Rosie James - Front Line Nurse

Presently, arriving at the large Victorian building, Maria Jones ushered them inside the room on the ground floor which was to be the girls’ new home.

‘Now – what do you think of this!’ she said cheerfully. ‘Isn’t it cosy and light?’ She had already been to check out the place with Emma Kingston, who had come to value the younger woman’s opinion.

Angelina was immediately enthusiastic. ‘Look, Ruby, we’ve each got a bed now! And this little table by the window is where we shall have our meals, and these two soft chairs are where we can relax after our hard day at work. We are going to be very happy here, I know we are – especially as the landlord has lit our fire to welcome us! What more could we want?’

Maria Jones smiled. It was she who had been asked by Miss Kingston to come here earlier to make sure the room was warm when the two youngsters arrived. ‘Look, the small sink here is for your immediate needs,’ Maria Jones said, ‘and outside in the yard is the coal house, and the lavatory and bath. You will be sharing with the people on the next floor – a young couple with a tiny baby.’ She went on, ‘Apart from your fireplace where you can boil a kettle, there’s a stove on the first landing for you to do any cooking – also a communal one, but I’m sure you will manage.’

‘Oh, of course we will manage!’ Angelina exclaimed. ‘We’ve been sharing with others all our lives – haven’t we, Ruby? We’re orphans, we’re used to sharing.’

Ruby, who had said very little, looked pensive. ‘I’ve never had a bed to myself,’ she said slowly. ‘I hope I shall be able to get to sleep on my own.’

‘’Don’t worry about that,’ Angelina said at once. ‘You can always get in beside me until you drift off, and then I’ll transfer you!’ She squeezed Ruby’s arm. ‘It’s all right, Ruby, there’ll still always be the three of us – you, me and teddy.’

After they had made up the beds, and found out where the kettle and the cups and plates and cutlery were stored, Maria Jones went to the door.

‘I had better go,’ she said, ‘because I must report back to Miss Kingston.’ She smiled. ‘’And I shall tell her that I think you are going to be very happy here.’

Much, much later, with Ruby snuggled in beside her and fast asleep, Angelina’s mind was churning with all the hopes and thoughts and ambitions that wouldn’t leave her alone. She knew that, for the moment, her life had been set out for her and that she must accept it. She was lucky to have been found a job, and the owner of the hotel had treated her very kindly at the interview, though the woman in charge of the kitchen where Angelina would be working hadn’t seemed so keen. She’d stared at Angelina suspiciously and had refused Angelina’s offer to shake her hand, turning away curtly. But that didn’t bother Angelina, who had no intention of being there very long in any case. She had already made up her mind about her next step. In August she would be applying to St Thomas’s to join their nursing school. She was already sorting out the details. She didn’t think that she would be a live-in candidate at first, so she and Ruby would still be here together for a while, and after that, well … it was no good looking too far ahead. Things would work out. Angelina would make sure they did.

She turned over to face Ruby who was deeply asleep, and very carefully lifted the smaller child into her arms and moved the few steps to the other bed, and tucked her in. Ruby was still clutching the little pink teddy bear, and Angelina didn’t have the heart to take it from her. It was their first night away, after all.

After the excitement of the day, even Angelina was beginning to feel tired, which was unusual. She seldom felt tired because there was always so much to do. So much to think about.

In the quiet of that modest room, she let her imagination take her to that honeyed, secret place in her heart. A place she was visiting more and more.

She was here in bed with Alexander beside her. Her Prince Charming had claimed her as his own and she could feel his gentle, kind hands, could hear his deep voice murmuring sweet words.

‘I love you, darling Angelina, with all my heart,’ he murmured. ‘You know I always have, and I always will.’

‘I know that, Alexander, and I will always love you, too,’ Angelina softly whispered the familiar words which she had said over and over to herself for so long, felt his caress, the beat of his heart against her own, his requesting lips on hers. And she murmured again, ‘I know I can never be yours, Alexander, but I will love you until the end of my days.’

For the first few weeks, life did seem strange to both the girls, because for the first time in their young lives they had to work out their own routines. To get up in time without being told – and go to bed when they felt like it – to sort out their clothes, and their mealtimes, and keep their room clean without it being checked up on by Mrs Marshall or Miss Jones.

Before they were to start work, Angelina and Ruby had been given three days to get used to everything, and to find their way around their new neighbourhood. On the first morning, straight after breakfast, they went out to do a little shopping.

Dressed in their warm hats and coats, because it was still very cold, they left the house and started walking towards a small row of shops at the far end of the long street.

The first one they came to was the greengrocer’s, which had the name ‘Foster’s’ in big letters above the door. Already displayed outside were ranks of vegetables, all neatly set out. Potatoes and carrots and parsnips and onions, and opposite, at the other side of the entrance, were baskets of tomatoes and apples, pomegranates and oranges. Ruby looked up at Angelina.

‘Anybody could steal all this,’ she whispered, ‘because no one is looking after it, are they?’

Just then, the owner appeared at the door. He was a middle-aged man, dressed in a long white apron down to his knees, and with a jaunty white hat on his head. He smiled at the girls.

‘Good morning, young ladies! Is there anything I can get you today?’

Both girls returned his smile. ‘Oh, no thank you,’ Angelina said, ‘but I am sure we will be buying our vegetables from you very soon.’ She hesitated, then said, ‘You see, we have only just moved in – down the road in the big house at the end – and we have enough of everything for now. But thank you very much.’

The man grinned down at them. ‘Well, welcome to the area, and I am sure you are going to be two of my best customers.’ Then he picked out two rosy apples and two oranges and put them into a brown paper bag. ‘Have these with my compliments,’ he said as he turned to go back inside. ‘I hope to see you again very soon.’

‘Oh, thank you, Mr Foster,’ Angelina said, ‘that is so kind of you!’

Ruby, clutching the bag of fruit, looked at Angelina as the two walked towards the next shop. ‘I thought we had to pay for everything,’ she said.

‘Of course we do, Ruby – usually – but not if it’s a present.’

The next shop was the butcher’s, outside of which were carcasses of lambs and pigs hanging on huge hooks. Ruby shuddered. ‘I don’t like the look of this,’ she said. ‘Those poor animals, Angelina.’

Angelina shoved Ruby ahead of her. ‘Well, don’t look, Ruby. Now here’s the newsagent’s – and there are sure to be sweets! Come on, we haven’t spent anything yet, so we can afford to buy some toffees. We both like those, don’t we?’

Walking on slowly, they passed the hardware shop and the grocer’s, and finally they came to the baker’s. The smell of freshly cooked bread was enough to make them stop and enter. Even though they had enough food in their cupboard to be going on with, they both decided they could afford to buy a currant bun each, to eat now . At last they retraced their steps and began making their way back home.