what to tell the other kids. She believed in being honest with her children to a point, but she didn’t want to traumatize them.

She hit the foot pedal on the wheel and watched it slowly decelerate. The wet clay went back into the plastic bag with a plop. “Guess I’m not feeling all that creative right now. Anyway, I wasn’t doing very well with this bandaged hand.” She wrinkled her nose at the strips of gauze, which were now filthy. Maybe she could get Jase to change the bandage.…

“Did you practice your viola today?” she asked as she wiped her hands with a wet cloth.

“You answer my question first. You’ve been acting really funny, and I know something’s wrong.”

Perceptive little minx, Millicent thought.

“What did you do yesterday after you shuffled us off to Grandma and Granddad’s? Hot date with Dr. Desmond?” she asked smugly.

“For your information, smarty-pants, I went to see Dr. Daas.”

“Our Dr. Daas?” Nancy already looked stricken, and she didn’t even know what was wrong. “Why?”

“Mary Jane is sick,” Millicent blurted out. It felt good to get it off her chest, even though she knew Nancy would be crushed. The girl adored her baby sister.

“Sick how?” Nancy’s eyes filled with tears. “Oh my God. I’m sorry about that crack I made about Dr. Desmond. I had no idea—”

“It’s okay, honey.” Millicent patted her daughter’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong with Mary Jane?”

Millicent explained things as clearly as she could, as honestly as she could. It wouldn’t be fair to sugar-coat the bad news. If the worst happened, she wanted the other kids to be prepared.

Nancy was a bright girl, and she had no trouble grasping the situation. “She could die, couldn’t she?”

Millicent swallowed the lump in her throat. “It’s a small possibility.”

“When will it happen?”

“As soon as I can get the surgery scheduled. Within a couple of weeks, I imagine.”

Nancy went to the playpen and picked Mary Jane up, supporting her head as Millicent had taught her. The baby, oblivious, caught a piece of Nancy’s hair and pulled delightedly.

Nancy hardly seemed to feel it. “Is that why you’ve been spending time with Dr. Desmond?”

“Partly. He’s been a great source of strength and comfort for me. But that’s not the only reason.”

“Are you in love with him?”

Millicent gazed miserably at her daughter. “I’m afraid it’s looking that way.”

“Will you get married?” The question was neutral—not hopeful, but at least it wasn’t filled with dread.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.