The Doctor Takes a Wife Quotes

“That’s my Sarah,” he said, extending an arm to tickle her nose with a vivid red Indian paintbrush blossom. “Always more concerned for others than herself. It’s one of the things I love about you.” She swatted playfully at the flower, capturing it, and tickling him back.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“If Holt touched so much as one golden hair on Sarah’s head, he promised himself, he’d make the outlaw wish he’d never been born.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“Micah, how are you feeling?” She tried to avoid looking at the small, round metal container beside him in which a bloody, misshapen bullet lay. “Better now, Miss Sarah,” he said in his soft, slurred drawl. “This Dr. Nolan, he’s one fine bullet remover. I barely felt it,” he said. The pain shining in his eyes, and the beads of sweat shimmering on his brow, however, belied his words. “Young Micah, you’re a very polite liar,” Nolan told him. “It’s all right to say it hurt like h—that is, it hurt very badly. You bore up well, though.” “Thank ya, Doctor.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“Just wait a month, and this meadow will be carpeted in bluebonnets,” Sarah promised him. “And the next month, gold and red flowers, Indian blanket, Mexican hat, primroses—Nolan, you can’t believe how beautiful it is!” “I can’t believe how beautiful you are, Sarah,” he said, cupping her cheek. “And as I said in church, how kind, how brave…” “Brave? Me? I’m not brave at all,” she protested. “Milly would tell you I’ve been a quiet little mouse all my life. She’s been the brave one, the leader.” “I don’t think she’d say that anymore, Nurse Sarah. In fact, I think you have all the qualities to make an excellent doctor’s wife.” When his words hit her, she gaped at him. “Dr. Nolan Walker! Did you just propose to me, on our very first outing together?” He grinned. “Ayuh,” he said, in a deliberately exaggerated “Downeast” accent. “We men of Maine don’t waste time. Am I going too fast, sweetheart? I promise you’ll get your courtship, never fear, but you and I both know I’ve been courting you every time we met—as much as you’d let me, anyway—ever since Founder’s Day last fall.” She considered his words. “I guess that’s true. All right, as long as you don’t stint on the courtship—we Texas ladies set great store by courting, I’ll have you know—I agree.” “Did you just say yes, Miss Sarah, on our very first outing as a courting couple?” She nodded, blushing a rosy pink that made her even lovelier still. He couldn’t wait any longer, and lowered his lips to hers.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“Oh, Nolan, he’s nothing like the sweet young man I loved before he went to war!” “Ssssh, sweetheart,” he soothed, still holding her and resting his face against her hair. “War has a way of changing men, and frequently not for the better. But it’s over now. You’re safe.” “But you heard him! He didn’t just threaten me, he threatened the whole town!” she wailed. “What are we going to do?” “We won’t have to do anything,” Nolan assured her. “Those were empty threats. Some men don’t take rejection very well, that’s all.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“Is this man bothering you, sweetheart?” Nolan said, coming forward and placing a proprietary hand on her shoulder. Sarah half turned and jumped, clearly startled. “Nolan! I’m glad you’re here. Please, just take me home.” Her face was flushed dully red with misery as she reached for his arm and took hold of it. He looked down into her eyes, hoping she read the love in them. “Of course.” Then he looked back at Holt, making sure the man wasn’t going for a gun. He wasn’t, but if looks could kill, Nolan knew he would have been sprawled on the floor. Clearly conscious of his enthralled audience, Holt’s face screwed itself into a mask of scorn as he looked him up and down. “This is the fellow you left me for? This Yankee swell in a frock coat? How could you, Sarah? Your ma an’ pa must be rollin’ in their graves, knowin’ their daughter’s cozy with a Yankee.” “That’s enough,” Nolan snapped. “The lady’s leaving, and you’re not to bother her further.” Holt cocked his head and drawled, “I declare, he talks funny.” A few of the onlookers chuckled. Nolan clenched his fists, but Sarah’s hand tightened on his wrist. “Please, let’s just go.” They turned and started for the door, but Holt wasn’t done. “You’ll be sorry, Sarah! This whole town’s gonna be sorry you threw me over!”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“I’m here to make it up to you, Sarah. Run away with me, and we’ll get married, and I’ll introduce you to th’ boys. We’ll have a fine life—you’ll see. A couple of ’em are married, too, or they have lady friends here ’n’ there that ride along with us from time to time.” She couldn’t believe her ears. “You think I’d even consider leaving with you to live an outlaw’s life, always on the run?” “Aw, Sarah, we have a grand time, livin’ high off the hog. We’re free to do whatever we want, whenever we want. We eat the best food, drink the best wine—our ladies are drippin’ in jewelry and fancy clothes. But I’m willin’ to leave it all if you insist.” “‘Leave it all’?” “Sure. That’s how much I love you, sweetheart. If you don’t want to live free as a bird, I’ll come back and have that ranch with you. We’ll let Milly stay there, too, of course, but it ain’t fittin’ for no lady to be runnin’ a ranch anyway.” “I told you, Milly’s married now,” she managed to say, in the midst of the temper that was threatening to boil over into angry words. “I think her husband might take exception to that idea.” “We’ll buy him out, then,” he said grandly. “They can go find some other ranch. I know you always set great store by that old place.” She was conscious of the handful of other diners in the restaurant, and remembered again that her mother said ladies did not make a scene in public. She folded her hands in her lap and looked away. “I’m sorry, Jesse. I loved you, and I prayed every night during the war for your return, but now—” He straightened. “Loved me? You don’t love me any more? There’s someone else, isn’t there?” he demanded, his narrowed eyes twin smoldering fires. She looked away from his glare. She didn’t want to tell him about Nolan, didn’t want to hear his reaction to the news that his former fiancée was in love with one of the very Yankees he hated so much, especially since she and Nolan hadn’t even had the chance to explore their new feelings for one another yet. But she wouldn’t lie, not about the relationship that had come to mean so much to her. She just wouldn’t say any more than she had to. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I’m sorry, there is. I wish you well, Jesse. And now I’d best be getting home.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“I’m sorry, Jesse. I loved you, and I prayed every night during the war for your return, but now—” He straightened. “Loved me? You don’t love me any more? There’s someone else, isn’t there?” he demanded, his narrowed eyes twin smoldering fires. She looked away from his glare. She didn’t want to tell him about Nolan, didn’t want to hear his reaction to the news that his former fiancée was in love with one of the very Yankees he hated so much, especially since she and Nolan hadn’t even had the chance to explore their new feelings for one another yet. But she wouldn’t lie, not about the relationship that had come to mean so much to her. She just wouldn’t say any more than she had to. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I’m sorry, there is. I wish you well, Jesse. And now I’d best be getting home.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“Sarah Matthews, is that you?” the man repeated again, using Jesse’s beloved slow drawl. “Don’t you know me, Sarah-girl?” “Jesse? Jesse Holt?” A smile spread across the lean, beard-stubbled cheeks. Jesse’s smile. “The very same.” She tried nonetheless to hold on to the reality she had known for almost a year now. “You can’t be Jesse, mister. Jesse Holt is dead. Jesse never came back from the war.” The stranger masquerading as Jesse had the grace to look ashamed. Taking his eyes off her face, he stared at the line he was toeing in the mud in the street. “Yes, well, I’m sorry about that. I never meant to make you wait that long. I can tell you’re surprised to see me. How are you, Goldilocks?” She had never liked this nickname Jesse had given her, but his use of it established beyond all doubt that the man walking toward her, so near now that she could almost reach out and touch him, was really her long-lost fiancé Jesse Holt. “Where have you been?” She was surprised at the surge of anger she felt within her, and she could tell by the way his eyes widened, then narrowed, that he was, too, for he lost his confident grin for a moment. But then he found it again. “Well, now, I’ll tell you all about that, Goldilocks, I promise I will. What are you doing in town? I thought I’d find you out on your pa’s ranch. As a matter of fact I was just waitin’ for my horse to have a shoe replaced down at livery yonder, and then I was goin’ to ride out and surprise you.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“How do you feel, sw—Sarah?” He’d been about to call her sweetheart. The thought sent hot color racing up into her cheeks and her gaze dropped shyly into her lap against the earnest intensity of his blue gaze. “Like a butterfly left out in the desert after it’s been trampled by a maddened bull,” she confessed, smiling and raising her eyes to him again. “I hurt everywhere, Nolan, but not as bad as I did yesterday. And I can’t seem to get enough to drink,” she added, glancing longingly at the water pitcher on her bedside stand. He took the hint, and poured her a glass of water, sitting down in the nearby chair as if his knees were suddenly wobbly. “Thank God,” he breathed, his eyes suspiciously wet.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“He’d lived for those letters, he remembered. He’d imagined meeting and marrying Miss Sarah Matthews, and bringing his bride up to meet his friend at Beaumont Hall. But the visit was not to be—Jeff died, despite Nolan’s care and desperate prayers, and once he was gone, there was no real reason for Nolan to remain at Beaumont Hall. The “Spinsters’ Club” had invited him and a couple other candidates to come for Founders’ Day. He’d ridden southward, knowing Sarah Matthews would be as beautiful in person as she was interesting in her letters, and hoping she would not hate him because he was a Yankee.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“C-c-cold,” she muttered when the sound of his footsteps caused her to open one eye a trifle wider. “Tell N-Nolan…sorry.” She doesn’t even recognize me. “I am Nolan, sweetheart,” he said, “and you have nothing to apologize for. I’m going to take good care of you,” he told her, leaning down close so she could see him. “You’re going to be fine, sweetheart,” he promised, though he had no idea if he was telling the truth or not.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“I won’t have you overtaxing yourself, Sarah. You…you’re too important to me.” She froze in the doorway, caught by his words and the intensity in his eyes. “Nolan…” He raised a hand to ward off her objection. “I know, I know. We agreed not to speak of this. But I won’t let you endanger yourself any more than you already have, Sarah.” Her eyes stung with unshed tears. Her throat felt thick with words she wanted to say. “I…that is, thank you, Nolan. For caring about my welfare.” “I would do more than care, Sarah. You know that.” Impulsively, she reached out a hand and touched his cheek, bristly with the beard he hadn’t taken time to shave this morning. “Yes. I know, and I—” She caught herself, not wanting to blurt out something she hadn’t thought through. “We’ll talk, Nolan, when this is over….” He covered the hand that still cupped his cheek. “Yes, we will. It seems we’re always postponing our talks.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“Nolan’s first impulse, when he found Sarah and Prissy waiting at his office after he returned from yet another call upon a new influenza victim, was to forbid Sarah to have anything to do with nursing the sick. She’d done more than enough already in her care for the Gilmores. She was too sheltered, too fragile…too precious to him. He did not want her exposed again to the ravages of influenza.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“Her fears must have shown on her face, for he reached out a hand and cupped her cheek. “Don’t worry, dear Sarah,” he said, in that flat downeast accent she was coming to love. “We doctors learn to doze in chairs, eyes closed, but with our ears attuned to any change. I’ll manage. Now go sleep—doctor’s orders.” She managed a weak smile at his words and left, sure she would never sleep a wink for worrying.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“And is her boy Anson as ornery as ever? I imagine he’s all grown up now, isn’t he?” Sarah nodded. “He’s grown a foot since he went away to war, and filled out some. He’s quite the handsome charmer now.” “Ohhhhh?” No one could inject such a depth of meaning into a single syllable and a lifted brow as her sister. “He tried flirting with me, but I indicated I wasn’t interested,” Sarah said loftily, pretending a great interest in brushing a cookie crumb off her bodice. “Though I imagine the Spinsters’ Club ladies will be.” “Why?” Milly said, ignoring Sarah’s second remark for the first. “Because of our Yankee doctor?” To her dismay, Sarah felt a blush spreading up her cheeks. “Of course not. I don’t know why you and Prissy keep trying to pair us off.” Milly only smiled. “We agreed to be friends,” Sarah said, “and then he didn’t even show up at the taffy pull, and hasn’t mentioned it since. Though I imagine it was because he was so busy taking care of all those sick folks,” she admitted, determined to be fair.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“See, you do care about him! Sarah, what Nolan Walker needs is a good wife to encourage him, to see that he eats properly, make sure he gets his rest.” The picture Prissy had painted of Sarah as devoted wife, caring for Nolan, was a very appealing one. But she couldn’t dwell on it, because Prissy wasn’t done. “When are you going to get off your lofty perch and let yourself love him?” she went on. “That excuse that he’s a Yankee’s wearing a little thin by now, don’t you think?” Sarah stared at her as they had reached their little cottage and went in. She hung up her coat with a sigh, then took Prissy’s coat and hung it up, too. “Dr. Walker and I have become friends. But how can he and I be anything more if he’s not a believer? The Bible warns about being unequally yoked, you know.” Prissy groaned exasperatedly. “Sarah Matthews, if you gave that man the slightest bit of encouragement, he’d be sitting in the front pew every Sunday morning, and you know it.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“He couldn’t stop his eyes from searching for her, though, during the next fortnight, as he walked to the hotel for some of his meals and to the mercantile for supplies. But he didn’t encounter the shy, golden-haired beauty making her rounds of deliveries to either place.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have told you all that, but after the way she reacted toward you, I thought it was best that you know.” His gaze locked with hers. “And I find you so easy to talk to, Sarah.” She looked down, her heart beating faster at the directness of his gaze. “You may trust me not to gossip, Nolan,” she assured him. “I knew that,” he said. The clock struck the hour. “And now I must bid you good night.” He rose. She stood up, too, and went to the door with him. He looked down at her as he opened the door, the planes of his angular face shadowed by the darkness. He smiled. She had the oddest feeling he had wanted to kiss her. She couldn’t have allowed it, of course. They had agreed to be friends, but even if she was willing to forget he was a Yankee, she reminded herself, he wasn’t a Christian. The Bible warned against being unequally yoked in marriage, so friends was all they could ever be.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“I reckon you’ll be on the arm of that fine Yankee doctor. My, you two made a handsome couple dancing at the wedding. You and he have probably been sparkin’ ever since, haven’t you?” she asked with a cackle of laughter. Sarah felt herself flushing and shook her head. “No, Mrs. Detwiler, we’re not courting. We just danced one dance together….” “Not from any lack of ‘want to’ on his part, I’ll warrant. It was plain as the nose on my face. Now, don’t you let one of your Spinsters’ Club friends snatch up that fine man first,” she admonished, shaking a gnarled finger at Sarah. “You be like your sister—Milly knew a good thing when she saw it and she didn’t dillydally and let some other woman get close to that handsome Englishman a’ hers!” Sarah marveled inwardly, thinking how disapproving the older woman had been of Milly when she’d founded the Spinsters’ Club, and how Nicholas had won her over. “Yes, ma’am, and perhaps when the right man comes along, I’ll—” “You might not recognize it when it happens. I didn’t, when my George first started coming to call. You think again about that Dr. Walker, miss. I know what I’m talking about.” “Yes ma’am,” Sarah said obediently. It never did any good to argue with Mrs. Detwiler.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“She would have been surprised to know he thought of her every night when he went into the hotel restaurant right across the street from the mayor’s house for his supper. If he had been on better terms with Sarah, he would have called to bring her some little thing as a housewarming present, but he hadn’t thought she’d welcome such a visit.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“So what are you going to wear?” Prissy asked. Sarah shrugged. “I don’t know…I suppose you have a suggestion, now that you’ve seen the entire contents of my wardrobe?” Prissy giggled. “I think you should wear that lovely red grenadine dress with the green piping. Very festive. And men like red dresses.” “I don’t give a fig what color Dr. Walker likes!” “Ah, but I said ‘men.’ You applied my generalization to Dr. Walker.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“Or maybe you should make the biscuits. I declare, yours are the lightest, the fluffiest…I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make biscuits like that.” Prissy let out a gusty, dramatic sigh. “Oh, I don’t know…the ones you made this morning were…um, much better,” Sarah told her with a grin. “You mean they were almost edible this time, as opposed to the lead sinkers I made last night for dinner,” Prissy said, with a rueful laugh. “Your sisters’ pigs probably wouldn’t eat them.” “It just takes practice. You’ll be making fine biscuits before long, I promise.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“Thank you, Dr. Walker,” she said, standing. “I—I appreciate what you’ve done. I’m sure it will heal up nicely now.” She’d have to return another day to see about the curtains and the wagon. Right now she wanted nothing more than to escape his gaze and that of the Pattersons and go back to the cottage. She’d doubted he’d accept payment for his impromptu doctoring, but perhaps she could bring him a cake by way of thanks. “It’s a blessing he was there,” Mrs. Patterson murmured in agreement. “Oh, I’m not done, Miss Matthews. That’s a nasty gash you have, and it’s going to need proper disinfectant and some stitches to heal properly. You need to come down to the office with me where I can do it properly.” Her eyes flew open. “Oh, I’m sure that’s not necessary,” she protested. “And I’m sure it is. Come along, Miss Matthews,” he said, tucking her uninjured arm in his. “But—” “Best listen to the doctor, dear,” Mrs. Patterson was saying. “Yes, he’s treated wounds on the battlefield, after all,” her spouse added. She felt herself being pulled out the door, willy-nilly. She trusted his medical judgment, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to be alone with him, even if she was only a patient to him in this instance.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“You…you’re an accomplished dancer,” she said, determined to give credit where it was due. “Surprised?” he asked. “I assure you, Miss Matthews, we Yankees do not all live in caves, coming out only to devour raw fish.” Before she could catch it, her mouth fell open at his gibe. “Are you making fun of me, sir?” He grinned. “Not at all. I was only teasing you, my thorny Southern rose.” How could one man be so infuriating? “I’m not ‘your’ anything, Dr. Walker.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“My dance, I believe?” “Are you sure you’ve danced with every other female in town, from the oldest to the youngest?” Sarah asked archly. He raised a brow, and in that moment she knew she’d made a mistake. “Ah, so you were watching,” he said, grinning. “I most certainly was not,” Sarah insisted. “I never sat down myself, except when the musicians took a break. I only just realized that you hadn’t made good your threat to claim a dance.” “Threat?” he echoed. “I believe I only requested a dance, as proof of your goodwill. And I was waiting for a waltz, Miss Matthews.” “Oh? Why?” she asked. Was this girl asking the daring questions really herself? Again, the raised brow. “If you have to ask that, Miss Sarah Matthews, then it’s no wonder the South lost the war.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife

“Why don’t we agree to be civil, even pleasant, to one another today?” Dr. Walker went on. “We can go back to being best enemies tomorrow, if you like.” “‘Best enemies?’” she repeated, and sternly smothered an impulse to laugh. “What an absurd man you are, Dr. Walker! Very well, just for today I’ll pretend I don’t wish you’d ride out of town and never come back.” She’d thought her last words would make him flinch, but he only grinned. “If you mean it, you have to agree to dance with me, Miss Matthews. Just one dance.”
― Laurie Kingery, The Doctor Takes a Wife