Secrets to Keep (39 page)

‘Not much then.’

‘No, but beyond my reach.’

Aidy smiled at her. ‘Not any longer. As long as you don’t mind sleeping on a flock mattress squashed into one end of a tiny parlour, and putting up with three boisterous kids constantly mithering you, an old lady who never shuts up chattering and myself, then you’re welcome to come home with me and stop with us until you’re on your feet.’

Sister Teresa was gawping at her dumbfounded.

Aidy laughed. ‘I really mean it.’

The other woman’s shoulders lifted, the look of doom left her face and was replaced by one of pure joy that was a delight to witness. ‘You have my promise that I will return every item I stole to its rightful owner.’

Aidy said to her, ‘Can you please make Mrs Willows a priority? Her daughter is trying to have her committed as a lunatic on the basis she’s gone doolally, misplacing her own jewellery and accusing
others of stealing it from her. The truth is that the daughter wants rid of the burden of her so is seizing on this as an excuse.’

Ruth was visibly horrified that her actions had had such far-reaching repercussions and promised Aidy faithfully that she would return Mrs Willows’ property to her today, as soon as she had finished her round.

Aidy then said to her, ‘Now I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to get straight back to the convent, to tell Mother Superior you’re leaving the order and pack up your things … well, I don’t suppose you’ve got much to pack … but first, could you please make a visit to the patient I forgot to put on your list? Otherwise it could end up with me getting the sack for forgetfulness, and then I wouldn’t have a place to offer you to stay in.’

Ruth assured her, ‘Of course. It’s only fair I should finish off my list of calls. I have waited long enough for this moment, thought it would never come, so a little longer will prove no trial to me. It’s only right too that I personally inform Doctor Strathmore why I will not be providing my services to him any longer. I do hope Mother Superior will find another nun to assign to the surgery to replace me.’

She gave a sigh. ‘I am not looking forward to my interview with her. She is a very kindly but formidable woman. What I have to tell her will come as
such a shock. I have never given her any reason to believe I was so unhappy with my life. She will do her best to persuade me not to leave the order, think I am having some sort of crisis and need time to get over it, call other nuns in to reason with me, probably suggest I go on a retreat to think carefully about what I am doing, but hopefully she will quickly realise that she is wasting her time and let me go quietly.’

Then a look of utter joy filled her face again. ‘Oh, I cannot believe that after today I will no longer be living the life I’ve hated so much. I don’t know how I will ever replay you for your charity.’

‘You can do it by making sure you get that life you’ve always wanted, and settle for no less.’

By the time Aidy returned outside the temperature had risen enough to melt the falling snow to sleet, and the packed snow on the ground was starting to turn to slush. Slipping and sliding along as she hurried back to the surgery, she worked out that she would have been gone just over an hour and a half all told. Hopefully the doctor was still out on his rounds and would never know she had left the surgery unattended.

To her mortification, though, as soon as she unlocked the waiting-room door and let herself inside, Ty came to greet her. Disrobed of his overcoat and jacket which were hanging up to dry, he was rubbing his wet hair on a towel.

He said to her, ‘I returned very briefly to the surgery over an hour ago to replenish some medicine I’d used up and found the place deserted. I returned again a few minutes ago on finishing my round and you still weren’t here. Patients know to contact you here at the surgery up until two o’clock should they have an emergency and I need to be fetched, so I hope no emergency
did
arise while you were gone. I trust that whatever it was that took you away for such a length of time was a matter of great importance?’

A puddle of water forming around her, Aidy stared back at him blindly. Had he just arrived back when she returned, she had been going to tell him that she’d popped out minutes before as she’d heard a little boy crying in the street, lost in the snow, and had taken him home. It was plausible, she felt. But she could not do that now as he’d been back earlier and found her gone. All sorts of excuses to explain away her absence flashed through her mind, but none that would plausibly excuse such a long absence. She had no alternative but to tell the truth.

Fearing the worst, she said, ‘I know it was wrong of me to leave the surgery but, you see, as I was making up the fires after you left this morning, I realised I’d forgotten to add Mrs Rogers to Sister’s list of visits today. I knew if her wound wasn’t checked and infection set in, then it could turn really
nasty. It took me ages to find Sister but eventually I did.’ With an invisible black cloud of doom swirling over her head, she added, ‘I’ll save you the trouble of telling me I’m sacked. I’ll just get my handbag and be off.’

Still towelling his hair, Ty watched her thoughtfully as she made her way to the reception desk to collect her handbag where she kept it inside a drawer. Both the things she had done were serious enough to warrant instant dismissal. Her lapse of memory could have resulted in serious repercussions for the patient involved. Leaving the surgery without anyone to deal with any sudden life-or-death situations or take important telephone messages on his behalf was expressly forbidden. He was waiting for a call from the hospital about a bed he was trying to get for a patient he suspected of having a tumour in his stomach. If he had missed that call and the bed had been given to another patient, then he would be very cross. He supposed, though, that Aidy had acted immediately she’d realised her mistake about Mrs Rogers. And he couldn’t deny that, up until today, she hadn’t given him any reason to regret taking her on as his receptionist.

If he dismissed her, how long would it take him to find a replacement for her, considering she was the only one who’d applied the last time? But should he decide to let her go, what would become of her
and her family? To his utter shock, yesterday he had learned that the money she earned from him could never in any way be classed as pin money, a bit extra to give her and her husband a marginally better standard of living. Her wage, as little as it seemed to Ty, had to cover the cost of housing, keeping warm, feeding and clothing herself and four others. Jobs at the moment were proving harder and harder to come by due to the recession gripping the country. He gave a sigh. His conscience wouldn’t allow him to be the cause of Aidy and her family facing a bleak future in the workhouse.

He called across to her, ‘If you wish to leave my employ then that is your choice, Mrs Nelson, but I haven’t asked you to leave. Another incident of this nature on your part, and I certainly will be looking for a replacement for you, however, so be warned.’

With that, he strode from the room.

Aidy had just shut the drawer after taking out her handbag. She stared after him in utter shock. Under that cold, humourless exterior, it seemed the doctor did had some humanity. She breathed a huge sigh of relief, the feeling of doom evaporating as she replaced her handbag inside the drawer, stripped off her wet coat and made to hurry and complete the tasks she should have had done hours ago.

I
t was just approaching two o’clock on Christmas Eve. Aidy was preparing to take her leave from the surgery for her afternoon break, planning in her head all the things she had to do during the two and three-quarter hours before she’d be back again for evening surgery. She didn’t mind the surgery hours. In fact, they suited her far better than the timing at the factory. But, today of all days, she wished she hadn’t to return this evening, then she could have visited the market just before closing time and found herself some last-minute bargains when the traders were practically giving what they’d left away for a few pennies, sooner than get nothing for it and leave it to rot.

Aidy so wanted this Christmas to be extra-special. Not only for her own family as this was the first Christmas they were spending without Jessie, but also for Ruth as it would be the first one she had spent in the sort of family environment she
had always craved. How Aidy wished she had the funds to buy her a present, something pretty and frivolous, but that was out of the question.

She tapped her fingers impatiently on the desk, willing the doctor to hurry through with her wages. Shopping at Christmas wasn’t the same as it was the rest of the year. The town would be packed solid, and pushing her way through took superhuman strength. Then there were the endless queues to join, in the hope that when you finally reached the counter the item you wanted was not sold out. And she had a special present to buy. Having been extra-frugal over the past couple of weeks, Aidy now had the means to buy her gran a present. She knew what she was going to get. A woman on the market sold skeins of wool cheap – very possibly having fallen off the back of a lorry – and Aidy was going to buy one in black. For the first time that she could remember, Bertha would have some new wool, not stuff unravelled from an old garment, to knit herself a shawl with. Aidy couldn’t wait to see the delight on her face when she received it. She had made a private bet with herself that before the day itself was out, the pins would be too and Bertha would have used a good measure of the wool.

She shot a frustrated glance at the clock. It was now four minutes past two. Doc had returned from his round fifteen minutes ago. How long did it take
him to remove his coat, count out her wage, put it in an envelope and then bring it out to her?

Then, thankfully, she heard the surgery door opening, and his footsteps cross the corridor. He came over and handed her a bulky brown envelope, saying, ‘I’ll see you on Boxing Day, Mrs Nelson.’

She frowned, puzzled. ‘Oh, but don’t you want me to come in this evening?’

He replied matter-of-factly, ‘I doubt you’ll have time with all the things I suspect you have to do, considering what day it is tomorrow. The patients and I will have to do without you.’

She felt sure he flashed her just the very briefest of smiles before he turned and walked out.

Reeling in shock at this unexpected generosity, Aidy finally found her voice and called out, ‘Merry Christmas to you, Doc.’

For the second time her opinion of him rose just a little.

This extra time afforded her gave Aidy the opportunity to offer Ruth an experience she suspected the other woman had never had. She wasn’t sure whether Ruth would be home now or out in search for work. True to her word, as soon as she had severed her links with the Church and settled herself into her new abode, she had turned her attention to returning other people’s property, and getting herself a job. The first she had successfully achieved; in fact, it had been easy to do.
She just visited each of her victims in turn, informed them why she wouldn’t be calling on them under her guise of nun again, and while she was there, left behind what she had taken with her on a previous visit.

It wasn’t proving so easy for her to get a job, though. She had applied for several at the General Hospital and Infirmary as well as others in nursing homes dotted around the city, and was waiting to hear the outcome by post. Aidy knew she was getting quite anxious, listening out for the postman to call every morning, not at all comfortable about taking charity off people who could ill afford to give it. She meant to start paying her way as soon as she possibly could. Ruth was a joy to have around, though, and an extra pair of hands tackling the housework was proving invaluable to Aidy.

She did, though, feel a little sorry for her lodger at the moment. The unflattering plain skirt, blouse and cardigan she was wearing when she walked away from the convent was all she possessed, so Aidy had loaned her some of her own clothes for now. Ruth was more rounded than she was so the clothes were tight, but regardless she looked presentable enough to attend interviews and was very grateful for the gesture. But it was her hair that Aidy really pitied her for. As a nun it was always kept clipped short but, worse than that, seemed to have been hacked off randomly, leaving short tufts sticking up all over. Aidy knew Ruth
received some strange looks when out in public, but she didn’t seem to mind. After all, her hair would grow back given time and then she could have it styled by a professional to suit her lovely face.

A while later, as she entered through the back gate, Aidy wasn’t sure what she felt. On her way back home she unexpectedly bumped into Arch’s eldest brother. He seemed genuinely pleased to see her, but beneath his friendly manner Aidy was sure she detected an awkwardness.

As he was telling her about his own family, and about looking forward to the festivities tomorrow, it suddenly struck her – his nervousness was to do with Arch. He must have met another woman and his brother was dreading having to pass this news on to Arch’s former wife.

Seconds later she was proved right. Looking everywhere but at her, he told her that Arch had found work in Bristol in a tanning factory and had started courting one of the female workers there. He had told his brother that he could see himself settling down. At least, it seemed, Arch had learned from his mistakes, Aidy thought. A part of her was glad that he was doing well, but she couldn’t help but feel sad too.

Aidy found her grandmother and the lodger seated side by side at the back-room table, Bertha’s remedies book open before them. They were both so engrossed neither of them heard her come in.