The Shy Nurse's Christmas Wish

by Abigail Gordon

  * * *

  The fact of their absence together during the lunch hour had been noted on the ward and there was a comment passed in Darcey’s hearing to the effect that Daniel would be a hard nut to crack for anyone with hopes of becoming the second Mrs Osbourne, that he was content in the life he had chosen, and no one seemed to want to disagree with that.

  As far as she was concerned, Darcey had no hopes whatever of someone like Daniel even noticing her, but it didn’t stop her from rejoicing to have been asked for her opinion about his decision to buy the old lighthouse.

  She could live with that and the fact that it was her that Daniel Osbourne had invited out to supper when he’d been on his way home from the sailing club, and if as a result she was falling in love with him she would just have to accept it and suffer in silence.

  But that evening alone in the apartment, with not the slightest yearning to venture forth as she had been doing of late, Darcey began to think about Christmas. It was early December. All along the promenade were decorations celebrating the event and it was going to be the first time she hadn’t spent the occasion with Alexander.

  Instead she would be working during both Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and solitary in the evening, and if Daniel Osbourne came across her in such circumstances what was he going to think about her refusal to go sailing with him and his club members?

  Yet the fact remained that when he’d extended the invitation she had already committed herself to working during the festivities, and somebody had to do it so why not her with no family ties or suchlike to prevent her? And she would make sure that her small patients who had to spend Christmas in Oceans House had as happy a time as possible under the circumstances.

  She knew she had to keep her feelings for Daniel Osbourne strictly under control to avoid making a fool of herself, as every time she thought about their lunchtime trip to the lighthouse she felt tearful because he was so special and so out of reach.

  In the meantime, she needed to shop for a special Christmas gift for Alexander to be presented whenever he chose to return. It was her day off and the shopping didn’t take long, with only two to buy for, and as Darcey waited to be served at the till in one of the stores in the town centre, Cordelia Mason appeared laden with parcels and wanting to know if she felt like joining her for a coffee.

  She didn’t hesitate to say yes because she liked Daniel’s sister and felt that being in her company was the next best thing to his.

  ‘We haven’t seen much of Daniel for a while,’ Cordelia said after they’d chatted about various small matters, ‘which usually means that he is very busy at Oceans House, or with other things that he knows would upset me if I knew, such as taking Dad’s place in the lifeboat, which he insists on doing, and pointing out that he has no wife or children of his own to concern himself over and that my two are safe and happy with Lawrence and me. So it wouldn’t hurt anyone but himself if one time he didn’t come back to dry land and safety, ignoring the fact that he would have made a fantastic husband and father if he hadn’t married Katrina.’

  As she listened to what Cordelia had to say, Darcey thought that he was wrong. There was someone else who would die a death if anything happened to Daniel even after so short an acquaintance, but she was in no position to make any comments to his sister, especially after his lovely gesture with regard to their father and the lighthouse.

  ‘He is very busy most of the time at the hospital,’ she said, without admitting that she had actually been present on a recent occasion, ‘but he does sometimes get called out to help man the lifeboat, so I’m told.’

  ‘Can I ask you to let me know if he is ever in any grave danger that I may not be aware of?’ Cordelia asked anxiously, and with a reluctant nod Darcey prayed that such a day would never dawn.

  His sister was checking the time and commented, ‘I’m going to have to leave you, I’m afraid, Darcey. I’m due to pick the children up from school, but before I go just one thing, the invitation to visit us still stands whenever you can manage it. I hate to think of you all alone over Christmas. If you do find that you can spend some time with us, Daniel will give you our phone number and will drive you to where we live whenever the occasion arises.’

  Darcey swallowed hard. There was no way she could get involved with those kind of arrangements. There was the minor matter of her opting to work every day over the Christmas period, and he would take a dim view of the fabrication of the truth that she’d resorted to when he’d invited her to sail with him and some of the young sailors on Boxing Day, and then discovered what her plans were with regard to that.

  On the strength of it the last thing he would opt for would be taking her to share her lonely evenings with his family and himself. She would rather exist without seeing a soul than gatecrash Daniel’s time with those he loved, having checked the work rotas for the period and seen that he was only available for extreme emergencies. The day-to-day running of the hospital would be in the hands of two junior doctors and an elderly retired consultant who was volunteering his services to give Daniel a break.

  * * *

  When the two of them met up the next morning for their usual ward round Daniel said amicably, ‘I believe you saw Cordelia again yesterday. It seems that she is still keen for you to visit some time during Christmas in spite of you being sorted. But I must warn you that she will have her matchmaking hat on as she longs for me to give up my bachelor status.’

  Darcey felt the colour rise in her cheeks but her voice was cool as she told him, ‘Thanks for the warning, but as I mentioned previously I will be booked up for most of the Christmas period.’

  ‘With whom, might I ask?’ he enquired abruptly, and her eyes widened at his sudden interest in her affairs.

  She looked around her at the collection of cots and beds and their young occupants and told him, ‘I’ll be with those I care for. What more could I ask?’ And when their gazes held, his was wanting to know more than that, and hers was holding back the tears of her loneliness.

  * * *

  His rounds of the ward had been done without any further stresses and Daniel had gone to his own part of the hospital where he had his office and held his twice-weekly clinic, while Darcey and her staff went about their duties as usual.

  But beneath her normal competence the ward sister was miserable and unhappy to have been warned off accepting Cordelia’s invitation to dine with them because his sister was anxious to see him as married and happy as she was with her husband and children.

  It was as if Daniel had warned her to keep her distance and it hurt as there was no way that she was going to seek his attention under the guise of visiting his family. She had more pride than that, was aware that if she hadn’t devoted her life to her young brother she might have found love long ago. But she had no regrets about that. Alexander’s needs had always come first.

  * * *

  Back in his own quarters at Oceans House Daniel was cringing at the way he’d made himself sound such a catch instead of a loner in the matrimonial stakes.

  Since meeting Darcey Howard he’d been unsettled. His solitude was lying heavily upon him instead of being a comfort, and he’d just made sure that she wasn’t going to want to be in his company outside hospital hours. Better to mention that to Cordelia and tell her to lay off the matchmaking as it could only make matters worse.

  At the end of the day he stopped off at his sister’s on his way home and found her in the kitchen, preparing the evening meal, and was immediately invited to share it with them.

  ‘No, thanks just the same,’ he told her gently. He cared for her too much to quarrel, but nevertheless wanted to make it clear that if ever he decided to involve himself in marrying again he would make all the moves and the proposals without any assistance from anyone else, and introduced the subject with the comment that Darcey had told him that they’d met up again and that Cordelia had repeated the invi
tation to join them some time over Christmas.

  ‘Yes, I have,’ she replied, ‘because she is so lonely, Daniel.’

  ‘That is not so,’ he told her firmly. ‘When I asked Darcey if she would like to sail with me and some of the kids on Boxing Day she was quick to explain that she was fully booked up all over the Christmas period. How, I don’t know and wasn’t prepared to ask. Maybe she could be planning to share it with her young brother if he will be back from abroad in time, but I really don’t know. What I do know is that she has got Christmas sorted and is not the lost soul that you see her as.’

  ‘All right,’ she agreed. ‘Maybe my imagination has been running riot, but if Darcey does decide to accept the offer, promise me that you will make her welcome.’

  ‘Yes, of course!’ he said, feeling rather affronted. ‘What would you expect? That I would ignore her presence? Insist that she stand in a corner without speaking?’

  He was hardly likely to inform Cordelia that Darcey Howard had captured his imagination ever since that day in the discomfort of a crowded railway carriage, and as he’d got to know her better the more she was in his thoughts, yet not to the extent that he was ready to give up his freedom from matrimony.

  Young voices could be heard coming from up above, and putting the discussion they’d just had on hold Cordelia said laughingly, ‘Your fan club have been watching television and will be down shortly. Are you sure that you don’t want to stay?’

  ‘Not this time,’ he said. ‘I have some business to attend to.’ And to make up for leaving before the children appeared, he offered, ‘How about I have them for the day on Saturday so that you and Lawrence can have some time for just the two of you during the day?’

  ‘That would be lovely!’ she exclaimed. ‘But are you sure? You are always so busy.’

  ‘Yes, I am sure,’ he told her smilingly. ‘I’ll take them for a short sail in the club boat on Saturday morning and to a children’s matinée at the cinema in the afternoon, as there is no meeting of the Young Sailors’ Club this week. Its members have arranged a dinner dance in the evening at a large hotel on the promenade instead to help raise funds to pay for the repairs to the boat.’ With an upward glance to where the children were playing, he gave his sister a quick kiss on her cheek. ‘And now I must go.’

  Daniel wasn’t sure how good a case he had made with his sister regarding his private and public lifestyles, and as he pulled up outside the place that he used to call home minutes later, he couldn’t resist casting a glance in the direction of the hospital apartments to check if Darcey’s light was on. Seeing its bright light glowing in the early evening darkness, he went inside feeling content.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  DANIEL WASN’T TO know that in the late afternoon after he had left the hospital to call at Cordelia’s on the way home, some members of the sailing club had gone to Oceans House selling tickets for the event of the coming Saturday and that Darcey had bought one to brighten up her quiet life away from the hospital, with her first thought after making the purchase being what she was going to wear.

  There was nothing suitable amongst the clothes she’d brought with her and the event was only days away, so she needed to move fast in the form of some late-night shopping. After a quick snack, she caught the promenade tram and went into the town centre in a frame of mind that was willing to be appealed to by what she saw, and appealed to it she was by a dress of turquoise silk that accentuated her golden fairness and the soft curves of her body. With shoes to match and a faux fur jacket to hold off the winter chill she was very pleased with her purchases.

  * * *

  Daniel had seen that Darcey’s place was in darkness and, imagining her on the promenade on her own somewhere in the winter night, was unusually fraught and irritated at the thought, so instead of relaxing in the warm comfort of his apartment he drove along there a couple of times. After no sightings of her, he checked the nearest restaurants to make sure that she wasn’t anywhere to be found.

  Then, deciding that if he lingered any longer he might be accused of loitering, he was on the point of departing when he saw her moving fast towards her apartment building with a carrier bag from one of the boutiques swinging from her wrist. The question of where was she going to wear what she’d bought came immediately to mind with a vision of her somewhere in another man’s arms.

  Usually he didn’t give a damn who he saw in those sorts of circumstances but every time he was near her the attraction of who and what she was brought back desires long dead, so he pointed his car homewards without letting her see him hovering nearby. As he drove the short distance the thought uppermost in his mind was, Who and what was she going to be occupied with all over Christmas?

  When he arrived back at the apartment there was a message from the architect who was in charge of the renovation of the lighthouse, wanting to discuss various matters, and by the time Daniel had returned his call there was, as expected, a light where there had been darkness in her apartment, and for what was left of the evening he refrained from glancing in that direction.

  * * *

  The dinner dance was to be held at a large hotel in the town centre and tickets had been selling fast as the townsfolk were always ready to support any event connected with safety on the sea that surrounded Seahaven.

  It was an event that Daniel was keeping a low profile on, which was perhaps as well because he was late arriving due to an accident victim with a spinal injury being brought into the hospital as he had been on the point of leaving, and he had stayed to perform the necessary surgery, followed by going home to change into evening wear.

  Darcey, stunning in the new clothes she’d bought, and unaware of the reason for his non-appearance, was trying to keep Brendan Stokes, who had returned from his refresher course, at a distance with the thought in mind that without Daniel the event would mean nothing.

  He came at last and she felt that her bones would melt with longing, but when he saw her he smiled briefly and went to talk to the elderly woman who had been handing out hot drinks on the night of the lifeboat rescue, and an elderly man she presumed was the lady’s husband. On seeing her expression, her unwelcome companion commented, ‘If the boss ever decides to tie the knot again, I wouldn’t count on it being someone at the hospital.’ And sauntered across the room to where a group of young women doctors was gathered.

  Darcey watched him go and wished herself far away from the cheerful gathering of locals. She was a stranger in their midst, lost and lonely, and was contemplating a speedy departure when Daniel appeared beside her and said, ‘Don’t let Brendan Stokes upset you, Darcey, he’s not worth it. As all the tables are full I came to ask if you would like to share with Bridget, Ely and myself?’

  ‘I’d love to,’ she said, smiling her pleasure, even though Bridget might remember her from the night when she’d been one of those frantically hoping for the safe return of the lifeboat and those it had gone to rescue.

  When Daniel took her to be introduced to his friends Bridget did indeed remember her from the night when Darcey had stood white faced on the edge of the crowd, waiting anxiously for the return of the lifeboat. And now, seeing her with the man that she herself had much respect for, Bridget made no comment regarding that, just shook her hand and welcomed her warmly, while Ely looked on in disbelief at the sight of his friend with someone of the opposite sex. When Daniel took her onto the dance floor his surprise peaked, though not as much as Darcey’s.

  Darcey was so conscious of his touch and so aware of the surprised glances that were fixed on them as they moved around the floor that she was speechless, and he said with dry amusement, ‘I just thought I’d give them something to talk about, the ones who would like to see me with a woman just out of curiosity.’

  * * *

  Daniel felt her stiffen in his arms and knew he’d hit a nerve, but he wanted some response from her, be it good or bad, and he was getting
it as she broke away from his hold and went to join a group of nurses from Oceans House who were sitting at tables near the bar.

  ‘What did you do to the lass?’ Ely asked in amazement when Daniel rejoined his friends.

  Bridget commented, ‘Darcey was the nurse that I told you about who came to join those of us that night when the lifeboat had been called out. I recognised her when you brought her to meet us tonight. Do you remember me telling you?’

  ‘Yes, vaguely,’ Daniel replied, ‘though I’ve got to know Darcey because she’s the sister on the children’s ward. But there’s nothing going on between us. I brought her across to our table because she was on her own, that’s all.’

  ‘That’s a disappointment, then,’ Bridget told him. ‘I’m always ready for a new outfit should I hear wedding bells.’

  Daniel was only half listening. Darcey looked lovely beyond belief in the turquoise dress. Was that what was lacking in the empty life he had chosen with the break-up of his marriage? Someone like the caring nurse who had appeared out of nowhere on a crowded train?

  He had wanted to hold Darcey close and would have continued to do so if he hadn’t been irritated by the stares and smirks coming in their direction. Now the opportunity had gone and he had only himself to blame.

  Looking across to where she’d been sitting, he saw that the place was empty and when he went into the hotel foyer he saw her in a taxi that was in the act of pulling away from the pavement outside, and as it drove off he flagged down the next one to arrive and told the driver to follow the vehicle in front.

  * * *

  Darcey was in the process of paying the taxi driver when the second vehicle pulled up behind it, and to her surprise she watched Daniel climb out. He said to her driver, ‘I’ll settle that,’ and to his own driver, ‘And yours too in a moment.’ She observed him with a stony-faced expression as he dealt with the two fares. Once the vehicles had departed, he turned to find her putting her key in the lock with the intention of leaving him on the step.