PART 3 — THE DOCTOR WHO DIDN’T WANT GIDEON TO HEAR THE TRUTH

Gideon stood motionless beside the chest.

Rosalie had never seen him look so frightened.

Not when her father had handed him fifty dollars.

Not when the townspeople had whispered about their marriage.

Not even when he had collapsed beside the fireplace.

This was different.

She picked up the notebook.

Do you want me to open the door?

Gideon shook his head.

Then he wrote:

He must not see the bowl.

Rosalie looked toward the kitchen.

The glᴀss jar containing the creature was still sitting on the counter.

She quickly covered it with a cloth and placed it inside a cupboard.

Another knock followed.

“Gideon! I know you’re home.”

Rosalie approached the door.

When she opened it, an elderly man stood on the porch wearing a dark traveling coat.

His silver hair was neatly combed, and a leather medical case hung from his hand.

Behind him stood a younger man holding the reins of two horses.

“Mrs. Rook,” he said pleasantly. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“Rosalie.”

“Edmund Vale. Gideon’s uncle.”

He stepped forward without waiting for an invitation.

“I heard my nephew had been unwell.”

Rosalie blocked his path.

“He’s resting.”

Dr. Vale’s eyes moved toward the cabin interior.

“I should examine him.”

“He has already seen Dr. Mercer.”

For the first time, the older man’s pleasant expression faltered.

“Samuel Mercer?”

“Yes.”

“That was unnecessary.”

Rosalie folded her arms.

“Why?”

Dr. Vale looked at her for a long moment.

“Because Gideon’s condition is complicated. I have treated him since childhood.”

“Then you should be pleased someone is finally investigating it.”

Silence.

The doctor’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“What exactly has Samuel told you?”

Rosalie realized she had revealed too much.

“Nothing that concerns you.”

Dr. Vale smiled again.

But this time, the expression made her uncomfortable.

“You’re a young bride, Mrs. Rook. I would advise you not to involve yourself in matters you don’t understand.”

From behind her, a chair scraped across the floor.

Gideon appeared.

He stood in the doorway, tall and broad, his face expressionless.

Dr. Vale’s attention immediately shifted.

“My boy.”

Gideon didn’t respond.

The doctor reached toward his shoulder.

Gideon stepped away.

Rosalie noticed the movement.

So did Dr. Vale.

His smile disappeared.

“What has happened to your ear?”

Gideon took out his notebook.

The pain is better.

“Better?”

The doctor’s gaze sharpened.

“Impossible.”

Rosalie felt her heart begin beating faster.

“Why impossible?”

Dr. Vale ignored her.

He stared at Gideon.

“Have you allowed someone to put anything inside your ear?”

Gideon wrote:

Something came out.

The doctor went pale.

For several seconds, he didn’t speak.

Then he grabbed Gideon’s arm.

“Where is it?”

Gideon pulled away.

Rosalie stepped between them.

“Do not touch my husband.”

Dr. Vale stared at her.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

“I helped him.”

“You’ve interfered with a condition that took me years to understand.”

“Then explain it.”

The doctor looked toward the kitchen.

His eyes stopped on the cupboard.

Rosalie’s stomach тιԍнтened.

He knew.

He knew something had been removed.

And suddenly she understood why he had come so quickly.

He hadn’t come to check on Gideon.

He had come to see whether the creature was still inside him.

After several uncomfortable minutes, Dr. Vale finally left.

But before mounting his horse, he turned toward Rosalie.

“One piece of advice, Mrs. Rook.”

She waited.

“Marriage is built on trust. You should be careful about believing everything a man tells you.”

Then he rode away.

Rosalie closed the door.

Gideon immediately took her hand.

He led her to the table and opened the notebook.

He knows.

Rosalie nodded.

I think he does.

Gideon wrote another sentence.

He put it there.

Rosalie stared at him.

“Are you certain?”

He nodded slowly.

Then he opened his father’s journal and pointed to a pᴀssage.

The handwriting was shaky.

Edmund visited again today. Gideon cried through the night. I asked what medicine he had given the boy, but Edmund refused to tell me.

Rosalie felt sick.

She looked at the old medical records again.

One document contained a description of Gideon’s childhood symptoms.

Another listed several treatments.

But a third page had been torn in half.

Someone had deliberately removed the most important information.

“Your father was trying to protect you,” she whispered.

Gideon nodded.

Then he wrote:

I thought he abandoned me.

Rosalie looked at him.

He continued.

When I was twelve, Father sent me to live with Edmund. He said I needed treatment. I never saw him again.

Rosalie gently placed her hand over his.

“He may have been trying to find a way to help you.”

Gideon looked down.

For years, he had believed his father had simply given up on him.

Now he was beginning to wonder whether the truth had been much worse.

The next morning, Rosalie rode to Willow Creek alone.

She found Dr. Mercer in his examination room, studying the papers she had brought.

He looked up immediately.

“Where is Gideon?”

“At home.”

“Good. I wanted to speak with you privately.”

He gestured toward a chair.

“I examined the material you showed me yesterday. I also consulted another physician by telegraph.”

Rosalie leaned forward.

“And?”

“The creature you removed appears consistent with a large foreign organism. However, I cannot determine exactly how long it was present or what damage it caused without further examination.”

He paused.

“But the old treatment records concern me more.”

He showed her a page.

There were several entries signed by Dr. Vale.

One mentioned repeated applications of an unidentified substance.

Another described deliberate obstruction of the ear canal during treatment.

Rosalie looked up.

“Why would anyone do that?”

“I don’t know. But it raises serious questions.”

The doctor folded the paper.

“I’ve also discovered that Edmund Vale was never properly licensed to perform the procedure he claimed to have performed on Gideon.”

Rosalie felt a chill.

“Then what do we do?”

“We arrange for Gideon to see a specialist in the city. And we preserve every document.”

Rosalie nodded.

Then Dr. Mercer lowered his voice.

“There’s something else.”

He opened a drawer and removed an old pH๏τograph.

It showed Dr. Vale standing outside a medical building with another man.

Rosalie recognized the second man immediately.

Her father.

She stared at the pH๏τograph.

“Why is my father with him?”

Dr. Mercer shook his head.

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

That evening, Rosalie returned to the ranch carrying the pH๏τograph.

Gideon was sitting beside the fireplace, repairing a broken harness.

When she showed him the picture, he stopped working.

He studied it carefully.

Then he pointed at something in the background.

A wooden sign above the building.

ASHFORD & VALE MEDICAL SUPPLIES.

Rosalie felt her stomach тιԍнтen.

Her father had never mentioned owning a business with Dr. Vale.

In fact, he had spent most of her childhood claiming they were too poor to afford anything.

She turned the pH๏τograph over.

There was writing on the back.

Our agreement must remain private. The boy must never learn what was promised.

Rosalie looked at Gideon.

“What agreement?”

Gideon shook his head.

Then he reached into the leather pouch and removed the sealed envelope his father had hidden.

He broke the seal.

Inside was a single document.

It contained two signatures.

One belonged to Dr. Edmund Vale.

The other belonged to Rosalie’s father.

Beneath them were several lines describing a payment made twenty-six years earlier.

Rosalie read the amount.

Then she read the final sentence.

Her father had accepted money in exchange for keeping a medical secret from Gideon’s family.

But that wasn’t the worst part.

At the bottom of the document was another name.

Rosalie Ashford.

Her own name.

She stared at it, unable to understand.

Gideon took the paper from her hands and pointed to the date.

It was the year she had been born.

Then he turned to the last page.

A handwritten note revealed that her father had known exactly what had happened to Gideon—and had agreed to keep the truth hidden.

Rosalie slowly sat down.

Her father hadn’t simply sold her for fifty dollars because the family was in debt.

He had known who Gideon was.

He had known about the secret.

And he had arranged their marriage for a reason.

Before Rosalie could speak, Gideon reached for his notebook.

He wrote a sentence that made her heart stop.

Your father didn’t sell you to me.

He paused.

Then added:

He sent you here because he knew I would eventually discover the truth.

Rosalie looked at the document again.

A final line had been written beneath the signatures.

THE GIRL MUST NEVER LEARN WHO HER REAL FATHER WAS.

Her hands began to shake.

She looked at Gideon.

Then at the pH๏τograph.

And finally at the name written beneath the document.

The name wasn’t Ashford.

It was Rook.

To be continued in Part 4…