Read Online Healing Hearts (Easton Series #2) by Anna Murray - Free Book Online

brushed her down in the
stable behind the house. His hands were shaky; he needed his self-medication.
Jed hated this weakness, this dependency, but he’d find comfort soon, and then
he’d forget his personal failings while he drifted in the velvet haze.
       Hannah had gone on up to the house to start supper, and now Jed walked
briskly to the door. He paused and knocked lightly before he entered, made an
excuse to visit the surgery as he passed her in the kitchen, and headed for his
stash. He swallowed the opiate, taking care to hide the bottle behind several books
before walking back to join Hannah.
       She
was tired and dusty. “I found mail on the doorstep, one for me and the rest for
you,” she motioned to letters stacked on the table.
       Jed
picked up the mail and opened the letter on top. It was from his friend, Doctor
Cole.
    Dear Jedediah,
    I write you with pleasure
that I am well, and hope you are the same.
    Doctor Sutton should have
arrived by this time. You have no doubt enjoyed her quick mind, easy
disposition, and pleasant manner in all things, in spite of her coming from a
hard place. She had other offers and proposals from colleagues here, so you are
fortunate to have contracted her.
    But enough about an angel: Life
goes on and I am looking for a hire to teach surgery. If you know of a
candidate, please inform.
    Respectfully yours,
    Andrew Cole
       Jed
set aside the letter and pinched the bridge of his nose.   She’d had opportunities to team with
other doctors? What were the “proposals” Cole made mention of?   Marriage? Why hadn’t she taken them?
       Instead, she’d chosen the mail-order assignation with a man she’d never
laid eyes on. His eyes wandered to the object of his ruminations. Hannah was
perched quietly near the window, catching the oblique setting sunlight while reading
her own letter.
       “Good
news?”
       She
leaned her head against the wall. “Mother and Father want to come for a visit
when I get settled.”
       “Oh.”
       She
gazed out the window. “I’ll be here another month, waiting on Nelda Rose’s
birthing, but after that . . .” her voice trailed off.
       “You can stay longer,” he bit off before he thought about it.
       She
brightened. “I was thinking the same thing. A six-month posting is common for a
new doctor to gain experience.”
       “Yes. It’s reasonable.” He didn’t know why he was making excuses to keep
her close to him. Why was he frustrated and delighted at the same time?
       “Thank you, Doctor Rutherford. I appreciate the opportunity.”
       He
waved a hand in the air. It must be the morphine clouding his judgment. He
bristled at the mere hint it might be tearing down the wall between them.
       Hannah rose and set the table for supper. Then she ladled beans and pork
from a pot. She sliced bread, delivered it on a blue plate, and, as was her
habit, she waited for him to commence eating before she picked up her fork.
       He
wondered about the “hard place” Cole indicated she came from in the letter, and
how it created a strong, steadfast, and determined woman.
       “So
. . . your family news was good?”
       “Oh, yes, Mother and Father are fine.”
       “You have just the sister? No brothers?”
       She
hesitated and her face tightened.   “That’s
right.”
       He
buttered a piece of bread. Hannah had never
revealed much about her family, and he’d seen only one small tintype of her
parents -- earnest looking people with a haunting sadness in their eyes. She’d
mentioned that her father was successful in his business, and it was no doubt
one reason he’d been capable of exerting pressure in gaining his gifted
daughter entrance to medical college. With no sons, perhaps it was up to Hannah
to succeed in making a profession.   Something about this nagged at Jed. There was more, something grittier,
something disquieting. Hannah was holding back. She avoided relationships with
men, but it