“Something interesting came into the clinic today,” Lee was saying. “The woman thinks she’s pregnant, but I think it’s a cyst. I’d like you to look at her tomorrow.”
“Oh, Lee, I can’t. Houston made me another appointment with her dressmaker, and then Nina and I have a luncheon engagement, and in the afternoon I need to be back here to supervise the house. I really have no time at all.”
“Oh, well, I guess it can wait until later in the week. So, you won’t be at the Women’s Infirmary again tomorrow?”
“I don’t see how I can be.” She looked up at him through her lashes. “It takes more time than I thought being a wife. There seem to be so many things that need to be done. And now that I’m going to be a part of Chandler again, I really do think I should help with the charity work. There’s the Ladies Aid Society and the Christian Mission and—.”
“The Westfield Infirmary,” he added. “It seems that what you’re doing there is more than enough to help the town.”
“Well, of course,” she said stiffly, “if you insist, I’ll go to the clinic tomorrow. I’ll cancel the dressmaker, and I’m sure the other wives can get along without me. They’ll have to understand that you want me to work outside the home. I’m sure I can make them understand the concept of a woman having to help pay for the food on the table.”
“Pay for—!” Lee gasped. “Since when have I made you pay for anything in this house? When did I ever fail in my duties of supporting you? You don’t have to work tomorrow or ever. I thought you wanted to work!”
Blair looked close to tears again. “I did; I do. But I had no idea being a wife took so much time. Today, I had to plan meals, that new maid was utterly impossible, and when the rib
bons for my new dress arrived, they were the wrong color! I just want to look nice for you, Lee. I want to make a nice home for you and be the best, the prettiest wife any man ever had. I want you to be proud of me, and it’s so difficult when I’m at the infirmary all day. I didn’t know—.”
“All right,” Lee interrupted, throwing his napkin on the table. “I didn’t mean to yell at you. I just misunderstood what you meant. You don’t have to go to the infirmary tomorrow or ever.” He caught her hand and began caressing her fingertips.
She pulled away from him and began folding her napkin. “This morning, John Silverman called and asked me to tell you that there was an important meeting tonight at your club. He didn’t explain, and I didn’t ask what it was about.”
“I know what it’s about, and they can do without me. I really did have a couple of patients I wanted to talk to you about. There’s a man at the hospital who has an infected hand. I thought you might look at him. I’d value another opinion.”
“Mine?” Blair fluttered her lashes. “You flatter me, Lee. I haven’t even finished my medical training yet. What could I tell you that you, with all your experience, don’t already know?”
“But in the past—.”
“In the past, I wasn’t someone’s wife. I didn’t know what my full responsibilities were. Lee, I really think you should go to your club. I’d feel dreadful if I knew I’d kept you away from your friends. Besides, I really would like to finish my novel.”
“Oh,” Lee said bleakly. “I guess I could go.”
“Yes, dear, you should,” she said, rising. “I wouldn’t ever want it said that I interfered in your life. A wife should support her husband in whatever he does and not hinder him.”
Lee pushed his chair back and started to rise. His side ached, and he wanted to stay home and read the newspaper, but then it was true that he hadn’t visited his club since he’d been married. Maybe Blair was right and he should go. He could sit down there as well as at home, and maybe he could find out what they’d heard about the shooting at the mine last night.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll go, but I won’t stay long. Maybe we can talk when I get back.”
“One of a wife’s duties is to listen to her husband,” Blair said, smiling. “Now, you go along, dear, to your club. I have a little sewing to do, then an early night.” She kissed his forehead. “I’ll see you in the morning.” She swept from the room before Lee could say a word.
Upstairs, she watched him from the guest room window. He moved awkwardly, and she knew his side hurt, but she didn’t feel much guilt about sending him away alone. He certainly deserved to be taught a lesson.
When the carriage was out of sight, Blair went downstairs and called Nina.
“Let’s go riding tomorrow,” Blair said, “or I may go crazy from lack of exercise. Do you think your father can get me into the hospital to see a patient tomorrow? In secret? Without anyone knowing I was there?”
Nina was silent a moment. “I’m sure he can, and, Blair, welcome home.”
“It’s good to be home,” she said, smiling. “I’ll meet you at nine at the fork of the Tijeras.” She heard Nina hang up the phone, then said sharply, “And, Mary Catherine, if one word of this leaks out, I’ll know who did it.”
“I resent that, Blair-Houston,” the telephone operator said. “I do not eaves—.” She realized what she was saying and pulled the plug on the line.
Blair went to the kitchen, where she fixed herself a roast beef sandwich. At dinner, she’d had such a ladylike portion that now she was starving.
By the time Lee came home, she was already in bed and pretending to sleep. And when he began to caress her hip and raise her nightgown, she pleaded tiredness, told him she had a splitting headache. As he turned away, Blair had second thoughts about what she was doing. Was she hurting herself more than him?
“It’s osteomyelitis,” Blair said to Reed, as she carefully put the man’s hand down. “Next time you hit someone in the mouth, find someone who brushes his teeth,” she told the patient.
“I believe that was Lee’s thought, too,” Reed said. “But he wanted another opinion.”