Ruth remembered the Bible describing how looks could be deceiving. At first sight, Daniel’s eyes touched her heart and she saw kindness and compassion in them. He did seem mercurial, however, and she reminded herself to be on guard around him until she knew him better.
She felt Matthew tug at her dress with a small whimper and looked down at his angelic face, bending to pick him up. “What’s wrong, Matthew?” she soothed.
“Don’t worry, he often does that for attention,” Elizabeth said as she walked into the parlor with some bread, cheese and dried fruit. “I have always given Matthew his snacks in the parlor. It was easier to keep him in here so I could continue my chores. Besides, it is such a lovely room.”
Ruth smiled at the housekeeper as she placed plates on the table. Like the rest of the rooms in the house, it was large, and Ruth couldn’t understand how the interior of the house was so beautifully designed yet left to look so bedraggled on the exterior. The parlor curtains were white cotton with lace trim, and the table was a strong honey oak covered in a lace tablecloth. Two other small round tables sat between two leather couches angled in front of a stone fireplace.
“You don’t mind if I join you, do you?” Elizabeth asked, a bit nervous.
“Of course not,” Ruth assured her and helped Matthew settle with his snack. Elizabeth disappeared for a few minutes and returned with hot pot of tea.
“Daniel never minded me bringing Matthew here,” she confided. “I am curious, Ruth, how did you get him to change his mind?’
“Oh?” Ruth couldn’t hold back her surprise. “I don’t think it was a matter of convincing. Well, maybe a little. I believe that God intervened to change his mind.”
Elizabeth pondered as they ate. “It will be good for Daniel, I am sure, to have someone as devoted as you to care for his son. Matthew is getting to an age where I cannot do my duties and look after him at the same time.”
Matthew, having grown bored with eating, laughed as he crawled underneath the table to play in the hope of escaping Ruth’s efforts to catch him.
“I heard your father passed away?” Elizabeth said with sadness in her voice. “That must have been very hard for you.”
“Yes, it has been very difficult.” Ruth gave up trying to catch up to Matthew and let him play underneath the table, where he engaged in a game of peekaboo with both Ruth and Elizabeth as he hid his face behind his hands, chortling.
“My father and I were very close.” Ruth sat comfortably on a chair close enough to keep an eye on Matthew. “He was a good father and doctor. He taught me everything he knew.”
Ruth smiled inwardly, remembering their times together working around their ranch in Colorado Springs. She began to giggle and looked at Elizabeth.
“There was this one time, as a young girl, he dared me to collect twice as many eggs so I would not need to make two trips, but I only found one egg. Earlier, he had collected all the eggs and so he found his practical joke incredibly funny and roared with laughter, but I didn’t think it was funny at the time.”
Elizabeth laughed with Ruth.
“You speak so fondly of him,” Elizabeth said, “He must have been so special to you.”
“Yes,” Ruth peeked at a hidden Matthew, seemingly invisible by virtue of covering his face with his hands. “I thought I had lost all purpose, that I was completely alone. He made me promise to not give up and to remain true and faithful in my walk with Jesus.”
Ruth saw Elizabeth’s face full of sympathy. “If I may ask. How did he die?” she asked Ruth.
“It was diphtheria.” Ruth looked out the window, her voice dropped a notch and she determined not to cry. “It was horrible to see him suffer and die the way he did. Diphtheria isn’t something that anyone would wish on a loved one.”
“Yes, it never is fair. I think of my late husband; he died years ago of a heart stroke. We were young when we came to Dr. Grant’s employ; we served him for many years. He worked as a hired ranch hand, and I tended the house and helped look after Daniel.” Elizabeth let out a big sigh, but her eyes were bright with fond memories. “Now that Dr. Grant is gone, I worry so much about Daniel.”
Ruth nodded and remembered Daniel’s clipped response when she mentioned his father on her first day at the ranch. “Elizabeth, how did Dr. Grant die?”
“It was just as your father experienced,” Elizabeth said solemnly. “Except he died of leukemia, and Dr. Nagle said there wasn’t much that anyone could do but keep him as comfortable as possible. He said Daniel or Matthew could suffer a similar fate because the disease is genetic.”
“Then I shall pray it won’t happen,” Ruth pledged. She could not imagine Daniel or his sweet little boy having to suffer such a terrible fate. “Who is Dr. Nagle?”
“Dr. Alistair Nagle. He is … or was Dr. Grant’s business partner. He now works with Daniel at the clinic, but sadly is not liked by many people.”
“Why not?” Ruth asked, watching Matthew crawl back to his plate for more food.
“You’ll know why he is so disliked when you meet him,” she promised and her eyebrows arched.
“Did he diagnose Dr. Grant?”
“Yes; he was Dr. Grant’s treating physician.”
“Why didn’t Daniel treat his father?” Ruth asked and saw the concern on Elizabeth’s face. “Oh, I am sorry! That was insensitive of me, I spoke out of turn.”
