Change of Duty Read online

  Mark had started working there after leaving college, much to his mother’s dismay. He had persisted, however, in reiterating his desire to enter the business world, and as a result was placed under Simon Vale, grandson of the man who had founded the business, as a trainee manager.

  Mark had been manager of Vale’s for two years now, and Monica was of the firm conviction that her brother would be a great deal happier if he could find some pleasant, attractive and lovable girl to be his wife.

  “He’s made for domesticity!” she had told her mother on more than one occasion. “He’s like dad. He wasn’t meant to live alone, and I don’t just mean having lots of people around, if I make myself clear!”

  “Very clear, darling,” Ann Dawson smiled gently. “You’ve seen dad and me together all your life, and I gather that’s the sort of thing you want for Mark—a sort of sharing. That seems the only way I can express what I think you mean. Like Pam and her Noel, John and Margaret... and you—” her smile deepened “—when you finally decide some man is as important as that precious unit of yours! I thought Dr. Coggin...”

  “Len Coggin’s building up a practice,” Monica had answered with crisp emphasis. “We’ll see ... later! But it’s Mark I worry about. Even the twins tease him about not having a girl friend!”

  “I’ve heard them,” Ann smiled again. “It doesn’t worry Mark, though, so I don’t think you ought to bother too much. He’ll find someone when he’s good and ready!”

  “Well,” Monica had opined on the last occasion the subject had been discussed, “he isn’t likely to meet anyone suitable if he confines his outings to business meetings! When he went to that buyers’ convention, two people told me they’d seen him taking that odious Aida Everett for a drink at the Flying Dutchman afterward! I know she’s the head buyer for Vale’s and all that, but she’s wrong, all wrong for Mark! It’s my feeling she’d be wrong for any man ... unless she changes a great deal! She may be all right in the store, but as a person...” Ann had smiled again, but this time there had been something guarded about her smile. Although her mother didn’t say so in actual words Monica guessed there was a certain “something” about Aida Everett that did not find favor with Mrs. Dawson, either, but she was too kind a person to say anything against anyone unless she had ample reason—and proof.

  Now, as Monica patted her small hat and retouched the film of pale lipstick she wore when off duty, she hummed to herself as she rapidly calculated just how much time she would have with her brother.

  Ample time, she assured herself firmly. The thing with Mark was not to push it. Let him think it was his own idea, if possible.

  She was at the store in the main street of Hortown within ten minutes of leaving the hospital gates. She took the elevator to the top floor where Vale’s well-known restaurant was situated. Mark was waiting for her, and almost as soon as she had seated herself and stripped off her gloves, one of the trim waitresses was hovering nearby, ready to attend to the popular manager and his lady guest.

  “Tea for two, Joyce,” Mark was saying. “Bring a plat of those savories too, will you, please? I don’t suppose you have time for a proper meal, have you?” he queried.

  “Not today, Mark, thanks all the same.” Monica smiled. “It was just that I had a few hours free, and we’ve had a rather grilling time of it just lately, so instead of letting my hair down in the staff room or taking a nap, I decided to come and see you.”

  “It’s good to see you, too,” Mark laughed. “You haven’ been here since we did the alterations, have you?” he rushed on, justifiably proud of the various improvements he’d suggested over the past two years, improvements that had all been welcomed enthusiastically by Simon and by his widowed grandmother, old Mrs. Vale, who still held a controlling interest in the store.

  “I see you got your teenage boutique,” Monica observed, “and your travel bureau over in the corner, but I didn’t see the first-aid center you spoke of. Isn’t that an accepted idea yet?”

  “It’s accepted all right,” Mark said gloomily, a faint frown creasing his forehead. “I never really believed you when you said good, well-trained nurses were in short supply!”

  “You can’t find anyone to take charge, is that it?” Monica asked sympathetically, although she knew from her mother that this was the only reason the first-aid center had not yet been opened.

  “Not so far,” Mark said quietly. “We’ve advertised and all that sort of thing. We’ve had some replies, too, but mostly from retired nurses who just don’t like giving up after a lifetime of service.”

  “I suppose a retired nurse could manage the work?” Monica said thoughtfully, choosing a minute, crisp cheese savory with particular care. “I mean, there won’t be a great deal to do, I suppose.”

  “Not unless we have an epidemic or a serious catastrophe, which I doubt!” Mark said seriously. “Why?” He paused a moment. He knew his sister well enough to guess this was not an idle question. “Have you someone in mind?” he asked.

  “In a sort of way,” Monica hedged. “It’s a girl who’s been on my unit for some time, an extremely capable, pleasant girl. She’s been under rather a strain and not surprisingly, it proved too much for her. She’s to go on light duties for a while.”

  “What sort of things comprise ‘light duties’ on your unit?” Mark asked.

  “That’s just it.” Monica’s faint shrug was expressive. “There just aren’t any. She won’t be able to work with me again until Matron says she’s fit enough to carry on as before, but she’s not the sort of girl to want to spend a year or so taking it easy.”

  “She’s ... fully qualified?” was Mark’s next question, and his sister gave him a withering glance.

  “She’s been my staff nurse,” she said crisply. “She’s a good nurse, and a fine person, but—” she was wondering if she had praised Hilary too much already “—I don’t know whether she’d be interested or not,” she continued half-hesitantly.

  “Is she local?” Mark probed. “I mean, is her home around here? Are they a Hortown family?”

  “I don’t think so.” Monica thought back to the little she knew of Hilary’s background. “I think they came here about nine years ago,” she said slowly, “when Hilary—that’s her name—was just a girl. There is an older sister who teaches at a school—or a college, I forget which. I can’t remember the details, but I’m certain there are just the two of them—no parents, no family apart from themselves. They have a house just off High Street. The house was left to them jointly, but the sister lives at her school. They’re together only on holidays.”

  “And your staff nurse, I think you called her, lives in the nurses’ residence?” Mark wanted to be certain he had all the facts at his fingertips. He smiled and nodded as she agreed, resting his firm chin on his clasped hands.

  “That’s right.” Monica cudgeled her brains for something else to say about the girl she had always felt would be “right” for her brother.

  “Have you told her about the idea?” Mark asked directly, but Monica smiled such a frank, open smile that he knew she was not even trying to deceive him.

  “No. I only thought about it when I heard you were finding it difficult to get anyone interested in the job! If she came it would only be for a year or so,” she continued firmly. “But in that time you’d be able to look around and find someone else to replace her when the time came for her to leave. I gather it’s very much a new idea, isn’t it?”

  “Very new,” Mark conceded, “but Mrs. Vale’s full of enthusiasm about it. Funny thing—” he chuckled suddenly “—but only the other day she told me that when she was younger she reveled in stories about Florence Nightingale and all those wonderful women who served in the Crimea. I was most surprised, I can tell you. Somehow, one never thinks of Laura Vale considering a task like that, but apparently in those days it was quite the thing for someone of her background to take up nursing.”

  “Then she’s bound to understand Hilary’s case,” Monic
a said.

  “How did it happen?” Mark asked curiously. His sister’s world was a closed book to him, but a book that, nevertheless, intrigued him a great deal.

  As briefly as possible Monica told him the story of the two girls and the dramatic interruption of their new careers.

  “Because she’d known them when they were all children,” she said in conclusion, “it somehow made nursing them a more personal thing, although,” she added with a hint of reproach in her voice, “all the nurses at St. David’s are most conscientious where their patients are concerned.”

  “I realize that, of course,” Mark said gravely. “You—” he smiled at her, a friendly, brotherly smile “—wouldn’t have stayed there so long or been so enamored of the place if that wasn’t true. I’d like to meet this girl,” he said slowly, speaking more to himself than to Monica. “If she’s all you say she’d be the ideal person to run the center. And you haven’t mentioned the idea to her, I believe you said?” he persisted as she rose to leave. “I mean—” a dull red crept up under his healthy tan “—I know what you’re like, sis. You haven’t been trying to sell her the idea of ... me, have you?”

  Monica’s healthy laughter rang out convincingly. She straightened her hat and picked up her handbag.

  “She was wondering whether to take an Out Patients position, or leave St. David’s altogether ... and I don’t want her to leave, Mark. She’s a born nurse, and she has that extra special something that makes an outstanding nurse as well. I think you could easily arrange something with Matron about her contract,” Monica said easily. “I know that Matron doesn’t want to lose one of her best nurses, either. I think she’ll be most happy if Hilary works here for a year. It would most definitely be light duties, and I should think she might enjoy the change ... meeting all sorts of people, a very different atmosphere from that of the wards.”

  “You don’t think she’s likely to turn the idea down without even coming to see me, do you, Monica?” Mark asked.

  Monica could have hugged herself, but she took great pains to hide her pleasure. This was succeeding better than she had hoped!

  “I don’t think so,” she said carefully. “Not when I describe what the place is like. But I haven’t seen it myself as yet, remember. I’ve only heard you talk about it!”

  “Have you time?” Mark drew back her chair as she nodded, and his long stride led the way from the restaurant down one floor to where the first-aid center stood shuttered and silent next door to the newly opened nursery where shoppers could leave their toddlers.

  “It’ll be good to have someone capable next door to this little bunch,” Mark commented, watching as one of the mothers’ aides deftly caught a small girl who was enjoying herself on the long, highly polished slide. “We’ve had one or two nasty falls from the climbing bars and from the swing, nothing too serious, but I’m always apprehensive! The children do enjoy themselves, though, and it’s a relief to most of the mothers to know their small fry are being looked after as they shop or go for a cup of tea.”

  “I think it’s a lovely idea,” Monica said sincerely, standing to one side as he opened up the first-aid center.

  Inside was as freshly new, as clean and cheerful as the rest of the thoroughly modern store, but, perhaps because as yet it had not been put to any useful purpose, there was something strangely lacking in the atmosphere. The long, narrow room contained a charming desk at one end and the other end was curtained off to conceal a low couch, a sterilizer and other strictly utilitarian equipment.

  “Hmmm.” Monica closed the door and followed Mark back into the bustle of the store. “I think any girl would be happy there, and it might be a good idea to have an arrangement so that you have your own staff medical services from here, don’t you think? I’m thinking about the flu epidemic last winter.”

  “It’s an idea worth putting to Mr. Simon, anyhow,” Mark agreed. “You ask your nurse how she feels about it and then I’ll have a word with Mr. Simon. There’s no point in saying anything to him if Nurse Hilary’s not interested, so can you find out tonight and give me a call at home, please?”

  “I’ll see Hilary before I go on duty,” Monica promised, “and if she agrees, I’ll talk to Matron. I know she’d like to have this matter settled as soon as possible.”

  “Good. Phone me as soon as you can, then, will you?” Mark asked as he accompanied her to the doors of the store. “I’ll be at home all evening. There’s a play I particularly want to watch on television so you’ll be sure to find me at mum’s.”

  Mark waved and walked back into the store, a small smile on his well-shaped mouth. This time, thank heaven, Monica had evidently not lined up some precious, beautiful and self-opinionated beauty for his inspection! Throughout the years he had grown a little suspicious of his sister’s good intentions, suspecting, and quite rightly, that she was really longing to see him settled.

  She must have given up on me, he mused as he stopped to answer a question from one of the floorwalkers. She didn’t even mention what the girl looked like! Then he dismissed all thoughts of the prospective new employee and went on his way to where Nita, his senior model and the most charming of young women, was arguing fiercely with Aida Everett, the head buyer.

  Mark poured oil on troubled waters, reflecting that it was a strange thing, but whenever those two came face to face there was always friction. Nita had been Hortown’s first beauty queen, and some years ago, had won a prize that had taken her around the world. She had married Ron Dewhirst only weeks before winning the contest, and the prophets of the town said this would mean the end of her marriage. She had astonished them all by remaining a devoted wife, who, although she yearned to be a mother, contented herself as senior model at the Vale store, where she was, undoubtedly, one of its major attractions no matter what clothes she modeled!

  Aida, on the other hand, had come to Hortown when her father took over one of the new major factories in the area. From the beginning she had made no secret of the fact that she wasn’t a “small town girl,” and seemed determined to prove the truth of her words by a spectacular divorce, followed by two whirlwind love affairs, which had been the talk of the small township.

  Simon Vale had been impressed by her keen business acumen, but Mark had the instinctive feeling that his boss did not really like Aida as a person. Be that as it may, she worked hard and well for Vale’s, and between her and the more gentle-hearted Nita unrelenting war was almost constantly waged. It would have been a considerable shock to Mark Dawson to know he was the major cause of the “war,” for Nita had long ago realized that Aida intended to marry the good-looking, clever manager of the store. That, she considered, would be a disaster of the first order, both for Mark and for Vale’s!

  Unaware of all this surging of emotions she had left behind her, Monica returned to St. David’s, her heart considerably lighter than it had been when she had left the hospital. If only Hilary would consent to go to the store... Matron, she felt certain, would approve, having first made certain there was a time limit on the number of months this good nurse would be away from the work she had been trained for. If only, her thoughts ran on, things worked out like that, then the rest ought to be easy. Deliberately she had restrained herself from giving Hilary any hint of her intentions where Mark was concerned.

  Humming softly under her breath she went to Hilary’s room and tapped lightly on the door. A soft, guarded voice bade her enter and she knew her worst fears were realized when she saw how quickly the girl hid the copy of the Nursing Mirror where she had obviously been scanning the Help Wanted column.

  “Pop your little kettle on, Hilary,” she ordered. “I’ve just time for a quick cup of tea and to tell you what a lovely idea I’ve had...”

  The small kettle did not take long to boil, and in a matter of minutes they were seated companionably side by side while Monica, being careful not to even appear to plead her brother’s cause, told her story.

  “As soon as I knew they were having trouble fin
ding someone reliable and well trained to take over this first-aid center, I thought how very right it would be for you. Just for the year Matron said would be necessary for you to take on light duty. I think she’ll consider it a good idea, too. There won’t be any actual nursing involved: the occasional fainting spell; an odd accident, someone tripping down steps for instance; or a member of the staff cutting themselves or just not feeling well.”

  “In which case,” Hilary said, giving vent to a gurgle of laughter that delighted Monica, “it would mean simple bandaging or giving an aspirin or something, I suppose?” she said cheekily.

  “Something like that,” Monica admitted, smiling. “I know it may sound boring, when you’ve been used to doing so much, but you must remember the very basis of light duties is that they be light! I imagine you’ll hear a fair share of everyone’s troubles, too, just because someone has something to get off their chests and no one else has either the time or the inclination to listen! I’m afraid you may come in for all that, and there’ll be a great deal of it in a place the size of Vale’s.”

  “I wouldn’t mind.” Hilary was suddenly serious. “I worked for a time with the Samaritans, you know,” she reminded Monica.

  “I remember,” Monica smiled. “You don’t do it now, do you?” she asked.

  “Not since I was made your staff nurse,” Hilary admitted. “I’ve never had time, not really. When I’ve come off duty, whether I’ve been on nights or not, I’ve felt too tired to concentrate, and unless one can give one’s full attention to the problems in that sort of work, it isn’t right to undertake it. I learned that lesson the night I had a suicide on the line.” She shivered slightly, remembering.

  “I know.” Monica looked at Hilary’s pinched face, the dark shadows under her eyes, and stood up briskly. “I seem to remember something about your keeping him talking until someone went along to his home,” she said briefly. “You ought to be well qualified as a listener, then,” she said more lightly, “and we know you’re fully qualified as a nurse, so it seems to me you’ll be the ideal person for Vale’s. Shall I ask Matron about it for you before I phone my brother?” she went on impersonally. “I promised I’d call him tonight and let him know just how you reacted to the suggestion.”