For new readers to this story, I linked Chapter 1. Chapters 2 - 4 are linked under September, 5 - 10 under October, and 11 - 13 under November.
Destination Hope – Book 5 – Reconciliation
A Novel By:
Charles J. Patricoff
Copyright © 2014 by Charles J. Patricoff. All rights reserved.
Chapter 14
First Look
Nathaniel Graham arrived at eight forty-five the following morning. It was clear to him that Chicago’s Good Samaritan Hospital had been open for business for quite a long while before he arrived. Then, he recalled his personal wartime experiences and realized a hospital operates around the clock; regular business hours do not exist.
He paced in the hospital’s lobby, glancing at a slow-moving regulator clock hanging on the wall behind the information counter. He often caught the less-than-welcoming glare coming from the same guardian of hospital regulations. With five agonizing minutes left before nine o’clock, Nathaniel altered his course. He stopped, took a deep breath, hiked up his borrowed trousers, which he did not need to do for Dwight’s suspenders held them in place. As if ordered to advance on the field of battle, he marched for the counter defended by a most unwelcoming, scowling, hook-nosed, woman. Nathaniel imagined her as the lead witch, casting her spell while she stirred the cauldron in Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth.
Nathaniel reached the counter. He held a small bouquet of fresh-cut carnations in one hand and as an act of submission, he placed his right hand on top of the counter. He gulped and cleared his throat. His voice cracked just a bit. “Excuse me, ma’am.”
Her dark, almost dead eyes, like those he often saw peering from Lieutenant Gene Schmidt, never blinked. “I see you came back.” She shuffled some papers and said, “Pity.”
Nathaniel pulled his hand and fought an anxious reflex to leave. “Uh, yes ma’am.” He glanced to his right and then left.
“What do you want, mister? I haven’t got all day. I’d like to go home for dinner sometime tonight.”
Why does she make me so nervous? “Uh, I was just wondering…”
“The stairs to the third floor are down that hallway,” she pointed to her left, “and on the right side.”
Nathaniel twisted his head and noted the hallway. “Uh, thank you, ma’am.” I needed to know, but that’s not my question.
“Is that all?”
“Uh, no ma’am. I was just wondering…”
“Well?”
“…if you happened to give my bride the note I left with you for her?”
For a second, she seemed to glance at the can under the desk. A smile surfaced. “Not exactly.”
“Oh?”
“I’m sure you understand, sir, we have rules here in the hospital. I did what I could for you and left it with the appropriate, third floor head nurse. I can’t vouch for her one way or the other.”
The clock would soon reach the ninth hour. “So, there is a chance, my bride still doesn’t know I’m here?”
The regulator clock started to chime its hourly tune. The nurse’s smile disappeared. “Look mister, I can’t keep a husband from his wife, now that visiting hours have begun. And I sure can’t keep a new father from seeing his child. All I can say is I did what I could. Think of it this way. You might be a wonderful, happy surprise. So, why don’t you get along, now? Oh, and I’m warning you, if I hear you causing any trouble up there well then,” she shook a bony index finger at him, “I’ll be coming for you.”
Her tone and cadence flashed a frightful memory of Lieutenant Schmidt’s near successful threats. Nathaniel brushed the thought aside. For the first time since he awoke, he grinned. The hour he longed for arrived. He faced to his right, offered a quick, “Thank you, ma’am,” and almost ran to the indicated hallway.
Nathaniel reached the third floor in no time. His heart pounded as he reached for the entrance door. This is not the time to hesitate. He pushed the door open.
Even before he stepped across the threshold, he heard the buzz of activity. He expected to hear babies crying, stretching his already tense nerves. You best get used to it. To his relaxing surprise, the floor filled with new, young mothers carrying their babies as they walked the hallways. He searched for Eleanor. She’s not here. He approached another counter. Three earnest-looking nurses appeared to be engaged in filling out paperwork, or reading other documents attached to wooden clipboards.
Nathaniel had grown accustomed to this routine. He cleared his throat. “Excuse me, ladies.”
The gray-haired one closest to him stopped writing. In one fluid motion, she pulled her pen hand close and raised her head meeting Nathaniel’s eyes. “Yes, sir. What can I do for you?”
“I’m here to see…”
“Anyone in particular?”
The youngest looking nurse let a snort escape and scratched the back of her head, giggling.
I thought I had this worked out. “Uh, yes ma’am. I’m here to see, Eleanor…”
The third nurse asked, “Eleanor Graham?”
Nathaniel nodded. He knew her announcement was half true. Thank You, Lord.
“Are you the long-lost Mr. Graham, I’ve been hearing so much about?”
After all this time, anticipation, and struggle, he managed to nod again, and confirm with a resounding and excited, “Yes.”
Smiling, the third nurse said, “She’s in my wing. I can take you to her.”
“If it’s not too much trouble.”
She placed her clipboard on the desk. “No trouble at all.” She shifted her attention to the nurse closest to Nathaniel. “I’ll be right back, Mrs. Pillsbury, and I’ll finish my report.”
Mrs. Pillsbury nodded and Eleanor’s stout nurse came around from behind the counter waving her right arm. “She’s this way.”
Nathaniel clutched his floral offering in one hand and his rather new bowler hat brim in the other. Military training took over. He fell in after the waddling leader who wore the white nurse uniform all the way down to her white, flat shoes. He allowed his peripheral vision to take note of the posted room numbers, and when a door happened to be open, he sneaked a peek. They closed on room 312. The door was open. Soft humming resonated from the chamber. His chest felt like it would explode even as their pace slowed. What if?
He came to an abrupt halt as the nurse turned to her left and disappeared into the room, announcing, “Mrs. Graham, you have a visitor.”
The humming stopped. “Oh, did you hear that my little man? Someone’s come to see us. I wonder who it could be.”
Nathaniel had never heard Eleanor speak so gently. Her voice, angelic to his ears, melted away all doubt. The smile that surfaced could never be removed. Nathaniel stepped forward and leaned in to get a better look.
Eleanor gasped. The nurse stood grinning. The baby made funny breathing noises, and Nathaniel raced near to his betrothed. God’s great gift of joy overflowed as the baby slept.
Thanks for reading. Like this chapter, the next few are short. I should be able to edit them and get them published quicker than the preceding ones.
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