For all the Sister Quayle fans out there; enjoy! Not long to go to the weekend, either!
CHAPTER 29
It seemed that she had just fallen asleep when she was woken by Kitty Trevelyan, saying that she had to come quickly. A busy nurse, dealing with re-dressing a patient's badly infected wound on an adjacent bed, had inadvertently left a small mirror on an instrument tray within reach of Captain Andrews. All Grace's instructions to protect him from the sight of the full extent of his facial injuries had counted for naught, as he surreptitiously retrieved the mirror and looked at the destruction to the left side of his face. The nurses were used to his injuries; had not Grace always told them that they must look their patients straight in the eye when they dealt with them so that they reassured them? It was always easiest to do this in the early stages of healing, as the impacts from most injuries resulted in raw and bleeding flesh, so the staff were not doing anything to which they were unused. Whilst the staff were used to it, the patient was not and the shock, which Captain Andrews sustained, had left him screaming, which in turn had woken and upset the other patients. The ward was in chaos.
"Where is Sister Quayle?" Grace asked, whilst throwing her cape around her shoulders.
"We're not sure, Matron. She was there earlier."
"Go to find her and bring her to the ward. Trevelyan, you did well in fetching me."
Trevelyan nodded with a small smile, "Thank you, Matron."
Grace entered the ward and the night staff melted into the background as they saw the look on her face. She went straight to Captain Andrews, who was still being restrained, and then moved to a cupboard from which she retrieved a syringe and a small glass bottle. She drew down a measured dose of the sedative and approached the patient who was still thrashing against the orderlies as he lay on the bed. Quickly, Grace administered the medication and placed the two items in a kidney dish held by one of the nurses on duty. She issued immediate instructions to the staff on duty to bring order back to the ward and supervised their activities, until satisfied that calm was restored to the patients and team.
A distraught nurse approached her saying, "Matron, I am so sorry. I needed help, but we were short on the ground."
"Winton, it is regrettable but dealt with now. Be more careful in future, please. Was Sister Quayle here?"
"No Matron. We haven't seen her for a while."
The words were no sooner spoken than Roland appeared on the ward. He immediately walked to Grace and asked for the background to the incident. He ran his hand through his hair, clearly exasperated.
"Where the hell is she?"
"I have sent Trevelyan to find her, Sir."
"And when you find her bring her to me." So saying, Roland turned and went to the patient, who was now lying calmly under the effects of his sedation. "Well done, Matron; he is settling again."
"I shall get Trevelyan to sit with him and Marshall can take over from her. He needs someone with him, Colonel."
"Absolutely right." The sound of scurrying footsteps on the boards disturbed the quiet. "Ah, our errant Sister returns to her duties. With me Sister Quayle and you, Matron."
As she passed Grace, she shot her a glance of pure poison, but this time she had gone too far and it was out of Grace's hands. Roland strode to his office and Grace could see his back tense against his jacket in the cold night air. Once inside his office, Grace closed the door behind them and he gestured to her to stand at his side.
"Why were you not on duty, Sister Quayle and why did your staff not know where you were?"
"Oh, but they did, Sir; I told them I had to go to the stores to fetch more bandages and pads."
"And this was something, which you deemed it appropriate for a Sister to do, rather than a VAD?"
"I did what I thought was best, Sir."
"Well, Sister Quayle, your best was far from good enough on this occasion, and Matron has had to step in to resolve the issues which resulted from your absence."
"Sir, I really do not feel it right that I should be blamed for Nurse Winton's failure to follow procedure."
"Oh you don't do you, Sister. Well, I am afraid I do. Nurse Winton was left in an impossible situation by you, Sister Quayle, so don't you dare attempt to shift attention from yourself and to blame your nurses. You were the senior nurse on duty and you left your post, for some inexplicable reason, to visit the stores on an errand that, frankly, anyone with basic common sense could have done. That shows a failure to prioritise and worse, in someone of your experience, a failure to appreciate the necessity for junior staff to always have someone senior to turn to in an emergency. Did you leave someone else in charge? No, you did not! Sister Quayle, this has gone on for long enough and I, for one, am sick and tired of your endless 'swinging the lead'. I know that you have seen fit to question my appointment of Matron Carter, but you have just demonstrated why you are not fit for such a role. She leads by example, which is something you patently do not and that has always been clear to me. Ask yourself how I could leave the nursing staff in your hands knowing that you exercise such poor judgment." Roland rarely gave vent to real anger, but when he did, it was all the more telling for the lack of his usual self-control. This was such an occasion.
"It will never happen again, Sir."
"It most certainly will not. Matron, Sister Johnson is to assume the senior role in our absence and Sister Quayle, you will give her every support. I shall consider your position and, if I am advised of any failure to adhere to Matron's and my instructions over the period of my absence from the hospital, so help me, you will serve the remainder of the war at home. Rest assured, I shall not hesitate to take formal disciplinary action against you, and the next time you see Soper, you can tell him the same. I will not be treated like a fool in my own hospital. Now get out of my sight and back to your post; do not leave it again. Dismissed."
"Thank you, Colonel." Margaret Quayle was white as she left the office and went straight to the ward.
"Grace, I expect this written up before the morning. I'm sorry."
"Sir, it is I who am sorry. I shall go to Sister Johnson's quarters to advise her of the change."
"Yes, yes, that's fine. And Grace…."
"Sir?"
"None of this is your fault. If it hadn't been for your quick thinking, it would have been far worse. That damned woman is a liability. You're in charge and she needs to bloody well get over it."
"Sir, I am responsible. She is my nursing Sister and under my command. I shall deal with her on my return. I knew it was going too smoothly." Grace's shoulders sagged under the weight of her failure to foresee that, yet again, Margaret Quayle would directly flout her authority.
He held her shoulders as if, through so doing, he could support her through this, "Oh Grace, this is all about her, not you. Don't let her live in your head whilst we are away or she will do what she wants, which is to harass you. Sister Johnson is solid and dependable. Get her to bring some of the nurses and VADs on board. They'll pull together and they can see what Sister Quayle's like. They're good girls; you've worked wonders with them. We have just this one rotten apple..."
"Two, Roland; you're forgetting Soper."
"Yes, well, two then, but the rest of the crop are good, so come on, smile at me. I'll not have you look so downcast and dejected."
All this time, Grace's eyes had been fixed levelly on him, with no trace of emotion showing. At his caring words, however, they filled and she cast her gaze downwards. He tilted her chin with his fingers and saw her struggle to contain her distress, "No, no, no! You will not cry over that woman. Come here." He pulled her against him and kissed the top of her head. "She may think she wins, but they're mere skirmishes, you shall always take the battle. I love you, Matron Carter, and don't you ever forget it. Now, look at me and tell me what you have planned for me this weekend." Grace's lips slightly turned upwards. "That's better. I take it that the smile means it's something good. Am I right?"
"If I ever write up the notes for you before we leave, then yes, Roland, something very good."
"Don't let me keep you, then," he said.
She went to leave, but he seized her arms, "I was joking, you silly girl. The notes can wait. You could do them during the briefing. I'm sure you'll have plenty of time while Purbright is doing his introductory remarks."
"No, Sir, they need to be done and then I can forget about her until we return."
"Grace, why 'Sir'?"
"Because I feel I have let you down in my inability to acknowledge, once and for all, how vindictive and manipulative Margaret Quayle truly is, even though I know it. I keep trying to think that perhaps there is some good in her, but in so doing, I just let you down again.
"Grace, never let me hear you say that again. You have never let me down, either professionally or personally. Do I make myself clear? You have done nothing wrong. She is playing with us and the more you take notice, the more she manipulates. You have me now; she will not hurt you or come between us. Tell me you know that for certain; now, Grace, now! And that is an order from your commanding officer."
"Thank you, Sir; I do know deep down."
"Thank you, what?"
"Roland, thank you for making it alright again."
"My darling, I love you….always."
"As I love you, too."
"Are you composed once more?"
"Yes, Roland. If you are beside me I can deal with anything."
"And I always shall be: somehow I always shall be; even when we may be temporarily physically apart, for any separation could only ever be temporary, where two people love as deeply as we do."
"Thank you, my love." She pressed her mouth to his with such yearning.
"The word I used was 'always'; remember it whenever you feel tested. God bless and now get some rest."
"After I have done the notes and spoken to Sister Johnson. Till later."
He watched her slight form reclaimed by the darkness outside and knew that she was his light. "Dear God, I love her. Please let my love be enough for her. You sent her to me; keep us together through these darkest of days, please. Let me be enough."
