The Shy Nurse's Christmas Wish

But to her surprise what he had to say first referred to herself as he queried, ‘Why didn’t you say that you were coming here to work when we were on the train?’

‘I had no need to, or so I thought,’ she protested faintly. ‘And I was so tired.’

‘But of course you were,’ he agreed crisply. He glanced at the two registrars, who were chatting to a girl on the nearest bed with one of her legs in traction. ‘So, shall we proceed, Sister?’

‘Yes, Mr Osbourne,’ she said meekly, and as his companions wasted no time in joining them she smiled at the girl who’d had their attention and told him, ‘Olivia seems to be resigned to her plight for the moment and I’m told that when some of her school friends appear each day in the late afternoon there is a lot of chatter and news, which helps to get the hours over for her somewhat.’

‘Mmm... I’m sure that it must,’ he murmured, his attention on the young patient and the state of her leg, which was supported by attachments from an overhead frame. Turning to Darcey, he said, ‘The fracture of the tibia occurred during a hockey match and this is the result, the leg immobilised until healing of the bone is achieved. Have you dealt with this kind of thing before?’

‘Yes, a few times,’ she told him, thinking that her appearance of the day before hadn’t been one to instil confidence, but surely it might now. As they moved on to the next bed she went on to say, ‘I have trained and worked in orthopaedics ever since it became my specialist subject at university, and the opportunity to work in a hospital in a beautiful coastal area was too tempting to pass by.’ With a sigh, she added, ‘I wasn’t expecting to be alone in my change of scene but far countries seem to have got in the way of my plans, and, as you saw on the train yesterday, I was at a low ebb.’

‘Mmm, so it appeared,’ he commented, without showing much interest, and moved towards the next bed, followed by Darcey and the two registrars.

It was over. He had done the rounds and was about to depart, and his thoroughness had been no surprise to her, with his keen observations of the slightest thing that had caught his eye, whether it be good or not so good.

Once he had left there was a buzz of conversation amongst the nurses that was centred on Daniel Osbourne and all of it was complimentary so that she was left with no doubt regarding his popularity in spite of his no-nonsense approach.

With regard to herself, Darcey was cringing at the way she’d been so free and easy with her comments that might have given him the impression that it was a failed romance she’d been hinting at when it had been far from that.

When her lunch break came round, instead of making her way to the staff restaurant, Darcey went out into the cold air of the seaside promenade that went past the hospital and stood gazing out to where a choppy blue sea rose and fell in the distance.

As she turned to go back into the warmth of the hospital a smart black car pulled up beside her at the pavement edge and he was there again, the down-to-earth doctor who seemed to be everywhere she turned. Winding the car window down, he asked what she was doing out there in the cold without a jacket.

‘It is the first time I’ve been able to see the sea since I came,’ she told him. ‘When I arrived last night it was dark, and the same this morning when I reported to the ward, and I’ve only been out here a moment.’

Daniel was smiling and she thought that he was different away from his duties at the hospital and looking after lost souls like herself on the train, but he was right, the cold was biting and she was hungry. What did he do about lunch? she thought. Had he already eaten? He was pulling away from the kerb, giving her no time to ask, and she went inside with hunger calling and curiosity taking hold. Where did he live? she wondered, and with who, and was that his day finished?

* * *

It was not, by far. Daniel was about to make a brief visit to the sailing club that he had arranged for teens with time on their hands. He usually put in an appearance in the evening but having been away, and remembering his sister’s comments of the night before, he was keen to see the state of things at the place and what he observed there didn’t please him.

His helper with the running of the club was an old guy called Ely, a retired fisherman who was usually to be found on the premises, but not today it seemed, and the boat that was the magnet that brought young folks to the club was in a state of repair in the harbour.

What had been going on? he pondered. When he called at Ely’s cottage nearby to get up to date with the situation, his wife Bridget told him that her husband was in hospital with a heart problem, where he had been when the boat had been damaged.

‘With you both not around, the would-be sailors were impatient to be out there and they took the boat without permission,’ she told him, ‘and came unstuck on a rocky reef, which meant the lifeboat having to turn out. Two of the lads were injured and are in Oceans House.’ With that cheerful item of news to digest Daniel returned to the hospital to carry on bringing mobility to the immobile in one form or another for the rest of the day, and if Darcey had still questioned his movements after watching him drive away in the lunch hour she would have had her answer on seeing him moving purposefully along the main hospital corridor in the direction of the operating theatre in the early afternoon.

* * *

In the evening that followed, Darcey was restless. There had been no more phone calls from Alexander, no contentment at the end of her first day at Oceans House, nothing to brighten the last hours of it. Just a mediocre night of entertainment on the television screen in the small apartment that was now her home. Her time on the ward had been great, she thought, but what now?

On impulse she reached for the warm winter jacket that she’d travelled in and her knee-high boots and without another thought went out into the dark night where a moon hung over the sea that was less choppy than earlier in the day.

The promenade was well lit with a selection of bars and restaurants to choose from, but Darcey was not entranced at the thought of dining alone in a strange place where she didn’t know anyone, and when she came to the teenage meeting place at the far end of the promenade that, unknown to her, was Daniel Osbourne’s project she paused outside the wooden building and looked around her with interest.

Nearby was the harbour and she saw a roomy boat there in the process of being repaired, and as she looked around her she heard the sound of young voices on the night air. A short distance away was the lifeboat house, shuttered and locked until needed, and as she lingered curiously a deeper voice that was becoming familiar caught her attention as it spoke with authority into what had become silence inside the wooden building and she was rooted to the spot.

When Daniel Osbourne had finished speaking the young members of the organisation came pouring out as the clock on a nearby church tower hit the stroke of ten, and having no desire to be seen hovering outside the place she quickly hurried through the crowd of teenagers as they spread out over the promenade, breathing a sigh of relief when the staff accommodation for Ocean House came into sight. Thank goodness he hadn’t seen her lurking outside while he’d been speaking to the young people.

Daniel thought whimsically that the new sister had had no cause to flee from his presence. She’d been unaware that he had been on foot amongst the kids, and short of sprinting after her in the early dark of an October night had to be satisfied with just quickening his pace. But the apartments had come into view and she’d been inside in a flash with the door locked behind her.

It was just a matter of common courtesy to make sure that a newcomer amongst those he worked with was home safely after wandering alone amongst the night crowds who drank in the bars and ate in the restaurants on the promenade, and with that thought in mind he proceeded to his own residence, which wasn’t far away, where he lived in solitary comfort that was edged with loneliness.

* * *

After her speedy return to base Darcey made a hot drink and pondered on the moments that she’d spent outside the place where Daniel Osbourne and the teenagers had been meeting. He hadn’t sounded pleased about something and had been making it known, she thought. The young folk had seemed chastened when they’d come filing out into the dark night.

‘Young Sailors’ Club’ was what it had said above the door of the wooden building at the end of the promenade and next to it had been the harbour where the boat was being repaired. So was it something to do with that to blame for bringing forth his annoyance?

* * *

Daniel could have told her that it was. He had started the club to keep the kids occupied and off the streets by training them in the complexities of sailing in the rescue safety boat, which was a smaller craft than the lifeboat but just as necessary in moments of danger nearer to the shore. No members were allowed to take it away from its moorings without himself or Ely being there.

But with the old guy hospitalised and Daniel absent, some of the teenagers left to their own devices had taken it out and damaged it against a rocky outcrop. So much so that the lifeboat had been called out to get them all safely back on shore, which, as far as Daniel was concerned, was an even greater annoyance as it could have been avoided if they hadn’t broken the rules.

Two of the young guys had been injured in the mishap and when his sister had informed him on his return that they were in Oceans House with fractures, his annoyance had been normal, but it had peaked when he’d seen the boat.

Hence the stern reprimand to the rest that Darcey must have heard through the open doors of their meeting place, and it hadn’t improved his mood as he’d been bringing the evening to a close when he’d caught a glimpse of her through the open door on the pavement outside, alone in the winter night, which had brought forth his effort to catch her up as she’d hurried back to her own place.

And what now he thought with mild irony as he settled down in front of the fire in the sitting room of the tasteful apartment that had long been his residence.

Tonight would have been another example of him interfering in the life of the new sister on the children’s ward if he’d caught her up. What was the matter with him?

If she’d seen him sprinting along behind her down the promenade she would have thought him insane when he had merely been trying to be helpful, but that was it. From now on he would keep a low profile where she was concerned. His only contact would be at the bedsides of their young patients.

CHAPTER TWO

UNAWARE OF THE promise that Daniel had made to himself the night before, when he had finished his ward round the next day and was about to depart Darcey said, ‘I am so sorry about your boat, Dr Osbourne, and I do hope that the two boys who are being treated here will soon recover. I was on the promenade last night near the harbour and saw it.’ She added with a wistfulness that surprised him, ‘If my young brother lived here, he would be most keen to join your sailing club.’

‘So he doesn’t live near, then?’ he commented with the chaos of the night before still upon him.

‘No. I’m afraid not,’ she replied, and when a small child in one of the cots began to cry she went to him and lifting him carefully, soothed the little boy gently until he was comforted, and watching her Daniel thought that whoever had designated her to be sister-in-charge of the children’s ward had got it right.

On the point of departure, he informed her, ‘Needless to say, I’ve seen the two lads with the injuries and am treating them myself now that I’m back. We are talking about a badly fractured leg and a spinal problem at the moment, and tonight I intend to visit my old friend Ely who is in a hospital in the town centre with a heart problem and doesn’t know about the boat and the sea rescue.’

His wife has sensibly kept it from him under the circumstances. As there was never really any time for chatting in his working day he turned to go, yet it didn’t stop him from turning for a last look at her with the child in her arms.

* * *

The day had run its course. The night staff had arrived and Darcey and those she worked with were homeward bound. She had been the last to leave as she’d needed to discuss problems with the night sister that had arisen with one of their young patients just before the changeover, and when she left the ward the corridor outside was empty apart from a small group gathered near the exit consisting of Daniel Osbourne, the attractive woman who had been waiting for him in the car at the station, and two small girls who were cuddling up to him.

If there had been another exit close by she would have taken it, but there wasn’t, and hastening past the small family group she was out in the cold winter night in a flash, her curiosity about his background satisfied after seeing the happy family group.

As Darcey walked the short distance to her apartment loneliness was wrapping itself around her. It was something that she’d only experienced since Alex had gone, and having just seen the happy family group in the corridor it had hit her even more as she thought that she had been right in her surmise that Daniel Osbourne would have an attractive wife and adorable children, and didn’t begrudge him them. He was too charismatic and attractive not to have a family of his own.

* * *

Engrossed with his visitors, he hadn’t seen her coming swiftly towards them and by the time it registered she was past and going through the outer doors of the hospital into the night. As he gazed after her Daniel was conscious of her solitariness and hoped that there was someone else in Sister Darcey Howard’s life besides the unavailable young brother that she’d mentioned.

Cordelia and the children had been on their way home from the birthday party of one of their friends and as they’d had to pass the hospital she had taken them to see him briefly. When the passer-by had disappeared she asked, ‘Who was that, Daniel?’

‘The day sister in charge of the children’s ward,’ he replied briefly, and volunteered no further information because he had none, and once those he loved had said goodbye he didn’t wait long before calling it a day and returning to the familiar solitude of his apartment, which usually replaced the day’s strains and stresses with tranquillity, but not this time. He was restless, couldn’t settle, but wouldn’t admit to himself that it had anything to do with having watched Darcey leave without any assurance that once she had taken off the garments of her profession she wouldn’t be exploring the night life of the promenade on her own, as she had done the night before.

* * *

Daniel was not to know there was nothing further from Darcey’s mind. She was feeling low and lost, and after a snack followed by a shower Darcey went to bed and until drowsiness took her into sleep, she spent the time listening in vain for the phone to ring.

A fourth day had dawned with no more contact from Alex and as the three young men were staying anywhere they could with friends and relatives until flight time she was wishing she had been more adamant about him keeping in touch. But something new was appearing in her life as well as his. Alex was happy in the choices he was making, so why shouldn’t she be the same?

The opportunity was there that hadn’t been present before for her to experience something new in the form of a freedom of her own after all the years that she had cared so devotedly for her young brother. She had put him first in everything and suddenly that was no more, the need for it was gone.

But she still had to know that all was well with him before even contemplating anything else, and, as if he’d read her mind, just as she was about to go to present herself on the ward, Alex called. He told her that he hoped that she would be happy in her new job and that he would keep in touch when he could. To hear his voice was solace after the hours of anxiety that he had caused her.

* * *

Over recent days the smile with which the new ward sister greeted Daniel and his entourage on their arrival on the ward had been missing, but he saw that today there was a change, not totally but she was more relaxed, less pale and stressed than of late.When he stopped at the first bed in the ward, where its little occupant’s condition was causing concern, Darcey was as clear and confident as she always was when doing the rounds with him and was tuned in immediately to his comments, just the same as while he was examining the young girl who had suffered a spinal injury after falling off a swing the previous day and was in much pain.

At that moment the child was in a fretful doze, unaware that she was the centre of attention. Daniel read the notes clipped to the bottom of the bed and said, ‘Sister, I want this child to have a scan and some blood tests to check if there is some injury that hasn’t shown itself previously and has surfaced during the night.’

‘Yes, Mr Osbourne,’ she said levelly, and immediately sent for a porter to follow his instructions. Then, picking up her desk phone, she rang the parents of the injured child to explain there was a new development regarding their daughter’s accident, which came as a shock as they had been at her bedside until late the previous evening and had only left when she had fallen into a deep sleep that had indicated no cause for alarm.

But the little girl had awakened in a winter dawn feverish and in pain, and as the porter moved swiftly towards the ultrasound unit with the crying child on the trolley Daniel was close behind, having left his second-in-command to do the rest of the rounds in the children’s ward.

* * *

The doctor’s name was Brendan Stokes and Darcey braced herself to spend the next hour or so being patronised by him. He had already asked her for a date and been refused because he was arrogant and pushy, and it annoyed her that on something as important as caring for sick children he was still eyeing her up and down. While Daniel Osbourne was just the opposite, this one was the opportunist of all time, she thought.

But having seen the man on her mind in the corridor with his family the other day, it was easy to understand his contentment. With a wife and children of such a kind he must be totally happy. His interest in her would be merely keeping an eye on a newcomer to Oceans House, and as far as she was concerned looking after Alex all those years had left little time to make any commitments with the opposite sex.

There had been a couple of times in the past that she’d let herself be dated by local Romeos, but always Alexander had been her main concern, which had put a dampener on every occasion.

When Daniel came back, she observed him questioningly and he said with reasonable calm, ‘I was concerned that we might have missed something when the child was brought in, but there is nothing of that nature. It seems that she was in the process of developing a chest infection at the time of the accident and now it is making itself felt and causing her temperature to soar. Our young patient is on her way back to bed and I’ve put her on antibiotics to cope with it. So keep a close watch on her, Sister, and don’t hesitate to send for me if you have any more concerns about her.’

‘Yes, of course,’ she replied, ‘and I’ll make sure that the night staff are fully informed.’

He was looking around him and questioned, ‘Where is Dr Stokes? Has he done the rounds?’

‘Not quite,’ she told him, pointing to a small side ward off the main one.

‘Right,’ he replied. ‘I’ll join him,’ and as he turned to go, ‘Is all well with you?’

‘Ye-es,’ she said hesitatingly, and he glanced at her.

‘Are you sure? I’ve thought that you seemed to have lost some of your zest. The kind of work that the likes of us have to cope with can be wearing sometimes, to say the least.’

His concern was quickening her heartbeat and her colour was rising as she repeated that she was fine. Partly reassured, he left her and went to find his assistant and with his departure Darcey wondered what Daniel Osbourne would have said if she’d told him the reason for the melancholy in her that he had picked up on. He would probably have thought she was crazy to be so upset at the freedom that Alexander’s departure had given her.

When a couple of the nurses said they were going to go for a meal at a nearby restaurant on the promenade when they’d finished for the day and did she want to join them, she said yes, and thought that if Daniel saw her out and about he would have no cause to question her lowness of spirit.

Inevitably his name came up in the conversation during the meal as the three nurses chatted about their working day, and Darcey commented that it was to be hoped that the sailing club he was connected with didn’t meet every night or he wouldn’t have much time to spend with his family if both his days and nights were spoken for all the time.

The comment caused her two companions to observe her in surprise and they wasted no time in informing her that Dr Osbourne wasn’t married, that he was a free agent, and if he ever decided to change that situation there would be no shortage of would-be brides.

‘It would have been his sister and her children that you saw him with,’ they told her, and Darcey listened in amazement. ‘The dishy doctor was married way back, but it didn’t work out, from all accounts, and it seems that since then he has steered clear of matrimony with all its joys and sorrows, and gives all his attention to his sister’s children. You’ll know from seeing him on the wards how good he is with young ones.’

‘Er...yes,’ she agreed weakly, and thanked the unseen fates that had prevented her from saying anything out of turn to him. She’d been crazy to take it for granted that he was a family man that day, that the woman and children were his, and wondered what it was that had been the cause of his marriage break-up.

It was still early evening when Darcey arrived back at the apartment after the meal with the two nurses, and now, thinking back, it seemed a long time since her brief conversation with Daniel Osbourne after they’d done the ward rounds, but short as it had been there had been a oneness about it that had never been present before with any man she’d met.

* * *

The man on her mind had gone straight to the harbour after leaving Oceans House Hospital at the end of the day to enquire what progress the repairers were making with the damaged boat, and had been told by them that it would be at least a week before it was seaworthy again. With a grim nod Daniel had proceeded to the hospital where Ely was and had been relieved to find him much better.

The old man’s face lit up when he saw him and the first thing he said was, ‘I know about the boat, Daniel. Those young scallywags will get the length of my tongue when I get out of here. A couple of them came to visit me this morning and let the cat out of the bag because Bridget has been keeping quiet about it.’

‘Did they tell you that two of their friends are in Oceans House with injuries from the accident?’ Daniel questioned.

‘Aye, they did,’ he was told. ‘They’ll have to do better than that if they want to be in the lifeboat crew when they’re older. Has it been called out at all while I’ve been in here?’

‘No,’ his visitor said, ‘for which I’m thankful, as we both know the need for sea rescue can be sudden and dangerous to undertake, but at the moment all is calm.’ Daniel got to his feet. ‘I’m going to leave you now, Ely, and go for a bite at one of the places on the promenade to save me bothering when I get home. I’ll call to see you again soon and in the meantime take care.’

‘Aye,’ he agreed, ‘and you take care too. I’m expecting to be discharged in a week or so.’

As he drove along the promenade Daniel was half expecting to see Darcey Howard, as on other occasions, somewhere along the way, but not this time, and as he ordered a meal in his chosen restaurant the memory surfaced of how his second-in-command Brendan Stokes had been trying to chat her up when they’d arrived at the children’s ward that morning and how her lack of response had made him hide a smile.