We Shall Remember

by Emma Fraser

  ‘It was my pleasure.’

  Once more she was forced to revise her opinion of him. Under his flippant exterior he was a decent man. When Richard’s mouth twitched and he raised an eyebrow, she realised she’d been staring at him.

  ‘Could I fetch you something for your headache? A cold compress – an aspirin perhaps?’ she said to Dr Maxwell, flustered.

  ‘Would you mind dear? There are pain killers on my dressing table. My room is the first one on the left at the top of the stairs. I’d ask Crawford or Hannah, but they’re kept so busy and neither manage the stairs as well as they used to.’

  ‘Of course.’

  Irena found Dr Maxwell’s bedroom easily enough and as she’d said there was a bottle of aspirin on her dressing table. As she reached over to pick them up she noticed a photograph lying face down and instinctively picked it up to set it upright.

  It was of Richard’s mother when she was younger, standing next to a dark-haired man Irena didn’t recognise but who was clearly not Lord Glendale. There were mountains in the background so it could be Scotland, but she didn’t think so. Isabel’s skirt was long, falling to just above her ankles, and she was wearing a white blouse, buttoned up to the neck. There was something familiar about the man next to her. He wasn’t in uniform, although what he was wearing could have been military issue: a plain shirt without an insignia and a leather jacket. But it was the way they were standing that made Irena wonder. Although they weren’t touching and both were staring into the camera and smiling, they were leaning into each other in a way that strangers wouldn’t.

  Was the man a lover from a time before Isabel had married Lord Glendale? If so, it was odd that she kept the photograph in her bedroom.

  It was none of her business and she was keeping Dr Maxwell waiting. She placed the picture back the way she’d found it, hurried back downstairs, and handed the bottle of pills to Richard’s mother.

  ‘Thank you.’ Dr Maxwell tipped a tablet into her hand and swallowed the aspirin with a sip of water.

  ‘Could I come with you – to the hospital, I mean?’ Irena asked. Now she was here she was keen to get back to seeing patients.

  ‘Not tomorrow. Perhaps the next day. You should rest a little. Once we have you on the wards, you’ll be worked hard, I promise.’ She rubbed her temples. ‘Would you excuse me? I’d think I should lie down for a while.’

  After Dr Maxwell had left, Richard seemed to change again. He tapped his foot on the floor as if desperate to be away from her company. No doubt he had plans for that evening.

  ‘I should go to bed too,’ Irena said.

  ‘I’m going to see if I can find some chums of mine down at the club. Won’t you join me?’

  ‘No, thank you. But you go.’

  Richard seemed disappointed. ‘If you’re sure? It doesn’t seem polite to leave you on your own on your first night in Edinburgh.’

  ‘I am perfectly sure.’

  The darkness in his eyes cleared. ‘I’m hoping to meet a friend for tea tomorrow if she’s free. Why don’t you come along?’

  He was only being polite. If this friend was another girlfriend she was unlikely to want Irena there.

  ‘I can’t imagine your friend will want to share you with a stranger. Especially if she only gets to see you for a short while every so often.’

  ‘Oh, Kat won’t mind. She’s not my girlfriend, if that’s what you’re thinking. We’ve known each other all our lives and could never be anything but chums. She’s training to be a nurse at the Royal. I’m certain the two of you will hit it off. You know, with both of you having medical backgrounds.’

  Irena hid a smile. Men were simple creatures if they thought a shared interest meant two women would get along.

  It seemed Scottish men weren’t different to Polish men at all.

  Chapter 32

  ‘Katherine, may I introduce you to Irena Kraszewska, a medical student from Poland?’ Richard said to the attractive, freckled-faced woman with thick, curly hair and a cheerful, open expression. They’d met in a crowded tea room in the Old Town, close to the Royal Infirmary.

  ‘Irena, this is Katherine, the old friend I told you about.’

  ‘Not so much of the old, Richard.’

  She held out her hand. ‘Pleased to meet you. Now, shall I order us some tea?’

  Irena smiled. Did the British ever drink anything else? ‘I’d prefer coffee.’

  Richard summoned the waitress and gave the order.

  ‘Irena is going to be working at the Polish medical school at the Western,’ Richard explained. ‘She’s staying at Charlotte Square with Mother for the time being.’

  ‘I’m a student nurse – otherwise known as a slave – at the Royal Infirmary,’ Katherine said. ‘It’s the best hospital in Scotland. As least we think so, although the girls in Glasgow would beg to differ. They say we’re too old-fashioned, but they’re just jealous.’ She chewed her lip. ‘We might be a little traditional, but we like that. Most of the time.’

  ‘We’ll be having our lectures at the Royal,’ Irena said when Katherine paused for breath. ‘We might come across one another there.’

  While they drank their tea, Katherine made them laugh with her stories of life on the ward. After a while, Richard got to his feet.

  ‘If you ladies would excuse me? I have somewhere I need to go.’

  ‘A woman?’ Katherine asked with a teasing glance. ‘Anyone I know?’

  He shook his head and tweaked her nose. ‘A gentleman never says.’

  Katherine turned back to Irena. ‘He’s incorrigible. It’s bound to be a woman. He always has one in tow.’

  Irena wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. Richard’s love life was no concern of hers.

  ‘How do you know Richard’s family?’ Irena asked when they were alone.

  ‘You mean, how can I, a lowly student nurse, move in aristocratic circles?’ Katherine smiled, apparently not in the least bit offended by the question. The truth was it was exactly what Irena had been thinking. In Poland it was the same; they had their counts and countesses and they rarely mixed with the lower and middle classes.

  ‘I suspect I wouldn’t have been taken on by the Royal if Dr Maxwell hadn’t put in a word for me. She and my mother have known each other since they were children, and I’ve known Richard since I was a baby. Mum – she’s a midwife – used to meet Dr Maxwell in the park and Richard and I played while they talked. Well, not played exactly, more me following him around like a puppy, if I’m honest. I thought he was wonderful. Then we sort of lost touch for years until one day we bumped into each other at a club. He was with some of his chums from the RAF. We had quite a night.’

  ‘Aleksy, my brother, is in the RAF too,’ Irena said. A woman carrying a crying toddler pushed the door open with her shoulder and sank into a chair with a sigh of relief. ‘He also managed to escape from Poland.’

  ‘Did he really? Tell me more. It’s all so thrilling. I can’t wait until I can join the QAs so I can get in amongst it all.’

  ‘The QAs?’

  ‘The Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service – it’s a bit of a mouthful so everyone calls them QAs for short. They’re out with our forces right now. I hope to goodness the war doesn’t end before I finish my training.’

  When Irena kept quiet, Katherine covered her mouth with her hand.

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry. That was stupid and thoughtless. You must be desperate for it to end. Me and my big mouth. I open it and all this stuff just seems to pour out. Mum says I’m like a leaky bucket.’

  ‘You shouldn’t wish to go to war. It’s horrible and bloody and heartbreaking. The wounded and the dying are so young, and you don’t have enough medicine, or supplies. Conditions are rarely like you’re used to in hospital.’

  ‘That’s what Mum says.’

  ‘And she’s right.’

  Katherine slid her a glance. ‘Did you hate it all the time?’

  Irena thought for a while. She hated w
hat the war had done – was still doing – to those she loved. She’d been terrified of going behind the fence of the ghetto and she’d hated not being able to save more of the people, particularly the children inside it, but she’d been thrilled when those she’d treated had got better. And, at the beginning of the war, when Warsaw was under attack, being in the thick of life-and-death decisions at the hospital had exhilarated her. It didn’t seem right, but looking back, that was how she’d felt.

  She realised Katherine was waiting for an answer. She chose her words carefully. ‘I hated it when there was nothing I could do for a patient and very often I was scared that I wouldn’t know what to do, but mostly, if I’m honest, it was the most exciting time of my life. It’s what we nurses and doctors train to do, isn’t it?’

  ‘I knew you’d understand! Perhaps you can help me persuade Mum that I should join the QAs then,’ Katherine said. ‘I’ll be twenty-three by the time I finish my training and no longer a minor, but I’ve always done what Mum wants.’

  In many ways Katherine seemed younger than her years. On the other hand, it could be because Irena felt so much older than her own twenty-three years.

  ‘Tell me more about your brother,’ Katherine said. ‘If he’s in the RAF does that mean he knows Richard?’

  ‘They’ve never flown together, but they have met. It was Richard who found him for me. We lost touch when Germany invaded Poland.’

  Katherine placed her cup back on its saucer. ‘Richard might like the fast life but he’s a good man at heart.’

  Irena wondered if Katherine felt more than friendship for Richard. She hoped not, for the nurse’s sake. Although she didn’t know much about him, she strongly suspected Richard was unlikely to settle with one woman.

  ‘Have you seen your brother?’ Katherine continued. ‘You must have been so delighted to discover he was safe.’

  ‘It was a big relief. And yes, I’ve seen him. He’s stationed in Dumfries. Richard came with me on the train and was kind enough to agree to get off at a place called Carlisle so we could go and see him. Aleksy and I only had a short while together, but I hope to visit him there again when I can, or perhaps he’ll visit me in Edinburgh when he has leave.’

  ‘When you go and see him, I could come with you. If it coincides with my day off, that is,’ Katherine offered. ‘It will be a day out.’

  ‘I would like that.’

  ‘Now that that’s settled, shall we go shopping when we finish our tea? I’m in desperate need of some new nylons.’

  Irena was in urgent need of more than nylons, but she still didn’t have money. Until she did, darning and mending what she had would have to do. In the meantime, Katherine’s cheerful, uncomplicated company was a balm to her bruised soul.

  Chapter 33

  Instead of waiting until the new term started, Irena resumed her studies by working as a dresser at the Polish Hospital. Work kept her from dwelling on what was happening in Poland and the weeks passed quickly. Scotland’s summer was far colder, wetter and windier than Poland, but there were no air raids – in fact, there was very little evidence, apart from the rationing and blackouts, that a war was going on. Every day she perused the papers avidly and she listened to the BBC news whenever she could. Unbelievably Hitler had invaded Russia and his former ally was now on Britain’s side.

  Irena wasn’t sure what to make of it; she remembered too well what the Russians had done to Poland and didn’t trust them an inch. But, she consoled herself, with Russia on the side of the Allies, Hitler was bound to be defeated.

  Sometimes when she was in bed, she’d trace the outline of Piotr’s features in her mind, filling in the details of his eyes and the shape of his mouth like a painter colouring in a sketch. Yet even though she’d concentrate as hard as she could, she couldn’t quite capture the essence of him. He was fading from her memory bit by bit and the harder she tried to hold on to his image, the more elusive it became.

  In the evenings, when Dr Maxwell returned from work, they would sit by the fire and talk about medicine and, for those short hours, Irena was able to forget her loneliness, and her worry about Piotr.

  She was in the drawing room, looking out over Charlotte Square and watching the people making the most of the evening sunshine, when Isabel – the doctor had long since insisted Irena call her by her first name – hurried in brandishing a telegram. Her eyes were shining and she had a broad smile on her face.

  ‘Richard has a week’s furlong. He should be here tomorrow evening. Isn’t it wonderful?’

  Irena felt a rush of unexpected pleasure. ‘You must be so looking forward to seeing him.’

  Isabel’s face clouded. ‘Unfortunately I won’t be able to spend as much time with him as I’d like. I’m much too busy between my hospital and the infirmary to take more than a day or two’s leave.’ Then she brightened. ‘At least I shall see him at dinner and some of the evenings. You will keep him company sometimes, won’t you, my dear?’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘Yes. I know you have your work at the hospital, but you do have the evenings and some days free, don’t you?’

  It was true. There were so many Polish medical students in Edinburgh now, that there wasn’t enough work for them all on the wards – even split between the hospitals. Nevertheless, Irena doubted that Richard would want to spend too much time with her instead of Katherine or one of his girlfriends and she told Dr Maxwell as much.

  ‘Naturally, he’ll be delighted to spend time with you. You’re our guest. It would be remiss of him not to. You haven’t had much fun since you’ve been here and it’s time you relaxed a little. You’re a young woman.’

  Irena grimaced. ‘I don’t feel young.’

  ‘I know you are mourning for everything you have lost,’ Isabel said. ‘And I know what that feels like.’

  Irena left the window and sat down next to Isabel. ‘You lost someone too?’

  ‘I doubt there is anyone who didn’t lose a brother, son, friend or lover in the last war.’ The look of pain in her eyes made Irena think of the photograph she’d seen in her bedroom.

  ‘Did you?’ she ventured.

  Isabel rose from her chair and went to stand next to the fire. She held out her hands to the flames, keeping her back to Irena. ‘My brother Andrew was shot down. He was so young. He was a pilot too. As was my husband.’

  ‘Is that how Lord Glendale lost his arm?’

  Isabel turned back to Irena. ‘Yes. It stopped him from flying – at least for the rest of the war. It didn’t stop him flying for pleasure, though. He’s always kept a plane of his own. He manages all right, despite having only one arm. I think he would have given anything to have been able to join our RAF boys when this war broke out, but even if it hadn’t been for his injury, he was too old.’ She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. ‘I think that’s where Richard inherited his love of being in the air. Simon – Lord Glendale – took him up almost as soon as Richard could walk. I protested, of course – aeroplanes weren’t as safe back then as they are now.’ Her eyes clouded again. ‘Perhaps I should have tried harder to stop him, but Richard loved it and I’ve always found it difficult to refuse my son anything.’

  ‘Aleksy always wanted to fly too,’ Irena said. ‘He and Richard are very alike in many ways.’

  The two women shared a long look. Both knew that pilots had the greatest chance of dying.

  ‘I think Simon finds his work at the War Office almost as exciting as being a pilot,’ Isabel continued. ‘It’s much safer, of course, but no less important,’

  Irena had suspected as much when he’d taken her to be interviewed when she’d first arrived.

  Crawford brought in a tray of tea and they waited until he’d left before they resumed their conversation. ‘Will you go back to Poland when this is over?’ Isabel asked as Irena poured their tea.

  ‘Of course! It is my country. I belong there. I long to be back, although I can’t imagine what sort of Poland – what sort of life – I’ll be returni
ng to.’

  ‘The war – all the horror – will end, Irena. You must have faith. Then everything will return to normal and you will be able to resume your life. It won’t be the same as it was before the war, but there will be compensations.’ A shadow crossed her face. ‘A life still to lead.’

  ‘Was that what it was like for you when you came back from the Great War?’

  Isabel fingered the pearls at her throat. ‘It wasn’t the life I imagined living, no.’

  ‘But you are happy?’ The words slipped out before she could stop them. Isabel didn’t invite confidences, but there was something about her today that made her seem more approachable. ‘You must be. You have everything. Your work. Your husband. Your son.’