The Country Doctor's Choice Read Online Free PDF

holidays!’
    Shelagh smiled affectionately, looking down on the worn, blue-veined hands clasped together over her prayer book; her mother was very different from the suspicious, defiant woman of a week ago.
    ‘Is there anything you’d like me to bring in for you, Mother? Lemon squash? A magazine? More tissues?’
    ‘I’m fine, I’ve got me rosary and me missal, that’s all I need. Ye’re a good girl, Shelagh, and aren’t you the fine lady doctor, in your white coat and your what’s-it-called hangin’ round your neck? It’s like seein’ ye for the first time.’
    Shelagh had seldom heard such praise since childhood. She kissed the pale, papery cheek, and then went straight to the hospital chapel where she knelt and prayed earnestly for her mother – and for herself, that she might have sufficient courage and stamina to face the critical days following the operation.
    Paul Sykes caught up with her in the doctors’ mess. The dining room adjoined a smaller one called the smoking room, though smoking was beginning to be discouraged in the hospital. They were alone here, and he drew her towards him.
    ‘Shelagh, you poor darling, I’m so sorry about your mother. Harry Kydd’s not wasting any time, is he? She’s in good hands – he’s the best gynaecologist in the county.’
    ‘I’m trying to be calm and sensible, Paul, but I won’t have a minute’s peace until the op’s over. She’s first on the list for Wednesday morning – oh,
Paul
!’ She clung to him, unable to stop the tears from falling. He held her close against him, stroking her hair and whispering reassurances.
    ‘I’ve got an idea, darling – we’re both free tomorrow evening, aren’t we?’
    ‘Yes, it’s the night before her operation, and I’ll spend it with her.’
    ‘Why not let me take you out to dinner?’
    ‘Oh, no, Paul, my place will be beside my mother. It’s terribly kind of you, but I couldn’t. I’m sorry, but—’ She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
    ‘Actually, darling, it would be best for both of you. She needs the rest and you deserve a little treat, rather than sitting with her and going over the details of the op again. Trust me, it would be a good idea.’
    Shelagh reluctantly but firmly repeated that she could not leave her mother, but thanked him for his kindness, and they kissed hastily as they heard the door open on medical staff arriving for lunch.
     
    When Shelagh went to Bridget’s room on the following morning, she found her full of praise for the staff.
    ‘That nice Sister Kelly makes Irish lace the same as me mother used to,’ she said, ‘and I’ll try me hand at it when I get out o’ here. And that cheeky young feller who came to see me last night, talk about daft Mick, he was so funny!’
    ‘What, a doctor?’ asked Shelagh.
    ‘Sure, what else could he have been, him with the white coat an’ all? He was talkin’ about me goin’ for me op tomorrow.’
    Shelagh supposed he had been the anaesthetist, visiting his pre-op patients, but she was grateful to him.
    ‘This time tomorrow, Mother, it will all be over, and you’ll be back here in your own room,’ she said, smiling. ‘I’ll come in this evening to—’
    ‘No, girl, don’t come this evenin’, Father Orlando’s comin’ over from Our Lady o’ Pity to give me the Last Rites, so I want to be left in peace, before and after.’
    ‘Oh,
Mother
! That won’t be necessary, you’ll get over the operation, and feel a new woman!’ Shelagh remonstrated. ‘Let me ask the Catholic chaplain to come and see you.’
    ‘No, Shelagh, Father Orlando knows me, and he’s bringin’ me the Holy Sacrament, in case I don’t come round,’ Bridget insisted. ‘Sister Kelly’s fixed it up wid him for me. Besides, there’s no sense in you and me sittin’ and goin’ over it again and again, is there?’
    Shelagh noticed her unconscious repetition of Paul’s words, and agreed that she would come to visit
after
the operation, on