The promenade was well lit with a selection of bars and restaurants to choose from, but Darcey was not entranced at the thought of dining alone in a strange place where she didn’t know anyone, and when she came to the teenage meeting place at the far end of the promenade that, unknown to her, was Daniel Osbourne’s project she paused outside the wooden building and looked around her with interest.
Nearby was the harbour and she saw a roomy boat there in the process of being repaired, and as she looked around her she heard the sound of young voices on the night air. A short distance away was the lifeboat house, shuttered and locked until needed, and as she lingered curiously a deeper voice that was becoming familiar caught her attention as it spoke with authority into what had become silence inside the wooden building and she was rooted to the spot.
When Daniel Osbourne had finished speaking the young members of the organisation came pouring out as the clock on a nearby church tower hit the stroke of ten, and having no desire to be seen hovering outside the place she quickly hurried through the crowd of teenagers as they spread out over the promenade, breathing a sigh of relief when the staff accommodation for Ocean House came into sight. Thank goodness he hadn’t seen her lurking outside while he’d been speaking to the young people.
Daniel thought whimsically that the new sister had had no cause to flee from his presence. She’d been unaware that he had been on foot amongst the kids, and short of sprinting after her in the early dark of an October night had to be satisfied with just quickening his pace. But the apartments had come into view and she’d been inside in a flash with the door locked behind her.
It was just a matter of common courtesy to make sure that a newcomer amongst those he worked with was home safely after wandering alone amongst the night crowds who drank in the bars and ate in the restaurants on the promenade, and with that thought in mind he proceeded to his own residence, which wasn’t far away, where he lived in solitary comfort that was edged with loneliness.
* * *
After her speedy return to base Darcey made a hot drink and pondered on the moments that she’d spent outside the place where Daniel Osbourne and the teenagers had been meeting. He hadn’t sounded pleased about something and had been making it known, she thought. The young folk had seemed chastened when they’d come filing out into the dark night.
‘Young Sailors’ Club’ was what it had said above the door of the wooden building at the end of the promenade and next to it had been the harbour where the boat was being repaired. So was it something to do with that to blame for bringing forth his annoyance?
* * *
Daniel could have told her that it was. He had started the club to keep the kids occupied and off the streets by training them in the complexities of sailing in the rescue safety boat, which was a smaller craft than the lifeboat but just as necessary in moments of danger nearer to the shore. No members were allowed to take it away from its moorings without himself or Ely being there.
But with the old guy hospitalised and Daniel absent, some of the teenagers left to their own devices had taken it out and damaged it against a rocky outcrop. So much so that the lifeboat had been called out to get them all safely back on shore, which, as far as Daniel was concerned, was an even greater annoyance as it could have been avoided if they hadn’t broken the rules.
Two of the young guys had been injured in the mishap and when his sister had informed him on his return that they were in Oceans House with fractures, his annoyance had been normal, but it had peaked when he’d seen the boat.
Hence the stern reprimand to the rest that Darcey must have heard through the open doors of their meeting place, and it hadn’t improved his mood as he’d been bringing the evening to a close when he’d caught a glimpse of her through the open door on the pavement outside, alone in the winter night, which had brought forth his effort to catch her up as she’d hurried back to her own place.
And what now he thought with mild irony as he settled down in front of the fire in the sitting room of the tasteful apartment that had long been his residence.
Tonight would have been another example of him interfering in the life of the new sister on the children’s ward if he’d caught her up. What was the matter with him?
If she’d seen him sprinting along behind her down the promenade she would have thought him insane when he had merely been trying to be helpful, but that was it. From now on he would keep a low profile where she was concerned. His only contact would be at the bedsides of their young patients.
UNAWARE OF THE promise that Daniel had made to himself the night before, when he had finished his ward round the next day and was about to depart Darcey said, ‘I am so sorry about your boat, Dr Osbourne, and I do hope that the two boys who are being treated here will soon recover. I was on the promenade last night near the harbour and saw it.’ She added with a wistfulness that surprised him, ‘If my young brother lived here, he would be most keen to join your sailing club.’
‘So he doesn’t live near, then?’ he commented with the chaos of the night before still upon him.
‘No. I’m afraid not,’ she replied, and when a small child in one of the cots began to cry she went to him and lifting him carefully, soothed the little boy gently until he was comforted, and watching her Daniel thought that whoever had designated her to be sister-in-charge of the children’s ward had got it right.
On the point of departure, he informed her, ‘Needless to say, I’ve seen the two lads with the injuries and am treating them myself now that I’m back. We are talking about a badly fractured leg and a spinal problem at the moment, and tonight I intend to visit my old friend Ely who is in a hospital in the town centre with a heart problem and doesn’t know about the boat and the sea rescue.’
His wife has sensibly kept it from him under the circumstances. As there was never really any time for chatting in his working day he turned to go, yet it didn’t stop him from turning for a last look at her with the child in her arms.
* * *
The day had run its course. The night staff had arrived and Darcey and those she worked with were homeward bound. She had been the last to leave as she’d needed to discuss problems with the night sister that had arisen with one of their young patients just before the changeover, and when she left the ward the corridor outside was empty apart from a small group gathered near the exit consisting of Daniel Osbourne, the attractive woman who had been waiting for him in the car at the station, and two small girls who were cuddling up to him.
If there had been another exit close by she would have taken it, but there wasn’t, and hastening past the small family group she was out in the cold winter night in a flash, her curiosity about his background satisfied after seeing the happy family group.
As Darcey walked the short distance to her apartment loneliness was wrapping itself around her. It was something that she’d only experienced since Alex had gone, and having just seen the happy family group in the corridor it had hit her even more as she thought that she had been right in her surmise that Daniel Osbourne would have an attractive wife and adorable children, and didn’t begrudge him them. He was too charismatic and attractive not to have a family of his own.
* * *
Engrossed with his visitors, he hadn’t seen her coming swiftly towards them and by the time it registered she was past and going through the outer doors of the hospital into the night. As he gazed after her Daniel was conscious of her solitariness and hoped that there was someone else in Sister Darcey Howard’s life besides the unavailable young brother that she’d mentioned.
Cordelia and the children had been on their way home from the birthday party of one of their friends and as they’d had to pass the hospital she had taken them to see him briefly. When the passer-by had disappeared she asked, ‘Who was that, Daniel?’
‘The day sister in charge of the children’s