“Rose, I want you to remove the stitches.”
Rose’s heart sank. What could she do? If she refused, Lord Hamlin might realize how embarrassed she felt touching him, and Frau Geruscha would be disappointed in her. If she hoped to be a good healer, she couldn’t shirk such a simple task.
Frau Geruscha stood to let Rose take her place. Rose swallowed her panic and sat down. She kept her eyes focused on Lord Hamlin’s stitches.
“Here.” Frau Geruscha handed her the small shears with sharp metal points.
Rose looked at them, then down at Lord Hamlin’s white leg and the black stitches. She couldn’t help glancing up at his face. He gave her a slight smile.
Does he know I have no idea what I’m doing, that I’m embarrassed about touching him, and terrified of disappointing Frau Geruscha?
She should project confidence, not fear and timidity. She had seen Frau Geruscha do this before. It was a simple thing to clip the stitches and pull them from the flesh. Yes. Simple, easy. She could do this.
Rose leaned down. She drew close to the skin with the shears, then straightened again. “Frau Geruscha, will you make sure I do this correctly, please?”
“Yes, Rose, of course. Go ahead.”
She drew near again, pretending to work on a stranger’s leg. I simply have to get the stitches out…efficient, quick.
But some of the stitches were embedded. She placed the points around the knot at the end, which had sunk into the skin. She pulled on the catgut with her fingers and tried to get between the knot and the skin with the points. Then she snipped. Oh no. Red blood seeped from the knick she’d inflicted.
Wilhelm let out a hiss of pain.
“Oh, I’m so sorry.” She grabbed the cloth Frau Geruscha was holding out to her and dabbed at the blood. “Frau Geruscha, you had better do this.” Leaping to her feet, she upset the stool, which clattered onto the floor. Her face burned.
“No, no, you’re doing fine. There’ll be a little blood. The stitches don’t want to come out now that the skin is beginning to grow over them. You must just snip and then give them a little tug.”
Rose knew that the blood had come from her pricking his leg with the shears and not from the embedded state of the stitches. Some healer she was!
Frau Geruscha addressed Lord Hamlin. “A little blood is to be expected.”
He smiled as though amused. “Sorry I made that noise, Rose. Snip away. You won’t hurt me.”
With a slight tremor in her hand, she picked up the stool, righted it, and sat down. She bowed over his leg and concentrated. Carefully she slipped the end of the shears under the first stitch and clipped it with a soft snap. No blood. But now she had to pull out the embedded stitch.
First she would snip all the stitches and then remove them. She cut the next stitch and the next. Her eyes watered as she forced herself not to blink. But so far, no more blood.
Was it just her, or was it hot and stuffy in the room? A lock of hair tickled her forehead, and she took a swipe at it with the back of her hand.
“You’re doing fine, Rose.” Frau Geruscha stood near, watching.
Rose snipped again and again, finally reaching the last knot, which was so embedded, she had the same problem as with the first one. She pulled on it, hard, until it slipped from the skin. A little blood oozed out, and she dabbed at it with the cloth. “Sorry.” She looked up at Lord Hamlin and winced.
He laughed. “It’s my fault for not coming sooner to get them taken out.”
He was only being kind. Nobles never took the blame for anything.
But Lord Hamlin was not an ordinary noble. She suddenly felt blessed by this chance to be so near him again, even if it meant dealing with his wound.
She pulled the rest of the stitches out one by one, but Lord Hamlin didn’t complain or even flinch.
“I thank you, Rose.” He gave her a smile as she finished.
“Shall I bandage it for you?”
“It is well. Hardly any blood—”
“Yes, you should,” Frau Geruscha broke in. “A bandage may help prevent festering.”
Lord Hamlin had started to rise but sat back down and lifted his leg onto the bed again.
Rose took a small bandage from the shelf and wrapped it twice around his leg before cutting it off and tying it in place. Frau Geruscha made small talk with him while Rose fiddled with the leftover bandages. She heard Lord Hamlin stand.
“I thank you again, Rose.” He hesitated, as though considering his next words.
“Please excuse me, my lord.” Frau Geruscha bowed to Lord Hamlin. “I must go back upstairs for a few minutes.”
“Frau Geruscha.” He nodded to her.