Page 106 of Summer in Greece

‘He’ll survive then?’

‘Well, we’ll do our best, but it’s a bad bleed.’

Still feeling lightheaded, Shelly wondered what was going on in the dive bell. It sounded like a heart attack, but there was nothing she could do about it under the circumstances. Shortly, they landed on the hospital heliport and Elias was stretchered straight to A&E. Shelly confessed to feeling lightheaded and followed with one of the medics.

*

At ten o’clock that evening, Harry joined her at the hospital. She felt his rich brown eyes probing into her troubled soul wanting to see what was going on in there.

‘Has anyone told you, Elias’s going to be all right?’ he asked.

With that information came a rush of relief, and her moment to fall apart arrived. ‘Thank God!’ She turned towards him. He slipped his arms around her and pulled her into his embrace, giving her permission to let the tension go. She cried onto his shoulder for a minute, then gathered her strength and sat up straight. ‘Thank you, I needed that,’ she said, taking his handkerchief and blowing her nose. ‘Such a relief.’

‘You risked your life to save his, so it’s me who’s thanking you; and Elias too. Apologies for bitching,’ he said. ‘From now on, you can do anything you want as far as my son’s concerned.’

Shelly laughed limply. ‘That’s good. He’s no longer angry with me for monopolising his father then?’

Harry lowered his eyes. ‘I am really sorry for the way he treated you.’

‘Believe me, I know all about conflicting loyalties.’ There was a ring of bitterness in her voice. ‘Sorry, it’s just that I have been loyal to David since I was sixteen years old. It’s so difficult to let go, and the awful thing is, I can’t even talk about it.’

‘Poor Shelly.’ He placed his arm around her shoulders. ‘I knew something wasn’t right, and that you were in a lot of emotional pain. When you’re ready to tell me, we can work through it together. No judgement, no worries. I’m here for you.’ It was his hand upon her shoulder, the realisation, at last, she was not alone with her problems that gave her strength.

‘Thank you. Is it that obvious?’

‘Not at all, but you cry in your sleep, sometimes.’

‘Gosh, how embarrassing. I promise, I’ll tell all when we get back to Kea.’

CHAPTER 44

GERTIE

Dover, 1917.

MY FATHER FACED BONIFACE AND the mob fearlessly.

‘The press might not lie, but sometimes by not telling the whole truth, the more gullible may jump to the wrong conclusions. My daughter almost drowned when HMHS Britannic went down. Nevertheless, she risked her own life to save the life of a British soldier, one of our very own boys. Corporal Perkins of the Royal Engineers. The people of Dover should be very proud of her – I am! You should be praising her bravery with a medal – not coming here frightening my wife by behaving like Luddites!’ He stood taller and spoke over Boniface’s head. ‘You don’t know the full story, people. Go home and let me do my job.’ The distant clanging of the police bell rang out. ‘Go back to your families now, before you get into more trouble.’

Once it was clear they were dispersing, my father called through the letterbox. ‘Let me in, Gertie.’ The first thing he noticed, as I had, was my mother, pale with fright. She huddled in the armchair with a blanket over her. Mrs Cooper held her hand while staring at us.

‘Mrs Smith’s taken a turn for the worse, Doctor,’ she said. ‘She’s had nothing to eat all day, just a cup of beef tea. I put some oil of camphor on her chest to help her breathing, and goose fat and brown paper on her back, but she’s still sickly.’

My father sighed, I knew what he thought of these remedies, yet he was too polite to reprimand Mrs Cooper for doing her best. He produced his stethoscope and listened to my mother’s chest. After straightening he said, ‘We must get you to bed, dearest. Now Gertie’s here to look after you, we’ll soon have you well again. I hear from the Matron our daughter’s going to make a fine nurse.’

Oh! My father had never said anything so kind about me in my whole life, at least not that I’d heard. Although worried about my mother, I felt myself glowing with pleasure.

He turned to our three-day-domestic. ‘Thank you, Mrs Cooper. After all your hard work, you may take a little time off now that my daughter’s home.’

Mrs Cooper nodded at my father, then at me. I was not too sure that she was pleased, until father said she would still be paid, then a smile lifted her apple cheeks.

‘Thank you, Doctor. I’ll just help Miss Gertie get Mrs Smith into bed, then I’ll be off.’ She spoke to my father with such reverence, I thought she was going to curtsy.

*

I let Mrs Cooper out at nine o’clock. I had been into town for some supplies, and was pleased to see several acquaintances, but they treated me like a stranger. They were the same people I had left only six months before, yet it seemed their lives had moved on in my absence. Was I foolish to imagine the world would have waited, unchanged, for my return? Before I left, excited friends would rush to embrace me and chatter excitedly about the minutiae of their lives. Now, they were distant. This left me with a peculiar, yet intense, feeling of loneliness. That evening, my back ached and I was bone tired. I found Father in his armchair, reading.

‘I’m going to bed, Father. I can’t keep my eyes open.’ I kissed his cheek.