The Lady Who Lived Again Page 3

  From her angry reaction, he’d obviously struck a nerve by questioning her sanity. But what the devil had she expected after her reckless behavior with a wild and wounded animal? Their strange encounter, while memorable, hadn’t gone well. Stranger still was that Jace had been in Misty Lake for a month before crossing her path. Literally.

  While the town would soon fill with summer guests from the city, Madeline Sutter was a local. Even the residents on the far outskirts of town had managed to sate their curiosity about the new doctor by stopping by his office or “accidentally” bumping into him somewhere.

  Jace glanced around the kitchen of Mrs. Tremont’s remote cottage in the woods, wondering if Madeline Sutter called such a place home. His curiosity became too much to contain.

  “I met your neighbor this morning,” he said. “Madeline Sutter.”

  Mrs. Tremont stopped chewing, then swallowed hard. “Oh, that one.”

  Not exactly the response he’d expected. “She asked me to send her regards.”

  With an unpleasant twist of her lips, she speared a piece of meat with her fork, then popped it into her mouth.

  Jace waited as she chewed, but she offered nothing further on the subject. Her silence intrigued him.

  “She lives with her grandfather?” he pressed.

  She frowned, her eyes sinking into a sea of deep wrinkles. “Adam Sutter should have sent her away after the accident. Would have been better for everyone, the girl included.”

  “Accident?”

  “Wagon accident, three years ago. Worst misfortune ever to strike this town.” Her voice dipped low with the weight of her sorrow. “Madeline Sutter was one of four girls inside the wagon when it crashed into a tree.” Mrs. Tremont set down her fork. “All four were killed.”

  Jace tilted his head, wondering for a moment if he’d heard her correctly. “But you said she was one of four—”

  “She died, too.”

  Jace blinked.

  “Mrs. Tremont, that doesn’t make sense,” he challenged, shaking his head.

  “Sense or no sense, the girl was as dead as a doornail and laid out with the others until the next day.”

  He leaned forward. “What happened the next day?”

  “She opened her eyes.”

  Christ Almighty. Jace sat back in his seat. He’d read of such extraordinary cases, where comatose patients awoke after days, sometimes weeks. Of course those patients weren’t pronounced dead. Thinking on it, Jace supposed he could understand how it might happen, given the circumstances and Misty Lake’s remote location.

  Accidents involving multiple victims were always chaotic. The distraction of hysterical relatives and bystanders often hindered treatment. Especially in a small community like this one, where the physician knew the victims and their families personally. In all the confusion, Doctor Filmore had obviously missed Madeline’s pulse. Jace blew out a breath as he imagined the scene. “That must have been quite a shock.”

  “It was terrifying,” the old woman agreed. Closing her troubled eyes, she shuddered for effect. “To see her awake from the dead like she did…”

  The words stopped him short. Mrs. Tremont didn’t strike him as one prone to theatrics, but surely she couldn’t be serious.

  “Ma’am, you do realize that the doctor made a mistake.” Jace paused. “Don’t you?”

  She pointed a bony finger.

  “You, young man, are a stranger to Misty Lake. Doctor Benjamin Filmore is one of us. For over thirty years, he took care of this town, nursing us through typhoid and cholera and the worst times of our lives. He delivered our babies into this world and eased the suffering of those he ushered out. He wouldn’t make such a mistake as this, and you’ll not tell me otherwise. Not in my house.” She rose from the table with a swiftness he hadn’t thought she could muster. She returned with the coffee pot and refilled her cup. “Doctor Filmore was as stunned by her resurrection as the rest of us.”

  “Resurrec—” Jace stopped himself before his angry disbelief got the better of him. “Is that really what Doctor Filmore called it?”

  Mrs. Tremont shrugged. “That’s what everyone called it. At first.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She picked up her fork and poked at the bits of meat on her plate. “Her leg was so badly broken Doctor Filmore said she’d never walk properly again. Doctor Reed from over in Stephentown agreed. No one saw her for months after the accident. Not even the doctor, since she refused any more treatment from him. Then one day, she comes parading into church, fit as a fiddle.”

  “She recovered?” Jace’s surprise faded as he gathered where this line of argument was leading. “And?”

  Releasing a huff of impatience, Mrs. Tremont clarified what her guest was obviously too thick to comprehend.

  “Lightning doesn’t strike twice, Doctor Merrick. Neither do miracles.” She gestured with the fork. “There’s something plain unnatural about the whole thing. Pastor Hogle even said as much when the girl first came back to service. The Lord may work in mysterious ways, he told us. But so too, does the Devil.”

  * * * *

  Jace was still furious when he returned home hours later. After asking around, he’d discovered the entire town shared Mrs. Tremont’s opinion of Madeline Sutter. And to think that Misty Lake’s esteemed pastor had encouraged the slander! The rumors of Madeline’s odd recovery were poisonous enough without Hogle’s interference. Adding religion to the mix simply polished the whole mess to a high sheen.

  The pastor’s only child was one of the girls who’d been killed in the accident—but grief was poor justification for Hogle’s actions. How could a man of faith feed his devoted flock such nonsense? Jace shook his head. If the people of Misty Lake revered Hogle half as much as they had trusted Doctor Filmore, they’d blindly opened their mouths like a nest full of baby sparrows and gulped the venom right down.

  Jace unlocked the door to the house that served as a physician’s office in the front parlor rooms and a dwelling for the live-in physician in the back. Ben Filmore had relinquished the house to Jace after he and his wife moved their belongings to the hotel. The space would be more than adequate, once everything was set to rights. Currently, however, the place was a mess.

  On Jace’s first night in Misty Lake, a tree limb had crashed through the roof of his new parlor during a nasty storm, delaying the opening of his practice indefinitely. Furniture was piled in the corner. The musty rug still hadn’t dried completely from the rain that had poured into the room, and he’d be sweeping up acorns for weeks.

  Thanks to his neighbor, Henry Whalen, repairs were almost complete, but the clutter would take many long days to organize. If Jace were half as superstitious as Mrs. Tremont and the others, he’d have taken the unfortunate incident as a sign of ugly things to come.

  Jace sidled between the crates and other debris and made his way into his office. A tall cabinet housed drawers full of files on everyone Ben had treated, which Jace assumed included every resident in town. He directed his search to Madeline Sutter’s file. Upon retrieving it, he fingered through the contents, bypassing her early history, childhood illnesses and the like, until he found the documents relating to the accident.

  Madeline Sutter, age twenty-one, deceased.

  That was it? Jace shuffled through the file, searching for more, but no other details followed that final notation. He leaned back, running a hand through his hair. Mrs. Tremont had said Madeline suffered a badly broken leg in the accident, but the file contained no report of that injury either. Jace would have to go to the source. He needed an explanation, a sound voice of reason after all the rubbish he’d heard today, and he needed it now.

  Doctor Filmore was still in town but not for long. He’d informed Jace last week that upon finishing up some loose ends with the various committees with which he was involved, he’d be joining his wife in Boston, where their adult children now lived, and his train to the city was departing
today. Checking his watch, Jace realized he had only hours to catch Filmore before the old man left town for good.

  Jace hurried from the office and walked the short distance to the Lakeview Hotel. The smell of lemon oil and freshly polished furniture greeted him as he walked through the door. The mid-May weather had been particularly mild, and the hotel’s staff was busy preparing for the early influx of summer residents.

  According to the hiring committee that selected Jace as the town’s physician, Misty Lake had recently become a popular retreat destination for affluent urban families. Boating, swimming, and other outdoor recreations tempted droves of city dwellers seeking country amusements. A boon for local business. Prospective patients for Jace.

  Jace offered greetings as he breezed through the wood-paneled lobby. Hanging floral arrangements wafted on the crisp breeze sailing in from the row of open windows facing the lake. He made his way upstairs to the doctor’s room, then knocked on the door.

  “Tell me about Madeline Sutter,” he demanded as he stepped into the room.

  Doctor Filmore froze. He stared at the open door, looking ready to bolt. “She hasn’t been my patient in years,” he said, closing the door. “After the accident, she refused my treatment.”

  “Is it any wonder?”

  The insult seemed to spur more shame than anger as Doctor Filmore stared at Jace like a guilty child.

  “Mistakes happen, Ben, I understand that,” Jace said. “The shock and disbelief over the dead girls, the collective hysteria. The confusion. She was insentient; her pulse was weak. But when she regained consciousness after all those hours, you had to have known she’d been comatose and not dead.”

  Doctor Filmore averted his eyes.

  Jace had received some strange responses to his queries about the accident, but he hadn’t expected one from Ben—a physician. Jace suddenly realized he was no longer looking at a doctor. He was looking at a man. A man afflicted with the same grief and misery that plagued the others.

  Yet as tragic as this accident was, it was no excuse for what followed. Ben hadn’t offered any explanation for Madeline’s stunning recovery, so people let their pain form one. The result was cruel and depraved. And despite his oath as a physician, despite his morals as a human being, the good doctor had done nothing to stop it.

  “The girl needed your help, Ben.” With each silent moment, Jace grew angrier. Denial was the coward’s way out, and it was a path for which Jace had no tolerance. He may as well have been speaking to the wall—or his father. “Say something, Goddamn it, Ben.”

  “I have a train to catch.”

  Jace shook his head in disgust. “You son of a bitch.” He turned on his heel and walked out the door.

  Chapter 3

  Grandfather called out again, prompting Maddie to quicken her pace down the stairs.

  “We have a guest,” he announced from the parlor.

  The news stopped her in her tracks. They never had guests. She resumed walking toward the sound of voices echoing through the foyer. She entered the parlor to see Jace Merrick standing by the fireplace, his brawny form a stark contrast to Grandfather’s frail figure beside him. She stood motionless in the arched doorway as his presence sank in.

  “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Miss Sutter,” Jace said.

  His polished appearance caught her off guard. Dressed in a dark coat and trousers, he looked even more impressive than he had four days before. His thick hair was brushed back from his face, which was freshly shaven and deadly handsome. Her nerves knotted inside her, strangling her voice so much that she could only respond with a nod. Whatever was he doing here? Had he somehow discovered her secret and come to give her away?

  “Doctor Merrick told me the two of you crossed paths the other day,” Grandfather said.

  Her heart pounded as her gaze flew to Jace. His blue eyes held hers for what seemed like forever but hinted nothing about what he might say next. She pursed her lips, disliking him immensely for his reserve.

  “Thank you again, Miss Sutter, for directing me back to town. If it weren’t for you, I might still be lost in those woods.”

  She exhaled in relief.

  “How fortunate she found you.” Grandfather turned to Maddie. “I’m surprised you failed to mention your discovery during our discussions of late.” A smile trembled on his lips.

  “I…uh. It must have slipped my mind,” she said, moving into the room.

  “Have a seat, Doctor Merrick.” Grandfather gestured toward the sofa. “Rhetta will bring tea.”

  Maddie took a seat in one of the adjacent chairs before the men followed suit.

  Grandfather leaned forward on the gold-handled cane between his knees. “So tell me, Doctor Merrick, what brings a big city doctor, like yourself, to Misty Lake?”

  “My desire to sleep.” Jace smiled. It was a simple little smile that lasted the briefest of moments. Yet it managed to turn her insides to mincemeat.

  A less reclusive, less pathetic woman might remain unaffected by the flash of straight teeth, the perfect mouth. But not Maddie. She gave a stiff fluff to her beige skirts, loathing him all the more for his appealing smile and good humor.

  “Sleep?” she asked in a desperate attempt to focus on something other than his enticing lips.

  “Working night duty in the emergency ward offered little to none. I look forward to building my practice here, where my schedule will be less challenging and my eyes will close more often.”

  “How’s business faring so far?” Grandfather asked.

  “I’m busy with house calls, but I’ve yet to open the office officially. When I arrived last month, I was greeted by a fierce storm and awoken by a tree limb crashing through my roof.”

  “Oh my,” Maddie said.

  “That storm was a mean one,” Grandfather said. “Hovered over the lake for hours.”

  Jace nodded. “The damage to my patient waiting room was extensive and forced me to delay opening my practice.”

  “Unfortunate, indeed,” Grandfather said.

  “Roof repairs are almost complete, though, and once the mess inside is put to order, I can finally unpack and set up.”

  “Well, good luck to you!” Grandfather waved his cane with enthusiasm. “And I must say I’m pleased Filmore finally hung up his stethoscope. I’m only sorry I didn’t choke him with it while I had the strength.”

  Maddie pinned him with a scolding glare.

  “Grandfather, please.”

  He waved her away. “You’ll find I’m a man who speaks my mind, Doctor Merrick. I haven’t the time nor the wind to waste on decorum, so you must forgive my bluntness, even if my granddaughter can’t.”

  Maddie rolled her eyes.

  “Of course,” Jace said, clearly amused.

  Rhetta whisked into the room, depositing a tea tray on the table. Her shy glimpse at their guest quickly prompted another.

  Maddie rolled her eyes again. This house had gone far too long without company. “Thank you, Rhetta,” she said.

  With a nod of her capped head, Rhetta left them to their tea.

  “So, you don’t miss the excitement of the hospital?” Maddie asked as she poured the tea.

  His smile faded. “My memories sustain me. Brutality, disease, starvation. All the worst of human suffering housed under one convenient roof.” His expression was casual, but she saw the dismay in his eyes, felt his tension as she handed him the cup. “You have a very fine house, sir,” he said, glancing around. “I’ve passed it often on my house calls.”

  “We have the best site on the lake.” Grandfather puffed his chest. “What started as a summer retreat eventually became home. Maddie oversees the entire estate. Account books and all.”

  “Is that so?” Jace turned to her with a nod of approval. “Very impressive, Miss Sutter.” He regarded her intently, his gaze dropping to her mouth.

  “Please, call me Madeline.”

  Something flickered in
his eyes. “Madeline.” He spoke her name as though testing the sound, and she’d never heard anything better. Straightening in her seat, she shook off the sudden heat that slivered through her.

  “My granddaughter keeps things running smoothly. I rest easy in her capable hands.” He released a long sigh. “Speaking of rest. I hope you don’t mind, Doctor Merrick, but it’s time for my nap.” Grandfather endeavored to rise, and Jace stood to help him.

  “It was good to meet you, sir.”

  Grandfather steadied himself with the handshake Jace offered. “And very good to meet you, young man. Please stay and enjoy your tea.” He tossed a wink at Maddie, and she lowered her eyes, hoping Jace didn’t see it.

  “Please don’t mind my grandfather, Doctor Merrick. It’s been a while since we’ve had company.”

  Jace returned to his seat. “Call me Jace.” His gaze followed Grandfather’s excruciatingly slow departure from the room. “How long has he been ill?”

  His observation didn’t surprise her. Although he was a doctor, one had only to glance at Grandfather to detect his poor health. To Jace’s credit, he’d refrained from humbling Grandfather by mentioning it in front of him.

  “Going on four years now,” she said.

  “Rheumatic fever?”

  She nodded. “The after effects are more apparent every day.”

  “Heart disease progresses at various rates, depending on the patient. There’s little that can be done to stop it.”

  “Yes, I know.” She sighed. Even Maddie’s miraculous power hadn’t checked the forward march of Grandfather’s illness.

  “I’d be happy to examine him if—”

  “Thank you, but there’s little that can be done. You said so yourself. Besides, he’d never allow it.” She shook her head. “After being examined by a specialist in Albany, he accepted his condition, and now he refuses to be poked and prodded by more doctors.”

  “His words, I suppose?”

  Maddie smiled.

  “If he changes his mind…”

  “He won’t.” She took a sip of her tea and tried to relax. “I also owe you thanks for not mentioning the incident with the deer.”