Page 95 of The Girls of Pearl Harbor
‘Harry,’ he said. ‘How many times do I have to tell you to call me by my first name? I thought we’d moved past that on Sunday.’
‘I’m certain that’s only the second time,Harry,’ she said, wondering how he’d made her laugh when she was so anxious over her fate.
‘I owe you after you spent your day off helping me,’ he announced. ‘You’re the best nurse I’ve ever taken with me.’
She tried not to laugh; he’d already told her she was the only one ever to go with him, and it had hardly been her day off. She hadn’t been allowed to work for almost two weeks now.
Before she could stop him, he knocked on the door, beaming when the older nurse opened it. Clearly she wasn’t expecting to see a doctor waiting for her.
‘Can I help you?’ the matron asked, smiling at the doctor and frowning at April.
‘It’s come to my attention that Nurse Bellamy is still suspended, despite my insisting days ago that it was unwarranted,’ he said. ‘Have you launched an investigation into Dr. Grey yet?’
‘Dr. Evans, I’m sorry, but we can’t take an allegation from a nurse against a doctor, especially when it’s unfounded. We simply don’t have enough doctors as it is.’
‘Well, you’ll losethisdoctor if you don’t reinstate Nurse Bellamy immediately,’ he said. ‘I want her on my service in the burns unit, and I insist she has full privileges in the hospital. I’m not having a good nurse take the blame for an incompetent doctor, especially when we’ve had hundreds of men to care for this past week.’ His smile made the matron blush. ‘I will personally vouch for her—I’m so confident in her abilities—and if you took the time to investigate, you’d easily discover that she’s innocent. It just so happens she’s been spending her spare time aiding villagers, so she’s hardly the type of nurse you want to send home, is she?’
April swallowed, her palms sweaty as Matron Johnson looked from her to Harry.
‘Very well, then. But there will still be a formal investigation.’
‘Thank you,’ he said before she could continue. ‘Come along, Nurse Bellamy.’
April nodded and hurried after him, not daring to look back in case she was called into the office without him.
‘Why did you do that for me?’ she asked.
He glanced at her as they walked. ‘Because I refuse to see a good nurse take the fall.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Especially one who wants to become a doctor one day. You’d hardly get into medical school if you were fired from nursing, would you? And like I said, I owed you.’
She stopped walking and stared at him. ‘Are you making fun of me?’
He shook his head. ‘No, I’m not.’
‘So you don’t think it’s amusing that I want to be a doctor?’
‘Amusing, no,’ he said, starting to walk again. ‘Ambitious? Yes.’
‘What if I don’t want to be on your service?’ she asked. ‘It didn’t exactly work out for me the first time, being on the service of one doctor. I never said I’d join you.’
‘It’s up to you if you want to join me or not, but I’m nothing like Dr. Grey, April. Nothing at all.’ He paused. ‘I thought working side by side the other day would have shown you that.’
She hesitated, looking at him as he strode through the ward, his long legs moving him quickly away from her.Go after him.Her head screamed at her and her heart tugged, and she knew she had to go instead of hiding herself away just to stop from being hurt again.
April ran after him, slowing only when she was at his side again.
‘You’re certain you have a strong stomach?’ he asked as he pushed open the door to the burns unit and held it for her.
She gulped. ‘Yes, I’m certain.’
‘Good, because I need someone who can stand beside me without retching, and trust me when I say that at times it’s not easy, even for me.’
They walked into the ward, and the first thing that struck April was the smell. The burnt-flesh aroma was unmistakable, and she tried to keep her face impassive when Harry turned to her.
‘It takes some getting used to.’
She wasn’t going to lie to him. ‘Yes, it does.’ The smell was one thing on a single patient, but on so many in a small space, it was beyond overwhelming, especially with such poor ventilation.
‘I’d like you to become familiar with the patients, gain their trust and talk to them, and then I’ll walk you through changing their dressings correctly.’
