Read Online Dancing in the Rain by Amanda Harte - Free Book Online Page B

when he saw the clock. It must have stopped. He reached for his watch, shaking his head when it registered the same time as the stately grandfather clock. There was no denying the evidence. Carolyn wasn’t late. He was early.
    How odd. Today, he had felt an unusual sense of anticipation when he had wakened. That must have been the reason he’d rushed through breakfast without being aware of how quickly he must have eaten. It was surely the thought of saving more lives that had brought him here ahead of schedule. It couldn’t be anything else. It most definitely could not have been a desire to see Clothespin Carolyn’s smile.
    As the other doctors began to arrive, the energy level in the operating theater increased, and the orderlies wheeled in the first patients. Still, there was no sign of Carolyn. And then the door opened, and she whirled inside. That was the only way to describe her entrance, for she was practically running, and that lovely golden hair bounced against her cheeks, while she bestowed a warm smile on each man that she passed. She was beautiful and so filled with vitality that it was difficult not to smile in return. Dwight didn’t smile, of course. That would not be seemly, particularly not here in the operating room. He wouldn’t want the injured men to think he regarded them with anything less than complete seriousness. As Carolyn smiled again, Dwight bit the inside of his mouth to keep his lips from turning up.
    Two of the men who lay on stretchers waiting for their turn in surgery did more than smile. They whistled their appreciation.
    “Gentlemen.” Carolyn gave them an obviously false frown. That pretty heart-shaped face radiated joy, despite the down-turned lips. “My granny would say that you had indulged in inappropriate behavior. A gentleman never whistles inside a building.”
    The man with the head wound grinned. “Can’t a fella say you’re the prettiest sight he’s seen since he left home? You’re worth gettin’ wounded for.”
    Carolyn shook her head. Though her hair bounced, the starched cap remained firmly perched on top of her head. “My granny always told me flattery was like cod liver oil. A little is good for you, but you don’t want to overdo.”
    While Dwight struggled to maintain his solemnity, the soldier laughed. “My granny never told me nurses were like you.”
    They’re not, Dwight wanted to say. Instead, he said only, “Nurse, please prepare this man for surgery.” He nodded at the first man who had whistled. Judging from his badly lacerated arm, fragments of a shell had hit Corporal Miller. The man’s chart indicated that he was from the American Expeditionary Force. “I see you’re part of the Big Red One,” Dwight said, using the nickname the soldiers had given to the US First Division.
    “Yes, sir!” Corporal Miller started to salute, then winced when his arm refused to move. “You gonna take off my arm?”
    “Not if I can help it.”
    Though Dwight thought he had sounded confident, Miller’s expression was dubious. Carolyn laid a hand on his uninjured arm. “You can trust Dr. Hollins,” she said, her voice low and soothing.
    “But what if he can’t save it?”
    “He will!” Dwight wished he were as confident as Carolyn. He had amputated far too many limbs since this war had begun. All he could do was pray that the statesmen were right and that this was truly the war to end all wars. If this was the last time men had to fight, perhaps all the suffering Dwight had seen would not be in vain.
    Carolyn reached for the chloroform. “You can trust the doctor.” As she prepared to slide the mask over Corporal Miller’s face, she gave him a conspiratorial smile. “My granny always said you could tell a mule’s character by the shape of his ears and a man’s by the shape of his thumbs.” She nodded toward Dwight. “Dr. Hollins has honest thumbs.”
    It was all Dwight could do not to laugh. He had never heard anything so absurd in his entire