A Gift for the District Nurses

Lily smiled broadly. ‘I can’t thank you enough.’ Then she frowned a little, as another thought struck her. ‘Do you remember those two student doctors in your year? I can see them now – that very good-looking one with dark hair and his friend, the quieter one.’

Alice forced her face to give nothing away. This was a subject she didn’t share with her closest friends unless she absolutely had to, much less with a young woman she’d only just met. ‘Yes. Everyone always noticed Dermot McGillicuddy.’

‘That’s right,’ Lily exclaimed. ‘I knew he had a funny name. He was so handsome!’ she laughed. ‘We used to try to change our rotas so that we could be on the same ward.’

Alice smiled back. Perhaps all would be well if they could keep the conversation on the topic of Dermot.

‘Can you believe it,’ Lily sailed on, blithely unaware that she had steered into dangerous waters, ‘when I was waiting for the train at Lime Street, on my way down here, I bumped into that friend of his – the clever one, Mark I think he was called. He’d come back to see his parents and we got talking. I told him where I was going and he said he knew someone here – well it was you, of course.’ She smiled again, oblivious to Alice’s reaction. ‘He seemed very keen to know how you were, but I couldn’t tell him anything as I’d not met you.’ She smiled happily and looked at Alice. ‘He kept saying what a lovely person you were and how very sorry he was not to be in touch with you still. I suppose you lost contact what with the war and all … In fact, perhaps I should have got his address for you,’ she chattered on, ‘but the train came in and I had to run. Small world, though!’

Alice gripped her chair so hard she thought she would break it. Taking a deep breath she managed to answer. ‘Yes, as you say, it’s a small world.’ She could think of nothing else. Her world had just been ripped wide open.

Lily got to her feet, perhaps sensing she had said too much. ‘Well, it’s been lovely talking to you but I really must get on. I can see you’re writing a letter and I’ve interrupted you. TTFN!’ She waved breezily and headed out of the door the way she had come.

Slowly Alice turned to face the big windows, away from anyone who might be able to see her. The angle of the sun had changed and the back yard was now in shadow, forming a background to her own reflection. There was no escape from the sight of her tear-filled eyes and utterly devastated face.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Ruby was lost. She’d been so sure that she could find this morning’s patients that she hadn’t brought her map. The trouble was, many of the terraces looked the same, give or take the patterns of bomb damage. Red bricks or dull stone, doors opening directly onto the pavement or with a small area that could never be called a garden, barely big enough for her to leave her bike. The upshot was, she could be almost there or miles away – she had no idea.

She didn’t like to ask. It made her feel a failure and that she was letting down her profession. Nurses shouldn’t get lost.

Now she turned her head this way and that, searching for anything even slightly familiar. It was to no avail. She could feel her temperature rising as she pedalled faster, her heartbeat increasing, sweat beginning to bead on her forehead despite the chilly air. She knew she shouldn’t panic but it was hard not to. She would be letting down the patients waiting for her.

Then again, what if this wasn’t panic and the symptoms were the first signs of flu? More and more people were going down with it; it would be hardly surprising if she caught it too. There was a limit to how much stringent hygiene could stave it off. That little girl on Friday had sneezed all over Ruby before she could turn away. It wasn’t deliberate, but perhaps that was when infection happened? The mother had been desperately apologetic, but maybe the damage had been done?

The sensible part of Ruby’s brain told her to calm down, but now the familiar pattern of low confidence was spiralling faster and faster. She was no good at this, she’d never been any good. It was pure fluke that she’d passed her exams in the first place. Perhaps it was better that she missed her appointments as that way she couldn’t harm her patients. She could hear her sister’s voice saying over and over, ‘I told you so.’

Then a dog dashed out from behind a baker’s cart, and she was forced to swerve and brake hard. It was touch and go whether she’d stay on the bike, and once she’d regained control she was shaking with effort, but at least it had broken her train of thought.

‘Miss, I’m ever so sorry.’ A middle-aged woman came around the side of the cart, wiping her hands on her dusty coat. ‘Buster, come here, bad dog. You almost got this lady hurt. Oh, you’re a nurse. Are you all right?’

Ruby was trembling but nodded. ‘Y-yes, I think so. No harm done. It was just a bit of a shock, that’s all.’ She held on to the heavy old bike for support, her knees weak.

‘He’s never done that before. He usually stays inside when I collect me orders.’ The woman shook her head. ‘Can I do anything, nurse? I hope I’ve not made you late or nothing.’

Ruby saw her chance. This woman must be a local. ‘As a matter of fact, maybe you can help me. I’m looking for Butterfield Green. Could you point me in the right direction?’

‘Oh, nurse, you must be all confused what with Buster running out like that. No wonder you don’t know. You’re only a couple of streets away. See where the road bends up there? Turn left at the house with the dark blue door and then next left after that. It’ll be right in front of you, you can’t miss it.’ She grabbed the little dog by his collar and pulled him close to her feet. The dog, having had his brief adventure, made no protest.

Ruby smiled in gratitude. ‘Of course. It’s all coming back to me now,’ she said, stretching the truth. ‘I’d best be off, but thank you.’

‘Oh no, thank you, nurse. For not making a fuss,’ the woman insisted, evidently relieved that she wasn’t going to get into trouble for her pet causing an accident. ‘I’m happy to be of assistance, I am.’

Ruby swung her leg over the saddle and began to pedal once more, calmer now that she knew where she was going. That had been a lucky escape. The naughty little dog had done her a favour. She banished all thoughts of her doubting sister to the back of her mind. Now she had a job to do and she had to believe that she could do it. Breathing deeply she willed her heartbeat to go back to normal. Already she was feeling better. She didn’t have flu. Just as well, she thought – with all the patients they had to attend to, none of them had time to be sick themselves.

Of all the weekends for Edith to spend at the Banhams’ … Alice had been pacing around the nurses’ home, her mind in turmoil since Lily had thrown out her casual thunderbolt of a remark, knowing the only person she could confide in was her best friend. Edith, however, had spent both Saturday and Sunday night at her in-laws’ house, having planned to go through their pile of baby clothes and pick out what might be suitable for her own baby when it was born.

Alice could hardly object to that but she could not control her tumbling thoughts. Why did Mark still have the power to disturb her in this way? Why couldn’t he have stayed away and out of her thoughts, when it had taken so much time and painful effort to banish him in the first place? Only Edith could advise her, but Edith was not around to ask. Nor did she see her on Monday morning and, as bad luck would have it, Alice was busy on the Monday lunchtime dropping off leaflets for the new band of Civil Nursing Reserve recruits.

So it was not until she had finished her rounds on Monday afternoon that she had a chance to see what Edith made of this unlooked-for turn of events.

When Alice knocked on her door Edith was taking a surreptitious nap, tired from a hectic day on the district but unwilling to admit it.

‘Oh, it’s you. Thank goodness for that.’ Edith swung her legs off the bed to make room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

‘Are you all right? Shall I come back later?’ Alice felt bad for disturbing her friend, still quietly battling lingering morning sickness but not making a fuss about it. ‘I didn’t mean to wake you.’

‘You didn’t. It doesn’t matter.’ Edith sat upright, wedging a pillow behind her to soothe her aching back. ‘What’s happened? Don’t say it’s nothing, I can see by your face that something’s up. Tell me all about it.’

Gratefully, Alice poured out the conversation she had had with Lily on Saturday. She strove to get every detail right, not to distort it with all the anxieties that had swirled around her head ever since. ‘Am I making a fuss out of nothing?’ she demanded.

‘No. Well, maybe. It’s bound to upset you.’ Edith rubbed her eyes again. ‘Give me a mo, we need to think this through.’

Alice sat back against the wall, with its pale pattern of leaves and birds on the slightly faded wallpaper. She forced herself to breathe deeply and study the edge of the rag rug that lay not quite straight on the floor alongside the bed. ‘What do you reckon?’ she asked at last.

Edith sighed. ‘It’s a bit of a shock, isn’t it? After all this time.’

Alice stared at the crooked rug. ‘It’s been years since I’ve seen him. Not since he went to Spain. That was before I even knew you. I couldn’t stay in Liverpool any longer, knowing he might come back, or I could bump into his parents. That’s why I ended up doing my district nurse specialist training in Richmond.’

‘I know.’ Edith’s voice was full of sympathy.

‘Of course I knew he was back, ever since Dermot got that locum posting here. That was bad enough, but I got used to it. In some ways it was a relief, knowing that he hadn’t been killed in Spain, that he was a forces doctor now. Not that it would have been much safer, around the airfields and ports during the Battle of Britain and the bombings on the south coast … but we were all in that together, weren’t we? We just got on with it. All that time, he was nothing to do with me, and I could concentrate on working here. It was what I wanted.’

Edith glanced sideways. ‘Was it, Al?’ she asked gently.

Alice nodded without hesitation. ‘It was, it really was. I thought I knew what I was doing when I met Mark but it turns out I got it totally wrong. That was a hard thing to admit. I’d fooled myself and got caught up in this dream of us being together for ever. Well, it wasn’t to be.’ Suddenly the anger she had been suppressing all weekend burst out. ‘It doesn’t change the fact that he decided to go off to Spain without so much as asking me what I felt about it. He makes all the arrangements and then he tells me as an afterthought. One minute we’re talking about where we’ll go on honeymoon, the next he’s off to fight. Everything that went before counted for nothing.’ She gasped, her whole body trembling.

‘It’s all right, it’s all right.’ Edith patted her arm, but Alice was not to be calmed.

‘I thought I would die, it hurt so much. I couldn’t believe he would betray me like that, not after all he’d promised, that what we had could count for so little. Well, I didn’t die. I put it behind me and got on with things. I know you all think I’m boring when I don’t go out dancing but I don’t care. I like staying in. I’d rather read a good book than come anywhere near that sort of pain again.’ Exhausted, she flopped back onto the candlewick bedspread.

‘Well, if he couldn’t see how stupid he was being then he didn’t deserve you,’ Edith said loyally.

‘He didn’t. He doesn’t,’ Alice replied fervently. ‘He can wonder and worry all he likes. He had his chance, he blew it. He can’t have another go. What, so he can let me down all over again? I don’t think so.’ Her mouth set in a straight, determined line.

‘Of course.’ Edith paused. ‘Although to be fair, I suppose we don’t know that’s what he intended. He was just making conversation by the sounds of it.’

Alice exhaled noisily. ‘All right, yes. Perhaps he was just being polite, but even so. Claiming he would still like to be in contact – whose fault was it that we lost touch in the first place? Well, see if I care.’

Edith bit her lip, and held back from pointing out the obvious: that if Alice no longer cared, she would not be in such a state.

‘He needn’t think I’m going to go running after him. Not on your life. He’s nothing to me, nothing at all.’

‘You’re right,’ Edith said staunchly. She’d never seen her friend so emotional in all the years she’d known her. Cautiously she pursed her lips. ‘I suppose you could always write to Dermot and drop it in casually, to see if he can shed any light … you write to each other quite often, don’t you?’

Alice shrugged, and her usually neat bun of dark blonde hair fell loose. ‘We do. Not sure how I could just drop it in, though. It’d stand out a mile. Besides,’ she tucked her heavy hair behind one ear, ‘I don’t want to drag him into it. He’s a good friend to both of us. It was bad enough when it all happened and he tried so hard not to take sides. It’s not fair on him. No,’ she continued with growing resolution, ‘I’m going to forget all about the whole incident. Thank you, Edie, for hearing me out. I’m sorry I woke you up – no, I know I did.’

Edith smiled wryly. ‘Well, maybe I was just starting to doze. Anyway, don’t be daft – what are friends for? What would I have done without you these last few years?’ She turned to look Alice full in the face. ‘You can tell me anything, you know that.’

CHAPTER EIGHT

Lily had tried hard to put the handsome stranger out of her head since the chance encounter outside the shop, but he kept appearing in her mind’s eye at the most inopportune moments. She would be taking a patient’s temperature and there he would be, smiling in that devil-may-care way and commiserating about the lack of lipstick for sale. Or she would take a patient’s hand to check the pulse at the wrist and the most inappropriate thought would pop up: what would it be like to hold his hand?

It wouldn’t be wet and clammy like her patient’s, she’d put good money on it. He’d have a strong, reassuring grip, not too aggressive but definite and forceful. He would smell very slightly of cigar smoke, or a refined aftershave with a hint of cedar wood. Although his hair had been slicked back, she felt sure he wouldn’t reek of oil, as had some of the young men who’d tried to win her favour in Liverpool. They’d piled it on too thick and their heads shone in the lights of the dance halls like so many slippery eels.

No, this man would take a more subtle approach. He’d know just how far to go and then stop.

She checked herself as she came downstairs from her corner bedroom, knowing that she was losing concentration. That wouldn’t do. She had to refill her Gladstone bag and any mistakes could cost her dearly.

Mary was rounding the newel post in the main hallway. ‘Lily! Just who I wanted to see. Do you think you’d be interested in helping out with those hygiene classes we spoke about? Our teacher friend Janet thinks it’s a tremendous idea. I said we’d had some inspiration from our most recent colleague.’ She beamed expectantly.

Lily’s heart sank. No way did she want to be stuck in a freezing classroom full of noisy brats, all coughing and sniffing. What had she got herself into? ‘Ah, I’m not sure …’ she began, not wanting to commit herself to anything so unpleasant but not wanting to lose face in front of Mary either. She had not failed to notice that Mary was the nurse with the nicest clothes, the poshest voice and, if what she’d heard was true, the highest-ranking boyfriend. Just the sort of sophisticated friend she would like to have.

She was let off the hook by Belinda swooping by with a bundle of post. ‘Letter for you, Lily! Who’s the secret admirer?’ Her dark eyes flashed with humour but she didn’t stay around for a reply, linking her arm through Mary’s and pulling her down the corridor.

Just as well, for Lily didn’t recognise the handwriting on the envelope, but she would have sworn it was masculine. There was something about the assertive slope of the letters. She ran her finger over the address, noticing how the paper was of good quality and the pen nib had made decisive indentations. Not the mark of anyone she’d known in Liverpool.

Checking that there was nobody else around, she stepped into the district room and put down her bag on the floor. Restocking it could wait. Intrigued and excited, she gently teased open the envelope and took out the single sheet of paper – again a good-quality vellum in an elegant off-white. The ink was a deep blue, almost purple. Lily approved.

Avidly she scanned the message and as she read it a slow smile crept onto her face. Well, she’d certainly made an impression that Saturday morning. It was, as she had hoped, from the mysterious man outside the shop, and he offered to make good on his promise.

If she’d care to meet him, he would be pleased to put right the disappointment of her shopping trip. He had managed to obtain some lipstick – and his sister had already tried it and reckoned it was of good quality. If Lily was still keen, would she like to see him to receive her gift? Only after her work had finished, of course – he respected her profession as a nurse. He suggested a café not far from Victoria Park. If that suited her, would she please confirm which day would be best?

Lily hugged the sheet of paper to her, feeling a delicious thrill. She didn’t know the café but recognised that it was fairly near to the nurses’ home, without it being so close by that she would run the risk of bumping into someone she knew. While there was nothing underhand about the fact she was meeting this man, she definitely didn’t want to share him with any of the other nurses. She checked his signature: Donald. Donald Parker. That had a nice ring to it – respectable, but not too stuffy.

She glanced at the return address. It was an office, in Bethnal Green. She wasn’t sure where that was, but she knew it was in East London. Didn’t the bus to Liverpool Street go past Bethnal Green Road? It couldn’t be that far away. Good.

Footsteps coming down the corridor made her hastily tuck the letter into her pocket, and not a moment too soon. It was Mary again, with a small box in her hands. ‘Just putting away these spares of calamine lotion,’ she said cheerfully. ‘Have you thought any further about those lessons, Lily? It would be a great help to have you on board, you know. We’re thinking of Thursday for the first one.’

Lily’s mind raced. Donald hadn’t suggested a particular day, leaving it up to her, but what if Thursday was best for him? She didn’t want to miss this chance.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she said, making sure her tone was as genuine as she could get it. ‘I’ve got a previous engagement. Otherwise I would have loved to.’

Mary took it well. ‘Never mind. Perhaps another day. I’ll let you know how it goes, of course.’

Lily smiled, more warmly this time. Mary sounded as if she cared for her opinion. ‘Yes please,’ she said, but already she was thinking ahead, to what she might wear for the rendezvous at the café. Donald wanted to meet her, and suddenly the future looked very bright indeed.

Days off were meant to make you feel better, not worse, Ruby thought glumly. She’d been given a free afternoon because one of her cases earlier in the week had overrun well into the evening, as she’d had to wait with a patient until an ambulance arrived. As often happened, the ambulance had been diverted, as a water main had burst – not because of any new bombing, for which they were all thankful, but most likely from damage sustained earlier in the war.

That had counted for nothing with the patient’s indignant family, who had protested that they were being treated badly because they weren’t able to pay the insurance. Ruby had done her best to persuade them that it wasn’t the case and it was nobody’s fault, but it had been a tough few hours. Even when the ambulance finally arrived, she had stayed on to soothe the frayed tempers. For a while she had feared the husband might turn nasty. When she finally got back to Victory Walk, she was at her wits’ end.

To her surprise, the usually stern assistant superintendent had come to her rescue. Gwen had spotted the signs of an inexperienced nurse feeling overwhelmed and had taken her to one side. They had sat together in a corner of the common room, which by then was emptying out as most of the nurses were retiring to their individual rooms. Gwen had made sure the exhausted young woman had something hot to eat and then she herself made a pot of tea for two.

‘These things happen,’ she reassured her. ‘It sounds as if it was a very difficult situation. It’s one of the things they don’t tell you much about when you’re working in a hospital.’

Ruby had almost cried at the unexpected sympathy. ‘No, they tell you what illnesses you are likely to come across and how to treat the sick person, but not that you could get threatened by their family.’

Gwen had nodded seriously. ‘They didn’t try to hurt you, did they?’

‘Not really.’ Ruby wiped her hand across her face. ‘I thought the husband might though. He was older than her, and even though he had a limp he never sat down, he just couldn’t keep still. He was between me and the front door. I kept thinking, if I’ve got to run for help I don’t know how I’ll get out.’

‘That must have been very frightening,’ Gwen replied, her brow creasing. ‘A limp, you say? I expect he’s one of those men who wanted to go and fight but got turned down. That can make them frustrated and so they get particularly angry. You just happened to be there. It wasn’t your fault. You were doing your job.’

Ruby sniffed and fought back the tears that she had driven away during the crisis but which threatened to erupt now. ‘I tried, I really did. And it was such a dark little road, all the houses close together. Moses Street.’

Gwen sighed. ‘I know the one. Yes, we get called there fairly often and some of the families can be tricky. Let me just check one thing. You said it was for an especially bad case of flu?’

Ruby nodded. ‘That’s what the doctor said, although I’m not sure when he saw her. I think it was right – her temperature was all over the place.’

Gwen tapped her forefinger against the table top. ‘This might sound like a daft question, but did you ask the patient when she had last been to the toilet? Was she drinking normally, maybe cool water to help with the fever?’

‘I’m not sure …’ Ruby was puzzled. ‘I gave her a cup of water more than once, but I didn’t ask – and she was too weak to move anyway, while I was there.’

Gwen hesitated, as if wondering whether she should say anything more. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, Ruby, but I’m going to give you some advice for the future – just an extra thing to bear in mind, and not all hospitals cover it.’ She drew herself up a little more on her wooden chair. ‘It’s not your place to make diagnoses like this, it’s for the doctor, but sometimes there isn’t one around. I’m only saying this because I know what has happened in that street before.’

Ruby wondered what was coming, and felt a sense of dread.

‘It’s easy to mistake some symptoms of flu for something else. Particularly now, when there have been so many cases. One of the conditions that often gets missed is blood poisoning. Septicaemia.’

Ruby felt on safer territory. ‘I’ve heard of that.’

‘Of course you have.’ Gwen took a sip of her tea and decided to continue. ‘I’m talking about one distinct cause of it, among women of child-bearing age. Do you know what I’m referring to?’

Ruby shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’

Gwen set her cup down again. ‘Well, it’s not an easy thing to discuss but, as nurses, we must acknowledge that it happens. You’ll know as well as I do that some pregnant women do not wish to have their baby. That can be for many reasons – overcrowding and poverty among them. Two reasons that go hand in hand and which are prevalent in Moses Street, wouldn’t you say?’

Ruby blinked, still not completely sure what Gwen meant.