The Mersey Daughter (Empire Street #3)(80)
‘You all right, Sar?’
‘Right as rain,’ Sarah said staunchly, though she felt anything but. ‘Come on, let’s get to the shelter door.’
Ruby was moaning now – not in the way she had before, full of terror and incomprehension, but in what Sarah recognised as pain.
‘Ruby, what … oh no.’ Sarah looked down and saw blood, a bright stream of it along the pavement, shiny in the orange light. ‘Ruby, what is it, can you walk?’ There was glass all around, jagged edges reflecting the sparks and the fire from the ack-ack guns. The smell of burning drifted towards them.
Ruby didn’t reply but just gasped.
‘Come on, we’ll carry her to the shelter.’ Danny didn’t hesitate, but picked up the girl as if she weighed no more than a bag of sugar, and half ran with her the short remaining distance to the shelter door. He banged on it and shouted, ‘Let us in! It’s Sarah Feeny and Danny Callaghan! We’ve got a wounded woman with us!’
For a moment they couldn’t hear a reply as the noise all around was so loud, of glass shattering and buildings collapsing. Then came a firm voice. ‘We’re full. You’ll have to go elsewhere.’
‘Mam!’ cried Sarah, panicking now. ‘Mam, make them let us in!’ But if Dolly had heard them, they couldn’t tell, as more and more thunderous noises joined the cacophony, explosion following explosion. Bootle yet again was taking a pounding from the Luftwaffe, and there could be little hope for anyone directly caught out.
‘Sar, it’s no good.’ Danny knew he had to keep his head and improvise now if they weren’t going to get into the shelter. ‘Look, we have to get Ruby somewhere where she can keep still. How about over there?’ He pointed to the large porch of the Sailor’s Rest. Its solid pillars had withstood all the bombings of the May blitz and, although there was some broken glass by the steps, the basic structure still seemed undamaged. ‘It’ll do for now. Come on.’
Knowing that hesitation could kill them, Sarah agreed, and they half carried Ruby, now moaning and semi-conscious, to the porch. Danny hurriedly swept debris aside with his foot and they all collapsed on to the cold stone, huddling as close as they could to the wooden bar-room doors.
‘That’s it, that’s it,’ Sarah said as calmly as she could, pushing aside her remaining panic. She tried to breathe deeply, pretending she was on duty and knowing that people’s lives depended on her. ‘Danny, take my torch from my satchel and I’ll have a look.’ Gently she examined Ruby’s injured leg. ‘That’s it, that’s where you’ve been hurt.’ She gave a small prayer of thanks that it wasn’t an internal injury, which she could have done little about. Then she set about cleaning the deep cut as best she could, deftly removing shards of glass with her nurse’s tweezers, sluicing out the wound with her precious disinfectant, and finally, when she was as satisfied as she could be that she’d got it all out, she covered the wound with gauze and bandaged it into place. She tried to remember her training. If she was right, the glass had missed a major artery by a fraction. It was a nasty wound and would have to be seen tomorrow by a doctor as there would be a risk of infection, but it could have been so very much worse.
‘Settle down, Ruby, we’ll look after you,’ she said softly. It was getting cold, and she was hungry – Dolly had all the food and drink with her, shut inside the shelter. There was nothing for it but to make the best of things. Gratefully she sank against Danny, who drew his big coat around her, but she barely noticed as, finally exhausted beyond measure, she fell asleep.
Elliott put away his white coat in his locker and drew out his warm jacket. Another shift ended, and hours after he’d intended to leave the hospital. Glancing out of the window he saw it had gone dark. The October nights were drawing in, no doubt about it. Pulling his old college scarf from his pocket, he tied it tightly around his neck, knowing it would be chilly outside. A couple of nurses coming on shift nodded to him as he pushed open the door to the outside world, but he didn’t want to stop to make small talk. He had to sort out his thoughts. Turning on to the pavement, he decided to walk for a while rather than wait for a bus to his billet. Walking was always a good way to think things through.
Only a few more days and he would be on his way to see Kitty. He didn’t resent working late if it meant he could leave on time on Thursday and get that train. He was delighted that she’d finally agreed to meet his parents. It had been stupid of him to have suggested it so soon in their relationship – no wonder she’d felt overwhelmed at the idea. He kept forgetting that she would have reservations, as all he saw was a beautiful, talented young woman who had no reason to feel inferior to anybody. Now they were all to meet on Saturday. He couldn’t help feeling this marked a major development and he wondered where it might lead.
He wouldn’t rush her. He realised now that to do so always produced the opposite result to the one he’d intended. He’d see how they all got on, how at home she felt. He was certain his parents would adore her. They knew she made him truly happy, and how could anyone fail to love Kitty? He broke into a small smile at the thought of her face, with those magnetising dark-blue eyes, and that dark, wavy hair he loved to run his hands through. She was truly special, and he hoped he wasn’t fooling himself when he admitted that he wanted them to have a future together. He’d take it slowly, but he knew this was no casual wartime romance.