One Night in London: a hospital in wartime (The Jason Trilogy Book 1) by Lucilla Andrews

Author:Lucilla Andrews [Andrews, Lucilla]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: nursing, nurses, hospital, romance, maternity, midwife, doctors, 1950s
Publisher: Corazon Books (Doctors and Nurses)
Published: 2017-06-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

But for the glass of milk in her hand MacDonald would have thought Nurse Smith asleep. She was huddled in the armchair, limp and colourless as an eyeless, washed-out rag doll. On the tray on the hard chair drawn up beside her, the sandwiches and apple were untouched. When he drew back the remaining chair at the table, she opened startled eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Mr MacDonald, I didn’t hear you. Shall I tell Nurse Dean you’re here?’

‘Don’t bother, nurse. I’ll go in directly I’ve checked Gill’s op. notes.’ He sat down before he remembered to add, ‘Sorry to disturb your meal.’

She murmured the trite response demanded and watched him run the nib of his pen along the lines whilst she nerved herself to use this unexpected but hoped for chance of a private talk with him. He read swiftly, yet without undue haste, occasionally scratching-out or adding a word. He looked much less tired than earlier that night and even by his high standards, very spruce. When he had changed out of theatre clothes after the appendicectomy he had put on the spare clean white shirt he kept in his surgeons’ room locker and a clean white coat. ‘So Gill’s round?’ he queried, without looking up.

‘Yes. Sleep, colour, pulse, respirations all normal when I came out a few minutes ago. Chest sounds fine despite those ribs.’

‘More than the young fool deserves. He swore blind he’d never felt that appendix, but from the adhesions he’s had intermittent bellyache for months if not years. That was what he tried to drown in beer at lunchtime. He’s bloody lucky he didn’t perforate.’

‘He’s only a student,’ she reminded him wearily.

His fine black eyebrows met and his pen sped on, ‘ “Men of 17¼ to 33 may fly with the RAF.” ’

‘If this war lasts much longer the Government’ll stick up posters calling up boys of fifteen as men.’

‘They say Jerry’s already having to do that. Could just be our propaganda.’ He scratched out a balloon note, inserted another. ‘I can sympathize with a coward, not a liar.’ She glanced at him sharply, without comment. ‘He wasn’t too tight to tell me the truth on admission, but he didn’t as he didn’t want more than one night in Wally’s. If he had, I’d have packed him off on the evening convoy and he could have had it out in the country tonight. Now he’ll have to sweat out the five days till his clips come out unless he busts the lot flinging himself under his bed first.’

She was anxious not to annoy him, but she had too much empathy with Nigel Gill to control her tongue. ‘I presume his appendix was too sub-acute for diagnosis on admission, Mr MacDonald?’

He glanced up, blankly. ‘It may’ve been. I’ve no idea. We were just getting in the casualties from one that had dropped in our zone when two students lugged in a semi-drunk pal with a couple of cracked ribs. If I spent three minutes on him, I regarded it as time I could ill-afford.

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