To Get Back to You
One
Dr. Patrick Turner was having what he considered an entirely ordinary day. He'd awoken at his regular time, had breakfast with his son, and dropped him off at school before going to work. His patients had nothing but ordinary issues and he had just finished thinking that the day might end up rather dull, when he was intercepted by Fred, rushing into the surgery in an atypically breathless manner.
"Dr. Turner," he rushed out, abandoning his usual greetings, "have you seen Sister Bernadette today?"
"I haven't. Why do you ask?"
"She's missing."
Instantly his heart rate spiked into the triple digits and his face began to feel flush. "Missing? What do you mean missing?"
Fred gave a little shrug. "Dunno really. She didn't make it to her afternoon appointments. Just found out about twenty minutes ago, so I've been driving around looking for her."
He took in a deep breath and tried to allow rational thought to overtake his emotional gut reaction. People did not simply disappear. There had to be some sort of explanation! "Well. Surely, she's somewhere. I do hope she wasn't involved in some sort of accident," he added as a sick feeling overtook his gut at thought of it.
"Oh, I didn't think of that! I'll check the hospital next!"
The doctor nodded, then glanced down at the clipboard he held in his hand. "I have one last patient to see this afternoon and then I'll join the search."
Fred nodded. "Thanks, Doc. Check in with Sister Julienne first—she's organizing things." With that, he departed, leaving the doctor concerned, though not alarmed. It was entirely possible the sister merely got caught up with a patient and hadn't had the chance to call in to Nonnatus to alert them of the situation. Or perhaps she'd been side-tracked by an unexpected delivery. Odds were, nothing was wrong at all, and he needed to keep his mind focused on that rather than other unlikely (though terrifying) possibilities. At least until he saw his last patient.
An hour later, he stood in the dining area of Nonnatus House were all involved parties had reconvened to assess the current situation which was, unfortunately, growing more distressing by the minute.
"No single women admitted to the hospital today—so that's good news, right?" Fred said positively.
"I suppose, but it leaves us with more unanswered questions," Sister Julienne said. Turning to Jenny, she asked, "And what time did you say she was last seen?"
"Just before ten is when she left the Collins' place. She was supposed to be at the Martin's by quarter past, but she didn't show. I checked her next appointment, which should have been at half eleven, but she didn't show up there either."
The doctor checked his watch before saying, "Going on six hours and no one has seen or heard from her? That is certainly concerning."
"Hello? Where is everyone?"
"We are in the dining room!" Sister Monica Joan loudly responded to the voice in the hall. A moment later, Trixie hurried into the room, pulling off her cape as she went.
"I have news, but I don't think it's good."
Patrick's stomach clenched uncomfortably. "What does that mean?"
"I was out looking and then I remembered that there are two possible ways to go from the Collins' to the Miller's place. I know Jenny favors the streets with the shops, but I thought maybe Sister Bernadette took the other route, so I decided to ride through and ask. There was a gentleman who said he saw a small nun wearing glasses fall off her bicycle when a while van drove too close."
"So, she was injured!" Fred gasped with horror.
Trixie shook her head. "No, he said she got right up, but that the people in the van got out, spoke with her for a moment, and then she got in the van with them. A tall man then put her bicycle in the back of the van and drove off."
"Did he say at what time this happened?" Sister Julienne asked.
"He said mid-morning, which fits in with what we know about her schedule."
"Did he describe the couple that were speaking to her? Or the van?" Jenny asked.
"He only described the van as white, so that wasn't much help. He said he didn't get a good look at the woman, only that she had a black hat on. The most identifying thing he said was that the man was—and I quote—one of the tallest blokes he'd ever seen."
"Well, that's something at least." Dr. Turner commented, trying to think of anything positive to say about the situation to distract himself from the escalating level of concern he felt.
"I don't understand," Jenny began, "if they knocked into Sister Bernadette by accident, and then put her bicycle in their van, it sounds like they may have been giving her a ride, but then why did she not show up at the Miller's or at her next appointment?"
"I don't know – it's all very concerning. I wasn't sure what to do, so I called into the station on my way back. I think Constable Noakes is going to stop by after he looks into it."
"Surely if our sister has gone missing, the police will help us find her," Sister Monica Joan said, distress evident in her voice.
Patrick covered his mouth with his hand and began to pace the area beside the dining table. In most circumstances, the scenario that the witness described would have not been concerning at all. He would have assumed—as Jenny suggested—that the couple simply transported the sister to her next destination because they felt bad about knocking her off her bike; however, the six hour time difference between that incident and the present moment decidedly added an ominous nature to the couple's "assistance."
"Okay, let's think this through," Patrick said, more to himself than anyone else. "She was knocked off her bike, and the couple that did it stopped to help her. There was a witness, who seemed to imply that she got into the van willingly. Or, at least, did not report a struggle or anything that would have seemed alarming."
"Correct," Trixie agreed.
"Is it possible that she knew this couple?"
"Certainly possible," Sister Julienne said, "but it would surprise me that Sister Bernadette would abandon her appointments to go with them. Even if it was some sort of emergency, she surely would have called us by now and told us of the situation? Or, had the gentleman call if she was otherwise engaged."
"I agree. It's not like Sister Bernadette not to check in," Jenny said.
Patrick also agreed with that assessment, which unfortunately only added to his unease.
For the next twenty minutes, the group discussed other possibilities or explanations for the facts they knew, but none were satisfactory. When Constable Noakes arrived, Patrick felt momentarily hopeful, but that was soon dashed when the constable explained that he had spoken to the same witness that Trixie found, but after relaying the information to his superior, the gentleman decided no report would be filed.
"Why not?" Trixie demanded, appearing personally offended.
"Because there's no evidence of anything unseemly."
"Our sister is missing!" Sister Monica Joan insisted.
"But is she? From what the witness says, she got into the van willingly. Maybe she went somewhere with them to deliver a baby? Or to visit? It's entirely possible she'll be back tomorrow—later tonight, even."
"I do not believe Sister Bernadette would do as you suggest without contacting us to let us know her whereabouts," Sister Julienne said firmly.
Noakes looked uncomfortable. "I don't know Sister Bernadette very well, but from what I've heard about her, I would tend to agree with you, but unfortunately, per the law, there is nothing that can be done. There is no evidence of any wrongdoing. We can't even definitively prove she was the woman getting in that white van this morning. And, the sister is an adult, who can come and go as she pleases. Maybe she just…needed some time away."
"'Time away' isn't something we do in this way of life," Sister Julienne informed him.
"Well, if she wasn't a nun, I'd be asking if she seemed different lately. Sad, angry, upset. Anything out of the ordinary?"
The room was silent for a few seconds before Sister Evangelina, who had been otherwise silent, said, "Well I'll be the one to say it: she has seemed quite unsettled lately."
"For how long?" Noakes asked.
"I don't know…maybe a month? A little more? She had always been so…cheerful," the sister said in a tone that bordered on annoyance, "but not lately. She has seemed…concerned."
"I didn't think much of it, but I must admit to agreeing with that assessment," Jenny added.
"Well, see, there you go." Noakes smiled slightly.
"What do you think?" Sister Evangelina asked Sister Julienne.
The sister's expression turned rather distraught. "She has been unsettled and I have been counseling her, but even with what I know I just cannot see her leaving us without saying anything about it. She knows we would worry about her."
"Maybe she just wanted a clean break," Noakes offered.
"No." The word escaped Patrick's lips without permission as the conversation going on around him had been coiling the tension in his gut tighter and tighter. He didn't want to reveal any of what was going on between them as he wanted to keep it private until they both had a better grasp on it, but the present situation was forcing his hand. If the sister was missing, they needed to do all they could to find her, and that included knowing her thoughts and motivations at that present moment. "No, she wouldn't have."
"But you can't be sure," Noakes said carefully.
The doctor raised his head and pushed his shoulders back, setting his stance firmly. "I can be, because we just spoke two days ago and made plans for the weekend."
"Plans?!" Sister Evangelina barked with astonishment. "What do you mean 'plans?'"
Patrick glanced around the room and, upon noticing every pair of eyes was on him, cupped the back of his neck nervously for a moment, before confessing what had been going on unbeknownst to all of them. "It's…the truth of it is: I have feelings for Sister Bernadette. We've had a few moments between us as of late. On Tuesday after clinic, she came to me and asked if we could meet this weekend to talk. She seemed…happy, relieved. More confident than she has in weeks. She didn't run away—I'd be my life on it."
Unsurprisingly, this confession rendered the room mute for several moments. Sister Evangelina broke the silence by turning to Sister Julienne and demanding, "Did you know about this?"
"Not entirely."
"Well as thrilling as the news is for all of us," Trixie chimed in, "it also means that she was probably taken against her will. That has to be a crime!"
"Unfortunately, what the doctor said speaks even more to Sister Bernadette leaving on her own. Maybe she needed a day away to think. Saturday is still two days off; she could be back by then." Noakes rationalized.
"But what about the people in the van!"
Seeming defeated, the constable merely said, "I'm very sorry. If any more evidence is brought to light, please let me know immediately. Otherwise, I don't think there is anything that can be legally done here."
"Well, that's just not good enough!" Trixie insisted after he had gone, tears of frustration brimming in her eyes.
Patrick agreed wholeheartedly with her sentiments but tried to force out some rational thoughts despite his internal distress. "It'll be dark within the hour. I don't think we'll be able to track down any more witnesses tonight—if there even are any more to find."
Sister Julienne nodded. "I agree. The only thing we can do tonight is pray for our sister. Tomorrow, we shall hope for better news."
Two days later, Patrick found himself back in the Nonnatus House dining room, summoned there by a phone call from Sister Julienne. She had stated that there had been a development in the case of the missing Sister Bernadette, who by that point had not been seen or heard from in over forty-eight hours.
He'd spent the prior day trying desperately to focus on his work. Each time the phone in his office rang, he lunged for it, hoping that it would be news of the sister's return, but such a call never came. As he understood it, the midwives had done more canvassing in the area from which Sister Bernadette had been taken, but they did not find anyone else who recalled the white van or its occupants.
With each passing hour, his distress seemed to build. When the group had reconvened on Friday afternoon, the Jenny, Trixie, and Cynthia seemed confident that the sister would show up on Saturday to go on the date—as they had called it—she prearranged with him. While he appreciated their sentiments—and wanted to believe them—the reality was he and the sister had not quite nailed down their plans. They had talked about meeting in the afternoon, but no formal time had been set.
He wanted to believe in that kind of a miracle, but he was too rational for it. If the sister had run away to have time to herself as the constable had suggested, she would never have done so without alerting at least one other person to her plans. She was warm-hearted and thoughtful; she would know her absence would cause alarm. He just couldn't believe it, even if that meant the reality of her predicament had a much more sinister nature, which absolutely made him feel sick.
Though he knew Sister Julienne would have said if the missing sister arrived back at Nonnatus, Patrick still felt disappointment wash over him when the only nuns he found in the dining room that afternoon were Sisters Julienne and Monica Joan.
"We have received a letter from Sister Bernadette. It was not delivered by post but left on the front steps presumably sometime overnight." Sister Julienne informed him when he sat down beside her at the table. He felt his face flush from the formality of her tone, and he immediately found himself repulsed by the tea they had hospitably provided.
"What did it say? Did she explain what happened?"
"See for yourself."
She pushed a folded piece of paper across the table to him and he gazed down at it as thought it was a bomb with a clock ticking down towards zero. For several seconds he could hardly breathe. His brain played tricks on him, telling him that she was saying goodbye—that she really had run away. His heart didn't believe it—truly, it did not—but his brain could not help but wonder, as it seemed to be one reasonable possibility in a scenario filled with far more questions than answers. Finally, after far too much contemplation, he picked up the letter, unfolded it, and began to read aloud.
"Dear Sister Julienne. Thank you for all you have done for me, but I'm afraid we must part. God has called me down a new path and I must follow Him. Please do not worry, I am safe and loved. My only request is that you please forward my personal documents to the address below. What is this?" he demanded, his uncertainty and distress immediately replaced by annoyance at how bizarre and impersonal the words sounded.
"Proof that our sister has left us for reasons only He understands," Sister Monica Joan lamented.
Patrick frowned down at the letter. He read it through twice more before concluding, "She didn't write this."
"No, she did not." Sister Julienne thankfully agreed. "That is not her handwriting."
In his distress, he had only been focusing on the content of the message, not the technicality of the writing, but one more look told him Sister Julienne was absolutely correct. Sister Bernadette's writing was what he would have considered pretty, with her words usually having small extra curls at the end, but this writing was harsh and tight. His relief that the sister was not saying goodbye was short lived, for if she did not write the letter, someone else did, which proved nefarious actions were afoot.
"So…what now?" he thought aloud. "If we show this to the police, will they even believe us when we say it's not written in her hand? Or will they feel this proves their point—that she left of her own accord?"
"I fear it may be the latter."
He nodded in agreement and continued to process his thoughts. "The letter wasn't written by her, but she had to have contributed your name to it, surely. Unless they already knew? But…are we then to assume she is being held against her will?"
"It is upsetting to speculate, and I hate to do so, especially when we have almost no information provided to us."
After glancing at the letter again, Patrick felt a flicker of hope come to light inside of him. "We had no information—but now we have an address."
"You think that's where she is?"
"I have to hope so, because it's the only clue we've got, although…" He huffed as he tapped his fingers against the address. "I have absolutely no idea where this is."
"Oh! I shall fetch a map!" Sister Monica Joan announced before scurrying away and returning a few minutes later with a map of the island.
They spent nearly ten minutes searching before Patrick finally located the tiny town on the eastern part of the country. "Here. Just south of Norwich."
"This is quite a distance," Sister Monica Joan said.
"Quite." He agreed. Then, he glanced at his watch. "It's at least a two-hour drive, probably a little more. If I leave now, I should be there before dark, perhaps just at dusk."
"Oh! A rescue! How thrilling!" Sister Monica Joan clapped her hands together cheerfully, though the other occupants of the room remained quite serious.
"Doctor, if I may ask, what do you expect to happen when you arrive there?"
"I intend to find out what is going on and, presumably, bring Sister Bernadette back with me."
She appeared pensive for a moment before asking, "Do you think it is wise that you go alone? That is: I worry with us knowing so little that there could be something…well, potentially dangerous."
"If there is a possibility, she's in danger, then we must help her straight away. I appreciate your concern, but I am not worried about myself—only for her safety."
Sister Julienne nodded. "Then we will pray for both of you."
He nodded and turned to leave, but hesitated. "Oh…Timothy is staying with our neighbor, but I had intended to pick him up before suppertime. Could he possibly stay here? I don't know if I'll be able to return tonight."
"Yes, of course we will watch over him."
"Thank you. I'll be in touch when I can."
"Good luck to you, young man! Please bring our sister home to us!" Sister Monica Joan called out. Patrick nodded to her and then, he hurried out to the car unsure of what discoveries his journey would bring but praying to God that no harm befell her before he was able to get to her side.
A/N: This slightly strange story idea just popped into my head one afternoon and I felt compelled to write it. There are multiple chapters that will be posted 2x per week until complete. Thank you for reading!