I’ve invited a guest to visit with us here today on Slip Into Something Victorian. I’ve recently read the novella length short story, Salvation Bride, a Wild Rose Press e-book, by Anna Kathryn Lanier. The story is set in 1873, so it fits into the Victorian era—a favorite time period of mine—but it particularly intrigued me because the heroine was a practicing physician—not a popular occupation for a woman in this time period—who was moving to the town of Salvation to be the mail order bride of the hero, a widower, who wanted his new wife to be a housekeeper and mother to his young daughter.
Without giving anything away, I can tell you this was a great read, full of excitement with an emotionally satisfying ending. And everyone who posts a comment today will be entered in a contest to win a free download of Salvation Bride. Winner will be announced here tomorrow.
So, now I’d like to welcome Anna.
Hi, Susan. Thanks so much for having me today. I enjoyed doing research for this story, because I sometimes think we forget that some women have always ‘lived outside the box’ society put them in.
As Susan said above, in my novella SALVATION BRIDE, the heroine is an apprentice trained doctor. During the 1800’s, one became a doctor by apprenticing him- or herself, attending medical school or simply purchasing a diploma and hanging out a shingle. In BLEED, BLISTER AND PURGE: A History of Medicine on the American Frontier, Volney Steele, M.D. tells us that the apprenticeship or “preceptorship was creatively American.” (14) The apprentice would ride along with a qualified doctor, assisting and observing for a set period of time. Often, the apprenticeship was combined with a formal education and after both were adequately completed, a diploma was issued.
Laura Ashton did not attend medical school. Her training was given under the tutelage of her uncle, a school trained doctor and Civil War veteran. When the niece and uncle realize that he is dying, they know plans must be made for Laura’s future. She is not safe in the town she lives in. Uncle John suggests she reply to one of the many mail-order bride advertisements popular at the time. He warns, however, that she keep her complete training to herself. Very few men would appreciate a fully trained doctor as a wife.
Following Uncle John’s advise, Laura tells her choice for a husband, Sheriff David Slade, that she is a midwife and he readily accepts her declaration. Salvation, Texas is a small town. Even a midwife would be welcomed. Laura plans to tell David the truth before their marriage, but circumstances force them to marry the very day she arrives in Salvation.
As an author, this situation sets up a lot of conflict. Laura is trained to heal the sick and injured, but she’s afraid of how her husband and his town will react to her profession. In BLEED, BLISTER AND PURGE, Steele says, “The restrictive rules of eastern society were bent, if not abandoned [in the west]. Nevertheless, the treatment of women in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was far from equal, even in the west, and many woman had to struggle for acceptance in their communities.” However, Steele goes on to say, that the urgent need for doctors to fight such conditions as smallpox, whooping cough, scurvy and cholera hastened the acceptance of women as physicians. (204)
Laura knows she has to tell her husband of her profession. Unfortunately, his reaction to the news is much as she expected it to be.
Unedited Excerpt:
Texas, 1873
They ate in awkward silence for a few minutes. Laura glanced his way a few times, but seemed reluctant to speak. And who could blame her. He’d cut off her questions twice now.
“You said you were a midwife. Have you delivered many babies?” he asked, not ready to discuss his life yet.
She stared across the table, her fork halfway to her mouth. Biting her lower lip, she placed her fork on her plate, the mashed potatoes still on it. Her hands clenched into fists on the table.
“Actually, Sheriff, I’m more than a midwife. My uncle was a university-trained doctor. He wanted an apprentice and when I came to live with him eight years ago, he decided to teach me the medical profession.”
She stopped speaking and stared at him, a mixture of pride and apprehension in her eyes. He knitted his brows. What exactly was she saying?
“That means I am not just a midwife who delivers babies. I am a fully trained medical doctor. I have set broken bones, stitched cuts and performed surgeries.”
He knew of doctors from the war—the butchers who would just as soon cut off a man’s leg as try to save it. He was thankful that was one hell he’d never had to face.
“Does Salvation have a doctor?” she asked.
He shook off his thoughts. “No. We’ve never had a doctor that I recall.”
A small smile tipped her lips. “I would very much like to practice medicine, Sheriff. If the town doesn’t already have a doctor, then it is in sore need of one, isn’t it?”
Betrayal raced through him.
She’d lied! She hadn’t come to Salvation to be his wife or Ginny’s mother. No, she’d come to Salvation to be the town’s doctor. Damn it! His daughter, his ranch, he himself wasn’t enough for her. She wanted more.
“No.”
She blinked slowly. “I beg your pardon?”
“You came here to be my wife. You never said anything about practicing medicine. Do you think because I needed your dowry that I can’t provide for you? Do you think you need to work to put food on the table?”
She shook her head. “Of course not. It’s doubtful I’d make enough out here to matter anyway. I just—”
“You just what? Thought you could lie to me and I’d just ignore it?” He stood, his dinner unfinished. “No wife of mine is going to work and she certainly isn’t going to practice medicine. Most of the population is male. That’s why I had to look East for a wife.”
“I never lied.”
“No? Well, I suppose you didn’t. You just never told me the whole truth. You said you were a midwife and hoped I’d understand you wanted to continue with doing that. Fine, you can deliver babies, but doing medical things on a man is something else and I won’t allow it!”
Ginny stared at him wide-eyed and he realized he’d raised his voice. Laura looked equally astonished, but she didn’t reply. Setting his mouth, he stalked to the door.
“I’m going for a walk.”
He stopped from slamming the door. Ginny already thought he’d gone mad. Lord, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten angry, let alone raised his voice. What was Laura doing to him?
He crossed the yard to the grave. Glaring at it, he stalked past it, needing to burn off his anger before he returned to the house.
What the hell had she been thinking by not telling him? He had enough to worry about without the snickering of the community added to it. If he’d known she hadn’t answer his advertisement just to be his wife, he’d have thought twice before proposing to her. Which was why she hadn’t told him.
Blast it!
What would his friends think of his wife practicing medicine? Of earning her own money? The only women who worked in Salvation either worked in their husband’s businesses or on their backs at the Red Door Saloon. He wasn’t a doctor and she wasn’t going to prostitute herself in front of the town. He didn’t need money that bad!
She was being selfish, just as Angie had been throughout their marriage. He’d brought Laura here to be a mother to Ginny, to care for his house and to be the wife he’d never had.
True, Salvation did need a doctor….
But he and Ginny needed her, too. Couldn’t she see that?
My novella, SALVATION BRIDE has received a 5 book review from Long and Short of it Reviews. Lilac said, “”Salvation Bride” is a wonderful story that I would definitely recommend!”
Read Lilac’s review here.
She rode into town for her own deliverance, but will Doctor Laura Ashton heal Sheriff David Slade’s pain before the dark secret in her past turns up to steal his SALVATION BRIDE?
SALVATION BRIDE is available from The Wild Rose Press and Fictionwise.
Thanks so much for having me here today, Susan