Chapter Fifty-Three

By midday on New Year’s Eve many of the nurses had left to spend time with their families and they were all in high spirits. This was the first New Year celebration since the end of the war and they were all looking forward to it.

Earlier in the morning, Holly had phoned home and spoken to her family, and in the hospital the atmosphere was light. They were expecting a lot of visitors that day as the families of the patients who were not well enough to go home would be coming to see them, so the nurses on duty knew they were going to be busy.

At lunchtime, those that were able to ate in the dining room. The cook had made a special dinner, which was enjoyed by all. When it was over the patients piled into the day room and the visitors started to arrive.

The nurses ran to and fro serving tea and coffee and home-made cakes and biscuits to those that wanted them while the men flirted shamelessly with them and did their best to pinch an early New Year’s kiss. No one minded. It was nice to see the patients looking so happy. With the threat of being returned to the front no longer hanging over them, they could relax and enjoy the thought of going home soon.

Richard was looking much better, Holly noted, when she checked on him shortly after lunch. He was even managing to sit up in bed now. After living on a starvation diet in the prisoner-of-war camp for so long he was being fed little and often and it was clearly doing the trick.

‘So I suppose you’ll be off to a party tonight,’ he said as Holly took his temperature. She was relieved to see that it was almost back to normal now and noted it on his chart.

‘I should be so lucky,’ she quipped with a grin. ‘All the nurses on duty will be doing a double shift until the others come back in the morning.’

‘That’s tough.’ She could feel him watching her as she straightened the bedclothes and she felt colour creep into her cheeks, she couldn’t help being drawn to him, no matter how hopeless their situation was. There was a tap on the door and a young nurse stuck her head into the room. ‘There are two visitors here for you, Dr Parkin. Shall I send them in?’

‘Yes, please.’

Holly made for the door to give him some privacy and she was almost there when Richard’s mother arrived with an ecstatic smile on her face and holding a large bag full of treats.

‘Oh, sweetheart, it’s so wonderful to see you. There were times when I never thought I would!’ Her eyes settled briefly on Holly and she frowned. She was sure she had seen her somewhere before, but where?

Holly moved on as a second visitor appeared behind her and now it was Holly’s turn to be confused. It was Melissa, the young woman she had seen Richard strolling with on the day she had visited Miss May in London. She was so pretty that Holly would have recognised her anywhere. Once out of the room she shook her head. Why should she be surprised to see her there? she asked herself. She was his young lady so obviously she would want to come and visit him. A stab of jealousy shot through her as she pictured them together and she tried to push the image from her mind. It wouldn’t do to give in to her feelings today of all days when she and the rest of the staff were so busy.