A Nightingale Christmas Promise Read online

  ‘And Edward?’

  Liesel blew her nose noisily. ‘He didn’t come in this morning.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘I don’t know, do I?’ Liesel snapped. ‘Honestly, Anna, can’t you stop thinking about your precious Edward for a minute and worry about Papa instead?’

  ‘I am worried about him.’

  ‘It doesn’t seem like it. Anyway, Edward wasn’t here, but Tom was. He tried to stop them taking Papa away, but the men pushed him about. I think they hurt him, actually. His nose was bleeding, so Mother sent him home.’

  ‘What about the neighbours? Didn’t they try to help?’

  ‘Oh, them!’ Liesel’s mouth curled. ‘They all came out to watch, but they did nothing. Not that I’m surprised,’ she added.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  Before Liesel could reply, the back door opened and Edward came in, the cold air blowing in around him.

  ‘Edward!’ Anna ran to him. ‘Where have you been?’

  He didn’t reply. ‘Is it true what they’re saying? That they’ve taken all the Germans away?’ he asked, shrugging off his overcoat. His handsome face was tinged red from the cold.

  Anna nodded. ‘Liesel says they took Papa this morning. Mother’s gone to look for him. Oh, Edward! I don’t understand. Why are they doing this to us?’

  ‘I don’t know, sweetheart.’ He pulled her into his arms. ‘There’s been a mistake, I’m sure,’ he said softly, holding her close. ‘But it’ll be all right. Your mother will sort it out. She’ll bring him home.’

  But when Dorothy Beck returned to the bakery an hour later, she was alone. She looked grey-faced, drained and utterly exhausted.

  Anna shot to her feet. ‘Mother! What’s happened? Where’s Papa?’

  ‘Anna.’ Her mother smiled wanly at her. ‘I’m glad you’re here. I was going to send word to the hospital, as soon as I heard something.’

  ‘What’s going on, Mrs Beck?’ Edward asked.

  ‘Mr Beck has been taken to an internment camp.’ Dorothy Beck’s voice was steady, but her hands were shaking as she took off her hat.

  ‘What’s that?’ Liesel asked.

  ‘It’s like a prison,’ Anna told her. ‘For people who haven’t done anything wrong.’

  ‘I’m sure it’s not that bad.’ Her mother sent her a warning look. ‘And we mustn’t despair, girls. Your father has been sent to a place in North London, near Alexandra Palace, so we’ll be able to visit him often. It could have been worse – some of the men are being sent a long way away.’

  ‘How long will they keep him for?’ Edward asked.

  ‘No one seems to know. It might be weeks, months …’ She took a deep breath. ‘We can only hope they’ll come to their senses and let him come home soon.’

  Anna rose to her feet. ‘I’ll make some tea.’

  ‘I think your mother might need a brandy,’ Edward said. He was right, Anna realised. Dorothy Beck had aged twenty years in just a few hours, her blue eyes drooping in the down-drawn lines of her face.

  Edward fetched the brandy from the cupboard, and poured one for each of them. Anna sipped her drink with a grimace, while Liesel downed hers in one fiery gulp that left her coughing and gasping for breath.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ Anna said.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Her mother was silent for a moment. ‘I suppose we must do our best to carry on and keep the business running. It’s what your father would want.’

  ‘How can we?’ Liesel said.

  ‘Of course we can,’ Anna said. ‘We still have Edward. He can take over the baking.’ She saw the look that passed between Edward and her mother then. ‘What is it?’ she said.

  ‘You haven’t told her?’ Dorothy said.

  ‘I haven’t had a chance, with everything else that’s going on.’

  Anna looked from one to the other. ‘Told me what? What’s going on?’

  Edward turned to her. ‘I’ve been called up,’ he said. ‘I had to go and register this morning. I leave for training next month.’

  She took another sip of her brandy to steady herself. ‘Where are they sending you?’ she asked at last.

  He lowered his gaze. ‘Scotland.’

  ‘Scotland!’

  Beside her, Liesel started to wail. ‘You see?’ she said. ‘We’ll never be able to manage with Papa and Edward both gone!’

  ‘We’ll sort something out,’ her mother assured her.

  ‘I’ll give up nursing and come home,’ Anna said.

  Dorothy shook her head. ‘No, I won’t hear of it. Your father wouldn’t want that.’

  ‘But Liesel’s right. How will you cope by yourselves?’

  ‘I don’t know, but we’ll have to try, won’t we?’ Her mother looked determined.

  ‘I don’t know why we don’t just shut up shop,’ Liesel said, dabbing her eyes with the handkerchief. ‘After all, it’s not as if we have any customers anymore!’

  ‘Liesel!’ Dorothy sent her a warning look.

  ‘It’s true,’ Liesel persisted. ‘Everyone wants to buy British bread these days. Even the Wheelers go to Freeman’s on Roman Road now. Haven’t you seen the sign on their door? “No business transacted with Germans”. They think Papa will poison them!’ she said bitterly.

  Anna remembered Eleanor’s apple cake, left untouched on her plate. ‘I can’t believe it. The Wheelers are our friends.’

  ‘The same friends who stood and watched while Papa was taken away,’ Liesel said.

  The atmosphere in the bakery was so sombre, it was a relief to go out for a walk with Edward later. But even the cold afternoon air did nothing to clear the dazed jumble of thoughts in Anna’s head.

  Edward seemed just as distracted as they walked in silence through Victoria Park. Anna couldn’t blame him. He was probably thinking about his own future, and what awaited him far away on the battlefields of France.

  A sudden picture of stretchers being unloaded from the back of a string of ambulances filled her mind, and she pushed it away with a shudder.

  As if he knew what she was thinking, Edward put his arm around her shoulders. ‘It will be all right,’ he said softly.

  ‘But it won’t, will it? Everything’s changing, falling apart. And it’s happening so fast. How long before it’s all gone?’

  ‘It won’t.’

  ‘How can you say that? A few months ago we were so happy. We could never have imagined that people would turn on us, that they would arrest Papa, that you would have to go away and fight.’

  ‘Things will get better, I promise. They’ll release your father, and everything will go back to the way it was.’

  ‘And what about you? You’ll still be gone.’

  ‘I know.’ Edward’s handsome profile was sombre. ‘But you won’t lose me, I promise.’

  How do I know that? Anna thought again about the military wards. They had had to open another one this week, to cope with all the casualties sent back to England.

  And that was only one hospital. How many more boats and ambulance trains were there, bringing wounded men home every day?

  She turned her thoughts away determinedly. No, she could not allow herself to think like that, to torture herself with what might be. She owed it to Edward to have faith.

  She forced herself to smile at him. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘When this war is over, everything will go back to the way it was, and you’ll come home safely and then we’ll be married.’

  ‘Why do we have to wait?’

  Anna stared at him. ‘What are you saying?’

  ‘Why can’t we do it now, before I leave for Scotland?’ He turned to her, holding on to her hands. ‘It would mean so much to me, to go away knowing you were my wife. That I had someone of my own, waiting for me.’

  ‘But you know I’ll wait for you.’

  ‘It’s not the same.’ He lowered his gaze. ‘You’re all I’ve got,’ he whispered. ‘Growing up in the orphanage, I’ve never had a family of my own. I’d like to feel
as if I belong somewhere. That someone might care if I didn’t come home …’

  ‘Don’t!’ Anna cut him off. ‘Don’t talk like that, Edward, please. Of course you’ll come home.’

  ‘I know.’ The next moment he was smiling again, taking her gloved hands in his. ‘So what do you say? Will you do it?’

  ‘But there’s so much to organise. The church, my dress …’

  ‘Oh, we could do without all that, surely?’

  Anna hesitated. She had dreamt of her wedding for so long, of walking down the aisle in a beautiful white gown. But she was just being selfish. What did all that matter, as long as they were together?

  But there was someone else who did matter, very much. ‘What about Papa?’ she said. ‘It wouldn’t be right without him there to give me away.’

  ‘If I know your father, he’d be more worried about making sure you were looked after.’ Edward squeezed her hands tighter, his strong fingers encircling hers. ‘He’d want you to be happy, don’t you think?’

  ‘I suppose so. But it still doesn’t seem right …’ Friedrich had been looking forward to his daughter’s wedding day almost as much as Anna had. He’d be so proud to walk her down the aisle. ‘At least let me ask him,’ she said.

  Edward frowned. ‘How can you ask him when he’s locked up?’

  ‘I’m sure we’ll be allowed to visit him soon. I’ll ask him then. Please, Edward?’

  His frown deepened. ‘You know he’ll say yes,’ he muttered.

  ‘I know, but I’d still like to ask him.’

  Her heart was beating fast in her chest. Edward was such a strong, determined man, she knew how quickly his attitude could harden if he didn’t get his own way. She didn’t think she could bear it if he sank into one of his cold, dark moods now, not when they had so little time left together.

  But then Edward smiled again, and it was like the sun emerging from behind a storm cloud.

  ‘Very well, if you must. I suppose I can wait another few days. After all, we’ll have the rest of our lives together, won’t we?’

  Chapter Thirteen

  Nearly a month after they had passed their examinations, the probationers were finally given their ward allocations. On Monday morning, Sadie reported to Everett, the Female Medical ward. She had been assigned there, with Miriam Trott and Grace Duffield, much to Miriam’s dismay.

  Sadie had heard her discussing it with Eleanor Copeland at breakfast in the hospital dining room that morning.

  ‘It’s going to be awful,’ Miriam was saying fretfully to her friend. ‘I wish we could have been assigned together.’

  ‘Me too,’ Eleanor had replied, shooting a sideways look towards Anna, who sat alone at the end of the table, her head down. ‘It’s bad enough that I’m stuck sharing a room with her, without having to work on the wards with her every day,’ she said in a loud whisper. Sadie could have slapped her.

  After breakfast, Sadie made her way up to the main hospital building with Grace. Miriam insisted on walking to the hospital with Eleanor, determined not to be parted from her a moment before she had to be.

  ‘What do you think Miss Sutton will be like?’ Grace chewed her lip. ‘I’ve heard the other nurses call her The Dragon. Why do you think that is?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Sadie shrugged. ‘But don’t look so worried, I doubt she breathes fire!’

  ‘I hope she’s not too awful,’ Grace said. ‘I get even more clumsy when I’m nervous.’

  Sadie smiled to herself. Was that possible? she wondered. They had already had to go back to Lennox House once so Grace could change her uniform after she’d tipped a pot of jam into her lap at breakfast.

  Miss Sutton was not on the ward when they arrived at seven o’clock. They walked into the middle of a very busy scene, with nurses hurrying to and fro, serving breakfast to the patients.

  ‘What do we do?’ Grace fretted, looking around nervously. ‘Should we speak to someone, do you think?’

  ‘I’ll speak for us,’ Miriam announced. She stepped forward as a staff nurse in a blue uniform approached them. ‘Excuse me, we’re—’

  ‘Here, take this.’ The staff nurse thrust a bedpan into Miriam hands. It was covered in a cloth, but Sadie could still smell it.

  Miriam held it at arms’ length. ‘What shall I do with it?’

  The nurse stared at her. ‘Take it away and empty it, of course.’ She turned to Grace and Sadie. ‘And you two can lend a hand with the breakfasts. We’re all behind this morning.’

  Miriam cleared her throat. ‘We’re supposed to report to Miss Sutton.’

  Once again the staff nurse looked at her. ‘Sister doesn’t come on duty until eight. And we’ve got a lot to do before then, so hurry up!’

  For the next hour, Sadie was kept busy serving the patients their breakfast. She lost count of how many times she ran up and down the cavernous ward, handing out plates, then serving up cups of tea, then running up and down again to gather up the plates and get them back to the kitchen.

  ‘Where’s Duffield?’ Sadie asked, when she saw Miriam up to her elbows in soapy water at the sink. ‘I thought she was supposed to be helping me with the washing up?’

  Miriam looked smug. ‘She’s in the sluice doing the bedpans. Don’t look at me like that, it was her idea. She said she’d only end up smashing all the plates if she tried to wash them up.’

  At precisely eight o’clock, the double doors swung open and the ward sister Miss Sutton swept in. She had a queenly presence for such a short, squat woman. Her starched apron crackled like paper as she walked. She stood at the end of the ward, looking around, taking in everything with her tiny dark eyes.

  Her gaze came to rest on Sadie and Miriam. ‘You!’ she beckoned them forward. ‘You are the new probationers, I take it?’ Her eyes narrowed, nearly disappearing into the fleshy folds of her face. ‘I thought there were supposed to be three of you?’

  At that moment there was an almighty clatter of metal from the sluice as a cascade of bedpans crashed to the ground.

  Sadie cringed as the ward sister turned sharply towards the sound. ‘I take it that is the third new arrival?’ she said.

  ‘Yes, Sister.’

  ‘I will speak to her later,’ Miss Sutton said ominously. ‘And you.’ She turned to Sadie. ‘Make sure your sleeves are rolled down and your cuffs properly fastened when you address me in future.’

  ‘Yes, Sister.’

  At that moment the night sister arrived and Miss Sutton went over to her desk to take report from her. Sadie took her stiff white cuffs from her pocket and rolled down her sleeves. How could she have made such a foolish mistake on her first day? But she had been so busy putting the dishes away she hadn’t stopped to think.

  The senior staff nurse, a young woman called Gifford, smiled at her. ‘Don’t worry about it,’ she said. ‘We all forget sometimes. Just try not to do it too often. You don’t want to end up in the ward book.’

  ‘The ward book?’

  ‘You see that ledger on her desk?’ Gifford nodded towards it. ‘Everything that happens on the ward has to be written down for Matron’s inspection. Good and bad,’ she said. ‘And don’t think you can get away with anything, because nothing gets past Sister.’

  Sadie glanced at Miriam. Even she looked nervous.

  Gifford grinned. ‘You’ll be all right. Just do everything you’re told straight away. Follow all the instructions you’re given, and do it all as quickly and as quietly as possible.’

  There was another crash from the sluice.

  Staff Nurse Gifford flinched. ‘You had better warn your friend, too,’ she said.

  Miss Sutton finished taking report from the night sister, then went up and down the ward, talking to all the patients and making sure they were comfortable. She turned her attention to the nurses next, pointing out a crooked cap here and a hole in a stocking there.

  In Sadie’s case, it was a missing cuff stud. ‘Really, Nurse, this is the second time I have had to talk to you about y
our uniform,’ she said. ‘If I have to mention it again then I will report you to Matron.’

  ‘Yes, Sister.’ Sadie eyed the ledger on the desk.

  Miss Sutton gave them each a list of jobs that needed to be done. Once again, Sadie was kept busy, rushing up and down the ward, making beds and sorting dirty linen for the laundry, wiping bedside lockers and damp dusting bed frames.

  At nine o’clock, it was time for the consultant’s round. They all had to stop what they were doing and line up outside the ward with Miss Sutton and the staff nurses.

  ‘Anyone would think we were expecting the King himself!’ Grace whispered.

  ‘The hospital consultants are like kings here,’ Gifford said. ‘Everything stops when they are on the ward.’

  ‘But what if a patient needs something?’ Sadie asked.

  Gifford stared at her. ‘You’d best make sure they don’t,’ she said. ‘It’s the same when Matron does her round. But the patients know what to expect, so they generally behave themselves.’

  At that moment, a group of around a dozen young men in white coats came rushing round the corner. Sadie, Miriam and Grace immediately stood to attention, but Gifford said,

  ‘It’s only the students and the housemen. We don’t have to bow and scrape to them – yet!’ She looked at her watch. ‘I do hope the Great Man’s on time today. Sometimes he keeps us waiting so long everything’s late and we have to rush about to get it all done. Then Sister gets in a furious mood about it.’

  Some of the young men smiled at them, trying to catch their attention.

  ‘Pretend you haven’t noticed them,’ Gifford advised. ‘If Sister catches you flirting on the ward she will have something to say about it and you don’t want that, do you?’

  ‘No, Staff,’ Miriam said, but Sadie noticed her keen eyes did not leave the young men’s faces.

  But there was one person in the group who wasn’t looking at them. A serious-looking young woman with dark hair and colouring stood slightly apart from the other students, reading through the pile of notes she carried.

  ‘Who’s that girl with them?’ Grace whispered.

  ‘Oh, that’s Miss Carlyle. She’s just started here.’