Celia gasped when the siren blared out its alarm. She heard footsteps running and saw one of the doctors hurrying in her direction.
‘What’s happened?’ she asked, looking up to the sky, terrified in case they were being warned of an impending Zeppelin attack.
‘An escape attempt,’ the doctor said, frowning. ‘This isn’t the first time, I gather, but it seems that this time they might have made it to the other side of the electric fencing.’ He shook his head. ‘Where they think they’re going to on an island completely surrounded by the sea I’ve no idea, but I suppose they feel the need to try.’
‘Do we know yet how many? And how they managed it?’
‘Three, I believe. Dug a tunnel, which in my mind is stupidly dangerous when you think that this camp is built on a base of sand.’
Celia couldn’t help but feel sorry for the prisoners who had more than likely wasted their time digging their tunnel. ‘I imagine they’ll be back here soon,’ she said, hoping none were hurt during their escape. The forty-four beds in the hospital were already almost at full capacity and she had hoped to have some time relaxing over the Christmas period.
She thought of Otto and hoped that he hadn’t been silly enough to be one of the escapees. His leg still had a long way to go before it was fully healed and she doubted he would be able to crawl through a tunnel, let alone walk quickly enough to get away and hide once on the other side of the fence. All the same, she wanted to check that he was still in the hospital where he should be.
She reached the ward and opened the door, looking directly at his bed to check he was there and still safe. He was.
His eyes were wide and he cried out when he saw her. Thank heavens she had thought to come here. He looked bewildered.
‘Why is a siren sounding?’
Another two of the patients shouted something to her in German. She could see they were all a little panicked and she understood why. Most of them weren’t well enough to get to safety if the place was bombed and they were hoping for some reassurance.
‘It’s fine,’ she said, raising her hands. ‘A few prisoners have escaped.’
One of the men cheered and Celia sent him a quelling look. ‘They will be caught soon and brought back here.’
‘How do you know this? Maybe they will remain free?’ Otto asked quietly.
Celia shrugged. ‘Only if they have a boat hidden away somewhere,’ she said. ‘That’s the only way they’re going to get away from the island.’ She sighed. ‘Anyway, here is probably the safest place to be right now, I imagine. You’re fed well, have decent accommodation and once your leg is healed, you’ll be able to join the others outside in games of rounders and football.’
He gave her a sad smile. ‘I have no love for sport,’ he said. ‘Books are what give me the most pleasure. Or at least they were … until I was sent here.’ Celia could see his attraction for her in his gaze.
Looking away, she glanced over to the other men in their beds, grateful that none of them seemed interested in anything she and Otto were discussing.
‘Celia,’ Otto whispered.
‘Is something the matter?’ she asked, wondering if his wound hurt.
‘Nothing is wrong,’ he said, his voice quiet. ‘I am always feeling well when you are near to me.’ He took the tips of her fingers in his. ‘I do resent that we are unable to show our true feelings to each other, though. To be together.’
‘What are you doing?’ she whispered, snatching her hand from his touch. ‘Don’t you know how dangerous this could be for me if anyone was to catch us? Catch me?’
His gaze fell from hers. ‘I am sorry. I only meant to let you know how much I care for you.’
Guilt coursed through Celia, replacing her fear of discovery. ‘No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap, but you’re putting me in a terrible position.’
‘I do not wish to cause you harm, Celia,’ he said. ‘But I have never felt like I do about you for anyone before. It is making me forget myself.’
His thumb grazed lightly over the back of her fingers and the look in his eyes softened. ‘I thought you felt as deeply for me. Is that not the case?’
She bit her lower lip to stop from blurting out her true feelings. ‘I am your nurse, Otto. I must remember that and not allow myself to give in to my feelings for you, whatever they may be.’
‘I understand.’ He gave her fingers a gentle tug and she moved slightly closer to him, her heart racing. ‘But I am determined to show you that my feelings for you are real and that there is a future for us.’
She could see he meant everything he was saying despite how impossible it might seem for them to even consider being together. ‘How?’
‘I do not know yet, but I will think of something.’
She smiled at him, sensing that if anyone could make it happen, this decent, powerfully built man would be the one to do it. She rested her free hand on top of his. ‘Then I’ll hold you to that.’ When he frowned in confusion, she added, ‘I expect you will find a way to make it happen. When the war is over and we are no longer classed as enemies.’ Forgetting herself for a moment, she lifted his hand and kissed the skin on the back of it.
‘Celia!’
Hearing Elsie’s startled voice, Celia dropped Otto’s hand as if it had stung her and spun on her heels to face her. Elsie’s mouth hung open in shock as she stared at Celia, and several other patients were also now staring at her and Otto, wondering what they had missed. At least Sister wasn’t there, she thought, relieved. She glanced down at Otto, unable to miss the horror in his eyes at being discovered.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Celia whispered. ‘I must go to her and try to explain my actions.’
‘Is there anything to explain?’ he asked before closing his eyes and shaking his head slowly. ‘Please, take no notice of me. I do not know what I am saying. Go to the nurse and tell her that I am not a bad man.’
‘You are the best of men,’ she whispered, wishing she didn’t have to leave him.
‘Go, my love. I will still be here when you are finished.’ He smiled at his feeble joke but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Why did Elsie, of all people, have to walk in at that particular moment?
‘I can’t leave the ward right now,’ Celia said quietly to her colleague.
‘But I want to speak to you. Now.’
Celia hated the sense of dread filling her chest. ‘I know you do, but as I said, I’m unable to leave here until Sister Evans returns, and that could be some time yet.’
Maybe Elsie would calm down slightly if she was unable to confront her for several more hours, Celia thought hopefully. She doubted it.
When Elsie didn’t speak Celia realised she needed to act fast. Find some way to placate the nasty woman before things got out of hand. Celia took Elsie’s arm and led her to the doorway, keeping their backs to the patients and her voice low. ‘I know you think you saw something terrible…’
‘I did see something terrible, Celia,’ Elsie snapped. ‘I saw a fellow British nurse kissing an enemy soldier, that’s what I saw.’