The Shy Nurse's Christmas Wish

by Abigail Gordon

  ‘May I come inside for a moment?’ he asked, and without speaking she stepped to one side to let him pass and then closed the door behind him.

  ‘I just want to say I’m sorry if you felt I was using you to suit my own ends when I took you onto the dance floor,’ he said as they faced each other in the apartment’s small entrance hall.

  ‘The reason was because you looked so beautiful in the dress and as we are both free spirits it felt like the right thing to do. But for some reason the fact of my having no desire to make a commitment in the marriage market is of interest to some people and irritates me more than somewhat. Someone once told me that when I do appear with a member of the opposite sex they place bets on whether it will last or not. So will you accept my apology for what happened back there, Darcey?’

  ‘You don’t have to apologise, Dr Osbourne,’ she said stiffly. ‘I have no wish to be involved in your private life and neither do I want to be made a laughing stock by those who are so interested in it.’

  He groaned softly and reaching for the door handle ready to depart said, ‘I can hardly blame you for feeling like that. My sister has yearnings to see me at the altar every time a possible candidate appears, but she knows how small the chances are of that happening, and if she hadn’t, I would have soon put her right.’

  Darcey thought if that was the case, what was it that she had done to deserve so much attention?

  To make it even more upsetting, he went on to say, ‘It would seem that you have already got Christmas lined up with friends past and present on the occasion of your first time of celebrating it by the sea, and if that is so I wish you a happy time amongst them.’

  With a wild desire to tell him the truth about what she would be occupied with she moved towards him, but the door was swinging open, he was gone and no way was she going to chase after him, which left the next morning on the wards looming ahead like a pit of embarrassment.

  * * *

  Having no wish to make any further upsets for anyone, Daniel went straight home and sat gazing towards the light in Darcey’s window. She was a sweet, kind woman, he told himself, and deserved better than such as himself, so the less he saw of her away from Oceans House the bigger the favour he would be doing her. Unaware that not so far away she was gazing across at the light in his window with a yearning to be with him, in his house, in his arms, in his life.

  * * *

  Darcey was spared the dread of meeting up with him again on Monday morning because Brendan Stokes was doing the ward rounds, Daniel having been called out to join the lifeboat crew on another mission to rescue some teenagers who were way out past the coastguard station, and when she discovered where he was and what he was engaged in, the stress of meeting him on the wards was as nothing compared to knowing that he was out in dangerous waters, fighting the elements again, and she loved him for it, just as she loved him for everything he did.

  This time she couldn’t be present when the lifeboat came back to base and was frantic to know if and when all concerned were safe, until Bridget stopped by the ward in the lunch hour to report that another stressful situation had been resolved. Grateful for the elderly woman’s thoughtfulness, Darcey thought that she wasn’t the only one who loved Daniel. So did Cordelia, and so did Bridget in a motherly sort of way, and with that thought came another.

  She had made a reluctant promise to his sister that she would tell her if Daniel was involved in anything dangerous or stressful with regard to the lifeboat and today was the second occasion when she had failed to do so, not wanting to distress Cordelia.

  With a few moments of her lunch break left, she went into the office on the ward and rang the number that his sister had given her, but got no answer and tried a few more times without success. Finally she gave the operator the number and asked to have it checked in case there was a problem on the line as now she was more than ready to talk to Cordelia as it would be only good news that she had to greet her with.

  But the operator reported that the line was being investigated and it could take some time, and as Darcey replaced the receiver, Daniel was there framed in the open doorway, observing her unsmilingly and asking, ‘What’s wrong? Everyone is back safely. No cause for alarm, and that was Cordelia’s number. Why? What goes on?’

  ‘Er...your sister asked me to get in touch if ever you were hurt or in danger,’ she said haltingly, ‘but there has been no need, and in any case I would have hesitated to do anything of that nature, which was against your wishes, but I saw no harm in letting her know that you are safe after today’s occurrence if she is aware of it.’

  ‘I see,’ he said tonelessly, and went on to inform her, ‘The last thing I want would be to cause Cordelia grief on my account. She has already had to face up to us losing our father. I don’t want any other sorrow coming her way because of me.’

  ‘So why do you do it if that is how you feel?’ she questioned.

  ‘Because it is what he would have wanted of me.’

  ‘Yes, I see,’ she told him, and thought that Daniel was already doing his share of saving lives at Oceans House and many of them were young ones, which would be enough for most people, but he wasn’t most people.

  Around her the staff on second lunch were disappearing and as he hadn’t eaten since breakfast he followed them and left her to thoughts that were not happy ones.

  * * *

  After lunch Daniel went to take his Monday afternoon clinic with the feeling that he had been needlessly abrupt in his conversation with Darcey, especially after the fiasco of the night before, and the thought came that flowers, roses maybe, with a note of apology attached, might clear the air between them without creating any more situations that she might have misunderstood.

  As soon as the clinic was over he rang a florist and arranged for flowers to be delivered the next day, as the following morning he was due to fly out to America for two weeks, where he would be speaking to medical staff in various hospitals about orthopaedics, with the intention of arriving home on the day of Christmas Eve, when he had arranged to go straight to his sister’s for the festivities, while Darcey was enjoying her first Christmas in Seahaven in what had sounded like a full programme of events when he’d suggested taking her for a sail and had had the offer turned down.

  * * *

  It was six o’clock the next morning and as the taxi that was taking him to the airport was driven along the deserted promenade for his flight to America Daniel was wishing that he wasn’t going to be without sight of Darcey for two whole weeks.

  There had been no signs of life as he’d been driven past her apartment, which wasn’t surprising considering the hour, and his reluctance to be away from where she was going to be increased. In an hour or so the florist would do as he’d asked and deliver the flowers before she began her day’s work, and what she would think of that he wasn’t going to find out as she would have no way of knowing that they were the first flowers he’d sent to anyone of the opposite sex since his marriage to Katrina had fizzled out in a cloud of misery.

  At the time of arranging the visit to various American hospitals he had been keen and raring to go, but now the thought of being away from Oceans House meant being away from her, and when he returned on Christmas Eve she was sure to be well into the Christmas festivities that she had planned, which could mean only one thing, that away from the job and in so short a time she had created a good social life, which was more than he could say for himself.

  * * *

  When there was a knock on the door of her apartment just before eight o’clock, Darcey paused in her preparations before heading for the children’s ward for the day, and was presented with an assorted display of beautiful roses and lily of the valley with a card attached that said briefly, ‘Sorry I was so unfriendly yesterday, Daniel.’ Her heartbeat quickened at the comforting thought that in the middle of his last-minute arrangements for his departure he had t
aken the time to want peace between them, and her step had a lift to it as she walked the short distance to where she would be spending the day with her young patients.

  * * *

  On the Saturday in the middle of the fortnight of his absence, when she’d done her shopping Darcey went into the café where she’d first met his sister in the hope that they might meet again, and was happy to find Cordelia seated at one of the tables and beckoning her across to join her.

  Desperate for news of Daniel, she was quick to accept the invitation and heard how he was enjoying his visit to one of America’s largest cities and being entertained socially every evening by those he was working with in the daytime.

  The name of Mallory, a medical colleague over there, cropped up a few times and Darcey’s pleasure in receiving the flowers that he’d sent on that last day shrivelled into nothingness.

  But Cordelia had not forgotten her liking for the young nurse seated opposite and asked anxiously, ‘Are you sure that you have a good time planned for Christmas, Darcey? You are most welcome to share it with us if you are short of company.’

  ‘Yes. I’ve got it sorted,’ she replied with false confidence, ‘but thanks for the thought. You are very kind, Cordelia, and all my good wishes to you and your family.’ On the way home afterwards she looked down at the shopping she was carrying and thought how it was just the usual weekly things with a box of chocolates as her only sign of festive fun, but that thought was followed by a vision of anxious parents beside the beds of their precious little ones at Christmas. Rather than feeling sorry for herself, she knew that to be there for them would be a privilege.

  * * *

  It was Christmas Eve a week later and Daniel was homeward bound in a taxi that would shortly be arriving at Seahaven, and much as he had enjoyed his visit to America he was eager to be back in the place he loved the most.

  What would Darcey have planned for the evening? he wondered, as the promenade came into view with Oceans House at the far end. Whatever it was, it would not include him, from the sound of it, and as far as he was concerned if he hadn’t been staying with Cordelia and her family over the festive break he would have gone straight home and to bed after the long flight.

  But to the two small girls who loved him, his presence on Christmas morning added greatly to the excitement, so that he would never disappoint them willingly. And as for the nurse who had been in his thoughts more than was good for him while he’d been away, he supposed he should be happy for her to have settled into Seahaven so well that her Christmas was fully booked.

  It would prevent him from stepping into something that he might regret afterwards, and with that thought came the memory of Darcey’s eager response when he’d asked her if she was enjoying being taken unexpectedly to dine in his favourite restaurant that night.

  It could have been the beginning of something special and precious if he’d responded with similar enthusiasm, but the barriers had been up, the warning signs had been there. He’d sat there poker faced as Darcey had made no secret of the pleasure that his unexpected invitation had created in her lonely life, and now he was wishing that he’d responded.

  An attractive medical administrator called Mallory had accompanied him on his visits as he’d moved from one hospital to another. They’d also dined together in the evenings, and it had become clear that she’d been romantically interested in him.

  But Daniel had thought grimly that, as pleasant a person as Mallory was, she was coming onto the wrong sort of guy as far as he was concerned, and in her place would come a vision of Darcey soothing a fretful toddler in the children’s ward at Oceans House, and on another occasion gazing wide-eyed at the old lighthouse he’d bought in memory of his father with complete understanding of his need.

  As the hospital came into view at that moment, with her small living quarters close by, he was tempted to pay the taxi driver and call on her if she was there, but the opportunity didn’t arise. The place was in darkness. It seemed as if her busy Christmas was already under way.

  * * *

  In the two weeks that Daniel had been away, the friendship between Darcey and Cordelia had strengthened and they’d met for coffee a couple more times, with Cordelia inviting Darcey to the party that she and her husband were hosting on Christmas Eve.

  But as Darcey had remembered the glib pronouncement that she’d come up with when Daniel had offered to take her sailing, and imagining his expression if he arrived back and saw her at the party, she had said, ‘It is kind of you to invite me, Cordelia, but I really don’t want to cause any difficult situations that could be avoided.’

  ‘The party will finish at midnight,’ her new friend hastened to tell her, ‘and Daniel won’t be back until the early hours of Christmas Day. I know you are concerned that he might think you are invading his privacy, but it should be long over before he puts in an appearance, so do come, Darcey. One of our daughters is keen to become a nurse when she is older, and will be asking you all sorts of questions about it before she goes to bed.’

  ‘Yes, all right,’ she’d agreed, unable to resist being with company on Christmas Eve, even if she was going to be alone for the rest of the holiday period, and if she would be well gone by the time Daniel put in an appearance there couldn’t be any harm in having a happy evening for once, instead of another empty one.

  There was just one snag to that arrangement, though. The last two weeks had been filled with the longing to have Daniel back where she could see him, but she wouldn’t see him on Christmas Eve, according to Cordelia, and as he wasn’t on the staff roster for over the holiday it could be some time before they came face to face again, unless she sought Daniel out with some excuse.

  * * *

  Darcey went to the party in the turquoise dress that had bowled him over on the evening of the effort to raise money for repairs to the rescue boat, and was feeling good to be socialising with a group of friendly folks at Lawrence and Cordelia’s house.

  But, like Cinderella, come midnight she had to leave, and with just a few moments to spare Darcey went round saying her farewells to her hosts and their friends, and then she was gone, striding purposefully along the brightly lit promenade to where her small dwelling awaited her, having refused the offers of a lift home from some of the party guests who would have liked to get to know her better.

  * * *

  As the taxi driver drove along the coast road on the way to Seahaven, the old lighthouse was silhouetted against a pale moon and Daniel felt a rush of tenderness at the memory of how Darcey had understood immediately how much it would mean to him to have a memory of the father so near and so dear to him.

  The two weeks he’d been away had seemed like two years and once he was home there was no guarantee that she would be where he could see her if she had the Christmas break all planned, as it had seemed to be from what she’d said.

  Ahead the promenade had come into sight and as the taxi moved nearer to his destination Daniel was observing groups of revellers out there, celebrating the midnight hour and the arrival of Christmas Day.

  He had caught an earlier flight than previously arranged and within minutes would be back amongst his family and friends, but the one person he wanted to see the most would be doing her own thing somewhere else, and he would so like to know where.

  No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than his wish was granted.

  Darcey, wearing the lovely turquoise dress that he’d seen before and been enchanted by, under her coat, was walking briskly along the opposite side of the promenade, and he asked the taxi driver to stop for a moment. Flinging himself out of the vehicle with all speed, he followed her quickly on foot.

  When she heard his footsteps behind her, she turned and stared at him in amazed dismay as he said with cool calm, ‘What are you doing out here alone at this hour? Where are all the friends you’re spending Christmas with?’

  Seemi
ng to recover from the shock of his sudden appearance, she told him, ‘It’s tomorrow that my busy time starts.’

  ‘So where have you been?’ Daniel asked with quiet impatience, wishing their reunion after an empty fortnight could be more ecstatic.

  He could see the desperation in her eyes as she told him, ‘I’ve been to a party at your sister’s house on the promise that you wouldn’t be back for a couple of hours, as I knew that you wouldn’t want to find me there when you returned.’

  ‘So you read my mind, do you?’

  ‘Yes, up to a point,’ she told him defiantly.

  ‘I doubt it,’ he said with silky slowness. ‘Otherwise you would know what is coming next.’ And as she gazed at him wide-eyed he pulled her into his arms and kissed her until she was limp and trembling, and only then did he let her go.

  ‘Merry Christmas, Darcey’, he said in a low voice, and beckoned the taxi driver to bring his vehicle to their side of the road. ‘Get in,’ he ordered, and as she obeyed, he told her, ‘I’m going to see you safely home, and then will depart just in case you have any worries on that score.’

  Daniel had asked the taxi driver to wait to take him the way he had come to his sister and brother-in-law’s house a short distance away because his baggage was on board, but first he wanted to see Darcey safely inside. As she turned the door key of the apartment in the lock he said tonelessly, ‘Have a good Christmas, Darcey. You’re young and beautiful so should have no trouble with that.’ Before she could reply he turned and hurried off into the night.

  Sitting in the waiting taxi, he groaned softly and the driver asked conversationally, ‘Was that your girlfriend, sir?’

  ‘Er...no,’ he told him. ‘She is just a friend that I was expressing my good wishes for Christmas to,’ and as the other man nodded understandingly Daniel lapsed into silence with the thought uppermost that he had just made a prize fool of himself.