The Nightingale Girls - By Donna Douglas Page 0,97
the dressmaker’s for a fitting that afternoon, but was determined to be back on the ward in time to keep her promise to Blanche.
She changed out of her uniform and ran to catch the bus up to Piccadilly. By the time she arrived, puffing for breath at the top of the stairs to the dressmaker’s atelier, Sophia’s cousin Margaret was already standing in the middle of the room wearing a calico toile of her bridesmaid’s dress while two of the dressmaker’s assistants knelt at her feet, busily pinning and adjusting.
Millie was surprised to see Georgina Farsley was also there.
‘She invited herself,’ Sophia whispered as she kissed Millie in greeting. ‘Thank God you turned up – I think she was about to offer to take your place.’
The dressmaker’s studio was a large, sunny, white-painted room looking out over Green Park. Millie gazed out over the well-dressed people strolling in the park and sighed happily. It felt almost decadent to be somewhere that didn’t smell of disinfectant, where there wasn’t always someone calling for her, or watching for her every mistake.
It felt just like old times, laughing and gossiping with Sophia as the dressmakers fitted her dress. Her friend, as she’d expected, was full of chatter about the plans for her forthcoming wedding.
‘We’re having it at St Margaret’s, of course. Mother’s already tying herself in knots, trying to make sure it’s the biggest and grandest wedding they’ve ever seen. I think she’d even try to outdo Princess Marina if she could!’
‘Oh, but she looked beautiful on her wedding day, didn’t she?’ Georgina sighed. ‘Edward Molyneux really did her proud with that design. So simple, but so stunning. Are you having a tiara like her, or flowers?’ she asked Sophia.
‘Flowers, I think. Although I dare say Mother has it all planned.’ Sophia smiled wistfully. ‘I don’t really care what I wear or where I get married, as long as I’m marrying David.’
‘And becoming the next Duchess of Cleveland,’ Georgina said eagerly.
The other girls looked at each other uneasily. ‘I’m not marrying him because of his title,’ Sophia said.
‘Of course you’re not,’ Georgina said quickly. ‘But it doesn’t hurt to have people referring to you as “Your Grace”, does it?’ She saw their expressions. ‘Oh, come on! What girl doesn’t want to marry a man with a title?’
‘Poor Seb,’ Millie whispered to Sophia as the dressmaker’s maid arrived with more tea. ‘He really doesn’t stand a chance, does he?’
‘She’s certainly determined,’ Sophia agreed.
‘I’m surprised she hasn’t set her sights on marrying Richard, if she’s so keen to marry into a title?’
‘She did, at first. But he made it clear he wasn’t interested, so she had to turn her attention to poor Seb instead. I think she’s secretly hoping a terrible accident will befall Richard once she and Seb are safely married.’
Millie was scandalised, until she remembered her grandmother would probably think in exactly the same way.
The conversation turned to Millie. Sophia and Margaret were horrified and fascinated when she told them all about her work on the Gynae ward.
Georgina looked repelled. ‘And you actually have to touch these women? With all those nasty diseases and things?’ She wrinkled her nose in disgust.
‘How else are we supposed to nurse them?’ Millie asked. ‘They’re just people, like the rest of us.’
‘Maybe, but I wouldn’t want to clean up after them. Can you imagine?’ Georgina shuddered.
Millie saw the looks of revulsion on her friends’ faces and realised they probably couldn’t imagine anything like it. Much as they enjoyed squirming and giggling over all the gruesome details, she knew they would never feel anything but horror at the idea of cleaning toilets or mopping up someone’s vomit.
Once she would have felt the same, but now, after a couple of months on the ward, she barely thought about it. It was only seeing her friends’ expressions that made her realise how distant she had grown from them. She had seen and experienced things they could never imagine in their worst nightmares.
And it worked the other way, too. As they gossiped about the latest scandal in their circle, and excitedly planned what they were going to wear to the next country house weekend, Millie couldn’t help feeling how trivial and tedious their lives were. She missed her old life back at Billinghurst, but she knew she would miss being a nurse even more.
After the fitting, the other girls were going for tea at Fortnum and Mason’s.