Promise the Doctor

by Marjorie Norrell

  ‘I don’t suppose so.’ Jenny listened intently. ‘I heard the Vanmouth brigade come along a few minutes ago. That’s another one ... and another ... I should leave it to the firemen, Miss Joy. It’s their job, and they’re trained to know what they’re doing.’

  There didn’t appear to be anything much anyone could do. From their vantage point at the attic windows the twins, excited beyond belief, shouted down reports as to what was going on.

  ‘They’re playing some special stuff from their hosepipes on to the far corner,’ Rex informed them. ‘Looks like that foam stuff they use sometimes, like a froth off the top of the washing machine. I expect that’s because there’s petrol or something there.’

  ‘Where’s Michael?’ Lana’s urgent fingers were pulling at the fringe of her rag, her eyes were wild with fright, and she looked round in a state of such distress that Joy was instantly by her side.

  ‘He’s around somewhere, darling,’ she said quietly. ‘Maybe he’s gone to meet Quentin and his father ... and our mother. She was at the Mount. Mr. Bainbridge had worked himself into another heart attack.’

  ‘That was what Michael was afraid of,’ Lana said feverishly. ‘He’s been warned not to get excited, and he seems to spend most of his waking life in just that state.’

  ‘There’s Quentin, with Mother and Mr. Bainbridge,’ she said quickly. ‘I must go and find out if there’s anything I can do.’

  ‘Where’s Michael?’ Sam demanded as soon as Joy drew level with them. ‘I must see him. I said some dreadful things to him a little while ago.’

  ‘Take it easy, Mr. Bainbridge.’ Quentin had gone inside and brought out another chair which he placed on the garden almost beside Lana’s own. ‘Sit down and keep calm, please! There isn’t a thing you can do to help. Everything’s being handled by the brigades, and they seem to be winning.’

  ‘I want Michael!’ Sam reiterated in an angry tone. ‘If I don’t tell him now that I’m sorry, that I didn’t mean half I said, I may never do.’

  ‘You may never have the chance, sir,’ Pete said quietly, coming to stand between Sam’s chair and that upon which Lana sat, suddenly tense, her arms resting on the wooden arms of the chair. ‘He ... went round there. Said he had to get some plans and papers and things from the cabin.’

  ‘Merciful heaven!’ Sam’s jaw dropped and Joy took an instinctive step forward, fearing a second attack, but he made a tremendous effort towards self-control, and when he spoke his voice was suddenly that of a very old man. ‘If he comes back all right,’ he muttered almost to himself, ‘he can ... do as he likes from now on. In fact it might be a good idea to hand my part in the business over to him completely. I’m getting beyond all this sort of thing, and he has plenty of sound ideas of his own, if only he’s spared to come back to us.’

  Aileen came and stood by the chair. Wordlessly she picked up one of his strong hands as they rested on his knees, but neither of them spoke a word. There was no need of words at that moment. With all her heart she was praying silently that the ‘miracle’ which Michael had joked about earlier in the evening would really happen, and that when all this was over, Michael would be safe and Sam have learned his lesson without having had to pay too high a price to do so. ‘I’m going to have a word with one of the firemen,’ Pete said suddenly, close beside them. ‘I’ve got an idea...’

  He too was gone, running round to where he had caught sight of the man he recognized as being the mechanic in charge of the fire service vehicles. He had met the man on the day he had brought Joy to her interview at St Lucy’s, for Barry Vermont, the fireman in question, had been attending the casualty block, having injured his finger two days before.

  ‘There’s a man somewhere in that lot, ‘Pete jerked his head in the general direction of the hottest and fiercest part of the fire. ‘Young Mr. Bainbridge. Your folks appear to be getting things under control there, but I was wondering about getting him out. Can you manipulate a crane?’ he demanded.

  ‘I manipulate the turntable ladder,’ Vermont returned, grinning. ‘Don’t see there’s all that much difference ... why?’

  ‘There’s a crane over there,’ Pete pointed, ‘a cubic yard effort. They take materials around in it in a thing like a big bucket. I was thinking ... if we could get it just in front of the cabin...’

  ‘I get you,’ Barry nodded. ‘It’s simple ... but he’ll burn his hands on the metal, though there’s nothing we can do about that.’ He was hurrying as he talked and spoke over his shoulder. ‘How did you know it was there?’ he queried.

  ‘Because I did an inventory of this site only two days ago,’ Pete answered. ‘Look, there he is now!’

  In the garden of Fernbank everyone was tense with excitement. There seemed little or no danger now of the fire spreading to their own abode, but there still remained the danger of explosion, and already the chief of the brigade had warned them they should seek safety.

  ‘You’ll not get much of a blast here, I agree,’ he had told them as they demurred, ‘but I had to warn you. The risk’s your own.’

  Lana, sitting erect in her chair, had her gaze riveted to the cabin where so much of importance—at least according to Michael—was kept. She knew there was a small safe, but he had told her often it wasn’t ‘one would expect Dad to have, not even on a site ...’ and instinct told her that was where he had gone. She tensed in every muscle as she saw him suddenly appear at the scorched and blackened remains of the door of the hut, a dazed look on his face, but the all-important papers and files clasped firmly under his arm.

  Deftly Barry swung the big crane round until the huge bucket hovered close to the ground before him. With all her heart Lana willed him to move, to take the few steps forward and to step into the bucket and be lifted to safety.

  Quentin, standing with Joy, saw the look on the girl’s face as she half lifted herself out of the chair, raising herself by the strong wooden armrests. This was the moment for which he had been waiting, this would show the results of all the patient weeks of persuasion, coaxing and encouragement he had devoted to the sister of the girl he wanted to help more than anything in the world. Gently, careful not to startle Lana, he touched Joy on the arm, and together they watched as Lana, looking exactly as though she were walking in her sleep, rose unaided from the hard supporting chair and took one hesitant step forward.

  Beside her Jenny caught back the little cry which sprang to her lips. Joy’s fingers, digging into her arm, told the older woman that the miracle she was certain she was witnessing was by no means unhoped-for or unexpected, and she sat silent, her lips moving in wordless prayer, as she watched, along with Joy and Quentin, Lana hold out her arms, standing upright, looking straight at Michael.

  He had seen her, and’ the joy in his face had to be seen to be believed. With his free hand he signalled to the fireman in control of the crane, and, like a majestic prehistoric monster, the bucket was swung high in the air, Michael barely visible inside it, and gently and efficiently lowered into the garden of Fernbank on the other side of the fence.

  No one spoke as, with Quentin hovering behind her like a guardian angel, his hands ready to catch her if she fell, Lana made a slow but definite and deliberate progress along the garden until with a sound which was half a sob, half stifled, slightly hysterical laughter, she was caught safely in Michael’s arms. He winced as he touched her, the precious papers falling unheeded on the grass.

  ‘I’ll take her, Michael,’ Quentin told him gently. ‘She’ll be quite all right now,’ and they all knew that he was not simply referring to the events of that night.

  ‘You go with Joy. I’ve my bag in the car. She’ll give you emergency treatment for those hands of yours, then, later, I’ll run you up to St Lucy’s.’

  Sam Bainbridge, in the chair beside the one Lana had so unexpectedly left vacant, looked up at Aileen, and he was not ashamed that anyone should see his eyes were misted with tears.

  ‘He’s safe,’ he muttered, over and over again. ‘I’ve
been given a second chance ... I’ll make it up to him, all the things I said and didn’t mean ... he’s always been a good son, and I haven’t been fair.’

  Aileen smiled. She was wanting to shout her own, good news, her own reward of patient, faithful and loving care aloud to a world whether they wanted to hear or not. She wanted to tell them all: ‘She walked, Lana walked! She didn’t know what she was doing, but she walked ... it’s true what the doctors have said all the time. When she lost Tony she thought she had lost the love of her life, and she didn’t want to try ... she didn’t really want to go on. Now she’s found a new love, a better love than the old, and it’s love that’s worked the miracle, love that’s given my girl the use of her limbs again, the promise of a new, full life with the man she loves.’

  But she said nothing of this, not one word. She took Sam gently by the arm and literally led him into the warm living-room of Fernbank, where Jenny, anticipating Aileen’s intention, was already busily laying out cups and saucers, along with a pile of cakes and buns, biscuits and all sorts of things she had baked during the week.

  ‘Eric’s got the kettles on, Mrs. Benyon,’ she looked up from her activities to report. ‘I thought maybe the firemen would welcome a cup too.’

  ‘Quite right, Jenny,’ Aileen nodded. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘You made a better boss than I’ll ever make, love,’ Sam fondled her hand for a moment, his eyes wistful. ‘You’ll have to teach me not to bully and shout, then people might do things I want them to do without my asking.’ He gave a short, hard laugh. ‘That is, if you’re still willing to try and teach an old dog new tricks?’

  ‘It’s never too late to learn, Sam,’ Aileen told him lightly. ‘Now you just relax, before Quentin has you up in that hospital or a nursing home to make sure you do! I’ll be back with you in a moment.’

  Left with Jenny, Sam looked at the old woman who had served the people of Fernbank for so many years, and for no reason at all he wished with all his heart that he had accepted Miss Muriel’s refusal of his offer to buy Fernbank and not bothered Sister Benyon about it when he discovered the place had been left in her care. He cleared his throat noisily and looked at Jenny from under lowered lids.

  ‘Do you think you could find Sister Benyon and get her to come and have a word with me, while there’s no one else about ... please?’ he asked, almost forgetting this was a request and not an order.

  ‘I’ll try.’ All her life Jenny had distrusted what she thought of as ‘sudden changeabouts’. She had never witnessed a successful one yet, she thought scornfully. Look at that Hitler at the time of Munich! Still, everyone seemed to think well of the remainder of the Bainbridge family, and if anyone could reform a character as set in his ways as Sam Bainbridge, then the most likely people to do it were Sister Benyon and her mother. ‘I’ll see where she is,’ she offered, and went out in search of Joy, leaving Sam alone with his thoughts.

  CHAPTER XX

  Joy was exactly where Jenny had expected to find her. The large back kitchen had been cleared and was being used as a dressing station. Michael, his hands bandaged, leaned back in an old rocking chair with Lana by his side, obviously still shaken both by her own experience and his dicing with death. As Jenny came in Joy emptied the deep enamel basin which she had sterilized and used for a mixture of Milton, warm water and sodium bicarbonate which had been utilized for the making of compresses, then she turned and looked, for once without her customary smile, at the housekeeper.

  ‘What is it, Jenny?’ she asked. ‘We’ve just about finished here, and the firemen will all be in for their tea as soon as they’ve finished whatever it is they’re doing outside.’

  ‘It’s Mr. Bainbridge, Miss Joy.’ Jenny sounded disapproving, though she strove to disguise her tone. ‘He asked if you’d see him for just a minute, while there’s nobody else around.’

  ‘I’ll be through in a minute,’ Joy told her. ‘Whatever it is it will keep until then.’

  Jenny left them, and it was very quiet in the kitchen for the next few moments, then, without a word being spoken, but as though each already knew and understood the other’s thoughts, Lana and Michael rose, Lana’s hand linked through Michael’s arm, careful not to touch the bandaged hands.

  ‘We’ll go first, Joy,’ Lana said quietly. ‘We want to tell Michael’s father ... and our mother ... that we plan to be married, just as soon as it can be arranged.’

  ‘I’m very happy for you both,’ Joy said stiffly. She could not look at Quentin, who was busily packing his bag and did not so much as turn his back as Lana made the announcement. He must feel awful, she thought sadly. He had done so much to help, so much to make certain Lana would one day be the bright, happy and whole girl she had been before the accident happened.

  ‘Thanks,’ Michael said briefly. ‘And thank you, Quentin, for everything! I never thought you’d keep our secret right to the end. We didn’t anticipate such a spectacular finale, so to speak, but maybe it wouldn’t have worked for a long time yet, if fate hadn’t taken a hand.’

  ‘Maybe not,’ Quentin agreed, still not turning round. ‘But I’m glad everything’s worked out well for you both. I’ll have to keep an eye on those burns ... and on Lana too, just for a while, but you should both be all right from now onwards.’

  They went out, and again silence fell in the kitchen. Joy busied herself about all sorts of little tasks which were by no means imperative or important. She was wondering just what she could say to the man who had just seen the girl he had literally coaxed back to real life walk off and into the arms of someone else, and try as she might there didn’t seem any appropriate words which could be said.

  Suddenly Quentin snapped his bag closed and took his cigarette case from his pocket, proffering it.

  ‘Well, Sister Benyon,’ he began lightly, and although he was smiling she saw that for the first time since she had known him, the smile did not reach his eyes. ‘He is hurt,’ she thought miserably, ‘and I don’t know how to help him.’ He applied the flame of his lighter to the tips of the two cigarettes, looking closely into her eyes as he asked: ‘How does it feel to know that one’s dream is more or less in one’s grasp, as it were? Your mother and Sam will be married before Christmas. So will Lana and Michael. Cousin Emma and the Wrenshaws can manage this place and care for the twins, if we all keep an eye on things. And I heard this morning there’s a vacancy for an Assistant Matron coming up next quarter at St Luke’s, just a few miles along the coast. Want Father to put a word in for you?’

  Joy tried to speak, but couldn’t. All at once the words she wanted to say came tumbling out, without her even being aware she was going to utter them.

  ‘I don’t care,’ she said suddenly. ‘I’m not interested, not just at the moment. I can’t think about that, not just now. Oh, Quentin, I could see this coming, and I didn’t know how to warn you! Lana isn’t really mercenary, it isn’t just the money, please don’t think that ... she really loves Michael. Anyone watching them when he was swinging in that bucket thing, his face all black with soot and fire smoke, and his hands all blistered, could see for themselves what they meant to each other. It was because of Michael she walked!’

  ‘My dear—‘Quentin’s casual mask was gone and he left his bag, his cigarette burning away unnoticed in the ash tray, and came to take both her hands in his own. ‘What are you trying to say to me, Joy?’ he asked tenderly. ‘Are you trying to tell me that you didn’t mean what you said, about going on with your job, wanting to be an Assistant Matron and then a Matron? Is that what you’re trying to say?’

  ‘I ... it was Lana, you see.’ Joy was trembling and it took all her courage to meet his gaze bent so earnestly on her own. ‘She’s so lovely. No man could help but love her. She’s beautiful, charming, well read ... she knows how to talk to everyone...’

  ‘And you know only how to care for everyone, to love everyone with that outsize heart of yours, is that it, little Joy?’ Quentin asked very close to her hair. ‘No wonder I’ve t
hought you didn’t care,’ he murmured, half to himself. ‘No wonder I thought you were a career woman, first and foremost. I should have known better.’

  ‘Then you’re not upset now that Michael and Lana are going to be married?’ Joy persisted, and was amazed when he threw back his head and burst into a shout of genuine laughter.

  ‘Upset?’ he echoed. ‘I’m delighted. It’s what I ... we’ve worked for all these months, Hugh Tate, Amy Calvin and myself. We knew we could do it, once Lana met Michael and they fell in love. She had an incentive then, to try and make herself do all the things we all knew she could do, that there was nothing really to prevent her doing, nothing except the fact that her own emotional state had prevented her from allowing herself to let her limbs and body function normally, and everything was stiff, unused to co-operating. It took love to work the miracle,’ he said softly. ‘Do you think it might yet work on me?’

  Joy looked up at him, still bereft of words. It was too much to be true, she must be dreaming, but before she had gathered herself together Sam Bainbridge was at the kitchen door, leaning against the door jamb and looking in on them.

  ‘There’s tea poured for the both of you out here,’ he told them, ‘and a good supper Jenny’s knocked together as well. I don’t know that I want to talk business in front of everyone there, so I thought I’d better come in here and say what I have to say. You neither of you seem to want to come in and find out what it is...’

  ‘I’m sorry, Mr. Bainbridge,’ Joy apologized at once. ‘We’ve been a little busy.’

  ‘I can understand that,’ Sam growled, suddenly smiling and looking, as Joy said later, almost likeable, ‘but will you listen to me for a minute? I’m not going to fight you any more, girl. It wouldn’t be worth it, not even after the insurance is paid and everything is settled and done with. I don’t want to start on that particular site all over again. But I’m going to marry your mother,’ he shot the words at Joy as though issuing a challenge. ‘She’s agreed,’ he told her, ‘so I don’t think there’s any more to be said.’