by Kate Eastham
‘And so the life of the hospital goes on,’ grinned Eddy, picking out some lumps of sour bread paste that still clung to Alice’s hair. ‘Best get you tidied up and shipshape before Maud comes back, we both know what a stickler she is …’
‘Matron Maud Linklater,’ laughed Alice, hugging Eddy before they both ran giggling up the stone steps and into the building. They stopped short when the door to the superintendent’s room clicked open and Miss Merryweather appeared in her bonnet.
‘Well, well,’ she said, as they both stood holding their breath, waiting to be told off for making too much noise. ‘It looks like you two have some exciting news. Could it be anything to do with our Nurse Linklater’s return?’
‘Yes,’ beamed Eddy. ‘We can’t wait to see her and it won’t be long now. She set sail today from New York and she’ll be back aboard the Abyssinia in exactly a we—’
‘Will there be a position for Maud at the hospital?’ interjected Alice, nudging Eddy hard with her elbow to shut her up.
‘I do believe there will. Our esteemed assistant superintendent Miss Houston has already made a request. And we will be very glad to have Nurse Linklater back at the Liverpool Royal, no doubt laden with new knowledge of surgery and theatre gained at the Infirmary for Women in New York.’
‘Yes, indeed,’ smiled Alice, nodding.
‘Imagine that, Nurses,’ continued Miss Merryweather rather wistfully, as she made her way out through the door, ‘a whole hospital run by women, even the doctors and the surgeon, and just for female patients …’
‘What was that for?’ muttered Eddy, still rubbing her arm.
‘As you were blabbing on about Maud and exactly when she would be back, all the other nurses were walking past behind us, including Millicent Langtry,’ hissed Alice. ‘I’ve deliberately not mentioned anything to her about Maud’s return. We don’t want to risk her telling Nancy Sellers, not after what happened at the wedding when she turned up uninvited. You know what Nancy’s like. Ever since we all started our training together, she’s tried to make trouble for Maud, for some unknown reason.’
‘Sorry, Alice,’ whispered Eddy. ‘I forgot about that. Do you think she heard?’
‘I don’t know, you can never tell with Millicent, and as far as I know she doesn’t even see Nancy anymore, but we need to keep it quiet.’
‘Sorry, Alice.’ Eddy said again. ‘Me and my big mouth.’
‘Well, I know what you’re like. You get carried away, but you need to be more careful.’
Alice pressed her lips together and tried to stay firm, but in the end she couldn’t bear to see Eddy looking sorrowful, so she put an arm around her. ‘Look, it’s probably just me worrying too much, and besides, what harm can Nancy do? Apart from a few snide comments, what harm can she actually do?’
At that very moment, across the city, Nancy Sellers lifted her head as if someone had called her name. She felt a prickling of hairs on the back of her neck, but not detecting any sound other than the spit of the fire, she picked up her china cup and took a delicate sip of tea before replacing it with a chink in the ornately patterned saucer. Removing a lace handkerchief from her sleeve, she used it to pat her face. She was warm by the fire, too warm. She could feel her cheeks starting to flush. Maybe she could make use of that silk fan that her private patient had on her bedside table. That would do very well.
‘Nurse Sellers,’ called Mrs Davenport from the next room. The weakness of her voice indicating how much more breathless she had become in the last few weeks.
Nancy continued to pat her face with the handkerchief; no need to move just yet, she would wait for the next call.
‘Nurse Sellers,’ called the weary voice again, and this time Nancy tucked the handkerchief back inside her sleeve and took another sip of tea.
‘Nurse …’ called the poor woman again, and then there was a crash and the tinkle of broken glass.
Nancy scowled and got up from her chair, taking a moment to stretch her back and pull the large shawl that she always wore more closely around her shoulders, so that it fell and covered the curve of her pregnant belly.
Pasting a smile on her face, she proceeded into her mistress’s bedchamber, making soothing noises as she went. ‘There, there, Mrs Davenport, don’t you worry, we’ll soon have you straightened up.’
An elderly lap dog with cloudy eyes lifted his head to yap at her from where he lay curled at the bottom of the bed.
‘Be quiet, Henry, you nasty, nippy little pest,’ hissed Nancy, as she made her way to the mantle to pull the cord for a maid to come and tidy up the broken glass. As she waited she took a bottle of laudanum from the bedside table and gave Mrs Davenport a good dose, dropping it into her mouth and making her swallow it down. ‘The medicine will help your breathing, you must take the drops,’ she murmured, smooth as anything. Then, as she heard the maid’s footsteps outside the door, she took her patient’s hand, tilted her neat blond head to one side and stood poised, ready for the door to open.
‘Our dear Mrs Davenport has had a little accident with a glass,’ cooed Nancy using her sweetest tone, all the while thinking of how many more days she would need to withstand being here in this room, shut up in this place, waiting for the father of her baby to return.
It thrilled her to think of him going about his daily business, not having any idea about the baby. She hadn’t seen him for all the months of her pregnancy. He was away working, but last week she’d received word that he was coming back to Liverpool. She revelled in the memory of those few nights they’d spent together. The warmth of his body against hers, the smell of him and, when she lay her head on his chest as he slept off the drink, the rhythmic sound of his beating heart. She smiled with pleasure when she thought of his new wife: all prim and proper, she wouldn’t stand a chance of keeping him when he found out about the baby. Not a chance.
She’d been angry with him when she’d received the news of his return from one of her sources. He’d promised to write. Clearly, he’d thought he could sneak back into Liverpool without being seen. But he was wrong. She would be ready and waiting for him, and she couldn’t wait to see his face when he saw her belly.
Once Mrs Davenport was sleeping and the maid had retreated from the room, Nancy removed the silk fan from the bedside table, ignoring the dog who immediately lifted his head and growled at her. She walked back to her anteroom and settled herself by the fire. She could feel the baby pushing inside her, the movement rippling against the fabric of her dress, and she even saw the shawl move when it gave an extra hard kick. Nancy feared what she might have to go through at the birth, but she was weary of all this now. She wanted it over with.
Slipping a piece of paper out from a folded pad she took up a quill pen and dipped it into some ink. She’d started to make plans as soon as she’d heard the news of her old lover’s return, and she’d been able to secure some lodgings and persuade Mrs Davenport to put her name to a contract securing a tidy sum of severance pay.
‘Just seven days to go,’ she murmured, as the pen scratched on the writing paper, ‘seven days and he will be mine.’
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
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First published 2019
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Copyright © Kate Eastham, 2019
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Cover images © Colin Thomas, © Trevillion, © Alamy and © Shutterstock
ISBN: 978-0-241-37125-1
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