Page 54 of Hired by Pirates

“Thank you so much, Dr. Evans,” Mrs. Layton said with a sigh. “I don’t think I could have ever gotten all of that dirt out myself.”

“I understand how hard it is to work on your own children,” I smiled warmly.

“How are Harry and Joan?” s

he asked politely as she stood up. I pointed to the window, where we looked to see my two beautiful children running around the backyard in circles, chasing after their uncle Morty.

Harry was five already, with skinny legs that were a blur as he raced around. Joan had just turned four. She used her wit more than her speed, as she first studied how the boys were dodging, then leapt up to tag Morty from behind.

Mrs. Layton nodded sagely. “Tucker them out before supper.”

“Exactly.”

Living on the ship had certainly taught me about scheduling, and the importance of a daily routine. Especially once Nick and I were married, and the children came along. Sometimes I honestly didn’t know who the routine was better for – the adults or the children.

“We don’t have a lot of money this month...” Mrs. Layton began nervously.

“But you do have that field of raspberries and brambleberries. A few of your pies this weekend would be a wonderful treat for the entire household.”

“Thank you so much for understanding, doctor,” she said, as she took Katy’s hand and left my office.

Looking around, I still couldn’t believe that all of this was mine. A real office with crisp white walls, comfortable furniture, and all of the medical supplies I could ever possibly need.

My own small apothecary was growing every month. Jake and Jocko were incredible at finding and identifying herbs out in the forests and fields. Barnaby helped boil them down, and helped me make tinctures, salves and ointments. They were all now in tidy glass jars lined up across the massive shelves that Woods had built.

On the one open wall hung my mother’s painting of the sea.

How I wished that my parents could have seen what I’d become, and meet my wonderful extended family.

When the children had reached an age where they should be going to school, and I had reached a point of my practice where it made more sense to choose one town, we decided to settle in Laurel Point.

As the entire crew began to pool their money to see what sort of house we could all afford together, I remembered the little golden hair pin that Captain Searcy had given me for sewing up his leg so many years ago.

It turned out to be a priceless antique.

Which meant that the price the goldsmith in Fleeryville offered us was more than enough to buy three houses in a row on Cherry Street. One of them was for the Captain and I, and our children. The second was a bunkhouse for the crew whenever they were here in town. And the third, smaller building was now the office of the town’s physician.

With a little sign over the door with neat black lettering: “Dr. A. Evans.”

Jocko came in and headed straight for the ledger. “The Five Winds just made port, doctor,” he said. “Will Mrs. Layton be paying in pies again?”

“Yes – this weekend.”

He made a few notes in his surprisingly perfect handwriting. “With the casseroles from Mrs. Smith, and a stew from the meat that Mr. Jones is bringing by on Friday, the crew will eat better than the King himself all weekend,” Jocko laughed.

It was wonderful being fed most of the week by the appreciation of the town, more than their money. I would never turn anyone away who needed help.

As the village grew, so did their medical needs. It often felt like a game. Like I was trying to solve a puzzle.

Sometimes it was unbelievably simple. When Mr. Johnson got terrible heartburn every Sunday night, and he went to his mother-in-law’s for supper every Sunday evening, the connection was fairly easy to draw.

With other maladies, I spent hours poring over textbooks, or even writing letters to fellow physicians for advice. We each had our specialties, and there was soon a thick letter that was mailed around in a circle among seven of us, to advise, comment, and learn from each other’s practices.

I don’t think any of them knew that I was a woman, and I certainly wasn’t about to tell them. I was just Dr. Evans.

It felt wonderful to be constantly learning from others, about real patients that weren’t in any books. I was also training my very own apprentice, who was turning out to be a remarkably quick study since Jocko was already adept at reading people.

It was inspiring to heal people, bring babies into the world, and likely save someone’s life at least once every few months.

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