Sunday morning dawned crisp and bright. The blue sky stretched above them as Michael, Donella, and Diane rode toward the little, white church house. Donella heart was full of gratitude that the Lord had answered her prayer last night and that Boone had come. She didn’t know where the men came from, but suddenly they grabbed her. That had happened in Creede before. She felt intense sorrow for those women who it had also happened to.

They entered the chapel, greeting people Donella was becoming acquainted with since moving to town.

As they settled into a pew, a man panting for air burst through the door and shouted, “Where’s the doc? Is the doc here?”

Donella was on her feet, moving toward him before anyone had answered. “I’ll help you until he’s found. I’m his nurse. Where do you need help?” It surprised her how easily those words snapped in her mind. It really was what she wanted to do.  

“There’s been an accident at the train station.”

“Take the buggy,” Michael said. “Do you need my help?”

“I can give Diane a ride back to the restaurant,” Millie offered.

She waved to Michael. “Come with me. That will be great, Millie.” Donella and Michael returned to town and followed the man to the railcar repair lines behind the station. Sol Medina, the station master, stood next to a man on the wooden platform they used to make repairs.

“What’s your name?” Donella asked as she kneeled beside the injured man.

“Jaron Creel.”

The angel appeared beside her, and Donella tried not to jump. She calmed her voice and asked, “Mr. Creel, may I check your leg?” He nodded.

“What happened?” she asked as she used scissors to cut up the fabric until the opening was open above the injury. The leg was already badly swollen, and black and blue tissue surrounded the area. The angel guided her hands down the man’s shin. She could immediately feel the broken bone under the skin.

“He was on top of the boxcar, fixing a hole. When he was done, he jumped down. I heard it snap. It sounded like a gunshot,” the man who’d come to get the doc replied.

“I’ve jumped down a dozen times,” the patient said through clenched teeth.

“I’m so sorry this time didn’t go as well.” She leaned closer to examined the skin to see if bone was exposed anywhere.

“You’ll need to feel the break with your hands,” the angel whispered. “Place them below the injury and see if the leg moves easily.”

Donella did as she was told. The leg was still mostly warm, and she was relieved that there wasn’t more extensive damage that would have left it cold. The color was off though. It only moved a bit and felt as if the lower part of the bone and the upper were grating against each other. She could see that the foot was rotated at an odd angle compared to the knee.

“You’re going to set the bone, and then you’ll splint it,” the angel added.

Donella shook her head. She’d never done that. She’d assisted her mother, but that wasn’t the same.

“Don’t worry. I’ve done it many times. I’ll guide you. We have to check to see if his blood and nerves work. You’re going to press the leg, then when you let go, start counting slowly until the color is back.” The angel covered one of Donella’s hands with her own, pressing Donella’s fingers softly into the flesh, then releasing it.

Donella counted, “One, two, three, four.”

“That spot stayed white too long,” the guardian angel said. “A count to two is normal.”

Donella smiled at Jaron and then turned to her brother. “I need you to hold the top of his leg, here. Make sure it doesn’t move.” To the man who came to the church, she said, “Hold down his shoulders.” Once, she had watched as her mother tugged on a child’s leg with one hand and felt the point of the break with her other, guiding the bones to align. She hoped she would know what she felt.

“I need to set your bone, Jaron. It’s going to hurt, but that won’t last long. Tell me when you’re ready.”

He took several deep breaths, then nodded.

Donella pulled on the man’s ankle and shin, and he cried out. Michael’s grasp on him didn’t falter, and the injured man didn’t jerk away. She pulled and moved the bone into place.

The angel’s hand smoothed over the break. “A little more. Feel here.”

Donella felt the slight edge that didn’t quite match and manipulated the bone a bit to the side. “One more time.” She pulled and adjusted according to the lump she’d felt.

“That’s it. Splint it now,” the angel said.

Donella turned to the man at Jaron’s shoulders. “Bring me something to use as a splint. A stick or a dowel of some kind, at least as long as your arm.”

The man ran into the station.

Donella pulled the bottom ruffle off her petticoat and began ripping it into strips. When the man returned with two table legs, she strapped them to the injured leg to stabilize the set. “You can’t put any pressure on your leg at all,” she told her patient. “The men are going to carry you inside.”

The men picked him up with one holding behind his shoulders and the other two on each side. They walked in front of her to take the patient inside.

“Thank you for being here,” Donella whispered to the angel. She was amazed at the help she’d received. She was so grateful to have been able to be there to help. A reverence filled her, and she wondered if she could really stay a nurse.

“I’ll be here when you need me.” The angel faded away before they entered the station.

“He can’t be moved, so where do you want us to put him?” she asked the station master.

“We have some cots back here that the men stay in when the train stays over night.”

They settled the patient into a cot. She gave him a dose of laudanum for the pain. “I’ll leave a message for the doctor to come over when he’s back in town.” She turned to the two men standing nearby. “He can’t even get up to pee, and someone needs to stay with him until the doctor comes to give more orders. Can you sit with him until the doctor comes?”

“We can do all of that,” Sol Medina answered.

When Donella and Michael left, it had been over an hour. “Do we go to Hearth and Home?” Michael asked.

“Yes. I’ll need to send a couple of messages around to try to find the doctor.”

When they got back to the boarding house, she went upstairs to write the messages. Her heart expanded with the joy of being able to help that man. The angel had guided her, making it possible. She had a prayer of thanks in her heart for the angel nurse.

What would have happened if Donella hadn’t offered to help the doctor? It might’ve been hours before they found Hannah or Dr. Thomas. The color in the man’s leg told her that he might have lost it had she not been willing to help. She had thought she would only do it until the doctor found someone else to help, but maybe she was that someone. The angel seemed to think so.

She knew it wasn’t just her hands that did the work, but she was glad to have been there and to have learned something new. She sat down and wrote two quick notes. She’d leave one on Marshall KC’s office and the other one at the telegraph office. Those were the places where the doctor checked regularly to learn if there were new cases he needed to attend.

At the bottom of the stairs, she heard the sound of the McRaes in the kitchen, preparing the afternoon meal. Michael was sitting at a table in the dining room, waiting for her with his coat still on.

“Can I deliver the letters for you?” he asked.

“Yes. Thank you. One is for the marshal and the other to the telegraph office. If they’re not there, just leave them on the nails by the door.”

Michael took the letters and walked to the door. He stopped, turned back, and said, “It was like watching Mother today.”

She could feel warm tears of happiness gathering in her eyes.

“I only went with her a few times,” he continued, “but I admired her calm. She had a way of looking at a situation and taking it one step at a time to solve any problem. She always spoke with kindness and treated everyone with respect. She would have been proud of you, Donella. I am too.”

Donella crossed the floor and took him by the hand, giving it a tight squeeze. “That means a lot to me. I’d love to be the kind of woman she was.”

He nodded once, then left the restaurant on his errand.

Donella stared into the fireplace, appreciating its warmth and light. Although she had missed the Sunday meeting, she didn’t think she had ever felt closer to her Lord. It was no wonder to her that the Holy Spirit was described as warmth, and the Lord was the light of the world. She understood that a little bit more, being filled with both of those today while serving someone.

The Lord was the true physician and loaned her a piece of his grace today. Although she couldn’t fathom his joy at seeing someone be healed from earthly sin and sorrow, she felt a slight piece for having set a leg, and she was overwhelmed with it.

The front door of the restaurant opened again, and Donella quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks before she turned around to see Michael coming back in. She was surprised that he could come back so quickly, but behind him was the doctor.

“Look who I found,” Michael said, “just walking down the road.”

The doctor shook his head with a smile, but Donella could see the tired look in his eyes. “I’d like to check on your patient if that’s all right?” Dr. Thomas asked.

Her patient! “I’ll be right back. Let me run and grab my coat.” When Donella returned, she and the doctor went back to the train station.

Dr. Thomas first examined the splint. “You have the wood in good position and the ties are just right. What instructions did you give them?”

“I told them that he was not to move under any circumstances, not even to relieve himself. I also mentioned that you would come by and give more instruction.”

Donella held her breath. Not only did she want to serve her patient well, but she also wanted to please the doctor. She hoped too that she would be able to continue to learn from him.

“Good. Good.” Next he examined the point of the break, moving his fingers to press and release on the top and sides. Then his fingers traced along the bruised area very lightly. “The color recovery looks good. What did it look like before?”

“His lower leg had begun to have a grayish-blue hue to it. When I pressed my finger on the flesh, the color came back very slowly.”

“How slowly?” he asked.

“I counted to four.”

He was nodding and said to the patient, “This will hurt a bit. Brace yourself.”

Jaron nodded, and Dr. Thomas moved the tips of his fingers down the bone with more pressure on each side of the leg. “You set it correctly, Miss Turley. There’s no need for me to make an adjustment.” Then to the patient, he said, “You will not move yourself from this spot for any reason. I’ll send over a caretaker to be with you to attend to your personal needs. If you follow our directions precisely, the leg will heal. If you cause further damage to it, it may end in amputation. I’ll check on you again in two days and give you more instructions.”

“Thanks, Doc. And thank you, Miss Turley. I think I might’ve lost my leg without you,” Jaron said.

It warmed her chest to know that she had been an instrument to help someone today in a way that changed his life. She never felt that type of elation writing letters, sorting mail, or cleaning up the documents to be filed in the mayor’s office. She wanted to do more and learn more from Hannah and Dr. Thomas. In her heart she knew she had been a student today and shot a prayer of thanksgiving for the angel who had helped her. She’d been given a new life. She was a nurse.

When she finally re-entered the door of Home and Hearth, she froze within the threshold. Boone was approaching her sister, Diane. Diane was startled when he lifted her hand to his lips. Then Donella laughed when Diane pulled her hand quickly away from Boone before he could kiss her fingers.

She giggled as she walked forward and heard Diane say, “Stop it. I’m not Donella.” She jerked her hand away from Boone. “I’m her twin sister, Diane. It’s very nice to meet you. And if you go around kissing ladies hands regularly, I wish I had met you before she did.” Diane winked at Donella, and Boone turned around to face her.

“My, Mr. Morgan, why are you blushing?” Donella asked as Diane stepped to her side and wrapped her arm around Donella’s shoulder.

Donella didn’t always enjoy the surprised looks and comparisons that people made when she and Diane were first introduced to them. But she enjoyed it greatly this time. First, she noticed surprise in Boone’s eyes and then his mouth dropped slightly slack. Next came the quick glances back and forth, back and forth, back and forth making comparisons.

Finally, he said to Diane, “I’m sorry, Miss Turley. I won’t make the error again.”

Donella had to wonder if he really would not. She and Diane were identical, and it took many months for most people to be able to tell them apart. Whenever her own family only gave them a quick glance, they often even made a mistake.

That evening’s meal was one of the best that Donella had had in many months. Half of her family was already in Creede in preparation for Ellis and Dorothy’s wedding in one week, as were the Morgans, and the McRaes. The noisy bunch filled the dining room with pleasant chatter.

For the most part, Donella sat quietly, listening, and at times just contemplated her day, trying to hold onto the special feelings she’d had a little longer.