A Nightingale Christmas Promise by Donna Douglas

Author:Donna Douglas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2018-10-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

There was a riot going on in the Students’ Union on Christmas night.

Charlie Latimer was standing on top of the bar, flanked by Talbot and Evans, all three of them dressed in blue-striped nurses’ uniforms that exposed inches of pale, hairy ankle. Their caps sat askew on their heads as they threw their arms around each other, murdering a Gilbert and Sullivan chorus they had adapted.

Three little student nurses are we, come from a class on anatomy …

Rufus winced into his pint at their flat, high voices. But the student nurses they had invited to be their audience seemed to enjoy it. They clapped along, cheering encouragement and roaring with laughter.

‘I wonder you aren’t up there with them?’ Joan Gifford said. She sat across the table from Rufus, nursing a pink gin.

He smiled ruefully. ‘My voice isn’t up to it.’

‘Neither are theirs.’ She sized him up over the rim of her glass. ‘You could borrow my uniform,’ she said. ‘I reckon you’d look a treat in one of my aprons!’

‘I daresay I would.’

Her eyes sparkled with mischief. ‘Go on, then. Do it. I dare you!’

‘No, thanks. I’m not in the mood for cavorting around.’

‘I can see that.’ Joan sat back in her seat and sipped her gin moodily.

Rufus sighed. This was a mistake. He should never have invited Staff Nurse Gifford out tonight.

He could tell she was disappointed, and he didn’t blame her. Any other night and he would have been up there with Latimer, singing along and showing off his ankles. But tonight …

He glanced across to the next table, where Leo Carlyle sat, his arm draped around the shoulders of a pretty young nurse. He had been on the military ward today too, but he looked as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

Across the table, Joan Gifford gave a dissatisfied sigh. ‘Well, this is great fun, I’m sure,’ she muttered. ‘I would have had a better time playing whist with Miss Sutton.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Rufus said. ‘I’ve had a hard day, that’s all. We lost three men on the ward today.’

Joan Gifford shrugged. ‘Patients die all the time. You should be used to it by now.’

‘Yes, but they were only boys. One was barely eighteen.’ He caught Joan’s blank expression and stopped. ‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘Being miserable about it won’t bring them back, will it?’ He held up his glass to her. ‘Cheers.’

She held up her own. ‘Here’s to not being miserable.’

Rufus downed his pint and stood up. ‘Another?’

‘Why not?’ She smiled.

He found himself standing next to Leo Carlyle at the bar. They nodded to each other.

‘Where’s your sister?’ Rufus asked.

Leo cupped his hand over his ear. ‘Who?’

‘Your sister,’ Rufus shouted over the din.

Leo shrugged. ‘Probably still at work, knowing Kate.’

Rufus looked at his watch. ‘At this time? It’s nearly ten o’clock.’

‘You know how dedicated she is.’ Leo turned to the barman. ‘Port and lemon and a whisky. A double,’ he added.

For the next half an hour Rufus did his best to be entertaining.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.