Hope - Lesley Pearse [144]
‘Then it sounds as if you must leave well alone and make a newlife for yourself.’
That was the conclusion Hope had come to months ago, but having talked it through with Bennett and realized that he could see no workable alternative, she suddenly felt desolate and began to cry.
He put his arms around her and drew her to his shoulder, rocking her to and fro. ‘I know,’ he said. ‘It’s like the Judgment of Solomon, isn’t it? I feel for you, my dear, for Albert is a wicked, wicked man and by all that’s right he deserves punishment. But I think he’ll get it one day. I also believe you will get your family back in the fullness of time. Perhaps you must keep that as your goal and make sure, when you are finally reunited, they will be proud of you for what you’ve achieved.’
He kissed her on the forehead, and tenderly wiped her eyes with his handkerchief. ‘I’m already very proud of you,’ he said softly. ‘Without you there at the hospital, kind, willing and so practical, I don’t think I could have borne the strain of this terrible epidemic. You’ve made each day brighter for me. You were well named, hope is what you give me, and every patient who is fortunate enough to be nursed by you.’
That night Hope lay in her little bed listening to the rain hammering down on the hospital roof, and she felt so happy sleep was impossible.
At long last the breeze through the window was cool and fresh, driving out the rank odours and stale air that had been trapped in her tiny room. Bennett’s words had had the same effect on her too, for now she had a goal to work towards.
She would become a first-class nurse, not because it was the only work on offer to her, but because she truly wanted to help the sick. So maybe she didn’t like the way things were at St Peter’s, but perhaps she could make them better if she really put her mind to it.
But it was Bennett who had made her heart sing. It wasn’t just admiration she felt for him, it was love. When he’d held her in his arms to comfort her, she’d wanted to stay there for ever. His lips on her forehead had made her shiver with delight, she’d wanted to turn her lips to his and kiss him. Even the touch of his hand on hers had sent little tingles down her spine.
They’d taken a little walk on the Downs later, and Bennett had taken her over to the edge of the gorge to show her the abandoned works of a bridge to cross it. ‘Isambard Kingdom Brunel won a competition for his bridge design,’ he said, touching the huge squat tower which was intended to hold the metal cables of the bridge. ‘I’ve seen sketches of it, a beautiful, delicate wonder, but they got as far as building this tower and the one on the opposite side, then abandoned it in ’43. But maybe it will be completed one day.’
Hope couldn’t really imagine anyone wanting to walk across a bridge that was so high up. Just peering over the edge of the gorge at the Avon so far below made her feel dizzy. She had pointed out where she had stayed in the woods on the far side, and told him about the pond she found to bathe in and the food she cooked on her fire.
‘I’d like to camp out,’ Bennett grinned. ‘I knew boys in Exeter who used to do it, but my mother would never let me go with them.’
‘We could do it together one day,’ Hope said without thinking, and suddenly realizing that ladies weren’t supposed to make suggestions like that to gentlemen, she blushed with embarrassment.
Bennett just laughed. ‘I’ll hold you to that,’ he said. ‘I can’t think of anything better than sitting by a campfire with you.’
*
Hope closed her eyes and imagined Bennett lying with his arms around her in the tiny shelter she’d made in the woods. Just thinking about it gave her the strangest twinges inside, and made her all hot. Amy had once told her that was the way she felt about Matt when they first started walking out together. She said she used to count the hours till the next time she saw him, and she knew right away he was the man she wanted to marry.
But a doctor wouldn’t marry a girl like her, would he? Even if