The Montana Doctor's Love (New Montana Brides Book 8) Read Free Page A

excelled there for three years, and did his senior year at the newly founded University of Montana.

Chapter Three
    Patrick
    September 1888…
    Patrick spent a summer listening to his father’s conversations with patients. He was allowed to sit in, but only after the patient gave permission. He found it informative and usually asked his father how he had arrived at his diagnosis.
    He also learned how much his father respected the privacy of his patients. His father never allowed him in the room while examining female patients. His mother was always in attendance for these examinations. The Victorian principles regarding female modesty were strictly adhered to, Carter wanted no sense of the impropriety, so female patients were always dressed during the examination process.
    “There is too much at stake to do otherwise,” he explained. “If there is a case where a visual examination is needed, then I want your mother in the room, and if possible, the spouse also. I have even delivered a baby with the mother clothed.”
    Fall came, and Patrick entered the University of Wyoming. It was a full day’s trip on the train, so he only came home for holidays.
    Mary Louise was in school in Baltimore and only returned home for Christmas, and at the end of the school year. When she graduated, she returned to Helena, and married Preston Wells. She taught school in the Helena public system.
    When Patrick came home for Christmas in his freshman year at Johns Hopkins, his mother said, “Just so you know, Mary Louise married Preston Wells the Sunday after Thanksgiving.”
    “I don’t believe I know him,” Patrick said.
    “He works for the railroad,” his mother told him. He’s only been in town a few months.
    “That’s too bad,” he said. “I didn’t mean that the way it came out. I was hoping to see her while I’m home. As long as she’s happy, then I’m happy for her. It seems funny, I’m going to school in Baltimore and she just finished school there. Under other circumstances, we might have seen each other.”
    “Did you ever write to her while you were in Laramie?” she asked.
    “Once or twice, and then I just didn’t think of it, or find the time,” he said.
    “You’re taking Latin, aren’t you?” his father asked.
    “Yes sir.”
    “Have you come across the phrase, carpe diem?” his father asked.
    “What does it mean?” Patrick asked.
    “Seize the day,” his father said. “If you don’t take advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself, it may be lost forever.”
    “I don’t have time for a girlfriend now,” Patrick said.
    “Winters get cold in Montana,” his father pointed out.
    “There’ll be time for that later.”
    “Son, I’ve had the good fortune to have two wonderful loves in my life. I very nearly missed out on the second one, before I seized the day.”
    “So did I,” his mother said.
    “Are you talking about when you came to Maryland to marry Mother?”
    “Indeed I am,” said Carter.
    “I’m glad you worked it out,” Patrick laughed.
    “So am I,” Carter said.
    “Me too,” echoed his mother.
    “You know we still have the two houses in Rockville,” Carter said. “They’re just sitting there, collecting rent. I don’t think either of us has touched the money in years. They’ll belong to you and Lucy someday,”
    Patrick was home for three weeks, before he returned to Baltimore and the new semester. He didn’t cross paths with Mary Louise.
    He had taken a furnished apartment on the second floor of a building within walking distance of the school. He spent the next three years of his life in the apartment. The furnishings were spartan, consisting of a bathroom, a small kitchen, a bedroom, and a sitting room. The kitchen had a stove, icebox, and a table with two chairs. The sitting area contained a divan and a chair.
    He made arrangements with the landlord to keep ice in the ice box. Patrick didn’t cook very often, food held little importance for him. His time