The Nightingale Girls - By Donna Douglas Page 0,131

with your mother. I will find another nurse to cover the rest of your shift.’

‘If it’s all the same to you, Sister, I would like to come back on duty at five,’ Doyle replied.

Sister Holmes frowned. ‘Don’t you want to be with your family, under the circumstances?’

Doyle shook her head. ‘Mum will have my nan and the kids with her, she won’t need me. And I’d like to keep myself busy.’

‘Of course. I understand.’

As she looked into the girl’s calm green eyes, she wondered if Doyle really had taken in the news. Because if she didn’t know better, she could almost believe that Dora Doyle really didn’t care.

Outside on the front steps of the hospital, Josie was waiting for them. She jumped up as soon as she saw them.

‘Is he—?’

Dora shook her head. ‘He’s still in theatre. We won’t know anything for a few hours.’

She saw the flare of disappointment in Josie’s face, quickly masked.

‘Thank God I was there,’ Rose Doyle said. ‘When I think about what might have happened if I’d still been away at our Brenda’s—’ She shuddered. ‘Poor Alf. He’s been complaining of those pains for weeks. I told him to go the doctor but he wouldn’t have it. He’s never trusted doctors and hospitals . . .’ she trailed off, choking back a sob. ‘What if anything happens to him?’

‘Shh, Mum. Don’t take on.’ Dora put her arm around her mother’s shoulders. ‘Mr Dwyer is a top surgeon. He’ll look after Alf.’

‘I just wish there was something I could do . . .’ She fumbled in her coat pocket for a crumpled handkerchief. ‘I s’pose all we can do now is pray.’

Dora caught Josie’s eye. She knew what her sister would be praying for. She’d prayed for the same thing herself, night after night, since she was fourteen years old.

‘You should go home,’ she said.

‘Oh no, I’m not going anywhere until my Alf is out of surgery and I know he’s all right.’

‘You heard what Sister Holmes said. It could be hours. You need to get some rest. I can let you know as soon as I hear anything.’

‘She’s right, Mum,’ Josie said. ‘We should let the others know what’s going on.’

‘I suppose you’re right.’ Rose looked at Dora beseechingly. ‘You will let me know, won’t you love? Whatever the news is, I’d rather hear it from you.’

After they’d gone, Dora went round to the patch of waste ground behind the nurses’ home, where the nurses hid out to smoke. She was glad the other nurses were still on duty and she had it to herself. She needed to be alone to think.

Her hand shook as she held the match to the tip of her cigarette. She couldn’t stop thinking of Alf, lying on that operating table. In her mind, she saw the surgeon opening him up and inspecting the damage to the abdominal cavity and peritoneum. If the appendix was intact, even if it was gangrenous, then it would be a relatively simple procedure to remove it. But if it had ruptured, or perforated during the operation, then it would spread poison all through the abdominal cavity which could kill Alf . . .

She exhaled, narrowing her eyes against the smoke from her cigarette. She felt guilty for even having such a thought. She was a nurse now. She was supposed to save lives, not pray for them to end.

She heard footsteps approaching and swung around to see Nick Riley heading down the narrow, overgrown pathway that led to the waste ground.

He stopped dead when he saw her, his expression darkening.

‘Sorry,’ he said gruffly. ‘I didn’t know you were here.’

‘Nick, wait—’ Dora called out to him, but he turned and immediately started heading off back down the weed-covered track, his head down as if he couldn’t wait to get away from her.

She knew why Nick was avoiding her. It was the same reason he’d ignored her every day for the past week. She’d hurt his pride when she’d rejected him that night Josie went missing.

If only he knew how much she regretted what she’d done. She wished she could explain why she’d pushed him away, to make him understand how Alf had destroyed her trust in any man. But she knew she never would. Like Josie, her terrible secret would stay locked inside her forever.

And Nick would just have to go on hating her.

Nick cursed himself silently. He wished he hadn’t ignored Dora like that. But every time he saw her he remembered that night