The Wife He Never Forgot. Anne Fraser
onto it—and eased out of his seat.
He touched his cap in a mock salute. ‘See you around, Lieutenant.’
Tired and disoriented, Tiggy had only a vague recollection of being shown to her quarters by a friendly nurse in army uniform who had greeted her sleepily, shown her to her bunk and then, with a yawn, excused herself with a ‘Catch you at breakfast’.
Even if the bed had been comfortable, Tiggy doubted she would have slept anyway. The adrenaline that was still making her heart hammer would have kept her awake even if she’d had a feather mattress to sleep on. And as for the heat! She couldn’t remember being as hot during the day as she had been last night. Plus she was sure her foot had been chomped to bits by some horrible insect through the night.
How the hell was she going to manage six weeks of this? She’d have to. She doubted if the British Army would put on a special plane to fly her back out.
She straightened the collar of her uniform and took a deep breath. Courage, girl, she told herself. You can do this.
* * *
The mess tent was a hive of activity and noise as soldiers and medics helped themselves to breakfast. Tiggy looked around, unsure of what the correct protocol was. She didn’t want to make more of an idiot of herself than she’d done on the flight. She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. She had never felt so lonely, or so out of her depth.
A familiar smell drifted on the air. Coffee! That would make it better. She’d never be able to force solid food down her constricted throat but she’d kill for a cup of coffee. Wrong choice of words. She felt the tension in her limbs ease as a bubble of nervous laughter rose to the surface.
Someone came from behind and touched her on the elbow, and Tiggy jumped.
‘You look lost.’ It was Sue, the nurse from last night who’d showed her to her accommodation. Sue lowered her voice ‘And absolutely terrified. Don’t worry, we all felt the same way when we first arrived. In a day or two everything will seem as familiar as the good old NHS.’
Tiggy managed a smile. ‘I doubt that.’
‘You’ll see, I’m never wrong.’ Sue pressed a mug of coffee into her hands. ‘Get that down you. You’ll feel better. If you want breakfast, help yourself from over there.’ She nodded in the direction of a counter where cheerful men in army fatigues were piling plates high with what looked like a full English breakfast. ‘But I’d stay away from the scrambled eggs. They’re powdered. Yuck.’
Tiggy shook her head. ‘I think I’ll give breakfast a miss, thanks all the same.’
Sue smiled. ‘Can’t say I blame you. But you’ll get used to the food in the same way you’ll get used to everything else. Finish your coffee and I’ll take you across to the hospital and show you around. We’ve fifteen minutes before rounds.’
Tiggy took a grateful swig of coffee and almost spat it out. It was the worst she had ever tasted. And if Sue thought the eggs were bad... She gave herself a mental shake. Where was her usual optimism? Okay, the food might be rubbish, but she was always meaning to go on a diet—so what better way to give it a kick start? And if the coffee was hot, she would get used to that too.
Her mood improved further when she saw the hospital. Divided into separate sections, it had two well-equipped theatres, a resus area as well as a couple of wards and three intensive-care beds.
Looking at the facilities, she felt reassured. She could almost forget she was in the desert on the edge of a war zone—until the low rumble of an explosion made the building shudder. When no one else even flinched, she forced herself to concentrate on what Sue was saying
‘You’ll have been briefed before you came out, but it’s different once you actually come here. I’m a full-time army nurse and this is my third tour. Don’t worry, we’re perfectly safe here. The hospital has never come under attack and even if it did, we’re well protected. We nurses all take turns working between Resus, ITU and the wards. Your background is casualty, if I’m not mistaken?’
Tiggy nodded. ‘Eight years in a busy city-centre A and E. I’ve seen most things.’
Sue smiled wryly. ‘But not, I’m afraid, anything like you’ll see here. And it’s not just the soldiers, we get civilians too. Anyone who needs us, we patch ’em up before sending them on. The soldiers go to a military hospital in Germany or the UK; civilians we transfer to their local hospital.’
Tiggy’s head was beginning to reel. Not for the first time, she wondered if she’d cope. What if one of her brothers was brought in? But then, that was why she was here. Even if, pray God, they didn’t get injured, she would be able to help someone else’s brother.
Sue paused in front of an open door. Inside, a group of men and women sat around joking and drinking tea and coffee.
‘That’s the team,’ Sue said, ‘a mixture of lifers, like me, and volunteers.’
Tiggy’s eyes were immediately drawn to a man sitting in the centre of the group. Nick. He was laughing at something someone had said. Then he looked up and caught her eye. He pursed his lips in a soundless whistle and let his eyes roam over her body before dropping one eyelid in a wink. Whether it was the weather or something else, Tiggy felt heat race across her skin. In the dim light of the descending plane last night, she hadn’t noticed just how gorgeous he was with his toffee-coloured eyes, weatherbeaten face and high sharp cheekbones.
There was something about him that was sending warning signals to Tiggy’s overheated brain. Danger and excitement radiated from him—along with a casual self-assurance, as if he was used to women gawping at him and almost expected it.
She tore her eyes away. Men like him were so out of her league. And even if he wasn’t, he wasn’t her type. When she fell in love it would be with a decent, steady, one-hundred-per-cent monogamous man. The only type who asked her out. Not that she had managed to fall for one of those, come to think of it.
Sue tapped her on the arm and grinned at her. ‘Major Nick Casey—our very own playboy doctor.’ She dropped her voice. ‘Let me give you a word of warning. He eats woman like you for breakfast. If you want to survive with your heart intact, keep away from him. Trust me.’ Her lips twitched. ‘I’ve known Nick for a while and picked up the pieces of his conquests’ broken hearts too often to count.’ Sue’s grin widened. ‘Thankfully I’m married and immune to his charms.’
Nick stood and held out a chair, indicating with a tilt of his head that Tiggy should take it. Acutely conscious of his eyes on her, every step of the dozen or so required felt like a mile.
‘Everyone, this is our latest, crazy volunteer, Lieutenant Tiggy Williams—otherwise known as Casualty Nurse Extraordinaire,’ Sue introduced her with a flourish.
Tiggy knew she would no more get used to being called ‘Lieutenant’ than she would get used to the army revolver she had in her possession. It was beyond her why they had issued her with one. There wasn’t the remotest chance of her ever firing it. She was more likely to shoot herself in the foot.
‘Good to have you with us.’ Nick grinned at her. His accent, like Sue’s, was an unusual mixture of Irish and Scottish.
Her heart did a crazy pirouette and it took all her willpower not to whimper. She managed a cool smile—at least, she hoped it was a cool smile and not a grimace—in his direction before turning to hear the names of the folk with whom she’d be working closely over the coming months.
Apart from the surgeons, there were nurses, radiographers, physios and several other professionals all involved in making sure casualties had access to the best care. The names were too many for Tiggy to remember, but she felt reassured by the warmth of her colleagues’ welcome.
‘If you need anything, let us know,’ an older nurse called Pat said. ‘There’s hardly any of us women so we have to stick together. Don’t mind this lot, I keep them in order.’
Nick detached himself