Holding Savannah

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Savannah swiped the sweat off her brow as she assisted the doctor sewing up a wound a villager sustained from a skirmish. The villager claimed an animal kicked him, but Savannah has seen enough wounds like this to know it had come from a weapon. A human weapon, not hooves. She’d heard rumors a militia was growing in the forest several hours away. She heard about villages being burned to the ground and villagers stolen or slaughtered. It was terrible. She didn’t think it had come so close to Kinshasa. Then again, they were the only hospital for miles.

If that wasn’t bad enough, an Ebola outbreak was spreading through the country. Her hospital had treated over twenty cases in the past few weeks. Several were already dead and many more dying. Who knew how many were out in the villages left untreated.

The staff was scarce and supplies always low, but she loved it here. Her parents moved out here when she was still a child. Wanting to help the people. Her mother was an ambassador until the embassy was attacked and her mother was killed. Her father fled to the states with Savannah to keep her safe. Once she was old enough, Savannah went to nursing school and applied for a job to come back and aid the hospital. She knew it was what her mother would have wanted her to do. She loved this country and its people.

She wanted to honor her memory and save the people she sacrificed her life for. Her father knew he couldn’t keep her away so he moved back with her leading a military group in Ngabe, only a few hours from her.

The recent attacks made her question that bravado and her father’s safety. The militia was growing stronger. Bolder. How long before they came after Kinshasa? It was a peaceful, vibrant city. She would hate for this growing war to come near it. Or even her father who was living not far from where the group had been spotted. She prayed for his safety every day and hoped the fighting would stop soon.

“Savannah, go home. I can finish here,” the doctor ordered as he finished the suture.

“I’m fine,” she said before yawning.

“Yes, I can see,” the doctor chuckled, glancing at her over the rim of his glasses. “You work so hard, for one so young.”

“Dr. Jabari, I work no harder than anyone else.” Savannah was tired. She’d been at the hospital since late yesterday afternoon. She had already worked her twelve-hour shift but hadn’t left when a truckload of injured farmers came in. She didn’t have anything to do besides be at the hospital. She loved it here. She loved the people she worked with and helping others. So many people needed their help but couldn’t get it because of distance, or they didn’t have enough medicine.

Savannah had known Dr. Jabari since she was a child. She’d met him when her mother had become ill, and he treated her. He’d been there to comfort her when he pronounced her mother dead. When Savannah had applied for the nurses’ position here, she’d been elated to learn Dr. Jabari was still there. He’d become a friend and a mentor. At times like this a father. Scolding her for working too much. What other choice did she have? They didn’t have enough staff to aid everyone.

Dr. Jabari shook his head at her clucking his tongue. He left the room with Savannah on his heels. “I’ve known you, almost all your life, Savannah. I’ve helped you through good times and bad. Your mother would be proud of the woman you’ve become. The accomplishments you have achieved.”

“Thank you,” she said bashfully. “I just feel I can do more. My mother was always out and about talking to the people. I want to go to the villages and help them. Like my father does.” Her father was a colonel in the army, patrolling the river.

Dr. Jabari cupped her shoulder and gazed at her lovingly. “You have a good heart, but you cannot go into the villages. It is not safe.”

Savannah wanted to growl in frustration. She was so tired of people telling her what to do and always be safe. She hated hiding in the city while the people were being hurt. It wasn’t fair.

“I know you want to help,” Dr. Jabari continued. “And you are. More than you know.”

“Yes, the people of Kinshasa. But what about those that are too far from aid?” She didn’t want to seem unkind, but there were more than just the people of Kinshasa to worry about. The militia in the forest was growing stronger. Freely attacking villages that had scarce food and water. They were peaceful people. Who knew who could be attacked next. Most of the villages didn’t have phones or radios to contact for help. They were on their own. So many people who needed help from the militia but would never get it. It broke her heart.

Or they could be ravaged by disease. So many things tearing the country apart. She hated feeling her hands were tied and couldn’t help. The government couldn’t give them a bigger army or more medicine to combat Ebola. What were they going to do? The death toll kept rising, and more cases were being brought in. If it wasn’t one thing destroying her beloved country it was another. That was the way of things here, but they didn’t have to be.

“You remind me of your mother. She was always worried about everyone.” Savannah looked up at him with tears in her eyes. Talking about her mother always did. She missed her so much. It’s why she had moved back here. To feel closer to her. Her mother had told her once that this was where she’d been happiest in her life. To watch the people prosper and live in harmony. “But Savannah,” Dr. Jabari scolded. “You can’t save them all. It is a hard fact to face for any person. You can only do what you can.”

She knew he was right. She just felt she could do more.

“Thank you, doctor.”

“Go home. You need rest. Tomorrow, you leave to visit your father.” He smiled warmly tapping her cheek before leaving.

Knowing he was right, at least about sleep, Savannah collected her things and left for her apartment. She was excited to see her father. It had been several months. She just didn’t want to leave when the people of Kinshasa needed her. A break would be nice though. Away from the fighting and the blood.

“You win, Dr. Jabari. I’ll see you when I get back.” She kissed him on the cheek and headed home.

She shared her apartment with Fiona, a woman who was also a nurse and volunteering her time. Fiona had moved here a few months ago when she said she was tired of her harping mother and overbearing sisters always telling her what to do. Savannah had seen a photo of them once. Thirteen girls and a tall, imposing man. Savannah couldn’t imagine what life must have been like growing up for Fiona as the baby. As an only child, all she had was her absent parents but a strict governess. That was bad enough.

Lost in thought, Savannah almost ran into someone who blocked her path. She stopped startled then smiled when she saw who it was. “Jonathan,” she cried throwing her arms around her friend. She met Jonathan at the hospital one night when he brought in a fellow soldier. He worked in security protecting the city. He had moved from London around the same time as she moved back, and they’d become fast friends.

“Savannah,” he hugged her close.

She smelled his familiar scent of coconut and breathed deeply. “I’ve been so worried about you.”

“I’m perfectly safe. I just got back and wanted to see you first thing.”

Savannah stepped out of his arms and looked up at his light skin and blue eyes. His blonde hair was so dirty it was almost brown. He appeared older than his twenty-seven years. He looked a sight. Even his uniform was covered in dirt. And was that blood? “Are you injured?”

Jonathan looked down at the large blood stain on his uniform. “No, it’s not mine.”

Savannah wanted to question him further but knew there were things he couldn’t tell her and things she didn’t want to know. She knew all too well the ramifications of war. She’d been sewing them up and burying them as they’d come in. But to see a dear friend so close to it hit home for her.

“Savannah are you well?” he asked her concerned when she turned pale.

“Yes, thank you. I think it’s just all this heat getting to me. I need to go home and rest,” she said as she headed for home again. Her apartment was only a few blocks away.

“Allow me to escort you.” He held out an elbow for her.

“Oh, there’s no need,” she protested though it was a wasted effort. Jonathan was always a gentleman.

“I insist. There is something I wanted to talk to you about,” he said taking her hand and placing it in the crook of his elbow. It wasn’t the first time he’d done it, so she didn’t think much of it.

“Oh.” Her eyes brows shot up in shock. Was he being reassigned? A promotion. “Do tell.”

“Yes, well,” he stuttered as his hands shook. She’d never seen Jonathan so nervous before.

Savannah stopped and faced him. “Jonathan, you know you can tell me anything,” she encouraged him. Whatever he had to say couldn’t be all that bad.

“I know.” He squeezed her hand over his elbow. “You’re my dearest friend. I hate to think what my life would have been like stationed here without having met you.”

“I shudder to think,” she teased which made Jonathan chuckle as she had hoped.

Jonathan looked down at their hands before gazing back at her eyes. She didn’t know why but she didn’t trust that look. He was nervous to say something to her, but she couldn’t figure out what. It couldn’t be about his work because he would have told her already. “Jonathan, what’s wrong?”

Jonathan shook his head. “There is nothing wrong, I just don’t know how to ask this.”

“Ask?” she asked shocked. What on earth could he be nervous about asking her? Unease settled low in her stomach. There was only a handful of things that came to mind that a man would be nervous to ask a woman. She wasn’t anxious at the moment to hear any of them.

“Savannah Black,” he said smiling at her though not quite reaching his eyes before dropping to one knee in the middle of the sidewalk. Pedestrians continued walking around them, not paying attention but Savannah was riveted by Jonathan and what she was sure he was about to ask. Her throat seized up, unable to stop the words coming out of his mouth, “Will you marry me?”