The Forgotten Room(52)
And before Lucy could say no, before Lucy could say anything at all, Philip Schuyler leaned in and kissed her.
Sixteen
JULY 1944
Kate
The whine of sirens pierced the still night, jerking my eyes open. I was on call and still wore my clothes, making it easier to exit the sleeping quarters with only a quick hand-swipe of my eyes and a brief toe-search for my shoes before sliding them on. The air-raid drills were a weekly occurrence, and I moved through the mansion still half-asleep, my motions automatic. I no longer had to look at the drill instructions taped on most doors inside the hospital at the instruction of Mayor La Guardia; the familiar words and graphics of various siren sounds seemed to be imprinted on the inside of my eyelids.
I joined an orderly and a nurse as we each picked up a flashlight from the bucket on the landing, and I began systematically turning off all lights I passed as the steady scream of the siren continued outside. I peered through one of the drawn shades in a blackened room and spotted an air-raid patrol car racing down the street, pausing so its air-raid warden could jump out and douse a phantom fire.
One of the men from the ballroom turned hospital dormitory screamed from a nightmare, an unholy side effect of the drills. So many of the patients returned to their recent battles when they closed their eyes, the innocuous sounds of sirens more menacing to them, transforming into the sounds of falling bombs and spiraling planes.
I was headed in his direction when I spotted Nurse Hathaway and an orderly in the doorway. “We’ve got this,” she said.
I nodded, listening to the sound of scrambling feet throughout the hospital. I looked up the stairs, knowing I should make sure that Captain Ravenel was prepared to move if the siren sound began to waver, signaling us that it was no longer just a drill. Still, I paused. Since meeting his fiancée, I’d done everything in my power to avoid the attic room except to retrieve personal items when I knew he was sleeping and his fiancée wasn’t there. But nobody was running up to the attic. The captain hadn’t been coherent during the last drill and I pictured him up in the attic room, in the dark and alone, wondering what all the commotion was about. I had my foot on the first step when I heard my name.
“Dr. Schuyler?”
I groaned inwardly as I turned. “Yes, Dr. Greeley?”
“Where are you going?” he asked, although it was clear he knew exactly where I’d been heading.
“To see to Captain Ravenel. The attic room wasn’t included in the original drill plans because it wasn’t a . . .”
Dr. Greeley took my elbow. “The patient is fine. I saw to him myself. It looks like all that’s still needed is for you and me to find a safe place.”
“I’m quite . . .”
Before I could finish my sentence, he’d opened a door—to what had once been a cloak closet outside the ballroom but had been converted to store medical supplies—and pushed me inside, making me drop my flashlight in the process. He closed the door behind us and I had two sudden thoughts: He’d had onions for dinner, and the space was too small for him to do much of anything.
I tried to turn to the side but managed only to elbow him slightly in his soft abdomen. “I’m sorry,” I said. “But this is quite unnecessary . . .”
“You’ve been avoiding me, Kate.” I’d always liked the sound of my name. Until now.
“I haven’t been avoiding you. I’ve just been incredibly busy, as you are aware.”
“You haven’t accepted my invitations to dinner.” He sounded genuinely hurt. As if he really believed that the two of us had a future together.
“We are overloaded with patients right now, and I need my sleep so I can be the best doctor they need me to be. I really don’t have time for leisurely dinners, as lovely as they sound.”
He was my height, so that when he smiled his sparse mustache tickled my ear. I found myself almost hoping that a bomb would actually fall nearby just so I’d have a reason to get out of this closet.
I felt his fingers playing with my hair. “I hope you understand that it’s in your best interests to make me happy. I don’t think dinner with me would be so hard for you to manage.”
Damn. It wasn’t fair. Nothing about being a woman was fair, especially not a woman whose only dream was to be a good doctor. But none of that would matter if I didn’t give Dr. Greeley what he wanted. “I’ll check my schedule. I’m sure I can find an hour.”
“Or two,” he said.
I kept my head turned to the side so when he tried to kiss me, he got only my cheek.
Reaching behind him, I grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, but his hand on mine stopped me. “Before you go, I just wanted to let you know that I’ve received word that we are scheduled to be getting more patients. You’re going to have to make room for two more beds up in the attic. No more private quarters for Captain Ravenel, and you’ll have to make other permanent arrangements for yourself.”
The siren stopped, lending an uneasy stillness to the air. I turned the knob hard and pushed the doctor, making him stumble backward. I grabbed hold of his upper arms to make it look like it had been an accident. “Sorry, Doctor. I’ll get started on that first thing in the morning.” I picked up my flashlight and began jogging up the flight of circular stairs, not really sure where I was going, just that I needed to get away.