A Nightingale Christmas Wish (17 page)

Their eyes met, and she saw the direct challenge in his gaze. Her first instinct was to refuse, to back away, to stay safe. But as she was beginning to realise, safe was also very lonely.

She smiled up at him. ‘Why not?’ she said.

‘
SOMETHING WRONG WITH
your tea, love?’

Effie looked up at the café proprietor standing over her, wiping his hands on his greasy apron, then back down at the cup of tea cooling in front of her.

‘No, thank you,’ she replied.

‘Only you ain’t touched it for half an hour. I just wondered if you wanted a fresh pot?’

‘I’m waiting for someone.’

The proprietor looked down at her. He was a big man, an Italian cockney with strands of greasy black hair smeared over his shining bald patch. ‘Been stood up, have you?’ He grinned.

‘No!’ Effie stared back at him, affronted.

The man shrugged his shoulders. ‘You wouldn’t be the first.’ He nodded towards her teacup. ‘Sure I can’t get you a crumpet to go with that? Or a teacake? Or a plate of assorted fancies?’

‘No, thank you.’

The man went off, grumbling about how he was never going to afford to retire if all his customers were like her. Effie didn’t blame him for being cross. She had been sitting there for nearly an hour, eking out one cup of tea while she waited for Adeline Moreau.

She cleared a spot in the steamy window with her sleeve and looked out into the grey, slush-covered street. According to Jess, Adeline left her fiance’s bedside at one o’clock every afternoon to have lunch here. Effie had had to wait three days before Sister Blake moved her off-duty time from morning to afternoon and she could come here.

But now she wondered if she’d got it wrong. What if Adeline visited some other café? This was the closest one to the hospital, but it was nearly half-past one and she should have been here by now, if she was coming.

Typical, Effie thought, toying with her teaspoon. This would be the one day Adeline decided to break her routine and stay at her fiancé’s bedside.

And what was she going to say if the girl did come? Effie had mentally rehearsed a million ways to say what she had to say, but nothing sounded quite right.

She wondered what her sisters would think about it. Katie would probably pretend to disapprove, but then she’d want to hear all about it. And Bridget would have a fit and march Effie straight to Matron herself.

But she wasn’t doing anything wrong. It wasn’t as if she’d fallen in love with a patient. Exactly the opposite – she was trying to reunite him with someone else.

It was a noble thing she was doing, Effie decided. She was being a good nurse, trying to heal Adam Campbell’s broken heart for him. Florence Nightingale herself would probably approve.

Except she’d completely wasted her time.

But then, as she was fumbling in her purse to pay, she glanced up and caught a flash of red crossing the street towards the café. A moment later the door opened and Adeline walked in, swathed in her crimson coat, a feathered hat on her sleek blonde head.

‘I’ve changed my mind,’ Effie said to the proprietor, as she sat back in her seat. ‘I will stay, after all.’

She watched as Adeline sat down at her table and waved at the proprietor.

‘Usual, love?’ he called across to her.

‘Yes, please, Lou.’ Adeline smiled back at him. She was very beautiful, Effie thought, with dark, almond-shaped eyes, flawless porcelain skin, and what Effie’s mother would call ‘good bones’. No wonder everyone seemed to be in love with her. Even the grumpy café proprietor seemed charmed as he placed a pot of coffee in front of her.

Effie breathed in the rich aroma. Coffee seemed terribly sophisticated, just like the stylish clothes Adeline wore. She dressed to be noticed, in colourful floaty layers, her blonde hair caught up in a silk scarf.

Effie picked up her own cup and clumsily slopped cold tea into the saucer. The thought of confronting Adeline made her feel ill. But the thought of not confronting her, of going back to the ward and seeing Adam Campbell’s sad, wistful face, worried her even more.

All her carefully rehearsed lines deserted Effie as she put down her cup, rose to her feet and made her way across the café.

Adeline was reading a book. She looked up with a smile as Effie approached.

‘Can I help you?’ she said. Then, as Effie struggled to speak, she added, ‘We’ve met, haven’t we?’

‘I’m a nurse at the Nightingale,’ she said.

A small frown gathered between Adeline’s perfectly shaped brows. Then she nodded. ‘Of course, I remember now. You came to see Richard.’ She put down her book. ‘Won’t you sit down?’ she offered.

Effie stared at the empty chair, momentarily nonplussed. In all her imaginary conversations, she hadn’t expected Adeline to be quite so charming.

In the end, she pulled out the chair and plonked herself down in it. ‘How is Mr Webster?’ she asked.

‘He’s improving every day, thank you.’ Adeline smiled, showing perfect white teeth. ‘He’s sitting up and talking, which the consultant thinks is nothing short of a miracle, considering . . .’ Her voice trailed off and she looked troubled.

‘Does he remember anything about the accident?’

Adeline shook her head. ‘Nothing at all. He has no memory of anything up to the moment he woke up. We’re having to piece everything together very slowly for him. Although he remembers me, thank God!’ She smiled.

‘What about Adam? Does he remember him?’

The smile faded from Adeline’s face. ‘How do you know Adam?’

‘He’s a patient on my ward.’

Adeline didn’t react, but Effie noticed her hands shaking slightly as she topped up her coffee cup.

‘The Almoner’s office wrote to you. And so did he,’ Effie said.

‘I know.’

‘Why didn’t you reply?’

‘It’s complicated.’

‘Because you’re engaged to someone else?’

‘Something like that.’ Adeline sipped her coffee, her gaze fixed on a distant point beyond Effie’s shoulder.

‘Does he know you’re engaged to Richard?’ Effie asked.

‘Of course he knows!’ Adeline snapped, turning her dark gaze to meet Effie’s. ‘Richard and Adam are – were – best friends.’

‘Until you came along?’ Effie guessed.

Adeline’s mouth tightened. ‘I told you, it’s complicated,’ she said. ‘You wouldn’t understand.’

‘I’d like to try.’

She put down her cup. ‘I suppose Adam sent you? Did he ask you to plead his case for him?’

‘Actually, he doesn’t know I’m here.’

‘So why did you decide to come?’

‘Because I feel sorry for him.’

‘Do you?’ Adeline’s brows lifted. ‘Is that the only reason, I wonder?’

Effie felt herself blushing. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d fallen for him. I suppose it was bound to happen. He’s an attractive man, after all. It’s very easy to fall for someone like Adam Campbell. I should know,’ she murmured.

‘What happened between you?’ Effie asked.

‘That’s none of your business.’

‘It is my business,’ Effie insisted. ‘I’m worried about him. He’s upset and pining for you, and that’s not helping him to get better.’

Adeline shot her a quick glance, and Effie caught the flash of something like smugness in her expression before her eyes hardened again. ‘Well, I’m sorry, but I can’t help,’ she said shortly. ‘Adam has caused far too much trouble already, and the last thing I want to do is encourage him any more.’

‘But—’

‘Look, I understand you’re trying to help, but you really don’t know anything about it,’ Adeline interrupted her. ‘I made a terrible mistake with Adam. It was supposed to be a harmless flirtation, nothing more. But he took it all too seriously.’

‘You had an affair behind your fiance’s back, and Adam fell in love with you,’ Effie guessed.

Adeline gave a slight shrug. ‘I suppose so,’ she said. ‘But it wasn’t supposed to be that way,’ she insisted. ‘I thought he understood . . . but then he suddenly announced that he wanted to tell Richard about us. He wanted to do the right thing, he said. Reckoned he felt wretched lying to his best friend.’ Her mouth twisted. ‘He acted as if ours was some great, doomed love affair.’

Effie stared at Adeline’s beautiful, petulant face and fought the urge to slap it. Then a thought occurred to her.

‘Do you suppose that’s what caused the accident?’ she asked.

‘I’m afraid it must have been.’ Adeline picked at her thumbnail. ‘Richard was an excellent driver, he would never have lost control like that, unless – I’m afraid he might have tried to kill them both because he thought he’d lost me,’ she sighed.

Effie gazed at her. In a strange kind of way, Adeline seemed to be enjoying the drama surrounding her.

‘Anyway,’ she went on, ‘nearly losing him brought me to my senses,’ she said. ‘It made me realise how much I truly love him.’

‘And what about Adam?’ Effie said.

‘What about him?’ Adeline eyed her coldly. ‘As far as I’m concerned, he’s the reason Richard nearly died. He tried to take away everything I care about. I want nothing more to do with him.’

‘Don’t you think you should tell him that?’

‘I didn’t reply to his letter. Surely that should tell him everything he needs to know?’

‘He deserves better than that. You should write back to him, tell him where he stands. He’s breaking his heart, wondering what he’s done to upset you.’

‘You tell him, then, since you’re so concerned about him.’ Adeline’s dark eyes flashed.

Effie stared at her. Adeline was the cause of all this, not Adam. She’d played with two men’s hearts, set them against each other, and when it all went wrong she’d tried to step away from it on those dainty, expensively shod little feet of hers.

‘I’m not doing your dirty work for you,’ said Effie. ‘The least you can do is tell him face-to-face.’

‘I’m tired of listening to you.’ Adeline pulled a ten-shilling note out of her purse and put it on the table. ‘I have to go back to the hospital. Richard will be wondering where I am.’

‘So is Adam,’ Effie said pointedly.

As Adeline went to leave, Effie blurted out, ‘I could tell him, you know.’

Adeline froze. ‘What?’

‘I could tell Richard about the accident – the real reason he crashed.’

The colour drained from Adeline’s face. ‘You wouldn’t!’

‘You never know, do you?’ Effie shrugged. ‘Promise me you’ll go and see Adam? Please?’ she begged.

Adeline shot her a sulky look. ‘I’ll think about it,’ she said.

SNOW FELL HEAVILY
on New Year’s Eve, burying the streets of the East End under another deep white blanket. But in spite of the freezing winds and leaden skies, the Casualty hall was still crowded with people who had trudged through the winter night. They huddled around the crackling fire, warming swollen, chilblain-covered hands, men and women and children, all muffled in layers of scarves, coats and woollen hats.

Helen stood at the booking-in desk and listened to the chorus of deep, chesty coughing that rattled around the high-ceilinged hall. Bronchitis and chest infections were always rife in the East End, with its damp houses and air thick with factory smoke. But when the cold weather set in it was even worse. She’d lost count of the number of patients they’d sent up to the medical wards. Sister Everett had already telephoned down to tell them she’d had to put in extra beds. Any more and they’d be sleeping in the passageways.

‘We should just send them away.’ Penny Willard seemed to read her thoughts. ‘Tell them to go home and sit by their own fires.’

‘Some of them don’t have fires to go home to,’ Helen reminded her.

Penny shrugged. ‘It’s not our problem if they can’t look after themselves, is it?’

But it wasn’t just the patients who couldn’t look after themselves. In the middle of the afternoon, Helen was summoned to Matron’s office.

‘I’m afraid we have had several nurses admitted to the Sick Bay with chest infections, including the student assigned to night duty in Casualty,’ she said. ‘Miss Tanner and I are doing our best to find other nurses to cover for them, but I’ve also had to assign extra help to the medical wards, as we’ve had so many new admissions recently.’ She looked up at Helen, her grey eyes serious. ‘It may be that we’ll have to close Casualty tonight, if we can’t find cover.’

‘But what about emergencies, Matron?’ Helen asked.

Miss Fox shook her head. ‘They’ll have to go elsewhere. Miss Tanner has offered to fill in, but given the situation I daresay she will already be very busy with other wards.’ She paused. ‘Of course it would be better if we could stay open for ambulances, especially as New Year’s Eve tends to be rather busy. But if we don’t have the staff to cope . . .’

‘I’ll do it,’ Helen said.

Matron frowned. ‘You, Sister?’

‘If I go off duty now, I can have a few hours’ rest and be ready for night duty at nine o’clock. If that will help?’

Matron frowned. ‘I can’t deny it would, but surely you already have plans for this evening?’

‘I can cancel them,’ Helen said promptly.

Miss Fox sat back in her chair and considered her. ‘Are you sure, Sister? When I summoned you, I wasn’t expecting you to give up your free time. I merely wanted to apprise you of the situation.’

‘I appreciate that, Matron. But I would rather keep Casualty open, if you don’t mind?’ Helen replied. ‘As you’ve said yourself, New Year’s Eve is a very busy time. I wouldn’t like to think of someone being denied treatment or having to find their way to a hospital further afield, when they could be seen here.’

‘Very well.’ Matron smiled. ‘In that case, I will inform Miss Tanner, I’m sure she will be very relieved. Between ourselves, the poor woman is tearing her hair out!’ she confided.

‘Thank you, Matron,’ Helen said.

‘No, Sister Dawson. Thank
you
,’ Miss Fox said warmly. ‘You’ve done the hospital a great favour.’

Helen felt a pang of guilt as she hurried back to Casualty. Matron had acted as if Helen had made a supreme sacrifice, but the fact was she had been looking for an excuse not to go out with Christopher. The thought of spending time with him unnerved her. He attracted her like the flames of a blazing fire on a freezing cold night. But like a fire, he had the power to burn. It was far safer to keep her distance than to get hurt.