Free A Nightingale Christmas Wish by Donna Douglas Page B

catches you, I’ll deny I even know you.’
    ‘Fair enough.’ Effie grinned.
    The surgical ward was in chaos, with extra beds lined up down the centre of it. The weary-looking night staff buzzed back and forth, serving breakfasts.
    ‘We had an appendix and two perfs in yesterday,’ Jess said. ‘Sister isn’t best pleased. We’re supposed to be getting patients home before Christmas, but as fast as we send them away, we keep getting more in.’
    ‘Which one is Mr Webster?’ Effie asked, gazing around.
    ‘They put him in a side room. Number three. Don’t be long, will you?’ Jess hissed. ‘If Staff sees you, pretend you’re one of the night students.’
    The door to Room Three stood open. Richard Webster lay still in the bed, staring ahead of him. A tired-looking young woman in a red velvet coat sat at his bedside, holding his hand.
    Effie had only intended to take a quick peek. But as she started to tiptoe away, the young woman looked up and spotted her.
    ‘Nurse?’ she called out. ‘Did you want to check on Richard?’
    Effie put on her most professional smile and walked into the room. ‘I just wanted to make sure he was awake,’ she said truthfully. She picked up his chart and pretended to read it, her eyes skimming over the figures.
    ‘Yes, he is. Isn’t it wonderful?’ The young woman smiled, eyes shining. She was very pretty, with the kind of sleek bobbed blonde hair that Effie had always dreamed of having. ‘The doctor says it’s nothing short of a miracle. But I always knew he’d wake up. I prayed for him every day, you see. I never gave up hoping.’
    ‘It’s wonderful news, to be sure.’ Effie glanced at the diamond sparkling on the woman’s left hand. ‘I hear you’re engaged?’
    ‘Yes, we’re going to get married in the spring. I was beginning to think it might not happen, but now . . .’
    Effie smiled back, but deep down she knew it would still be a miracle if Richard Webster were well enough to make his vows.
    But the young woman was so radiant with happiness, Effie didn’t want to bring her down to earth. Besides, a Christmas miracle had already brought him out of his deep sleep; why shouldn’t there be another one?
    Effie returned to Blake ward in high spirits. As on Holmes ward, the night staff were clearing away the breakfast dishes while the day nurses prepared to take over.
    Her sister Bridget descended on Effie the moment she came through the double doors. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ she demanded. ‘Why have you got that silly grin on your face?’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘What have you been up to?’
    ‘Nothing!’ Effie said. ‘I’m just in a good mood, that’s all. You should try it sometime,’ she added in an undertone.
    ‘Less of your cheek,’ Bridget snapped. ‘Let’s see if you’re still in a good mood when you’ve finished testing all those urines in the sluice. Go on, get to it. I want them all done and the charts filled in before Sister arrives.’
    The sluice room was freezing as usual. The high mesh-covered windows were no match for the icy December wind, which blew straight through.
    Tilly Turnbull, another first-year student, turned to greet her as Effie came in. Her nose was blue with cold.
    ‘This is ridiculous,’ she complained. ‘One day they’re going to forget about us in here, and we’ll end up frozen stiff.’ She shoved the rack of test tubes towards Effie. ‘Here, you do albumen and I’ll do sugars.’
    As Effie plodded through her tests, laboriously adding nitric acid to each test tube, Turnbull managed to race through hers by testing a few drops from each sample all together. Most of the students did this if they didn’t think they would be found out. It made it much quicker and easier than testing each sample on its own, especially if they all turned out to be negative.
    But not today. ‘Oh, look, we’ve got at least one positive,’ Turnbull said, pointing to the brick-red test tube. ‘Let’s try to guess who it