Nurse Saxon's Patient (13 page)

Julie turned from the telephone to find
Mrs.
Andy regarding her with a strange glance, half amused, half incredulous.

‘
Whatever was all that about?
’
the old lady asked quietly.
‘
She sounded in quite a state, but then Tansy usually does,
’
she ended with a little tolerant laugh.

‘
She has something to be in a state about this time.
’
Julie took the chair
Mrs.
Andy indicated by her side.
‘
She has an offer to accompany the band she works with to the States for a three-months
’
tour. They go in October. Tansy wondered if they might make this a—honeymoon trip.
’

‘
A
what
?’
Mrs.
Andy sat upright.
‘
Utter nonsense
!’
she said indignantly.
‘
It
’
s August in a week or so
’
s time. Garth will have weeks of massage and treatment. It will be September before he can hope to get working on the Development Scheme, and he must be with it from beginning to end. I never heard of such selfishness
...
and has Garth said anything at all about a wedding as yet?
’
she demanded.

‘
Not to me,
’
Julie said truthfully, wishing her colour would not betray her and that her heart would not thump quite so wildly at this discussion of a possible marriage between Garth and Tansy Maitland.

‘
And I heard you say you may not be able to go to the States yourself,
’
the old lady pressed on.
‘
Why should you? Leaving out your remarks about accompanying your brother back to Mexico.
’

‘
Tansy thought I may—it might be possible to
arrange—that I could go with them to carry on the massage and so on,
’
Julie said.

‘
Nonsense!
’
Mrs.
Andy rose to her feet.
‘
I shall have to have a word with
Mr.
Greensmith about
this
,
’
she decided.
‘
I don
’
t want Garth to leave here until he can go back
... to his office.
And I don
’
t want you to leave him to someone else
’
s ministrations, no matter how capable they may be. Mental attitudes have a great deal more to do with recovery in any illness than most people realize,
’
she said firmly.
‘
I have no doubt Matron will back me up in what I
’
m saying.
’

In the doorway Edna appeared with
a message that
Mr.
Greensmith requested Nurse Saxon
’
s presence, and with a murmured excuse to her hostess Julie left the room, but she had the uncomfortable feeling that the weekend ahead was to be fraught with tension, and no one, she reflected, could foretell the outcome after Tansy
’
s unexpected news and ideas.

Julie had no need to wait for Ian
’
s words to tell her that, so far, the treatment had proved all they had hoped for and more. Garth had spun round in the low chair in which he was seated to greet her as she entered the room, and one glance at his face told her how pleased he was with the work done for him towards recovery.

‘
Look, Julie,
’
he began before Ian had time to speak,
‘
m
y hand looks just the same, but much thinner
...
and white. We
’
ll soon cure that, once I
’
m back in the office.
’

‘
Not to run before we can walk, Garth,
’
Ian cautioned him, smiling.
‘
I
’
m delighted with the results so far
’
—he turned to Julie—
‘
but you must impress on this young man that there
’
s still a long way to go. We must persevere with the wax baths each day, at a
n
y rate for a time, with the massage and the exercises until the stiffness has gone. You have the exercises I wrote out for you?
’
he asked.

‘
Upstairs,
’
Julie told him.
‘
I think I
’
ll be able to follow your instructions all right.
’

‘
Then that
’
s splendid.
’
Ian smiled at them both.
‘
I
’
m very pleased indeed about the whole business,
’
he said firmly.
‘
You have a good nurse, Garth, and I
’
m certain she has had a good patient so far
...’

‘
If only
’
—Garth
’
s face clouded suddenly and Julie felt the dull fingers of apprehension
cl
utch her heart—
‘
I could remember more about that evening,
’
he frowned.
‘
I
’
ve a feeling somehow that all wasn
’
t well. I had a letter from the insurance company of the lorry this morning,
’
he confided to Ian,
‘
offering quite a fantastic sum in damages—compensation or something they call it. But if I could remember more about that evening I
’
d feel it was right to take it. As it is I keep wondering if I could have done anything to avoid what happened. Was I paying proper attention to my driving? Was I talking, acting a little bit foolishly, maybe?
’

‘
I don
’
t
think
so.
’
Ian spoke, noting Julie
’
s hesitation.
‘
You don
’
t strike me as that kind of person. In any event, it would be extremely difficult to avoid a trailer which had broken loose
...
in the circumstances, that is, ahead of you on a very steep hill. I can
’
t
think
what I
’
d have done myself, faced with such an emergency.
’

‘
Perhaps you
’
re right.
’
Garth gave a sigh.
‘
I
’
d like to show Aunt Lavinia how well I can use my fingers,
’
he suggested.
‘
I expect you want to talk to Julie and won
’
t require me any more just now. Do you mind if I pop along and find someone to show off to?
’

‘
By all means,
’
Ian smiled,
‘
but remember—not too much of the freelance usage of the limb
!
Exercises, graded and controlled to give the maximum benefit, are the next thing.
’

‘
I
’
ll remember,
’
Garth promised, and left them. They could hear him calling to
Mrs.
Crossman as he went into the other room.

‘
I
’
m glad he
’
s gone, Julie.
’
Ian was suddenly grave, and for a moment she wondered if he were about to tell her all was not well with Garth after all, but his first words dispelled that idea.
‘
I haven
’
t seen you alone—except for the odd moment or two—since you came to Woodlands.
’

‘
I came here to nurse Garth Holroyd,
’
Julie said primly and, she felt suddenly, a little unfairly.
‘
But —is there anything special you wanted to tell me, ask me, about the case?
’

‘
Not about the case, Julie,
’
Ian said gravely.
‘
A
bout ... us. Now you
’
ve been with Garth all this time there
’
s a definite change in your manner towards me, whether you
’
re aware of it or not
...
and I honestly don
’
t believe that you are. I
’
ve always found you an extremely truthful person. That was one of the things which first attracted me to you, your reports were so meticulous, so detailed and accurate in every way. Will you answer me one question truthfully
...
now, please?
’

‘
I will if I can,
’
Julie assured him, but she was suddenly aware that her throat had gone dry and that she was trembling slightly. She linked her fingers together in her lap so that Ian would not notice.

‘
Can you honestly sit there and tell me, as a woman now, not as a nurse, that you feel the same about Garth Holroyd now as you did on the day you accompanied him to Woodlands
?’
Ian asked gently.
‘
Don
’
t be afraid of hurting my feelings, Julie. I think I know what your answer must be.
’

‘
I
...’ J
ulie began, but Ian was right, she could not lie to him.
‘
I don
’
t
...’
she said lamely,
‘
feel the same about him, I mean. But
...
there
’
s Tansy—Miss Maitland—he
’
s an engaged man, remember.
’

‘
I do remember,
’
Ian
’
s tone was grave,
‘
and I also remember the truth about that engagement. When his memory returns in full—and it may do so at any time, or it may never return
—if
it does, how is he going to feel then if he finds himself engaged to the girl who had already handed him back her ring?
’

‘
Or married to her,
’
Julie said, so softly that Ian was not certain he had heard correctly.
‘
Tansy wants an early wedding,
’
she went on in the face of his bewildered glance.
‘
She rang up today to say she won
’
t be here until Saturday, she
’
s gone to London to make a recording. She told me then that the band has accepted an engagement to tour in the States for three months. The tour begins in October, and Tansy thought it would make a pleasant honeymoon trip. When I said Garth may still be having exercises and so on she suggested I went along too.
’

‘
The devil she did
!
’
Ian exploded with one of his rare outbursts of anger.
‘
Who does she think she is? First of all she drives everybody mad, wanting to see him, speak to
h
im
...
anything
to make herself a nuisance the night of the accident and the days and nights that immediately followed, then she pours out all her worries to you until she gets you almost in the same state she is in herself,
then
we discover why. Not because she
’
s madly in love with
him
or he with her, but because he
’
s won the Borough prize and, as his
fiancé
e, or better still as his wife, she can share in the glory and the importance and what-have-you. I never heard such a thing in my life
!
She knows she
’
s really getting him under false pretences—if she
does
get him, that is, and I rather think
tha
t
’
s up to you, Julie—and yet she
’
s not content to wait until he asks her to name the day. She wants to make certain of having her cake as well as eating it, or so it
appears
to me. She wants the trip to the States, but she
’
s afraid that once she
’
s away either he
’
ll grow tired of being alone or else his memory will return, and she
’
ll have lost
him
in either event.
’

‘
I don
’
t know,
’
Julie confessed miserably.
‘
I just don
’
t know what
’
s the best thing to do. I fully intended
a
sking
you to try and get Matron to send someone else in my place. I was going to ask to be taken off the case. Roger is coming home for a week—he
’
s flying and he
’
ll be here early Saturday morning, and I thought it would
be wonderful to go back with him, away from all this
...’

‘
Running away, Julie
?’
Ian asked softly.
‘
That isn
’
t like you. You can
’
t escape things—anything—by running away. Things which matter—things of the heart and mind—are always with you, and running away doesn
’
t solve that problem, as I am sure you know.
’

‘
I do know,
’
Julie confessed, and gave him a smile which tore at his heart, there was pathos and courage and hope and despair all intermingled in that one glance.
‘
It isn
’
t really a question of
...
running away. I want to be fair to
...
Garth as well. You know, just as I know, that a lot of patients fall in love with the girl who nurses them, just as women often fall in love with their doctors. But that isn
’
t the point. Garth isn
’
t wildly in love with Tansy. He shows it in a number of ways, but I
’
m quite sure he
’
ll never ask for his release. He
’
d feel he had let her down. There
’
d have to be another quarrel as serious as the one they had the
ni
ght
of the accident before he would take any such drastic step, and I
’
m certain Tansy won
’
t risk that sort of
thing
again.
’

‘
Because she wants to be
Mrs.
Garth Holroyd
—’
Ian was beginning, but Julie could not allow
him
to finish the sentence.

‘
Who are we to judge her
?’
she asked soberly.
‘
She may love him ... in her own way. She
’
s not a bad-hearted girl, rather the reverse. People are often attracted by their opposites in temperament, and this could quite well have happened to Tansy. Just because she lives and moves in a different sort of world from the one we know, the one Garth knows, it doesn
’
t mean she doesn
’
t love him, remember.
’

‘
If she loved him,
’
Ian insisted firmly,
‘
she wouldn
’
t have insisted on attending that particular party the night this happened.
If
she loved him, she would have made it her business to know enough about him to be aware of what was at stake, what news he was hoping to receive that made him as nervous
“
as a star on a first night” was how she phrased it, I believe. She would have shared something of his hopes and fears, something of his plans for their mutual future, instead of concentrating on her proposed singing tour in the States with him tagging along beside her like some pet puppy on a leash f In any case,
’
he ended belligerently,
‘
I don
’
t suppose he would go. Has she asked him yet?
’

‘
I don
’
t think so,
’
Julie confessed.
‘
It
’
s all rather in the air at the moment, I gather. I think a great deal depends on what you have to say about his recovery and so on.
’

‘
I say no, most definitely,
’
Ian said crisply.
‘
To drag him off there when he
’
ll be fretting about the amount of time he has lost already would be most unfair, and you know it, Julie Saxon, no matter how you try to hedge and put up a case for this other girl. That
’
s one thing I can
’
t understand about you,
’
he confessed, running his hand through his hair and, for the first time since she had known
him
, presenting himself rumpled, ruffled and puzzled, more, she thought whimsically, like an average man and not like the self-sufficient, important and controlled surgeon she knew him to be.
‘
Most girls wouldn
’
t worry about Tansy Maitland,
’
he went on.
‘
I look at the two of you together—you and Garth—and I can see for myself the change in you both since you came to Woodlands. He looks to you, Julie, for more than your skilled care. He looks to you because you
’
ve given him back his courage, his belief in himself and his own capabilities, and you
’
ve given him the incentive to fight for full recovery. No wonder he looks at you with the eyes of a man deeply in love.
’

‘
You have
n
o right to say that, Ian.
’
The ready colour had flushed Julie
’
s cheeks to a becoming deep pink, and although her voice was low and controlled it was vibrant with indignation.
‘
He looks at me as most male patients look on their nurse—as Jack Porter looked at me when I persuaded him to try his leg and prove he could walk again, and he did. They forget the work of the surgeon who made the miracle possible, they remember only the nurse who specialled the case and whom they saw most of their waking hours. It
’
s gratitude, thankfulness, call it what you will.
’

‘
But sometimes, as in this case, which had its beginnings at the Hospital Ball on New Year
’
s Eve—remember, Julie—it
’
s love,
’
Ian said softly.
‘
Listen, my dear. I
’
m not by nature a self-sacrificing man, but I wouldn
’
t want a wife whose heart belonged to someone else, especially if that someone else loved her in return. I
’
m going to ask you now, Julie, for the last time, will you ma
rr
y me? If your answer is still no I shall never ask you again, but if
...
things go wrong for you, if Tansy ma
rri
es Garth Holroyd and in time you change your mind, you must come to me. I shall never change, I shall always want you, and I
’
ll always be ready to have you, b
u
t this is the last time I shall ask you to marry me, and I want you to think well before you answer
...
please, my dear.
’