The Nightingale Nurses (23 page)

She looked back around the edge of the door. Charlie’s blue eyes were staring straight at her, his mouth curved in a sleepy smile.

‘I didn’t want to disturb you,’ she whispered.

‘I would have been upset if you’d gone without saying hello.’ He rolled over on to his back and stretched. ‘What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at the ball?’

‘I couldn’t face it. How are you feeling?’

‘Blooming awful, since you ask. I ache all over, and my head’s pounding. And I can’t get warm, no matter how many blankets I sling on.’

‘You’ll feel better soon.’ Helen smiled. ‘The rash will probably get worse in the next day or two, but it should start to subside by the end of the week – what?’ She stopped talking on seeing his amused expression. ‘What’s so funny?’

‘You. You’re like a walking textbook, aren’t you?’

She smiled reluctantly. ‘That’s what comes of too much studying, I suppose.’

They gazed at each other longingly. The small bedroom seemed a mile wide when they were unable to touch. Helen didn’t think she would ever take holding his hand for granted again.

‘You should have gone to the ball, you know,’ Charlie said. ‘It’s not right for you to fall out with your mum.’

‘I don’t want to talk about her,’ Helen said flatly.

‘I know, but promise me you’ll make it up with her?’ He looked at Helen appealingly, his head tilted to one side. ‘Go on,’ he urged. ‘For me?’

‘I’ll think about it,’ she promised. ‘Now I’d best get back downstairs. Is there anything you need before I go?’

‘I wouldn’t mind a kiss, but I can’t have that.’

Helen laughed and blew him one. ‘You’ll just have to make do with that, I’m afraid. I’ll kiss you properly next time I see you.’

He winked at her. ‘I’ll hold you to that.’

‘YOU LOOK GORGEOUS,’
Joe said, as they climbed the broad marble staircase of Bethnal Green Town Hall, where the Founder’s Day Ball was being held.

‘I don’t know about that.’ Dora blushed at the compliment. ‘I don’t remember ever wearing anything this fancy, though. I borrowed it off Benedict. It’s proper silk chiffon, so heaven knows how much it cost.’

She had been reluctant to wear the emerald green gown at first. ‘What if I tear a hole in it, or spill something down the front?’ she had wailed.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Millie had insisted. ‘And anyway, what else are you going to wear? The only long dress you have is your nightgown, and you can’t go to the ball in that!’

‘It’s not the dress that’s fancy. It’s you.’ Joe’s gaze was so intense it made Dora’s skin prickle. ‘I must be the luckiest bloke in the room.’

They’d reached the top of the stairs. Before she knew what was happening, he pulled her to him and kissed her.

‘Stop it!’ Dora pushed him away. ‘Everyone’s looking at us!’

The wide sweeping landing was crowded with people waiting to go into the ballroom. Nurses, ward sisters, doctors and consultants, all turned to look at them.

‘So? Let them look. I want everyone to know you belong to me.’

‘I don’t belong to anyone,’ Dora replied, tight-lipped.

Joe looked down at her hands braced against his chest. ‘You think you can keep me at arm’s length for ever?’ He grinned at her. ‘I told you, I’m going to get you in the end, Dora Doyle. You see if I don’t!’

There was a reckless glint in Joe’s eyes that made her feel uneasy. She frowned. ‘Have you been drinking?’

‘Tommy and I might have stopped for a couple of pints on the way, just to get us in the mood.’ He laughed. ‘Don’t look so disapproving! We’re meant to be having fun, ain’t we?’ Joe slipped one arm around her waist, pulling her to him. ‘You could do with a drink yourself, loosen you up a bit.’

‘We’ve been given orders to stick to the fruit punch.’

His brows rose. ‘Since when did you nurses ever do as you’re told?’

Dora glanced towards the double doors leading to the ballroom. Miss Fox the Matron was standing just inside them, tall and elegant in a gown of midnight blue crepe. She was smiling, but her gaze was everywhere, missing nothing. Dora wondered how many of the nurses would be lining up outside her office the following morning, feeling very sorry for themselves.

Inside, the ballroom resembled a magical wonderland. The enormous chandelier showered sparkling diamonds of light over the marble and mirrored walls. Dora couldn’t help gawping around at it all. She had never seen anything so grand in all her life. The room was filled with people, alive with the sound of laughter, voices, and the muted chink of glasses. Waiters circulated with silver trays of drinks, and at the far end of the room an orchestra played. Some couples had already taken to the floor, twirling and whirling about. A row of disconsolate unaccompanied nurses in their best dresses sat around the edge of the room, clutching glasses of fruit punch and pretending they didn’t want to dance anyway.

She caught sight of Dr Adler with Esther. She looked so much younger and more beautiful than Dora ever remembered seeing her, dressed in deep plum velvet, her dark hair falling in soft curls around her radiant face.

‘Let’s dance,’ Joe said, taking Dora’s hand.

‘But we’ve only just got here!’

‘I don’t care. I can’t wait to have you in my arms.’

He pulled her towards the floor but she hung back. ‘I want to say hello to my friends first.’

Joe pulled a face. ‘You see them every day.’

‘Not all of them. I haven’t seen Willard at all since I moved to Female Medical last week.’ She waved at Penny, who was sitting with the other wallflowers, sulkily biting into a sausage roll. She dropped it at once and came over, looking very striking in a dazzling peacock blue dress.

‘You look lovely,’ Dora said.

‘Thanks, but I don’t think Miss Hanley approves. She’s already told me I look indecent.’

‘Why?’ Dora looked Penny up and down. The dress clung to her slender curves, but the neckline was modest enough, cutting across the hollows of her collarbone. ‘You look covered up enough to me.’

‘You haven’t seen the back.’ Nurse Willard spun around and Dora gasped. The dress plunged daringly to the base of her spine, revealing a bare expanse of skin.

‘I see what she means.’

‘I think she’s just being an old fuddy-duddy.’ Penny Willard glared across the room at the Assistant Matron. ‘How dare she lecture me? Have you seen that awful thing she’s wearing?’

Miss Hanley couldn’t have been more covered up if she’d tried. Every inch of her square, mannish frame was covered in burgundy velvet. A trim of gold brocade around her neck only emphasised the uncompromising squareness of her jaw.

‘It looks like the old curtains from the Rialto,’ Joe observed. Penny screamed with laughter.

‘Yes, that’s exactly what it looks like! Oh, Joe, you are funny.’ She batted her eyelashes at him. ‘Isn’t he a hoot, Doyle?’

Dora tried to smile, but she couldn’t help feeling sorry for Miss Hanley. The poor thing looked like a fish out of water, gazing about her in bewilderment at the other women in their glamorous dresses. Dora knew exactly how she felt.

Joe drifted off to fetch them some drinks, leaving Dora to chat to Penny.

‘It’s strange to see everyone dressed up like this,’ she remarked. ‘I hardly recognise them.’

Penny nodded in agreement. ‘I know, isn’t it odd? You get so used to seeing them in uniform, it gives you quite a fright when you see them in anything else. Some of the men look quite dashing, don’t they? Who would have thought our Dr Adler would scrub up so well?’ She nodded to him as he whirled past with Esther in his arms.

‘That’s what love does for you.’ Dora smiled.

‘And have you seen Mr Latimer’s wife?’ Penny nodded over to where the consultant was standing with a dumpy, cross-faced little woman, talking to Mrs Tremayne. ‘She doesn’t look like much of a match for him, does she? But I’ve heard she’s rich, which I suppose explains a lot . . .’

But Dora wasn’t listening. She was staring across the room at another couple, standing on the far side talking to a group of porters.

‘Now there’s a couple who go together, don’t you think?’ Penny followed her gaze. ‘But I suppose someone like Nick Riley was always going to have a pretty wife, wasn’t he?’ She sighed. ‘Not that I could ever see myself marrying a hospital porter,’ she said. ‘But he does look like he would be rather fun for a fling . . .’

Dora tried to tear her gaze away, but she couldn’t. The sight of Nick in a suit brought back all kinds of painful memories of his wedding. And there was Ruby, bold as brass in brilliant scarlet, her blonde curls piled on top of her head, clinging to his arm as she threw back her head and laughed.

‘I thought they weren’t coming,’ Dora said.

‘Looks like they changed their mind.’ Penny shrugged. ‘Oh, here comes Joe with the drinks.’ She teased a tendril of hair around her finger. ‘He’s such a gentleman, isn’t he? Gosh, Doyle, you don’t know how lucky you are.’

Joe handed Penny her drink and then turned to Dora. ‘Can we have that dance now?’ he asked, an edge to his voice.

She let him lead her on to the floor as the band started playing ‘The Way You Look Tonight’. Joe pulled her into his arms, crooning the words of the song softly into her hair, as he pressed the length of his body against hers.

Dora closed her eyes and tried to lose herself in the music, but when she opened them again she found herself staring straight at Nick Riley.

He was watching her across the crowded dance floor, his face expressionless. When he caught Dora looking back at him, he turned abruptly towards Ruby.

The song ended and Dora went to walk away, but Joe pulled her back. ‘Another dance, please?’ he begged. ‘I’ve been waiting all night for this.’

‘Do you mind if I sit this one out?’ she said. ‘My feet are killing me.’

A shadow crossed his face as he released her. ‘If that’s what you want.’

He followed her off the dance floor. ‘Where are you going?’ he asked as she headed for the door.

‘Only to the Ladies’ to powder my nose. Is that all right?’ She looked back at him challengingly.

For a moment he actually looked as if he might argue. ‘Don’t be too long,’ he muttered.

When she was sure he wasn’t watching her, Dora walked straight past the door to the Ladies’ cloakroom, down the stairs and out into the warm evening air. The sun was starting to sink behind the rooftops, streaking the coppery sky with pink and violet. Even the ugly black smoke belching from the factory chimneys couldn’t take away from the beauty of the night.

Dora sank down on the Town Hall steps, relieved to be alone. Joe seemed to close in on her so tightly, she barely had a chance to breathe. Everywhere she looked, he was there, pressing against her, telling her he loved her, his intense gaze on her, urging her to love him back.

But she couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried, she knew she would never have those kind of feelings for him. It was time to make that clear, she decided, before he wasted any more of his time on her.

A long dark shadow fell across her, and she realised she was no longer alone. Thinking Joe must have come looking for her again, she said, ‘Look, please leave me alone. I just need to be on my own for a minute.’

The shadow didn’t move. Dora swung round and saw Nick looking down at her.

‘I’m sorry,’ he mumbled. ‘I didn’t know you were out here. I’ll go somewhere else . . .’

He started up the steps, but Dora called him back.

‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘I thought you were someone else. You can stay, if you want?’

He hesitated, then sat down a few feet away from her.

They stared out over the street together, both lost in their own thoughts. Guests wandered up and down the steps around them, but neither of them seemed to notice.

‘Where’s Ruby?’ Dora broke the silence finally.

‘Having a dance with Harry Fishman. I’m not really one for dancing.’

‘Me neither.’

She felt his sidelong glance. ‘You were dancing earlier?’

‘Only because Joe wanted to.’

The silence stretched between them. ‘Thanks for going to see Ruby.’ Nick’s voice was gruff. ‘It really perked her up.’

Dora felt a pang of guilt, remembering her secret. ‘She looks a lot brighter.’

‘She is. It was her idea to come tonight. She thought it would do us both good to get out.’

Dora risked a glance at him. He was gazing up at the sky, and his profile looked as if it had been carved from stone. ‘And is it doing you good?’ she asked.

Nick turned his head slowly to look at her. Dora was shocked to see the raw wretchedness in his eyes.

‘I can’t stand it,’ he said.

Anger rose up inside Dora. If she could have got hold of Ruby at that moment, she would have wrung her neck.

‘I suppose it might be a bit too much, what with all the people and the music and everything . . .’

‘I’m not talking about that,’ he dismissed. ‘What I can’t stand is seeing you with
him
.’

This was so completely unexpected, it took her breath away. Dora stared at him, unable to speak. But before she could find her voice, Nick said, ‘I’m sorry, I had no right to say that. It’s not fair on you or Ruby.’ His words came out in a rush, tumbling over each other. ‘Forget I said it, I’m not thinking straight.’ He stumbled to his feet. ‘I should be getting back, Ruby will be wondering where I am . . .’

‘Nick, wait!’

He stopped, his back still turned to her. Dora could see the muscles in his broad shoulders tensing under his suit jacket.

‘What?’ he said.

Tell him
, a voice inside her head urged. Tell him the truth about Ruby and you can change everything.

‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘You should get back to Ruby.’

She watched him as he climbed the steps without looking back.

Penny Willard had had too much to drink. So much for sticking to the fruit punch, Joe thought as he disentangled himself yet again from her grasping fingers.

‘Dora’s been gone a while,’ he said, his eyes fixed on the doors. ‘I hope she’s all right?’

‘Oh, she’ll be fine,’ Penny dismissed. She smiled at him, her smudged lipstick blurring the edges of her wide mouth. ‘She must be very sure of herself, to leave a handsome young man like you alone among all these single women?’ she teased.