The Mersey Angels

by Sheila Riley

  ‘Shall we go inside?’ Ruby asked. She loved the outdoors but was not as fond of the forthcoming autumnal evenings, which grew a little chilly when the sun went down.

  ‘Let’s walk for a while.’ Ned said to Anna, catching her hand as he stood up with the aid of his walking stick. ‘And don’t worry, I won’t fall. Your Doctor Bea is very thorough in her ministrations, even if I did think differently at first.’

  ‘She is one of the best,’ Anna said, ‘we are so lucky to have her.’ If this war had taught many doubters one thing, it was that women were not just pretty things to look at and treat like precious china dolls, they were as clever and as forward-thinking as any man.

  Nevertheless, they also liked to be kissed and when Ned put his finger gently to Anna’s lips and then brushed his lips on hers, time stood still, and all thoughts of anything that was not her soulmate and one true love sailed right out of her head.

  This time, Ned’s kiss was not the frenzied passion of a starving man at a feast as it had been earlier. Instead, his lips met hers in a languorous, undulating connection she never wanted to end.

  ‘Evening, Sister,’ said a volunteer nurse who was escorting a hobbling patient on crutches through the grounds. They were accompanied by the dying echoes of a nightingale’s song and gave Anna and Ned a respectful nod as they passed, quickly followed by another nurse pushing a man in a wheelchair.

  ‘It’s like Lime Street station.’ Ned sounded a little impatient and led her to the summer house.

  Closing the door behind them, Ned stood, just looking at her, saying nothing for a moment. Then he made all her dreams come true in eleven words.

  ‘Anna, when this awful war is over, will you marry me?’ He held out a powder-blue leather box and placed it in her hand.

  Her heart hammered in her chest and she found it hard to breathe. This was the best moment of her life! She loved him above all else. She always had.

  ‘Oh yes, Ned,’ she breathed, ‘you know I will. But why do we have to wait until the war is over?’ Opening the box, her eyes widened through a haze of happy tears and Anna’s heart flipped when she saw the gold band with the Hebrew letters, MIZPAH engraved around its circumference. These rings had become a symbol of eternal love between serving men and their sweethearts since the beginning of the war and Anna felt her heart skip when Ned lifted her hand and gently kissed it.

  ‘Lord watch between me and thee when we are absent one from each other,’ Ned said paraphrasing as he slipped the ring onto the third finger of her left hand.

  ‘Oh I do hope so, my love.’ Anna looked up to him and her eyes were full of happy tears.

  When Ned took her in his arms, he vowed they would be together forever and Anna sighed, content she was the luckiest girl in the whole wide world.

  However, there was little time to enjoy their newfound happiness when the rumble of a truck sounded outside the door. Quickly inserting the ring back into the plush velvet interior of the box knowing she was not allowed to wear jewellery on duty, Anna slipped the box into the deep pocket of her pale lace gown.

  ‘Here we go again!’ she cried, giving Ned a quick kiss on the cheek. There was no time to change into her uniform. Who knew what the next convoy would bring?

  As she reached the wide gravelled driveway, the orderlies were already bringing the stretchers from the Red Cross ambulance and casualties were coming thick and fast now.

  ‘It is not often that casualties are met by nurses in evening gowns, with diamonds at their throat,’ Ellie said as they hurried to meet the ambulances. There was no time to discuss the matter now, as the wounded were quickly dispatched to appropriate wards. One soldier, hobbling unsteadily on crutches, was making his way unaided when Anna hurried to help him into the building.

  ‘I can think of better ways of bringing home Boche souvenirs, Tommy,’ Anna said brightly, quickly discovering he had come home with shrapnel damage to his leg.

  ‘So can I, Nurse, but I didn’t have a suitcase handy!’ He grinned through the inevitable screen of cigarette smoke, ‘I ’ave t’ say, though, it was worth gettin’ in the way of the guns, if I’d a known I was comin’ to such a classy establishment.’

  ‘Glad you approve,’ Anna laughed. She felt as if she was walking on air, and not only for the sake of the injured man arriving tonight did she remain cheerful.

  ‘This place must cost and arm and a leg if the nurses wear lace frocks!’

  Anna laughed. ‘Go with the orderly, we will soon have you comfy and on the mend.’ Nevertheless, the heroic men now arriving certainly brought the war closer and even though her heart was light, she couldn’t help worrying. When Ned was eventually pronounced fit for duty and returned to his ship, the guns and U-boats would not discriminate. They killed newly engaged fiancés too.

  Anna woke the following morning and could hardly believe that she and Ned were engaged to be married. Then, stretching luxuriously in her bed, she outstretched her hand before her, and giggled the gentle laugh of a girl in love.

  ‘Thank you for saving him, Lord.’ Anna hugged her left hand to her and offered a little prayer to the cerulean sky beyond the open window. Then, it being her day off, she dressed quickly, keen to show Aunt Ruby and Archie the gold ring that Ned had given her the night before. Excited at the prospect of spending the whole day with her beloved Ned, Anna did not want to waste a second of it.

  Her light, quick tread on the sweeping stairs came to a sudden halt when she saw Aunt Ruby waiting in the foyer. Looking up to where Anna now stood, she spoke with more than a hint of sadness. ‘He has gone, my dear, Ned has gone.’

  ‘No!’ Anna did not trust herself to say another word. She recalled their last kiss, the way he held her for so long, saying nothing… Just holding her. Then he let her go as she hurried away to the ambulance which had arrived at that moment. She thought… she expected to… A dry sob escaped her lips. How could he! ‘He is injured!’ Anna cried, too distraught to hide her tears.

  Aunt Ruby came to the bottom of the sweeping staircase and took Anna’s hand. ‘He is a serving officer. The Royal Navy will take care of him now.’

  ‘He did not give me any indication that…’ Anna could not finish her sentence. Last night he gave her a ring and asked her to marry him. He made her the happiest girl in the world. She went to bed, her head full of hopes and dreams of their future together. Why would he go off in the middle of the night without telling her?

  ‘Obviously, he is a man who cannot say goodbye.’ Ruby was unable to divulge the conversation she heard between Archie and Ned before he left. They did not know she was listening in the hallway of the lodge, when Ned told Archie he had been given special leave to see his family.

  ‘That can only mean one thing. You are on Special Operations?’ said Archie, then more quickly he said, ‘I’m sorry. I know you are not allowed to answer questions. Forget I asked.’

  ‘I only wish I could tell Anna, but I did what I came back to do, and I asked her to be my wife, but keep it under your hat. I’m sure she will want to tell you herself.’

  ‘I’m sure he had good reason to leave so suddenly,’ Ruby said as Anna looked at the woman who had given her and Ned the security which they both needed and who, she knew, would forgive Ned anything.

  ‘You would say that!’ Anna’s tone was terse. ‘He can do no wrong in your eyes and I thought so too, until he sloped off without so much as a goodbye. What about his wounded leg? Did it miraculously get better?’

  ‘I understand how bereft you must feel.’

  ‘Bereft?’ Anna’s eyes flashed anger as she hurled the words across the room. ‘Bereft? I don’t think so, Aunt Ruby. I am far too angry to feel bereft!’

  There was a sudden heavy silence and Ruby said nothing, her face devoid of any expression. And Anna realised she had been unbelievably nasty. Her hand flew to her lips in an attempt to stop another outburst as the enormity of her words dawned on her.

  ‘Aunt Ruby, I am so sorry, that was uncalled for.’ />
  ‘I understand your reaction, my dear,’ Ruby said, but her empathy did nothing to assuage Anna’s embarrassment, in fact, it only made her feel even more irritated, but with superhuman effort, she managed to keep calm. But his leaving proved one thing. She had to do what was right for her, and the war – the same as Ned did. And when she saw Doctor Bea later, she was going to tell her that, yes, she would be going to France if she was still needed.

  19

  Anna was changing Nipper’s dressing when he took a sharp breath as she began to clean the wound. Aunt Ruby was not at all pleased earlier that day when Anna revealed her intentions. So when she came on duty, Anna was not feeling on top of the world.

  ‘I’m sorry, did I hurt you?’ Anna said as Matron Bray, a no-nonsense, often unapproachable stickler for rules and regulations, entered the ward.

  ‘He can’t understand you, Sister, he is away with the fairies on morphia,’ Matron snapped, and Anna took in a slow stream of steadying air. Sometimes, she wondered if this particular matron actually had a heart, when the poor lad’s effort not to cry out in pain was thwarted as she began to remove the blood-dried bandages covering his hands. ‘They must be scrupulously cleaned,’ Matron said, ‘there is bound to be some fear, but the most important thing is not to let their distress distract you.’

  ‘Yes, Matron,’ Anna said, knowing she cried if she got a splinter in her hand, God alone knew what she would be like if she had two of her fingers shot away.

  ‘I am happier here than dodging German whizzbangs,’ Nipper smiled as Matron moved onto the next bed, and Anna smiled too. He had heard every word.

  Anna soaked his bandaged hand in a white enamel bowl of warm saline water, which did a fine job of loosening the dried blood and helped the bandage come off easier. Gently, applying the new dressing, Anna made him much more comfortable, before moving onto the next bed, where a mud-soaked, blood-soaked soldier was sitting in a wheelchair awaiting orders to move, when Doctor Bea came onto the ward.

  ‘The most important quality for a nurse is compassion, and I am pleased to say, Sister Cassidy, you certainly have that.’ She looked round the ward to the beds, each one tidy and filled. ‘When you have done that, you might want to give out the tobacco allowance. There are some here who look like they could do with something to cheer them up. Carry on.’

  When Matron Meredith came to take over from Matron Bray, everybody breathed a sigh of relief.

  Doctor Bea went over to have a word.

  ‘You look tired, Matron,’ she said in that low Scottish burr that could soothe or scare patients and medics alike depending on the situation.

  ‘I am a little tired,’ Anna heard Matron Meredith say and she knew the older woman had been on duty longer than anybody. ‘We have had a few busy nights this week.’

  ‘I know that, Matron, but perhaps your spirits will be lifted when I tell you that Professor Burns is arriving to join us very soon.’

  ‘Really? And why is Professor Burns visiting?’ Matron Meredith looked puzzled. Professor Burns, consultant from the First Western Hospital, was well known to the nursing staff and much-feared due to his brusque manner, deafening voice and often unreasonable expectations.

  ‘He’s not visiting, Matron, he is coming to take over from me,’ Doctor Bea told Matron of her intentions to go to France to tend wounded soldiers.

  And before Matron could say any more, the girl from the local post office came onto the ward pushing a trolley.

  ‘Here we go, Boyos. Here’s the post.’

  Everybody brightened, and one of the more mobile soldiers went over to the trolley and took a bundle of envelopes to hand out to the other men, who cheered and eagerly opened their post, but Anna noticed one young soldier, who had not received anything.

  ‘Maybe if you let your family know where you are, they would write to you,’ said one of the old soldiers, and Anna realised that she had never seen the soldier read or write.

  ‘I’m no good with words,’ said Sproglet.

  ‘I imagine it will take time to settle down after what you have been through.’ Anna saw him nod, grateful for the excuse. ‘Would you like me to write to anybody? Let your family know how you are, perhaps?’ She saw his eyes light up and he looked relieved.

  ‘That would be good of you, Nurse. I’d be so grateful.’

  ‘Of course, as soon as I’ve finished my duties, I will get a pen and paper.’

  Later on, she drew up a chair and positioned herself. ‘Right now, you tell me what to write and we can get this posted tonight.’

  ‘Right… erm… Dear Mam… I hope you are all well. I am doing champion and you wouldn’t believe how grand this hospital is. You might have heard of it. Ashland Hall it’s called. It is like a palace. Better than a palace and you can come and visit if you find the time…’

  ‘I have been watching you, Nurse Cassidy,’ said Doctor Bea when Anna left the ward to go and post the letter, ‘you have such a calming effect on the men. You notice things that others are too busy to notice.’

  ‘Just doing my job, Doctor,’ said Anna, enjoying the frisson of pride Doctor Bea’s observation gave her. ‘Some of the men don’t like to admit they can’t read or write.’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Doctor Bea, ‘but you picked up on the fact and you did something about it, making a soldier’s day that little bit brighter. Imagine how many soldiers are on the battlefield and have no way of getting word to their families.’ She paused for a moment. ‘Men can be strange creatures. Enormously proud, obviously. And sometimes, very silly. Have you given any more thought of serving overseas?’

  ‘I have, Doctor,’ Anna answered, ‘I am still pondering.’

  Doctor Bea nodded but said nothing as she made her way towards the stairs and Anna, heading to the sluice room, wondered why she had hesitated. She had been so certain she was going to go earlier.

  Ellie came in with another batch of bedpans. ‘Skiving, I see,’ she laughed. ‘I don’t blame you; you should see what I just had to clear up.’ She wrinkled her petite nose and shuddered dramatically, making Anna smile.

  ‘I am not skiving,’ Anna laughed. Drying her hands on a clean towel, she too wrinkled her nose, ‘I would rather not know what you cleared up, thank you.’ Ellie enjoyed keeping up the spirits of the injured men with her risqué banter, out of matron’s earshot, of course. However, the men certainly cheered up when she was on duty. ‘My stomach thinks my throat has been cut, I am so hungry,’ Anna said, lifting a clean stack of bedpans. The hours were long, and they saw sights a woman should never see, but Anna loved her work.

  ‘What’s for luncheon today?’ Ellie asked and Anna shook her head.

  ‘Too late,’ Anna said, watching the military porters carrying another young soldier in on a stretcher and saw Ellie’s shoulders slump. ‘You go. I’ll finish here.’ Anna smiled, knowing Ellie, although tall and very slim, loved her food as much as she loved dancing. ‘And make sure they save me some before I drop down dead with starvation.’

  ‘Are you sure you don’t mind?’ Ellie was already halfway out of the room, heading quickly towards the door and, by the look of it, had no intention of coming back to help.

  Anna shook her head and smiled. Ellie was incorrigible.

  Ellie was in the staff section of the large dining room, which had once been the servants’ hall, where energetic, opinionated and intelligent women now cooked and served food to staff and patients of every class.

  Anna took the seat opposite Ellie.

  ‘You will never guess what one of the soldiers called us nurses, even the strictest sisters, Matron and Doctor Bea?’

  ‘What did he call us?’ Ellie asked, pushing away her empty plate, her hunger satiated.

  ‘He said we were his Mersey Angels,’ Anna replied, eager to tuck into the boiled egg, lettuce, tomato and radishes collected fresh from the garden that morning. Ashland Hall was self-sufficient in garden produce, which was tended by servicemen who were on the mend. Expert diggers given the n
umber of trenches they had dug in Flanders fields, now they enjoyed digging for pleasure and not for safety and shelter.

  When they finished their luncheon, Ellie and Anna returned to their work and Anna sat at the table in the centre of the long ward, writing her notes. When she finished the latest report, she would arrange afternoon tea for the boys. Looking up, she noticed Nipper had woken and was struggling to sit up.

  Knowing she would not get any more reports done as one by one they woke from their afternoon nap and were now eagerly awaiting a cup of tea, she put away her notes.

  Nipper had been relieved of his facial bandages as Doctor Bea felt his eyes needed to adjust to the light, although she had kept the blinds of his window closed so that the September sunshine did not make his eyes sore. Anna knew it was customary for these young men to adjust and get their bearings after spending so long in the trenches.

  ‘Are you feeling any better after your snooze, Nipper?’ Anna asked, pouring him a little water from the jug and allowing him a few sips.

  He nodded. His eyes haunted by who-knows-what awful sights he had seen.

  ‘Here, let me make you a little more comfortable,’ Anna said, lifting his pillow and giving it a jolly good thumping, and she noticed him smile for the second time that day.

  ‘I see you’ve still got a good right hook,’ he said in a husky whisper and Anna stopped what she was doing, when he said, ‘you gave my brother Jerky a right go-along, one day… He said he’d never had a whack like that off a girl before.’

  ‘I remember,’ Anna said. How could she ever forget? He was no good to anybody, especially Lottie.

  ‘He’s a bad lot,’ Nipper croaked. His throat still badly scarred three weeks after his arrival.

  ‘You must get some rest,’ Anna said, unwilling to get into conversation about her nemesis. The embodiment of every nightmare she had ever known. Taking a glass thermometer, she popped it into his mouth even though she could see his temperature was high. ‘I have a surprise for you Nipper,’ Anna knew Izzy was so proud of this son.