The Children of Lovely Lane

by Nadine Dorries

  ‘Well, get you,’ said Victoria, ‘stuck for choice.’ Victoria’s boyfriend, Roland, was Teddy’s brother and both nurses had discussed on more than one occasion the possibility that they might one day be related by marriage.

  ‘Teddy’s own parents are both dead, as you know,’ said Victoria, ‘so I can see that he might find it difficult to understand your obligation to travel home. But he and Roland both miss having parents at home, as I’m sure he’s told you. Their mother died when they were both very young. I think there was a third child involved, but Roland has never said and I don’t like to ask. I knew their father, but I was only a little girl at the time. The Davenports were – still are – a very old family firm of solicitors and they took care of all our family’s legal affairs. Have done for generations. Everyone expected Teddy to follow his father and Roland into the business, but he was adamant that Roland could take it over and that he would break the mould and become a doctor.’

  It had been Roland’s idea that Victoria should go to St Angelus to do the nursing training she was so insistent on undertaking, because that was where Teddy had recently qualified as a doctor. She and Roland were already engaged, but she was determined to complete her training before they got married. ‘When I marry you,’ she told her fiancé, ‘I will do so as Staff Nurse Baker. My Aunt Minnie will despair and my mother will beam with pride from her grave.’

  Roland had known Victoria’s mother. He knew that there was a link for Victoria between her mother and nursing. Her mother had taken care of all the walking injured who’d been discharged from military service during the war and had returned to Bolton and its environs. While she was tending to the sick, no one had had any idea that she was very unwell herself, her weak heart a legacy of her childhood rheumatic fever. She had passed away very suddenly.

  ‘Really, I didn’t know all that,’ said Dana. ‘What was Teddy’s father like?’ She was intrigued to know the inside information on his family. He very rarely spoke about home and had mentioned his parents only once, when she’d asked him a specific question. She got the distinct impression that it was not a subject he wanted to talk about and so she had never broached it again.

  ‘Well, he was injured during the war and my mother and I used to cycle out from Baker Hall, me on my little bike, carrying the dressings in my basket. A lot of the men had terrible leg ulcers. Mother used to give me the dressings because I couldn’t break them if I came off my bike. I just remember their father as a wounded man. A quiet man. He’d been my family’s solicitor for years, my grandfather’s as well, I think, and the Davenports were advising the Bakers even before then, as far as I know.’

  ‘How old was Teddy at the time?’

  ‘Well, he was older than me, younger than Roland. But, you know, I can’t really remember Teddy. He was the cheeky one of the two. Roland was very much the responsible older brother and that was apparent even to me as a ten-year-old. Teddy was always up to something and I think he was the closest to his mother, but, do you know, they never mention her. He was usually up a tree, if I remember rightly.’

  Dana smiled at the thought of her precious Teddy as a little boy. ‘I don’t mind telling you, Victoria, I’m slightly jealous that you have that history with Teddy that I just don’t.’

  ‘Ah, well, you know how to rectify that, don’t you, my lovely. You just have to make sure you have a future.’

  ‘Yes, but look at you with the ring on your finger and your secret nights in hotels. The two of you have a fine time. Teddy and I only get to see each other once a week.’

  Victoria put her arm around her friend’s shoulder. ‘You know what, I’m going to suggest to Roland that instead of you dragging Teddy back to the farm, where you will end up working, he invites you both to Bolton. Or even that you both sneak away somewhere. How about the bright lights of London? You can buy a fake wedding ring. No one will know.’

  Dana looked mortified. ‘Victoria, I’m Irish. I can’t do that. My mammy would skin me alive. God, no. I envy you, but I could no more sleep in the same bed as Teddy before we were married than fly to the moon. God knows, I want to, though, but I sure don’t want to go straight to hell either. It’s all right for you, Lady Baker, you aren’t even a Catholic.’

  ‘Gosh, you Catholics and your guilt. It’s just as big a sin for an Anglican, you know. You just have to use your brain – would God really be that cross if you had a bit of fun?’

  Dana gasped. ‘Victoria, yes, he would. It might be different for you, you and Roland are engaged to be married, but honest to God, if I gave in to Teddy, why would he want to marry me? There would be nothing to marry me for. I don’t have money or a big house or anything. All I have is me. A farm girl from the west of Ireland. For the life of me, I don’t even know why he likes me. He could have any nurse he wanted.’

  ‘Well, that is just nonsense. How about because you are one of the nicest and, with your red hair and your blue eyes, the prettiest nurse in the hospital. It’s Teddy who is the lucky one, not you. And when it comes to the big house, neither do I have one any longer, but I do know what you mean. I am probably a bit more relaxed about these things because my parents are no longer around. I have no one to let down. And you know what, if I did become pregnant, I would take some pleasure from the expression on Aunt Minnie’s face when I told her. She would leave the country probably, unable to face the scandal.’

  ‘Hush, Victoria. That would be awful. Be careful, you don’t want that to happen.’

  ‘Well, I’m not sure how I’m going to be able to prevent it for much longer, sweetie. The one thing I’ve learnt is that what’s quite enough for us is nowhere near enough for a man. Not for Roland, anyway. He’s never had enough.’

  Dana blushed furiously. Her experience of sex before Teddy had been a near rape by Patrick, her neighbour from back home who’d followed her to Liverpool and been arrested as a peeping Tom. There were many reasons apart from the weather why a visit home was an unattractive prospect, but she would have to face it.

  Teddy could not have been more different to Patrick if he tried and with his gentle manner and soothing charm he’d laid to rest her fears about intimate contact. He was sweet and patient, but lately he’d taken to mentioning in the most subtle way that Roland was enjoying an entirely different kind of relationship with her close friend Victoria. With every date, Dana could feel the pressure building. His latest salvo had been the suggestion of a holiday.

  ‘We can go somewhere where no one knows us,’ he’d said. ‘To the Lake District or the coast. We could book in to a nice little hotel.’ They had been kissing goodnight at the time, in the front seats of Teddy’s car, parked a hundred yards away from the front door to the nurses’ home. Teddy didn’t mention whether it would be one room or two and Dana didn’t ask. She could guess what the answer would be.

  ‘I’ll have to write home first and see if I’m needed on the farm,’ said Dana as a way to stall things. She could almost feel Teddy’s exasperation.

  ‘If they’ve managed without you all this time, why would they suddenly need you when you have two weeks off?’ he pleaded and kissed the side of her neck. As he did so, his hands began venturing towards places they never had before.

  Dana placed her hand firmly over Teddy’s and guided them back to her waist. ‘Give me a week to find out,’ she said. ‘Just a week.’

  That had been over a week ago and their next date was looming. She would telephone home tonight. She was almost certain what the outcome of the conversation would be, but at least she wouldn’t be lying to Teddy.

  ‘Anyway, one thing about Pammy being on casualty with Teddy,’ said Dana, ‘she can tell me what he gets up to. It’s not as if he isn’t known for his high jinks. I must ask him one day how many nurses it was he dumped into dirty-linen trolleys. She can keep an eye on him for me. Or, knowing her, he can tell me about her antics.’

  Both nurses laughed. Dana went off to her ward, but Victoria had a few minutes to spare and decided to wait
for Pammy to come out of the cloakroom so she could wish her luck on her first shift in casualty.

  Pammy Tanner was a true cheeky Scouser. A nurse who got herself into numerous scrapes but was loved by every patient who came into contact with her. She had always liked Teddy. He was the first doctor she had set her eye on. She had been stunned to discover that he already knew Dana, but she hid her disappointment well and soon transferred her adoration to the new gynae consultant, Mr Oliver Gaskell. Pammy was not alone; every nurse at the hospital had been disappointed when the rumour spread that Dana had landed the very attractive Dr Davenport.

  Pammy was now one of Dana’s best friends. Just the other weekend, they had all been out dancing together. Teddy with Dana, Pammy searching for Oliver Gaskell. Ever since the night of the last doctors’ dance and a particularly smoochy number, she had been convinced that Oliver Gaskell was in love with her. ‘He’s just shy, that’s all,’ she said when Teddy had very gently asked if she was sure that he carried a flame. ‘I know he likes me, Teddy. He probably thinks that because he’s a consultant and I’m still training, he might get me into trouble with Matron or something, but he won’t. Mrs Duffy is a dote and we can wrap her around our little fingers, can’t we, Dana?’

  Teddy was not convinced. He liked Oliver Gaskell well enough as an acquaintance. He respected him as a skilled obstetrician and gynaecologist, and he was in awe of his war record. He often had a last pint with him down at the pub, but when it came to women, well, if Dr Teddy Davenport had had a sister of an eligible age, he would have kept her well away from Oliver Gaskell.

  As she came out into the corridor, Pammy saw Teddy take the steps to casualty two at a time. She pushed back the errant wisps of dark hair under her cap and refastened a kirby grip. She was about to shout to him but stopped as a probationer nurse hurried alongside him. She watched as Teddy opened the door for the trainee. She was willowy and pretty, one of the September intake girls. Her name was Sarah and she was living at Lovely Lane. Pammy felt a shiver run down her spine. There was something about the way she laid her hand on Teddy’s arm that made Pammy’s hackles rise. She instinctively knew she would have to keep an eye on Nurse Sarah Makebee and Dana’s Teddy.

  ‘Here, let me,’ said Teddy, as he held open the door.

  Even from a distance, Pammy could tell he was dazzled by the girl’s beauty. She tutted, then turned and caught sight of Victoria.

  ‘Would you look at her,’ whispered Victoria, nodding at Sarah Makebee. ‘It’s as if her uniform was designed with the sole purpose of enhancing her beauty. She just looks great in it, doesn’t she?’

  ‘She looks more than great,’ said Pammy. ‘Does she actually eat? Has anyone actually ever seen her swallow anything? Look at the size of her waist. It’s tiny.’

  Both nurses had stopped still in their tracks and they stood in awe of the perfectly coiffed hair swept over and under her perfectly starched and upright cap. Pammy’s hand slowly raised to feel her own. Yes, as she’d thought, the ends were already flopping.

  ‘Beth doesn’t like her,’ announced Victoria. ‘Says she has a boyfriend who’s a doctor in London. Beth thinks that, for a probationer, she’s a bit of a know-it-all.’

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake, if that’s what Beth thinks, that means she’s clever as well as pretty. That’s not fair.’

  ‘Well, fair or not, she’s just turned Teddy into a bowl of jelly, so keep an eye out there, Pammy.’

  ‘You can depend on it, Vic. As if I haven’t got enough to do, working with Sister Antrobus yet again. I’m convinced Matron has put me on casualty deliberately.’

  Pammy set her chin as she marched towards casualty. Teddy and Nurse Sarah Makebee disappeared into the gloom ahead of her and the door swung back and almost smacked her in the face.

  18

  Pammy felt like trembling as she walked in through the casualty doors. She looked to see which way Nurse Makebee and Teddy had turned, but there was no sign. She spotted Sister Antrobus in her navy-blue uniform, belt and tall starched white cap. She was talking to the new assistant matron and they appeared to be deep in conversation. Pammy almost groaned out loud. The nurses’ home had been swirling with rumours and stories about the new Miss Van Gilder.

  ‘They say she made Sister Antrobus swear the other day,’ Beth had said over breakfast at Lovely Lane one morning. ‘Apparently, Miss Van Gilder asked Sister to demonstrate her procedure for ordering clean dressings and to show her exactly how she calculated her weekly requirements.’

  The rumour had spread around the hospital like wildfire and Beth didn’t skimp on the drama. ‘Can you imagine!’ she continued. ‘So Sister Antrobus told Miss Van Gilder that she’d been a ward sister since St Angelus had its own sterilizing ovens in the kitchen and that she could do the ordering in her sleep. “I don’t need to keep records of what I order and why,” she said. And then...’

  Beth’s face was animated and the girls were transfixed as they tucked into their breakfast toast.

  ‘And then, Miss Van Gilder said, “Well then, you will have no difficulty explaining your process to me, will you? Things are different now. You will need to keep a record and I will check it every week.”’

  The girls giggled, imagining the steam coming out of Sister Antrobus’s ears, her eyes burning red, her cap flaring into flames...

  ‘Anyway,’ continued Beth, ‘after Miss Van Gilder left, Sister Antrobus stormed into the office, slammed the door and said, “Bloody Germans!” And Miss Van Gilder isn’t even German, she’s Dutch.’

  ‘No!’ they all exclaimed.

  ‘Fancy being so rude about the Germans. We are at peace now,’ said Victoria.

  The only person who didn’t bat an eyelid was Pammy. ‘What are youse all so shocked about? You think there’s anyone in Liverpool has a nice word to say about a German? We were bombed to smithereens, you know. Anyway, aren’t I the lucky one, Assistant Matron won’t be bothering me – it’ll be too busy in casualty for anyone to have time for an old bossy boots like her, and Sister Antrobus will have us all run ragged, for sure.’

  Casualty was very different from the wards. There was no continuity of care or consistency of patients. Everything happened by the minute and on demand. No two hours, let alone two days, were the same.

  As Pammy approached the desk, Sister Antrobus looked up from the ledger she’d been studying. It seemed as if Miss Van Gilder was towering over her, even though she was shorter. This illusion surprised Pammy.

  ‘Nurse Tanner!’ Sister Antrobus exclaimed, looking both flustered and relieved to see Pammy, which also came as a surprise. Sister Antrobus and Pammy had had an unhappy time together on ward two and Pammy thought that she must be the last person Sister Antrobus wanted to see walking on to casualty.

  But there was no time for pleasantries as the voice of Doreen, the casualty clerk, rang out from behind her counter. She was holding the telephone in her hand. ‘There’s a blue-light job due in in ten minutes, Sister. Woman hit by a tram down on the pier head.’

  Sister Antrobus shook her head. ‘We get one a week at the moment. Why can’t people watch where they’re walking?’ She didn’t expect an answer to her question as she looked about the unit to take in what was happening and where to make space.

  ‘And there’s a young boy in the waiting area. He has breathing difficulties...’

  Sister Antrobus was very obviously about to bark an order when Pammy caught her eye. ‘Why is your cap askew?’ she snapped.

  Immediately, Assistant Matron butted in too. ‘Are you wearing make-up?’

  Pammy ignored Miss Van Gilder and chose to answer Sister Antrobus. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Sister Antrobus, it must have been the wind. I was a bit late getting out this morning – blame Scamp, not me.’ She grinned and, lifting her hand to her cap, readjusted her errant kirby grip as she tried to make the flopping sides stand upright.

  Miss Van Gilder looked as though she was about to bite her head off for not replying as, to either side of them,
nurses moved chairs and screens around to prepare for the emergency. Pammy was eager to join them.

  ‘What on earth are you talking about?’ retorted Sister Antrobus. ‘Blame Scamp? Who on earth is Scamp? I didn’t ask you for an extravagant excuse steeped in a lie, I asked for an explanation.’

  Pammy wondered whether she should fight her corner or let Sister Antrobus win. It was, after all, her first day on casualty and she was desperate to make a good impression. She had only just recovered from the commotion she’d caused when she’d insisted that a baby aborted at twenty-eight weeks that had lived for a few short moments be afforded a visit from a priest and a proper burial. It had led to her being suspended from ward two.

  She bit her tongue hard. She could hear the voice of her mam, Maisie, ringing in her head. ‘Don’t get into any more scrapes, Pammy. Be a good girl now.’ Pammy had thought this extremely unjust. At the very least, she had uncovered the behaviour of a very dishonourable doctor.

  ‘Sorry, Sister Antrobus,’ Pammy said in a timid voice that she very rarely used.

  Sister Antrobus sighed. ‘Nurse Tanner, the little boy on the chairs, could you transfer him into a cubicle quickly, please. His breathing is really rather laboured.’

  Miss Van Gilder looked over towards the child. ‘A psychosomatic case if ever there was one,’ she said in a very loud voice. ‘All neglected children have breathing difficulties. It’s their mother they need. You can tell a neglected child a mile off by the sound of the wheeze.’