Page 18 of Once Bitten, Twice Mine

“Don’t be silly, Caroline. There’s no need to bother the doctor; I’ll be better with a bit of rest.”

“There are now three sick people in this home. We need the doctor.”

It vexed her beyond reason that all three people in this home refused to see the doctor.

“I thought what Lady Valeria had wasn’t contagious?” Her mother asked, wringing her hands.

“I’m sure she isn’t,” she said in an attempt to keep her mother from hysterics, “But I’ll still feel better once we get him to examine everyone.”

“Caroline, I’ll be fine.”

“Get him. Today if you can,” her mother said stonefaced as she looked at her husband nestled under the covers.

“I’ll take the carriage to pick him up.”

Caroline left her parents’ room without another word, hesitating as she reached the second floor. She hadn’t figured out where Valeria had gone last night. The servants she asked hadn’t seen her, and Caroline hadn’t had a chance to track her down with how busy she was that morning.

Fetching the doctor was her highest priority, but she could spare a moment for this. Crossing the hall, she didn’t bother to knock on the door and slipped inside. Unlike the previous day, Valeria was fully on the bed, her head gently laid on the pillow with her hair sprawled around her. There was a flush to her cheeks she could see at even this distance, but her features looked less severe. Everything about her seemed softer.

Caroline shut the door. Valeria had been found, and she was currently asleep and would be so until the sun set in many hours. She would worry over the woman’s illness once Dr. Murnau was there.

* * *

Caroline pounded on the brown door of the doctor’s home. She tried the hospital first, but was told he wasn’t there as he worked late the night before. In her haste to leave the house, she forgot her gloves and grabbed her mother’s coat instead of hers, so it was a few inches too short. It made her look a little crazed, but she hoped that would help sell the fact that she was in desperate need of the doctor’s help.

Despite having been there for minutes without anyone answering.

She rested her fist for a few moments before pounding again. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the door opened, revealing a dour older woman clutching a shawl around her and holding a handkerchief over her mouth.

“Yes.”

“I need to see Dr. Murnau immediately.”

The woman looked behind her before stepping out on the porch beside Caroline. Once the door was shut behind her, she removed the handkerchief from her face. This close, Caroline could see the bags beneath her eyes and the haggard lines of worry around her face.

“I’m sorry, but the doctor is busy right now.”

“Please.” Caroline wasn’t above begging. Not for her family. “There are three sick in my house, and I don’t know if it’s catching or not. We need the doctor to make sure this isn’t the start of something very bad. We’ll pay any price, but I need him now.”

“I’m sorry, but he has many patients right now. There is an illness spreading through the village. He’s barely been home for an hour the past few days.”

Fear crept down her spine. Her engagement party was the perfect place for illness to fester. She may have doomed the entire village.

“Please, tell him that Miss Caroline Blythe is here to see him. I volunteer at the hospital sometimes, but I also hosted a massive engagement party over the weekend. If people are sick who were there, I need to know.”

The woman searched her face for a moment before giving a sharp nod.

“I’ll talk to the doctor, but I cannot guarantee he’ll go. He’s already overextended, and I’m not sure how he’ll feel about traveling. Wait here; I’d rather not expose you to this illness while we still know so little about it.”

Caroline nodded. She didn’t bother to say she may already be carrying whatever they had because she prayed she was wrong. That she wasn’t sick and neither was anyone else in her house. It was just three coincidental illnesses.

She waited on the porch for so long that by the time the door opened again she wanted to cry.

Dr. Murnau was a stern-looking man somewhere between his thirties and fifties. All she knew was that he was older than her by at least a decade, but she had never once seen him smile or laugh, and that made him seem old. Today he looked even worse for wear. His hair was messy as if he had been running his hands through it repeatedly, and there were deep bags beneath his eyes. He wore a black frock coat with the sleeves pushed up. He had no tie or cravat, and she could tell his patience was thinner than usual.

“My housekeeper said you needed to see me,” he said in his light German accent. His voice was gruff, but never mean.

“I need you to come to my home. Three people are sick, and I need to know if they’re contagious. Or if they even have the same illness.”