Abilene by S.K. Epperson

Author:S.K. Epperson [Epperson, S.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"Something has happened between Black Horse and Maura," Eden said to his father.

Langdon finished rolling down his sleeves and turned to look at his son. "Put a man and a woman in a room together for a week and something is bound to happen."

"You're not worried?"

"No. I knew the moment she laid eyes on him it would come to this. He is unlike anything in her experience."

"I thought she liked the marshal," said Eden.

"She likes him, all right. Falls to pieces when he looks at her, but that's a normal female reaction to a man like Tom Smith. Even Mrs. Thrimble quivers and shakes at the mention of his name."

Eden smiled. "I take it you're not going to say anything to Maura?"

"She's a grown woman, Eden, and she can make her own decisions. I will be there for her in any situation and so, I hope, will you, without judgment or condescension."

Eden looked with guilt at his feet as they walked toward the office, felt like the last person in the world fit to pass judgment on anyone.

He glanced in the direction of The Carpenter House and wondered how Olivia felt that morning. There had been little communication between them since the moneyed Jefferson Starr took her under his wing. Eden had treated her three times in the last week, but never had a chance to talk with her, as there were always patients waiting and other people nearby. She possessed several new dresses, he noticed, and he jealously wondered what Starr received in return for all his generosity.

Then he forced himself not to think about it. Nothing he could do. He could not blame Olivia for using the man to lift her out of her penury. He had entertained a similar notion once the money started coming in. He thought of placing her in a lower level room with Maura once Black Horse became well. But the money they were earning would soon come to a halt if Jefferson Starr had his way. Eden had seen him talking with Franklin Dole, the doctor who catered to the north side of Abilene. The two men nodded and pointed while standing across the street from John Walking Bird's office, where Eden practiced.

Doctor Dole worried, Eden could tell. When the summer cattle trade slowed, the town's population fell to fewer than four hundred people, hardly enough people to support several doctors. They did not know of Langdon's plans to move on when fall came, and Eden decided Starr and Dole worked on a scheme to get rid of the competition.

The same happened in every town he attempted to practice his work. Doctors jealously guarded their patients and cried foul if a new doctor appeared and applied a different method. Eden knew he should be used to it by now. The pettiness of human behavior never failed to amaze and irritate him, particularly when it involved the betterment of health, and men who were otherwise completely responsible citizens.

His record in Abilene thus

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