Cheryl Wolverton - What The Doctor Ordered

He stood and put his hands to the back of a chair, offering Betty a seat.

“Thanks, Morgan.” Betty strode across the room and seated herself. “Sit down. I need to talk to you.” Betty sat on the edge of her seat and leaned forward, facing Morgan as he re-seated himself. Concern furrowed her brow, and her hands clasped around her knees. Morgan had never seen this side of Betty before.

“Now, you know I’m not one to usually interfere in my children’s lives. Neither Ray nor I were, bless his soul. When I lost him five years ago… Well, let’s just say I’m not sure where I would be now without my kids’ support. But my daughter Rachel…”

Morgan was more than a little interested when Betty hesitated. “I met her today,” he offered, hoping to put her at ease.

“Oh?” She studied him. Her gaze was so direct that he had the distinct feeling she was looking right into his soul.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Have you met Lindsay?”

“Yes. Well, actually, I’ve only seen her. I haven’t had time to talk with her, if that’s what you mean.”

“She’s almost completely deaf,” Betty said bluntly. “And I think my daughter is so steeped in bitterness over her husband leaving her and then dying on her that she can’t see past that. He left her because of Lindsay, saying he couldn’t handle a damaged child, you know.”

“Ah,” Morgan said, not having known that at all. So that was why Rachel had acted so prickly. She didn’t trust men. Morgan couldn’t blame her if what Betty had just told him was true. Most of the mothers he knew were very protective of their children and very vulnerable, too. “I’m sure Rachel will work through it and fall in love again.”

Betty blinked. “Oh, Rachel? Oh, no, Morgan, I wanted to talk to you about my granddaughter. I was just filling you in on Rachel so you’d know where I was coming from. You see, she’s very protective of Lindsay. I think Rachel’s husband killed something in her when he rejected their daughter. Rachel went to a doctor, but the brainless fool suggested she put her child in an institution since her husband had left her. He was not a good man. Why she went to a doctor her husband suggested, I’ll never know. The doctor told Rachel it was a degenerative disease and that Lindsay should be put in an institution where she’d get more stable care than a working mother could give her. Told her that way she’d have someone who knew how to deal with deaf children.”

Shocked, Morgan stared at Betty. He could see the anger as Betty’s mouth tightened in disgust. He found it hard not to feel a bit disgusted himself. Of course, sometimes family didn’t know the whole story. “Do you know what type of tests they did on Lindsay? What brought the doctor to this conclusion?”

“Other than the fact that the doctor was a real close friend of Lindsay’s former husband and ran in the same circles he did?” Betty shook her head. “I’m sorry, Morgan. This subject really gets to me.”

Morgan could see that. “What would you like me to do? I could make an appointment for Lindsay and talk to Rachel—”

“Oh, no. That won’t work.” Betty sat back in her chair, resting her elbows on the arms. “Rachel has sworn off doctors for her child. She refuses to allow any of them to examine Lindsay anymore. I think, Morgan, she’s afraid that they’ll try to take her child away from her, or call her a bad mother again, or even give her hope where there is none. She worked hard to find someone to see Lindsay, to prove to her husband her child wasn’t damaged. None of it did a bit of good. He left her anyway.”

Morgan nodded, definitely feeling anger stir in him, anger and painful loss. “I haven’t seen Rachel in church,” Morgan said softly to Betty.

Hurt flashed in Betty’s eyes. “She wants nothing to do with God. She’s hurting, possibly even blaming God that she had a child that broke up her marriage. I’ve heard her say a couple of times she doesn’t think God takes a real interest in her life.”

Frowning, Morgan nodded. He’d been through that at one time. He was still going through it in some ways. But he had not turned his back on God. He struggled a lot with believing God had forgiven him for past sins. When someone was hurting, it was the same principle. They looked back at the pain and had trouble letting go. So he could understand where Rachel might still be hurting and hadn’t let go.

“Well, then, if it’s not an appointment you want, what is it you need?”

Betty smiled. “I have a plan….”

Seeing that smile, Morgan wondered if he had just stepped off a cliff and was heading toward imminent disaster on the rocky beach below.

“Why wasn’t he at supper last week if this is such a regular event?”

Rachel rushed around, picking up clothes, shoes and toys that Lindsay had dragged out. She was unable to believe what her mother was telling her.

“Because, Rachel,” Betty said, pulling a chicken out of the oven and setting it on the stove, “you were moving in and things were hectic. I often have members of the church over here to eat two or three times a week. However, I didn’t want to invite anyone until you had gotten your things moved in. In addition, he’s single. I feel responsible for him. He needs a good home-cooked meal every once in a while.”

“He?” Rachel asked, tossing the miscellaneous articles into her bedroom and pulling the door shut. “And why do you feel responsible? Does he have a kid in your day care?”

Rachel knew her mom loved to mother everyone. All the kids at the day care she thought of as hers. If there was a single father who was having a rough time of it, she wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to find out her mother had adopted him and was having him over for dinner all the time. Rachel’s mind drifted to the appealing man she’d met earlier that day.

“No. He’s a big help there, though.”

Scratch that one. Rachel wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed. Dropping to her knees, she started gathering blocks from the round wool carpet that covered the floor. That was all they needed—someone to come in and break their neck on a block.

“Maa uh!” Lindsay came running into the room and launched herself onto Rachel’s back.

“Umph.” Rachel, precariously balanced, went down, blocks going everywhere.

Lindsay gurgled and crawled onto her mom, bouncing. “Pae-ee. Pae-ee.”

She waved her hands, motioning.

“Not now,” Rachel signed. “Cleaning.”

“Pae-ee.”

Rachel started to shake her head and say no again, but saw the look of laughter in her daughter’s eyes. How often had she had time to play with her daughter in the last month? She’d had to put their house up for sale in the twin cities, get things packed up, move, find a job here. She’d tried to be there for her daughter, but tonight, she’d been longer than she’d planned and then had had to run errands for her mother. She had taken a long shower only to come down to find out they were having company.

Company.

She just didn’t have the time….

“Go on, take a quick break. You have time, honey,” her mother called from the kitchen.

They did have twenty more minutes, she thought.

Lindsay bounced on her.

Rachel oofed for her daughter.

Lindsay squealed, delighted.

Rachel gave in. Just a minute wouldn’t matter. “Mommies tickle for that.” She signed as she said it.

Lindsay squealed again and promptly bounced once more.

“Mommies gobble, too.” Rachel followed this with actions as she grabbed her daughter and pulled her up, searching for her tummy under her shirt before blowing raspberries.

Lindsay shrieked and laughed. “Mo! Mo!”