by Rosie Clarke
Rose had told him that Mr Ashley had demanded Peggy either sack her or Nellie or cut the hours for both of them – and now he was warning Tom off. Was he trying to cut Peggy off from her friends? Surely not! Why would he do that? It didn’t make sense to Tom. Everyone was so friendly in the lanes; people just went in and out of each other’s houses. He thought about how good Peggy had been to him and his father when his mother was first taken ill and his brother Sam had died. Tom wasn’t sure what Peggy’s husband was up to, but nothing would stop him going round to make sure Peggy was all right, at least until he joined up.
Tom shook his head. Perhaps he was imagining things, but he was pretty certain he was being discouraged from visiting too often – but it had had the opposite effect, because he would make sure to call in as often as he could just to be sure she was all right. And when Maureen got back he might tell her of his suspicions – but that depended on how she was getting on at the hospital. If Gordon was very ill, she couldn’t be worried by Tom’s doubts even though he knew she was fond of Peggy.
It was a pity that Anne had moved away from across the road, and that Rose was no longer living over the pub. Peggy was hoping her daughter would come back to the lanes and Tom thought it would be a good thing if she came sooner rather than later. If Pip had been around, he might have told him that he was uneasy, but he’d gone back to where he was stationed with his girlfriend rather than staying on as he’d first intended. Tom knew he’d fallen out with his father over something, though he had no idea what – but that made him even more wary. He would certainly keep an eye on Laurie Ashley while he could – and when he left, he’d tell one of the other residents he could trust.
*
Maureen’s stomach was churning as she asked which ward her husband was on and was told it was Critical 2. That meant he was very ill but not under intensive nursing. She walked up the stairs, wondering whether she would see any of the nurses she’d known when she was working on the wards, but as yet she hadn’t seen a friendly face. The nurses all looked about sixteen to Maureen and she realised that many of the girls she’d known would have been sent overseas or moved to other hospitals and new recruits were being trained to take the place of those who had left.
‘Maureen… I’ve been expecting you…’ the well-remembered voice of her tutor, Sister Matthews, reached her, stopping her in her tracks. At least there was someone here she knew! ‘I should like to have a word before you see Sergeant Hart…’
‘Sister…’ Maureen followed her along the hall into her office and closed the door. ‘It’s so nice to see you; all the nurses seem so young. Why do you need to talk to me?’
‘Please sit down, Maureen, I can see you’re expecting again and I think this has been a terrible strain for you.’
‘I haven’t been told what is wrong with Gordon, except that he was badly wounded…’
‘Yes, it is his injuries that I wanted to talk to you about,’ Sister Matthews said. ‘I have him on my ward – and he has suffered superficial burns to his face, hands and legs, which are still painful, though healing well. He also has a broken shoulder, which will need exercises when he is able to start them – and I’m very sorry, but your husband has a badly infected left leg from the knee down. The wound is open and suppurating and we’re not sure if it will heal. Doctor is trying some new treatment, but it is painful and Sergeant Hart is suffering. He is going to need a lot of care and love when we send him home. It will take months to get him walking again and, as you know, a lot of the men suffer great pain with such serious wounds. Being a nurse you will be able to keep an eye on his leg and treat it properly. So many men let their wounds get raw and infected before they come back to us for help and by then it’s too late. However, providing we can save the leg, there is nothing to stop Gordon making a full recovery – and, of course, the war is over for him.’
Maureen felt as if she were going to faint. She’d seen enough of these types of cases to know how much pain the men suffered afterwards, also the humiliation, anger and despair most of them felt at becoming an invalid. It was as if they felt less of a man because of it, losing their confidence and becoming angry and sullen. ‘I’m glad you told me yourself, Sister. I need a few moments to come to terms with it and I wouldn’t want Gordon to see my shock…’
‘Exactly. I know you, Maureen, and I know that you won’t think any the less of Gordon because of what he has suffered, but he may well think less of himself. He will need all the help you and his family can give him. It is going to give him pain for some time. We must think ourselves lucky that the surgeon didn’t cut his leg off over there. It happens in a lot of cases, because gangrene sets in, but Sergeant Hart has been lucky, even though it may not seem so just now. He will learn to manage very well for himself and not be stuck in a chair for the rest of his life – but that will demand great patience from you. You have to stand up for him and to him, Maureen.’
‘Yes, I understand, Sister,’ Maureen said and lifted her chin. ‘He has to fight through the pain or he will be stuck at home in the chair – but Gordon is strong and determined and I’m sure he can do it.’
‘That’s the spirit,’ Sister Matthew said and smiled at her. ‘I’ve missed you, Maureen. You were always one of my best prospects. I do hope you will go back to nursing once your family is older and Gordon is on his feet again.’
‘It is my intention, Sister – and I’ve been told that the no-married-nurses rule is being relaxed in several hospitals. So I have every hope of finishing my training in a few years’ time, when the children are older, and becoming a staff nurse.’
‘Good, good; the service can always do with nurses like you,’ Sister said. ‘Off you go now. You know what to expect.’
‘Yes, thanks to you,’ Maureen said and left her office. What she’d been told had shocked and hurt her, because it meant the man she loved was suffering terribly and his ordeal wouldn’t be over for months, perhaps even years. It took time, courage and patience to get patients with such injuries able to live a normal life, but Maureen was determined that she would get Gordon through it.
Outside the ward, she paused and put a hand to her stomach, thinking of her unborn child. Gordon’s son needed a father to watch over him and play football with him in the garden and she needed her husband by her side. It was up to her to give Gordon the strength to carry on.
She was smiling as she walked into the ward and looked for him. He was in the second bed and lying back against the pillows with his eyes closed, his face white and strained. His injured leg was bare and supported by a pulley, the wound open and raw, a great hole in the calf, which meant most of the muscle of that leg had gone and would need building up once it had healed. Breathing deeply to steady herself, Maureen walked up to him, bent down and kissed him softly on the lips.
‘You shouldn’t do that, nurse, my wife wouldn’t like it,’ Gordon said and smiled as he opened his eyes. ‘Hello, love. You look lovely. How is everybody?’ He hesitated, then, ‘Well, I came back like I promised – but I’m a bit the worse for wear, I’m afraid.’
‘We’ll get you better, my darling,’ she said. Her mind was teeming with questions, but they could wait until he was home and on the mend. ‘The nurses and doctors will give you a good start, but when you come home to Shirley, Gran and me, you’ll be so well looked after you won’t know yourself. Shirley takes good care of Robin and she’ll be over the moon to have her dad home.’
‘Going to smother me with love, are you?’ he asked and there was a slightly defensive note in his voice.
‘Oh no, not at all,’ Maureen said and made herself tease him, though inside she wanted to weep. ‘We have proper hospital rules in our house. Shirley keeps us all on our toes. She asked me to show her how to make hospital corners and woe betide me if I just pull up the bed in the morning. Gran is sure your daughter will be a nurse one day or perhaps a doctor. She’s so bright and clever at school these days.’
‘Yes, she is intelligent and happy, t
hanks to you and your gran,’ Gordon said and visibly relaxed. ‘They tell me it will take months before I can walk properly again, but they say I shall do it….’
‘It helps if you take proper care of yourself and the wasted leg,’ Maureen said, ignoring the way he flinched as she spoke of it unemotionally. ‘Once you leave hospital, it will be much better than it is now, but it will still need lots of attention. We have to bathe it and help the skin heal and keep it supple with creams, and then it will mean exercise to build the muscle again.’
‘I’m lucky to have a nurse in the family…’
Maureen caught the hint of bitterness in his tone. ‘I’m your wife, Gordon, and I love you. That is all I care about – but I know you and I know you’ll want to get out of the wheelchair as soon as you can. If you let me help you in the way they taught me here, it might just be that bit sooner – but don’t imagine I’m going to fuss over you all the time. It’s your life and you will find the motivation yourself.’
‘I already have tons of it,’ he said and grimaced. ‘It’s just so bloody painful. They give me stuff to kill the pain but it wears off and then it’s the very devil.’
‘Yes, I know. All my patients said the same when I was working here; the medication was never quite enough.’ Maureen blinked to stop the tears of sympathy. She mustn’t let him think she felt pity when what she felt was love and a desire to hold him in her arms and kiss him until the paid eased. ‘It will get better gradually as it heals, Gordon. I promise you it will become less painful… but it will take time.’
She looked at the red marks on his face and hands, but they were already healing, the skin taut in some places and spotted with brown marks.
‘At least the burns aren’t awful,’ she said. ‘I’ve seen much worse…’
She thought she saw his lips twitch even though his lashes were wet. ‘You’re not going to let me feel sorry for myself, are you?’
‘No point in that, is there?’ she said. ‘Let’s get this clear now, Gordon. I’m so glad you’ve come back to me, darling. You’re alive and that might not have been the case. I know we have a lot of battles to fight – I know better than you how hard it will be – but we can do it together.’
A reluctant smile spread across his mouth. ‘Yes, Sister Matthews told me you would keep me up to the mark. I shall try not to be too difficult a patient, Maureen.’
‘You’re not my patient; you’re the man I love. Very much. The doctor and nurses will visit even when you come home – but if I can help just a little, you will let me, please?’
‘Yes, of course I shall,’ he said. ‘The sooner I’m on my feet again and working, the better…’
Maureen smiled and touched his uninjured hand. Gordon was determined now, but she knew that there would be many hours of terrible doubt and pain ahead, when he would wonder if it was all worthwhile, but all she could do was keep showing him love and helping him as much as he would let her.
Chapter 14
‘This letter came for you,’ Peggy said as she handed Rose the brown envelope. ‘It looks as if it came through the forces network?’
‘Yes, it is from Jimmy,’ Rose said, a tinge of rose in her cheeks as she took it and slipped it into her pocket. ‘I’ll read it later and I’ll have to send him my new address…’
‘I’ll always keep any letters for you. Remember, I’m your friend, Rose. We’ll have a cup of tea and you can have a quick look at Jimmy’s letter now.’ Peggy hesitated, and then lowered her voice. ‘I’m thinking of making a change and if I do manage it, I’d like you to work for me full-time again, caring for the twins, cooking and perhaps living in. I haven’t looked into it fully yet, but I’ll let you know as soon as I can.’
‘That’s very mysterious?’ Rose’s eyes sparkled and she glanced over her shoulder. ‘But I do like the idea, Peggy – and the answer is yes…’ She moved away to put the kettle on as Laurie walked in, deliberately turning her back on him.
‘Gossiping again?’ Laurie said in a teasing tone. ‘I bought you some chocolates, Peggy. You may have forgotten it was our wedding anniversary last week, but I hadn’t…’
‘Oh… No, I hadn’t forgotten,’ Peggy said, taken back because he hadn’t remembered their anniversary for years. ‘That is very nice of you, Laurie, thank you.’ It was so long since he’d bought her a present of any kind. For years all he’d given her on birthdays and at Christmas was money to get something for herself, and that wasn’t quite the same. ‘I shall enjoy them. We’ll all have some when we have our morning break – chocolates are such a treat…’
Laurie gave her an odd look but didn’t say anything, merely asked if there was any food ready to take into the bar.
‘Yes, I’ve made some goat’s cheese and chives tarts, also mince and potato pies – and I’ve prepared a winter salad of white cabbage, carrots, onions and leeks in vinaigrette to go with them.’
‘Sounds a bit odd to me,’ Laurie said. ‘I shouldn’t think anyone would buy it, but I’ll take it through if you like; a good steak and kidney pie was always a favourite as I remember…’
‘Actually, the salad has been a bestseller recently,’ Peggy said defensively. ‘We can’t provide all the meat and puddings they used to love.’
‘No, I suppose not,’ he said. ‘In the country there’s quite a bit of game and farm butter and stuff, so I suppose I haven’t noticed the shortages as much as you have here…’
‘Lucky for you, milord,’ Rose muttered and Laurie looked at her sharply, not quite catching the words.
Peggy smothered a laugh, because she’d heard and she liked Rose’s sharp humour, but she also knew that Laurie would not appreciate her poking fun at him.
‘I’d better open up,’ he said. ‘I expect Nellie has finished cleaning by now…’
‘Oh dear,’ Peggy said after he’d gone. ‘I think he will find our meals not quite up to his standard. He’s forgotten what it was like to live on pie and mash, and bread and butter pudding, as we often did in the old days… Actually, I might make a bread and butter pudding tomorrow…’
‘That salad is really tasty,’ Rose said. ‘I love it and the goat’s cheese tarts, and so do a lot of your regulars.’
‘I’d like to run a café or teashop,’ Peggy said, deciding suddenly to confide in her now that Laurie was out of hearing. ‘Perhaps doing light lunches and afternoon sandwiches and cakes. I’m not sure about the future, Rose, but it’s what I’d like one day…’
‘I’d work for you tomorrow,’ Rose said, ‘but I’m not sure that I like working for Mr Ashley. I have to be truthful, Peggy…’
‘You’re not going to leave me in the lurch?’ Peggy looked at her in alarm.
‘No, of course not! I would give you plenty of notice if I did leave – but I want to stay in Mulberry Lane, and I’ll work for you as long as I can.’
Peggy understood why Rose was thinking about finding work elsewhere. She didn’t hit it off with Laurie and he hadn’t been exactly friendly towards her. Laurie had come back talking about working together in harmony, but he was always criticising these days, sniping at her, as if he wanted to undermine her confidence.
Leaving the pub would be a big step to take. It was not the easiest of times to set up her own business, and living close to the pub would make it more difficult, because Laurie would not take her desertion lying down. Yet she wasn’t prepared to let him treat her like a doormat…
Putting the abandoned bakery into good order would take a lot of what Able had left her and that meant she would have to make a success of her business almost straight away. If she could buy all the sugar, butter and other ingredients she needed to make delicious cakes and puddings, it wouldn’t be a problem, but at the moment she was limited in what she could offer her customers.
The clothing restrictions had recently been lifted, because everyone had hated the austerity suits. Now men would be able to have turn-ups again and choose the style they liked, and women too would have more choice. The clothes
were still rationed, of course, but if you saved your coupons you could have more choice. Once the food restrictions lifted a little, she would think seriously about making the move towards a business of her own.
According to the news they heard, it seemed that the Allies were beginning to make some advances against the enemy. The Americans had launched a big assault in the Pacific and the Russians had trapped ten enemy divisions. Perhaps it wouldn’t be too long before life began to get back to normal and then she would have to make a decision.
Peggy felt guilty that she might be using the pub to keep her going until she could branch out on her own, but on the other hand, her industry had kept the pub ticking over for years, and especially while Laurie was away.
The chocolates had been a surprise and if it was Laurie trying to mend fences, then Peggy ought to give him a chance – but gifts didn’t make up for all the harsh words. She hadn’t liked having to choose between Nellie and Rose, though, as it turned out, Nellie had asked if she could work fewer hours now that she had her daughter at home with her.
‘I’d never let yer down if yer needed me, Peggy,’ she’d told her, ‘but if I get the cleanin’ done first thing, yer don’t really need me after that, do yer, love? You’ve got Mr Ashley back and Rose is good with the twins…’
Peggy could hardly insist that she did need her, even though she missed having Nellie around all the time. It was only natural that Nellie wanted to be with her daughter and it was true that Laurie could manage the bar most of the time. Yet Peggy liked serving her customers, talking to them and hearing all their news.
