Page 45 of Cutter’s Lady

“More forms to fill out,” Mary announced, and planted the pile of papers on Catherine’s desk. “I’m showing Leslie around. Want to give her the four-star tour of the school?”

“Love to.” Catherine set down her stack of books and jumped up to take Leslie’s arm. After an hour exploring the school and learning all about the children’s programs, Sister Mary Margaret pulled Leslie away and led her back to the house-like building. Leslie discovered that it was the medical area, consisting of two exam rooms, an office, a small surgery, an overnight ward and a tiny bedroom. “This is where I sleep,” Mary explained. “We usually have a child or two in the hospital, so we need someone near at night. I don’t know, though. Now that we have the X-ray, we’ll have to put it someplace. It’s either here or the office.” She shrugged. “Oh, well, we’ll work it out. I’d rather have the machine, no matter what we have to move.”

“Did, uh, Cutter get it fixed?”

“What? Oh, the generator? Yeah. An hour or two ago. If you need to charge your cell phone, you can do it in here. The rooms don’t have electricity.”

“Oh, thank you, yes,” Leslie said with relief. Keeping her cell phone charged had been challenging, even with the backup battery and travel charger she had brought.

“Cutter finally went up to his room to sleep,” Mary Margaret continued. “Poor guy. He’s constantly working whenever he’s here. Who knows why he keeps coming back.”

“He seems very fond of you.”

“Yes, he likes us, especially the children. And you can see how much they love him.”

“I was a little surprised,” Leslie admitted. “I wouldn’t have figured him for a man who liked children—or vice versa.”

“There’s a lot more to Cutter than meets the eye. When he was younger, he was easier to read—more open—but then, well… life changes us all, doesn’t it? He doesn’t trust as easily.” Sister Mary Margaret opened the back door of the hospital, and they were once again in the courtyard.

Leslie wanted to know what Mary meant. She wanted to know what Cutter had been through. Not that it would matter in the end; nothing real could ever exist between two people so different. But still, she couldn’t help but want to know everything she could about him. Leslie’s normal curiosity was in overdrive. But she didn’t know how to ask Mary without seeming like she was prying. Or, worse, seeming like she was obsessed with Cutter.

Mary pointed toward a small building, and Leslie did her best to redirect her interest to the tour. “There’s the pump house for our well. I’m afraid everything is still very old-fashioned around here. I’m working on getting a Peace Corps volunteer to implement more modern farming methods. Of course, that means purchasing equipment.”

“Where do you get your funding?”

“Contributions. We receive almost nothing from the church, just the services of three nuns. Larry’s donated two years of his time. I don’t know what we’ll do when he leaves this summer. There’s a board of trustees, which does most of the fund raising for me.”

“How does Cutter fit in to all this?”

“Oh, he’s our biggest money saver.”

“You mean he flies the things in free of charge?”

“Sure, ever since he inherited that flying service. Before that we had to pay to rent a plane. But Cutter does more than fly things in. He transports the goods to his plane, and he finds a lot of the supplies. He’s always scrounging for us.”

Leslie stared. “Somehow I can’t quite connect this picture of him with the Cutter I know.”

“He tries to put on a hard front. He’s lived through a lot, seen a lot. It made him tough, but it also made him compassionate. He loves these kids as much as any of us.”

“He said—he said you saved his life.”

Sister Mary Margaret glanced at her, surprised. “He told you that? Yeah, I guess you could say I saved his life. About seven years ago, when I was first down here, he was brought into the hospital where I worked. It was in a remote place near Metapeque. There was only one doctor in the hospital. Cutter was brought in with several other men, all of them shot up. The doctor took the worst first, and another nurse and I tried to keep the others from bleeding to death. Fortunately, we were successful—in Cutter’s case, that is.”

“Shot? How?” An icy band wrapped around Leslie’s heart.

“That was back when he was an adviser in San Cristóbal.”

“Adviser?”

“Yeah—with the Air Force. He was in the U.S. Air Force and was assigned to the San Cristóbal army as a military consultant. That was under the old regime.”

“I remember Mr. Maldenado saying he worked with the former government here. But if Cutter was just a consultant, what was he doing getting shot?”

“Rebel fighters don’t stop to ask questions when they open fire on an army jeep.”

“Oh.” Leslie frowned. “How do you live with so much violence?”

Sister Mary Margaret sighed. “We just learn to. But it’s also a beautiful place with some of the kindest, friendliest people on earth. It’s awe-inspiring to me to see that spirit even amongst turmoil. And nothing is perfect. I get more out of my life here than I used to back in the U.S.”