Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [64]
‘Yes,’ she confirmed.
‘Come with me.’
Gingerly Grace followed him, deliberately not looking at that one shoe.
The driver had gone through the windscreen of the truck before falling back against the side of the cab. Grace’s stomach heaved when she saw his face, and the blood pumping out of his arm, which was hanging as an unnatural angle, but she reminded herself of all the things Sister Harris had taught them as she blocked out the image, concentrating instead on what the doctor was telling her to do, which was really just a matter of not panicking, she told herself stoutly, and ignoring the blood that was now all over her clothes. Determinedly she handed him the things he asked for, and helped him to put a tourniquet on the arm wound. It was, she knew, important that they did not move the driver any more than was necessary because of the injuries to his head.
She heard someone saying grimly, ‘There’s a couple gone under the ruddy truck but they’re goners.’
Her hand trembled slightly.
Not one but two ambulances suddenly arrived, their crews rushing forward. Grace got up and stepped back to allow them to take her place, her face flushing when the doctor said briefly, ‘Good work.’
She felt stiff and cold and very sick, and yet at the same time numb, as though she wasn’t really able to take in what was happening.
‘You all right, love?’
Grace looked up at the ambulance driver. The kindness in his voice made her eyes burn with tears.
‘Yes. Thank you.’
‘Not bin hurt, have you?’ he pressed her. ‘Only you’re in a bit of a state.’
‘I was helping the doctor. I’m a probationer nurse up at the hospital,’ she explained haltingly.
‘We’ve got to go past Mill Road on our way back to the depot. Jump in, love, and we’ll give you a lift,’ he offered.
‘Oh. No. I don’t think …’ Grace began to protest, but his crew were already making their way back to the ambulance, saying that their assistance wasn’t needed because the crew of the other ambulance were dealing with the emergency.
Suddenly Grace felt very weak and dizzy. She could hear concerned voices, and then two firm male arms were supporting her and that same kind male voice was telling her calmly, ‘That’s the spirit, just take a few deep breaths and you’ll be fine …’
‘I’m the one who’s the nurse,’ she managed to find the spirit to remind him as the ambulance driver helped her along the road and then up into the cab of the ambulance, refusing to listen to her shaky protests.
She wasn’t too shaky, though, to notice in the lights of the bus that he was as tall as Luke and as broad-shouldered, with a cheeky grin and teasing blue eyes.
After he had helped her into the passenger seat, he closed the door and then went round to get in the driver’s side of the vehicle.
‘I reckon we’d better introduce ourselves,’ he told Grace, once he had started the ambulance’s engine, ‘seeing as how we’re going to be seeing a lot more of one another. I’m Teddy Williams.’
‘Grace Campion,’ Grace introduced herself. She was beginning to feel better now, and she looked round the interior of the cab with curious interest. The probationers had been shown around an ambulance station and one of its vehicles as part of their training. ‘Are you stationed at Mill Road then?’ she asked him innocently, then blushed when he laughed.
‘As it happens, yes, but that wasn’t what I meant. Mind you, I suppose a pretty girl like you has already got a chap in tow?’
‘No. I mean …’ Grace laughed and blushed even harder when she realised what he was getting at.
‘Well, you could have now, if you play your cards right. I might even let you take me to see a film,’ Teddy joked, giving her a wink.
She liked him, Grace acknowledged. She could sense that there was something kind and appealing about him that went deeper than his outward joking and teasing.
‘Home Sister is very strict,’ she told him. ‘I’ve only been allowed out today because it was my cousin’s wedding and I was her bridesmaid.’
‘Well, in that case I’ll just have to make sure that I’m on the duty