The Shy Nurse's Christmas Wish

by Abigail Gordon

  ‘I’ve known that from the start,’ she told her friend. ‘I carry the thought around with me all the time, which is why I asked Daniel to be free of the perils of the lifeboat service when we marry, and he has agreed. But I am conscious of the strong ties he had with your father with regard to saving the lives of others as if what he does at Oceans House isn’t enough.’

  ‘Yes, maybe,’ Cordelia agreed, ‘but don’t stay away from having lunch with us, Darcey. He will be disappointed to have missed you if you do.’

  But not so upset that he had told her what he was going to be involved with during the morning, she thought tearfully. Yet she treasured her friendship with his sister, didn’t want to upset her, and so she said, ‘No, of course not. It will be lovely to see you all.’

  * * *

  When Daniel arrived at his sister’s house just before lunchtime, he found Darcey swathed in bandages with the small would-be nurses in attendance. Laughter replaced the morning’s traumas momentarily, but having spent most of it reluctantly showing another coxswain around his boat, with the thought of what it might mean in the long run, his amusement was short-lived.

  ‘I called at your place earlier to let you know what I was going to be involved in during the morning, but there was no answer. Where were you?’ he questioned.

  ‘The spring sunshine had tempted me out and I’d gone for a stroll along the promenade,’ she told him. ‘When I got back Cordelia phoned and invited me to have lunch with you all.’

  ‘So you already know where I’ve been?’

  ‘Well, yes. Why didn’t you tell me before?’

  ‘Because I only got the message that this guy was coming a couple of hours before he was due.’

  ‘And?’ she breathed.

  ‘He liked everything, except the fact that it would mean him having to move house, and he wasn’t prepared to accept that.’

  ‘And he’s the only one?’

  ‘Well, yes, of course! Do you think I’ve been holding them back to suit my own ends, Darcey? The answer to that is I am deeply committed to what I do now regarding the lifeboat service, but as there are very good reasons why I don’t want to cause you pain or hurt I shall leave the service when the right moment presents itself. But under the current circumstances I think we should let things cool down for a while, don’t you?’

  ‘Whatever you say,’ she said raggedly, and if Cordelia hadn’t appeared at that moment to say that lunch was ready, she would have made her apologies and left after being made to feel so unwanted. But she cared for her friend too much to spoil the occasion and chatted mostly to the children while Daniel and Lawrence discussed sport and their hostess smiled at them all, unaware of the tense conversation earlier that had taken place between their guests.

  As the sunny afternoon changed to gathering dusk Darcey explained to her friend that Alex was due to phone in the early evening regarding him visiting Seahaven in the near future, and said her farewells, but as she prepared to walk the short distance home, Daniel said, ‘I’ll take you in the car. It isn’t a good time to be out on your own, before the streetlamps come on.’

  ‘I’ll be fine,’ she said quietly, and for his ears alone added, ‘I thought we were going to have a cooling-off time?’

  ‘Yes, we are,’ he agreed. ‘But not at this moment.’ He called to his sister, who had gone to fetch Darcey’s coat from the cloakroom, ‘I’m taking Darcey home and will be back shortly.’

  Cordelia nodded with the thought in mind that she had longed for him to find someone to love and cherish and prayed that Darcey would be the one, but there were bridges to cross and long-ago hurts had to heal for both of them first. Only then would it come right.

  CHAPTER TEN

  NO WORDS PASSED between them until Daniel stopped the car outside the apartment and then he broke the silence to say, ‘Give my regards to your brother, Darcey. Why don’t you suggest to him that he come to live here? He could join the Young Sailors’ Club.’

  She smiled for the first time since they’d left his sister’s house and told him, ‘He is already having yearnings. Maybe his visit here over Easter will help him make that decision. But it would mean going to a different university in September.’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ he said thoughtfully as she bade him a brief goodbye, and as he drove back to his sister’s house it seemed strange that he, Daniel, should have the kind of family that Darcey and her brother had never had due to losing their parents, and it had to be why she so longed for a marriage that was free of worry and loneliness.

  If he could give her that there would be joy in the giving of it, but the gift of life that he had given to so many caught in the ocean’s grip would have to be passed on to someone else and he was going to miss that.

  But first a new coxswain had to be found, and until that was done there was going to be no change in the situation in which he found himself, and added to that Easter was drawing near, with lots of would-be sailors on the seas around Seahaven, thinking they had the upper hand and coming unstuck. Maybe the fates would be good and give him one last time to copy his father if his replacement still had to be found. But no way did he want anything that he might be called on to do to cause Darcey hurt or sorrow.

  With regard to his love for Darcey, he had wanted her from the moment of their meeting, had known that she was the answer to years of emptiness after a dead marriage, and when she’d responded to his feelings with similar delight it had been fantastic, until her memories of the past and his involvement with the lifeboat had taken away the joy of their romance.

  * * *

  Back in the solitude of her apartment, Darcey was on the phone to Alex confirming the date of his Easter visit, which was going to commence in three weeks’ time on the day before Good Friday until the middle of the following week, when he was planning to fly out to Bangkok to continue his travels.

  ‘I’m really looking forward to being near the sea,’ he said. ‘There is a lake near here where some of us spend all our free time between shifts and it’s great, but is nothing compared to the sea. I can’t wait to see it. How often do you go sailing?’

  ‘Never have so far,’ she told him flatly, with the memory of the times that Daniel had wanted her to join him and the crew from the Young Sailors’ Club and been unsuccessful. ‘Maybe you’ll be able to show me how.’

  ‘Sure, it’s easy-peasy,’ he promised, and when the call was over and the usual silence fell over the apartment, the thought was there that the safest place where Alex could sail would be as a member of the Young Sailors’ Club under Daniel’s guidance, instead of wherever with an overdose of confidence.

  The next morning Easter seemed far away. Mondays were always busy after the weekend when young members of the population had been out and about and been less than careful during their weekend activities, which had brought them to Oceans House.

  As Darcey and Daniel did the rounds of the children’s ward there was little time for any other matters than the health of their young patients, and it wasn’t until he was done and ready to move upwards to where the older folk awaited him that he asked, ‘Are you all right after yesterday’s twists and turns?’

  ‘Yes, I suppose so,’ she said. ‘I ask too much of you and I’m sorry, Daniel.’

  ‘Don’t be,’ he chided gently. ‘Just be yourself.’ Then he was gone, leaving her to question what his real feelings were.

  * * *

  The days were getting longer and lighter. The sun no longer preferred to hide behind cloud so much, but still there was no one to replace him, Daniel thought. It was a situation that the rest of the lifeboat crew were totally happy with, and probably also with those who trained and staffed the boats, from the look of things, as no changes of crew were being considered, which left only Darcey with any reservations regarding the situation. He braced himself for the day that had to come sooner or later, but which was
a long time in coming.

  At last on the following Sunday morning Daniel took Darcey sailing in the boat that had been a wreck the first time she’d seen it, and was now back to its normal performance with a full crew of trainee mariners on board, along with themselves and Ely, and she thought that Alex, when he came in two weeks’ time, would enjoy this sort of thing, with others of a similar age. They sailed closer to home than the lifeboat due to their youth, but were just as welcome when needed.

  When they arrived back at their headquarters next to the harbour, Bridget provided lunch, after which the group would hold their weekly meeting with Daniel in charge. Darcey was aware of how much the young folk owed him for the time and patience he had for them, which was bettered only by his devotion to saving the lives of those who might lose them without him and others like him.

  He was watching her expression and as their eyes met it was there again, the feeling of rightness that was all wrong when she tried to be sensible. On that thought she thanked him for taking her out in the sailing club’s boat and went back to what was left of another free Sunday, which was an event, and would have to be made up for soon.

  * * *

  Daniel stared after her, wishing that she hadn’t been in such a hurry so that he could have taken her somewhere after the meeting for a few moments on their own. But maybe Darcey wanted to avoid that sort of thing with their relationship up in the air and each of them having their own kind of longings.

  * * *

  In the days that followed, Darcey marked each one on the calendar as Easter drew nearer and with it Alex’s arrival in Seahaven, and always was the thought that just for once she would have someone of her own to be with for a short time of togetherness, as her love for Daniel had become a cloistered thing due to the circumstances of it, but the need was still there.

  Her brother’s arrival was due to take place at midday on Thursday, and Darcey thought glumly that she wasn’t going to be around to meet him until the evening as she was on duty for most of that day. So much for the two Sundays of free time that she’d just had. But it didn’t seem to worry Alex much when she phoned to tell him.

  ‘No problem,’ he said airily when she told him. ‘Once I’ve taken my gear to the place where you’ve booked me to stay I’ll find plenty to do. Just looking at the sea will be great. I’ll be waiting for you outside the hospital when you come out in the evening, and then we’ll live it up, eh, sis?’

  ‘Er...yes,’ she said laughingly. ‘Am I going to be allowed time to change out of my uniform?’

  ‘Sure,’ was the reply.

  She hadn’t seen much of Daniel socially since he’d taken her sailing with the young people in their boat. It was as if he was avoiding her but he’d also mentioned he was looking forward to meeting her brother, or so he’d said, which she supposed was better than nothing, and perhaps she could take the two of them out to dinner one night.

  ‘Yes, maybe,’ he agreed when she suggested it, with the thought in his mind that chance might be a fine thing if the lifeboat was called out as often as it usually was at such times.

  * * *

  At the end of her working day on the Thursday there was no Alex waiting to greet her, and as her apartment was only feet away Darcey hurried home, but he wasn’t waiting there either, and when she tried to phone him there was no answer.

  Yet she knew that he had arrived safely that afternoon because he’d rung her to say that he’d settled himself into the small flatlet on the seafront that she’d found for him and was going to spend the rest of the afternoon down by the sea until she’d finished work, so where was he?

  Hopefully it was just bad timing and she walked on to the seafront and looked around her from there. She saw a crowd gathered to watch something that was causing much interest and her heart skipped a beat. The lifeboat had been called out and was speeding in the direction of the far end of the bay in what was one of the roughest seas for some time. She could just see the form of a young guy at the mercy of a rough sea, being swept up against rocks and then thrown back into the water helpless against its force, and she froze with fear.

  The lifeboat had just reached him and she saw Daniel and another of the crew go over the side with lifebelts. They pulled the seemingly lifeless body out of the water and she just knew it was Alex who was going to be taken from her this time as anguish turned her bones to chalk.

  But they had him, one on each side, before the next onslaught of the sea came back upon them, and as Daniel and the crew worked on their charge, the lifeboat ploughed its way back to safety amid cheers from those who had watched, while Darcey ran frantically to where it had been launched to await its return.

  Bridget was there and on seeing her said, ‘They’ve radioed from the boat that he’s unconscious. Don’t know who the lad is, but he can’t have a better chance than with our team. They’ll be here any moment and he will be taken straight to Oceans House where Daniel will examine him, and if he needs further treatment he’ll be taken to the hospital in the town centre.’

  ‘He’s my brother,’ she said chokingly, ‘and is all I have in the world. But in just a matter of moments it doesn’t feel like that any more.’

  ‘It’s here, the boat. You’ll be able to see him in a moment and go with him to hospital,’ Bridget said consolingly. ‘There’s an ambulance waiting to take him to Oceans House with Daniel on board, which is the usual procedure on this sort of occasion, and if you ask he’ll take you with him.’

  Darcey didn’t hear her last comment. Her fears were confirmed as she watched the crew stretchering Alex off the boat with Daniel supervising, and when he saw her he said raggedly, ‘When I saw him close to I was horrified. I couldn’t believe it, you are so alike, and I knew that he was coming to stay.’

  ‘Is he going to live, Daniel?’ she croaked, as she looked down at her brother’s still form.

  ‘Yes, if it is anything to do with me,’ he gritted. ‘He’s breathing more levelly now and I’ve given you enough worry and heartache. Hopefully there won’t be any more once we get Alex to Oceans House.’ He nodded at a signal from the ambulance driver. ‘In you get. It will be just a matter of minutes before we’re on home ground.’

  At that moment Alex opened his eyes for a fleeting second and mumbled, ‘What have I done, Darcey?’

  ‘Fought the spring tide and lost,’ she told him, ‘and Dr Osbourne and I are taking you to Oceans House to be sorted out.’

  ‘Sounds good,’ was his only comment before he drifted back into semi-consciousness.

  Daniel said, ‘We need to go straight into X-Ray when we arrive and deal with it from there. I am so sorry this has happened to your brother, Darcey. It must have heightened your fear of lifeboats even more.’

  She managed a smile. ‘That isn’t so, Daniel. It has made me realise how fortunate are they who are served by the lifeboat in their hour of need. I’d got it all wrong, and I don’t want you to change anything regarding what you do. Without you and your team out there, Alex would have died.’

  The ambulance was pulling into its parking space at Oceans House and as her young brother was carried carefully inside and straight to X-Ray, with Daniel and herself in attendance, Alex regained consciousness again and said, ‘I was playing a game, dodging the big waves when they came, but they got too fast for me, and now am I going to have to spend Easter in hospital?’

  ‘It all depends on how much you have hurt yourself,’ Daniel told him. ‘The X-rays are going to tell us that, and in future remember that the sea isn’t always a friend, far from it.’

  The results they were waiting for after a session in X-Ray were a mixture of good and not so good, as Darcey observed them issuing forth in the form of a fractured arm and massive bodily bruising in most areas. But both she and Daniel were aware that it could have been much worse, and when Alex asked what it all meant he listened in silence to what they had to say and
then asked again if it was going to mean him being kept in the hospital for a while and couldn’t he stay with Darcey until he was well again?

  ‘Her accommodation isn’t big enough for someone else to stay with her,’ Daniel told him, ‘neither would it be allowed, and it would not be wise for you to continue staying alone in your flat on the promenade until you are well again, but I do have a suggestion.

  ‘How would you like to come and stay with me? I have a spare bedroom, so would be able to keep an eye on you during the night, and bring you with me for the day each morning where you could get better by resting and watching your sister and myself performing our daily tasks.’

  ‘Wow!’ Alex said weakly. ‘That would be great!’ His gaze went to Darcey, who had stood by speechless as Daniel got to know his prospective young brother-in-law. ‘What about that, sis?’

  ‘Yes, what about it,’ she replied, smiling through her tears, and she turned to Daniel. ‘He can stay here tonight while we sort out our arrangements for the future, don’t you think?’ she asked him.

  ‘Absolutely,’ he said. ‘But first let’s get that arm set and put in a cast.’

  Once that had been accomplished, Alex was taken to the men’s ward and Daniel and Darcey made sure that he was safely settled with all details of his injuries given to staff for that night.

  Then they left him in hospital care with an arrangement that they would call back soon, and went to Daniel’s apartment where he showed her the guest room that would be occupied by her brother for as long as he needed it, and then took her into the main bedroom. As Darcey gazed at the empty bed he said gently, ‘There has always been a place for you beside me, still is for that matter, but the ideal time for a beginning would be on our wedding night in the manor house, don’t you think, with the vows we have made like stars in a cloudless sky. Will you marry me, Darcey?’