Be Brave for Me by Elaine Johns

Author:Elaine Johns [Johns, Elaine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Military, War & Military, Coming of Age
ISBN: 9781803147079
Google: zSxSzwEACAAJ
Publisher: BOOKOUTURE
Published: 2022-08-25T23:00:00+00:00

Maddie got her strength back after two weeks. But they kept her in for three at Redruth hospital – convalescing was the word the ward sister used.

Maddie had to prove that she could walk around unaided. And that she could sit down, comfortably. The comfort part might take a bit longer, and the chairs would need to be padded, but at least now she could sit without her eyes watering. And the tugging pain in her breasts had finally gone. No more steeping them in Epsom Salts as her milk dried up. That had been a psychological hurdle to overcome, knowing there was no milk now. Another sadness to be conquered. The symbol of a missing baby.

The three weeks in hospital put some distance between her and her stillborn child, although there would never be enough distance to forget. And she didn’t want to. Each year she would remember the birthday: 10 November in the year 1941 was the date of a birth and a death. And she would add a year, every year.

No one from Rosemundy had been in touch with her. If there had been a funeral already, no one had invited her. ‘Forget it and move on,’ the nurse had said. A cold, callous thing to say.

Maddie might move on, but she would never forget. That much was sure. Another thing she was sure of now, she would never go back to Rosemundy House again. At first, she’d thought she might. She’d wanted to go there and ransack Matron’s office, force her to hand over the precious photograph of Rudi. It hadn’t been returned in her suitcase as the nurse had promised. And to pick up her baby’s death certificate. And birth certificate. Would there even be one? She didn’t know. And what difference could it make, anyway? It wouldn’t bring her baby back, nothing could do that.

‘Well, you’ve had yourself a nice little holiday, Maddie.’ The ward sister smiled. It was a tired smile. Most of the nurses were busy there. Rushed off their feet. But they usually took time to smile at you.

‘Three weeks of lying around and not a single floor to scrub. It really was a holiday,’ said Maddie.

‘They make you girls scrub floors? Not when you’re in labour, surely?’ The woman was astounded.

‘Good for the soul, Sister,’ said Maddie.

‘You hear things, of course, but I never imagined they were true. That’s appalling.’

‘I think so too. You could tell someone,’ said Maddie. ‘They’d listen to you.’

‘I will…’ The woman nodded once, briskly. Then: ‘You’ll be leaving us tomorrow, going home.’

‘Thanks for getting me on my feet again,’ said Maddie.

‘It’s what we do,’ the sister said and smiled.

Going home? She wasn’t sure where that might be.

She had the name of a lodging house not far from her old billet in West London. Nothing fancy and a reasonable price. She had some money saved. It should be enough until she got sorted with a job. That was one good thing about this war: lots of jobs.

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