The Surgeon Was a Lady Read online

  Towards the evening and when the air became cooler, they would discuss their future, just as two newly-weds would... holding a dream... a unique dream that no-one else had ever thought of before. It was theirs and theirs alone and round about 10.30 or so, they would share a nightcap of cool brandy before they retired.

  ***

  Willie woke from her sleep and rubbed her eyes as she strained and narrowed her vision to see the time by the rickety old clock by their bedside. She had wanted to change it for years but had never got round to it... like so many other things in her life that needed changing and was left to wait but she would get a new clock that very day... Life was precious... every minute counted... No time to delay in getting the best she could in life for both of them now... when the future was so positive.. It was only just after four o’clock and she reached across to put her arm around Paul but her hand slid across his forehead and as she stared in horror in the moonlight, she could see that his head was bleeding and he didn’t move.

  “Paul... Paul,” she called out as she threw the sheets from the bed and fumbled with the bedside lamp. It fell to the floor, but remained alight and when she stooped to pick it up, she could see that it too was covered in blood. She stared at her hands and red blood clotted hands that glared back at her. She called again to her husband but to no avail... He remained pale and still, apart from the deep red glut that oozed from his scalp.

  “Oh darling... darling... No... No... No, my dearest,” she moaned softly as she cradled him in her arms for a few seconds before reaching for a towel and tried to stem the flow, which by this time had become clotted and started to fibrillate.

  Willie worked on him for over an hour with pressure pads and ice cubes, but without success and Paul died peacefully in her arms, without a struggle, with a gentle smile playing around his lips.

  Willie turned the light off and crept back into bed beside him, resting his head on her breast. She rested there with him but she knew she wouldn’t sleep as she cuddled him and patted him like a mother would do for her child who was ill or in pain, but she knew she could hope into eternity... Paul would never come back to her... Her dreams had crashed mercilessly around her as she sobbed her way though the long, dark night.

  In the morning, just as the sun was rising, she could hear the cock crow in the lane outside, but her eyes were dull and unseeing and red from crying.

  She rose and washed Paul as though it was her natural function to do so, carefully cleaning the blood from his face and hands and she tied a fresh, white crepe bandage around his head. The bleeding had stopped and the blood had congealed. She kissed his cheek and looked at him long, for what she knew to be the last time that she would be able to take stock of all that he was in life. He was beautiful. His dark lashes lay long and thick from his eyes and his lips... those bloodless lips lay slightly open. She took his hands, the hands that could no longer speak to her and folded them across his chest and then she telephoned for an ambulance and notified the police. It was only then that she realized that she hadn’t told Danny or Seyone and she knew she could never speak to them about her sadness... Her emotions would never allow her. Instead she sent a wire telling them that Paul had died and that she would be home as soon as she could arrange to have the body taken back with her to London.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  She drove back to London, feeling so desperately alone and strange though it may seem... utterly unloved.. She could see the funeral carriage behind her as she looked in her driving mirror and knew that Paul was coming home with her, but the tears in her eyes blurred her vision as she drove. She headed a procession of silence and sadness... a procession that it seemed would never end. She wanted to drive on and on and it didn’t matter where she arrived. Anywhere or any place would be the same without Paul and her heart was dry.

  ***

  Danny met her at the drive leading up to the house. It seemed that she had been waiting for ages, but she didn’t care. Her thoughts were only for Willie and for the bundle of grief that she brought home with her and Seyone stood nearby, sheltered and hidden by a clump of high bushes. He watched Willie and Danny embrace before he emerged from the shadows of his retreat awkwardly... not knowing what to say. Willie extended her arms and invited him into her embrace with the nurse.

  “I am... so sorry, so sorry, Willie,” he stuttered and she could see the tears welling up in his eyes as he looked at her, but he raised his hand and sniffed back the tears, before he threw his head into Willie’s shoulder and then his tears fell.

  ***

  Danny sat alone in the lounge after Willie had retired to her bedroom. She realized how tired she must be as she had not slept for over thirty-six hours and she sobbed quietly, remembering the gentle patient she had nursed with so much care and who in turn had given her such delight. Seyone came silently into the lounge and took her hand as he sat down beside her.

  “I know how you feel,” he said, almost in a whisper, “I loved him too, you know. He was a lovely person. The type of man who commanded love and respect from all who knew him, I’m sure.”

  Danny pulled his head down towards hers and stroked his hair.

  “It was really through Paul that we met, wasn’t it?” she said and Seyone nodded. He found it difficult to speak. Danny looked into his eyes, but there was more than desolation there.

  “What’s on your mind, Seyone? I understand that Paul’s death has upset you... upset us all, but there is something else, isn’t there?” she asked as he turned towards the fire and the burning logs that threw shadows across the room, lit up his face.

  “No darling. I’m just worrying about you. That is all...”

  Danny took out her handkerchief and dried her eyes.

  “I’m alright really... just upset about Paul. Well, who wouldn’t be? He seemed to be getting on so well... and now this...”

  Seyone squeezed her hand.

  “And Willie... Are you upset for her too?” he asked as Danny raised her fingers to her lips.

  “Why, of course I am Seyone. What a strange question to ask when you know how she feels... how she felt about Paul.”

  Seyone stared into the fire as the wood logs crackled and hissed, spitting resin across the hearth.

  “She didn’t always feel that way... Did she?” he asked and Danny knew what Seyone said was right but she couldn’t answer him. “Well, she didn’t... Did she?” he went on.

  “That’s all in the past now Seyone and we must try to forget it,” she said and he wavered in his thoughts. “You should try to think kindly of her now Seyone. Can’t you see how she is suffering?” she said and he surprised her with his answer.

  “Perhaps much more than you think,” he said quietly and Danny pulled herself away from his embrace.

  “I don’t understand. Why do you say that?” she asked, but he only looked into her eyes in silence and smiled. “I asked you a question, Seyone... Why? Why do you say what you do about Willie?”

  He hesitated for a while before he answered.

  “Do you remember my sad story?” he asked... “About Anna and Harry?”

  “Yes... Well?”

  “Well if you remember, I told you that Anna died when her second child was born... and this was well after her husband had been murdered because he was from the other side of the world?”

  Danny giggled and shook her head slightly where her hair bounced around her face.

  “The other side of the world,” she repeated. “That’s a strange way of putting it, don’t you think?”

  “It’s my way... of putting it,” he answered curtly and Danny felt ashamed that she had made little of his terminology.

  “I’m sorry, Seyone. I shouldn’t have been so rude. Please go on.”

  “You do remember, don’t you?” he asked again.

  “Yes, of course I do.”

>   “Well... Anna died giving birth to another little baby, but nobody ever knew who was the father of that child... It was a little girl.”

  Danny stared into Seyone’s eyes as he spoke.

  “Two years after Harry died, Anna had another baby?” she enquired, “a little girl, you say... well?”

  Seyone nodded.

  “Danny, do you remember asking me if what I told you was only a story?”

  “Yes,” Danny replied... “well, it was, wasn’t it?... You said it was.”

  Seyone shook his head slowly and the shadows from the fire picked out a jewel in his eye. It glistened like a diamond for a second, before it dropped.

  “Why... Seyone, you’re crying. What have I done? What have I said to hurt you?”

  “No... No. Danny. You don’t understand... That wasn’t a story... Well, yes it was in a way, I suppose... It was the story of my parents.”

  Danny stared at Seyone with disbelief in her eyes as she tried to remember every detail of what Seyone had told her about Anna and Harry, that evening they talked in his bedroom.

  ‘He was stabbed in the heart and died... because he was from the other side of the world... ‘ she thought... ‘Married a woman, not of their kind... and that was why they thought he should die... ’ Yes, she remembered that... of course, how could she forget?

  “Seyone... Are you telling me that Anna and Harry were your parents?... That you were Anna’s first child and that he... Harry was from..?”

  She did not finish her sentence. He finished it for her.

  “From Sri-Lanka, Danny... He was from Sri-Lanka. That is why I have this strange name that makes you laugh... Vijayananda... but he lived for a long time in Austria and that was where he married my mother, who was English...”

  “But Seyone, this means that you have a little sister... well, step-sister somewhere in this world... Anna’s second child and the one that killed her... Did you ever think of that?”

  “Half-sister,” he corrected, “Yes... yes, I have thought of that... many times. We should have the same mother, but my father died before this other little girl was conceived... so we have different fathers.”

  Danny stared into the fire.

  “Why, that’s wonderful, Seyone. Have you ever seen her? Have you met her Seyone?” Danny spluttered excitedly as Seyone hung his head and sighed.

  “Yes,” he answered in a low voice. “I have met her... Oh yes... I have met her.”

  “Where..? Where did you meet her Seyone? Was she beautiful?”

  “Yes... She is beautiful Danny... and I met her here... in this house.”

  Danny pondered for a few moments before she screwed up her eyes and cocked her head to one side.

  “In this house... In Willie’s house?” she asked in bewilderment and he nodded again in silence.

  “Oh God... it’s not..?”

  “Yes Danny... It is... Willie is my half sister. That’s why I was hurt when she made those advances towards me... You see, I came here for this job, because I had been told by the hospital authorities in Innsbruck where we were both born, that my mother had been an actress and that she had another baby... born two years after me... They also told me that my half-sister was living in London. They knew she had been adopted, but very little else... and I took it from there...”

  “And you never told me anything about this?... So it was really Willie who brought us together Seyone... and not Paul.”

  Seyone threw his head back and laughed, showing his white, even teeth.

  “She wouldn’t think so Danny... Would she?”

  “Are you going to tell her, Seyone?”

  He squeezed her hand again.

  “I don’t know that it would do any good now... too late I guess,” he said and Danny pulled his head down so that his lips were pressed against her forehead. She knew the embarrassment it would cause Willie if Seyone told her ‘his sad story’ but she also wondered how they could ever keep it from her now...

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “I’m sorry to hear of your sad bereavement, Doctor Fehrenbach.” Willie looked calmly at Monica and smiled as she lowered her head in appreciation of the Receptionist’s concern. “Mr. Sutherland will be free in a few moments. He has been delayed by a client, I am afraid.”

  Monica waited for the clouds to burst over her head with Willie’s explosion of indignant infuriation as she marched into Ted Sutherland’s office, demanding that she should see him at once, but to her surprise, there was nothing but a gentle response as Willie sat quietly in a chair near the Reception desk and crossed her legs as she removed her gloves.

  “I’ll wait,” she said quietly, “I’m not in any rush.”

  Monica raised her eyebrows... and puckered her brow.

  “Th... thank you Doctor... Can I get you a cup of coffee?”

  Willie looked up and smiled.

  “If it’s not an inconvenience, I would appreciate that,” she said and Monica flew into the kitchen area to oblige, returning with the coffee and remembering that Willie only took it white without sugar.

  “Thank you Monica... and how are you?”

  “I’m fine... yes, really fine thank you Doctor Fehrenbach.” Monica shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. “Doctor Fehrenbach... I... We... er, Mr. Sutherland and I...” she stammered but Willie put her out of her dilemma.

  “I understand Monica and I am touched by your concern, thank you.”

  “Thank you Doctor... oh that’s Mr. Sutherland now.”

  A huge woman, who must have weighed at least eighteen stone, bustled through Ted Sutherland’s office door with a Pekinese dog under her arm and Willie thought how strangely they looked so much alike... in the face... the huge woman and the little dog... except that the little dog looked happier and ran his tongue around his mouth as he seemed to be laughing with his eyes. The lady was furious and her eyes were taught... but there definitely was a resemblance... Ted Sutherland followed hot-foot behind her.

  “But... Mrs. Bligh-Staunton... it’s not that I won’t... but...”

  The large lady shook her free fist in the air and snorted as the little dog barked, agreeing with whatever complaint she had.

  “Good day, Sir... and GOOD-BYE,” she retorted and left Ted standing humiliated... If he had passed wind in the honourable lady’s presence, he couldn’t have felt worse, but he looked as though if he had passed wind, he would have been all the better for it. He turned and smiled when he saw Willie.

  “Nice to see you, Willie... ca, can you get Doctor Fehrenbach a... oh, I see you have a coffee, Willie... that’s fine. Monica I could do with one myself please, after that little lot... and maybe some arsenic in it might not be such a bad idea...”

  He was about to usher Willie into his consulting room when he turned to Monica again. Hs the plumber been yet... about the toilet?” he said and looked apologetic as if such a subject should not be talked about in front of ladies... but he desperately needed to go...

  “It was all done yesterday when you were out. I have the bill here whenever you’re ready.”

  “That’s great... If you’d like to take a seat in my office Willie. I’ll be with you in a few minutes,” he said and dashed into the toilet, returning when the ‘girls’ heard the chain flush.

  “Yes... It is working well... isn’t it Monica... Now I’ll have that coffee please.”

  He closed the door of his office and turned to Willie.

  “Sorry about that little hubbub out there... but I only treat humans you know and Madame Bligh-Staunton wanted me to treat her dog... “ he said and Willie laughed. “She won’t be coming back, that’s for sure, but in actual fact, I could have treated her much more satisfactorily than I could have done her little treasure... kennel named, Baloo-scented rose bud... That little bitch doesn’t need
a psychiatrist... she needs... oh well we won’t talk about that...”

  “Money talks,” said Willie and stared out of the window as Ted gathered his notes together. “What does she think is wrong with the little thing?”

  “Anorexia... she thinks...” Ted said and then he looked up and blinked... “Or was it the large lady who had anorexia... I can’t be sure.”

  They both laughed, but Ted saw that Willie’s attitude was different from when he had last seen her. She looked around his office as she tucked her gloves into her handbag, as if she had never seen it before... As if this was her first visit and she felt awkward and strained. Ted shrugged his shoulders and sighed.

  “What I can I say this morning, Willie? Nothing that can be of any help, I’m sure, but I’m glad you’ve come to see me and although I know you’ve heard it many times before... I really am sorry to hear about Paul’s death.”

  She stared ahead with a calmness that surprised him, but she didn’t speak.

  “I’ll take that sign down if you want to smoke,” he said and his voice was ragged, but she waved her hand in the air.

  “No thanks Ted... Kind of you, but I really have given them up... Don’t really need them anymore.”

  She reached into her handbag and threw an envelope onto his desk.

  “What? What’s that Willie?” he asked taking the envelope in his hand as he studied her face.

  “Your cheque Ted... Sorry I’ve been so late in settling my account.”