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Authors: Victoria Thompson
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took him into her arms.
“I’m happy to see you, too, Brian,” she said, settling him on her hip. He was touching her face and looking up at her new hat. He seemed to approve of it. “It seems the operation was a success,” she tried on Malloy.
“My mother will be glad,” he replied, not quite meeting her eye. “You didn’t have to come today,” he added gruffly.
“I told you I’d be here if I could,” she reminded him.
“You’ve got better things to do than worry about the likes of us.” His jaw was set in the stubborn line she’d seen too many times before.
She’d thought he was upset because she was late for the appointment, but could he possibly be angry that she’d come at all? “If you didn’t want me here, you should have said so,” she said.
This time he looked straight at her, his eyes as dark as she’d ever seen them. “You should be with your own kind, Sarah.”
At that moment, there was a break in the traffic, and he snatched Brian from her and hurried across the street. Brian’s small arms were still reaching back for her when they disappeared behind the closing wall of carriages and hacks.
Stunned, Sarah could only stand there staring until the people walking by began to make remarks about her blocking the way. Then she started blindly down the street, walking in the opposite direction, as much to get away as to get to someplace else.
The worst part was that she didn’t know whether to be angry or hurt. Other people had certainly advised her that she should confine herself to associations with people of her own social class. Her parents had done so many times, as had her old friends. Some were well meaning, and others were snobs. She had ignored them all and done what she pleased.
What she pleased was to continue the work that her husband Tom had begun, providing medical services to everyone who needed it, regardless of their ability to pay. Sarah wasn’t a physician, but she could save the lives of mothers and their babies, so that’s what she did.
In the six months she’d known Frank Malloy, she thought he’d come to respect her, and even to approve of her. The last thing she’d ever expected was to hear him say she should be with her “own kind.” An hour ago, she would have said that Frank Malloy was her own kind! Now he was warning her away from him.
She had to admit it: he’d hurt her. She hadn’t known until this moment how much she valued his opinion of her. When the people she loved most in the world begged her at every opportunity to turn her back on all that she found fulfilling in life, he had accepted her as a competent professional, someone whom he consulted on matters of importance. She’d even helped him solve a number of murders. Just last week, she’d kept an innocent person from being executed, and all on her own, she’d made sure her neighbor’s son got to keep his position at the bank Richard Dennis owned. Even Malloy couldn’t have influenced Richard the way she had!
The thought stopped her in her tracks and caused the gentleman behind her to nearly fall in his hasty effort to avoid colliding with her. She apologized profusely as he regained his balance and sidled around her, not certain what to make of a woman so lost in thought she was paying no attention to anything else.
Only then did she realize she was back on the corner where Malloy had left her. She’d made a complete circle of the block.
“Malloy, you’re jealous!” she whispered to the spot where he had disappeared with Brian into the traffic. She really shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d been quite upset when she told him she was going to the opera with Richard. She’d thought they had parted on good terms last Friday, but his behavior today proved she was wrong. Now all she had to do was figure out if he really did think she should stay with her own kind.
And if he did, what she should do about it.
Frank should have been pleased. A woman had been found dead in
“I’m happy to see you, too, Brian,” she said, settling him on her hip. He was touching her face and looking up at her new hat. He seemed to approve of it. “It seems the operation was a success,” she tried on Malloy.
“My mother will be glad,” he replied, not quite meeting her eye. “You didn’t have to come today,” he added gruffly.
“I told you I’d be here if I could,” she reminded him.
“You’ve got better things to do than worry about the likes of us.” His jaw was set in the stubborn line she’d seen too many times before.
She’d thought he was upset because she was late for the appointment, but could he possibly be angry that she’d come at all? “If you didn’t want me here, you should have said so,” she said.
This time he looked straight at her, his eyes as dark as she’d ever seen them. “You should be with your own kind, Sarah.”
At that moment, there was a break in the traffic, and he snatched Brian from her and hurried across the street. Brian’s small arms were still reaching back for her when they disappeared behind the closing wall of carriages and hacks.
Stunned, Sarah could only stand there staring until the people walking by began to make remarks about her blocking the way. Then she started blindly down the street, walking in the opposite direction, as much to get away as to get to someplace else.
The worst part was that she didn’t know whether to be angry or hurt. Other people had certainly advised her that she should confine herself to associations with people of her own social class. Her parents had done so many times, as had her old friends. Some were well meaning, and others were snobs. She had ignored them all and done what she pleased.
What she pleased was to continue the work that her husband Tom had begun, providing medical services to everyone who needed it, regardless of their ability to pay. Sarah wasn’t a physician, but she could save the lives of mothers and their babies, so that’s what she did.
In the six months she’d known Frank Malloy, she thought he’d come to respect her, and even to approve of her. The last thing she’d ever expected was to hear him say she should be with her “own kind.” An hour ago, she would have said that Frank Malloy was her own kind! Now he was warning her away from him.
She had to admit it: he’d hurt her. She hadn’t known until this moment how much she valued his opinion of her. When the people she loved most in the world begged her at every opportunity to turn her back on all that she found fulfilling in life, he had accepted her as a competent professional, someone whom he consulted on matters of importance. She’d even helped him solve a number of murders. Just last week, she’d kept an innocent person from being executed, and all on her own, she’d made sure her neighbor’s son got to keep his position at the bank Richard Dennis owned. Even Malloy couldn’t have influenced Richard the way she had!
The thought stopped her in her tracks and caused the gentleman behind her to nearly fall in his hasty effort to avoid colliding with her. She apologized profusely as he regained his balance and sidled around her, not certain what to make of a woman so lost in thought she was paying no attention to anything else.
Only then did she realize she was back on the corner where Malloy had left her. She’d made a complete circle of the block.
“Malloy, you’re jealous!” she whispered to the spot where he had disappeared with Brian into the traffic. She really shouldn’t have been surprised. He’d been quite upset when she told him she was going to the opera with Richard. She’d thought they had parted on good terms last Friday, but his behavior today proved she was wrong. Now all she had to do was figure out if he really did think she should stay with her own kind.
And if he did, what she should do about it.
Frank should have been pleased. A woman had been found dead in
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