Front Line Nurse

by Rosie James

  Norma raised her eyes. ‘Well done you, Angelina,’ she said slowly. ‘Experience is the best teacher as we all know. You will obviously have learned a great deal.’

  They ordered what they wanted to eat and drink and Angelina said, ‘You must have been in on hundreds of operations now, Norma. Do you ever get tired of it, and would rather switch to something else?’

  ‘Nope,’ Norma said cheerfully. ‘But I will let into my little secret, Angelina.’ She paused. ‘I’ve got a new boyfriend, one of the surgeons I’ve been working with. We’ve been going out for six months now and he’s absolutely gorgeous – even when he’s wielding a knife!’

  Angelina clapped her hands. ‘Oh Norma! How exciting! Have you told anybody?’

  ‘Only you,’ Norma said. ‘We’re keeping it quiet in case it all goes wrong – but I don’t think it will.’ She paused. ‘It’s funny, but I have a gut instinct that we are meant to be together … for always. I mean he is not only handsome, he’s kind and thoughtful, and when we’re talking he doesn’t drop his gaze, or look away.’ She smiled quickly. ‘It’s as if I’m the only person in the world that he’s interested in. Does that sound silly to you?’

  Angelina gazed into the far distance. ‘No, it doesn’t sound silly at all,’ she said quietly.

  After they’d finished eating they stood up to leave. ‘By the way – there was an announcement in The Times this week about the son of your Mr Garfield.’ Norma said. She had always known that Angelina had been a Garfield orphan.

  Angelina looked up, startled. ‘Really? What – what did it say?’

  ‘That Miss Honora Mason and Mr Alexander Garfield have become engaged to be married, that’s all,’ Norma said. ‘See – love is in the air!’

  *

  Three days later, on her forty-eight-hour pass, Angelina made her way to the orphanage to see Miss Kingston. Ever since she’d heard the news about Alexander’s engagement, Angelina had been so depressed she could barely concentrate on her duties, and she knew that going ‘home’ for a few hours and talking to the superintendent would help put things into perspective. Of course she was being stupid, because Angelina had known all along that those two would get married. They were perfect for each other, both coming from prestigious families and backgrounds. But now that it was actually to become fact, it felt to Angelina as if she had been punched a blow from which she would never recover.

  She tried to console herself. Surely she wouldn’t be feeling this bad if fate – and war – hadn’t thrown them together on that battlefront, and if Alexander hadn’t kissed her and held her close and whispered sweet things into her ear …? Could she be blamed for believing, even for a second, that he had meant it, and that he really wanted her in that way? Or that, by some miracle she, and not Honora Mason, would one day be forever at his side?

  She arrived at the orphanage, and, unusually, Miss Jones answered the door, her face breaking into a huge smile when she saw Angelina.

  ‘My dear Angelina!’ Maria Jones exclaimed, automatically pulling Angelina to her and giving her a hug. ‘What a nice surprise! We don’t see nearly enough of you!’

  ‘Hullo Miss Jones,’ Angelina said. ‘Mrs Marshall not here today?’

  ‘No, she’s having a couple of days off because her husband is having one of his funny spells,’ Maria said She looked more closely at Angelina. ‘Are you all right, dear? You do look very pale.’

  Angelina smiled. I’m fine, thanks, just rather tired because I’ve been on nights and now I’m trying to adjust to normal life again. Night duty does turn life upside down,’ she added.

  Emma Kingston appeared from her study. ‘Oh lovely!’ she said. ‘An unexpected visit from one of our children!’ She glanced at Miss Jones. ‘Would you arrange coffee for us, Miss Jones?’

  After they had exchanged the usual pleasantries, the superintendent said, ‘Now then, tell me all the news. Are you being worked off your feet as usual?’ She sighed briefly. ‘This pandemic is the last thing you must all have needed.’

  Angelina nodded. ‘It isn’t easy,’ she said, ‘but we’re doing our best.’ She paused, looking away, her face so full of pain, that Emma Kingston leaned forward and touched Angelina’s arm.

  ‘What is it, dear?’ she said. ‘Is something wrong?’ It was obvious that Angelina was not her usual, engaging self.

  Angelina didn’t smile. ‘No, Miss Kingston, there’s nothing wrong … not at work, I mean …’

  ‘What then?’ the superintendent asked, a trace of anxiety in her tone. This was not like Angelina Green, the unstoppable, ever optimistic young woman. ‘What’s troubling you, dear?’

  The last thing Angelina wanted was sympathy, but she managed to hold back a sob in her throat. Fortunately, Miss Jones arrived then with their drinks, breaking the tension, and whether it was the warming coffee, or just being in Miss Kingston’s presence, Angelina knew she was going to spill her anguish. She put down her cup and tried to speak normally.

  ‘I’ve just heard that … that Mr Alexander is engaged to be married,’ she said, and Emma Kingston nodded.

  ‘Yes – it was in The Times, I believe,’ she said, ‘though when Mr Garfield looked in here last week he didn’t mention it. Though why should he? It’s hardly our business, is it?’

  Angelina couldn’t hold it in any longer, and she clasped her hands together tightly. ‘Mr Alexander and I – we met each other, Miss Kingston, while we were over there,’ Angelina whispered. She waited for a long moment before going on. ‘He was in uniform and I was on duty and he saw me first – and he just called out my name and it was like a beautiful dream to be standing there together amongst all that unbelievable chaos.’

  Angelina didn’t go on, because she could not bring herself to explain any further. How could she possibly describe how she had been held and kissed and hugged. Would Miss Kingston even believe her? Believe that the son of the philanthropist owner of the Garfield would behave like that with her, Angelina Green, an abandoned orphan, a nobody?

  After a few moments’ silence, Emma Kingston said softl, ‘And were you able to enjoy any time together before he went away again? Was there a chance to really talk to each other?’

  Angelina nodded miserably. ‘Yes. We had two hours, two whole hours,’ she said. ‘And if the world could have stopped turning at that moment, and fixed us there for ever, I would have been happier than I can possibly say.’

  The superintendent leaned forward to pour them both another coffee, her face a picture of understanding and sympathy. She didn’t need to hear any more from Angelina. From a very young child, Angelina had been besotted with Alexander Garfield – and in fairness to her, he had always treated her with masculine charm. Angelina’s feelings had clearly never wavered, but … why did there always have to be a ‘but’ …?

  ‘I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone of my own experience when I was young,’ Emma Kingston said quietly, ‘but this might be the right opportunity to share something with you, Angelina.’

  Angelina looked up quickly. Miss Kingston had always been a very private person. No one had any real knowledge of her life before the orphanage.

  ‘When I was about your age,’ Emma Kingston said slowly, ‘I was governess to three small children – their mother had died just a few months before.’ Emma sipped her coffee. ‘They were a rich family, and the children’s father took a great interest in their wellbeing, and how I was doing my job. It was such a happy arrangement and the children seemed to love me – as I certainly loved them.’ The superintendent paused, smiling sadly at her own memories. ‘The younger one sometimes called me “Mummy” by mistake, which always sent a shiver down my spine.’

  Angelina was engrossed in what she was hearing. How was this going to end?

  ‘On the first anniversary of his wife’s death,’ Emma Kingston said, ‘my employer came to the nursery as usual – to say goodnight to the children – and presently we sat together in the firelight, just talking. He was an important businessman and
sometimes, when he’d had a really long day, he seemed to like being there with me. Just the two of us.’

  After another long silence, Emma Kingston said slowly, ‘That night, the most unbelievable, the most unexpected thing took place, that afterwards I asked myself if it really had happened.’ Emma Kingston’s voice dropped to almost a whisper. ‘He drew me into his arms … and then he kissed me. On the lips, I mean, fully on the lips. It was my first – my only – experience of such a thing and I’d had no instruction. But I understood what it meant, oh yes, and I responded. Quite readily.’ She smiled. ‘He was a very handsome man, and I was completely overwhelmed.’

  The superintendent drew in a deep breath. ‘It’s strange that when the time comes, nature prepares us for all eventualities.’

  Angelina hardly knew what to do or say. This news was the private property of a very private person, and she, Angelina, was being trusted with it. ‘And … afterwards?’ she said quietly.

  ‘I’m afraid there was no afterwards,’ Emma Kingston said. ‘I had been stupid enough to believe that I was being loved, and wanted, and that I would become those children’s mother. That brief closeness, that one kiss, had been enough to make me hope that I had a future with that family … with that man.’ Her voice trailed off for a moment.

  ‘Instead of which, the occasion was never referred to again and my employer re-married a woman in his own class. She was actually his cousin,’ the superintendent added, ‘and far more suitable a person to accompany him on his many important appointments. I had merely been a momentary stop-gap in his emotional life, something passing and pointless.’

  Emma Kingston finished her coffee and straightened up. ‘Never mind, it didn’t take me too long to accept what I could not change, Angelina, and although I had longed for children of my own, it was not to be.’ She smiled brightly. ‘So I comforted myself in looking after other people’s – and I have been a happy woman, my dear, a very happy woman. Now that I can look back on it, I do believe that it had all been for the best.’

  Her mind trying to take in all that she’d heard, presently Angelina made her goodbyes and was about to leave when Maria Jones appeared holding a small box of cakes.

  ‘Some little treats for you and Ruby,’ Maria Jones said, following her to the main door.

  Just then the priest arrived. ‘Good afternoon ladies,’ he said, bowing extravagantly, and in spite of all Angelina had hear and her own distress, she wanted to giggle.

  ‘Did you want something, Father?’ Maria Jones said innocently, ‘I mean, were you looking for someone?’

  He didn’t hesitate. ‘Yes – I know the children have finished school for the day, but I wondered if Sister Bernadette was still in the school room,’ he said casually. ‘I’ll just pop in and take a look around.’

  After he’d gone, Maria Jones rolled her eyes at Angelina. ‘He’s a weird one,’ she said, ‘always haunting the place like a big black ghost! You never know when he’s going to turn up! And you wouldn’t want to hear Mrs Haines’s opinion of him!’

  *

  After Angelina had left, Emma Kingston sat with her elbows on the desk and rested her head in her hands. Having opened her sacred box of memories just now had left her feeling sad, and a little depressed. Which was not like Emma Kingston. She seldom, if ever, felt low.

  But this had been an unusual occasion on which she could do nothing to help Angelina, and that was what was depressing. In an effort to ally herself with Angelina, she had confided in her little orphan, told her things that had not been spoken of or barely thought about for more than thirty years. But it hadn’t helped. It hadn’t helped her, Emma Kingston, and neither had it been any use to Angelina, because they both knew there could be no happy ending. It seemed that where Alexander Garfield was concerned the die was cast, his future sealed.

  And that future could never include Angelina.

  Emma went across to the window and stared outside. It was almost Christmas, a time to be jolly – in spite of the country’s present woes.

  Then a smile played on her lips as she thought back to all the Christmases they’d enjoyed at t Garfield. She thought of her orphan children, so many of whom had done well in their lives since leaving the shelter of the orphanage. Most held down good jobs to support themselves, quite a few of the girls had gone into nursery nursing or had secured desk jobs in the town. Over the years some of the boys had been taken on by Jacob Mason, who’d been civil enough to compliment the superintendent on their ability and willingness to learn. Two of them had recently been accepted by Rolls Royce as trainees, which was really something.

  Emma’s eyes clouded for a second. There had been sad news of several of her boys losing their lives on the Front during the war – but that had been inevitable. They had been doing their duty to the best of their ability, which is all that should be expected of anyone. But to give your life for your country was the ultimate sacrifice.

  The superintendent wiped her eyes briefly. Even though she had prayed for them every night, it was hopeless to think that all her children could have been saved from an untimely death on the battlefield. But she would always be proud of each and every one of them.

  And what of Ruby Lane? The damaged, speechless child who, it had been thought, would probably end her days in an asylum? Ruby Lane had blossomed and blossomed! Maria Jones – who had always kept an eye on the youngster – had been told by the owner of the hairdressing salon that a bright future awaited. That Ruby had natural flair and ability and could go far if she so wished.

  Emma Kingston drew in a deep breath of gratitude. Who would ever have thought that?

  But of course, that was largely thanks to Angelina Green. Their shoebox baby, who was herself now destined for great things in the nursing profession. She alone had somehow managed to bring little Ruby back to some kind of normality, to give her a chance of life.

  The superintendent halted in her own thoughts. What a testimony to take with you for the rest of your life – that you might have saved another human being from an unspeakable future …

  And wasn’t that what she, Emma Kingston, had been doing all her life? She might now, at this very moment, have been grandmother to the babies of those three children she had loved and cared for all that time ago. She might even have had her own babies, if fate had allowed it, and be living in luxury with her handsome employer.

  But instead, she had loved and cared for hundreds of little ones who’d had a wretched start in life. Hundreds! What a privilege.

  Emma Kingston smiled happily to herself.

  She wouldn’t change a single thing.

  Chapter 19

  March 1920

  Angelina tapped on the almoner’s door and went in, knowing that what she was about to be told would either make her day or ruin it. The day that she had been working towards for so long. Had she passed her Finals? Was she now a fully qualified registered nurse? Had all those lectures, all that practical, often tortuous, experience, been enough?

  Or must she wait another year and do better next time?

  The almoner looked up. ‘Come and sit down, Angelina,’ Miss Day said. ‘I am not going to keep you in suspense – congratulations my dear!’ She smiled broadly. ‘You have passed with flying colours – as we knew you would! All of us at St Thomas’s are extremely proud of you!’

  Angelina had imagined how she might feel at this moment. Would she burst into tears, or whoop with delight, or gabble some silly words that said there must be some mistake in the marking? She did none of those things, only felt enormous relief that she could now get on with the next part of her life.

  ‘Thank you, Miss Day,’ she said quietly, then, without hesitation, she added – ‘I wonder if you would do me a favour?’

  The almoner raised her eyebrows. ‘If it is within my province then I will with pleasure,’ she said. ‘What do you have in mind?’

  ‘I would like my name to be put forward to enter medical school,’ Angelina said. ‘Because I wish to tr
ain to be a doctor, and finally, perhaps, to become a consultant orthopaedic surgeon.’

  Miss Day barely suppressed a smile, remembering the day this youngster had sat here wishing to enter the nurses’ training school, her youthful ambition and determination to achieve her aim impossible to deny. And how well Nurse Angelina Green had proved her worth! A tribute to human endeavour against all the odds.

  The almoner gazed across. ‘You do realise you would be facing a very long period of training,’ she said. ‘In total it would amount to eight or nine years – or even longer. Would you be ready to submit your whole life to that pressure and dedication?’ She paused. ‘You have been through a very tough few years, Angelina – don’t you feel ready for a break, a little time to sit back for a while?’

  ‘No, I don’t feel ready for that at all, Miss Day,’ Angelina said, leaning forward earnestly. ‘This is not something I’ve only just thought about,’ she said. ‘It’s been in my mind for several years, especially since I was on the front line. I saw the amazing things the surgeons were able to do … when sometimes it felt that there was no hope. It was like seeing miracles taking place and I was there, watching, assisting! I was part of all that and I thought, I can do this! I can see how it’s done! And however long it takes, I am determined to get there if they will admit me and train me.’ Angelina paused for breath. ‘The medical world is my whole world, Miss Day. There will never be anything else and I do not want anything else.’

  The almoner’s eyes moistened. It was impossible not to be swept along by this young woman’s genuine enthusiasm.

  She stood up. ‘Your contract with us will end in July,’ she said briskly, ‘so you would be available to begin elsewhere in September. It may be possible for you to join the medical intake at, say, UCL or Guy’s.’ She smiled. ‘I’ll do my best for you, Angelina, make the right enquiries and speak to the right people – but I am afraid Matron will not be very pleased if you do depart. We have only just got used to having you back home with us again!’