"A Lonesome Lord", (2023) by Gratiana Lovelace

Ch. 02: Seeking medical attention

"A Lonesome Lord," Ch. 02: Seeking medical attention,
January 29, 2023 by Gratiana Lovelace  
(all rights reserved by Gratiana Lovelace; copyrighted 2023); [(1) Story Cover, top far left]

Illustrations: I cast my stories as I write them. So from time to time, I will illustrate my story with actors or illustrations, including: Richard Armitage as Lord Pendleton MacKittrick (aka Sir Mac Pendleton to the Carpenter family), Justine Waddell as the widowed Corinne Carpenter, Noah Carpenter illustration, Bill Peterson as Dr. Finneas Lively, and others as noted.

Author's Notes: This original Regency romance is a work of fiction, and as such, any character names, scenes, locations, or other descriptions were made at the creative discretion of this author. And this is a gentle romance (G to PG-13), but with some frank discussions about love, marriage, and Regency society put to humorous effect. This is my disclaimer.

Chapter 02: Seeking medical attention

As country physicians go, they can be a diffident lot—with varying degrees of education and experience, and sometimes with no formal education. That is why when Lord MacKittrick sought to install the next physician for the Woodbury Village area and for himself, he chose a long established but not elderly London Physician who wished to retire permanently to the countryside.

And with Lord MacKittrick providing/paying for the Woodbury Village doctor's medical offices, nursing and midwife assistants—as well as, a generous quarterly salary, a handsomely refurbished small two story stone manor house with four family bedrooms for the physician and his extended family when they visit, and sleeping rooms at the back of the kitchen for the household staff—he was able to entice the seasoned and well educated Dr. Finneas Lively [(2) above middle left] to retire to the medical practice at Woodbury Village three months ago, after the previous doctor had died of extreme old age four months prior to that.

The good and kind Dr. Lively [(3) above middle right] is aptly named. He is a robust man, walking everywhere in the small Woodbury Village and its lovely forested surroundings, despite his sixty years of age. His somewhat reddish hair is distinguishedly tinged with not much white in it. And his face's ruddy complexion from being out of doors, has the wrinkles of his sixty years--made on a man who smiles and laughs a lot.

When Lord MacKittrick's--Sir Mac Pendleton to the Carpenter family--carriage and entourage reach the outskirts of Woodbury Village, they pull directly into Dr. Lively's small manor estate—with a separate one story stone out building across from the stables for the medical clinic facilities of a patient waiting room, Dr. Lively's medical office, a large examining room that can be turned into a surgery when needed, a small currently empty patient ward of four beds, a bathroom, a small kitchen, a general storage room of non medical supplies, and two small bedchambers for a live in nurse and live in midwife. The remaining staff is a cleaning char woman who comes in from Woodbury village daily to clean the medical clinic in the late afternoons, so it is ready for the next day's patients.

The Coachman drives Lord MacKittrick's carriage straight to the medical clinic—with the advantage of being able to avoid Woodbury Village proper for the moment, to prevent Village busy bodies from gossiping about the young and lovely Widow Carpenter with their bachelor Earl. Lord MacKittrick bounds out of his carriage first, not waiting to assist Mrs. Carpenter and her children down from it. His footmen will see to that.

For her part, Corinne has not had cause to visit the new doctor since he came to their village three months ago. To her mind, he did not come soon enough, because if the former old village doctor had not died one month before her husband's hunting accident, then he might have been able to receive true medical care and perhaps survived. But her husband Will Carpenter died quickly from his injuries six months ago—and she became the Widow Carpenter at the young age of twenty five years.