‘I’malwaysright. I expected you to know that by now!’ Poppy grinned. ‘Come on—let’s serve dinner, and then we can set up the supply room for the card game.’
Grace had been talking to a young soldier, but she joined them again, her ears clearly pricking up. ‘Ohhh, I can’t wait! Don over there told me he’d teach me how to play.’
‘Hold on—you’re moving the patients and setting up in the supply room?’ April asked.
‘Don’t worry your pretty little head, April. We won’t get caught, and if we do, I’ll figure out a way to talk us out of it,’ Poppy told her.
April didn’t look convinced, but she went off to check on her patients, and Poppy went with Grace to start on serving dinner. They’d already checked most of their patients and given them their evening medication, but with so few men in the ward, they didn’t really have a lot to do.
‘She’s buttoned up so tight sometimes, isn’t she?’ Grace said. ‘Honestly, half the time I wonder if we’re actually related.’
Poppy had heard it all before, and she knew that April was sometimes a little too serious, but she’d also seen firsthand how much her friend did for her little sister. They were so close in age, but what April lacked in letting her hair down, Grace made up for with her childishness sometimes.
‘Don’t be so hard on her—she’s just trying to do her job well,’ Poppy said.
Grace’s eyebrows shot up. ‘You’re defending her now? After telling her to lighten up about the card game?’
Poppy bit her tongue, not sure how much to say. She didn’t want to annoy Grace, but sometimes she wanted to shake her and tell her to be a little more grateful. ‘You know I love to tease her, but Grace, sometimes she has to be your mother, and other times you wonder why she can’t be reckless. She’s single-handedly run your house for years, and yet you treat her like she’s a total pain in the backside.’
She regretted the words the second they left her mouth, seeing the change in Grace’s face as her jaw fell open and she stared back at her. ‘Why don’t you tell me what you really think,’ Grace muttered. ‘And sheisa total pain in the backside, for your information.’
Poppy didn’t answer; she just slung her arm around her friend’s neck and gave her a squeeze. ‘Sorry—it’s just hard for me being in the middle sometimes. You know I love both of you, right?’
Grace stayed quiet as they went into the kitchen to see how the food was coming along, but Poppy knew she’d probably hurt her feelings. Sometimes she needed to know when to keep her big mouth shut.
‘Dinner’s almost ready!’ the cook called, wiping sweat from her brow with the back of her arm. ‘Can one of you girls figure out how to get the fan working again?’
Poppy went over and fiddled with it, flicking the switches and checking it was plugged in properly, but she didn’t have any luck. It was stifling in the kitchen, making the humidity in the ward seem like nothing. She flicked it on and off a couple more times, but nothing happened, so she went over and fought with the window for a few seconds to at least let some fresh air in.
‘Thanks, doll.’
She laughed. ‘No problem, Cookie.’
Poppy went back out and started to fill the glasses of water up beside the patients’ beds, saying hello and taking time to smile and pat the hand of each man. She didn’t mind nursing—it was nice knowing she was helping, and she was good at making small talk with everyone on the ward.
‘It’s his fault!’ came a yell.
‘I’ll knock him out for good this time!’ came another voice, equally as loud and menacing as the first.
What was going on?
‘Help over here, please!’ someone else called.
She set down the water jug and hurried over to the entrance into their hospital, finding the corpsmen carrying two men on stretchers. It was obvious they were trying to keep them as far apart as possible, and the yelling continued as she waited for her orders.
‘Football injuries?’ she asked.
April appeared by her side then, and they exchanged glances as one of the men tried to launch out of his stretcher, blood streaming from his nose.
‘These two idiots were spectators, but they’ve done a number on each other, and they’re still going for it,’ the driver said. ‘We had to restrain one of them in the ambulance.’
Poppy fought the urge to roll her eyes at the injured men, and April took the lead, marching straight over to them. She looked on, not surprised in the least that her friend had stepped into her role so comfortably. She couldn’t imagine April doing anything else; she was such a natural at looking after people, and she seemed to thrive on healing injuries and learning about medicine.
‘You two want to come into our ward, then button those mouths,’ April said, her voice loud and no-nonsense. ‘We don’t tolerate fighting, and if I have even a hint of that type of behavior in here, then you’ll be out there tending to your own injuries. Do I make myself clear?’
There was mumbling from the stretchers, but both men quieted down after their little talking-to.
‘Where did you learn to take command like that?’ Poppy whispered as she approached one of the stretchers. ‘You could have been an army general instead of a nurse!’
