They both shook their heads.
“We’ll keep an eye on everyone who has been in contact with Sadie for the last few days; it’s all we can do for you. Meanwhile, we’ll watch her and see how the illness progresses. Within a day or two we should know what she has. The symptoms of rheumatic fever and polio are similar to start with, but if it is polio, it may or may not permanently affect her limbs.”
“Poliomyelitis?” Mary asked. “What is that?”
“Isn’t polio the sleeping sickness?” Mim asked. “We’ve never had that in the valley before.”
The sleeping sickness.
It had to be a coincidence. Sadie wasn’t sleeping under a curse, she was ill. A doctor had visited and noted the symptoms. It couldn’t be the spindle. It couldn’t.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Briar sped out the door and flew down the stairs when a movement on the porch caught her eye and made her stop. She turned around to see Wheeler standing near the bench, his hands shoved in his pockets. She retraced her steps, noting his furrowed brow. With a pang, she wondered if he had ever worried about her like that.
The front door continued to open and close behind them as the mill girls rushed past in a hurry to get back to work. They pushed Briar aside and she stumbled toward Wheeler.
“Hi,” Briar said. “The doctor’s been to see Sadie. The news isn’t good.” She started to reach out to touch his arm but quickly stopped herself.
“I figured that was him leaving. What did he say?” His voice came out even, controlled.
“He thinks it’s either rheumatic fever or polio. We’ll know for certain in a few days, but he’s leaning toward polio.” Briar paused. “There’ve been two other cases reported.”
Wheeler nodded, his expression unreadable. Then he rubbed his neck and sat down on the bench. “Polio? That’s serious. One of the mechanics told me his cousin had it. Now the kid can barely walk. Sadie could be paralyzed for life or…or die.”
“I’m sorry.” It was all she could think of to say. Ethel said Sadie was in a lot of pain, but she didn’t want to tell Wheeler that. There was nothing he could do to help Sadie anyway. “They’re keeping her comfortable, best they can, and Miss Olive is a good nursemaid.”
He nodded again then slid over to make room for her. Briar sat tentatively on the edge of the bench, trying not to think about the nickname the girls had for this seat. The courting bench. She also tried to ignore the curious looks the girls were giving as they rushed by on the street on the way back to work.
“We had good times, didn’t we?” he said, smiling at her.
“We did.” Briar couldn’t smile back. This wasn’t exactly how she wanted to become friends again with Wheeler—because Sadie fell ill. Why did life have to be so complicated sometimes?
“You’re a sweet girl, Briar. My mam was gunning for us to be wed. Being you’re Irish and all.”
He kept looking straight ahead and Briar still couldn’t read his expression. What is he feeling?
“Seems like I messed that up, didn’t I?” he said. And then, “Do you think Sadie will get better?”
“Of course she will,” Briar said, not knowing what else to say. “Give her a few days.”
“But what if she’s paralyzed?”
“Well, she’ll work around it, then. That’s what people do.” Briar didn’t want to think about what would happen if Sadie didn’t recover.
“I guess.” He didn’t look convinced. “I’m leaving soon, for Burlington. Don’t know if you heard they want me to help get the new mill up and running over there. Sadie’s going to stay here.”
Oh. “I-I had heard something about that. Congratulations. You’re onto a new step in your plan.”
He squinted at her. “You remember that?”
“It was my plan, too,” she said quietly.
“Right.”
That reminder seemed to stir something up in Wheeler. He slapped his hands on his knees, then stood. “I best be going. The bell will be ringing soon.” The way he said it made Briar think he wanted to walk alone back to work. She watched him jog down the steps and out onto the street without a glance behind.
Briar let her head fall back against the brick wall and closed her eyes. She couldn’t tell what she felt about Wheeler anymore. At least he showed some signs of regret that things hadn’t worked out between them. It hadn’t all been in her mind.
She felt someone take her hand, and she opened her eyes. It was Ethel. “Come on. We have to run or we’ll be late.”
Briar smiled. “Thanks for waiting.”
“No problem. How did he take the news?” She cocked her head and arched her eyebrows.
Briar didn’t like Ethel’s judgmental tone. “He’s worried,” she said defensively. “He’s concerned if it’s polio that her legs could be permanently affected, or that she could die.”
“Or that he’d be stuck with a cripple?”