32. The Cottage Hospital

As Emily and Gloria waited rather tensely for Jeannie to arrive to take Isla home, Gloria said, ‘Thank God Isla’s not leaving Mary Vale on Christmas Eve – what with the play – and now the blinkin’ donkey – I don’t think I could take one more thing!’

‘That boy of yours should be sent to Berlin to deal with Hitler – he’d sort him out in no time!’ Emily chuckled.

‘I blame Sister Mary Paul for indulging Robin’s every whim,’ Gloria said fondly. ‘It turns out she was the one who introduced him to the farmer – and she’s the one that’s cleared a shed in the back garden for Big Ears – that’s the donkey’s name, by the way.’

By this time both women were in convulsions of laughter.

‘Are we really going to have a donkey trot into the chapel on Christmas Eve?’ Emily said, mopping tears of laughter from her eyes.

‘Have you seen Sister Mary Paul’s camel outfit?’ Gloria giggled. ‘Talk about getting the hump!’

Emily clutched her stomach. ‘For heaven’s sake – stop it!’ she begged. ‘I shall go into labour if I laugh any more.’

They quickly sobered up when they saw a car pulling into the drive of Mary Vale.

‘Oh, God! Jeannie’s here already,’ Emily gasped.

‘We must be brave for Isla’s sake,’ Gloria whispered urgently.

‘Brave is the last thing I feel,’ Emily confessed. ‘God only knows how Isla’s feeling right now, poor kid.’

When Ada saw Jeannie arriving, she hurried to the nursery, where she knew she’d find Isla. Looking down on her sweetly sleeping daughter, who had the faintest shadow of a smile playing at the edges of her lips, Isla was blinking back tears.

‘I don’t want to leave her,’ she blurted out when she saw Ada. ‘I never thought I would love her the way I do.’

Ada, who’d seen many a young woman in the same heartbroken state, quickly moved Isla away from the sleeping baby.

‘I promise you we’ll take the greatest care of her,’ she said fervently to the weeping mother, who, after taking one last lingering glance at her baby, fled the nursery in floods of tears.

In the bedroom that she was just about to vacate, Isla hugged Emily and Gloria in turn.

‘Goodbye, goodbye,’ she cried. ‘I could never have got through these last months without you both.’

Also in tears, Emily burst out, ‘And how would we have survived without YOU, Isla?’

‘We’ll keep in touch,’ Gloria assured Isla, who was being firmly shepherded out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the front door by Jeannie. ‘Goodbye!’

Downstairs, Jeannie whispered to Ada, ‘I need to get her away as quickly as possible; otherwise she’ll be hysterical all the way home.’

As Isla walked out of Mary Vale, she recalled the moment of walking in, with Heather safely inside her; now that her baby was born, she no longer had any claim over the daughter she’d grown to love. Taking one last look at the Home, she climbed into the car before she could run back inside to grab her baby – as she so longed to do.

‘Drive carefully,’ Ada said, quickly slamming the door; then, with a quick wave, Jeannie roared away in a swirl of falling snowflakes.

When Isla had gone, Emily returned to the bedroom she had shared with Isla and also Nancy when she had first arrived at Mary Vale months ago. As she stood in the cold, echoing room, she smiled softly as she recalled Daphne’s hooting laughter combined with Nancy’s nervous giggles. How she missed them both; but how much more would she miss Isla. They’d been through so much together – not just their pregnancies but the perilous adventure they’d had on the stormy marsh the day they’d saved Shirley’s life. She hoped they would remain friends for the rest of their lives, but she realized that keeping her baby would inevitably put a strain on their friendship. If Isla were to see Emily’s baby grow up, how could she not make painful comparisons. How could she not think that her Heather would be the same age? Determined to shake morbid thoughts from her mind, Emily walked over to the window, which gave spectacular views of the fells etched out in dark silhouette against the sharp winter light.

‘Isla might have left but Heather’s still here, and I owe her a duty: I will watch and protect her every minute she’s in Mary Vale – this time, I will NOT let an innocent child down,’ she vowed.

Thoughtful Ada was concerned that, until the new arrivals appeared, Emily might start to feel lonely left on her own in the big bedroom, so she suggested that she move closer to Gloria and Robin.

‘There’s a large single room on the same corridor as Gloria and Robin,’ she told Emily, who instantly liked her idea.

By dinner-time she’d moved into the comfortable room and looked a lot more cheerful for it.

‘I was beginning to get gloomy,’ she confessed.

‘You won’t be gloomy for long with Robin around,’ Gloria chuckled. ‘He’ll have you on donkey duty before you know it!’

‘Actually’ – Emily dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, ‘Now that Isla’s gone, I’m on another kind of duty – I’m keeping an eye on Heather,’ she confessed.

Gloria gave her a sideways glance. ‘That makes two of us,’ she said with a sly smile.

Christmas Eve dawned bright and beautiful. Half the residents of Mary Vale were awakened at dawn by Big Ears braying loudly and continually, until Sister Mary Paul and Robin arrived with his breakfast, after which he was taken into a section of the garden cordoned off exclusively for his use.

‘Father Christmas is coming tonight, Merry Paul!’ Robin chanted as he literally danced up and down, wild with excitement.

‘And Baby Jesus too,’ the smiling nun reminded him.

Wide-eyed and suddenly still, Robin asked, ‘Will Mummy’s baby come tonight with Jesus?’

‘Mummy’s got a few more weeks to go before her baby’s born,’ Sister Mary Paul gently explained. ‘Hopefully, no babies will be born at Mary Vale tonight and we can all enjoy ourselves singing carols in the chapel once it goes dark.’

In various parts of the Home, watchful eyes continued to follow Matron’s every movement. When she bustled into the nursery with Dr Jones, Ada hovered over Heather like a protective mother hen, while Shirley, as usual mopping the hospital floor, moved in closer to hear what was going on, and Sister Ann pretended to be busy reading notes at the nearby nursing station. The three women, alert for any misdemeanours, were taken aback when Dr Jones (sufficiently prepped by Matron) announced that he’d like to give Heather a full examination.

‘Why?’ Ada asked.

‘I shan’t be visiting the Home over the Christmas holidays, unless there’s an emergency,’ he replied. ‘So, if it’s not too inconvenient, Sister, I’d be grateful if I can examine the child now. If all is well, I can close her medical file in readiness for her to be collected by her adoptive parents.’

Ada trusted the drunken doctor as far as she could throw him.

‘I’d like to attend while you perform the examination,’ she said curtly.

After a cursory examination, with Ada breathing down his neck, Dr Jones nervously cleared his throat. ‘The child appears to have something wrong with her right arm.’

Completely astonished, Ada protested. ‘She was perfectly all right this morning when I fed and changed her.’

‘Well, she’s not all right now,’ Jones said, nodding in the direction of Heather, who, after his clumsy examination, was howling furiously. Turning to Matron, he said sharply, ‘I suspect she’s got a fracture.’

Matron rolled her eyes in deep disapproval. ‘It doesn’t surprise me, Doctor. Some of the girls are quite careless with the new-borns, throwing them around as if they were nothing more than bags of sugar.’

Though Ada bridled at her waspish comment, her thoughts were entirely on the upset baby, who was now sobbing her little heart out. Catching sight of Sister Ann’s tense face and Shirley watching wide-eyed with fear, Ada made a move to pick up the baby.

‘I think she might need changing,’ she said briskly.

‘Not so hasty, Sister,’ interjected the doctor. ‘With your permission, Matron, I’d like to take the child immediately to the cottage hospital for an X-ray.’

Matron put a hand to her face before she gushed, ‘Of course, Doctor. We can’t leave her in pain all over Christmas.’

Ada’s blood boiled; this was exactly what she had vowed would not happen and yet, before her very eyes, Heather was on the point of being removed from Mary Vale, just like the other two babies who’d been in her care. Striding forwards, she said in an over-loud voice, ‘NO!’

Astonished, Matron and Dr Jones glared at her.

‘Excuse me, Sister!’ Matron snapped.

‘Are you saying, Sister, that you don’t agree with my diagnosis?’ Jones queried.

Ada swallowed hard. ‘Yes, I am,’ she declared. ‘I am quite sure Heather doesn’t have a fracture and I would prefer it if the child stayed here to be nursed. Sister Ann and I could arrange round-the-clock care, just as Matron did when Tom had measles,’ she added pointedly.

Holding her breath, Ada could almost see Matron’s hackles rise.

‘Well, well, well,’ she mocked. ‘Rarely in my working life have I seen such a gross display of poor practice.’ Turning to Jones, she threw up her arms in a dramatic show of displeasure. ‘It would seem, Doctor, that our senior nurse would prefer to see the poor child crying in pain here rather than having specialist treatment for her injury elsewhere.’

Picking up on Matron’s tone, Jones shook his head in seeming despair. ‘For the child’s sake, Matron, you might have to override Sister Dale’s determination to keep her under Mary Vale’s roof; as you yourself just said, she needs specialist care – and she needs it urgently.’

Wide-eyed with terror, and with every instinct railing against what was unfolding, Ada took a deep breath and tried a softer, humbler approach. ‘May I accompany the little girl, please, Dr Jones?’

‘Oh, my word, we can’t have that,’ Matron said, with a phoney, indulgent smile. ‘Your services are required here at Mary Vale, Sister Dale.’

‘But … but …’ Ada babbled, at which point Heather started to scream her head off.

‘Matron,’ Jones urged, ‘I really must insist that we deal with this child right away.’ Closing his doctor’s bag with a decisive snap, he added, ‘Would you be so kind as to settle her in a travelling cot – make sure she’s well wrapped up, it’s cold out there,’ he warned. ‘I’ll go and fetch my car – please meet me out front.’

Matron quickly nodded. ‘Of course, Doctor,’ she replied.

Exchanging a look of panic with Sister Ann, Shirley abandoned her mop and bucket and hurried after Ada and Dr Jones.

‘I shan’t be long, Sister,’ he said to Ada, as he set off down the drive.

Left alone, the two women turned to each other. Shirley was almost hysterical. ‘We can’t let that man take Heather! We might never see her again!’

Frantic with fear, Ada cast wildly about for an idea. ‘How can we stop him?’

Thinking fast before Matron appeared with Heather, Shirley frantically whispered, ‘You can drive! Take the gardener’s old van – it’s out the back. Follow Dr Jones: make sure he goes to the cottage hospital.’

‘And what about my shift? Matron will notice if I’m gone – we can’t risk it, Shirley.’

‘Gloria can drive,’ Shirley gabbled. ‘She can follow Jones! I’ll go and fetch her, and Em too,’ she muttered, as she took the stairs two at a time. ‘Stall them till I’ve got back!’

Breathless Shirley burst into Emily’s bedroom, where she gasped in relief at the sight of both women with their feet up on their beds. ‘Come quickly: Ada needs you, now – Jones is taking Heather!’

When the two wide-eyed girls appeared, Ada furtively pushed the keys to the van into Gloria’s hands. ‘For God’s sake, don’t lose sight of him: every nerve in my body is telling me there’s something bad going on.’

‘I swear we’ll not lose her,’ Emily said through gritted teeth.

Almost in tears, Ada cried, ‘I’m sorry to do this to you both – please stay safe.’

While Ada was issuing instructions to Gloria, Shirley had dashed outside to the car, where she was doing a great job of buying even more time, clucking and fussing. She must have rearranged the bedding in the carry-cot that Matron had placed on the back seat of the car at least three times. Growing irritated, Jones budged her impatiently aside.

‘Excuse me!’ he barked. ‘This is an urgent business. I really do need to get on.’

Hardly able to take in what was happening, Gloria and Emily located the van; then, following Ada’s instructions, Gloria drove out of the back gate and on to the path, which, as Ada had said, joined up with the main road, where she could see Jones’s car just up ahead.

‘Pull your scarf well over your face, Em,’ she said nervously.

‘Don’t get too close,’ Emily warned. ‘We don’t want the old bastard spotting us.’

‘I’ll try and keep a safe distance between us,’ Gloria said, as she changed gears, and they sped on their way following innocent little Heather, who, exhausted by all the commotion, lay fast asleep in her carry-cot on the back seat of Jones’s car.