Nurse Saxon's Patient (3 page)

Julie nodded.
‘
I have it,
’
she assured the other girl.
‘
Don
’
t forget, if you have a sudden call from your agent
o
r whoever it is, leave word where you can be contacted.
’

‘
It would have to be something important to get me away from here right now,
’
Tansy commented. Julie smiled and turned away, but she had only gone halfway down the corridor when Tansy came running after her.

‘
Nurse,
’
she began, her tone curiously agitated as it had been when Julie first encountered her,
‘
what about Garth
’
s car
?
Where is it, and how badly is it damaged
?’

‘
I don
’
t know quite where it is,
’
Julie told her truthfully,
‘
but I should imagine it
’
s in Bell
’
s garage. The police took it away after the accident. They and the insurance companies—that is
Mr.
Holroyd
’
s company
and the one used by the owner of the lorry wanted to
examine it, of course. Why? He won
’
t want to hear about
that
the moment he comes round, I assure you,
’
she said,
smiling,
but there was no answering smile on the face of the girl who stood before her.

‘
Would they let me see it, do you think?
’
she asked.
‘
I
...
they
’
ve
got
to. I left something of mine in the car; something very valuable. I
must
see if it
’
s still there.
’

‘
I don
’
t know much about those matters,
’
Julie confessed, glancing at her watch and noting that sh
e
was due in Emergency Three where Nurse Stephenson was awaiting her relief,
‘
but
Mr.
Greensmith may be able to help you. He
’
s very kind, and if it can be arranged for you to get whatever it is I
’
m sure he
’
ll do that for you,
’
she ended sympathetically.

Tansy thanked her and hurried away, her sharp high heels tapping along the corridor in a manner, Julie reflected, that would have made Matron shudder had she heard it. Julie smiled to herself as she turned to take up her duty. She had seen quite a bit of Miss Tansy Maitland during the past five days, and although there was something she could not understand about the girl she could quite see why almost any man would be attracted by her. She was like a kitten, Julie decided, a soft, playful little ginger kitten, but—her smile disappeared
and a small frown took its place—she, like
Mrs.
Andy, could not understand how a serious and dedicated person like Garth Holroyd had managed to get himself engaged to someone like Tansy Maitland.

They
’
re poles apart, Julie decided, turning into the small white room. Especially their work
...

It had been something of a shock to discover that Tansy earned her living—and a fairly good one too—as an entertainer, singing
‘
pop
’
songs with a local band. She had appeared once or twice on television, and that, Julie had decided, must have been where she had seen her before, but she still seemed an odd sort of choice for a young man who had talked so expertly on planned houses, time-and-motion saving in the
modern
kitchen and all manner of things which Julie felt certain would not interest Tansy.

‘
No change,
’
Isobel Stephenson murmured as she prepared to leave.
‘
I wish he
’
d regain consciousness.
’

‘
He will,
’
Julie said with far more assurance than she felt.
‘
It
’
s just a matter of time.
’

‘
But how much time?
’
Isobel asked.
‘
These cases hav
e
been known to continue for months.
’

‘
We can only wait,
’
Julie said, and her heart added, And pray. He needs all the prayers we can offer
...
but Isobel left, and Julie kept her thoughts to herself.

She bent over her patient. Certainly he looked stronger. His temperature chart did not appear nearly so erratic as in the first few days, and his pulse was stronger too. She stooped to smooth the top sheet, and as she did so she was abruptly conscious that his eyes were open and that he was staring at her with a puzzled expression. Instantly she bent over him, smiling her professional reassurance.

‘
It
’
s all right,
Mr.
Holroyd,
’
she said gently.
‘
You
’
re quite safe. You
’
re in St
.
Luke
’
s Hospital. There was an accident and you
’
ve been hurt, but you
’
re going to be all right.
’

‘
My head?
’
The words seemed half strangled in his throat and he began to struggle hard in an effort to sit upright. Gently Julie restrained him. Her orders were to contact Ian the moment her patient returned to consciousness.
‘
Lie still for a moment,
’
she ordered, picking up the telephone and giving her message for Ian.
‘
Now
—’
She was back at the bedside again, restraining him so gently that he was scarcely aware of being held back.
‘
We
’ll
see what
Mr.
Greensmith, the surgeon who is looking after your case, has to say before I allow you to sit up.
’

‘
My hands
!’
Julie felt she would never forget the despair, the horror in his voice as he held up the two bandaged hands.
‘
What happened, Nurse
?
What happened to my hands?
’

‘
Just cuts and bruises,
’
Julie told him soothingly.
‘
I tell you again,
Mr.
Holroyd, you
’
ll soon be all right. Just relax and rest, and wait for
Mr.
Greensmith
...’

‘
I know you, don
’
t I?
’
The words were totally unexpected.
‘
Don
’
t tell me I
’
m wrong
...’
He was beginning to grow agitated.
‘
Were you with me when—it happened? I know your face
.
.
. I—we were at some sort of party, I think. No, it was a dance. That was it. You were wearing a blue dress and you had a big pink rose just at your throat
...’

Startled, Julie suddenly realized he was describing the dress she had worn for the Hospital Ball on New Year
’
s Eve, the night they had talked so much together and he had asked her for a date. For the first time she wished desperately that Ian would walk in. He would know what to say, how best to deal with this unexpected development, but apparently Ian had been delayed.

‘
I
do
know you.
’
He was becoming more insistent, more agitated with every passing second.
‘
I could never forget your face. It
’
s not a face
to
forget! We talked about my housing plan for the new development scheme.
’

‘
That
’
s right.
’
She spoke as soothingly as to a child in the throes of a nightmare.
‘
But that was six months ago, at the New Year Hospital Ball. It
’
s June now. I wasn
’
t with you last night, but you
’
re right about everything else. There was a girl with you, and she
’
s all right
...
not even bruised. You saved her. That
’
s how you come to be so cut and bruised yourself. You shielded her
...’
But he had drifted off again, although this time, Julie was thankful to see, into his first natural sleep since the accident had happened.

‘
Call me when he wakens,
’
Ian told her a few minutes later, disappointed because he had not been there during the few moments Garth had been talking.
‘
He may have recovered more of his memory after a natural sleep. It will be time enough to call that girl friend of his when he has had a little rest! It
’
s strange, though,
’
he eyed Julie closely and she wished she had not felt it her duty to report in full the brief conversation with her patient,
‘
that he should remember
you
—what you wore, what you talked about, what you looked like all those months ago, and still he hasn
’
t mentioned the girl who was with him, the girl who says she is his
fiancée
.
’

‘
I expect it
’
s because mine was the first face he saw when he recovered consciousness,
’
Julie offered in explanation, but even in her own ears the words sounded unconvincing.
‘
That and the fact that we
did
talk a great deal about his plans for the new development scheme, and that must have been in his mind a lot lately. I wonder
’
—the thought struck her suddenly—
‘
if he knows he won? Nurse Stephenson said Miss Maitland didn
’
t know until she told her. It wasn
’
t made a public announcement until the morning paper came out
...
after the accident happened, after the party or whatever it was he
’
d been to was all over.
’

‘
There
’
ll probably be a letter waiting for him at his home,
’
Ian said thoughtfully.
‘
We
’
ll see how he is when he wakens. I think we can reassure him about his hands, and that will give him the incentive to obey orders until he has recovered sufficiently to take up his new position,
’
he added.
‘
Don
’
t tell him anything, not even if he asks, which I doubt if he will do. I
’
ll find out first how he reacts to the knowledge of the length of time it
’
s going to take to get back the full use of his fingers.
’

Julie was almost ready to come off duty when Garth opened his eyes again. The relief in their depths was unmistakable when he turned his head and saw her still sitting there.

‘
I thought you were a dream,
’
he said shyly.
‘
I couldn
’
t be sure
...’

Julie pressed the bell and sent the student nurse who came hurrying to answer its summons in search of Ian. By the time she had given Garth the drink he asked for, Ian was with them and there was no time for more conversation, wh
i
ch was both a relief and a disappointment strangely mingled. As they had anticipated, his first question was about his hands and his future career. All Julie
’
s sincere admiration and respect for Ian rose to the surface as she heard him say that
‘
there will be no need to worry, providing you
’
re willing to obey orders for some time. Your hands will, eventually, be as good as ever they were, but it
will
take time. We
’
ve performed a slight operation, but you
’
ve been very lucky. The cuts were the worst t
hings
we had to contend with, and the plastic surgery boys have done a fine job there. You will have wax baths for your hands, massage, exercises, and you
must
conform religiously to the set rules. I
’
m sure then that in time you will be able to forget that your hands were ever damaged at all. But you
must
do as you are told, and when you pause to consider that I
’
m talking to the winner of the new plan for the Civic Development Scheme,
’
he was, Julie realized, choosing his words with deliberation,
‘
you will realize just how much is at stake and remember that every time you find an order or an exercise irksome.
’

There was no mistaking Garth
’
s delight, his resolve to do everything in his power to aid the work of the doctors and nurses, but
_;
Julie realized, so far there had been no mention of Tansy, no word of what might have happened just before the accident and which was obviously causing her so much distress. He turned his head on the pillow suddenly and looked directly at Julie.

‘
Nurse,
’
he said fretfully,
‘
you said there was someone with me. A girl. That I saved her. Where is she? Can I see her? It
’
s funny
’
—she could half see, half sense his frown under
the
bandages—
‘
but I
do
remember a girl, a pretty lad
y
with chestnut curls all over her head, but I don
’
t remember her being with me or anything about the accident at all. I don
’
t remember much, except that there had been some sort of a party. It
’
s all mixed up, because I thought at first you were there, but it wasn
’
t your sort of a party. I
’
m sure of that now. I don
’
t understand it
...’

Ian gave her a signal and Julie moved over to give her patient a sedative and to soothe
him
down, since to become agitated would be the worst possible thing in the circumstances. When he was drifting off to sleep again Ian smiled down at her, the queer, lopsided smile which never gave away quite what he was thinking.

‘
You
’
d better let Miss Maitland know she can come in tomorrow,
’
he said quietly,
‘
but warn her that he may not recognize her. Tell her that whatever is worrying her about the moment of the accident is, temporarily at any rate, wiped from his memory. But I wouldn
’
t,
’
he paused at the door before opening it to leave, as though to give added weight to his words,
‘
tell the girl that he remembers
you,
what you wore—even to the rose—what you talked about just six months ago, and doesn
’
t even appear to remember his
fiancée
even exists
!’