Conner's Contrary Bride by Barbara Goss (accelerated reader books .txt) 📗

Elsie shook her head. “I don’t see chicken, pork, or fish on the menu.”

“We’re in cattle country, and beef is plentiful. It’s cooked tenderly here,” Conner said.

 “I don’t eat beef,” Elsie said. “I had a pet calf at home, and there’s no way I could eat beef. He was so cute. He followed me all over. His name was Buddy.”

Conner turned his head so Elsie wouldn’t see his grimace. He thought the matchmaker must have been blind—how could he cope with this woman for the rest of his life?

“How about a breakfast dinner?” Bertie suggested. “I sometimes enjoy having eggs and ham for dinner.”

Elsie sighed. Then her smile reappeared. “I’ll have ham and eggs, then, with toasted bread and some jam.”

While they ate, Bertie tried to lighten the mood. “There’s an opera troupe performing at the park this week. We could walk over and have a listen after we eat.”

“That’s a wonderful Idea,” Conner said, “I love operas. Do you know which opera they’ll be performing?”

“No,” Bertie replied, “it will be a surprise.”

“What do you think Elsie? Would you like that?” Conner asked.

“I don’t care for operas. Their shrill singing gives me a headache,” Elsie said. “But you two go, and I’ll walk home.”

Conner schooled himself not to show anger or disappointment. He asked calmly, “What kind of music do you like?”

“I’m from the country, and we have barn dances where they play what’s called mountain music. It has a great beat for dancing.”

Bertie patted Elsie’s hand lightly. “Well, that’s fine. Opera isn’t for everyone. We have barn dances here, now and then.” Bertie looked at Conner, “You’ll take her to one, won’t you?”

Conner gave Bertie a disconcerted look. “Um, sure.” He pushed away from the table. “It’s been a long day; perhaps we should all go home.”

At first, things seemed to go smoothly with Elsie cleaning while Bertie helped in the clinic. When there were no patients, and Conner didn’t need sterilizing done, Bertie would help Elsie. The only problem was that Elsie wasn’t much of a cook. All she knew how to make was chicken and pork, and the meals were bland and lacking in taste. The whites in the laundry didn’t come out as white as when Bertie had washed them. Elsie folded Conner’s shirts all wrong, and she’d scorched one of them with the iron.

Conner gave the matter a lot of thought before calling Elsie into the clinic. “Sit down, Elsie, we need to have a little talk.”

She sat, and once again, her bright smile nearly made him forget what he’d intended to say. He hoped she’d receive it kindly.

“I would like you to work here in the clinic with me,” Conner said in his best bedside manner voice. “As a husband and wife team, we can work wonders together. I’ll show you how to sterilize my tools and arrange appointments, though most of my patients are walk-ins. We have some patients with regular appointments like Mr. Wilkins, who has a bad heart. I check him once a week. We have many patients that don’t come in bleeding. What do you say?”

Elsie’s smile never faltered. “I’d love to, but... the blood...”

“I will train you so you can look at blood without fainting. When I was in medical school, I and several others felt queasy when we saw some things—it’s normal. What happens is your blood pressure drops, and causes you to faint.

“Now, could you please stand?”

Elsie stood.

“I will show you a cloth with some blood on it, and I want you to rock back and forth on the balls of your feet a few times while looking at it. This will keep your blood pressure normal—well, it should.”

Conner did this four times before Elsie finally could tolerate the sight of blood without feeling dizzy.

“Great!” Conner said. “You did just fine. Now, remember to do this each time you see blood, and after a while, you won’t need to do it anymore, and you’ll be used to seeing blood.”

Elsie smiled up at him, and he felt something weird happen inside, almost like a twitch.

“The clinic is closed for the day unless we have an emergency. Let’s go for a walk, and I’ll show you the town.” When Elsie nodded, he turned the sign on the door around to read “closed,” took her arm, and escorted her from the clinic into the fresh air.

 The sun had gone down, but the moon was bright. The town had just two major streets. One of them had mainly houses, and the other, the businesses. His home and clinic were the first or last, depending on if you were arriving or leaving town on the main street.

As they walked down the wooden walkway, Conner decided it was a good time to get to know his contrary wife. "Tell me about your childhood and why you think God didn't care about you."

Chapter Four

Elsie enjoyed the walk with Conner. She had the feeling he wasn’t happy with her, and that saddened her. She felt no one liked her, no matter what she did. Elsie tried to smile a good deal of the time while dealing with people because it seemed to soften those who she upset. Now, Conner had asked her a question she didn’t want to answer, which left her in an awkward position. If she didn’t answer, he might think she didn’t trust her husband with her secret past, but how could she tell him without bringing it all back to her mind when she’d tried so hard to forget?

Conner stopped walking and looked down at her. This time she couldn’t smile. She was too afraid to tell him about her past.

“Elsie, a husband, and wife shouldn’t have secrets. My faith in God is an important