It seemed she’d almost walked straight into the poor doctor, who had now let her go and stepped back a foot or more.
‘No trouble. There’s a lot to see here.’ He smiled. ‘But be more careful next time, Nurse.’
Ellie tightened her hold on her bag and stepped around him, hurrying to catch up with her group. She glanced over her shoulder as she ran, still blushing as she looked at the handsome young doctor one last time. Maybe nursing was going to be fun, after all. His brown eyes were warm as he smiled at her, holding up his hand in a wave before disappearing down the hall.
‘Who was that?’ Scarlet whispered.
‘Doctor Handsome,’ Ellie whispered back. ‘I walked smack bang into him!’
‘Ladies, is there something you would like to share?’
Ellie cleared her throat and looked at her feet. ‘No, ma’am,’ she said, loud enough to be heard clearly, but her thoughts were still with the doctor who had flashed her such a sweet smile.
Ellie and Scarlet were assigned a room together and they both flopped down on the small beds. Ellie stared up at the ceiling. She was thankful they hadn’t been separated.
‘One of the girls was muttering something about us being sent to Burma, and another said that she’d been told we would be going to Gibraltar,’ Scarlet said in a low voice.
‘Nonsense. Surely they’ll send us to Europe if we’re going anywhere,’ Ellie scoffed.
‘Wherever we’re heading, it’s not somewhere in England, that’s for sure.’
‘Scarlet, can I ask you something?’ Ellie said, her thoughts turning back to her mother and father. She rolled over on her stomach to stare at her new friend.
‘What is it?’
‘If anything happens to me, would you promise that you’ll visit my family and tell them how much I love them?’
Scarlet swallowed. ‘Of course. And you’ll do the same for me?’
Ellie nodded. ‘I think we should write letters, and sew them into each other’s uniforms. That way we’ll never lose them and you will always have mine and I yours, in case something terrible happens.’
The sound of other nurses walking back down the hallway towards the grand main staircase alerted them that it was time to move again.
‘How about we do that tonight, then we never have to speak of not returning home again?’ Scarlet suggested.
Ellie nodded in agreement. She stood and held out a hand to Scarlet, pulling her up to her feet, too. ‘Let’s see if we can’t have some of that hot water to have a bath before bedtime,’ she said, shaking off the sombre mood.
Scarlet linked arms with her and together they walked back out into the hall to join the others.
CHAPTER THREE
Scarlet
Scarlet took a deep breath and finished getting dressed in the tiny cubicle that made standing almost impossible, let alone attempting to put on clothes. She’d never realised how little five inches of water was until now, and it certainly hadn’t made bathing easy. Nor had the lukewarm water. Her mind kept drifting to home, what it could have been like if she’d stayed, but she pushed away the thoughts that could so easily take over. She was here now. She was no different from any of the other nurses because it was wartime, and that meant nobody cared who you were or where you came from, only what job you did. That thought terrified her as much as it thrilled her, and she wondered how on earth she’d cope.
She needed to hurry because they were leaving soon and there was to be a briefing before they set off in the convoy of trucks that were already waiting outside. They’d been told there would only be one night at the old house, but with so many injured men to deal with, and not enough help, they’d stayed on for three more nights and it was only now they were finally moving on. Scarlet had enjoyed staying in the house, despite the restrictions on hot water, because she knew it would be a lot harder in the tents wherever it was they were going, even if she did at least have a friend to share with.
‘Get a move on,’ Ellie called out, her cheery voice impossible not to recognise.
Scarlet shook her head, smiling to herself before pulling the curtain back. Their room was awful, so dark and depressing, but at least she’d managed to bathe before they left. It was times like this that she thought of home, of the life she’d have with Thomas after the war – being married, having a house of her own, children to care for. It was all she’d ever wanted, a nice home and a nice husband to share it with.
‘Have you spoken to Doctor Handsome yet?’ Scarlet teased.
‘As a matter of fact, yes,’ Ellie replied, walking out of the room ahead of Scarlet. She quickly followed and they took the long walk back to their room to gather their belongings. ‘I was rebandaging a patient when he came in to check the charts.’
‘And?’ Scarlet asked, liking to tease Ellie about this particular doctor who always seemed to make her swoon.
‘He nodded and said hello, went about his rounds, then stopped to smile at me and say goodbye,’ Ellie said. ‘I think he’s the one.’
She burst out laughing and Scarlet rolled her eyes. ‘Because he’s so handsome? Or because you want to marry a doctor?’
Ellie sighed. ‘Sneer all you like, but the way he looked at me made my knees knock.’
‘Well, let’s cross our fingers that this doctor of yours will be joining us, wherever that may be.’ Scarlet felt the familiar tremor of nerves beat through her stomach, but she tried her best to ignore them. Wherever they were going, they were going together, and that in itself was something to be grateful for.
‘Did you hear that Charlotte isn’t joining us?’ Ellie said conspiratorially as they entered their room and collected their carryalls and kitbags. ‘I heard that she’s pregnant by a sergeant and they’re having a fast wedding before he leaves! I wonder how long she’s even known him or been here. A month?’
‘No! Surely not!’ Scarlet held her breath, so pleased that she hadn’t ended up pregnant before Thomas had left. She knew of some girls who were scared of even kissing their sweethearts for fear of getting pregnant, but for it to happen here and be sent home? ‘Imagine if it was the little one we met that first day! What was his name – Sergeant Winters?’
Ellie giggled. ‘I never thought it could be him!’
Scarlet was still smiling when they went down the stairs, gathering with the other nurses, some of whom she’d got to know well. She bet their matron would be furious that she was already losing a trained nurse.
‘Have you heard where we’re going?’
Scarlet turned to the girl on her right, Rose. She’d spent some time with her the night before, caring for a patient with a head injury, which meant they’d sat whispering into the early hours.
‘No. What have you heard?’ Scarlet asked.
Rose bent her head closer. ‘That they’re sending us to France.’
Scarlet gulped. She’d guessed as much, but there had been so many rumours she hadn’t known what to believe.
‘Ladies, listen please!’