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Plenty of Allied personnel filled the restaurant, but Meg saw no locals at the tables. ‘I wonder if that’s because their customers are mostly army? I’ve noticed more and more private gardens around the hospital have pulled out their flower beds and planted veggies.’
Doc looked around. ‘Possibly. I imagine the army claims a lot of the supplies before they ever reach the locals. Townsville has become a defence forces town.’
‘It must be tough for those not in the services. Even between the allied groups there are problems over perceived rights.’ Meg thought about the ugly scene she and Gerry had witnessed after going to see a movie in town. Walking to a local café for coffee after they came out, the sounds of men shouting had drawn them a little way along the street. In front of a building boasting a shaded red light, half a dozen Aussie and Yankee soldiers were throwing punches, egged on by their mates. Gerry had grabbed her arm and hustled her back to the café. ‘Maybe that explains the fights breaking out around the harbour. And the increasing numbers in the VD ward.’
Doc raised his eyebrows but made no comment. ‘How’s your fiancé?’
Like Gerry, Doc probably thought the harbour was the last place two nurses should be. Thankful to have avoided a lecture, she went with the change of subject. ‘He said he was fine in his last letter.’ But when had that been? Longer ago than Meg could remember. She sipped her water and frowned. ‘It’s been a while.’
‘Don’t worry too much, Margaret. Mail gets held up all the time, but—he knows about your baby, doesn’t he? You told him?’
‘Yes, and I had a letter from him after that although—’ Thinking about the timing of Seamus’s last letter, the loving words he’d written had been no different from his early letters, and she didn’t think the censors would have blacked out references to her baby. ‘I wondered if that letter arrived after he sent his.’
‘He didn’t mention your baby?’
She shook her head slowly. ‘I haven’t had another letter since then.’ Oh dear God, was that it? Seamus had changed his mind about loving her? Marrying her? Chills ran through her body, freezing her heart, her mind. She didn’t even feel nauseous because every part of her had numbed. Had word of her baby frightened him away?
‘Margaret—’ Doc covered her hand where it lay beside her water glass. ‘Your skin is so cold. He’ll be okay. Don’t worry. Here, drink this.’
She took the glass he held up and drank—and coughed. ‘That’s whisky.’ More coughing, then she grabbed her water and drank. ‘I shouldn’t be drinking alcohol.’
‘Don Newton’s advice I presume. It was only a sip. At least now you have some colour back in your cheeks. You thought the worst, didn’t you, but you would have heard if anything had happened to him. That’s the one sort of mail that always come through.’
Meg stared at Doc. Comprehension was slow in coming, but when it did, fresh waves of denial flowed. Her hand slipped to her belly, protecting her unborn child from the worst. ‘I thought perhaps he’d changed his mind, but he could have been wounded. Why didn’t I think of that first?’
Knowing Seamus for such a short time, falling in love with him so hard and fast that she’d tossed aside her beliefs and made love before she wore his wedding ring—these things had been slowly eating away at her certainty of his love. Now Doc had given her a different set of concerns. She met Doc’s worried eyes.
His gaze was intense. ‘Margaret, I—’ for only the second time since she’d come to know him, Doc was lost for words. He looked down at the table and, picking up his whisky, drank. Clearing his throat, he reached again for her hand and looked into her eyes.
The strangest feeling of déjà vu came over Meg and then—
‘Margaret, should either of those eventualities come to pass, God forbid, I would be honoured if you would become my wife. I have feelings for you, perhaps not love, not yet, but I have the greatest respect for you and would go into our marriage knowing about your baby.’
How did one respond to an offer of marriage when one was already engaged, but to a fiancé from whom one hadn’t heard since sharing news of the child they had created?
‘Please don’t feel you have to answer me. I’m not asking you to marry me tonight, but I want you to know I would like you to, if you find yourself—available.’
Holding his gaze had never felt so difficult, or so necessary. ‘Thank you, Geoffrey. You are a good and kind man—’
‘I sense a but coming.’
She shook her head. ‘No but. To be honest, I can’t think beyond the fact I haven’t heard from Seamus in some time. Of course, there are plenty of reasons why that may be so.’
He bowed his head for a moment then nodded. ‘A proposal that isn’t a proposal isn’t what a woman wants to hear. I simply wish you to know I am here, if your situation changes. We deal very well together. Should it come to pass that we were to marry and you wished to continue working, I would support your choice.’
‘Then should my situation change, please know I won’t hold you to tonight’s offer, but I would be happy to hear it again—if you still feel the same.’
‘You can count on it.’ Doc’s smile rose on one side, wry and aware that he could expect no more than this.
‘Two roast beefs, sir. More drinks?’
The appearance of the waitress with their dinner put an end to their strange discussion, but Doc’s offer gave Meg much to think about. Her appetite had returned, but she cut her meal into small pieces and took her time, chatting about less consequential matters. Like her imminent departure and the best reasons to give to HQ.
##
Meg woke to an insistentpain in her lower abdomen. She caught her breath and pressed her lips together, stifling the groan that welled within her. Swinging her feet out of bed and into her shoes, she groped for her torch, grabbed her dressing gown from the foot of her bed and staggered to the door.
‘Maggie, are you okay?’ Gerry’s whisper cut through the fog of pain.
