An Orphan’s Courage

‘That’s about us,’ Rob replied without looking at her. ‘It’s easier for me, because I’m not married, but Nick is a widower with two young boys – and his house is mortgaged.’

‘I know what it’s like to worry where the next penny is coming from. My father died when I was quite young and Ma could never quite manage. It took me years to earn enough to look after myself.’

‘As long as the work keeps coming in, we’ll manage,’ Rob said. ‘Nick has gone after a big contract on a new housing estate this morning, and if he gets it, it could make all the difference.’

Rose didn’t say anything to that, but she could understand what it meant to a fledgling business. It was 1957 now and the country had just about shrugged off the hardships of the war; the prime minister said the country had never had it so good, but Rose had known what it was like to be really poor. After their mother became ill and died, Rose had been forced to put her younger sister in St Saviour’s and train as a nurse for very low wages. She’d tried to help Mary Ellen along the way, to see that she had a few treats, but it had been difficult for a long time.

Rose had buried her grief as she trained hard to become a nurse and she’d done well at the hospital. Matron had wanted her to go on and rise to the top of her profession, but Rose had fallen out with one of the senior doctors and left before he had her sacked. She’d been lucky to get the job at St Saviour’s and was enjoying her work. Love hadn’t come her way, but she had friends and she got on well with Mary Ellen and her husband Billy these days, although just now and then she was very aware of the passing years and sometimes wondered if she would ever have a family of her own.

‘Here we are.’ Rob’s voice brought Rose back from her own problems and she realised that she hadn’t spoken to him for several minutes.

‘Oh …’ she said, feeling embarrassed. ‘Thanks so much. I’m sorry; I was lost in my thoughts …’

‘I expect I was rabbiting on too much.’

‘No, of course not.’ Rose smiled at him. ‘It’s just that you talking about what you want for the future made me wonder about my own …’

‘Ah, thinking of getting married and settling down?’

‘No, nothing like that … Just thinking about work and whether I should make a change …’

‘I see … well, good luck whatever you decide,’ he said and jumped out of his van, coming round to open the door for her.

Rose smiled; she liked being treated like a lady. ‘Good luck to you, too,’ she said. ‘I hope you get that big contract.’

‘My brother needs the luck,’ Rob said and smiled too. ‘I’ve just got to hope that Sister Beatrice has accepted our price for the work …’

Rose almost told him that his price would have gone to St Saviour’s Board for the decision, but decided not to mention it. He was a pleasant man and she was grateful for the lift, but she didn’t expect she would see much of him, even if he got the job. Pushing all other concerns from her mind, Rose hurried up to the sick ward to relieve Staff Nurse Wendy. It was Wendy’s afternoon off and she was planning on a visit to the hairdresser and then she was going out for the evening with a friend. They had tickets for The Mousetrap, Agatha Christie’s long-running play.

Wendy had surprised everyone by her continuing friendship with a man some years her senior. They’d all thought her a career nurse but Rose knew that Wendy was considering a proposal of marriage. If she were to marry and perhaps leave, that would leave Rose and Sister Beatrice – which meant that Sister Beatrice would be looking for new nursing staff again.

Rose couldn’t leave her in the lurch at such a time.

‘Oh, there you are.’ Wendy turned with a smile as Rose entered. ‘I’m glad we have a few minutes before I leave. I wanted to tell you about Beth … she seems to have a temperature this morning and I think we should keep an eye on her.’

‘You haven’t called the doctor? What does Sister Beatrice say?’

‘She was in earlier, but Beth was all right then. I rang her office but she didn’t answer … but I’m sure she’ll be back soon – so if you’re worried …’

‘I know she has an appointment with someone just now,’ Rose said. ‘I’ll pop in and look at Beth and I’ll keep an eye on her. If she gets any worse I’ll get the doctor to come and see her.’

‘It’s probably nothing. You know what children are, up one minute and down the next, but she was undernourished when she came to us and I don’t think she eats enough …’

‘We’ll have to see if we can tempt her,’ Rose said and frowned. ‘Muriel used to know exactly what to send for kids who didn’t eat much. I don’t think Mrs Davies is half as good a cook as Muriel was but I’ll ask her to send some strawberry jelly and ice cream … if she has it, or perhaps rice pudding. Muriel always had some ice cream for the kids but Mrs Davies seems to think it’s a waste of money.’

‘Yes, jelly and ice cream might tempt the child. If we haven’t got any in the kitchen, I’ll pop to the corner shop and buy a small block of strawberry and vanilla,’ Wendy said and checked her files again. ‘Otherwise, we’re pretty quiet. I sometimes wonder how long we shall go on like this, Rose. We are busy when we have new children brought in, and now and then we have some of them falling sick – but it isn’t like it was when I first came here. We were much busier then. It was so different …’

‘Yes …’ Rose sighed with regret. ‘Everyone says it hasn’t been the same since they opened the new home in Essex …’ She hesitated, then, ‘Would you go and work there if you were offered the chance?’

Wendy looked at her for a moment and then shook her head. ‘I think if St Saviour’s were to close I should go back to hospital nursing … perhaps try and specialise. I suppose they would make me retrain. Things have moved on since I came here and it would be hard work catching up … and I’m not sure what I want yet …’ She shook her head. ‘You’re not thinking of leaving us?’

‘I’ve thought about specialising in paediatrics,’ Rose said. ‘I thought when I left the London I would be settled here, but it isn’t the same as it was even when I came here …’

‘No, I agree,’ Wendy said. ‘I think I’ve only stayed this long because of Sister Beatrice. If she weren’t here …’

‘The whole thing would close down,’ Rose said and laughed. ‘I sometimes think we’ve outlived our usefulness. The Welfare people have their own centres to take in kids in trouble now, and they pass them on to the permanent homes within days, hours sometimes. Sister Beatrice believes in winning the trust of our kids before they move on, and I know she’s right. It’s too drastic to just ship them off to the country when they really don’t know what’s happening. I think that’s why a lot of them run away and come back to London. They would rather be on the streets than in a home they hate.’

‘The Children’s Department is too clinical, too concerned with the law and not compassionate enough,’ Wendy said. ‘I’ve never forgotten the way they dealt with the May twins, Sarah and Samantha; giving them to their father’s sister was so wrong – and there was June Miller … that was a disaster. She should never have been fostered with those awful people that abused her.’

‘No, that was wicked,’ Rose said. ‘Perhaps we are still needed for a bit longer. I know Sister thinks so …’

‘Yes, she does,’ Wendy said, ‘and the kids love her. Billy Baggins and Mary Ellen still come and see her, even though he’s doing so well running that warehouse and all those market stalls – and, as you know, your sister is well on the way to becoming a teacher. She told me that she still thinks of St Saviour’s as her family, and she’s always doing things for the kids. She remembers when Angela Adderbury was here and used to give the children stars and encourage them to do lots of projects for stars.’

‘Yes, Mary Ellen and Billy have done really well, but there are lots more kids that have got on because St Saviour’s was here,’ Rose agreed, but she couldn’t help wondering how long it would continue just the same …

‘We’ve been given a budget for the work,’ Beatrice said to the young man who had presented himself in her office in his overalls, as if prepared to start immediately if given the go-ahead. She rather approved of that and it was part of the reason the Board had chosen his firm from amongst those that had tendered. ‘You’re a decorator, but you do realise there are some plumbing jobs included in the specification?’

‘Yes, of course. My brother Nick is a builder. He does bricklaying, carpentry and plumbing. I’m lazy; I just make it all look good at the end …’

Beatrice saw the twinkle in his eye and smiled inwardly. He reminded her of someone but she couldn’t think who at the moment. ‘Well, your figures seem to be satisfactory, Mr Thompson. When can you start?’

‘I’d like to do some preliminary work today, Sister,’ Rob said. ‘Just make a few notes and then I’ll order the materials we need. Did you have any preference for the colour schemes in the kids’ dorms?’

‘We’ve always stuck to the same basic colours – doesn’t it cost more if we change?’

‘No, because we use three coats,’ he said. ‘We don’t just splash on one watered coat and then a top coat. We could make this place look brighter and more modern, if that was what you wanted? Or we can stick to the basic cream but use a lighter, newer colour … I could even do a feature wall with stencils, pink and flowery for the girls and blue and sporty for the boys … perhaps a racing car …’

‘Good gracious.’ Beatrice removed her spectacles and rubbed the bridge of her nose where they’d pinched. ‘For now I think perhaps a lighter cream for the communal areas. I’ll speak to my staff about the feature walls. You don’t need a decision on that right now?’

‘No, I’ll get started on the utility rooms; kitchen, bathrooms. Nick will put in the new sinks and toilets where we agreed and then I’ll paint the reception areas, finish up with the dorms and fit the nurses’ home in a bit at a time – I’ll be here at seven thirty in the morning, if that isn’t too early?’

‘I am always here by seven – unless we have an emergency in the night, but there will be someone on duty.’

‘Then I’ll just have a look round and make some notes – and we’ll see you in the morning.’

Beatrice nodded and sighed as the young man left her office. She was certain she’d seen Robert Thompson before but she just couldn’t recall it. He was in his late twenties so he couldn’t have been one of her children at St Saviour’s and yet there was something about his eyes … and the smile that lit up his face that touched a chord in her memory … and then it came to her: he was a little like someone she’d once loved. For a moment she felt a suffocating pain in her chest, but the next second it had gone.

She shook her head and straightened her cap, smoothing the plain grey habit she wore. She’d noticed that one of the children Sergeant Sallis had brought in was looking a bit flushed earlier that morning. It would be a good idea to just pop in and see if she had developed a fever …

Something was nagging at the back of her mind as she walked to the isolation ward where the two children were still housed. Neither of them was ready for school or to join the dorms yet, although Andy seemed to be coming on in leaps and bounds. Beth was a quiet, nervous child who clung to her brother and seemed frightened of speaking lest she did something wrong. Beatrice suspected that she’d been badly treated for some time and she wished Andy felt able to tell her, because whoever had done this to them needed to be punished … but without confirmation it would be difficult for the police to do very much.

Rose was standing by the girl’s bed, taking her temperature when Beatrice entered. She turned and smiled and the satisfied expression in her eyes told Beatrice that the child was fine.

‘Beth was feeling a little poorly when Nurse Wendy gave her a wash this morning, but she’s better now and I’m going to ask for some more jelly and ice cream for her.’

‘Temperature normal now?’ Beatrice asked, her practised eyes going over the little girl. Beth still looked a little flushed but her forehead wasn’t sweaty and she felt cool to the touch.

‘A little higher than normal but not enough to call the doctor for,’ Rose said. ‘Did you want to see Wendy’s report while you’re here?’