A Nightingale Christmas Promise Page 8

  ‘That’s right.’ Kate stood up. ‘How is he?’

  The young man looked grave. ‘He’s alive,’ he said. ‘But as you know, he suffered a serious injury in the accident.’ He reached out and took her hands. ‘I’m afraid we’ve had to amputate his leg.’

  Kate looked down at the man’s hands, holding hers. ‘I should jolly well hope so,’ she said. ‘There wasn’t a lot of the limb left from what I could tell.’

  The young man looked startled. ‘Well, quite. But I have to assure you, your husband is quite comfortable, and we’re expecting him to make a full recovery.’

  Realisation dawned. ‘Oh, but you’ve made a mistake. I’m not his wife!’ Kate said, drawing her hands away.

  ‘Oh!’ The man coloured. ‘Well, I’m sure your marital arrangements are nothing to do with me—’

  Now it was Kate’s turn to blush. ‘You’ve got it wrong,’ she said. ‘I happened to be passing when the accident happened. I went to help.’

  ‘Ah.’ The doctor looked sheepish. ‘Oh, Lord, I’m sorry. You get so used to breaking bad news to sobbing relatives, you don’t really stop to think …’ He paused, then said, ‘You mean, you’re the one who stopped the bleeding?’ Kate nodded. ‘That’s rather impressive. How did you know what to do?’

  Kate shrugged. ‘The wound was too high inside the iliac to apply a tourniquet, so I cut off the blood supply by applying pressure to the descending aorta. Anyone with a basic knowledge of anatomy could do it.’

  ‘Which you clearly have?’

  ‘Of course.’ Kate saw the young man’s puzzled face and said, ‘I’m sorry, I should have explained. I’m a medical student. Fourth year.’

  ‘Are you indeed?’

  There it was, that look of amusement and slight disbelief. Kate was used to it by now, but it still irritated her.

  She waited for him to laugh. They usually did, sooner or later.

  But this one didn’t. ‘Well, it’s a lucky thing for our man that you happened to be passing by,’ he said. ‘You saved his life, without a doubt.’ He held out his hand. ‘I’m Rufus French. Senior houseman.’

  ‘Katherine – Kate – Carlyle.’

  ‘Pleased to meet you.’ His handshake was steady and firm. He had an odd face, Kate thought. His features were too irregular to be called handsome, but his engaging smile and the warmth in his brown eyes made up for it. ‘Where are you studying?’

  ‘Hampstead Women’s Hospital. But I’m hoping to transfer here.’

  ‘Really?’ His brows rose. ‘I heard they were letting women in now. I daresay you’ll be the first?’

  ‘The first of many, I hope. Actually, I was on my way to see the Dean of the medical school when the accident happened.’

  ‘You’re not going to see him like that, I hope?’

  Kate looked down at herself. Her skirt was stiff with dried blood. It was on her hands, too, caked between her fingers and blackening under her nails. How had she not noticed before?

  ‘I don’t suppose I’d make a very good impression, would I?’ she said ruefully.

  ‘Hardly. The Dean gets upset over a badly starched shirt, so heaven knows what he’d make of you.’

  ‘Probably a good idea to go home and change first, then.’

  ‘I would.’

  At that moment the Casualty nurse stirred herself behind her desk and called out, ‘Dr French?’

  Rufus looked over his shoulder. ‘I’d better go,’ he said. ‘But I daresay we’ll meet again, Miss Carlyle.’

  ‘I hope so, Dr French.’

  As Kate turned to go, he called after her, ‘Carlyle … You wouldn’t be related to Sir Philip Carlyle, I suppose?’

  Kate smiled. ‘He’s my father.’

  ‘Ah.’ Dr French nodded, his face suddenly serious. ‘In that case, I wouldn’t bother going home to change, Miss Carlyle. I daresay you’ll have no trouble getting in to this medical school whatever you look like!’

  ‘You did it, then?’ her brother Leo said, over dinner that evening.

  ‘Yes.’

  Kate looked at their father across the dinner table, waiting for him to speak. But he remained implacably silent, his gaze fixed on his plate, cutting his meat with his usual neat, precise movements.

  She longed for him to speak. She wanted him to be pleased for her, to welcome her to the Nightingale the way he had welcomed all her brothers.

  ‘Well, I must say, it’s jolly unfair of you,’ Leo laughed. ‘I was enjoying being the bright one for a change, but once you come along you’ll put me straight back in the shade!’

  ‘A bit of friendly competition never hurt anyone.’

  ‘I still don’t understand why you couldn’t have stayed at the Women’s Hospital?’ her mother said. ‘I thought you were happy there?’

  ‘I was, when it was all that was available to me. But now I’ve been given the chance of finishing my studies at the Nightingale. That’s what I’ve always wanted, to study there like Ollie, and Clive and Leo.’

  ‘She wants to prove she’s as good as a man,’ Leo said.

  Kate turned on him. ‘And why shouldn’t I? I’m the best student in my year.’

  Leo’s mouth twisted. ‘Such modesty!’

  ‘That isn’t what I meant, and you know it.’ Kate glared at her brother across the table. ‘I want the chance to prove myself. Not just against other women students, but against men, too. Otherwise how will I ever know how good I could be?’

  Her father cleared his throat, preparing to speak, and all eyes turned towards him. Sir Philip Carlyle was a powerful presence even in his own home. Kate could only imagine what kind of fear he struck into the young physicians working under him.

  ‘You are aware, are you not, that you will only be permitted to treat women and children?’

  ‘For now,’ Kate said. ‘But that may change in the future. If more men are called up—’

  She saw her mother’s pained expression and stopped talking. Kate’s eldest brother Oliver had signed up in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and her middle brother Clive was a ship’s surgeon. Kate knew her mother worried endlessly about them both.

  ‘Not if I have anything to do with it!’ her father replied angrily. ‘There’s been far too much change for my liking as it is. This war has a great deal to answer for!’

  For once Kate managed to keep her mouth closed. Her father was right; if it hadn’t been for the war then she would never have been allowed to study at the Nightingale. So many young men had enlisted that many of the leading medical schools had been forced to open their doors to women just to make up the numbers.

  But it hurt to know that her own father had voted against the Nightingale taking on female students.

  ‘I don’t know,’ her mother sighed. ‘Don’t you think it’s rather – unseemly? I should hate to think of you becoming an embarrassment to your father or your brother?’

  ‘How could I embarrass them?’

  She stared at her mother until she looked away.

  ‘I’m only thinking of you,’ Marjorie Carlyle murmured. ‘No man wants to marry a bluestocking.’

  ‘Then perhaps I won’t get married?’

  ‘Kate!’

  ‘Well, why should I? Ollie and Clive aren’t married yet, but I don’t see anyone fretting over their marital prospects. And what about Leo? If he said he wanted to devote his life to his medical career, you’d probably say what a wonderful, dedicated young man he was. But if I said the same, you’d worry that I would end my days as an old maid.’

  ‘Leave me out of this,’ Leo muttered.

  ‘But, Kate, you must see—’

  ‘Oh, leave her be, Marjorie,’ her father snapped. ‘She clearly needs to get this nonsense out of her system, and there’ll be no talking to her otherwise. But I’m warning you now, if you persist with this plan of yours, you can expect no help from me, Kate.’

  ‘No, Father.’

  ‘I mean it. As far as I’m concerned, once you step into that hospital you ar
e on your own!’

  They finished their meal in tense silence. Her father ignored Kate and refused to meet her gaze. Her mother was clearly still agitated at the prospect of her only daughter not being married at the age of twenty-three. Even Leo’s sense of humour seemed to have failed him. He kept his head down, desperately trying to avoid their father’s simmering wrath.

  Kate did not speak to her brother again until after dinner, once their father had retired to his study.

  ‘You shouldn’t provoke them, you know,’ he said.

  ‘I can’t seem to help it, can I?’ Kate sighed. ‘Everything I do is wrong. I really thought Father would be proud at the idea of another Carlyle at the Nightingale.’

  Leo looked sympathetic. He was two years older than Kate, and already a senior houseman. ‘You should know by now, trying to win Father’s approval is like asking for the moon!’

  ‘It is for me. I don’t understand it. I work so hard, I do well in my studies—’

  ‘I know. You’ve already told us how clever you are,’ Leo said dryly.

  ‘But Father insists on treating this as some kind of silly fad that I need to get out of my system.’

  ‘Before you come to your senses and get married?’

  ‘Always assuming anyone will have a sour old bluestocking like me.’

  ‘Never!’ Leo grinned. ‘Believe me, Mother will have her work cut out trying to marry you off.’

  ‘That’s because all the men she chooses are idiots,’ Kate dismissed.

  ‘You’re far too clever for any man. That’s your trouble. Men like to be flattered and made to feel powerful. You make them feel small and insignificant.’

  ‘Do I make you feel small and insignificant?’ Kate teased.

  ‘All the time.’ Leo shook his head. ‘Seriously, sis, are you sure you wouldn’t rather stay at the Women’s Hospital?’

  ‘Leo!’

  ‘No, hear me out. I’m thinking of you. You won’t find it easy at the Nightingale.’

  Kate pulled a face. ‘You think it will be too taxing for my poor female brain?’

  ‘Not at all. I daresay you’ll run rings round the lot of them, as usual. But I’m warning you now, it isn’t as easy you might think, being a Carlyle at the Nightingale.’

  Kate’s mouth twisted. ‘It can’t be harder than being a female medical student, surely?’

  ‘I don’t know about that. There’s certainly a lot to live up to, being Sir Philip’s offspring.’

  ‘Yes, well, I’ll never know about that, will I? Not since Father has made it clear he’ll never acknowledge me,’ Kate said bitterly. ‘I’m surprised he hasn’t ordered me to change my name!’

  Leo regarded her, his grey eyes serious.

  ‘You know, sometimes I think that might not be such a bad idea,’ he said.

  Chapter Ten

  Sadie wasn’t surprised when Eleanor Copeland pushed her way in behind her in the queue for the bathroom the following morning. She had heard the others talking in the probationers’ common room the previous evening, and had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before she was approached.

  Neither of them gave any greeting. Sadie simply kept her back turned and waited for Eleanor to speak.

  It didn’t take her long. ‘I want to ask you a favour,’ she said. Sadie smiled to herself. How this must be hurting her!

  ‘Oh, yes?’ she said innocently. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘I want to swap rooms with you.’

  Sadie feigned surprise. ‘Why?’

  Eleanor lowered her voice. ‘It’s personal.’

  Sadie looked back at Anna, standing alone further down the queue. The poor girl looked utterly forlorn. ‘Why don’t you want to share with Beck? I thought you two were good friends.’

  ‘We were.’ Eleanor was tight-lipped.

  ‘Have you had a falling out?’

  ‘You could say that. Look, will you do it or won’t you?’ Eleanor burst out impatiently.

  Sadie stared back into the other girl’s face, her jaw clenched so tight she could see the muscles bunching around her square chin. She must be desperate if she was asking for Sadie’s help.

  ‘And why should I do you any favours?’ she replied. ‘You’ve never done anything for me. You’ve never had a good word to say about me, as far as I know.’

  Eleanor’s cheeks reddened. ‘That’s not true.’

  ‘Isn’t it? What is it you and Trott call me? Common – that’s it. You think I don’t hear you whispering about me, laughing about my manners, saying I don’t deserve to be here?’

  Eleanor opened and closed her mouth, but no sound came out.

  ‘But that ain’t the reason I won’t change rooms with you,’ Sadie went on. ‘I don’t really care what you and your mates think of me, if I’m honest. No, the reason I ain’t doing what you ask is because I reckon what you’re doing is cruel and wrong.’ She nodded towards Anna. ‘Look at that kid. What’s she ever done to you? All she wanted was to be your mate, and you’re treating her like dirt.’ She looked at Eleanor with contempt. ‘If that’s the way you treat your friends, then I’m glad I ain’t one of them!’

  Eleanor glared, and for a moment Sadie thought the other girl might try to hit her. Then she turned and fled in a blaze of fury.

  Grace Duffield sidled up to Sadie at the basins. ‘Well said,’ she murmured. ‘Trott’s been on at me this morning too, trying to get me to change places with Copeland so they can share together. I said no.’

  Sadie glanced at Miriam Trott, who was scowling at her from the other side of the bathroom. ‘They’re as bad as each other.’

  ‘I daresay she and Copeland will be as thick as thieves now,’ Grace said. ‘Trott’s always been jealous of her friendship with Beck. Poor Beck,’ she sighed. ‘She doesn’t deserve any of this.’

  Sadie glanced across at Anna, standing by herself at the far basin. She looked so bewildered and forlorn.

  Sadie finished washing, and picked up her towel from the rack. As she passed Anna, she thought about saying something to her, then thought better of it. It was none of her business.

  The girls had been given the weekend off after the examination results were announced. Most were taking advantage of their three days of freedom to go home to their families. Against her better judgement, Sadie decided to visit her mother, too.

  All the way to Lily’s lodging house, she kept up an argument with herself. This was a fool’s errand. She must be going soft, there was no other explanation for it. Why else would she be doing this, letting herself get her hopes up when she knew it would all be for nothing?

  But she had seen the other girls’ excitement as they packed to go, how they couldn’t wait to tell their families they had passed the PTS examination, and somehow Sadie had convinced herself that her own mother might give a damn that she had come top of the class.

  She knew she was wrong, of course. Lily Sedgewick barely knew what day it was most of the time. But perhaps Sadie could drop in on Belle and tell her? She would be interested, even if Lily wasn’t.

  As Sadie stood on the narrow landing outside her mother’s door, she heard a commotion coming from inside the room that stopped her in her tracks.

  ‘Where is it?’ she heard Jimmy Clyde roar. Sadie’s heart sank like a stone in her chest. So he was back. She should have known the respite was too good to last.

  She stood there, her hand on the doorknob, listening.

  ‘It’s safe, Jimmy. I promise.’ Her mother’s voice sounded shaky.

  ‘Then why ain’t you wearing it? I told you to wear it.’

  ‘I – I was worried. It’s so precious, I didn’t want it to get lost …’

  ‘Maybe I should give it to someone else,’ Jimmy said. ‘I can think of plenty of women who would be only too happy to wear it if you won’t, you ungrateful mare!

  ‘I know that, Jimmy. I – I’ll fetch it. Please, let go. You’re hurting me …’

  Sadie could stand no more. She threw open the door and walk
ed in.

  Jimmy had her mother pinned against the wall, one arm twisted in his powerful grasp. Her mother was squirming, trying desperately to free herself. When she saw Sadie she froze, panic and dismay in her eyes.

  ‘Sadie!’

  Jimmy glanced over his shoulder. ‘Oh, it’s you,’ he said casually.

  Sadie ignored him, looking at her mother. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘I—’ Lily started to reply, but Jimmy cut in.

  ‘It’s private, between your mother and me.’ He released Lily, who stepped away from him, massaging her arm. Even from across the room, Sadie could see the red welts encircling her thin wrist.

  ‘Well?’ Jimmy said. ‘Ain’t you going to fetch it?’

  Lily Sedgewick scuttled out. Jimmy threw himself down at the kitchen table and poured himself a glass of beer from the stone jug on the table.

  ‘And to what do we owe this honour?’ he said.

  Sadie stared back at him. Jimmy Clyde might have been a good-looking man once, tall and well-built with black hair and blue eyes. But now his muscular body was softened by fat, his eyes bloodshot from too much booze, and his hair hung in thin, greasy strands around his bloated face.

  ‘I came to see my mother.’

  His mouth twisted into an ugly sneer. ‘And there was me, thinking you’d come to welcome your old dad back home.’

  ‘If I’d known you were here I would have stayed well away. And you ain’t my dad.’

  ‘No, but I put clothes on your back and food on the table, which is more than your real father ever did – whoever he was!’

  ‘Is that why my mother had to go out working down the docks every night?’ Sadie said. ‘As I recall it was her who put food on the table. You were too busy spending all your earnings at the pub.’

  Jimmy fixed her with his cold blue eyes. ‘You want to watch yourself,’ he muttered. ‘That mouth of yours could get you into trouble one of these days.’

  Before Sadie could reply her mother returned.

  ‘Everything all right?’ Lily’s face was bright and desperate-looking.

  ‘Oh, yes. Your daughter was telling me what a waste of space I am.’

  ‘I’m sure that’s not right. You didn’t mean it, did you, Sadie?’ Sadie heard the plea in her voice.