Wheels of Grace

by Crosse, Tania

  ‘I am, yes. I’d like to talk to some of the men here about it, if I may.’

  ‘Be my guest. Just watch Private Wicks, mind. Getting a little too familiar, he is.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Sister,’ Grace chuckled. ‘I think I can keep him at arm’s length.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear it. Could you possibly help Nurse Trembath with Captain Evershed while you’re here? Nurse Miles is off with a heavy cold.’

  ‘Poor soul. I hope she gets better soon. But of course I’ll help with the captain. Really beginning to make progress at last, isn’t he?’

  Grace stepped straight across to the bay where Tresca Trembath was helping Captain Evershed to lurch from one window to the next, staggering on his crooked limbs and attempting desperately to keep his balance. But when Grace considered that on his arrival barely three months previously, he could do little more that wriggle on the floor and his speech was practically non-existent, it was a miracle. Each hypnosis session he underwent with Dr Franfield resulted in a marked improvement, and even though his words were slightly slurred, he could now hold a normal conversation.

  Grace felt proud that she had played some small part in his progress. She loved her work helping the amputees come to terms with their disabilities – at least most of them did with care and understanding – and seeing them go home to their loved ones to await their prosthetics with a positive attitude. But the achievements on Happiness Ward were no less satisfying – and it was one time when she could escape Aggie’s presence, although during their off-duty time, Aggie invariably disappeared into the town.

  ‘Are you all right this morning?’ Grace plucked up the courage to ask a little later as she and Tresca Trembath took their morning break. ‘You seem a bit preoccupied.’

  ‘I am,’ the older woman admitted quietly. ‘Had a letter from Callum, our eldest. He’s been wounded. Took a sniper bullet in his arm. He’ll mend, but I can’t help worrying.’

  ‘Of course you can’t. And the other two?’

  ‘All right as far as we know. But every day, I expect to get a telegram. This dreadful fighting that’s still going on at Wipers as they jokingly call it. Though I can’t see anything funny in it myself.’

  ‘Me neither. I think it’s just a way of keeping their spirits up. Let’s just pray it all comes to an end soon. And in the meantime, if you visit Vera, tell her I hope she gets better soon. Been friends a long time, haven’t you?’ Grace asked, trying to cheer Tresca up by changing the subject.

  ‘Yes, ever since I came to Tavistock with my father back along when they were building the second railway through the town.’ She paused, and her eyes took on a far-away look so that when she spoke again, it took Grace by surprise. ‘But my Morgan and I have been so happy together all these long years. I’m so thankful for that. I just wish we could have the boys safely back home.’

  Grace nodded her head. She had heard of more than one instance where all the male members of one family had been wiped out. In the Parish of Walkhampton, there was a case where two brothers had lost their lives, and who knew if the third would survive the carnage? To lose one family member was unbearable, but to lose all the young men didn’t bear thinking about. For Tresca and her husband it must be unimaginable to have all three sons in the thick of the fighting – including Liam whom Grace now knew had been the young lad manning the gate on her and Larry’s first visit to Martin.

  Grace found herself staring into her teacup. She had lost three brothers in her life, and her heart still ached whenever she thought about it. No wonder her poor mother had lost her mind for so long. But surely the war must end before George was old enough to be conscripted, especially now the Americans were involved? But it had already been raging for well over three years when back in the summer of 1914, everyone was convinced it would be over by Christmas.

  Well, not quite everybody. Sadly people like Larry had been proved right. And Grace thanked God that he was one person in her life who would always be there.

  ‘You have a visitor, Nurse Dannings,’ Ling Franfield told Grace who was making the beds on Sunshine Ward with Aggie’s help.

  ‘A visitor? But I’m on duty and I’m not expecting anyone.’ And then panic gripped her in a fist of iron. ‘Oh, my God, it’s not bad news?’

  ‘Not at all. Forgive me, my dear, I should have said. And don’t worry about being on duty. Heaven knows, no one has put in as much extra time here as you have. Off you go. He’s waiting in the vestibule. Take as much time as you like.’

  He? Whoever could it be? Her father perhaps, Grace wondered as she made her way towards the door. But why would he come now when he should be at work on the Snells’ farm? Despite Matron’s assurances, Grace prayed it was nothing to do with her mother. As she crossed the great hall, she was oblivious to the group of soldiers in hospital blues playing cards. But then she recognized a familiar figure through the ornate glass doors to the vestibule.

  ‘Larry!’ she cried as she went through. But her eyes immediately snapped in irritation. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘If Mohammed won’t come to the mountain,’ he answered darkly, catching her fierce gaze.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Is that the best welcome you can muster when I’ve come all this way?’ he retorted. ‘I thought you’d be pleased to see me.’

  ‘Of course I am. But I’m on duty. You should have written and we could have arranged a time when I’m free.’

  ‘And would you have read any letter?’ Larry’s voice was a blend of suppressed anger and hurt. ‘I write to you almost every week, but you haven’t replied in ages. You only came home to visit your parents a couple of times shortly after you came here, and your notes to them are so brief. I was worried about you, but I see there was no need.’

  His eyes locked with hers, but the underlying distress in them filled Grace with remorse.

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Larry. It’s just that I’ve been so busy. It becomes a way of life here. Wait and I’ll get my coat. I know it’s drizzling but we can still walk around the grounds.’

  ‘That would be nice,’ Larry replied stiffly, but then Grace saw the taut lines about his mouth slacken. ‘And I must say you look very fetching in your uniform.’ His eyes had softened and Grace felt the tension between them easing.

  ‘It isn’t supposed to be fetching,’ she chided. ‘So it’s probably as well that I’ll have my coat on over the top. Matron said she doesn’t mind me taking a while, and it’s because of you that I’m here, after all. But I still shouldn’t be too long.’

  ‘Neither should I. We’re still pretty busy at the yard.’

  ‘I’ll be half a minute. The dorm’s just upstairs.’

  She slipped quickly through the doors and up the staircase, her heart feeling lighter. It was so good to see Larry again and she was cross with herself for her ungracious greeting. But Larry wasn’t one to bear a grudge and he threw her a tentative smile as she returned to the vestibule, shrugging into her coat.

  ‘Come on,’ she invited him, threading her arm through his elbow. ‘Pity the weather’s so miserable. You can’t see the view properly.’

  ‘It wasn’t the view I came to see,’ Larry said drily as they stepped outside. ‘Besides, I’ve seen it before. When we came to visit Martin.’

  ‘Yes, of course.’ Grace momentarily lowered her eyes. ‘It’s a pity anyway. I’m sure the view and the beautiful house help to lift our patients’ spirits. I’m so lucky to work here.’

  ‘You really enjoy it, then?’

  ‘Oh, Larry, I really do!’ Grace enthused as they meandered across the steep lawn that was peppered with fallen autumn leaves. ‘Of course it’s so awful that these poor souls need to come here in the first place. But it’s so satisfying when you see them improving. We send men home to a reasonable future when they arrived here as quivering wrecks.’

  ‘Pity the hospital wasn’t able to do something for Martin, then,’ Larry muttered under his breath, and Grace felt his listing g
ait come to a halt. When she glanced up, he was staring into the mist, his face set.

  ‘Yes,’ she agreed solemnly. ‘But treatment methods were in their infancy then, and Martin wanted to return to the Front. It made it a difficult case.’

  ‘I know. But I’m glad you’re finding your work fulfilling anyway.’

  ‘I can’t tell you how much! The neurosis side is so fascinating, but I love the nursing side and studying the human body and everything so much as well. So much so that I’ve decided that I want to train as a proper nurse when the war’s over.’

  She looked at Larry, her face aglow with enthusiasm, but her heart sank when Larry’s expression hardened.

  ‘And how do you propose to do that?’ he demanded. ‘I can see it’d be a real outlet for your intelligence. You’re even talking differently, working with all these educated people. But have you thought what it would mean? With the war on, they’ll accept any volunteers who come forward, married or not. But under normal circumstances, don’t they expect total dedication? It’s like being a nun. You have to be married to your vocation. You’d be denying yourself a normal life. A husband and children.’

  ‘Trust you, Larry,’ Grace pouted. ‘But who would I marry, anyway?’

  She didn’t see that little twitch at the corner of his mouth. ‘Well, think very carefully, Gracie.’

  ‘Oh, I will.’ And as the image of Oliver’s face slipped into her head, she felt a seed of doubt in her mind. ‘Anyway,’ she went on with deliberate brightness, ‘how’s life back in Walkhampton?’

  Larry shrugged. ‘Much the same. Your mother’s being a tower of strength to Nan. Amazing when you consider how she was herself not so long ago. And George is doing famously. He’s shot up since you saw him last. Oh, I understand dearest Aggie has come here as a VAD, too. See much of her, do you?’

  ‘Too much!’ Grace complained, rolling her eyes. ‘Matron thinks we must be friends and puts us together all the time. We even sleep in the same room. The only time we’re not together is when we’re off duty and she always goes into the town. But I have to say, she’s turned out to be a brilliant nurse. She works hard, nothing’s too much trouble. She gets on really well with the patients – without flirting even! And she’s very quick to learn. I’d never have believed it of her.’

  ‘Maybe it was just what she needed. Just like your mother needed poor Nan’s situation to get her back on her feet. I have to say I’ve always felt sorry for Aggie, having no friends—’

  ‘That were her own fault.’

  ‘Maybe. Or maybe not. Having such a tyrant for a father can’t be easy for anyone. Her odd ways could be the result of being browbeaten all the time.’

  ‘You could be right. She’s certainly surprised me. But we were making the beds together before you came, so I’d better get back.’

  ‘Yes, of course. But, Grace, about the other business. Remember what I said. You’ve a lot of love in your heart to give. And I’m not sure giving a lifetime of it to strangers on a hospital ward would be enough for you.’

  ‘Well, I won’t be making any decisions until the war’s over, whenever that might be. We’ve finally won at Passchendaele, but who knows what difference that’ll make? It’s taken months and months, and with hundreds of thousands of casualties….’

  ‘Let’s hope with the Americans with us now, next year will see an end to it all.’

  ‘My God, I hope so,’ Grace agreed as they turned back towards the house. But at the thought that she would be spending the rest of the day in the same room as Oliver Smith, Grace put all thoughts of the war aside, and her heart gave a little flutter of pleasure.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  ‘OFF YOU GO, Grace,’ Aggie insisted. ‘I can manage here.’

  ‘Are you sure you don’t mind? I mean, there are a few finishing touches—’

  ‘Go on, shoo! I can give Harry here his dinner and take over your other duties. Don’t mind, do you, Harry?’

  ‘Course not. Just can’t wait for this here concert.’ Private Fletcher actually grinned. And he rather liked Nurse Nonnacott who couldn’t give a damn about the rule of not using first names on the ward. Who the bloody hell cared when you had to face the rest of your life with no arms?

  ‘Oh, bless you, Aggie dear!’

  Grace shot out of the door and into the great hall where the Christmas concert was to take place in less than two hours. For a split second, she found herself dumbstruck. She would never have imagined using such a term of endearment towards Aggie! But then she spied Oliver fixing the final piece of scenery at the back of the stage which had been built in sections in the woodwork room. Grace had found a task for virtually everyone in the hospital, and all hearts were poised in eager anticipation of the evening ahead.

  Grace’s gaze moved over the makeshift theatre. Chairs had been brought in from wherever they could be found with space left for those who would be in wheelchairs. There wouldn’t be room for everyone, so those who were physically capable would line the upper gallery and look down on the proceedings instead. The study had been turned into a dressing-room, but other performers who didn’t need costumes would be coming onto the stage from their seats in the audience.

  It was as perfect as it possibly could be, and as Grace’s eyes settled on the scenery, she felt that delicious sensation sizzle in her breast again. Oliver had turned out to be a gifted artist, something that perplexed him deeply, but it had meant that Grace had spent considerable time working with him. With every minute they shared each other’s company, an enchanted thread of understanding seemed to be weaving itself about them. Now, as Oliver saw her, his face lit up in a smile that overwhelmed her in happiness.

  But there was no time for that now. Grace had to check the props list, make sure her schedule had not gone missing, start getting men into their costumes. Her stomach churned with nervousness since really the whole affair was her responsibility. The only thing she hadn’t been able to control was the lighting system that one of the men had managed to rig up.

  The excited tension was palpable as men arrived in the study, wriggling into costumes, laughing as they slapped on outrageous make-up. Outside, they could hear the noisy buzz as the audience took their seats. Grace felt her heart thumping as the opening moment drew close. And then, beside her, Oliver squeezed her shoulder, and she relaxed as she stood by the study door. The lights went down, the audience fell silent, and Grace ushered on the first act.

  A line of men with bare, hairy legs and dressed in scarlet skirts, cavorting about the stage to the booming rhythm of the Can-Can being thumped out on the piano, was met with tumultuous applause, wolf whistles and raucous guffaws. A comic sketch set in the trenches followed, then two serious acts with a soldier reciting a couple of poems he had penned himself, and the pianist proving that he was in fact an accomplished musician, capable of interpreting beautifully some Strauss waltzes and Tchaikovsky’s rousing Piano Concerto Number One. A barbershop quartet sang in dulcet harmony, the Can-Can dancers followed up with a hilarious interpretation of Swan Lake, and a hopeless ventriloquist using another patient as a dummy was almost booed off the stage amidst delirious laughter. A magician who could make none of his tricks work was followed by a slapstick act and two stand-up comedians, and all was interspersed with singers both amusing and serious and finished with a jolly sing-song.

  ‘You’re a triumph, Grace!’ Oliver winked at her during the interval as he went to dress in his costume for the pantomime which had been written by the men themselves and was based on nursery rhymes. Oliver was the back half of the cow that jumped over the moon. As he changed, Grace glimpsed yet again his strong, muscular torso. Sadly marked by several battle scars, his bare chest nevertheless did something to Grace’s pulse that she delighted in, and she had to force her mind back to the task in hand.

  All went without a hitch, the audience almost falling off their chairs in howling laughter. At the end, while the cast took their bows to an explosion of clapping and shouting, Grace sl
ipped up the back stairs to join Matron and all the nursing staff waiting at the top of the grand staircase. As the lights were dimmed, Grace led the procession slowly downwards as they sang carols in unaccompanied, angelic voices. The whole effect was stunning, transcendent. As the heavenly choir gathered on the stage to invite the audience to join in Oh, Come all ye Faithful, Grace’s brain was whirling with joyous pride and relief that it had all gone so well.

  She noticed, though, that one of the vestibule doors had opened and a telegram boy slid inside. He spoke briefly to the soldier in the first seat, who pointed along the back row to where Dr Elliott Franfield was singing along with everyone else, his sixteen-year-old son, William, by his side. Grace saw him take the telegram, read it and then slide it into his pocket. Grace’s heart dropped like a stone, and the gladness drained away. Elliott Franfield didn’t sing another note.

  ‘Well done, Nurse Dannings!’

  ‘Hasn’t laughed so much in my life, I hasn’t!’

  ‘Marvel you are, cheel!’

  Grace accepted with a modest smile the praise heaped upon her. Even Oliver giving her a brief hug left her soul cold. Something had happened, and an overpowering sorrow swept through her.

  It wasn’t until later that she discovered what it was. The men were all abed, quiet ripples of excitement still rumbling through the old house. Grace and Aggie finally left the ward together, crossing the hall from which the chairs had been cleared, leaving the empty stage to be dismantled the following morning.

  ‘You were wonderful, Grace,’ Aggie whispered. ‘I reckon you deserve a cuppa before we go to bed.’

  ‘Yes, I think I need one,’ Grace agreed, and so they made for the kitchens.

  As they passed Matron’s office, the door was slightly ajar and they both caught the distressing sound of a woman’s sobbing. Grace’s stomach tensed. It was that telegram, wasn’t it? Natural compassion drew her to peer through the gap. Ling Franfield was weeping in her husband’s arms, and Elliott was attempting to comfort her while talking with William.