Read Online Full Circle by Irina Shapiro - Free Book Online

over and she was sure that he was in the thick of it.

    Alice had been switched to the night shift, so Lily spent most of her evenings alone. She would do the blackout and then turn on the wireless for company. She tried not to listen to the news bulletins. She heard enough of that at work. She preferred concerts. Lily was so wrapped up in her melancholy that she didn’t notice right away that Alice seemed withdrawn and pale. There were dark circles under her eyes and she was tired and irritable. She had lost weight and her nurse’s uniform hung limply on her already thin frame.

    “Lil, may I borrow your copy of Sherlock Holmes?” she asked one evening before leaving for the hospital.
 
    “’Course. I didn’t know you were a fan.”

    “I am not, actually. There is a patient who is a great admirer of Conan Doyle. He has insomnia, so I read to him to keep him company.” With that Alice left before Lily could ask any more questions.

    That Sunday Alice finally had a day off and Lily suggested taking a walk in the park and then going somewhere really grand for tea. Alice agreed and they set off. Autumn had painted the trees in the park in glorious shades of red and orange and the sky was a robin’s egg blue dotted with little puffy white clouds. There was a promise of winter in the chilly air and Lily drew her coat tighter around her.
     
    “It feels like I haven’t seen you in weeks, Ally,” said Lily wistfully.

    “I know. I don’t much like this new schedule.”

    “Is Nigel working nights as well now?” enquired Lily.

    “No, he is not. As a matter of fact I think he was the one who had my shift changed. He’s thrown me over, Lil.”

    “What? Are you sure?”

    “Of course, I am sure. I have seen him alone only once this past month. He avoids me at the hospital and I saw him talking to Helen, the operating room nurse, several times. They looked like guilty children every time they’d see me coming down the corridor. He won’t see me on the weekends either. He tells me that his wife and children are staying in the country and he is visiting them every weekend. I know that’s not true.”

    “You don’t know that for sure.”

    “Yes, I do,” said Alice whipping away a tear. “I sat in the square across from their house several times last week and I saw his wife coming and going with the children.”

    “You what?! What if they saw you?”

    “I wore a hat and dark glasses and pretended to be reading the Times. I cut a whole in the paper so that I could watch them unobserved.”

    Lily burst out laughing at this confession. Alice chuckled through the tears. It was good to hear her laugh.

    “Alice, I think I’ll take that Sherlock Holmes back now, thank you. It’s obviously gone to your head,” she said with mock severity. “Anyhow, good riddance to bad rubbish, if you ask me. I never did like Nigel, too much of a player.”

    “Well, the “rubbish” has left something behind. I think I am going to have a baby, Lil. And then there is Jacob…”

    “Oh, my God, Alice! Are you sure? And who is Jacob?” asked Lily is astonishment.
     
    “Jacob is the Sherlock fan, Dr. Watson. I would have thought you’d figure that one out. I’ve been spending a lot of time with him, since he is one of the few people actually awake during my shift.”

    “There weren’t enough clues, Holmes. Do you fancy him?” asked Lily.

    “I really do. He is gentle and caring, not at all like Nigel, who only cares about his own selfish needs. We spend hours talking. He is getting discharged, but he won’t be returning to active service. Jacob sustained a head injury when a shell exploded in the trench he was in and lost vision in one eye as a result. They will find him a nice desk job somewhere. He’s asked me to marry him and I haven’t got much time to decide.”

    “Does he know about the baby?”
 
    “Of course not. Naturally, I’d pass it off as his.”

    “Naturally,” said Lily disapprovingly.