Article Row, even at this late hour, was still illuminated by the daylight that was now triggered by double summertime, while the fresh breeze, sweet with the tang of the recent rainfall, gently billowed the net curtain through the two-inch opening of the sash window in Ian Simpson’s spare front bedroom.
Drew listened intently, hearing the rumbling in the distance. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest in anticipation of Tilly soon being here. He’d heard Tilly’s mother talking to Nancy Black earlier, saying she had received a telegram, and Olive was all excited, telling Nancy that Tilly was due home at nine p.m. and would get a taxi from the station. Vaguely, he wondered where she had been.
Clambering slowly off the bed, Drew could feel his strength coming back at a steady pace. There was no rush to be at the window. Given the distant sound of the engine he knew the taxi hadn’t turned into Article Row yet.
He intended to resume work on his father’s newspaper, as, frustratingly, he had been exempted from military service on medical grounds. But this wasn’t going to stop him serving his country in other ways. He would work alongside the troops to report their plights and successes – but there was something else he had to do first.
A rush of adrenalin made his heartbeat accelerate. He could feel Tilly’s imminent presence even though he could not see her. He had waited a long time for this moment and he didn’t want to mess it up. For the first time in over a year, he would see her again. He would gaze into the heavenly sea-green of her eyes framed by her lovely dark hair and he would tell her how much he had missed her.
He had dreamed of this day for many, long and agonising months. At last, the time had come when he could hold her in his arms and tell her that he had come back to make her his for ever. She had never sent his Harvard ring back to him so that proved she still loved him, and he would explain the reasons he had not got in touch. He never wanted to put his beloved Tilly through all that worry and heartache.
He had deliberately aimed for the eve of her twenty-first birthday to return to Article Row because he knew they would not have to then wait a moment longer than was necessary to become man and wife. He had got the special licence and the rings – a better gift for her twenty-first birthday he could not imagine – and he had booked the little bed and breakfast where he and Tilly had once stayed. It was the idyllic place where they had once exchanged vows in the moonlight and would now finally consummate their love for each other.
He could hear the oncoming hackney cab rumbling around the corner, its distinctive engine noise breaking the quiet, dignified silence of Article Row, and he could feel the hairs on the back of his arms stand on end, and the lurch in the pit of his stomach as he anticipated the first sight of his girl in almost a lifelong year of torment. Stepping back, not wanting to reveal the surprise just yet, Drew anticipated her look of surprise when they met up again, knowing she would be thrilled. And as he recalled the sweet pressure of her lips on his he could contain himself no longer. He had to go down there now and take her in his arms and tell her how much he had missed her, and then he would do what he had dreamed of for so long.
The young nurse grabbed the notes from the bottom of the bed while, on Sally’s orders, another probationer went to fetch a consultant, and very soon Callum was being thoroughly examined. Pulling the stethoscope from his ears the senior doctor looked grave.
‘Can I speak to you in your office, Sister?’
Sally knew that the news was not good. Her heart was pounding as she led him to the office.
There was no preamble in his brisk manner, which the younger nurses so admired in the mature specialist. ‘If this man does not get the medication he desperately needs soon he will die. There is a serum … It is in its experimental stages.’
‘Can we try it?’ Sally felt desperate. Morag would have wanted her to do everything in her power to make her brother well again.
‘The early signs are that it has showed results bordering on the miraculous …’
‘Are you talking about penicillin?’ asked Sally. She had worked closely with army medics who had seen the phenomenal effects of the new drug, conceived here in London and developed in greater quantities in the United States.
‘The new wonder drug, as it is now being called, is said to be having such brilliant results with injured servicemen in the field that there was an urgent recommendation to the War Production Board to take responsibility for increased production,’ the doctor said.
‘Can we get hold of any?’ Sally asked.
‘I don’t want this being spoken about outside this office, Sister,’ his voice was so low she could barely hear it, ‘but I do have a little of this serum in my laboratory. However, I am not sure if it will be enough to get this chap through the crisis …’
‘Oh, please, God let it be enough!’ Sally prayed, her hands never still as she tidied her desk.
‘Back in July,’ the consultant said, ‘the WPB drew up a plan for the mass distribution of penicillin stocks to Allied troops fighting in Europe. After a mouldy cantaloupe was found to produce good quality penicillin in Illinois, some of it was sent here.’
‘Oh, Doctor, you must try!’ Sally cried. ‘You have to give it a chance; he must not be allowed to die!’
‘We, as always, Sister, will do our best,’ the doctor said as, coat-tails flying behind him, he hurried off to his laboratory.
Sally closed her office door quietly behind her. There were only two times in her life that she could remember feeling as desolate as she did now: the first was when she was told her mother was dying – and the second was when she died.
‘Something tells me you have more than a professional interest in this particular patient, Sister?’ There was a ghost of a smile playing around the consultant’s lips as he came back to her office some time later, and, if Sally hadn’t been so frantically worried about Callum, she may well have attempted a modicum of outraged indignation. But, as it turned out, she knew she would do anything she had to do, if only it would save Callum’s life.
The black hackney cab stopped outside Tilly’s house a few doors down and Drew watched the door open. At the same time, from the front door of number 13, volleyed a cacophony of female voices, and the dignified peace of Article Row was shattered by feminine squeals of delight, putting paid to any hope of the quiet romantic reunion he had dreamed of. Drew could handle all of that, but what he hadn’t expected was the sight of Tilly being helped out of the cab by another man – an English soldier!
He watched as she alighted onto the pavement and his breath caught in his throat when he saw she was in uniform! He never guessed she would join the Forces. He imagined that she was still working in the Lady Almoner’s office at Barts Hospital, and all those weeks and months he was confined to bed in a private ward he hoped that he would catch sight of her while praying she didn’t find out he was a patient there. But now he knew why he hadn’t seen her. A mixture of fear and loving admiration filled his heart and Drew wanted to go to her immediately. There was so much they had to catch up on.
But the tall, good-looking guy who was paying the cab driver then stood back, almost indulgently, smiling as all the females from number 13 crowded around Tilly. They were all talking excitedly together, and Tilly was laughing as tears ran down her face while the man he now recognised as Dulcie’s brother, Rick, put his arm around his girl and Drew felt his whole world implode.
He hadn’t reckoned on Tilly taking up with another guy. She promised. They had made a deal right there in that little church. He told her they would be together for ever. She promised. She said she would love him for ever. He swore he would love her eternally. She promised …
In his heart, Drew knew that Tilly had every right to find another guy. He had been away so long … He guessed she wouldn’t … that’s all.
Stepping back into the shadows, his hands clenched tightly, Drew realised