Chapter 15

15

A ll of the crying the day before must have lightened her spirit, for she woke from a deep sleep feeling refreshed and ready for a new day. Or her mam had done what Douglas had suggested—given her something to calm her down after her two outbursts. Valerian root added to her tea would have been her first choice as it was probably her mother’s.

Well, no matter, she felt much more herself this morn and she was honest enough to admit that she looked forward to spending time with Douglas. Her mother had told her of his behavior while visiting the ill yesterday. She wouldn’t have thought that the self-assured man would hesitate in any situation.

And now he was here with her, listening intently as she spoke with Mildread about the woman’s condition.

“And the bleeding, Mildread, has it slowed yet?” she asked as she slipped her hands under the covers and pressed against Mildread’s stomach, feeling for her womb. Good, it was nice and firm and even smaller than the day afore. The healing was progressing well.

The young woman stammered and looked at Douglas and then at Caitlin. “Aye, Caitlin, ’tis lessened.”

Caitlin placed her palm on Mildread’s face, feeling her cheeks or forehead for signs of fever. None were present. This was good. Mildread appeared to be gaining strength with each passing day, and her babe, too.

“Yer color is much better and the fever is gone.” At Mildread’s hopeful look, Caitlin continued, “I still want ye to have Iain’s sister here during the day. Ye are no’ ready to take care of the other children and yerself. Give it another day or two?”

“Aye, Caitlin, I will do as ye say.”

Caitlin stood and tucked the heavy plaid around the woman on the pallet. “Hiv Iain speak to me if he haes any problems about this.”

“’Tisn’t Iain,” Mildread whispered, “’tis his maither making trouble. She said she never spent a day abed after birthing her ten bairns and that I am just being lazy.” Tears filled her eyes and Caitlin watched as she struggled to control them.

“Now, now, Mildread. Dinna greet. Let me tell ye some things I’ve learned about giving birth.”

“But, Caitlin, ye’ve never given birth!”

“That doesna mean I can’t see wi’ my own two eyes, does it, now? Some women, like yer mother by marriage, are like broodmares—they carry and birth wi’out ever stopping to take notice.” Caitlin laughed with Mildread. “Some women must struggle their way through the carrying and must fight to give birth to healthy bairns—like you, Mildread, and the lady Anice.”

Caitlin leaned closer and smoothed the younger woman’s hair back from her face. “Now, ye hiv a big healthy lad to bring ye and Iain much joy after losing the last three too soon. Take a day or two more and let me be assured that ye hiv healed.” She stood now and gathered her supplies into her satchel. She turned and saw that Douglas still stood near the door, in the same spot since they’d entered.

She reached the door and almost shouted to Mildread. “Another day on yer pallet and then another in a chair by the fire. And do nothing more than feed little Colin. Ye hear?”

Mildread smiled in return. Iain’s sister was listening to every word from the other part of the room.

“And,” Caitlin whispered, “if Iain’s maither haes questions, I’ll send my da to answer them for her.”

Then, she guided Douglas out of the cottage and onto the main path through this side of the village before she burst out in laughter. She thought she’d better explain to Douglas since he was looking at her as if she had grown another head.

“The only man in the village who Iain’s mother fears is my faither,” she explained. “They had a run-in about my maither some years ago and Da won. She does everything in her power to avoid him now. I kenned I could just use his name to put some of that fear back into her now.”

“Mildread has lost three babies?” Douglas looked sad as he asked. “How?”

“How? Well, the first time ’twas too early in her carrying to tell what happened. The second time, she started bleeding some months before the bairn was due and then the birthing started. That little one wasna ready to live.” Caitlin remembered the poor wee babe in her mother’s hands, not even able to draw a breath. “The third made it to the birthing but never took a breath. And then we nearly lost Mildread from the bleeding.”

“So, this time seems to have worked? How did you do it?”

Caitlin smiled, enjoying a moment of satisfaction at this birth. The clan had suffered when the plague had moved through, killing many, leaving no family untouched. Every birth was important, Robert had said, in directing her and her mother to help in any way they could. He sent Moira to the monastery north of Dunnedin to trade with the monks for the healing herbs that she needed. His constant support had even forced some of the more rigid in the clan to accept some changes in how things were done.

“What did I use to treat her?” At his nod, she smiled. “Well, first I made sure as her time approached that she dinna overwork herself. Since the birth, I’ve been brewing her a tea with daisy for the fever, and lady’s-mantle and shepherd’s bag to control the bleeding.”

“And it’s worked?” His face was full of confusion.

“Aye, ’twould seem so. I still want to watch her a bit more since she haes shown this tendency to bleeding.”

“That sounds reasonable.”

“I thought ye would hiv examined her wi’ me.” She had expected him to but he stayed away and watched from the door.

“Mildread seemed too nervous for me to come any closer.”

She took him by the arm and pulled him down another path. “Come, Douglas, I hiv someone who willna seem so nervous to ye. I would value yer opinion of how to treat him.”

The rest of the morning went by quickly and it was soon time for the noon meal. Caitlin and Douglas walked back to her cottage silently. Caitlin thought about how the morning had gone after their visit to Mildread.

It had been a normal day, most of those she treated were for minor injuries and wounds, a few with fevers, some with digestion problems and coughs. She’d dispensed her herbs and ointments as she always had, but this was different. Douglas was a quiet observer. Only once or twice had he approached the one she was examining and asked questions or felt for himself.

She could feel some tension growing within him. He asked fewer questions as the morning moved on and now simply walked at her side. Caitlin tried to imagine how he must feel—being pulled from his world where he was important and knew so much and coming here. He was unknown here, and without any of the tools of his trade to help him do his work. She could only imagine how confusing it must be for him.

“Douglas, ye are so quiet. Are ye unweel?”

“No, Caitlin, I’m fine. I am just so overwhelmed by what I’ve seen. You’ve not had any medical training at all?” He frowned at her as he asked.

“Nay, Douglas. Only men are invited to the universities or monasteries to study. All that I know I’ve learned from my maither and from my own studying of what we do.”

“I don’t think you have any idea of how incredible that is to me, Caitlin,” he took her hand in his as he spoke. “You showed me more about taking care of people today than I’ve seen in my last five years at a major hospital. And without a bit of the training or schooling that I’ve had.”

“Och, Douglas, ye will find yer way here. Ye just need to watch a bit longer and then ye will be able to do as we do. Ye are a physician after all. Ye probably ken more than I ever will, ye hiv probably saved more lives than will ever be entrusted to my care. Dinna demean yer own skills and talents in yer confusion.”

He raised their hands and brought them close to his mouth. Gripping hers more tightly, he pressed his lips to it. “Thank you, Caitlin, for your kind words.”

She waited for more—his eyes said there was more to say—but the words never passed by his lips. He released her hand and stepped away from her side.

“I must meet with Robert before working out with Aindreas and the men this afternoon. Excuse me?”

“Aye then, Douglas, I willna keep ye any longer.”

She watched as he turned away and almost ran up the path to the castle. But, before he could leave, she’d caught a glimpse of something unexpected in his eyes. Regret. What did he have to feel regretful for, she wondered.

The mornings were growing colder as the month came near its end; the trees had shed their leaves and prepared for the coming winter. Caitlin and her mother had finally finished drying and grinding the rest of the late bloomers from the last of their garden patches. The ground would lay fallow until the spring brought it back to life once more.

Their days began to follow the same pattern and one week turned into two and then into three. Douglas worked with her in the morning and then left for the castle to train and eat and sleep. Although she’d heard a few comments from the single women in the village about his time in the keep, she never saw him once he left at the noon meal. After that first day, Robert had granted him his own small chamber as befitted a visitor so he no longer slept in the men’s barracks.

He observed her, asked questions and even wrote down a few notes on some parchment about the recipes she used. Somehow, though, she sensed that a large part of his drive and passion was missing. He’d decided that he wasn’t staying, so why get involved? She could see the struggle in his eyes whenever they approached someone in need. A wall was brought down and he stood on the other side—politely watching and politely asking questions but not caring.

She knew something would happen to shake his resolve and let the real Douglas MacKendimen come through, the one she saw from time to time when he didn’t know she watched him. And, in that last week of October, a young girl started his wall crumbling.

She and Douglas were talking about one of his training exercises when they heard the screams. Douglas froze for a moment and then pulled his sgian-dubh and ran in the direction of the cries. Caitlin followed right behind him. Instead of an attack, they found a crowd of villagers surrounding a lone woman and child.

The mother clutched the girl close to her, leaned her head back and wailed her pain into the air. The sound of it brought chills to her but Caitlin ran to the woman and peeled the child from her arms. She could see no sign of injury, no wounds to explain what had occurred.

“Tell me, Bonnie, what haes happened here? What is the matter with Rose?” Caitlin continued to look but could see no breath in the little girl’s body and could feel no heartbeat in the places that Douglas had shown her. “Now, Bonnie, afore ’tis too late.”

“’Tis too late. Och, God haes taken the puir wee lass! Oh, Caitlin,” Bonnie screamed again and fainted. Caitlin was about to help carry the body into their home when Douglas took the child from her.

“You there—tell me what happened?” His tone said he would brook no delays.

“She was eating and fell backwards. She fought for a bit and then stopped,” one of the women offered.

Douglas opened the girl’s mouth and peered inside. Shaking his head and muttering to himself he then wrapped his fingers around the child’s upper arm and counted. After a few moments, he shouted again. “When? When did this happen?” He crawled to one side of the girl and turned her head to one side.

“A short time ago. Ye were but at the edge of the lane when it happened.” The same woman answered again but others nodded in agreement with her answer.

“Caitlin, turn her head to one side and hold her.” She moved to do his bidding and gently cradled the girl’s head in her hands. Then she sat back and watched as Douglas finally used his physician’s skills.

He started by placing one hand on the girl’s stomach and pressing in and up with each stroke. He repeated it but apparently didn’t get the result he wanted for he then turned the lass over and pounded on her back. Unsuccessful, he looked in her mouth again, then laid her back down and tried with the pushes on her belly once more.

To Caitlin’s surprise, a wad of half-chewed food came shouting out of the child’s mouth. Douglas didn’t hesitate; he moved once more to her side and placed his ear near Rose’s month and nose. He shook his head and she heard him whisper, “No breathing, no pulse.”

He tilted the girl’s head back and breathed into her! She met the shocked stares of those around her but could not say a word. After two puffs of air, he placed his large hand on her chest and pushed again, but this time the movements were straight downward and rhythmic. Douglas went back and forth between breathing into the girl and pushing on her chest for a few moments.

Caitlin looked around and saw that Bonnie had been revived and was watching everything Douglas did. Suddenly Rose choked and sputtered and drew in a breath on her own. Bonnie screamed again and tried to get closer but Caitlin waved her off. Two others held her back while Douglas finished checking the little one over again. Then he stepped back and let the terrified mother hold her now-screaming child.

“She will be very sore where I placed my hands, Bonnie. Caitlin can give you something for any bruises and her pain. ”

She looked at Douglas and felt the tears pouring down her own face and onto the ground. He had breathed life back into that child! Her gift paled in comparison to this— regardless that her gift was becoming stronger, she had never been able to restore life as he had. She covered her face and sobbed at the wonder of this.

He pulled her from the ground and wrapped his arms around her as she wept. This must be one of the ways he knew from his own time and place. Did all physicians do this? Or was his skill better than others in his time?

“Douglas, ye gave life back to her. Tis more wondrous than my gift.” She rubbed her eyes to clear away the tears.

“No, Caitlin, you don’t understand. It’s something anyone can do...,” he started to explain, and then looked around to see if they were alone. “Anyone can do that in my time. We even train schoolchildren to do it.”

“But she was dead and you gave her life.” She stared at him as he tried to deny the astonishing act he’d performed. He was shaking his head at her again.

“She was not dead, Caitlin. Her heart had just stopped and I helped it beat again.”

She was confused. When the heart did not beat, you died. What kind of place and time did he live in that children were taught to make the heart beat again? After weeks of feeling his respect she now felt very humbled again before him.

“Come, I’ll take you home and try to explain it to you. When you’re calm you will understand.”

She walked with him through the village and back to her mother’s cottage. She could not think clearly because of what she had seen. Then she remembered the first time her parents had witnessed her using her gift to heal someone. She was sure she now wore the same expression and felt the same turmoil inside.

She could heal with her touch but he had the power of life and death in his hands. Something very important had happened and she didn’t know yet what the impact would be on both of their lives.