The Nightingale Sisters (23 page)

He swung round. He wasn’t in uniform, but rough work clothes. ‘Dora? What are you doing here?’

‘I live here. You’ve met my family, remember?’

Joe looked around, registering the faces for the first time. His broad shoulders slumped.

‘Oh, no.’ He pulled off his cap and ran his hand through his fair hair. He looked more pole-axed than angry now. ‘So Alf Doyle is your—’

‘He’s my stepfather,’ Dora told him.

‘And he’s my husband.’ Rose’s voice came from the doorway. Dora could see her holding herself rigid, braced for bad news. ‘And this is my house, so if you’ve got anything to say you can say it to me.’

‘He’s dead, isn’t he?’ Nanna murmured. Bea burst into noisy tears. Josie’s face was stony and expressionless.

Joe turned to Rose. ‘I’m sorry, Missus,’ he said. ‘But I’ve got reason to think your husband got my little sister pregnant.’

IT WAS AS
if all the air had been sucked out of the room. For a moment, no one moved. Then Rose said calmly, ‘Josie, take Bea and Little Alfie upstairs.’

Bea started to whine. ‘But I don’t want to go—’

‘You’ll do as you’re told!’ Rose snapped, so fiercely that Bea fled without another word.

They listened to the sound of the children’s feet thundering up the stairs, then Nanna turned to Joe. ‘What’s all this about?’

He glanced at Dora. ‘The reason Joe’s sister was in hospital was because she’d – lost a baby,’ she explained for him.

‘Got rid of it, you mean,’ Joe finished for her savagely. ‘Ended up at a backstreet butcher who ripped her apart and left her for dead.’

‘And you think Alf was responsible?’ Nanna said.

‘I know he was. Jennie told me.’

Nanna shook her head. ‘Dirty little sod. Well, that explains a lot, doesn’t it?’

‘You don’t mean to say you believe him?’ Peter turned to Joe. ‘I don’t care what your little tart of a sister says, you can’t come in here making that kind of accusation about my family! My stepfather—’

‘My sister is not a tart.’ Joe’s voice was a low growl, full of threat.

‘She got herself pregnant, didn’t she?’

‘Only because your bastard stepfather took advantage of her.’

Peter started to square up to him, but Dora held him back. ‘Don’t, Pete. He’s a copper,’ she warned.

‘I’m also pretty handy with my fists,’ Joe said. The two young men went eyeball to eyeball for a moment, then Peter reluctantly backed down.

‘Just get out,’ he growled.

‘Not till I say what I’ve come to say to Alf Doyle.’

‘You’ll wait a long time,’ Nanna muttered. ‘He’s long gone.’

Joe’s gaze flicked towards Dora. She nodded. ‘We haven’t seen him for more than five months.’

He frowned. ‘That was the last time Jennie saw him too.’ He looked straight at Dora. ‘And you’ve not heard from him since?’

‘Not a word.’

‘And it’s not for want of trying either,’ Nanna said. ‘My Rose has been down to the railway yard looking for him every day since he disappeared. She’s been worrying herself into the ground wondering where he’s got to. And all the time he’s been carrying on behind her back!’ Her toothless mouth was pinched with anger. ‘I s’pose he took fright when he found out your sister was pregnant?’

Joe shook his head. ‘That’s the mystery. As far as I can make out from Jennie, he disappeared before she even knew herself.’

‘Maybe she wasn’t the only one he was messing about with?’ Nanna suggested.

‘Right, that’s it.’ Peter stepped in, taking charge. ‘I’ve heard enough. Alf wasn’t messing about with anyone. You know he’d never do that to Mum, don’t you, Dora?’ His gaze moved from Nanna to his sister. She could only stare blankly back at him.

‘Why would she lie, Pete?’ she said softly.

‘I don’t know, do I?’ An angry flush spread up his face. ‘But I know Alf didn’t do anything. He’s a decent bloke, one of the best—’

‘Your brother’s right,’ Rose Doyle said. ‘I’m ashamed of you all, thinking such a thing of Alf.’

They all turned to face her. She had been standing so silently in the doorway, Dora had forgotten she was there, listening. Her face was a frozen mask. Only the whiteness of her fingers clutching the doorframe gave any clue to her inner turmoil.

‘Look, Missus, I’m sorry,’ Joe started to say. ‘I know this has all been a shock for you, but I need to know—’

‘Get out.’ The words came from between Rose’s clenched teeth.

‘Jennie didn’t know he was married or she would never have gone near him. I know my sister, she wouldn’t do something like that. She only found out when he’d disappeared and she started asking my dad about him. He was a friend of his, see. That’s how they met—’

‘I said, get out!’

‘Not until I’ve had my say.’ Joe stood his ground, his hands by his sides clenched into fists. ‘Whether you like it or not, your old man got my little sister in the family way. She tried to get rid of it, and it nearly killed her.’ He was breathing hard, his jaw rigid with anger. ‘Our Jennie nearly died because of that bastard Alf Doyle. And I ain’t going to rest till I make him pay.’

Dora looked across at her mother. Rose’s face was pale and waxy, like a corpse’s.

‘You’d best go,’ she said to Joe quietly.

‘And don’t come back!’ Peter growled.

Joe shot him a belligerent look and for a moment Dora was worried they were going to start fighting. But then he barged out of the back door.

She followed him outside into the yard. It was a clear night, and the inky sky over Griffin Street was sprinkled with stars. Spring was on its way but the biting winter weather had yet to loosen its grip. Dora hugged herself, shivering.

Joe turned to face her. A patch of light spilled from the kitchen window, illuminating his face.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I should have realised when I heard the name . . . but I just didn’t think.’

‘How did you find out it was him?’ Dora asked.

‘Jennie told me in the end. I suppose she thought it wouldn’t matter as he wasn’t around any more.’

‘And you say he was a friend of your father?’

‘He was a drinking pal of his.’ Joe’s face was grim. ‘Used to come round to ours to play cards sometimes. I remember him myself. Big bloke, always laughing and joking around. Had plenty to say for himself.’

‘That sounds like Alf,’ Dora said.

‘I’d have had plenty to say to him, too, if I’d known he was messing about with my sister!’ A muscle flickered in Joe’s jaw. ‘Jesus, when I think about a man of his age . . . what kind of an animal would take advantage of a girl young enough to be his daughter?’

Dora closed her eyes, shutting out the memory that reared up in her mind. ‘I don’t know.’

‘He promised her the world, from what I can make out. Told her he was going to marry her, give her a nice home of her own. Poor kid, he must have seemed like a bloody knight in shining armour!’ He pressed his fists to his temples, as if he could force back his rage. ‘If only I’d been there, if only I’d taken better care of her, she would never have looked at someone like him . . .’

‘Shh, you mustn’t blame yourself.’ Dora reached up and laid her hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him. Gradually she felt his iron-hard muscles relax under her fingers.

He sighed. ‘Look, I know your mum’s upset, but I’ve got to think about our Jennie. That bastard left her in a bad way and I want him to pay for it.’

‘I know,’ Dora sighed. ‘And believe me, if I knew where he was I’d tell you.’

‘Would you? Even though he’s your stepfather?’

‘Put it this way. There’s no love lost between us,’ she said.

She caught his searching look and dropped her gaze. ‘I promise I’ll tell you if we hear anything,’ she said.

After Joe had gone, she went back inside the house to find Nanna and her mother in the middle of a heated argument. Josie had come back downstairs and was sitting on the rug by the fire, hugging her knees and staring unhappily into the flames while the argument raged around her.

‘But you heard what he said, Rosie—’

‘I don’t care what he said. My Alf would never do something like that.’ She turned on Dora as she closed the back door, angry and defiant. ‘I don’t want him anywhere near this house again, all right? I won’t have him in here, spreading his lies.’

‘We don’t know if they are lies, Mum—’

‘Not you, too!’ Her mother’s brown eyes flared. ‘What’s the matter with you all? Have you forgotten what a kind, loving man your dad was?’ None of them answered. ‘Look, I know my Alf better than anyone,’ she insisted. ‘And I’m telling you, he didn’t touch that girl. I don’t care what lies she tells, I know he’d never do that to his family.’

Dora and Josie glanced at each other, but neither of them said anything. They knew only too well what Alf Doyle could do to his family.

OLIVER COULD HARDLY
believe his eyes when Violet showed him their new home for the first time. He ran from room to room, looking out of all the windows.

‘Look, a park!’ He pointed out of his bedroom window to the lawns that lay beyond the sisters’ block.

‘It’s not a park, darling. It’s a garden.’

‘Is it ours? Can I play there?’

‘We’ll see.’

‘It’s much nicer than our old house, isn’t it, Mummy?’

‘Yes, darling. It’s perfect.’ Violet looked around the room, so fresh and light, the spring sunshine streaming through the snowy white net curtains. It was almost too perfect.

She watched Oliver bouncing on his bed, his little face lit up with ecstasy, and wished she could feel the same joy. But her heart was filled with apprehension. She had been so lucky, first that Oliver had made such a complete and speedy recovery, and second that Miss Fox had offered them such a wonderful place to live, that she didn’t quite trust it. Violet was so used to ill fortune, to going from one crisis to another, that she couldn’t allow herself to relax.

It was in her nature to look for problems, and she hadn’t had to look far. Although some of the sisters had welcomed her and Oliver, others had not been so happy about it. The Assistant Matron Miss Hanley had been the first to take her aside and make her feelings clear.

‘A hospital is not a proper place for children,’ she had warned Violet sternly. ‘They cause far too much disruption.’

‘Oliver won’t cause any disruption. I’ll make sure of that,’ Violet had assured her. ‘He is a very well-behaved child.’

‘Yes, but he is still a child,’ Miss Hanley insisted. ‘And it is your responsibility to provide a home for him, not ours. I hope you don’t intend for him to take his meals in the dining room?’

‘Of course not. There is a kitchen in the flat. I will cook for him there.’

Miss Hanley’s nostrils flared, as if this was the most outrageous idea she had ever heard.

‘I do hope this means you won’t neglect your duties?’ she said.

‘I’m sure you’ll be there to remind me if I do.’ Violet forced herself to smile tightly back at her.

Not surprisingly, Sister Wren was also against the idea. ‘I always knew she was hiding something,’ Violet overheard her telling Sister Holmes, shortly after they’d moved in. ‘Fancy lying about having a child! If she can do that, it makes you wonder what else she can lie about. Nurses who live out always have something to hide, in my opinion.’

‘I live out,’ Sister Holmes reminded her with some asperity. ‘I have to live at home to look after my elderly mother. Or do you think perhaps I’m leading some kind of exciting life, too?’

Sister Wren didn’t reply, but Violet was sure she wouldn’t stay silent on the matter for long.

‘Take no notice of her,’ Sister Blake had advised Violet. ‘She’s just piqued because Matron has given you her flat. She’s obsessed with who has the best room in this hospital, and now you’ve beaten her hands down.’

‘I didn’t realise it was a competition,’ Violet had said.

Sister Blake sent her a wise smile. ‘Everything is a competition to Sister Wren.’

Violet was making some sandwiches for Oliver’s lunch when Miss Fox arrived.

‘Hello?’ She tapped gently and then put her head around the door. ‘Do you mind if I come in?’

‘Of course not, Matron.’ Violet hurried out of the kitchen, wiping her hands, as instantly flustered as a student on a ward round.

‘I’m sorry to interrupt. I won’t make a habit of it, I assure you. I just wanted to make sure this young man is settling in all right?’

She smiled at Oliver, who came hurtling out of his bedroom, a toy aeroplane in his hands. He braked sharply at the sight of Matron standing in the hallway, formidable in her stiff black uniform.

His gaze travelled up the length of her body to rest on her elaborate white headdress. His dark eyes grew round with astonishment.

‘Mummy,’ he whispered loudly, his gaze still fixed on Matron, ‘why does that lady have a bird on her head?’

Violet caught Miss Fox’s eye and felt herself reddening. ‘Matron, I’m so sorry—’ she started to say. But Miss Fox just laughed and waved her apology aside.

‘I suppose it does look rather absurd to a child, doesn’t it?’ Leaning down to Oliver, she replied, ‘It’s supposed to make me look important, young man. It’s also there so that nurses can see me coming from a long way off and stop whatever naughty things they happen to be doing before I get there. And doctors too, sometimes,’ she added.

‘My daddy was a doctor,’ Oliver announced, swooping his aeroplane through the air.

‘Was he?’ Miss Fox raised her eyebrows at Violet.

Oliver nodded. ‘He saved lives, but then he died. Can I go and play in the garden, Mummy?’

Violet shot a nervous glance at Miss Fox. ‘I don’t know, Oliver. I don’t want to you to be in the way—’

‘Nonsense, the fresh air will do him good,’ Miss Fox cut in briskly. ‘He’s been cooped up in a hospital bed for so long, he’s bound to want to run about in the sunshine.’

‘If you’re sure, Matron?’

‘Of course I’m sure.’ Miss Fox beamed at Oliver. ‘You go and have fun, young man. You deserve it.’

‘But stay where I can see you,’ Violet called after him, as he let himself out of the door. ‘And don’t touch anything, or get in anyone’s way. And don’t talk to anyone—’ she added. But Oliver was already off, running across the grass as fast as his legs would carry him.