Bess Bradshaw stopped short when she saw Agnes.
‘Well, now. Who have we here? I thought we’d got rid of you, Miss Sheridan.’ She greeted her in her usual gruff way, but Agnes could see the gleam in Bess’ blue eyes. The Assistant Superintendent took off her cap, revealing short brown curls threaded with grey. She was in her late forties, a stout, uncompromising figure in her nurse’s navy blue coat.
‘You see this one, Deborah?’ She turned to the girl in the doorway. ‘This is Agnes Sheridan, one of my former students. She was like you when she arrived, thought she knew everything. But I soon showed her what was what, didn’t I, Miss Sheridan?’
‘Take no notice,’ Agnes told the frightened-looking girl, ‘her bark is far worse than her bite.’
‘Now, don’t you go telling her that!’ Bess did her best to look outraged. ‘You don’t take any notice of what she says,’ she warned the girl. ‘I can blooming well bite when I have a mind to.’ She nodded towards the District Room. ‘Go and write up your notes from this morning. And be sure to sort out that district bag, too,’ she called after her. ‘You must have packed it in a dream this morning.’
The girl hurried off. Bess turned to Agnes, shaking her head. ‘I ask you. What self-respecting Queen’s Nurse goes on her rounds without boracic ointment?’
‘Is that Miss Banks-Hulme?’ Agnes asked.
‘Miss Banks-Hulme, indeed!’ Bess rolled her eyes. ‘I call her Deborah. She doesn’t like it, but it’s her own fault for having such a daft name. And she’s even worse than you are for asking questions,’ Bess added. ‘And always looking at that watch of hers, just like you used to.’
‘That’s because you’re always late,’ Agnes said.
Bess’ eyes widened. ‘Just because you’ve got your badge now, you needn’t think you can give me any cheek, Miss Sheridan,’ she warned. ‘I’m still the Assistant Superintendent, you know.’ She shrugged off her coat and hung it up on the peg. ‘Anyway, it’s about time you showed your face. We all thought you’d abandoned us!’
Agnes blushed. ‘I know I should have come earlier, but I wanted to get myself settled in Bowden first,’ she mumbled.
‘And have you?’
Agnes couldn’t meet her eye. ‘Yes, thank you.’
‘And the patients have taken to you?’
‘Yes.’ Once again, Agnes couldn’t meet her eye. But she should have known that Bess’ shrewd gaze missed nothing.
‘I thought as much,’ she said grimly. ‘I told Miss Gale that’s why we hadn’t seen you. You’re having trouble, in’t you?’
‘No …’ Agnes started to protest, but the words died in her throat. ‘It’s not going as well as I’d hoped,’ she admitted reluctantly.
It was an understatement. Even with her determinedly optimistic nature, she had to admit her progress had been slow. What little confidence she had gained had quickly been lost after all the business with Ellen Kettle’s baby.
News had quickly spread of how Hannah Arkwright had managed to deliver the baby safely while Agnes ran off to fetch the doctor in a complete panic.
She was angry with herself every time she thought about it. She should have stayed calm, tried to manage the situation herself. She knew she had done the right thing, but her reputation in the village had suffered because of it.
‘Well, I can’t say as I’m surprised,’ Bess said. ‘Those pit villages don’t take kindly to outsiders. And if I know you, you’ll be rushing in like a bull in a china shop, thinking you know best, trying to tell everyone how to run their lives.’
‘I haven’t!’ Agnes protested. ‘I’m doing my best to fit in, honestly. But no one seems to like me very much,’ she added glumly.
Bess stared at her for a long time. Then, finally, she said, ‘Tell you what, why don’t you stop and have a bit of dinner with us?’
‘I can’t.’ Agnes sent a quick look towards the door of the Superintendent’s office. ‘I’m supposed to be meeting Miss Gale.’
‘Oh, she’s off with the District Association Committee, and you know what they’re like. Could go on for hours. And you don’t want to be sat on that chair all day, waiting for her, do you? It’s nearly midday. The other nurses will be coming back from their rounds soon. I’m sure they’d like to see you.’
Agnes hesitated. She didn’t want to admit she had timed her meeting so she might catch them between their morning and afternoon rounds. She was longing to see them all again, too.
‘I should go back to Bowden …’ she started to say, but dread settled like a heavy stone in her stomach at the thought of it.
‘I’m sure they can spare you for another couple of hours,’ Bess said. Then she added, ‘Besides, from what you say they probably won’t even notice you’ve gone!’
Agnes ignored the crushing comment. It was just Bess’ way. She might be blunt to the point of rudeness, but she could also be a wise and understanding friend.
A few of the other nurses – Miss Jarvis, Miss Goode, Miss Hook and Miss Templeton – returned from their rounds shortly afterwards, and just after midday they all sat down for their lunch. The others were curious about her, wanting to know how she had been getting on. Proud as she was, Agnes would have preferred to keep her difficulties to herself and present a more positive picture of her time in Bowden, but of course Bess Bradshaw had other ideas. She insisted on telling everyone the true story. And in the end Agnes was glad she had, as the other nurses were all surprisingly sympathetic and full of advice.
They were especially understanding when she told them about Hannah Arkwright.
‘Oh, we’ve all met women like her in our time,’ Miss Hook said. ‘Nearly every village has one. They call themselves healers and witches and everyone is afraid of them.’
‘Superstitious nonsense!’ Bess muttered.
‘Superstitious or not, the people of Bowden certainly seem to believe in her,’ Agnes said sadly. ‘I don’t know what to do.’
‘Just carry on. It’s all you can do,’ Bess said, helping herself to another slice of bread. ‘You’ll see, one day you’ll be able to prove yourself.’
‘She’s right,’ Miss Jarvis agreed. ‘It’s all you can do.’
‘Actually, there is something else I could do,’ Agnes said slowly. ‘I was thinking of asking Miss Gale if I could come back to Steeple Street. Perhaps transfer to another area?’
She looked up from her plate to see a circle of shocked faces staring back at her.
‘You can’t do that!’ Miss Jarvis spoke for them.
‘But they really don’t need me in Bowden.’
‘Of course they need you,’ Bess said. ‘Besides,’ she added practically, ‘it’s where you’ve been assigned. Miss Gale won’t like the paperwork if she has to move you somewhere else.’
It didn’t seem a good enough reason to Agnes. She still meant to discuss the matter with the Superintendent at their meeting. But Miss Gale had had not returned by the time lunch had finished, so Bess suggested that Agnes might like to accompany her on her round instead of sitting waiting.
‘We’re off to the new mother and baby clinic we’ve just opened in Quarry Hill,’ she said. ‘I think you might find it quite interesting. Besides, we’re a bit short-handed. We could do with an extra pair of hands. And you might as well make yourself useful while you’re here.’
Chapter Eighteen
Quarry Hill had not changed in the three months Agnes had been away. The narrow little alleys and courtyards still teemed with life, ripe with the smell of middens and the fish market.
She commented as much to Bess, who sent her a sharp look as she wobbled along on her bicycle beside Agnes’, her bulk spilling over the tiny saddle.
‘What did you think? You’ve only been away five minutes. Did you think we’d fall apart without you, Miss Sheridan?’ She looked around her. ‘I doubt if this place will ever change,’ she said.
The clinic was being held in the local church hall. Agnes was thrilled to see her old room mate Polly
Mallone emerging from behind the canvas screens, carrying a set of baby weighing scales, under the watchful eye of the Senior District Midwife, Miss Hawksley.
Polly looked just as delighted as Agnes felt to see her. She set the scales down on the table and hurried over.
‘Agnes! What are you doing here?’
‘She’s come to visit us,’ Bess answered for her. ‘I thought she might like to see the new clinic, since she’s here.’
Polly looked around, pride written all over her face. ‘Well, this is only our fourth week, but we’ve been busy the last two. The local mothers certainly seem to appreciate us.’
‘I’m surprised,’ Agnes remarked. ‘I wouldn’t have expected it to be so popular in a place like this?’
Too late she realised what she had said. Bess pounced on her.
‘Why not? The women here care about their children, same as anywhere else,’ she retorted.
Polly and Agnes exchanged knowing looks. They had both suffered from Bess’ sharp tongue during their training. Polly had suffered most of all because she had the added misfortune of being Bess’ daughter.
Agnes watched now as Bess turned her critical attention to the room.
‘You don’t want to put those scales there,’ she said. ‘The bairns will catch the draught from the door while they’re being weighed.’
‘I was just about to move them,’ Polly replied, tight-lipped. ‘Besides, I’ve lit the fire, so it will be warm enough.’
‘Even so—’
‘It will be warm enough,’ Polly said firmly.
Agnes waited tensely for Bess to argue, but to her amazement the Assistant Nursing Superintendent backed down like a lamb. ‘Come on,’ she said to Agnes. ‘You can help me set the chairs out.’
Agnes followed her, sending a brief backward glance at Polly as she went. The young midwife’s smile told her everything she needed to know. Bess had singled her daughter out for some harsh attention when they were training, and for a long time the rift between them had been bitter. But in the end they had learned to love and respect each other, and now their arguments had mellowed into nothing more than good-natured bickering.
At two o’clock, Polly opened the doors and a steady stream of mothers began to arrive, pushing prams and trailing more young children behind them. Agnes was pleased and surprised to see several faces she knew. As she took her place beside Polly, taking patients’ names, weighing the babies and writing down their notes, she found herself relaxing, even enjoying herself.
‘So are you coming back to Quarry Hill, Nurse?’ one of the mothers asked her.
‘I’m afraid not.’ Agnes smiled back at her, genuinely regretful. How could it be that these women accepted her so easily, compared to the suspicious faces she met in Bowden?
And then, just as she had finished advising one worried young mother on her baby’s nappy rash, Bess nudged her and whispered, ‘Have you seen who’s just walked in, Miss Sheridan? An old friend of yours.’
Agnes looked up to see Lil Fairbrass pushing an enormous pram through the double doors. She entered like a galleon in full sail, parting the tide of waiting mothers to take her place in the front row.
Agnes smiled uneasily. Once upon a time, Lil Fairbrass had been her biggest enemy in Quarry Hill. The first time they had met she had knocked Agnes flat with a flying fist. It had been an accident, but it had set the tone for further bruising encounters.
Things had only got worse when Agnes dared to suggest that Lil’s schoolgirl daughter Christine might be pregnant. But as it turned out she was right, and Agnes had been the one to find Christine after she ran away, and to deliver her baby. She had earned Lil’s respect and gratitude ever since.
‘Look at the size of that pram,’ Bess said. ‘She in’t one to do things by halves, is she?’ She looked approving. ‘That bairn wants for nowt.’
Agnes felt a pang. Having children out of wedlock was nothing unusual in Quarry Hill, but when it happened it was usually hushed up. But not by Lil. She paraded her illegitimate grandchild as if she was the proudest woman in the world. And with her being a Fairbrass, no one dared argue.
It made Agnes think of her own mother, hurrying her off to that dismal maternity home and leaving her there, frightened and alone, to face her fate alone. Even now, over a year later, Elizabeth Sheridan still couldn’t bring herself to forgive Agnes for the shame she might have brought on her family. The last time Agnes had tried to visit, her mother had made it clear she was no longer welcome at home.
Lil saw her and roared out a greeting. ‘Well, look who it is! Nurse Aggie!’
Agnes winced. The other residents of Quarry Hill might have called her by that name in private, but only Lil used it to her face.
‘This is the nurse who delivered our Christine’s,’ Lil announced to everyone. ‘Saved her, she did. Dunno what would have happened if she hadn’t been there with her quick thinking.’
‘I don’t know about that …’ Agnes blushed as she looked into the pram. ‘How is little Lilian?’
‘Lilian Agnes,’ Lil corrected her. ‘Oh, she’s just grand.’ She beamed with pride as she took the baby out of the pram. Agnes caught a flash of bright red hair, covered up with layers of shawls. ‘Putting on weight nicely. Proper little spoiled princess, she is.’
‘She looks very bonny,’ Agnes said. ‘And how is Christine?’ she asked, lowering her voice.
‘She’s doing well too. Going back to school in September. She’ll matriculate and then she’s going to be a teacher.’ She said it loud enough for everyone in the room to hear.
‘How will she manage, with school and the baby?’
‘We’ve thought about all that, Nurse. I’m going to take on the bairn as my own, for the time being.’ Lil beamed down at the infant. ‘She’ll want for nothing, what with me and my lads to help take care of her. And Christine needs to think about her future,’ she added firmly.
‘That’s very good of you, Mrs Fairbrass,’ Agnes said.
Lil Fairbrass frowned at her. ‘In’t nowt to do wi’ being good,’ she said. ‘It’s what families do.’
Agnes looked down at the baby, sleeping so peacefully in the safety of her grandmother’s arms, and thought again about her own family. Elizabeth Sheridan would no doubt look down her nose at Lil and her unruly brood, but the Fairbrass family could teach her a lot about loyalty and love.
When the clinic was over, Agnes helped Polly and Bess pack away the equipment and tidy up the chairs.
‘Well?’ Bess said. ‘Did you enjoy yourself, Miss Sheridan?’
‘Yes, I did. Very much,’ Agnes said.
‘I could see that. You seemed to be getting on well with the mothers, too.’
‘It was lovely to see them again,’ Agnes said.
Bess sent her a shrewd look. ‘Bet you never thought you’d be saying that when you first arrived here to start your training?’
Agnes laughed. ‘I should say not! I thought it was a dreadful place.’
‘Remember when Nettie Willis chased you out of her house with a broom?’ Bess chuckled. ‘And that time you nearly got a chamber pot emptied over your head?’
‘Don’t remind me!’ Agnes shuddered.
‘But you won them over in the end, didn’t you? Even Lil Fairbrass sings your praises now.’ Bess paused and added, ‘All they needed was time to get used to you, so you could show them what you’re capable of doing. That’s all anyone needs, Miss Sheridan. Time.’
The next minute Bess had turned away to talk to Miss Hawksley, leaving Agnes to stare at her broad back. And then it dawned on her. The Assistant Superintendent hadn’t brought her here because they needed an extra pair of hands at the clinic. She had brought her here because she wanted to remind Agnes how far she had come.
And if she had done it once, here in Quarry Hill, then surely she could do it again in Bowden.
Chapter Nineteen
‘What do you mean, you’re not coming?’
Carrie looked at her husband’
s reflection in the mirror as she sat at the dressing table, pinning up her hair.
James sighed. ‘Think about it, my love. How can I possibly go to a wedding with the situation as it is? I pass Tom and Archie Chadwick and Ron Morris and his brothers at the locked pit gates every morning. I hear the names they call me, I know what they think of me. Last week I had to call in the special constables because I caught one of the Morris boys trying to get over the fence into the coal yard. I can’t see how I’d be very welcome at this wedding, do you?’ He shook his head. ‘If I go, it will only make things difficult for everyone.’
He was right, Carrie realised. Deep down she had always known it wasn’t a good idea for James to come to Nancy’s wedding. It would have been difficult at the best of times, having the pit manager there, but the wretched lockout made the situation impossible.
It had been going on for more than a month now. At first, the whole country had been united, with riots on the streets and clashes with the police in several big cities. But behind the scenes, the Trade Union Congress was busy making a deal with the government. Within a week everyone had gone back to work, leaving the miners to struggle on alone.
‘They’ve stabbed us in the back,’ her father had said. He was so bitter and angry it had made him ill, and Carrie and her mother and sisters had feared it might bring on a relapse in his TB.
The lockout had taken its toll on James, too. Carrie had barely seen him since all the trouble began. He spent long hours in his office at the pit or up at the big house with the Haverstocks. And on the rare occasions he did come home he might as well have not been there, he was so distracted.
Carrie could see the lockout weighed heavily on her husband, even though he tried to put on a brave face for her sake.
But in spite of everything, she had a selfish reason for wanting James with her at the wedding.
District Nurse on Call Page 14