What Did You Do in the War, Grandma?: Those Gals From Minter, WI, #8

By Sherry Derr-Wille

Gwen thought what happened in Vietnam stayed in Vietnam, but when Chuck came to Minter, the flood gates opened and the secrets she thought would never be told came to the forefront.

When Cuck came to Minter the last person he expected to see was Gwen. As soon as he saw Gwen's daughter, Chere, he knew she was his daughter but did she know it as well?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wings ePress, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9781597054133

Book preview

Prologue

Vietnam—1968

Gwen Marshall worked through the long and grueling hours of surgery only to hear more choppers coming in with more wounded. Across from her, Chuck Ouster’s scrubs were red with blood. The man she loved with all her heart had been working for twenty-seven hours straight with no end in sight.

Hours later, when they finally finished, Chuck draped his arm around her shoulder and guided her toward the nurses’ tent. There would be no lovemaking tonight; they were both too exhausted for anything so foolish. They would have time for such enjoyable pursuits later, as they always had time for it.

She knew she wasn’t the first nurse to fall to the charms of the charismatic doctor, but she did know he’d given up romancing the others when they got together. She fell asleep thinking of the life they would have once they were stateside. He would practice in a hospital, while she stayed home to raise their children. If she wanted to return to nursing, she could do so on a part-time basis, because, being married to a successful doctor, she wouldn’t need to work.

It was three days later when Chuck dropped the bombshell that tore Gwen’s heart from her chest. She knew he was going home; she prayed he would be establishing a practice and buying a home for the two of them to share.

There’s something I have to tell you, Gwen, Chuck said, after they made delightful love.

I know what you’re going to say. You live in California, and that’s half a continent away from where I live. Once I get back, I’ll relocate. I’m sure I can find a job at one of the hospitals and...

Chuck put his finger to her lips to silence her. You don’t understand. I’m going back to my wife and kids.

W-wife-k-kids, she stammered. What about us? What about me?

I’m planning to ask Pam for a divorce. I’ll relocate to Wisconsin, and...

And nothing. That’s the oldest line in the book. Well, don’t bother asking your wife for a divorce. I was a fool to believe you loved me as much as I loved you. Just one word to the wise, if you want another affair, be up front with the woman. Tell her it’s meaningless and you’re married. It’s only right. That way there’s no hard feelings when everything is over.

But, Gwen...

There are no buts, Chuck. Have a good life. I’m certain I will. With her declaration made, she got up. She’d never been so humiliated in her life. How could he have made love to her night after night and professed his love when he knew he had a wife and kids back in California?

She pulled on her clothes before running from his tent to the nurses’ quarters. Once there, she poured out her heart to her best friend, Lori. She was involved with a doctor as well and Gwen wanted to warn her about what could happen when The Hawk went back to the states without her.

Did you tell Chuck about the baby? Lori asked.

Why should I? He doesn’t care. He has a wife and kids waiting for him in California.

"How will you support a baby?’

My folks will understand and help me out. As soon as I can I’ll go back to nursing. I’ll be just fine. I certainly don’t want to hear the name of Chuck Ouster again.

True to her word, Gwen went back to Minter and broke the news about her pregnancy to her parents. When they asked about the father, she told them she’d had an affair with a medic. They had planned to be married as soon as they returned home, but he’d gone out on a mission of mercy to the front lines and was killed when his helicopter was shot down before he could return to their unit. Since she couldn’t prove he was the father, she had decided to raise her child on her own.

It seemed like the best way to go, but she worried about the kind of life she would be able to give to a baby without a father.

Just a month before her baby was born, her high school sweetheart, Doug, returned from Vietnam. It didn’t take long for him to ask him to marry her so her child would be born with his name. He certainly wasn’t a stranger, like Chuck had been. Even though they’d gone their separate ways, he told her he’d never forgotten his first love and wanted her in his life. He understood the baby she carried wasn’t his biological child, but it didn’t matter. It was part of her, and therefore he would love it like his own.

One

Minter, WI - 2008

G wen, Gwen Marshall , is that really you?

Gwen turned at the sound of someone calling her by her maiden name. As she did she recognized the melodious voice of Dr. Chuck Ouster. In all the years since Vietnam, she’d thought of him often. Why shouldn’t she? He’d been considered the hottest doctor in the MASH unit where she worked as a nurse for two tours of duty.

For Gwen, like most of her fellow nurses, it had been the first time they’d been away from home, like really away. Nursing school hadn’t counted since she took her training at Minter Memorial Hospital and stayed in the room she’d occupied all her life at home.

It was the sixties, and an enemy attack could have taken their lives at any minute. Chuck had been a great lover until he told her of his wife and kids in Los Angeles. He’d returned to them never knowing that she carried his child.

Chuck, she replied. What are you doing in Minter?

I could ask you the same thing.

She looked into his soft brown eyes, thinking about how he hadn’t changed much over the past forty years. He was one of those guys who was attractive to women and very easy to go to bed with. The only difference she could see was the fact that his hair was streaked with white, making the black stand out even more. Back in Vietnam, he’d told her that he had Indian blood, Crow to be exact. This is my hometown, but that doesn’t answer my question.

Who’s your friend, Mom? Chere asked, when she came over to the table.

Chere’s interruption was far from unexpected; it was the last day of school, and Chere and her daughter, Francine, always came to the hospital cafeteria to meet Gwen on her lunch hour. Should she tell them the truth that Chuck was Chere’s father, or let sleeping dogs lie? She quickly decided on the latter as the best course of action.

Honey, this is someone I served in Vietnam with, Dr. Chuck Ouster. Chuck, this is my daughter, Chere, and my granddaughter, Francine.

Were you in the war, Grandma? Francine asked. We learned about Vietnam in school this year.

Chuck shook hands with Chere and then turned his attention to Francine. Your grandma was a nurse, and I was a doctor in a MASH unit.

Like on the TV show? My other grandpa likes to watch it.

Sort of like that. We took care of the soldiers who were wounded.

Gwen turned her thoughts inward while Chuck told Francine about the unit where they’d been stationed. Francine’s mention of MASH had brought back vivid memories. While the entire country had been laughing at the antics of the over-sexed doctors and meatball surgery, she had refused to watch it. The stories hit too close to the truth of what happened during her time in Vietnam.

Mom doesn’t talk much about that time in her life, Chere said.

I don’t blame her. It was a bad time. I never forgot her though. He turned his attention back to Gwen and took her hand in his. Are you still nursing?

Mom’s the director of nursing at this hospital.

Chuck’s grip on her hand tightened, and he broke into a wide grin. Good, that means we could run into each other from time to time. I retired just prior to my wife’s death. Everything in California reminded me of her. Then one of my former patients told me about the free clinic they’re starting here. I checked it out and found they were looking for a chief of medicine. I applied and was hired, so I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.

Chuck excused himself, leaving Gwen with memories she’d buried on the day she left Vietnam.

What a hunk! Why didn’t you ever tell us about him, Mom? Chere asked.

I tried to forget about the people I knew over there. Like Chuck said, it was a bad time for all of us. I saw too many men die needlessly. It wasn’t all fun and games like on that damnable TV show. Except at night when Chuck and I were together. Then it was heaven on earth.

But Grandma, how could you forget a dreamboat like Dr. Ouster? Francine asked.

Gwen smiled. She tended to forget Francine was now sixteen and boy crazy. She also knew she could never forget the man who fathered her child. Though as far as everyone else was concerned, she’d had an affair with a medic who promised marriage but was killed before arrangements could be made.

I didn’t forget, Frannie, not really. When his enlistment was up, he went back to California and I came home to Minter. He had a wife and kids and I met your grandpa. The rest, as they say, is history.

Chere gave her a look that said more than words. She knew Doug wasn’t her real father. The excuse Gwen had used for the reason she got no support from the government was she had no proof that the medic she’d made up to pacify her parents was really her child’s father. At the time her father had branded her a slut and swore he’d never forgive her for the shame she’d brought on the family.

It had been her mother who defused the volatile situation. Of course, as soon as Chere was born, none of that mattered. She was grandpa’s girl from the get go.

Did you and Dr. Ouster take care of my dad when he was wounded? Chere asked, bringing to the forefront the lie Gwen had lived for so long.

I took care of him, but not in the way you think. No, he was killed in the field. There was no need for him to be sent back to the unit. She congratulated herself on the convenient lie she’d pulled off.

I wish I would have known him, Chere lamented. She’d said the same thing many times since she’d been a child. Didn’t you say he was from Los Angeles?

Gwen cringed. Her made-up lover had come from California, because that was where Chere’s father actually lived. It had been much easier than making up other details she could have forgotten.

Like Dr. Ouster? Francine asked.

Yes, like Dr. Ouster, but they didn’t know each other before the war. Come to think of it, Chuck had gone stateside before Charlie got to the unit. Why wasn’t I a little more creative with my pretend lover’s name? Chuck, Charlie, they are too close to be believable. What if Chere realizes the hunk, as she calls Chuck, is really her father? Will she ever forgive me? You would have liked him. We were planning to get married when we got back home, but things happened that were beyond our control.

Just think, if things would have been different, I would have grown up in California. You might have worked at Dr. Ouster’s hospital, Grandma, Francine added. That would have been way cool."

No it wouldn’t. I could have never kept the fact Chere is his daughter a secret. It would have ruined his marriage. It’s better that I came home and raised my daughter alone. Besides, I had a good life with Doug. Life with Chuck might have been much different. Once a cheater, always a cheater, at least that’s what everyone says.

Los Angeles is a big city, with a lot of hospitals, Gwen finally said. I could have lived there for years and never run into him. As I recall he had a wife and at least two kids at home. It was rough on the guys who had to leave their families alone. Of course, most of the nurses were single. We were all just out of nursing school and very lonely.

So how did you meet my grandpa? Francine asked.

Gwen was glad she had carefully fabricated her story years earlier. Charlie was a medic attached to our unit. We had a call saying they needed help at the front line, and he volunteered to go. I was about ready to be shipped home when I learned he’d been killed in an attack. It was devastating.

The explanation satisfied both Chere and Francine, and thankfully the subject was dropped. Instead of dwelling on the appearance of Chuck the subject turned to the things Francine had on her mind. All through lunch she babbled on about what she planned to do over the summer vacation.

Gwen enjoyed listening to her granddaughter’s teenage plans. They sounded much like the ones she’d made well over forty years earlier. There were tennis games she planned to play at the college courts, swimming dates at the lake, and the long-awaited summer vacation.

Where are you going this year? Gwen asked, when Chere and Francine were getting ready to leave.

"We’re taking a week-long driving vacation, Grandma. Daddy’s got a lot of places he wants to see. We’re going to St. Louis. On the way he wants to stop at the Wildlife Prairie Park in Peoria, Cahokia Mounds, and then on to the city. He says we’re going to the arch, Grant’s Farm and some caves he thinks we’ll enjoy. On the way home, we’re going to Hannibal to see the Tom Sawyer reenactment.’

Gwen remembered when Doug had taken the family on the same trip. Chere had been fourteen, and their son had been ten. It had been an excellent vacation, and she was certain Chere had been influential in planning the vacation.

Well, it sounds like you’re going to have an interesting summer. I hope you won’t be too busy to visit your old grandma.

You know I won’t. I’ll be over on Saturday. You didn’t forget we planned to go shopping, did you?

I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s time I got a new swimming suit, and if I’m not mistaken you could use one as well. We’re leaving early for the outlet mall, so be ready at eight, and I’ll pick you up and we’ll go out to breakfast in Jefferson at the restaurant you like so much.

Francine hugged her tightly.

You spoil her unmercifully, Mom, Chere said, as she gave her mother a hug and a peck on the cheek.

Isn’t that what grandparents are for? As I recall, your grandfather spoiled you as well. It doesn’t hurt, and just remember, next weekend it’s time for me to take Vaughan shopping. Of course he doesn’t enjoy it quite as much as Frannie, but he can wheedle me out of things just as easily. Speaking of Vaughan, I suppose he’s off with his friends today, like usual.

You know how he feels about going to lunch with the girls, especially his sister. He’s just as happy with his friends and is looking forward to your trip to wherever it is the two of you are going next week.

With that Gwen’s daughter and granddaughter were off, and Gwen was forced to go back to her office to work.

CHUCK HAD BEEN SHOCKED to find Gwen held the position of Director of Nursing at Minter Memorial Hospital. Just seeing her daughter was enough to bring back the memory of the nights they’d spent together in Vietnam.

Back then he’d considered himself quite the playboy. Thinking back on it, he was the Vietnam version of Hawkeye Pierce from the television show MASH. He’d enjoyed seducing the nurses and liked to think he satisfied them sexually. At the time he told himself it wasn’t wrong, because he was a man and he had urges that couldn’t be ignored for the months he was assigned to the unit.

He couldn’t help but wonder if Gwen knew it was him that had fathered her daughter. He had no doubt, because she was the exact image of his daughter, Melanie. Maybe he wasn’t the only doctor who had seduced Gwen, but he did know he was the first.

He shook his head at the thought. Gwen had been as innocent as they come, and he had no doubts about being the first man to be with her. It had been when he met her that he stopped going to bed with other women. Gwen had been special enough he even considered divorcing Pam and asking Gwen to marry him.

Of course, that hadn’t happened. Once he told Gwen about Pam and the kids, she’d avoided him like he had the plague. He’d left Vietnam two days later without saying good-bye to the woman who had stolen his heart.

He finished his lunch and watched her leave the cafeteria with her daughter and granddaughter. Even the young girl reminded him of Melanie’s youngest daughter, Jana.

Are you getting settled in?

Chuck looked up to see George Martin, the doctor who was the Chief of Medicine for the entire hospital standing beside his table.

Have a seat George. I spent the morning at the office over at the clinic. This afternoon I thought I’d try to get an office nurse.

Then you’ll want to talk to Gwen Trainer. You’re in for a real treat. She’s a great gal. We worked together for several years when she was the head nurse on the surgical unit.

I’ve already run into her. It seems like we’re old friends. We worked together in Vietnam.

It’s quite a coincidence the two of you ended up Minter. I guess we have Devan Yates to thank for that one.

Your right. If it hadn’t been for Devan telling me about this project, I would have been looking for something in Los Angeles, and to be truthful after I lost my wife, I really didn’t want to stay there.

What about your kids?

They’re scattered to the four winds. My oldest, Melanie, is living in Vermont, Mark is in Georgia, and my youngest, Prentice, just took a job in Washington State. This is sort of an in between point. I can easily get to see any of them.

Well, I can honestly say I’m pleased to have you here. Your credentials are enough for any hospital in the area to be green with envy. Getting back to Gwen. You’re going to enjoy working with her. I wish she was still on the floor, but when this position opened up, I was the first to suggest she would be perfect for the job.

They talked for several more minutes, until George had to get back to his office. Once he left, Chuck refilled his coffee cup and went back to the table to think about how he was going to be able to work with Gwen. The look on her face told him he was far from welcome at her table this afternoon.

GWEN WENT BACK TO HER office. The chance meeting with Chuck had left her shaken. Could he have guessed Chere was his daughter from one meeting? She decided she was being foolish. She was the only person who knew the truth about Chere’s father. The story she’d told everyone in Minter was the same as she’d told her family; she’d met a medic at the MASH unit, they’d gotten carried away, and before they could be married, he’d gone on a mission and been killed in a helicopter crash.

This is foolish. So what if Chuck is here? There’s no way he could put two and two together and come to the conclusion Chere is his. It all happened forty years ago. As I recall, he was the big stud every nurse wanted. I was just as bad. I certainly didn’t say no. It was the sixties, for God’s sake. Free love was everywhere, and I wanted part of it.

A rap at the door jolted Gwen back to 2008 and the file folders littering her desk. Enter, she called without finding out who her visitor could be or even looking up.

It seems like we meet again.

The words and sound of Chuck’s voice brought Gwen to full attention. Chuck, ah Dr. Ouster, what can I do for you? She prayed the beating of her heart didn’t echo in his ears as loudly as it did in hers.

I need a nurse.

His request took her by surprise. Some things never change, she retorted. She knew her tone sounded catty, but she didn’t care. He had no business coming to her hospital and acting like nothing had ever happened between the two of them.

"Come on, Gwen, I’m not the same guy I was in Vietnam. Cut me some slack. I need an office nurse for the free clinic. George Martin told me to check with you before I put an ad in the paper.

Gwen wished she could have bit off her tongue. How could her earlier thoughts have spilled over and become verbal?

What are you planning for office hours? she asked, regaining her professionalism.

Chuck pulled the chair across from her desk close enough so he could rest his elbows on the mahogany surface separating them. Until I can line up some help, I was thinking of eight to five Monday, Wednesday,  and Friday, twelve to eight on Tuesday and Thursday and eight to twelve on Saturday morning.

That’s quite a schedule for someone who’s supposed to be retired.

It’s better than when I was in Los Angeles. Back then I worked six days a week and was on call twenty-four/seven.

What about your golf game? I seem to remember it was something you were looking forward to doing once you got stateside back in the day.

Chuck seemed to relax. "It used to be, but once I started working at a hospital in the inner city, it seemed to take a back seat. I worked as a surgeon during the day and took shifts in the ER evenings and Saturdays. It was hard