The year 1949. September.
"Fred! Fred!" Enid Musgrove's voice echoed around the Nonnatus Clinic's halls.
Enid nearly stumbled upon a hapless medical orderly. "Have you seen my husband?"
"No, Mrs. Musgrove. Not for a while. I think he went outside. He is helping the Applebee Thorntons with their removal."
"Sure he is. He has forgotten that he was to pick up Shelagh from the train station. She is coming from Chichester today."
Enid running after Fred over something he had either forgotten, or to be more precise, decided to miss altogether without making a big number of it, was a familiar sight at the Nonnatus Clinic. Fred was a retired doctor, and to keep himself occupied, he served as a self-appointed major domo of all things at Nonnatus.
Fred and Enid had met when he was a widower with one grown-up son and Enid the matron of the Nonnatus Clinic. Now she was retired, too. It was a happy marriage in old age, as marriages go - when both partners have the wisdom of not trying to change the other too much.
Enid finally found him, happily chattering away with James Applebee Thornton. The gentleman was the new resident obstetrician at the Nonnatus Clinic. He came forward to Mrs Musgrove and took her hand cordially into both of his big hands.
"Mrs. Musgrove! So here we are at last. So nice to see you. I am sorry we missed the last sad occasion."
"You are very welcome to Poplar, Doctor Applebee. Oh, there is Mrs Applebee Thornton! Lovely to see you."
Mrs. Applebee was a much more modest person than her ebullient husband, but her eyes twinkled kindly and there was great warmth in her voice when she greeted her: "Dear Mrs Musgrove. Thank you for all your help. The trip from America was nothing when there were such friends to be met here."
There was a small figure standing at the other end of the yard watching this scene. She had a bag in her hand and she was dressed in a light grey two-piece suit. Her light-brown hair was shining in the sun, and a pair of intelligent blue eyes were behind stylish glasses. Every now and then there was an anxious flash in them.
It was as she was measuring Mrs. Applebee very carefully. It seemed that she didn't find anything missing in her, and yet she was disturbed to see her.
If you would have heard her thinking, it would have been: "She does not look like him at all. Wait. There is that characteristic shrugging of the shoulders."
"Shelagh! There you are." Enid came and hugged the bespectacled lady. "Fred, your timing failed again. Shelagh has had to come by bus from the train station."
Fred hurried to take Shelagh's bag and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. "I am sorry, Shelagh. So much to arrange for, with the Applebees and then everything. You are all right?"
Shelagh pressed her hands in his. She really liked Fred, although he was not a direct relative, just the new husband of her aunt. "Perfectly all right."
"Now let me introduce you to the Applebees. This is Shelagh Mannion, Enid's niece. A nurse and a medical student."
"Pleased to meet you, Miss Mannion." Mrs. Applebee was kindness itself. "I have heard so much of you from my brother." Shelagh's heart missed a beat. "Timothy says you are a very competent medical student."
Shelagh breathed again. Yet she had some difficulty in forming a sensible thought."We have heard so much of you from...Cynthia, I mean Timothy. From both of them, really."
A shadow fell over the faces of the company.
"Yes. It was sad that we could not attend the funeral."
Fred clapped his hands. "Come, come, let's get you inside the house before we proceed deeper into the family business."
Mrs. Applebee agreed readily that it was indeed best to do so.
After some hours, the Applebee household was in a reasonable order. The Applebees, the Musgroves and Shelagh Mannion sat down at the Nonnatus Clinic kitchen for some well-deserved tea and scones.
"What lovely scones these are, Mrs. Musgrove!"
"Fiddledeedee, sir, they are just ordinary scones. I am sure you have enjoyed them a hundred times."
Doctor Applebee lifted his index finger up. "Jane, we haven't told them the splendid news. Jane's brother is going to join us in a fortnight."
"Yes, that is true. He has been given a research grant to study at The London Clinic for a while."
"Good, good." Mrs. Musgrove seemed a little puzzled. "We haven't heard that Timothy will be back. Trixie hasn't said anything, and neither has Tom."
"Oh, we are not talking of Timothy. It is Patrick who is coming back to England from Minnesota. He's been studying neurology there for five years. Two last years as a resident researcher." There was a hint of pride in Mrs. Applebee's voice.
"Oh, I remember Patrick." Fred started to reminiscence. "Wasn't it during the Blitz we last had the pleasure of meeting him? Enid and I were newlyweds, eh..." He gave her a gentle push with his elbow.
"Hush, Fred, you don't need to remind me of that blessed time. Shelagh, what year it was that Doctor Turner the senior was here? You certainly remember?"
Shelagh certainly did. "It was in 1941. Before he left for North Africa in May of 1941."
"Oh yes. North Africa."
After some more polite, happy conversation, Shelagh said that she wanted to withdraw to her room. Applebees seemed to think this a bit sudden.
Enid watched the retreating back of the well-known, well-loved niece. "Shelagh needs her time and peace. She used to be a nun."
The Applebees looked at each other and were on the verge of asking something. Enid briskly moved on to other topics. Fred winked at James. "Another long story," he whispered.
In her room, Shelagh stared in the old mirror. She had some fine lines on her forehead, but otherwise she would have looked younger than her thirty years, if there had been some life and colour in her delicate features.
"In a fortnight, he will be here." Then she fell on the bed and put her hand to her eyes.
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A Character List/Themes. SPOILERY...
To help to follow Second Chances, some information. This is of course spoilerish...Consider yourself warned. Persuasion is a 200 year old spoiler:-)
Character list:
Shelagh Mannion, medical student, nurse, Sister Bernadette/Anne Elliott
Patrick Turner, MD Captain Frederick Wentworth
Timothy Turner, MD, younger brother of Patrick (son in CtM), Captain James Benwick
Jane Applebee Thornton, elder sister of Patrick, Mrs. Sophia Croft,
James Applebee Thornton, MD, Sophia's husband, Admiral Croft
Enid Musgrove, former Matron of the Nonnatus Clinic, Shelagh's aunt, Sister Evangelina
Fred Musgrove, MD former Doctor at the Nonnatus Clinic, Enid's husband, Tom's father, Fred Buckle
Tom Musgrove. Fred's son, Trixie's husband, Vicar of Poplar, Tom Hereward/Charles Musgrove
Trixie Musgrove, Tom's wife, former nurse, nee Franklin, Mary Musgrove but a lot nicer...
Angela + Teresa Musgrove, daughters of Tom and Trixie, aged four and two
Cynthia Franklin, deceased, Trixie's sister, Timothy's fiancee, a nurse, Fanny Harville/Cynthia Miller
Aubrey Tracy, MD the head of the London lab, a friend and a collegue, a bit of William Elliot/Captain Harville (I enjoyed Tracy because he was played by Anthony Calf)
Sister Julienne, former head of novices at The Order of St. John, Lady Russell
Mrs. Monica Joan , Sister Monica Joan in Call the Midwife, Shelagh's great-aunt
Mrs. Smith, a mystery waiting to be revealed
Patsy Mount, MD a visiting researcher at the London Lab, from Australia, some Louisa Musgrove in her (nurse Patsy Mount in CtM)
Real Life People:
Canon Dick Sheppard, a clergyman, pacifist, died in 1937
Allison Sheppard, his wife
Good to know, references:
The Peace Pledge Union
The polio epidemy of UK in 1949.
I have moved some part of the research for the polio vaccination to the UK. Sorry, Salk and Sabin. Sorry, USA :-)
Australian Sister Elizabeth Kenny, a pioneer in the physical therapy of the polio patients. Later, in Minnesota, USA.
The movie Brief Encounter
Bipolar/manic-depressive celebrities in the 1940s and 1950s: Vivien Leigh, Phil Graham.