"Leah knows...most of it, anyway, she knew before she asked me to court her." Jonah chuckled. "I'm not quite sure what her research was, but that was what was holding me back. Well, some, anyway, and it still makes me question her judgement."
He laughed again, nervously, then toyed with his empty glass. "I've been studying, over a year now, and I read the Journal of Medicine, trying to learn what I can. Of course, books are only so good..." He shrugged. "I came out here where I didn't think anyone would really notice, but then, after Whitefish, I began to care."
Why was that so hard to admit that he'd had a change of heart, that the gambler and con man pretending to be a doctor, and hoping no to have to live up to that, now truly wanted to take care of people, to be respected, to have a home...to deserve the heart of an amazing woman?
"What is important, Jonah, is you have turned a very big corner that many never even approach, such as our friends the Steelgraves. Leah excepted, of course. To become honest with one's self is perhaps the hardest thing one can do, do I am proud of you for that, along with a couple of other things." Josiah said plainly enough, speaking from his own experience, that he need not go into.
"Being a frontier doctor requires only the desire to be of help, and, to do no harm. You have done that. So the education you have, and that which you are acquiring will serve you well as we move forward with this project of ours, don't you think?"
Silent for a moment, Jonah nodded. It was a hard realization that Josiah Boone was the first real father-figure that he'd had. His mother had tried her best, but alcohol, laudanum and poor decisions had made it difficult for her. He had adored his mother when he was a boy, it was just the two of then against the world when there wasn't one of the long string of men she cozied up to to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
Few of those men had been any sort of role model, although he'd actually learned from some of the negative experiences what not to do.
But Dr. Boone...he was a good man, and even with knowing about Jonah's past, was willing to be a friend.
"I plan to do what I can, and I intend to learn as much as I can, to be the doctor that Le...the town expects me to be." He grinned. "And I have you to teach me all your decades of wisdom! I'll be fine!"
Josiah laughed at the 'decades of wisdom' remark. "Lad, I've forgotten more than I ever knew, so you'll be in for a doozy of a ride on that one." He said, "Learning never hurt anyone, and practice, when the opportunity arises, is the most valuable of all lessons. You've done some very good things, Marshal Guyer for one. He probably owes you his life. And there are other instances where you have shown your medical mettle, not everything is life or death, you know."
"I suppose I may have said this to you before, I came back because of you and what I have heard about what you are trying and succeeding to do. Become a doctor. Yes, Leah and her hospital didn't hurt, but the chance to help with your progress was the catalyst." Then he grinned, "One day Jonah, they'll say we did great things, you and I! So buckle up, the territory needs us, and you especially. Now, maybe just one more drink."
"I can't imagine anyone saying anything about me," Jonah muttered, shaking his head. He poured them refills, but just stared into the amber liquid in his glass. "I've always tried to stay out of the lights, to go unnoticed. It's best not to make too much fuss when you're running cons."
With a chuckle, he leaned back in his chair. "It's going to take some practice being 'normal', but I think the profits are worth it." With a grin, he raised his glass. "To changing, and all that comes with it." He took a sip, then set the glass back on the table. He wasn't going to start drinking in excess again, those days were past.
"I said 'one day', Jonah and that might not be for a while yet, and certainly not today." Josiah joshed him. "Now, this normal business is highly overrated, so far as I'm concerned, and, I've had a while to look it over. What's normal for some is abnormal to others. Keep that in mind."
Then Jonah gave a toast; "To changing, and all that comes with it."
"I'll drink to that!" Josiah stated as they sipped their drinks, none of that tossing off the drinks like young men tend to do. "You know, this change business will be something we are all about to experience. That hospital will make all of us change, bank on it!"
"Well, I've never been a fan of change," Jonah admitted, "although you're right, and so much has already changed. Sometimes it's hard to keep up, I prefer things to be more stable, even if 'stable' is chaotic."
Life had been so much simpler before Kalispell...before Leah. "But, then, I was always alone before this, not that I minded, it was easier not having anyone to worry about." He toyed with his half-empty glass. "But, I think it's good to have partners in misery!"
Josiah smiled and then said, "Change is always a challenge, no matter whether it benefits one or not. Even the good change is difficult sometimes, and Jonah, your changes are all in the wonderful category. Leah, the hospital, I mean, it would be hard for things to be going more your way."
"Now the hospital will be a handful at first getting acclimated to all that it presents to you. But as I said, Jonah, you will not be alone in this, we'll be right there with you, Especially Leah. I mean, what did you expect her to do? Take an extended vacation that the two of you most certainly deserve? No, she'll be right in the thick of things with you!" He assured Jonah.
"She's amazing, isn't she?" Jonah smiled and shook his head. "I'm coming around to the idea of being a good person for her...for me, but now I worry that my past will catch up to me."
He chuckled, wanting to take another drink but refraining. "If it isn't one thing, it's another, right? And there's no use fretting on that now. We have the hospital to concentrate on, and it's best to worry about things as they come." Besides, the whole reason he'd come somewhere as remote as Kalispell was because he doubted that anyone would ever bother him here.
"She's amazing, isn't she?" Jonah smiled and shook his head. "I'm coming around to the idea of being a good person for her...for me, but now I worry that my past will catch up to me."
Josiah leaned forward looking John right in the eyes, "It already has Jonah. Perhaps not everyone knows your past aside from myself, and of course, Leah. You just told me who you were, and where you came from. I hate to break it to you my boy, but you are no longer that man, and haven't been for quite some time the way I read it."
Then Jonah continued, "If it isn't one thing, it's another, right? And there's no use fretting on that now. We have the hospital to concentrate on, and it's best to worry about things as they come."
"Probably the best way to handle things." Josiah agreed."One at a time."
Josiah Boone was looking at a different man from the one he had worked with before. A far more confident man. Leah may have done that. Change happens when there is either no other choice, or, there is a choice worth making that effort for. Josiah was not about to argue which one had happened to the man, but one of those had, if not both. He smiled life was good, at least for the moment.