by Cathy Sharp
Sister Rose was pleasant to Sarah as she made a cup of tea and gave it to her in the ward’s best china, normally reserved for doctors. She asked Sarah how she was, if she was prepared for the birth and what she hoped for.
‘Steve says he doesn’t mind,’ Sarah told her. ‘I’m hoping for a boy this time but he only wants us both to be well.’
‘And, of course, that is the most important thing—’ Sister Rose was about to say more when she saw Peter Clark approaching. Sarah saw the change immediately: Rose’s face went cold and her eyes wary. She watched him speak to Nurse Jenny, saw the smile that passed between them and the flash of pain in Sister Rose’s eyes, and understood the change in the nurse she both liked and admired. She had expected Sister Rose and Peter Clark to get together one day, had thought it only a matter of time. Now it seemed he’d turned his attention to the younger nurse – and she wouldn’t have thought it of him. He’d always seemed a decent person and it was cruel of him to give Sister Rose reason to hope and then flirt with the younger nurse.
‘I must get on,’ Sister Rose said, becoming her brisk professional self. ‘Take care of yourself, Sarah, and be sure to bring the baby to see us when you can.’
‘You must come to visit us for tea,’ Sarah told her. ‘You could bring that young boy I hear you’ve fostered – and your landlady. We’ll have a little party. Mum would love to meet them.’
Sister Rose smiled at her warmly. ‘What a lovely person you are, Sarah. Yes, we should enjoy that and Danny will make you a cake. Beattie is teaching him and he is getting quite good.’
Sarah saw Jenny shoot a quick glance at her as she went off to fetch something Sister Rose had asked for, leaving her to do the rounds with the doctor. There was nothing Sarah could say to the younger girl, because she couldn’t tell her what was Sister Rose’s private business – and it was only her intuition, after all, but Sarah knew in her heart that the sister had been badly hurt and was fighting her pain. It was sad if Peter Clark preferred the younger nurse but no one could tell him who to love – that was entirely his own affair.
After she left the children’s ward, Sarah went to visit Matron, who had asked to see her. Matron gave her a small parcel and, opening it, she found a very pretty dress for a baby. It was white and so would suit either a boy or girl and Sarah thanked her sincerely. As she was about to leave the infirmary, Nurse Lily came up to her with a smile.
‘Have you been visiting Matron?’ she asked.
‘Yes, and the children’s ward. I spoke to Sister Rose and asked her to tea when the baby is born – you and Jenny might like to come too.’
‘Would you mind if we came at a different time?’ Lily asked with a frown. ‘I can’t explain why but at the moment being there with Sister Rose might be awkward.’
Sarah inclined her head. ‘I think I understand, Lily,’ she said. ‘You and Jenny can come another time – love can be so hurtful, can’t it?’
‘Yes …’ Lily hesitated, then, ‘I can’t say more at the moment, Sarah, but I blame Jenny; she’s just having fun and doesn’t realise.’
Sarah nodded. ‘That’s a pity. Do you imagine he knows?’
‘Men are often too blinded by a pretty face to know what’s best for them,’ Lily said with feeling. ‘I wish I knew what to do – Rose is a friend but Jenny is my sister so I’m torn.’
‘Leave things for a while, Lily – it may sort itself out,’ Sarah said thoughtfully.
‘Yes,’ Lily’s expression cleared, ‘that’s what I keep thinking – Jenny gets bored easily. I believe she’ll soon tire of him.’
‘She wouldn’t hurt Sister Rose if she knew.’ Sarah stuck up for her friend but knew how Lily felt. Jenny really ought to have known that there was something between Dr Clark and Sister Rose – if she didn’t, then she was the only nurse in the infirmary who hadn’t guessed.
Leaving Lily to return to work, Sarah walked home in the sunshine. A little girl aged about nine was standing opposite the infirmary, looking at it indecisively, as if she wanted to go inside. Sarah hesitated but just as she was about to go and ask if she could help, the child ran off and disappeared around the corner.
Sarah was knitting when Steve got in that evening. She saw at once that he looked anxious and went to greet him with a kiss.
‘Something wrong, love?’
‘We had reports of a missing child today,’ he replied with a frown. ‘So far there’s nothing to connect it with the gang that were snatching them off the streets and I know we got all those rogues at the warehouse and they’re still in custody, but we always knew there might be more.’
‘I thought one of the boys gave you a good description of the house they were taken to?’ Sarah’s eyebrows rose.
‘He did and it was raided – but we found nothing.’
She nodded, rubbing his arm as she saw how anxious he was. Steve was a good policeman and the thing that upset him most was the kind of criminal who hurt children. He devoted much of his time to helping them stay off the streets and learn to defend themselves.
‘I’ve got your favourite beef and mushroom pie in the oven,’ she said, hoping to cheer him. ‘Perhaps the child will turn up, Steve.’ Then something occurred to her and she recalled the little girl she’d seen outside the infirmary. ‘Was it a little girl who went missing?’
‘No, it’s a boy – why?’
‘I saw a young girl outside the infirmary,’ Sarah said. ‘She seemed to be wondering whether she should go inside or not – but then she ran off and I came home.’
‘She probably has a mother in one of the wards,’ Steve said sensibly and she agreed. ‘This little boy went to school as usual but after playtime he disappeared and they haven’t seen him since.’
‘His parents must be upset …’
‘His mother certainly was when she reported it, but I think from things she said that he may be afraid of his father.’ Steve frowned. ‘You know what it’s like, Sarah. The father gives a child a good hiding and they run off, so that could be it, and hopefully we’ll find him safe and sound and take him home again. Unless he’s in danger of being harmed at home, in which case I’ll take him to the Rosie.’
‘Let’s hope it’s just a little squabble,’ she said. ‘Now come and have your tea, Steve – you’ve got to be at the club by seven this evening.’
‘Will you be all right on your own?’
‘I shan’t be alone,’ Sarah told him with a smile. ‘Mum and Theo are coming over to keep me company. We might have a game of cards or just sit and drink tea and eat cake.’
Steve nodded and kissed her softly. ‘You know I would stay home if you asked me, love?’
‘Of course, I do, you soft thing,’ she said and tickled him round his neck. ‘Those boys need you, Steve. I’ll be fine.’
Steve was thoughtful as he walked to the boxing club that evening. Sarah seemed to be taking her pregnancy in her stride, though he knew her back ached and she felt ungainly. To him she just got more beautiful and his love for her filled his heart. His lovely wife meant the world to Steve and so would his child, whether it be a girl or a boy. He could not imagine what he would do if someone harmed his child; it made him shudder to think of it and though he knew there were many good men and women in the East End, there were far too many rogues. He and his colleagues battled against them but it was an uphill struggle and for every villain they put away, another popped up.
He thought briefly of the little girl Sarah had seen staring at the infirmary. Children alone on the streets were vulnerable no matter whether it be for a few minutes or hours …
CHAPTER 21
‘Mummy,’ Marjorie asked as her mother tucked her up in bed, ‘did Daddy say it was the Rosie Infirmary that they took Danny to?’
‘Yes, darling, I told you yesterday when we walked to school,’ her mother told her and frowned. ‘But Daddy also told us that Danny has been fostered out to a very good home and he is well and happy. We don’t know where he is now.’
Marjorie nodded and smiled as her mother kissed her goodnight. ‘I’m glad he’s being looked after, Mummy, but I should still like to see him. Do you think they know where he is at the Rosie?’
‘Perhaps – but Danny isn’t really suitable for you to know, Marjorie darling. I understand that you were grateful to him but Daddy says you should forget all that nasty stuff. Seeing Danny again might bring back your bad dreams.’
Marjorie knew better than to argue with her mother. If Daddy decided something, Mummy wouldn’t go against him – but perhaps she didn’t have to know. Marjorie had asked a friend at school if she knew where the Rosie Infirmary was and she’d said her mother had been there once when she was sick and she thought she could remember how to get there. Shelly went home to lunch, unlike Marjorie, and in her lunch hour she’d found her way to the Rosie.
‘I could go tomorrow and ask one of the nurses about your friend,’ she’d told Marjorie when she returned to school. ‘There’s a nurse I really liked called Sister Rose – she was very kind to me when my mum was ill. She wouldn’t get cross if I asked her if she knew where Danny was.’
‘Would you take me with you in the lunch break?’ Marjorie asked. ‘We could find out where he is and then I might be able to go and visit him – but Mummy and Daddy won’t let me so I’ll have to sneak out of school …’
Marjorie had waited anxiously for her answer, because she was afraid to wander off alone, but if Shelly came with her, she wouldn’t be as nervous. She’d been frightened on her first day back at school, but Shelly was bigger than her and confident and Marjorie felt better when she was with her – just as she had with Danny.
‘Yeah, ’course,’ Shelly said and grinned. ‘Mum won’t be at home tomorrow and she told me to get some chips – she’s giving me threepence and I’ll share with you. We’ll eat them out of the bag with vinegar and salt, and then go to the Rosie.’
Marjorie hugged the secret inside as she settled down to sleep. She would have preferred to visit Danny with her mother, because she loved her and didn’t want to make her cross, but her parents didn’t understand how much she wanted to see her special friend again. It wasn’t really bad just to sneak off to see him, was it? And she would be quite safe with Shelly, because she could kick and fight nearly as good as the boys!
Danny looked with pride at the batch of rock buns he’d made the previous evening after school. Beattie said they were as good as hers and she’d told him he could take half of them to school and give them to his friends when they gathered in the playroom.
‘You’re gettin’ to be a real good cook,’ she’d told him with pride. ‘Sister Rose told Nurse Sarah that you would bake a cake for her when we go to visit her after her baby is born.’
‘I should like to make a cake for some of the other nurses, too,’ Danny said. ‘They were all kind to me when I was in the Rosie and it would be a good thing to do, wouldn’t it?’
‘Yes, Danny, it would,’ Beattie said and smiled at him lovingly. Danny loved Beattie nearly as much as he’d loved his mum. He loved Sister Rose too, but she was different, a little bit above him and Beattie, but Beattie – she was like kin. If it was possible to have a second mum then Beattie was his and Danny sometimes had to pinch his own flesh to convince himself that it was real. How could he be so lucky?
Sometimes, he remembered the times at home after his mother died. He’d heard his father sobbing and then the drinking had started and the beatings. It made Danny feel sad, because there had been a time when they’d all been happy. He wondered what would happen if his father ever turned up and demanded he go home with him, but Sister Rose said he couldn’t take Danny no matter what Jim Bryant said, because the police would lock him up. Danny just hoped it would never happen, because he couldn’t bear to leave this home he’d been given.
He thought of Marjorie sometimes and Ron, too, but the memories were fading. He’d hoped he might get to see them but Sister Rose said the police couldn’t find Ron and Marjorie’s parents didn’t want her to be reminded of a bad experience.
However, he could bake a cake for the nurses and perhaps for that nice police officer too. Constable Jones might know where to find Ron one of these days and Danny would ask him if he got the chance.
Rose saw the two little girls loitering as she went out to purchase a bag of sugar and some other ingredients so that Danny could make his cakes that evening. They were still there when she returned with her shopping bag loaded and, as she hesitated, one of them ran up to her, followed more slowly by the second.
‘You’re Sister Rose, aren’t you? You looked after my mum when she was in the Rosie.’
‘Did I?’ Rose smiled at her. ‘Is she better now?’
‘Yes, thanks – but my friend wants to ask you something.’ The girl pushed the second one forward.
She shifted from one foot to the other looking shy and Rose smiled. ‘It’s all right, you can ask whatever you like.’
‘I want to know if you can tell me where Danny is!’ the child blurted out breathlessly. ‘I’m Marjorie and he saved me – and I never got a chance to tell him how much I like him.’
‘Marjorie!’ Rose smiled at her, delighted. ‘I know where Danny is, because he lives with me. He asked me to find out if you were happy and safe but your parents didn’t want to speak to me or Danny.’
Marjorie frowned. ‘Daddy doesn’t approve of boys like Danny – but he saved me,’ she said and her eyes filled with tears. ‘I want to see him, Sister Rose – will you let me come and talk to him?’
‘Yes, I would let you come,’ Rose said without hesitation, ‘but you must ask your mother’s permission.’ She took her nursing notepad out and wrote down her address in capital letters to make it easy for the young girls to read. ‘This is my address and, if your mother agrees, you can come to tea this Saturday or any Sunday. She can come too – and your father if he wants to make sure we’re respectable.’
‘Thank you!’ Marjorie took the paper and peered at it, nodding as she read it very slowly. ‘Number seven Bell Lane …’
‘Yes, that’s right, Marjorie,’ Rose said. ‘Remember that you have to ask your mummy and daddy first – but I shall tell Danny that I’ve seen you and you are well and happy.’
‘Thank you!’ Marjorie’s eyes lit up. ‘I’ve been thinking and thinking about him and I’ll come and see him soon.’
Rose watched as the two little girls ran off and smiled. Danny would be thrilled that Marjorie had asked after him, but she wouldn’t tell him to expect a visit because she didn’t think Marjorie’s parents would agree. Her father was an office manager and he seemed to imagine they were above Danny and look down on him, just because he’d come from a bad home.
Her smile was replaced with a frown. There was no good reason the children shouldn’t be friends but if Marjorie’s parents didn’t wish for it that was the end of it.
‘Now you can visit him,’ Shelly said looking triumphantly at Marjorie as they hurried back to school. ‘You know where he lives now.’
‘I don’t know where Bell Lane is,’ Marjorie told her anxiously.
‘You can ask people and they will direct you – I don’t think it’s far from here so if you go to school and then the Rosie and ask, you’ll be all right.’
Marjorie nodded, but felt a trickle of unease at the nape of her neck. She didn’t like to deceive her parents but she would have to think of a way, because she didn’t think they would agree to her visiting Danny at his new home. So it would mean venturing out alone and she was still a bit frightened of doing that. Shelly noticed and said, ‘I bet your mummy would let you come to tea with me one Sunday. I’ll bring a note, shall I? Then you can come to me and then we’ll visit Danny together – I should like to meet him.’
Marjorie’s face lit up and she hugged her friend. ‘You’re so kind to me,’ she said. ‘I know you’ll like my Danny and Mummy approves of you.’ Shelly’s mother ran a little cake shop and her father was a manager in an office.
&nbs
p; She skipped happily by the side of her friend. Shelly was clever and brave and she thought of everything and now Marjorie could see Danny and that made her happy.
CHAPTER 22
Danny smiled broadly when Sister Rose told him about the little girl who had gone to the Rosie in search of him and that she’d said she was thinking of him and wanted to see him.
‘I thought she would’ve forgotten all about me,’ he said and grinned. ‘I reckon that’s all right, I do.’
‘I told her she could come to tea with her parents any Sunday if she wished or this Saturday. You will have to make one of your special cakes, Danny.’
‘Yeah, I’ll ask Beattie what we should make,’ Danny agreed. ‘Thanks, Sister Rose, you’re a good ’un, you are.’
‘I’m just happy it pleases you,’ Sister Rose said and brushed his hair with her hand. Danny was always trying to make the tuft on the crown lie down but it persisted in springing up like a little brush. Even after the hairdresser had cut it properly and smoothed it flat, the next morning it was back.
‘You made me happy when you brought me here,’ Danny said and was careful not to drop the ‘h’ off the words, because Sister Rose spoke properly and she said if you wanted to get on in the world it was a good idea. She didn’t scold when he forgot and Beattie sometimes did it too so Danny didn’t feel bad about it, but he was trying hard at school to learn as much as he could, because Sister Rose said if he wanted to bake his own cakes and sell them in a shop one day he would do well to learn how to write, read more than a few words and do sums.
Danny didn’t have difficulty in learning now that he was trying. His new teacher had told him he was a bright boy and he’d made friends with several boys in his class, including one called Jamie. He liked Jamie because he’d told him about a club he went to some nights.