Page 24 of Once Bitten, Twice Mine

“Dr. Murnau is here.”

“Please send the doctor up,” her mother said, smoothing out her dress.

Caroline moved aside to give the doctor plenty of room when he walked in a few moments later.

“Mr. Blythe,” Dr. Murnau said, placing a worn black leather doctor bag on the bedside table next to her father. “It’s so nice to see you up. Especially after your daughter told me how sick you were yesterday.”

“He was; I’m surprised to see him doing so well this morning,” she said, flexing the hand holding her pencil. She worried the doctor thought she exaggerated her symptoms to get him out there quicker. Or—worse—she was trying to get special treatment.

“Patients go in and out all the time. Besides, I prefer conducting patient interviews myself.”

“My daughter certainly has interviewing patients down. Who would have guessed she had a propensity for medicine?” Her father said with an easy grin.

“I expect many women have the propensity; but only a few are allowed to nourish it.”

Caroline’s cheeks burned. She wasn’t interested in medicine; she only wanted to make sure no one in her house died.

“I only wish to be helpful.”

“You’ve already proven yourself to be quite helpful,” Dr. Murnau said in his usual brusque tone. Previously she thought he might be a little mean, but now she just thought it was a side effect of his German accent. “Let me see your notes.”

The doctor flipped through the pages of her notebook; he didn’t say anything, only nodded occasionally as he read.

“There are just notes for two patients here, but I thought you mentioned a third yesterday?”

Caroline hesitated. Now that the doctor was here, it felt wrong to subject Valeria to him. It would be easy to take him to her—she would never know since she slept so soundly during the day—but it felt wrong.

“Her illness is different, chronic. Only my father and Nelly are of concern right now.”

The doctor’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t fight her, only giving her a sharp nod. “Then that is where we will start. Mr. Blythe, do you feel any nausea or dizziness?”

“No, I’m a little foggy, but otherwise I feel fine.”

“When I tried to give him water, he said that the smell of it churned his stomach.” Part of why she had taken such extensive notes was because she couldn’t trust her father to be truthful about how he felt to another man.

“Were you able to give him anything in his illness?” He asked Caroline.

“No, I tried to feed him some broth, but he choked it back up every time.”

Dr. Murnau nodded. “May I open the drapes? Sunlight may be beneficial.”

“Of course,” her father said with a strained smile.

The doctor threw open the heavy drapes, keeping one eye on her father. He squinted at the sudden influx of light, but didn’t have any other reaction.

“Do you still feel fine?” The doctor asked. “No shortness of breath or burning? Tingling?”

“No, I feel the same. I’m not sure I could walk across the room without being winded, but I can sit here just fine.”

“May I listen to your heartbeat?”

Her father nodded, and the doctor opened his bag, removing a shiny stethoscope. When the doctor stepped up to her father, she could no longer see what was happening, but noticed when the doctor froze.

“When did you get those wounds?”

“What wounds?” Her father asked.

The doctor moved to grab his bag, and Caroline pushed past to see what Dr. Murnau mentioned. There were two small puncture wounds with deep rings of red around both of the scabbed-over wounds.