Chapter Ten

All of Jack's wishing and waiting made the days drag by, and when Saturday finally came, she was bursting to see Donovan and take him to Irvington. For all of Irvington's problems--the prejudiced people, long-standing history of discrimination, and peevish gossip--Jack knew that there was also much to love, and she wanted to take him to the medical practice to meet her nieces, Dr. Benjamin, and Hannah.

Jack turned up on the Bookers' front door in the early afternoon on Saturday after a morning spent picking a basketful of produce she would deliver to Corrie. Minnie opened the door on the second knock.

"Come on in, Jack. Donovan is just fetching his keys."

Jack entered the Bookers' home, scouring the room with her eyes for a glance of the man. "Keys? I thought we would walk."

"Why walk when you have an automobile?" MInnie said with a thin smile. "A ride in that beast is almost enough to make me want to come into town."

"Why don't you join us, Minnie? I'm sure the girls would be happy to have you," Jack asked, but Minnie shook her head, her dark hair tied back in a no-nonsense bun at the nape of her neck.

"I'm not bothering nobody. You know I like to keep myself."

Jack did know that Minnie was something of a loner, staying on the outskirts of town and the edges of crowds. The only people she visited regularly were Jack, her next door neighbor, and her daughter, Esther.

"Fine, then. Do you need anything while I'm there?"

"Nothing at all. You have a good time--you and Donovan are both younger at heart than I am, these days," Minnie said, chuckling as she grasped a damp rag from the table and continued cleaning the room, lifting a chipped vase and wiping the table it rested on.

Donovan appeared from the edge of the second bedroom in the small house wearing a fine jacket and dangling a set of shiny metal keys in one hand.

"Are you ready for an adventure, Jack?" he asked.

Jack resented his insinuation that she'd never ridden in a Model T before and she turned away from him. "I've ridden in an automobile before, I'll have you know. I'm not quite so uncultured as you might think."

"Of course you have, but never with me behind the wheel," he said, offering her his arm and an audacious wink at the same time.

His step was light and jaunty, and Jack smiled up at him as she grasped his forearm and he escorted her out the door. It had been years since a man had offered his arm to her for a reason beyond sympathy for an old maid, and the attention ignited a flutter in Jack's stomach that felt foreign and unfamiliar.

"So where are you taking me today, Jack?" Donovan asked as he opened the passenger door for Jack, helping her climb inside.

Jack suddenly felt dawdy in her worn cotton dress and straw hat with her basket full of fruits and vegetables. No matter what Minnie said, she wasn't a foolish girl to go off in an automobile with a man she barely knew. She was nothing but a spinster, and Donovan was a lawyer, a man of education and prestige.

"Jack?" he asked as he started the automobile, the engine groaning and sputtering to life.

"I have, uh, friends in town. My nieces live there, and the eldest is married to the town doctor," Jack stuttered, suddenly at a loss for words.

What in tarnation are you doing? Going courting with a man you scarcely know? Was that what this was, some sort of an outing? It would seem so to anyone who saw them, and Jack felt like she was pretending to be someone she wasn't. But then she considered Matilda Tuttlebrook, the ringleader of the town gossips, and she chortled at how the woman would respond if she saw Jack driving by with Donovan in a shiny new Model T. Oh, how they would talk! Truthfully, it mattered very little what they said. It was her life to live, and live it she would.

"Ready?" he asked, his foot hovering over the gas pedal and his eyes on Jack.

She nodded in affirmation and placed a hand on her hat to hold it in place. Donovan pressed the gas pedal and they surged forward, the car bouncing over the potholes in the dirt road and flying towards town. Warm vibrant air rushed around Jack, loosening her hair from its pins and fluttering the collar of her dress. She closed her eyes and smiled--this was living well, and Jack didn't care if this wasn't the life anyone expected of her. It was her life, and she would take what she wanted from it.

Jack ripped off her hat and tossed it on the floor next to her feet. She turned to the door of the Model T, holding onto the window frame and scrambling to her knees. She laughed as the fields of wheat and corn rushed by them, and the wind captured the sound and sent her laughter tinkling behind them like a chime. She forgot about Donovan and about society's expectations and about her own life and she felt the air and the freedom and she wondered how far she could fly on the wind's wings.

It was only when the outskirts of Irvington came into sight that she remembered where she was and she returned to her seat with a smile that seemed to stretch her face. Donovan slowed the car and Jack turned to him in a rapture.

"Oh, that was positively sublime!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "I wish I had the money to purchase one of these. Do you think you would teach me to drive it? I'm sure I could learn quickly--I'm a natural with the machines at the factory, you know."

Donovan laughed at Jack's eager chattering as he drove through the town. "You really want to learn?"

"Of course I do! Just think of all the places you could go in this machine, and in such little time, not hindered by train schedules and the like."

"I'll teach you, then," he said, and Jack was shocked for a moment.

"Really? You mean it?"

"Gladly," he said, smiling at her as the sun seared his skin with a warm hue. "In a long, empty field of course."

"Of course," Jack said. "Oh, here! Stop here."

Jack pointed to Dr. Benjamin's practice and Donovan jerked the car to a stop, parking it next to the sidewalk on a street mostly filled by horses and buggies and carts. A few curious eyes took in Jack Harrison, the mayor's wild sister-in-law, climbing out of the modern vehicle with a mysterious fellow with dark skin, and Jack even winked at one long-nosed housewife who eyed them for a moment beyond what subtlety dictated.

Jack clambered out of the passenger's door with her hat abandoned in the car and the basket of food on her arm. Donovan followed her, his hands nervously fixing his jacket as he eyed the old building.

"This is your niece's home?"

"Yes, her and her husband's home. And the doctor's sister, as well, lives here, though she's courting the sheriff and I would bet my best onions that they'll be married before springtime." Donovan nodded, but unease marked his expression, and Jack took his arm, tugging him towards the door. "Come on, they'll be delighted to meet you."

Jack knocked on the door but opened it before anyone could come, and hollered through the practice, "Corrie, Dr. B., hello!"

She received no answer and chose to scurry up the stairs, certain she would find Corrie preparing dinner for the many soldiers. Donovan appeared shocked when he saw the men strewn on cots in the rooms next to the open foyer.

"Is this...a hospital?" he asked, and Jack couldn't identify the twinge of emotion in his voice. "I had no idea--I shouldn't intrude."

"No, it's fine. I mean, yes, it's a hospital, but it's also Corrie's home and I promise we're welcome here."

Jack wondered for a moment if Donovan felt guilty because he didn't sign up as a soldier, but she knew that Native American men weren't included in the draft, and he likely wasn't even a citizen. Plus, he was well beyond the age of the draft--she suspected he was in his mid to late thirties--and Jack passed no judgment on him for not joining. She considered asking him what bothered him so but held back. Perhaps he would tell her in his time.

"Come on," she said, tugging on his arm again. "Let's go find Corrie."

Jack scampered up the stairs, calling Corrie's name again until she received a response. Corrie came to meet them at the top of the stairs in the open entryway to their upstairs apartment, an apron around her thin form and her red hair hanging loose down her back.

"Aunt Jack? What a surprise!" she cried as she came to meet them, and then flushed when she saw Donovan, quickly untying her apron and tying up her red hair. "Oh, hello! I'm so sorry, I had no idea a guest was coming."

"Oh, don't go into a fuss," Jack said. "This is Donovan, my new neighbor. He's staying with the Bookers."

At Corrie's sharp look in his direction, Jack knew Christina must have told her that Donovan was an Indian, and she wondered for a moment if this knowledge would curtail her courtesy, but Corrie offered him a smile and a shallow curtsy.

"Mr. Donovan, hello. I'm Cornelia Benjamin, but please, call me Corrie."

Donovan's face, paled by the sight of the soldiers, regained its countenance and he bowed to her, taking her hand and kissing it gallantly.

"It's a pleasure, Mrs. Benjamin. I understand this is your husband's practice?"

"Indeed," Corrie said, taking the basket from Jack and welcoming them into the sitting room. "I suppose you've seen our makeshift hospital--it's not normally quite so messy, but we must do what we can."

"Of course. It's noble what you're doing here and very much needed," he said.

Corrie smiled at him, and Jack hoped Donovan had gained her niece's approbation. "We have much help from people such as my aunt Jack."

Jack grinned at Corrie. "All I do is harvest vegetables and cause uproars. I'm surprised you even let me in the front doors any more."

"Well, Private Buchanan likes you at least," Corrie said with a laugh, remembering the fight that had nearly broken out at Jack's brave defense of Donovan after church last Sunday.

"Thank goodness for that!"

Quick footsteps sounded up the stairs and Dr. Benjamin entered the sitting room, calling, "Corrie, do you know where that shipment of morphine is? I've nearly run out and I don't know what to do."

When he entered the room and saw Jack and Donovan, his bright eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks. "Alex, we have guests," Corrie said gently. "This is Donovan, Jack's new neighbor. Jack brought him by to make introductions."

"Ah, yes, hello," Dr. Benjamin said, removing his gloves to greet Donovan. They shook hands and he said. "Welcome--I apologize for my outburst. We've been quite frantic here lately with the medicine shortages."

"Perhaps I could be of some assistance," Donovan exclaimed. "As I believe Jack's told you, I'm of Powhatan heritage and I know a little about natural remedies for pain that you may be able to use."

Dr. Benjamin's worried expression lifted at once, the wrinkles above his eyes releasing. "Do you? Have you something you could recommend while we await a new shipment? I would be most indebted to you."

Jack rose to her feet with an outcry. "Are you serious, Dr. B? When I offered my natural remedies last year, you refused them and said I was delirious. This is quite unfair!"

Dr. Benjamin laughed at her. "Well, Jack, you are the woman who went back into a burning building to save your coworkers when the factory burnt down. I'm afraid your sanity is in question."

"A burning building?" Donovan exclaimed, but Jack ignored him.

"I have all the necessary herbs and such in my garden if you'd only said something!" Jack said. "I'll gather them at once and bring them by after church."

Dr. Benjamin looked helplessly between Jack and Donovan. "You're quite sure you know what you're talking about, Jack?"

"I'd be happy to help her, if you wish," Donovan offered. "Between the two of us, I'm sure we can provide with some remedies that will bring ease to the soldiers' ailments."

Dr. Benjamin nodded his head reluctantly, his shaggy brown hair falling over his eyes. "I suppose that will work. Thank you, Mr. Donovan. I'm indebted to you."

"And to me, of course," Jack added with a gay laugh. "Don't forget that."

"Of course, Jack. I'm forever indebted to you," he said with a grin. "But I'm afraid I can tarry no longer. Duty calls."

"And I must prepare dinner," Corrie said, fetching her apron again. "I'm sorry I have no more time to spare, Jack. Perhaps you and Mr. Donovan will join us after church tomorrow?"

"I--I can't," Donovan protested, and Jack noticed his face flushing red. "I attend church with the Bookers, as I'm sure you can understand."

Jack understood all too well--the Methodist church was visited by only whites, and Jack had no doubt Donovan's presence would cause an uproar. While Jack would be happy to disturb the peace a little, she couldn't force Donovan to be her accomplice.

"Of course," Corrie said. "Though we would be happy to have you. Perhaps another time."

"Another time," Donovan said, and Jack followed him out the door to the waiting automobile. His shoulders lifted as soon as they left the building and his expression looked relieved. "Well then, Jack. Shall we return and fetch you those herbs?" he asked.

"Of course," Jack said, stepping into the car.

But though her voice was light, she couldn't help but wonder at Donovan's tense and uncomfortable response to her friends and to the injured soldiers they cared for. She had sensed that he was hiding something, but for everything she learned about him, she wondered even more at what secrets he concealed.

Is Donovan hiding something or is Jack just paranoid? And what exactly was their little adventure today? You'll find out soon!

In the mean time, have you ever gardened or do you have a favorite herb or vegetable? I love fresh green beans.