Excerpt
Sister Mary Louise fixed Tyne with her stern gaze. “Is it not obvious
to you, Miss Milligan, that Mrs. Aubert is severely depressed?”
“Well, of course, but it’s natural she would be. She’s afraid of losing
her baby.”
“It’s more than that. I have seen a lot of young women with threatened
abortions but I have never seen one react in this way. If you had
observed her closely you would know what I mean.”
“I do know what you mean, Sister. But I don’t think a visit from a
psychiatrist will lift her spirits. More to the point, she needs an understanding
priest.”
“Miss Milligan, that is quite enough. You are not the doctor. You are
a student nurse and you are here to follow the doctor’s orders. Please
prepare your patient for Dr. Jenkins’ visit. That is all. You may go.”
Tyne walked away from the desk, her heart heavy. What if Dr.
Jenkins decided Jeannette needed more treatment than the Holy
Cross could offer her? Would he send her to Ponoka Mental Hospital?
Tyne had seen young women there who had been diagnosed
as suffering from depression – post-partum depression not the least
among them. Jeannette did not have post-partum depression, not
yet, but the result if she was sent to Ponoka would be the same. She
would be there for months on end in the bleak atmosphere that only
seemed to aggravate the condition.
Could Sister and the doctors not see that Jeannette needed spiritual
help during this crisis? But that help would not come, either, from
a priest who had no idea what the young woman was going through.
Even Sister didn’t understand. Did these people become so dried up
and hardened to the real world that they lost all compassion?
“Don’t judge, Tyne,” she murmured as she began her round to prepare
her patients for breakfast. “That’s not for you to do. Just follow
orders.” She sometimes wished she could become a little more hardened
herself. Why did she always get so involved with her patients?
“It’s your heart, honey,” Morley had said when she had confided in
him. “Like Jesus, your heart is full of compassion.”
She didn’t know if it was all right for him to compare her to Jesus,
but she had felt flattered, nevertheless. She shook her head and
smiled a little as she thought of Morley. He spoke of spiritual things
so easily. The Lord’s name came as readily to his tongue as did his
own name. She wondered if, living with Morley, she could become
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