Chapter 3: The Sanctuary in Appomattox
Two days later, Evelyn did not stay in the suburban house to brood over the silence.
She packed two canvas duffel bags, locked the Richmond residence, and drove ninety miles southwest into the rolling piedmont hills of Appomattox County.
There, situated on a fifty-acre tract of native white oak forest and wild clover meadows, sat *The St. Jude Community Health & Botanical Sanctuary*—a historic rural clinic and organic medicinal herb cooperative that Evelyn had co-founded with her late husband, Thomas, twenty-five years earlier.
The sanctuary had struggled during the pandemic, its timber clinic buildings needing structural repair, its herb drying barns sitting half-empty.
When Evelyn’s station wagon rumbled up the gravel driveway, the morning mist was rising off the James River tributaries.
Waiting on the porch of the main timber dispensary was Dr. Marcus Hayes, seventy-one, a retired country physician who had delivered half the children in the county. Marcus wore faded denim overalls and a flannel shirt, his silver hair catching the morning sun as he held a basket of freshly harvested valerian root.
""Heard you set the boundary line in Richmond, Evelyn,"" Marcus smiled warmly, his deep voice carrying the unshakeable peace of the country.
Evelyn walked up the wooden steps, embracing her lifelong friend, breathing in the clean scent of peppermint, dried chamomile, and woodsmoke.
""The line is drawn, Marcus,"" Evelyn said, her voice rich and steady. ""I’m here to reopen the pharmacy and get the free pediatric clinics running again.""
May you like
Marcus clapped his hands together, his eyes shining with joy. ""The community has been waiting for you, Evelyn. Put on your apron. We’ve got sixty elderly patients coming in from the tobacco valleys this afternoon for their wellness checks.""
---
