by Cathy Sharp
‘That sounds rather pleasant. I wouldn’t mind tagging along – do you think I’d be welcome if I contributed to the picnic?’
‘I should think you would be more than welcome. The lads are going to have some driving lessons on the private airfield. If you bring your car they could have more turns – if you were willing?
‘Yes, why not? It should be a lot of fun. I’d like that very much. Give me a time and I’ll pick you up here – or at your home?’
‘Here, and we’re leaving at eight in the morning,’ Rose said and reached for her notepad. ‘I’ll look forward to it – and I’ll give Sister your message about the doubts you have concerning the children’s eating habits …’
‘Oh, and I wanted to talk to you about Andy and Beth … are they getting on better now?’ He looked at her and she told him quickly about how their step-father had threatened the boy.
‘I’ll call in and have a word with Sergeant Sallis again,’ he said, smiled at her again and left.
CHAPTER 17
Nancy was on duty that Sunday, alone except for Sister Beatrice, who was standing in for Sister Rose, the cook and Elsa. They didn’t do much cleaning on Sundays, but the smaller children needed help with dressing and washing and Nancy usually saw to the drinks mid-morning, as well as giving Mrs Davies a hand with the clearing up after lunch. On Sunday afternoons most of the children went out to play with friends or attended Sunday classes, fun things arranged for them by the energetic young curate attached to their local church.
Once she’d taken a tray of drinks to the sick ward, Nancy was free until teatime. She sometimes occupied herself by baking and if Jinny had been at work she would probably have spent the time quite happily talking to her in the kitchen. Elsa was a sulky girl and seemed in a less than friendly mood that morning. She half-wished she’d been invited on the trip to the country with Rose and the others, but it would have been wrong to desert Sister Beatrice and leave her holding the fort alone. Yet it hurt a little that no one had thought of asking her. Wendy and Rose usually made a point of inviting her when they went on group outings to the pub for a meal or a church social, but she’d refused to go to the party when Rob asked and since then it seemed no one had asked her anywhere.
Nancy worked many more hours than could ever have been expected of her. She enjoyed her job, which always seemed a pleasure to her, and thought herself lucky to have been given her job and a home, because St Saviour’s was her home. She could have found herself somewhere else to live years ago; her wage was sufficient to support her in a small flat if she so chose, but she’d never considered it. The children were her family, and Sister Beatrice, Wendy, Kelly and Rose were her friends.
Nancy missed the woman who’d been the head carer here when she first came. Nan had been almost like a mother to her – the mother she’d lost after that terrible bombing raid which had taken so many of her family. Nancy’s mother had never recovered from that tragic night and slipped into apathy and drunkenness, taking little interest in her children.
Feeling tears prick her eyes, Nancy decided to go out for a walk. There weren’t many parks in Spitalfields, only Itchy Park, which wasn’t much of a place, just gardens round the church, not like the lovely parks in the West End, but she would walk for a while anyway, just to blow the cobwebs away.
Nancy didn’t often allow the past to haunt her, but now and then she recalled all the trauma of her parents’ deaths – and the effect that all the preceding events had had on her brother Terry. She supposed it was Terry’s condition that had brought on this mood. Nancy had recently received a letter asking her not to go to visit her brother this month as he was in one of his black times.
We feel that a visit might make him violent and it is possible that he might attack you for no reason. There have been three outbursts recently and a female nurse was attacked. Your brother is becoming aware of feelings that he doesn’t understand as he leaves childhood behind and for his own sake, as well as that of others, we have decided to keep him away from the female staff …
The idea that her brother might attack her if she visited him made Nancy sad. For years she’d gone regularly every month, though quite often he hardly knew her. She’d seen him as a child, never growing beyond the age he’d been when he’d been a victim of his father’s brutality – and yet she knew that he was a man now and strong. If he were to become violent anything could happen.
Leaving St Saviour’s, Nancy walked along the dusty street. There was a faint tang in the air, though she didn’t know whether it was the drains that sometimes smelled bad in the warmer weather or if it wafted in from the river. Despite the warmth, the sky was overcast and the atmosphere heavy as if pressing down on the city, trapping the smells and the rising heat beneath a bank of cloud. Earlier the sun had been bright for this late in the summer, but it had become muggy and close, almost airless here in this old street with its ancient buildings and gutters choked with debris.
Nancy was lost in thoughts and didn’t see the man running towards her until he knocked straight into her, sending her to her knees and going on past without even a backward glance. She gasped, because he’d hurt her and for a moment she was winded, her right knee stinging where she’d hit the pavement and landed on something sharp. As she struggled to rise, a small vehicle stopped abruptly at the kerb just behind her and a man jumped out. His hand was gentle as he raised her and she found herself looking into the face of the young decorator, a flush rising in her cheeks as he looked at her in concern.
‘That lout could’ve hurt you badly,’ Rob Thompson said angrily. ‘He has hurt you – you’re bleeding …’ His hand moved towards her skirt but stopped as she flinched. ‘Please may I see?’
Nancy nodded, too shocked to refuse. She could feel the pain and knew that it wasn’t just a graze, and as Rob delicately lifted the skirt of her dress above her knee they both saw the shard of broken glass that had become embedded in her flesh.
‘Oh … I knew it was sharp,’ Nancy said. ‘It’s bleeding quite a lot …’
‘Can you walk?’ Rob asked anxiously. ‘If you can hobble to the van I’ll take you to the hospital. This needs attention straight away.’
‘Yes … I suppose Sister Beatrice …’ she said tentatively but he shook his head. ‘No, perhaps not …’
‘It needs to be removed and stitched,’ Rob said, ‘but they will probably X-ray it as well to make sure there isn’t a splinter of glass left in.’ He took hold of the piece of glass and tried to gently ease it free, but Nancy cried out and he apologised. ‘Yes, it’s too deep to take out by hand. I’m sorry. I think there’s nothing for it but the hospital.’
‘I was only going for a walk …’
‘It was that lout’s fault,’ Rob said. ‘I’d like to give him a good hiding for running into you and then just going off like that … Give me your arm, now put it round my shoulder like that and I’ll make it easy for you.’
Nancy allowed him to help her. He was kind and gentle, concerned for her and she felt a little ashamed of herself for the way she’d behaved the first day they’d met. His smile was warm and caring and for the first time in years she found herself relying on a man to help her.
‘This is so good of you,’ she said shyly as he reversed into a side street and headed off back the way she had come, but avoiding the turning for St Saviour’s and carrying straight on until the hospital came into sight. He parked safely, jumped out and opened the door, helping her out. Nancy took two steps forward and felt her leg go. Before she hit the ground, Rob had caught her and was holding her in his strong hands. ‘So foolish … I feel a little strange …’
‘I’m not surprised,’ Rob said. ‘Don’t worry, you’re safe now, Nancy. I’ve got you and I’ll look after you. I promise I shan’t leave you …’
‘Sister Beatrice … things to do …’ Nancy sighed weakly, her head swooning as she shut her eyes and leaned into the warmth of his body. It was so strange, because mostly she couldn’t bear to be touch
ed by any man, even a doctor, but she did feel safe in this man’s arms … safe, and warm and protected and it was a good feeling …
‘I’ll let them know,’ Rob promised as she felt her senses leaving her but somehow knew he had her in his arms and was carrying her. ‘Jinny will come in. There’s nothing to worry about …’
When Nancy came back to herself she was lying on a bed with grey curtains round it and someone was sitting by the foot of the bed. It took a moment for her eyes to focus and then it all started to return: the fall, the blood and the pain and Rob carrying her into the hospital. She half remembered a nurse coming to look at her and giving her something to make her feel easier and then a doctor saying he was going to remove the glass and clean up the wound. Becoming aware of soreness in her right knee, Nancy gave a little moan and lifted a hand towards the man sitting patiently beside her.
‘You must have other things to do,’ she said, her throat tight. She didn’t know why she wanted to cry. It wasn’t because of the pain, because she’d cope with that, but something more emotional than physical. ‘I’ll be all right now …’
‘I’ll wait and take you home when they let you go,’ Rob told her. ‘They think they got it all, but you might have to come in again to have an X-ray and make sure. The doctor said he wouldn’t keep you in so they’ll check to make sure your blood pressure is all right and then they’ll let us go …’
‘If you want to go I could catch a bus …’
‘I don’t,’ he said. ‘Just relax and trust me, Nancy. I want to help – and I shan’t expect any favours. I’d like to be your friend but I know I started off badly … embarrassing you the way I did …’
‘No …’ she smiled at him weakly. ‘I was silly. I can’t explain but one day I will … if we’re still friends?’
His smile was radiant and Nancy felt something move deep inside her. He hadn’t hesitated to step in and help, just as when he’d saved her from falling down the stairs. She did like this pleasant and caring young man, and it was time she let go of the past and stopped thinking that all men were like her father. Rob had proved himself a friend and Nancy found that she wanted very much to know him better, to be his friend … if nothing else. She wasn’t sure she would ever be able to be more than that to any man, but perhaps in time she might feel comfortable and happy in his company.
‘I’ll always be your friend if that’s what you want, Nancy,’ he told her softly. ‘I promise you that I will never hurt you – never do anything that frightens or upsets you …’
As Nancy looked into his eyes, she knew that he understood as no other man ever had. Rob sensed that she’d been badly hurt … that she was like a wounded fawn, starting at a footfall lest it be a huntsman returning to hurt her again. He couldn’t know her history and perhaps if he learned the truth she would see disgust in his eyes, the disgust she still felt herself at the memory of what her own father had done to her as a young girl … but perhaps one day he would listen and he would still smile at her the way he was smiling now.
Perhaps it was time at last for Nancy to take a chance …
‘You must rest.’ Sister Beatrice looked at her in concern as she hobbled into her office the next morning. ‘It was a very unfortunate thing to happen, Nancy. I’m very grateful to Mr Thompson for looking after you. Had he not happened to see the incident we should have been worrying about you still …’
‘I’m so sorry to have made things difficult for you yesterday,’ Nancy said. ‘I just wanted a little air and I never imagined something like that could happen – it was so sudden.’
‘It is the way of accidents,’ Sister Beatrice said. ‘Mr Thompson told me the hospital wants you to put your foot up for a few days and you are not to think of working. I insist you have a few days off, my dear – besides, you’re due a holiday. You haven’t had more than a couple of days off now and then to visit your brother …’ She frowned as she saw Nancy’s gasp of pain. ‘Does your leg hurt?’
‘No – it is Terry. They’ve told me not to visit for a while, because he’s … he’s become violent towards females and they think he might attack me.’
‘Oh, Nancy my dear, I am so very sorry. I know you think the world of him – and he is all you have left of your family …’
‘Yes, but he isn’t my Terry any more,’ Nancy said sadly. ‘I wish he was different but he was too badly damaged …’
‘If there’s anything I can do?’
Nancy shook her head. ‘No, I’m all right – but there’s nothing I really want to do at the moment, though I wouldn’t mind a trip to the sea one day before autumn sets in … but I shall rest. I can sit in a comfortable chair and read to the little ones …’
‘Very well, Nancy, you know your own mind – but I am here for you whenever you need to talk. I hope you know that?’
‘Yes, Sister, I know. You’ve always been kind,’ Nancy said. ‘I think I’ll go and read to the children for a little while.’
‘Just as long as you don’t try to work or carry heavy trays …’
Once Nancy had gone, Beatrice went back to looking through her desk drawers. She was looking for a small black notebook, which she used to make notes on the children’s welfare. It was just a little jottings book really, and Beatrice always wrote her reports out in fair copy before Sandra typed them up for her records, which were kept locked in the metal file in her office. She saw it at last in the bottom drawer, which was odd, since she was certain she’d left it in the top left-hand drawer.
How could it have been moved? Sandra never went to Beatrice’s desk unless she asked her, and it would be very unlike her to remove the book and replace it in another place.
Beatrice frowned as she glanced through it. One of her recent notes to herself was to have a word with Tom about his argument with the girl from next door. She’d done so and he’d said it was the girl’s fault because she was a bully and he’d been standing up for one of their girls – but who would want to see what she’d scribbled about it?
Oh well, it hardly mattered as nothing was missing – but she’d felt a little annoyed, particularly because of the thefts. Nothing like this had ever happened at St Saviour’s and it was most unpleasant, because it seemed that nowhere was safe unless it was locked.
CHAPTER 18
Rose was smiling as she walked into the ward that Monday morning. It was cooler out and there was definitely a change on the way. Wendy was wiping down the trolley she’d been using with disinfectant in water and there was a strong smell of it with an underlying odour of sickness in the ward. Rose’s eyes moved over the beds and she saw that they had three new patients, all of whom looked a little sorry for themselves.
‘What happened?’ she asked as Wendy returned from tipping the bowl of water down the toilet in the rest room between the sick ward and the isolation ward. ‘It looks as if we have some very sick children?’
‘I think it is a tummy bug or something they ate,’ Wendy said. ‘I’ve had a stream of them overnight complaining of stomach ache and sickness. Sister Beatrice thinks it’s more likely to be something they ate yesterday rather than a bug but at least six have been ill, though only these three are still feeling sick.’
‘Did they go out to eat somewhere – buy things from a stall in the park or something?’
‘No, they were all here for the whole day. Sister Beatrice was very upset and she went off to the kitchen to talk to Mrs Davies. I think she blames her for this latest outbreak of vomiting.’
‘Oh dear,’ Rose nodded. ‘Doctor Henderson did say he thought the quality of their food might not be up to standard and Sandra told me she’d had a word with Mrs Davies and hoped things would improve …’
‘Well, they will now, because I haven’t seen Sister Beatrice look so angry for years …’ Wendy pulled a wry face. ‘I shouldn’t like to be in the cook’s shoes if it is caused by bad food.’ She shook her head and then laughed. ‘Well, how did you get on? Was it a good day in the country?’
‘
Lovely.’ Rose smiled at the memory. ‘I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed myself, Wendy. Mr Barton and Doctor Henderson both gave the kids a turn at driving their cars. We were on private land so it was quite safe and there’s no law against the kids driving under the age for a licence providing they’re not on a public road. You should’ve seen Andy. He was so good and his teacher was very enthusiastic about giving him proper lessons when he’s older. He encouraged him to think of a career in the motor trade. Of course Andy is completely fixated on being a racing driver now; it probably won’t happen but I suppose there’s no harm in him having his dream.’
‘None at all,’ Wendy agreed. ‘It will give him something to think about and work for … Oh dear, Joshua is about to be sick again …’ She dashed off with her bowl as the young boy starting retching.
Rose looked through the reports and then started on the routine chores. Wendy was already due to go off duty, but she often stayed for an extra hour or so if one of the children was very ill. Rose heard the sound of another young boy starting to be sick and dashed to the rescue with another bowl. She thought it might be as well to call the doctor now, because they couldn’t allow this to go on much longer in case the children were really ill. Anger rose inside her at the thought that this might have been caused by the children being given food that was either on the turn or contaminated in some way. She thought again that she wouldn’t want to be in the cook’s shoes if Sister Beatrice was on the rampage …
Jinny was in the kitchen chopping carrots when Sister Beatrice entered. Her expression was thunderous and Elsa and Jinny looked at each other, both wondering what they’d done now. Had more money gone missing and were they going to be blamed for it?
‘I hope she doesn’t pick on me …’ Elsa hissed and Jinny nodded, feeling apprehensive herself.