Donella walked beside Seffi across Rio Grande Avenue on Wednesday afternoon. Seffi had told her that whenever there was a storm, it was best to travel in twos, and since they both had errands to run, they did them together. Then when Boone rode up, she was glad she’d accepted. She wished she hadn’t promised to spend the evening with her cousin Eliza. Her husband, Marshal KC, would be out late that night, and Donella had offered to keep her company. Seffi had known that, and Donella hoped that’s why she didn’t invite Boone to eat with her tonight. Donella thought she heard a tone of suspicion in Seffi’s question about how they knew each other—not in a bad way though.

The wind shifted, and Donella dropped her head down to keep the blowing snow out of her eyes. Even a snowy day couldn’t dampen her spirits to be finished with work for the week. She didn’t know what was going on, but it seemed that Mayor Mealing was in some kind of trouble. She tried to keep her ears open, but so far, she didn’t know more.

Halfway across the street, she noticed her brother, Michael, standing between the blacksmith’s shed and the Crowthers’ store. By the look of things, he obviously thought the spindly bushes were hiding him and Rita Crowther with her arms around his waist and her head on his chest. His arms held her too. Donella hoped Seffi wasn’t looking.

Rita was a tall girl, but looked petite next to Michael. It seemed to Donella that the couple might have developed the kind of emotions that carry a couple to the altar. For several months, Donella had noticed them single each other out after church for conversation. She had thought something would come of it, but it never did. She glanced back to the bushes. Well, it might now.

Donella followed Seffi into the store and stopped when they stepped up beside Hannah Wheeler and Doctor “JT” Thomas.

“Are you staying busy?” she asked the doctor.

“Too busy in fact,” he answered.

“We were just talking about how we were going to visit everyone who needs to be checked up on,” Hannah added. “Today, I’ve visited several houses quarantined with the chicken pox in Bachelor. I’m going back to Topaz tonight, then I’ll ride into South Fork tomorrow to check on Maria Hensley’s broken arm. I also need to be back here to check with some of the ladies who are expecting.”

“I had no idea about Maria,” Seffi said. “She came up to the Thanksgiving party. I guess that’s been a few weeks, though.”

“She broke it the next week. She was chasing a runaway piglet and slipped on the ice.”

As the three of them chuckled, Donella heard her name whispered—not close to her but as if the soft sound were within her. She looked around to see if someone were calling her attention.

“Donella, you could help them.” A woman was standing several feet behind the doctor and nurse, her eyes fixed on Donella’s. She was dressed in a full black skirt, wide enough for a hoop but without one. She had a white apron tied around her waist and a white cap on the back of her plaited hair.

Donella’s blood chilled. There was a time when she thought being a nurse was her calling. She found out it wasn’t. Her heart was in the right place, but her hands didn’t have the skill. She’d learned that lesson the hard way.

“You learned much from your mother, and you’ve been nursing your family. You could help the people in Creede and take some of the load off of Hannah Wheeler and Doctor JT.” The woman’s head nodded precisely with the words as if she were speaking them, but her lips didn’t move.

Donella again thought she could only hear the words in her mind and not with her ears. She was surprised to have her mother brought up. How did the woman know that? Did she also know that her father paid the price for Donella’s ignorance? He was in a wheelchair and could only take a few steps as a result.

“Your mother and I were nurses together during the War Between States in Tennessee. She passed her knowledge to you. It is dormant but still there, waiting for you to call it to use.”

Donella was startled. The woman was answering her unspoken questions. She had attended with her mother as she visited and treated the sick.

“Be at peace. I’m your guardian angel, only here for a short time. Yours is a noble calling to comfort and care.” A sadness crossed the woman’s face, and Donella wondered at it.

She knew the woman spoke the truth. It burned in her heart and brought tears to her eyes. Those were the very words her mother said. “A nurse’s foremost calling is charity toward others. Knowledge and treatment come next.”

After the war, her mother had married her dad, Morris Turley, moved to Texas, and started a family. She was the only nurse in the little town of Sunrise. Donella’s mother had died in a carriage accident, unattended by medical care. Donella inherited her medical bag and assumed the nursing duties, hoping no other family felt that pain. Could she do that here? She doubted she knew enough, and there were failures fresh in her memory from Texas as well. She should keep her mouth shut. She had a job. It was fine.

The words gathered quickly in her throat and tumbled out in a hurry. “Doctor Thomas, would you like help?” Part of her hoped he declined, but another part that she’d pushed down into a small place in her soul cried for attention—hoped he said yes. She could help for a short time.

Seffi, the doctor, and the nurse had been carrying on some conversation, and all three sets of eyes stared in her direction.

What have I done? “Just until you find someone,” Donella said, hoping that would give her a way to back out. However it was as if someone put words in her mouth and they squeezed out without her thinking about them “I have some skill that my mother taught me. I’ve treated injuries and illnesses. I’ve read Florence Nightingale’s manual, and I follow the standards.” She took a breath and slowed her words. Saying them out loud gave her more courage than she’d felt a few moments ago. “I have some time when I’m not working in the mayor’s office that I could use for making visits . . . if you think I’d be of some help.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Hannah Wheeler said as she turned her eyes toward the doctor. “We could definitely use the help.”

“Which days do you work?” JT asked.

“Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Even on those days, I might be able to work something out since I only work a few hours.”

“Are you off work now? Would you be able to come on rounds?” the doctor asked.

“Only for an hour or two.”

“Good. I’d like to see what you know,” the doctor said.

Although she felt her stomach tighten, wondering if she knew enough, she nodded in agreement. That small, buried part of her leaped with excitement.

“I’ll come by Hearth and Home in a few minutes, and we can get started right afterward.”

“Thank you,” Hannah said, pressing both of her hands around one of Donella’s.

The doctor said goodbye and left, and Hannah walked over to the section of the store with tools.  

“Why don’t you go ahead and order first,” Seffi said as they approached the desk. “I need to look at some boots.”

“Hello, Mrs. Crowther. I need to get a sack of feed for my chickens and some oats, barley, and corn for my horses.”

“Would you like that delivered?” Mrs. Crowther asked.

“Yes. My father will be expecting it.” Donella finished making her payment and stepped aside for Seffi to order.

“I’d like to buy two fourteen-inch Dutch ovens and a new wash tub,” Seffi told Mrs. Crowther.

“I can have Willie deliver those for you next week if you’d like.”

“I don’t know if I’ll be back home by next week. I’m staying in town for now.”

“I’ve seen your boys around. It’s nice to have them back. I hear they have some big plans for our town?”

Donella saw a smile on Seffi’s face but also noticed that she stiffened a bit. “I hope it’s big enough to keep them here. It was hard to have them gone for so long. Just sent a note around to Hearth and Home when they arrive, and I’ll have someone come here to pick up my items.”

Donella liked how Seffi dodged Mrs. Crowther’s attempt to get more information. Everyone in town was curious, even her.

The front door opened, and Rita Crowther came in with lips and cheeks colored red.

Mrs. Crowther gasped. “Oh dear, Rita. You’ve been outside so long you’re practically frostbitten on your face. Go around to the office and sit by the fire for minute. You’ll catch your death out there.”

Donella knew full well that girl was not in need of warming up, but she stayed out of it and pretended to look at the fancy soaps on the shelf beside the door.

“Good day,” Seffi said, and Donella waved as they left the store.

“I didn’t know your mother was a nurse,” Seffi said. “I guess, since your family is new here, we don’t have much of your history. Did you enjoy the nursing when you went with her?”

She had. She had enjoyed her mother’s company and knowledge. She liked learning about how to treat the people and illnesses. But there was more. Why in the world had an angel—Donella shook her head. It was almost too impossible to believe, yet, it is what the woman claimed, and it would explain what happened. She would think on it some more.

“Yes. I enjoyed going with her.” But she hadn’t enjoyed doing it without her.

She realized that she’d been slow to answer, and Seffi’s eyebrows shot up with curiosity.

“I liked being able to help people, and I guess there were more of those days than the ones when we couldn’t help someone. There were hard days when a patient passed from this life anyway, no matter what we did.”

“I’m sure those people were grateful that you did all you could. We do our best, and the Lord does the rest.” Seffi put her arm around Donella’s shoulders. “You’ll be a fine nurse. You have a brave heart. Even though you know it’s going to be hard, you offered to help out anyway.”

Donella tried to feel the confidence Seffi’s words were meant to inspire, but only worry crowded her mind.

Suddenly the angel was standing up ahead of them on the boardwalk. “You won’t need to worry. I’ll be with you on the visits tonight and tomorrow.”

Donella’s pulse quickened to realize that the angel meant the doctor would trust her enough to send her on visits tomorrow as well. She would do her best.

“That’s all that is required,” the angel said, and disappeared.