AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Sure is. We could go outside, but the way Geoff looked at you, I don’t think I should risk raising his hackles.’
Meg frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
Don frowned right back at her, but there was a glint in his eyes. ‘Are you telling me there’s nothing between you two?’
‘We met a few days ago. Dr Ransom is my superior officer. That’s all.’
‘So you’re not taken. Well, that’s good news. Would you like to go out—’
‘Dr Newton, there is nothing between me and Dr Ransom, but I am engaged. To a soldier who’s just been sent overseas.’
The glint in his eyes diminished, but not entirely. ‘My apologies, Margaret. I don’t poach another man’s lady, but I thought . . . Never mind. I hope you’ll forget I asked you outside.’
‘Forgotten, Doctor.’ She smiled as further assurance no offence had been taken. ‘So, were you a surgeon before you joined up?’
‘Sort of. I’m newly come to the soldiering side of it. I started out as an obstetric gynaecologist.’ His gaze pinned hers over his glass before he drank. ‘Go ahead and say it. Everyone else does.’
‘There are no women soldiers so—’
‘So why include an obstetrician, right? Yeah, well, where I come from, and no one seems to know why this is, I ended up having to perform more surgeries on patients with problems other than the usual procedures in gynaecological surgery. I figured if I was doing those surgeries, I wanted to expand my surgical training. I mean, when you’re the only surgeon in a broad area of a county, it pays to know as much as possible. When the Japs hit Pearl Harbour, I was most of the way through my training. The army convinced me to join up, and here I am.’
Strange as it was that she’d met an obstetrician in a town on the edge of a war, Dr Newton might be the answer to her need. ‘Do you think it would be possible for me to consult you—in your capacity as an obstetrician?’
Dr Newton’s eyes narrowed. ‘For a medical condition?’
Shaking her head, Meg shored up her courage. In for a penny, in for a pound. She’d raised the topic. Dr Newton might well decline, but she had to know for certain so she could plan her departure if necessary. ‘I might be pregnant, but I’m not sure. I don’t feel that I can ask Dr Ransom, not when we have to work together.’
‘To your fiancé?’
‘Yes. I was hoping to tell him when I arrived in Townsville so we could be married straightaway, but he was sent overseas before I arrived. Her voice dropped and her gaze fell to her glass. ‘This wretched war.’
‘Margaret, I’d be happy to help. I’ll need time to find a rabbit, or maybe a toad. I hear they’re pretty common around sugarcane farms. When I have, I’ll set up a time to see you.’
Meg extended a hand. ‘Thank you, Doctor. I am so appreciative, but please don’t tell Dr Ransom. If the test is negative, I don’t want him to know it happened, and if it’s positive, I want to be the one to tell him. He’s put so much time into giving me further training as a theatre nurse.’
‘You have my word.’
The band returned to the stage and Dr Newton held out a hand. ‘I believe this is my dance. Shall we?’
##
It was after elevenwhen the jeep dropped them back to Currajong. Geoffrey—Dr Ransom, now we’re back here, she reminded herself—took her arm for the walk down the driveway. A sliver of moon cast just enough light for them to pick their way over the rutted ground. At the door to her hut, they stopped, and Dr Ransom put his hands in his pockets. ‘Did you enjoy yourself tonight, Sister?’
‘I did, thank you, Doctor. It was just the tonic I needed.’
‘Excellent. See you at eight sharp in theatre.’
‘Yes, Doctor. And with luck, the rest of your nurses might arrive tomorrow.’ How she hoped they did, especially now they had a firm arrival time for their first intake of patients. She’d feel guilty if she had to leave before she had trained up her replacement for Dr Ransom.
‘One can hope, but our first patients will definitely be arriving so we know we’ll be busy.’ He waited until she found her key and opened the door. ‘Well, good night, Sister.’
‘Good night, Doctor.’ As he strolled towards his cabin, his lighter flared and the smell of a cigarette wafted across before she closed her door and switched on the light.
The single bulb barely gave the room a dim gloom after the bright lights of the Americans’ recreation hall. Her unfinished letter to Seamus lay beside her bed. Hours earlier, it had seemed like the most important thing in her evening. Then she had met Don Newton.
She really should finish writing now but, energised as she had been by the dancing, a wave of fatigue crashed over her. With just enough rational thought to know it would be sensible to wait until she had her test results from Dr Newton, she washed her face and stripped off her uniform before falling into bed.
