Silver lining

Chapter one

Good morning." The words were accompanied with a smile, the most beautiful half-hearted smile that showed she wasn't quite awake. My stomach flipped as Delia twisted right around, her

Nightie and the sheets ruffling. Her dark, almost black, hair lay across her face, and crumpled under her neck. Her eyes were clouded with sleep, her lips soft and oh so inviting.

"Good morning," I smiled back, straining my neck to reach around and meet her lips. Her eyes opened slowly, our noses still brushing together.

"I can't believe I'm here," she whispered with her soft and lilting welsh accent.

"Neither can I, I can't believe our luck, the whole of Nonatus House cleared."

The nuns had left the morning previous, headed to the mother house after the death of a fellow sister. Nurse Crane and Trixie had been called out to the maternity home in the evening for a twelve hour shift.

And now, Delia lay next to me in her pale pink nightie, the three buttons undone and the luscious curves of her breasts just visible. Delia saw me looking and winked, beginning to push herself up on her arms.

"Would you like something Pats?" She asked, all coy.

My body screamed, the flames running down between my legs and causing a deep pulse to begin.

I barely even heard myself let out a soft, throaty moan causing Delia to giggle, toss her feet out of bed and cross quickly to the door.

She stopped, leaning against the frame, lifting an arm above her head in a classic pose.

"Come and get it then," she laughed through smiles.

"Delia, someone might see us,"

"What? At six in the morning?" She winked again and twirled around the door frame and into the corridor beyond.

I gave a second's pause, before swinging my own feet around and jumping out of bed to pad after her in my bare feet and striped pyjamas.

I found her in the kitchen, standing leaned against the sideboard. Feeling a smile start to grow across my face.

Before I could think about where I was, or about the large window right behind me. My hand went to smooth around her waist. Feeling the softness of the skin beneath the fabric. The other hand entwined in her hair, my fingers grasping at the strands and pulling her forward, pushing her mouth open, urgently. She sighed and gave in, falling into a deep and hungry kiss. My hand slipped down her head, back and found her waist. I took a grip of her hips and lifted her onto the sideboard. Delia leaned closer to me, never letting my lips leave her's. She slipped her legs open a little allowing me to stand between them, feel her thighs around me. My hands slipped to her thighs, her mouth sitting slightly open, her eyes shut. My skin buzzed, everything burning in a bright glow like the edges of newspaper just catching. I snuggled up to the crook in her neck, nibbling softly down to her shoulder. My eyes happened upon the window and the fires went out.

I pushed myself off Delia and backed away into the darkness.

"Oh Gosh!"

"What's wrong? Pats?"

I didn't get a chance to answer before there came the sound of battering on the large wooden door.

"Help! Nurse!"

I grabbed an apron off the back of the kitchen door, throwing it around myself to try and look somewhat decent before rushing to the door. The heavy door was wrenched open and on the steps stood a middle-aged man with a greying beard and a flat cap. He wore work clothes, dungarees covered with patches and oil.

"Nurse, it's my daughter, it's Rosette, 'er baby's coming. I, I've gotta get back to me work. I'm sorry, just come quick."

And with that he turned and trotted down the adjacent street. Leaving Delia and I standing near the open door.

"Did he see..?" Delia whispered, finishing putting in the last button of her nightie.

I shook my head, letting out a low and staggered breath. If he had seen us, well, that wouldn't have been worth thinking about. I would lose my job, my home and the only family I had left; Delia.

I shook my head again, trying to shake the thought from my head, trying to calm the beating in my chest. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes briefly to regain my thoughts.

"No, he can't have," I was reassuring myself as much as I was Delia.

"But no matter what he saw, we have a baby to deliver."

"We?"

"Well, I'm not supposed to attend to a woman alone, and your a perfectly good and qualified nurse so why not?"

Delia looked shocked, her big green eyes growing even wider,

"I've never delivered a baby before, not on my own,"

"Well you won't be on your own, you'll be with me. Now, let's find you a uniform."

We left Nonatus just moments later, having found Delia some clothes to wear. The wind snapped in our faces the instant we so much as opened the door and like a vicious dog it did not relent in its meaningless task.

I'd been out to miss Hamilton before and although I wasn't sure the quickest route to her home, I did know a few that would get us out of the wind.

I stuffed my hands in my pockets as I trudged along, beating Delia by a couple of steps. Even inside my pockets my hands felt like they had been stuck in hot water. Delia must've had it worse still, as she didn't have a Mac. Her own winter coat, a beautiful thing in a bright red colour, couldn't have compared to our thick jackets that were supplied with the district nurse uniform.

I glanced back over my shoulder, watching as Delia walked along behind me in her kitten heels, she teetered on the uneven road but continued her short-stepped trot to keep up with me.

I stopped, glancing around at the mouth of a nearby alleyway, before stepping forward and decisively taking her hand.

"Come on, we've got a baby to see to."