Nurse Errant by Lucilla Andrews

Nurse Errant by Lucilla Andrews

Author:Lucilla Andrews [Andrews, Lucilla]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: village life, district nurse, 1960s, medical romance, happy ending, rural, doctor, hospital, hea, country life, second chances, happy ever after, nurse
Publisher: Corazon Books (Doctors and Nurses)
Published: 2018-05-01T04:00:00+00:00


Chapter Seven

ANN TURNS PATIENT

I called at the village hall to collect Ann before going back home that evening. It was crammed with fairy lights, crepe paper, trestle-tables, step-ladders, and helpers.

Ann waved from the top of one ladder. ‘Finished, Lesley? I shall be a little longer, so don’t wait.’

Mrs Carter joined me. ‘Your sister is going to be much in demand for this work in future, Nurse. She is clever with her hands.’

I watched Ann rather anxiously as I thanked the vicar’s wife for her kind words. My sister had no head for heights, and she was doing a Gene Kelly-type dance on that top step. She would be fine, just so long as she forgot her complex. ‘You must have all worked hard, Mrs Carter. The place is transformed. I’d like to stay and join in, but must get back as I’m on call.’

‘I hope you don’t get called out, dear. You need an early night after last night. Gervase and I were so distressed when Paddy told us what happened. As Gervase said, it was a mercy he found you.’

Mrs Grimmond came up. ‘My husband was once lost for fourteen hours. It seemed fourteen years to me.’

Mrs Arbuthnot ducked under the half-decorated trellis above her Home-grown Produce stall, and launched into a grim tale of the doctors and nurses she had known lost in mists in the last thirty years. She did not exactly specify how they had perished, but she gave the impression that anyone practising medicine or nursing on the marsh must accept the inevitable end in a dyke. ‘Mr Larraby called it an occupational hazard. But as Mr Arbuthnot ‒ not a man to exaggerate, as I’m sure you’ll agree ‒ told him in the Crown before lunch, it is The Price That Must Be Paid.’

Paddy seemed to have had a busy day. Driving home alone, I decided he had been very wise. Our story had to get around, so it was as well to give everyone the true version at first-hand. Everyone, of course, included Angela Gerrard. Paddy was wise all right.

At home, I rang the local exchange before putting the car away. Our village was not yet on the dial system. The local telephonists were now my old pals.

Mabel Withers said I had had no calls for the past three hours. ‘You can lock your garage, dear. You must have cured the lot.’

I cooked supper, set two trays, then sat down in the sitting-room to bring my day- and time-books up-to-date while waiting for Ann. The telephone rang as I finished.

‘Nurse, do you think you could look in, please?’ Mrs Smith, the blacksmith’s wife, sounded distraught. ‘It’s my Vi. She looks so poorly and ought to be in bed, but she’s that set on going to the Youth Club as it’s extra Club night, and I can’t do nothing with her. But she always listens to you, so could you come?’

I leant against the wall and rubbed my eyes ‒ I felt I could sleep on my feet.



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.