Read Online While Love Stirs by Lorna Seilstad - Free Book Online Page B

developments.”
    She drew in a deep, lilac-scented breath. This was not going well. “Of course you do, but this information has yet to appear in medical journals. Please, let me explain. At Miss Farmer’s cooking school—”
    He pressed his lips together at the mention of the school, but she continued. “At the school, I attended and later taught a specialcourse of study on the care and feeding of the ill and convalescent. Miss Farmer herself has spoken about the subject extensively. She was even asked to speak about it at Harvard Medical School.”
    His eyebrows lifted. “Go on.”
    Charlotte clasped her gloved hands. “She even wrote a book on the subject.”
    “All right.” He brushed the dust off the tip of his shoe. “Miss Farmer has some credentials, and as her student, you have some as well, but I need you to understand something. That still doesn’t mean we can implement the changes you suggested.”
    “You won’t even try them? Any of them?” She swallowed hard. How could this be?
    “I’ve looked at the hospital’s financial records, and there simply isn’t the money.” His voice held a note of regret but hardened the more he spoke. “The figures don’t add up, and I can’t go to the superintendent and ask for more money based on your ideas.”
    Her neck muscles grew taut. “You can’t, or you won’t?”
    “Charlotte, I’m being considered for a permanent position at the hospital as an assistant superintendent. If they make the position permanent, I’ll be the youngest physician ever chosen to fill that post. I don’t want to risk my position on experiments.”
    His eyes seemed to ask her to understand, but she couldn’t give up so easily. This was too important. “Even if it means your patients will be better off?”
    “You haven’t proven that.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “And I think I know what’s best for my patients.”
    “Don’t you mean what’s best for you?” The pitch of her voice rose and anger burned in her throat. She stood and met his gaze. “You’re afraid to rock the boat. You’re content with the way things are and that’s that. You won’t look beyond what’s in front of you to see how the situation can be different—how it could be better if you’d only give my suggestions a try.”
    “Wait a minute.” He held up a hand. “I was trying to explain my decision to you, and now you’re accusing me of being nearsighted.What makes you so certain you have all the answers?” He spread his arms toward the mansion. “Look where you live. You’ve had everything in life handed to you. You don’t know what it means to be content in a difficult situation. Do you even know what it’s like to balance a budget?”
    Tears pricked her eyes. Did she know? He had no idea how well she knew. How dare he make such assumptions? She and her sisters had struggled for every crumb after her parents’ deaths. She’d made feasts out of beans. She’d taken odd jobs to have money for bread. She’d worn the same pair of shoes until the soles wore paper-thin.
    But this man—this know-it-all, nearsighted man—didn’t have the right to know those things about her. Not now or ever.
    She pointed to the gate. “Get out.”

9
    Sunshine bathed the breakfast room in pale warmth. Charlotte glanced out the bay window and spotted Tessa working beside the gardener, tending the seedlings recently awakened by spring. She shook her head. If that girl couldn’t get her hands dirty at least once a week, she went crazy.
    Charlotte shared a knowing smile with Aunt Sam before tapping the shell of her soft-boiled egg. The ironstone eggcup, decorated with periwinkle blooms, held the egg upright. She scooped out the yolk with a rounded silver egg spoon. Two years ago, she wouldn’t have known what an egg spoon was, let alone used one within the doors of a fine house on Summit Avenue.
    Funny how fast things could change. If only her present predicament could change as quickly. No