"Keep us in mind if you need a change." Jonah smiled and nodded to the young lady, then turned his attention back to Leah as Constance left to continue her tasks.
"It was worth asking!" He chuckled. "I'm sure Mrs. Armentrout will stay on with the cooking, but she'll need plenty of help once the hospital is up and running, although I'd like to keep her on at the house." The place was big, meant as a clinic as well as a dwelling, and he certainly didn't have the wherewithall to maintain it.
"It will be different, having to supply meals to patients, numbers that will fluctuate..." Yet another thing to consider, and Jonah was honestly tired of considering!
"So, what ambitions do you have, besides making Kalispell a better place?" he asked Leah. "If the hospital had already been built, what do you think you would be doing with your life?" He honestly couldn't see her as a 'kept woman' or housewife, and he wanted to know what she was interested in.
"Ambitions? Well, I've had little time to consider much of anything else besides the hospital and the orphanage, which I want to be completed before the railroad gets here." She said without hesitation. "Honestly I hate the thought of this what was it, oh yes, Hell On Wheels that follows the railroad, but then they would just be passing through, and not here for very long."
"Sort of like my fears regarding Elias, my father, and his henchmen. That they have left the hospital alone to this point is surprising, as I believed he would do something to get back at me over it." She remarked.
"Maybe he's seen the good in what you're trying to do, so he's leaving it alone?" Jonah suggested, although that wasn't likely. What he dreaded was that Elias was just biding his time, waiting for the building to be complete, for equipment to be brought in, then he'd strike, doing the most damage in terms of money, time and morale.
Jonah just hoped he was wrong.
"I don't think Speed will put up with too much trouble from the rail crew, and for the most part I think they'll be outside town." Of course, the tracks would come right through town, so the camps would have to be close to town, and the men would want to come in during any free time to carouse and drink.
"I don't know, I've heard the camps are essentially their own cities, with saloons, brothels and such? Maybe they'll have no cause to actually come into town?" They should be so lucky!
"To be honest, that is what I thought, I mean, people have seen the need for a hospital, hopefully, he has too." She said wistfully, somehow knowing that such things rarely, if ever, passed through the man's mind. "Or, more to the point he has other things on his mind that do not concern our hospital."
Yet there was always some fragment of hope that Elias Steelgrave would leave well enough alone in so far as the hospital was concerned. As for her safety, that might be a different story, at least at some point. "Marshal Guyer and his deputies will not tolerate any type of trouble from my father or his men, that I know I can count on, and my men." The reference made her smile that they were still across the street from her, still vigilant.
The two of them took her reluctance, more like refusal, to consider a hospital job, quite well. They seemed nice folks and genuine but Constance just had no interest in such a career. And the other woman was correct, she did feel she owed Mrs. Lutz for giving her her current job. Also Clara was easy enough to work for, a bit serious and no nonsense but fair.
She then excused herself to let them converse without her. She was working and needed to stay busy. There were, of course, other customers to deal with.
ooc: Thanks for the thread :) Chat on as long as you want!
Her men...
There was a bit of a complication...constantly being watched, although he was aware that they really were watching her, but around her, past her, looking for any signs of trouble. They were like burly uncles, there to stifle any fun! Not that he had any untoward intentions, no, Leah was special, and he was going to do this right!
"Hopefully, he'll find something else..." Jonah frowned and shook his head. There had been talk of a possible range war between Evergreen and Lost Lake, and that was the last thing the town needed. "Well, something productive. Maybe we can convince him to open a brewery? Or look into huckleberry wine?"
He chuckled and shrugged. "I'd wager you could take care of yourself, should the need arise, but hopefully that will never be a problem for you." He suspected she was armed, and knew well how to use it, and wouldn't hesitate.
"Hopefully, he'll find something else..." Jonah frowned and shook his head.
"Hopefully. Yes, that has been my hope all along." She replied almost wistfully. "There is never a way to understand what he might do, ever." And that was what made her the most fearful. Not for herself but for the hospital itself.
"Well, something productive. Maybe we can convince him to open a brewery? Or look into huckleberry wine?"
She laughed at the suggestion, "Him? I can hardly see him as the owner of anything productive, even if it would profit him. He has cattle and an enormous herd, but that's all for show and the prestige it brings. But my father is above all else, dangerous."
He chuckled and shrugged. "I'd wager you could take care of yourself, should the need arise, but hopefully that will never be a problem for you."
"Yes, I believe I can, and I would hope the same, except for the constant threat of my father." Was her response. Then a smile crept across her lips, "Which brings us back to my earlier question to you Jonah. I hope you weren't trying to avoid an answer." The smile remained.
Ah, there it was again!
But now, Jonah was somehow more comfortable with the idea. Well, he knew now that she was (mostly) aware of his past, and was willing to work with that, and he really had been harboring a deep fondness for her, a hope that...
Moving to rest his hand on hers, he gave it a squeeze. "I'd be a fool to turn you down," he answered, "and I'm done with being that sort of fool! If you think you can make an honest man of me, I won't stop you, and I'll do my best to make sure you aren't disappointed."
He was most of the way there -- she'd seen to that already -- and it was getting easier and easier to see himself having a real future that would amount to something.
She smiled broadly, "See, that wasn't all that difficult was it?" She asked, "Seriously now, we've been beating around the bush for how long Doctor?" A fair question, as it had been some time since their very first encounter."I don't mean to be forward, but one of us needed to say something, so, I did."
"And Jonah, there's no rush to get to anything, it's just that we need to get past the shy stage with this and move forward. I am fully aware of what people might say, actually what they have already been saying, not that I believe they would say anything to you, or in front of you. It's women's gossip. I'm sure you are aware of the way women gossip among themselves."
"Ladies who gossip are usually just jealous," Jonah pointed out with a cheeky grin, then he laughed. "I don't pay much mind to gossip, and I'm not too concerned, since there is no option if they want a doctor!"
At least for now, with him the only doctor in town, and he and Leah hadn't been in any particular circumstances that could be deemed untoward...he'd been careful about that, and was sure that she had, too.
Besides, there were 'her men'...it wasn't as if they could really do anything gossip-worthy when they weren't alone.
"I hope you understand...I was reluctant to tell you why I wasn't...a good choice, but you're right, I've known for quite a while. This is quite different for me. I suppose you, too?"
He didn't think she'd ever been courted before, at least she hadn't mentioned it, not that it mattered, except that it was new territory for them both.