Shocked silence echoed around the room in the wake of Sister Monica Joan's words, they all turned to look at Sister Bernadette who had jumped to her feet, her face pale, her head shaking slowly from side to side as her hands visibly shook. No-one moved, still too stunned by the turn of events, when she suddenly fled from the room. It was the sound of the front door falling shut with a bang that roused them. Sister Julienne getting hurriedly to her feet as she declared, "I'll go." Her tone brokering no questions.
She was gone only a few seconds, hurrying back into the room looking rather upset as she announced, "She's gone, as is her bicycle but her coat is still on the rack."
"In this weather?" Sister Evangelina exclaimed. "She'll catch her death."
"Perhaps we should talk about this elsewhere." She tapped a frowning Sister Monica Joan meaningfully but gently on her shoulder as she continued, "We should convene in my office." She flashed a strained smile at the young nurses. "We shan't be long, please continue. I'm sure this has just been a terrible misunderstanding."
Once the Nuns had made their way out of the kitchen, Trixie let out a low rush of breath. "Well, I don't think any of us expected that."
Jenny glanced over at Alec, bewilderment written across her features as she told him, "I'm sorry, Sister Monica Joan can be…she can make rather…unusual statements."
"Whether it's unusual or not doesn't matter, it's whether or not it's true," Trixie remarked. She leaned forward, her voice lowering to a near hiss. "I mean, who?"
Jenny flicked her arm as she replied teasingly, "I thought you were already convinced of the who."
She rolled her pretty, kohl rimmed eyes. "That was a joke, it would be ridiculous."
"Why?" Cynthia queried suddenly. "Would it be so unbelievable?"
"Yes!" Trixie insisted. "He is so much older than her!"
"Age isn't everything. I could…kind of see it," Jenny told her, her eyes squinting slightly as though she were attempting to picture it. "Although I'm not entirely sure how it would come about." She gave a small sigh as she continued, "After all if it isn't him though, then who?"
"Maybe…maybe." Trixie gave a shrug. "I honestly don't know. None of this makes sense."
"Sister Monica Joan may have been mistaken," Cynthia pointed out.
"If she was then why did Sister Bernadette just run out of here?"
"She's clearly been upset recently, perhaps it was just too much. After all it seems unlikely to be true and Sister Monica Joan did seem muddled, after all she accused Jenny of the same thing."
Trixie giggled. "Oh the look on your face," she pointed at Jenny, who tapped her finger away. "And here was me thinking that you'd finally loosened up."
"Trixie!" Jenny snapped, looking meaningfully at Alec.
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Perhaps I should go. This was not exactly the afternoon I think either of us had in mind."
"No," Jenny admitted. "No it's not, I'm sorry, for all of it. I'm sure you thought that Sister Evangelina was going to have your guts for garters."
"It was a rather alarming moment," he admitted. "But I'm sure that I will recover." He got to his feet and placing a hand on Jenny's shoulder he asked, "Can I kiss your cheek this time?"
"Just this once," she told him, a smile curving her lips.
"I'll keep an eye out for your missing Nun when I'm out," he told them. "Try to bring her back if I find her."
"That's good of you," Cynthia remarked.
"He's a good man, he just didn't get much of a chance to showcase that," Jenny told them. She squeezed his hand as she turned her face up towards him. "Thank you."
"It isn't a problem. If you need any assistance then you know just to call the boarding house."
"I know, but I'm sure it will be fine. As Sister Julienne says, it's probably just been some big misunderstanding."
They shared a smile and as Jenny went to get to her feet, Alec shook his head, his hand pressing against her shoulder. "No, I can see myself out. I'm sure you have plenty still to talk about."
"He knows us so well already." Trixie laughed.
"It was nice to see you all again. Till the next time," he told them with a smile, before turning to leave the room.
"He's charming," Cynthia smiled at Jenny.
"He is, but it's early days," she replied meaningfully.
"Oh Jenny! You need to relax," Trixie instructed her. "You can't live your life by the rules we have already had imposed upon us and then add more of your own on top, you'll never have any fun. Why do you think I was thrilled when I thought Sister Monica Joan was talking to you? I thought you'd finally learned to relax."
"I do relax," she replied, her shoulders bristling.
"Now isn't really the time," Cynthia interrupted. "There are slightly bigger things to deal with."
"Yes of course. We need to figure out who the mystery man is."
"Trixie!" Cynthia looked at her aghast. "We don't even know that it's true."
"Cynthia." Trixie leaned across the table as she pointed out meaningfully, "She would have just told us if it wasn't true, she wouldn't have ran out of here, she would have had no reason to."
"I just don't see how it can be true," Jenny added, leaning back in her seat and looking thoughtful. "There's no-one it could be, not if we're ruling out Dr Turner-"
"Which we are," Trixie confirmed.
"Then I can't think who else that would leave."
"Because it isn't true, it can't be," Cynthia chimed in. "For her to break her vows…" She shook her head. "No, I don't believe it. I can't believe that she would do it." She held up her hand to silence Trixie before she could jump in, continuing, "I know you two are caught up in the excitement and drama of it all but for a Nun to break one of the sacred vows, it's…it's huge. To give herself to another man, I…I just can't."
"Cynthia, Sister Bernadette is still a young woman with her life ahead of her, maybe she realised that she wanted more from life."
"But to pledge yourself to God is the ultimate commitment."
"Well, either way it's not our place to judge her. We should simply just be there for her if she needs us," Jenny told them both decisively. She gave a sigh as she glanced down the corridor. "I just hope she'll come back soon."
"She has to," Trixie reassured her, pointing out sagely, "She has nowhere else to go."
"Right," Sister Evangelina slapped her hands against her hips before pointing an accusatory finger at the elderly Nun. "What was that all about?"
Sister Monica Joan dropped self righteously into the lumpy armchair that she had declared her own. "I know what I saw. I am no liar." Her voice rose primly, shaking with indignation. "I am not as addled as you like to make out."
Sister Julienne raised her open palms in a supplicating manner. "No-one thinks that you are lying, we just need to know exactly what you saw."
The older woman sniffed imperiously. "I told you what I saw. I saw Sister Bernadette with a man!"
"We understood that," Sister Evangelina huffed, her voice taking on a shrill edge. "We need to know who! And what...what," She swallowed as she forced herself to continue, "What they were doing."
At that Sister Monica Joan's features fell into a frown, the deep lines around her eyes creasing further. "I don't know who," she admitted after a moment. Wide, nervous eyes raised to meet the soft gaze of Sister Julienne. "I don't recall his face, it's blurry," she admitted grudgingly."
"Then simply tell us what you saw," she replied encouragingly.
"I was looking for my prayer veil, it has a habit of going missing when I need it most." Her fingers knitted together, twisting nervously. "I saw them, she was in his arms, they...they..." She shook her head, her eyes tearing. "She broke her vows," she finally told them. Her lips thinned, tightening together. "I do not wish to speak about this."
"Well you have to!" Sister Evangelina told her. "You caused this!"
Sister Monica Joan clambered gracelessly to her feet. "I most certainly did not! She went against our commitment to God, we are here to carry out his work!"
"And you should have spoken to us!" She shot back angrily, her face reddening by the second. "You humiliated her in front of everyone! She has went out in this weather, to heaven only knows where because of what you said!"
Her spine snapped straight, her chin jutting out defiantly. "I shall not listen to this," she announced. "I shall be in my room awaiting your apology," she concluded haughtily as she swept out of the room, the door slamming shut in her wake.
Sister Evangelina gave a bitter laugh as she sank onto the sofa. "She is like a hurricane at times, and she shall be waiting a long time for any kind of apology from me," she snorted. She glanced over at Sister Julienne, taking in her teary gaze, her voice quietened slightly as she added, "She will come back."
"I have never seen her look so tormented," Sister Julienne confided. "I knew that she was struggling with something, I had tried to speak with her. She told me she wasn't ready, perhaps I should have forced the issue."
"I'm sure that wouldn't have changed the outcome. She most likely would have reacted in the same way." Slumping back into misshaped cushions, she gave a sad sigh. "I never would have thought this of her." Raising her eyes, her voice suddenly unsteady, she asked, "Who do you think?"
"I don't know," Sister Julienne interrupted, her fingertips pressing against her temple. "I cannot think who...To have been in Nonnatus..."
"It certainly narrows the options."
"Does it?" She finally met her Sister's forthright gaze. "Perhaps she let him in. I feel that we cannot discount anything, it already seems so improbable that she would act like this."
"I know." Sister Evangelina gave a sad smile. "I remember when she chose her name, Sister Bernadette. Like that daft film, I thought she was like the other young girls who flitted in, and when reality hit home left just as quickly. I thought she had proved me wrong."
"She did. We cannot discount all her good work, her commitment to the community, not when we don't even know what has happened. It may not be as it appears."
"I suppose we must simply wait for her to come back." A howl of wind rattled the window panes, and she winced. "I just wish that she hadn't went out in this."
"Perhaps we should go and look for her."
"And all catch our deaths?" Sister Evangelina's pragmatism bounced back into play. "We have far too many mothers on our books to risk it, we have a responsibility to them."
"We have a responsibility to our sister."
"Who will be back before long," she reassured her. "We can deal with it then. She has nowhere else to go."
"That's what worries me," Sister Julienne whispered to herself.
