Nurse of the Sacramento — Ethel Bangert

The town of Rio Bonito, nestled in the heart of California's delta country, held unsuppressed fascination for Heather Moore as she drove toward it along the winding river road--for the low-lying countryside, the windmills, and the miles of waterways she had passed made her feel as if she were in the center of Holland. Her excitement was further heightened because she was on her way to her first nursing job--that of industrial nurse for the Lewis Sugar Mill--and because the welcoming letter from Dean Clark, the new superintendent of the mill, had sounded so friendly.

But the inhabitants of the boarding house known as the Mansion Madrone were not at all friendly, and Heather found herself being treated as an outcast from the start. The resentment toward her was obviously due to the fact that she was to replace Belle Berry, and older company nurse who was nearly revered by everyone in Rio Bonito and who, unfortunately, was approaching the "retirement" age for fifty-five that Dean Clark had so recently established.

Heather's situation would have been intolerable but for Dean's youthful charm and her work with the dark-eyed Rafe Almada, the local doctor who attended to the workers' children--and for her own naturally sunny disposition. And it is this talent for optimism that carries Heather along from one hurdle to the next--until an unexpected proposal threatens to unbalance her equilibrium completely.