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“Because he is the answer to my prayer to learn their healing ways.”
“Make sure that’s all it is.”
“What more could it be?”
Jimmy sighed. “He is a man, even if he is white. And you are a woman. If you weren’t my sister I would say you are pretty, but I will only admit you aren’t hard to look at. But who knows what the white man sees. How he feels about us.”
She didn’t respond, because she knew what he meant. Whites and natives liked different things, even in what they admired in the looks of each other.
Dr. Jacob glanced up and saw her. Their gazes crashed like waves against the sand during a high wind. Her heart pounded insistently. He was white. He didn’t welcome her presence. Yet she saw nothing in his looks she disliked. It was more than the square shape of his face, the dark mystery of his eyes, the gouge in his chin. It was what she felt—his devotion to helping others, his trueness, his…
She couldn’t explain it, but she knew, she just knew, he was a man who could be trusted, a man who would honor his word, a man who would love deeply.
She jerked her gaze away. Her father had already promised her to a man in the Wolf clan. Even if he hadn’t, Dr. Jacob had already made his opinion of Teena clear, and the very things she admired in him made it impossible for him to change.
Yet he was the answer to her prayers. Somehow she must convince him to let her learn from him.
He stepped off the trail and climbed toward them.
“He is going to help?” Jimmy asked.
“He’s a white doctor.” She didn’t say more. Dr. Jacob seemed to think the Tlingit could offer nothing to a white man’s needs. A white doctor for the white man. Would he also think a native healer for natives? Would he help a native if the need arose?
He reached them, and ignoring Teena, went directly to Jimmy’s side. “Let me examine this man.”
Jimmy stood still but did not lower his burden. “I’m taking him off the mountain.”
“Let me make sure he’s not in danger of bleeding to death.”
Jimmy and Teena exchanged amused looks. As if they would not attend to a wound before they moved the man. But Jimmy waited as Dr. Jacob lifted the man’s eyelids and felt his head, then checked the rest of his body for wounds. He found nothing. Teena could have told him he wouldn’t. She’d located only a lump on the back of the man’s head.
“Could you carry him down to the clinic?”
At least he hadn’t ordered Jimmy to do so. And Jimmy didn’t ask where this clinic was. They all knew Dr. Jacob spoke more from hope than fact.
Jimmy agreed.
Dr. Jacob turned to Teena. “Is this your man?”
Teena giggled. “He is my brother, Jimmy.”
Dr. Jacob nodded, somehow approving her answer, and reached out to shake hands with him.
Jimmy barely touched the man’s outstretched hand then resumed his journey. Teena followed at his heels, Dr. Jacob close behind. She felt him with every breath, every thought. Somehow she had to convince him to teach her. Perhaps this would be her opportunity.
She fell back so she could speak without raising her voice. “You will need someone to watch him. I could do so.” She allowed herself to meet his gaze briefly, before giving her attention back to the rocky path. But it was long enough to see a flash of possibility, and her heart swelled with hope.
“Would you promise not to use any native medicine?” He said the word in such a way she knew it must hurt him to say it.
“I have nothing to help a man who cannot wake up.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
She could not forsake the things she’d learned, the ways of nature that worked. He took her silence for what it was—refusal to agree to his conditions. “We can learn from each other.”
“It cannot be.” He clambered past her and followed on Jimmy’s heels as they picked their way downward and reached the packed level path beside the town. A few minutes later, they reached the crowded lot that had been empty just two days ago.
“Bring him in here.” Dr. Jacob lifted the tent flap. Jimmy ducked inside and lowered the injured man to the fur bedroll.
Teena followed and glanced around. Donald lay on a cot, his color good, his breathing easy. What did the doctor give for pain, if he wouldn’t use the plants and herbs nature provided?
Dr. Jacob knelt beside the man from the trail as Jimmy stepped back. He lifted the eyelids again and pressed his fingers to the man’s wrist.
Teena studied his every move, wondering why he did those things and wishing she dared ask. Perhaps if she remained quiet and motionless he would not notice her presence and give her another of those dismissive looks he’d given her earlier in the day.
Again, he pulled out the thing that fit into his ears and listened to the man’s chest. “He seems fine, except for his unconsciousness.”
Teena pressed back a desire to giggle. She could have told him all that. She sobered. Did he have a way to bring the man awake? All she knew to do was wait for nature to heal him or not.
“I’ll watch him and wait for him to regain consciousness.”
Teena swallowed back her disappointment. It seems the white man had no cure for this, either.
Dr. Jacob glanced at Donald, again pressed his fingers to the inside of the wrist, then he rose to his full height, brushing his head on the top of the tent and faced Jimmy. “Thanks for bringing him here.” His gaze slid past Jimmy to Teena, and his gratitude shifted to disapproval. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes signaled she wasn’t welcome.
Silently, she backed from the tent.
Jimmy followed. “Why are you afraid of him? I thought he was meant to teach you their ways.”
She met his hard gaze without flinching. “He does not know it yet.” But if God could answer her prayer by sending the doctor, God would surely make the man agree to teach her.
Jimmy shook his head and strode back up the trail to retrieve his pack.
The Tucker sisters—the two who had not yet married and had vowed to never do so—nailed together walls for the new clinic. Teena moved closer. “Thought you were supposed to be working on the church. Didn’t Mack decide it was time for a little room on top for a bell?”
Margie paused to answer Teena’s question. “Mack decided this here clinic was more important. He gave us permission to leave the church work for the doctor. We don’t care who pays us to work.”
Frankie didn’t stop adjusting the board, readying it to nail into place. “The doctor’s young friend was helping, but he ran off two minutes after Jacob was out of sight. Ain’t seen him since.” She kicked the board into place. “About as bad as Lucy. Seems to me she runs off at the least little excuse.”
Margie made a noisy sound. “Gotta make a meal for my man.” The way she spoke told Teena she mimicked her sister.
Frankie kicked the board again unnecessarily. “You think the man could make himself a sandwich if he was hungry.”
The pair looked as unhappy as twin bears perched on a beehive.
An idea sprouted and blossomed in Teena’s busy brain. Dr. Jacob had ordered her to stay away from his patients, and he likely also meant the clinic. But the clinic was nothing more than an idea and hope right now. And if she assisted Margie and Frankie…well, surely he would see it was to his benefit. “I could help you.”
Both Frankie and Margie stopped and stood like twin rocks. They stared at her, then shifted and considered each other. Margie turned back to Teena. “You know anything about building?”
“I’ve helped my father.”
Again the sisters silently assessed each other, as if wondering what experience helping her father constituted.
Margie nodded. “I ’spect you can do as well as any man. We accept.”
“Thank you.” She looked about her. What did they want her to do?
Margie didn’t let her wait long to find out. “Grab that board and haul it over here, will you?”
Teena did as instructed, and in a few minutes was wielding a hammer and driving home nails. She giggled softly. Driving them home was perhaps a bit of exaggeration. She missed as often as she hit the nail.
Frankie let out a hearty laugh. “You’ll catch on soon enough. Ain’t nothing a woman can’t learn to do, so far as I can tell.”
Teena grabbed the hammer with both hands and aimed at the nail, giggling when she again missed.
Margie moved to her side. “Hold the hammer like so.” She pulled Teena’s hand lower on the handle. “Swing with your arm.”
Teena did as instructed and soon had the nail in place. “There.”
Margie chuckled. “You’ll do just fine.”
Teena felt Dr. Jacob’s presence, and without turning, knew he had stepped from the tent. All the while she banged on the nail she’d been acutely aware of him. Between blows to the wood, she heard his murmurs as he dealt with the two injured men. But she dared not tiptoe closer to listen.
“Margie,” he called, his voice soft but insistent. “May I speak to you?” He tipped his head toward the other side of the tent, indicating she should join him there.
Margie didn’t move. “Ain’t nothing you need to say in private.”
Dr. Jacob considered the three women, then nodded. “Very well.” He cleared his throat. “I’m a medical doctor—”
“Yeah. We know.”
He went on as if Margie hadn’t interrupted him. “I believe in science. Superstition is not only ignorant but harmful.”
Teena knew he meant her. Nevertheless, she stood her ground. Whether or not he liked it, and even if he denied it and fought against it, she was determined to learn his ways of healing. If that meant learning to hammer a nail and build a white man’s house, she would do that, too. But she would not give up.
Margie and Frankie now stood side by side. “Say what you mean, Doc.” It was obvious Margie spoke for both of them.
“I told you, I don’t want a shaman near my patients.”
Margie and Frankie dropped their tools and looked about ready to get mad.
Teena started to back away.
“You’re not leaving.” Margie’s words stopped Teena’s intended escape. Margie hadn’t shifted her gaze from Dr. Jacob. “Seems to me, if you’re interested in getting this here clinic built in a timely fashion, you can’t be so all-fired concerned about who does the work. So long as it’s getting done.” Although her voice was low, Teena knew it held a load of anger.
She didn’t dare breathe, feeling as if her life hung in the weight of Margie’s deceptively soft words. Neither Margie nor Frankie moved, awaiting Dr. Jacob’s decision. Teena knew the Tucker sisters well enough to know they would leave in the blink of an eye if Dr. Jacob pushed them the wrong way.
She watched the doctor as he assessed the sisters, knew he understood their silent ultimatum and was considering how to best deal with it.
When Jacob sucked in air like a drowning man rescued from the waters, she knew he realized his limited options. “I have no problem with her helping you.”
He gently emphasized the word you, making it clear she could help them but not him. His words clawed into the secret depths of her heart.
Ignoring the way her eyes stung, she picked up another nail and pounded it into place. When she finished and glanced to where Dr. Jacob had stood, he was gone, and Margie and Frankie were busy measuring a board.
Chapter Three
Jacob strode toward the waterfront, as if he needed to put out a fire. Anger burned through his veins. He fought for control. He did not want a shaman hanging about his clinic. If his brother had received real medical help he would likely be alive still.
Jacob had tried to convince Aaron not to go north seeking gold, but once Aaron made up his mind to do something he refused to listen to reason. He’d been the same since he was a child.
He searched through the crowds. Where was Burns? He’d agreed to help with the construction of the clinic, though it wasn’t the building he was concerned about as much as Burns’s safety.
He went as far as the beginning of the trail without a sign of Burns. Surely the boy wouldn’t head up there on his own.
Jacob sighed. The boy would do anything that entered his mind, without regard for the consequences. If only Jacob could instill a little sense of responsibility in him before he made a foolish decision. He realized his desire sprang not only out of concern about Burns, but also from a wish that he could have prevented Aaron from a choice that lead ultimately to his death.
He spun on his heel and took a slightly different route, hoping to locate Burns among the throng, but he passed the place he’d started without any sign of the boy. He pressed onward. Again he reached the end of the beach, and saw a trail leading through the trees and followed it. A few hundred yards later, the path opened to a clearing with several wooden structures, each with a narrow, low door but no windows. Smoke drifted from one building.
The place was quiet. Peaceful. No gold seekers here. A movement caught his attention. A man sat in the sunshine, a basketlike hat on his head. The man was an elderly native. Was this where Teena’s family lived? It suited her. He could imagine her quiet and serene in this setting. Nothing seemed to ruffle her. Not even his rudeness. He considered himself a gentle, refined man, and yet something about her brought from him harsh, unkind words. It didn’t make sense.
Suddenly, he realized his patients were alone while he stared at an old man rocking in the sunshine. He turned and rushed back through the crowds, seeing nothing of Burns as he trotted to the clinic. Already the walls began to take shape. The three women worked side by side. Margie turned to Teena and laughed.
He slowed momentarily, wishing he knew what Teena said. Then he dismissed such foolishness and hurried on.
He didn’t notice Burns until he reached the boardwalk. The boy sat cross-legged on the ground, playing with a pup. When he saw Jacob he jumped up, clutching the pup in his arms.
“Look what I got.”
Jacob jerked to a stop. “A dog?”
“Some man gave it to me. Said he didn’t want to drag around a useless pup. Isn’t he sweet?” Burns scrubbed the animal’s ears and gave Jacob pleading eyes.
Aaron had once dragged home a sorry-looking pup and begged to keep it. He’d spent hours with the animal, but it wasn’t healthy, and died despite everyone’s efforts. Aaron had cried. He’d cursed God when Mother and Father couldn’t hear him. Said it was unfair. Jacob had been powerless to help either the sick pup or his heartbroken brother.
“He looks like he’d grow to the size of a horse. I think you’d better take him back.” His words, fueled by a thousand regrets and a lifetime of sorrow over his brother, were harsher than he intended.
Burns drew back. The three women stopped work to watch the proceedings.
“I aim to keep him. I’ll move to the beach if you won’t have him here.”
Jacob could not imagine how the boy would survive out there. In about two days he would be starving, and if anything like Aaron, too proud to admit his mistake. “Who will feed him? And you?”
Burns’s expression revealed his worry about food. After all, food, and plenty of it, were essential for growing boys and…Jacob sighed…and growing dogs. He didn’t want to do anything he’d live to regret, and he knew if he allowed Burns to stalk off in anger, he would regret it in the depths of his soul. He examined the pup. He’d at least make sure it was healthy before he gave his verdict. The pup’s fur was silky and thick. It glistened, indicating he’d been fed a good diet. Jacob lifted the pup’s lips and examined his mouth. The pup wriggled eagerly and tried to lick his hands. “He seems in good health.” The last thing he wanted was to watch another young man put through the pain of losing a pet. “I’ll make you a deal.” This was an opportunity to help the boy learn a little responsibility.
Burns brightened.
“I’ll let you keep the dog here on one condition.”
