A Nightingale Christmas Promise Read online

  ‘Duffield and I did,’ Sadie said. ‘Trott’s still sucking up to her.’

  Dulcie’s lip curled. ‘I’m not surprised. She’s so desperate!’

  ‘Moore!’ Sadie said, but couldn’t help giggling. She hadn’t realised how much she’d missed Dulcie.

  As they took the patients’ tea round, Sadie introduced Dulcie to all of them.

  ‘How do you remember them all?’ Dulcie whispered. ‘I’ll never keep their names in my head, let alone what’s wrong with them and how they like their tea!’

  ‘You’ll soon get used to it.’ Sadie pushed the trolley to the next bed. ‘Cup of tea, Ada?’

  ‘Yes, please, ducks.’ Ada Dixon looked up at her over her knitting. Her gaze rested on Dulcie. ‘Who’s this, then?’

  ‘This is Nurse Moore, our new probationer. This is Mrs Dixon. She prefers us to call her Ada,’ she whispered. ‘But not when Sister’s around because she doesn’t approve.’

  Dulcie was all smiles as she placed Ada’s cup of tea on the bedside locker. ‘That knitting’s coming along nicely,’ she commented. ‘What are you making?’

  ‘It’s supposed to be a jumper for Frank, my youngest. Except it’s more holes than knitting.’ Ada looked at it, her mouth pursed. ‘I ain’t really got the patience for all this lark, but my sister-in-law reckoned it would give me something to do, save me going mad with boredom in here. I ain’t one for sitting still in the usual run of things.’

  ‘Never mind, you’ll be going home soon,’ Sadie reminded her.

  Ada grinned, showing a wide gap where her front teeth had once been. ‘Christmas Eve,’ she said. ‘I can’t wait. Although Gawd knows what state my house will be in when I get home, with my old man and the boys there, and no woman to keep an eye on ’em.’

  ‘You don’t have a daughter, then?’

  Ada shook her head. ‘No, love. Just me and a houseful of men.’ She grimaced. ‘I’d have liked a little girl, but the Good Lord saw fit to send me four boys instead.’ She shook her head. ‘And a right handful they’ve been at times, I can tell you.’

  Dulcie’s eyes twinkled. ‘Are they handsome?’

  ‘Moore!’

  Ada’s mouth twisted. ‘I’m their mother, I’d be bound to think they’re handsome, wouldn’t I?’ She looked at Dulcie. ‘Why? You looking for a young man, are you?’

  ‘I might be.’ Dulcie smiled, her cheeks dimpling. ‘Although I’ve really set my sights on marrying a doctor,’ she added.

  Sadie looked away, feeling a blush rising in her face at Dulcie’s shamelessness.

  ‘Have you now? You sound like a girl who knows what she wants?’

  ‘Oh, I do,’ Dulcie said.

  ‘Well, if it’s a doctor you’re after, I don’t s’pose you’d be interested in any of my boys.’ Ada sighed. ‘It’s a shame. I wouldn’t mind marrying a couple of ’em off.’ She looked at Sadie. ‘I don’t s’pose you’d be interested? I wouldn’t mind you as a daughter-in-law.’

  Sadie laughed. ‘I don’t suppose they’d thank you for picking their wives for them, Ada!’

  Ada Dixon’s mouth firmed. ‘They’ll do as they’re told and like it!’

  At that moment Miss Sutton summoned Dulcie to help Miriam make up a bed. She went off, humming to herself. Ada watched her go.

  ‘You two seem very thick together?’ she commented.

  ‘We met in Preliminary Training,’ Sadie said. ‘We really hit it off.’

  ‘She seems like trouble to me.’

  ‘I know she might seem a bit lively but she’s got a heart of gold.’

  ‘I didn’t say otherwise.’ Ada looked huffy. ‘I just said, she seems like trouble. I’ve met a few girls like her in my time, believe me!’

  ‘A minute ago you were trying to marry her off to one of your sons!’

  ‘A girl would need to have a bit about her, to put up with them. You know, someone who didn’t take any nonsense from anyone.’ Ada cocked her head. ‘That’s why I reckon you’d be perfect.’

  Sadie sighed. ‘Don’t start that again! I told you, I ain’t interested in getting married.’

  ‘I don’t believe you,’ Ada said flatly. ‘You just ain’t met the right man yet, that’s all. Now I’m telling you, when you meet my Frank or my Ronnie or my Nick …’

  Sadie shook her head. ‘Sorry, Ada.’

  She sighed in frustration. ‘You ain’t telling me a pretty young girl like you wants to spend the rest of her life an old maid?’

  A picture of Jimmy Clyde came into her mind. ‘I can think of much worse fates than that.’

  At two o’clock, Sadie went off duty, leaving Dulcie to the tender mercies of Miriam Trott. Dulcie was soon consigned to the sluice, surrounded by a mountain of dirty bedpans and looking very sorry for herself. Miriam had wasted no time in pulling rank, Sadie thought.

  It was a dull, wet December day, and the light was already fading from the sky. Outside the main doors, two porters were struggling to put up an enormous Christmas tree. Sadie had stopped to watch them for a moment when she heard someone calling her name. She turned to see PC Machin hurrying towards her, his dark waterproof cape around his shoulders.

  ‘That’s a bit of luck,’ he said. ‘I was just coming to the nurses’ home to drop off a note for you.’

  There was something in his sombre expression that made Sadie’s chest tighten. ‘Why? What is it? What’s wrong?’

  ‘We’ve arrested Jimmy Clyde.’

  She breathed out in relief. ‘About time,’ she muttered. ‘He’s been on the run long enough.’ All these weeks she had been living in dread, expecting him to turn up at her mother’s lodgings again as if nothing had happened. She had been so preoccupied she couldn’t even enjoy the fragile peace that his absence had brought them.

  ‘Has he admitted to the robbery?’

  Peter shook his head. Rain dripped steadily off the brim of his helmet. ‘He reckons he knows nothing about it. Says he was nowhere near the place when it happened, just like the last time we questioned him.’

  ‘But it’s different this time, ain’t it? You’ve got my evidence.’

  ‘Have we?’

  Sadie stared at him. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean you don’t have to testify against him.’ Peter’s eyes met hers, dark and full of meaning. ‘You can change your mind. No one would blame you for it.’

  Sadie frowned. ‘Why would I want to do that?’

  ‘Because Jimmy Clyde has a lot of dangerous friends.’

  ‘You don’t need to tell me that.’ How many years had she listened to him boasting about Billy Willis and his mates? She had grown up with horror stories of enemies having their hands and feet chopped off, or thrown into the river in sacks filled with bricks.

  ‘If I do this … are you sure he’ll be locked up?’ she said.

  Peter nodded. ‘He’ll be charged with armed robbery and probably with manslaughter too. But he ain’t the only one you need to—’

  ‘Then I’ll do it.’

  She saw the colour draining from Peter’s face. ‘Sadie …’

  ‘For Gawd’s sake, Peter, call yourself a policeman or what? I’m offering to help you put Jimmy Clyde behind bars, and you’re trying to talk me out of it!’ Sadie forced a laugh. ‘Now, are we going down to that nick or what?’

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The station platform was a sea of khaki.

  A group of carol singers had gathered outside the ticket office, singing ‘God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen’. The merry tune was a bitter contrast to the mood on the platform, as wives, mothers, fathers and sweethearts all said goodbye to their loved ones.

  Anna looked around her at the young men, laughing and joking. She thought of the wounded men who had arrived at the hospital the previous morning, their faces burnt and scarred, shattered limbs held together with tattered, bloody bandages.

  It wouldn’t happen to Edward, she told herself. He would be one of the lucky ones, the ones who came home safely. He had to com
e home. She couldn’t bear to lose someone else, not after her father …

  ‘All right?’

  She looked up. Edward was smiling down at her. He looked so proud and handsome in his uniform, his cap pulled low over his blue eyes.

  Anna forced herself to smile back at him. Poor Edward, he was the one who was going into the unknown. She had to try to be strong, for his sake.

  As if he could read her thoughts, Edward said, ‘You don’t have to worry, you know. I’ll be back.’

  Anna thought of all the young men on the ward who cried out in their sleep, and yet more who never slept at all.

  ‘I know,’ she said.

  He lifted her hand to his lips, then looked down at the engagement ring on her finger. ‘Just think,’ he said, ‘it was exactly a year ago that I proposed to you.’

  Anna nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She couldn’t bear to think of that day, how happy they had all been, how certain she was that her perfect world would go on forever …

  He sighed. ‘I had hoped you’d be wearing a wedding ring by now.’

  ‘I know. I’m sorry.’ She remembered what Liesel had said, how she should have snapped him up before some French mademoiselle had the chance. ‘I wish I’d said yes when I still had the chance.’

  ‘You had your reasons.’

  She looked up at him, saw the wistful expression in his eyes. ‘I was just being silly.’

  ‘You wanted your father there to give you away. I understand that.’

  But her father had understood, too. He had wanted the wedding to go ahead, even without him. This was all Anna’s doing, and now she bitterly regretted it.

  ‘Anyway, it’s probably for the best,’ Edward went on. ‘I mean, if I come home wounded and can’t work anymore … I wouldn’t want to be a burden on you.’

  ‘Don’t! Don’t talk like that.’ Anna had a terrifying image of another young man on the ward, the same age as Edward, an arm and a leg blown off during a recce in no-man’s-land. He was one of the lucky ones, so they said. By rights he should never have survived his injuries. But Anna had seen the despair in his eyes, and she understood how much he wished he had died out there in the freezing mud.

  She reached up and kissed Edward fiercely, clinging to him. ‘I’ll wait for you,’ she promised, pressing her cheek against the rough wool of his tunic. ‘Whatever happens, I’ll always wait for you.’

  He tilted her chin up so that she was looking at him. ‘And I’ll come home,’ he promised.

  Anna gazed around the crowded platform, at all the young men comforting their wives and mothers with the same words. How many of them would keep their promises? she wondered.

  She realised Edward was speaking to her and turned back to him.

  ‘I’m sorry I can’t stay to look after you and your family,’ he was saying. ‘I feel as if I’m letting your father down …’

  ‘You can’t help that. It isn’t your choice to go, is it?’ Anna reached for his hand. ‘Anyway, we’ll be all right.’

  ‘Will you?’ His hands tightened around hers. For a moment he hesitated, then he said, ‘Anna, I want you to promise me something.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Don’t trust Tom Franklin.’

  Anna frowned. ‘What makes you say that?’

  Edward’s gaze dropped. ‘It doesn’t matter. Forget I said anything.’

  ‘Edward, what is it? What’s wrong?’

  For a long time he stared at her, his blue eyes searching her face. Then he took a deep, steadying breath.

  ‘There are some things I’ve never told you – about myself,’ he said slowly.

  Apprehension crawled up her spine. ‘What kind of things?’

  He looked away from her, up and down the platform. ‘Now isn’t the right time,’ he muttered. ‘Not just as we’re about to be parted. I don’t want to go away and leave you with the wrong idea about me …’

  ‘Edward, please. You’re scaring me. Whatever it is, you know you can tell me.’

  ‘Even if they make you hate me?’

  She stared up at him. She had never seen him looking so nervous. ‘I love you,’ she said quietly. ‘Nothing could change that.’

  ‘Couldn’t it?’ He paused, and Anna could see him weighing up the words in his mind. Then he took another deep breath.

  ‘When I was young,’ he said, ‘after I came out of the orphanage, I fell in with a bad crowd and got into trouble.’

  ‘What kind of trouble?’

  ‘Theft. Nothing serious, just stealing from shops, pickpocketing.’ He glanced away from her. ‘God, I’m so ashamed, I can hardly talk about it.’

  Anna stroked his hands with her thumbs. ‘It’s all right,’ she said soothingly.

  ‘Is it? You do understand, don’t you?’ There was an urgency in his voice. ‘It’s all in the past, I swear. Since I started working for your father, well – it’s been like a new life for me.’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘But back then I was so young – and scared.’ He swallowed hard. ‘As soon as I got involved I realised it was wrong. I wanted to get out, but they wouldn’t let me.’

  ‘They?’

  ‘The Franklin boys.’

  Anna stared at him. ‘Tom’s brothers?’

  Edward nodded. ‘I joined their gang when I came out of the orphanage. You must understand, I had no one – I just wanted somewhere to belong …’ He looked at her, his blue eyes appealing. ‘But when I tried to get out, they threatened me. Said I was part of their family, and they’d kill me if I betrayed them.’

  Anna paused for a moment, taking this in. ‘What happened then?’

  He smiled. ‘You did.’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘You – and your family. Your father made me his apprentice, and it was like a second chance for me. A chance to start a new life, the life I should have had.’ Edward straightened his shoulders. ‘So I stood up to the Franklins. I told them to do their worst, to kill me if they wanted. But I swore I would never do another dishonest thing, not as long as I lived.’

  ‘And did they come after you?’

  He shook his head. ‘They were angry and they warned me to keep my mouth shut, but after a while they stopped bothering me. And then Tom Franklin came to work at the bakery.’ His mouth curled in contempt.

  Anna stared at him, taking it all in. No wonder the two of them had never got on. ‘I always wondered why you hated him so much,’ she murmured.

  ‘Can you imagine how I felt when your father took him on? From that moment I’ve lived in fear that he might tell your father about my shameful past, that I’d lose everything …’

  ‘Father would never do that,’ Anna said. ‘He believes everyone deserves a second chance.’

  ‘And what about you?’ Edward said. ‘Will you give me a second chance too, now you know my secrets?’

  He looked so uncertain, Anna put her arms around him.

  ‘I don’t know why you even have to ask that,’ she said. ‘You said yourself, you were young and scared. You took the wrong path, but at least you found your way back.’

  ‘Thanks to you and your family.’ He smiled down at her.

  ‘Papa would say that is the mark of a real man,’ Anna said. ‘To be able to recognise mistakes and put them right.’

  ‘Your father is a good man,’ Edward said. ‘If it hadn’t been for him, God knows what my life would have become.’ He held her at arms’ length. ‘But now do you see why I’m asking you not to trust Tom? I know the kind of family he comes from, what they’re capable of. I’m worried he’ll try to take advantage of you when you’re all alone.’

  The train came in then, belching steam and filling the air with the smell of burning coal. The people on the platform started to shift uneasily, saying their last goodbyes, arms around each other, tears flowing. Men in uniform lifted their children in the air, swinging them round, trying to coax smiles even while their own eyes were filled with tears.

  Edward picked up his kit bag
and swung it over his shoulder. ‘Well, here we go.’ He forced a grin.

  Anna clutched his sleeve, suddenly not wanting to let go.

  ‘Promise you’ll come home safe?’ she whispered.

  ‘I promise.’ He leant down and gave her one last delicate kiss. And then he was gone, piling on to the train with the other men, all jostling to wave out of the windows as the guard blew his shrill whistle.

  Anna stood on the platform long after the train had pulled out and all the other families had gone. She stood all alone, watching the plume of steam as it disappeared from view.

  Thankfully, she had the afternoon off so she didn’t have to return to the hospital. She didn’t think she could bear to look into the faces of the wounded soldiers, not so soon after seeing Edward off. All she really wanted was to go home to the bakery, to the comfort of her family.

  The first person she saw as she entered the back yard was Tom Franklin. He emerged from the wood store as she let herself in through the gate. He started when he saw her, stopping in his tracks. He had a brown paper package under his arm.

  ‘Miss Anna! I didn’t know you was coming home.’ He jerked his head towards the shed. ‘Your mother asked me to chop some wood to see her through Christmas. I was just putting it away.’

  Anna stared at him, wondering if she’d imagined the shifty look on his face. ‘Thank you, Tom,’ she said.

  For a moment neither of them spoke. ‘I daresay you’ll want to get home as it’s Christmas Eve?’ Anna broke the silence.

  Tom’s mouth curled. ‘I s’pose,’ he grunted. ‘Unless you want anything else doing …’

  ‘No,’ she said, too quickly. She saw his dark brows lift a fraction.

  Anna watched as he retrieved the bicycle from behind the shed and placed the brown paper package in the front basket.

  ‘What’s that?’ she asked.

  Tom looked at it. ‘Leftover bread and cake. Your mother said I could take it home.’ He raised his chin defiantly.

  ‘Of course.’ She should have remembered. Last Christmas Eve her father had piled his delivery basket high with bread and pies, and given him a whole iced cake to take home.

  Usually she would have gone inside and left him, but this time she stood by the back door, watching as he shouldered open the yard gate and wheeled his bicycle through it.