Backstage Nurse by Jane Rossiter

Author:Jane Rossiter [Rossiter, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: romance, nurse, medical
Publisher: Avalon Books
Published: 1963-03-21T01:33:58+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Shirley didn't think any more about that conversation with Hugh Deering until a week later, when they arrived in Cincinnati. As usual, the company went to the theater on Monday afternoon to get familiar with the stage and their quarters. Oliver Craft had had a poor weekend, and once she had been on the point of phoning Dr. Trask in Boston. But Monday morning, the old actor seemed almost himself; and when friends called the hotel and asked that he go to an afternoon party, he accepted.

She watched him leave from the stage door. He waved happily at her from the back seat of the big limousine and then his hosts drove him off. Shirley walked back to her dressing room with some misgivings. She hoped they wouldn't tire the old man out; tonight was another opening. But perhaps he knew best. The afternoon excitement might occupy his mind and prevent him from worrying.

Suddenly from one of the dressing rooms, a voice called: "You must be doing some heavy thinking!"

She stopped and turned around to face Hugh, who stood just outside the door of the dressing room behind her. He laughed. "You walked right by me and didn't even say hello."

"The Chief just went out for the afternoon," she explained. "I was wondering if he made a mistake in going."

"Some kind of a do?"

"An intimate get-together," she said. "A few of his elderly friends."

"Likely do him a world of good," Hugh said. Then, in a different tone, he added, "Come inside. I want you to see something."

She followed him into his dressing room. He had his things unpacked and his costume was hung up waiting for the evening performance. "Very homey," she observed.

He bent over his open trunk and came up with a small black bag. "I show you this because the other evening you suggested I had no deep feelings. And you were wrong. This little bag proves it."

She saw that it was his medical bag. His tone was mocking and there was a smile on his face as he spoke. But she knew this was just a defense. The bag did have nostalgic memories for him. She said, "I think you should be making more active use of it."

He put the bag on his make-up shelf and, opening it, studied its contents. He spoke without looking up at her. "It doesn't mean quite that much to me. But I have kept it and taken it along wherever I've been. A kind of trophy, I guess."

Shirley stepped over and glanced into the bag. "I see you have all the standards. A stethoscope, blood-pressure cuff, and a good supply of drugs."

He stared into the bag and, laughing without humor, said, "Oh, I was a regular M.D., I tell you."

"You still are."

He snapped the bag shut and faced her. "Not anymore."

"Denying facts doesn't change them," she pointed out.

Taking the bag back to the trunk, he dropped it in. "That's finished," he said, turning to her. "But I did want to let you know that once there was something I really did care about.

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