The Nurses' War by Victoria Purman

Author:Victoria Purman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQ Fiction
Published: 2022-04-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The nurses barely said a word to each other on the long walk back to Harefield. Chopin’s funeral march was a drumbeat in Cora’s head, her footsteps matching its sombre rhythm along Rickmansworth Road and all the way to the hospital. She felt a deep need to be back at the hospital, the place Private Wake had taken his last breath, had for the last time breathed the English air, held a nurse’s hand. Gertie fell into step beside her, linking arms with Cora, and behind them, Leonora and Fiona did the same.

At the canteen, a wake had been organised by the village volunteers and the doctors and nurses and other members of the hospital’s staff half-heartedly nibbled sandwiches and slices of fruitcake. Cora had little appetite and, judging by the plates of untouched food, she guessed others felt the same.

When she was pouring her second cup of tea, Cora spotted William across the room and he gave a quick nod to a colleague before making his way to her. Was it wrong to think of his attention as the only bright spot in the whole dreadful day?

‘Tea, Captain?’ she asked as he approached.

He was dressed in his full military uniform and the sight of him in his khaki tunic, a white cotton brassard with a red wool Geneva cross around his left arm, shook Cora. She had always thought of him as a surgeon first and army man second. But there he was, looking as if he were about to head off to the battlefield that very minute. Oh, how the thought tore her in two. She dropped her gaze to his knee-length officer’s boots, lest her feelings were revealed in her wide eyes. The highly polished leather almost reflected her own visage as she studied them.

‘No, thank you, Sister,’ he answered politely.

Cora set the pot down and lifted her cup to her lips. It was strong but not strong enough to settle her. She hadn’t stopped trembling since she’d seen the cortege, since she’d heard the villagers sobbing for someone who wasn’t even one of their own.

‘What a day.’ William shrugged as if he too knew there were no words powerful enough to convey such a loss.

Across the mess, someone began playing the piano. It was something solemn and funereal and Cora fought the urge to cry again. When she sniffed, she felt William’s hand on her arm.

‘Are you all right, Cora?’ He’d moved close to whisper her name.

She daren’t look at him or she would burst into tears, and for that Cora felt shame and embarrassment. What was her grief compared with a family’s? With any of the men who’d been patients at Harefield? Early on in her nursing career, she’d learnt to distance herself from those she had cared for and their suffering and a family’s grief. She had been the bearer of bad news more than once to a family. In those instances, she had been able to retreat discreetly, shut a door and let them sob and pray in private.

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.