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Chapter 6
Meg’s stomach contracted, bile rushed up her throat and she threw up again. She pushed back a loose tendril of hair and rocked back on her heels.
Heavens, do I have food poisoning?
When she felt there couldn’t be anything left in her stomach, she spat out the awful taste. Her eyes were streaming, and her head was heavy, but other than that, it was just this horrid retching.
Feeling shaky, she stood, shovelled dirt into the hole and stepped through the flap of the open-roofed latrine. Crossing to the washing station, she scrubbed her hands and hoped Matron didn’t need her early on the ward. At least not until her stomach had settled.
‘Sister Dorset!’ Jimmy, the captain’s clerk, waved at her. He raced over and presented her with a letter. ‘It’s from Corporal Flanagan, Sister. I thought you’d want it straight away. I haven’t even given Matron her mail yet.’
Touched at how wonderful the men were about her and Seamus, she patted his arm and smiled. ‘Thanks, Private Langdon.’
With a wink and a smile in return, Jimmy raced back to his post and continued sorting the mail.
Sucking in a deep breath, Meg headed into the mess tent. No one else seemed to be unwell and breakfast was almost over. Maybe she had just been unlucky, but the thought of food sent her stomach into backflips. As Cook approached and lifted the lid on the leavings of scrambled eggs, Meg’s stomach gave another of those uncomfortable flips. She stepped away from the food, waved her hands as though she could magic up a barrier, and shook her head. ‘Just tea, thanks, Cookie.’
‘You’ll waste away, Sister.’ He nodded at the letter she clutched in her lap as he set a mug of tea in front of her. ‘News from your soldier, hey?’
‘Yes. It’s been a while. Matron hasn’t sent for me yet and I’ve half an hour until my shift starts.’
‘I’ll leave you to enjoy your letter.’ He shuffled back to his pots and pans.
Meg set Seamus’s letter on the table and ran a hand over the writing. An unfamiliar hand, since she’d never seen anything he had written while they were together, and yet she thought she would have known it was from him even without his details in the top corner. She examined them, running a finger over his name. No location, just his company.
A sip of tea slipped down easily, and her stomach behaved. She opened his letter. Chunks of writing had been blacked out, censored by some clerk who had read Seamus’s words before they reached her. She frowned, knowing it was necessary, but resenting it all the same. She took another sip of tea and told herself off. They were in the middle of a war and such details were not important. What was important was that Seamus had written and she had his letter in her hand. Greedy to hear his voice in his words, she read:
Meg, macushla,
I love you and miss you madly. Got to say the most important things first in case I have to finish writing this quickly. I’ll be [section blacked out].
No idea how long it will be until I can hold you in my arms again.
Our captain says [section blacked out]. Not the greatest news, but as we expected.
Expected? She decided that meant he was being sent overseas. Seamus had said as much before he left. Perhaps Townsville was a major launch point for the Allied efforts. Where would he be sent?
Little news had reached them here at Adelaide River, but she knew from the trucks rattling through to and from Darwin that the northern city had taken a severe battering and the Japanese were pressing forward through islands to the north. Injured servicemen on their way south and drivers heading north had all offered similar information. Some trucks rested at the River overnight, and those times were the busiest. Meg didn’t mind though. Being busy kept her mind off wondering about Seamus as she tended young men’s wounds.
She held the double-sided page up and continued reading.
Do you fancy a big white wedding or shall we ‘tie the knot’ with only a pair of witnesses? I fancy the latter choice, and the sooner, the better. I can’t wait to make you my wife.
Dad and Mum would prefer the big white wedding, but how ‘white’ could it be with the restrictions that were in place. Sydney was so far away, and heaven knew when they would get leave, let along enough to travel south and get married.
If we can even travel that far for personal reasons.
Meg stared through the open door of the mess without really seeing anything. Her top priority was to marry Seamus, and if two witnesses and a minister was all the law required, she’d marry him tomorrow.
‘Sister Dorset?’ Meg looked up as Jimmy skidded to a halt in front of her. ‘Matron wants you at the hospital right away.’
‘Thanks, Jimmy. On my way!’ She gulped down a large mouthful of tea, slipped Seamus’s letter into its envelope, and stood. A wave of dizziness engulfed her. Her hand shot out and she leaned on the table, eyes closed for several moments.
‘Sister, are you okay?’
Sucking a draft of air through her mouth, Meg opened her eyes to see Cookie standing beside Jimmy. Cookie shook his head, but he looked concerned. ‘She didn’t eat any breakfast and then expects to go work on the ward all day.’
‘You can’t survive on love alone, Sister.’ Jimmy frowned and, she wasn’t sure if she imagined it, his gaze flicked down her body. But Jimmy wasn’t like that, ogling the nurses. It must have been the dizziness making her see things.
