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September 1939
Evangelina looked at the news on the paper and almost burst into tears. Another war. She had been 15 when WWI started and she was now 40.
“Sister, you look upset… is there anything amiss? Or your body and your soul need some proper rest?” asked Monica Joan looking at the younger woman who had barely touched her breakfast except a couple of mouthfuls of tea.
The previous week Sister Ada announced that a new sister was going to join them. She was about 30 and the best and the brightest of her intake, both as a nun and as a nurse and midwife.
The young nun’s name was Sister Julienne. She arrived in London very early that morning, having left Chichester at 5 with the first train and arrived at Nonnatus House full of joy and hope for a new destination.
Julienne had worked both in the hospital and the district in Chichester and now she was finally in London, somewhere she’d wished to be for ages.
Evangelina had worked one too many night shifts and she was dead on her feet and the news of the war had just made her an emotional mess. She heard the doorbell while she was finishing the clinical notes from the previous night.
“You must be Sister Julienne, I am Sister Evangelina. We have eight house visits this morning… so you’ll see your room tonight. Leave here your suitcase and as soon as we are outside the door pick a bike. This afternoon we have antenatal and post-natal clinics. After that, Dr. Greene asked if we could help with the army medicals down at the docks. Some boys will leave very soon.”
Julienne almost didn’t have time to process all the information, let alone reply to the older woman, she just followed Evangelina.
While they were getting their bikes Evangelina started a monologue, the one she’d given every new arrival on their first day.
“Every month we attend up to 100 births. You are first on call every five days. I hope you know what a maternity box is. In case you deal with a stillbirth you should call the doctor… but you know they’ll charge money. So call the doctor only when it’s a matter of life or death…”
Julienne had known all those things since she started working at 23, but she didn't want to appear rude in the eyes of the older sister.
“People here are much poorer than in Chichester…” said Julienne looking around from the bike shed.
“This is what the Industrial Revolution had brought, here it’s where Jack the Ripper operated. People had no choice but to come and live here when they moved to London to work. Please, don’t vomit on your feet when we see the first house where we’re going today.”
Julienne was quite shaken by the experience but understood that people didn’t have a choice and that if she wanted to stay in Poplar, she needed to grow thick skin and a strong stomach.
“Now, lunch is at 1. Compline is at 10. Great Silence starts at 10:30 and finishes at 4:30.” said Evangelina
Julienne sat at the table and was so upset and overwhelmed that she felt like her throat was closed down and she couldn’t face anything but some mashed potatoes.
Sister Ada looked at Julienne who was struggling to swallow her food.
“Sister Evangelina, can I have a word with you in my office?” asked Sister Ada looking at how Evangelina was starting at Julienne and judging her.
“Of course… office or chapel?” asked Evangelina getting up from the table.
“My office is going to be just fine.”
Sister Ada closed the door behind her and put her fists on her hips: “You are a very good nurse and person and an amazingly skilled midwife. But sometimes you lack compassion towards your fellow people and in this case, it’s Sister Julienne. Sister Felicity moved to South Africa because she didn’t want anything to do with you. Sister Mary moved to Scotland for the same reason. This young woman needs to find her feet in Poplar, and you know it isn’t easy. She is very good. Did you see the logs she’d written from this morning?”
Evangelina blushed, she felt the shame moving up from her chest up to the tip of her ears.
“And you are going to share with her unless you want to share with Sister Monica Joan.”
Julienne went straight to the chapel, she needed a moment alone to think and to breathe.
The clinic was extremely busy that day. Over thirty women were there to be seen and the nuns were only eight. So they barely managed to squeeze all the examinations in three hours.
The ride from the clinic to the docks seemed eternal and Julienne’s legs hurt from the effort to keep up with Evangelina, who despite her physical appearance was very athletic.
“I think we are done. When we are back, we will have a bit to eat and then we’ll say vespers.”
Julienne was dead on her feet, she just wanted to say the Song of Simeon and crawl in bed.
When they arrived back at Nonnatus House, Julienne looked in the hallway and her satchel and suitcase were still there.
“Sister Evangelina, I need to change my veil for vespers and compline, could you please show me where I’m going to sleep?” asked Julienne.
“We are going to share… follow me…” said Evangelina.
Julienne wasn’t thrilled by the idea of sharing with Evangelina. The older woman looked always so angry with world.
But on the other hand, from the little she had seen that day, she had magnificent skills and had amazing bedside manners. So it was giving Julienne hope for her future working alongside Evangelina.
That night, Julienne went to bed as the last “Amen” in the compline was said.
Evangelina arrived at their bedroom a little later, needed to arrange some folders and needed to get her laundry. She tried to be as silent as possible to not wake up the younger nun, who was so tired that evening that she also removed her cap. She had fair hair and she seemed even younger.
The following day was as tough as the day before. That evening Julienne barely held back tears at dinner. All she wanted was to be friends with Evangelina. All her joy had become sadness.
Both Sister Ada and Monica Joan noticed that something was wrong.
“Sister Julienne, are you alright?” asked Ada after dinner looking at the younger woman who was crying in silence.
“I am just tired…” said Julienne wiping her eyes and trying to smile.
“Sister Evangelina can be difficult… and she is only eight years older than you…” said the older woman squeezing Julienne’s shoulder and giving her a piece of chocolate.
Julienne went to the bedroom and she just lay down on the bed fully clothed. She was too tired to brush her teeth.
Monica Joan and Evangelina were bickering in the kitchen, it was quite their usual gig. They deeply cared about each other, but they were very different. And Monica Joan had finished the cake again.
“Sister Evangelina, can you bring some hot cocoa to our new sister? She was quite upset and she is eating so little I fear she’ll keel over soon if she doesn’t keep her energy up…” said Ada to stop the bickering.
Evangelina looked at Ada and said: “Maybe I was a bit too hard with that poor girl. She is on the good way to be an amazing nurse.”
Ada smiled and Evangelina knew that Julienne needed some comfort and energy. Because she was very thin and looked always very cold.
Evangelina arrived upstairs and she could hear sobbing from their bedroom.
“Julienne, what’s wrong?” asked Evangelina putting the cups on her bedside table and getting near enough to Julienne to squeeze her shoulder.
“I am just very tired,” said Julienne taking a handkerchief blowing her nose and trying to dry her puffy and tired eyes.
“You are icy cold… you should try to eat a little more…” said Evangelina squeezing her icy cold hands.
“I am just tired… I told you…” said Julienne.
“Evanbgelina looked at Julienne, she needed rest and gallons of hot cocoa.
“Drink up. You do look a bit hypotensive to me. Let me try your blood pressure.”
Julienne took the steamy cup and she was surprised because she was finally enjoying something and mostly because the Evangelina she had worked with had left the place for a caring and nice woman, who was tired too but was caring for her.
“Let’s get you in your nightgown and then I’ll have a quick check on you, we don’t want our sisters to get sick,” said Evangelina taking Julienne’s gown from the feet of her bed.
Once Julienne was settled under the covers shivered a little and let the older nun try her blood pressure.
“It’s 95 over 60, it’s low, but I don’t know your standard,” said Evangelina removing the cuff from Julienne’s arm.
“Yes, it’s my standard. Sometimes it is even lower…” said Julienne looking at Evangelina who clocked her pulse.
Evangelina looked at how pale and tired looked Julienne and said: “I guess being overtired could be a trigger. And I see that you are struggling with food… Poplar can be challenging sometimes, but I swear you’ll get used to it… Where I grew up life was similar, so to me wasn’t so difficult and sometimes I don’t get it…”
Julienne didn’t know what to say. She just picked up her cup for the last sip of that heavenly hot cocoa and said: “Thank you…”
Monica Joan and Ada were walking to their rooms and heard the voices from Julienne and Evangelina’s room and said: “I guess those two will be friends for life…”
“For life and beyond. I bet in a hundred years' they’ll be in Heaven drinking cocoa…”
The following day, Julienne woke up quite happy and excited for the new day.
She assisted her first birth by herself in Poplar. By the time she arrived back at Nonnatus it was late evening and she was very satisfied with her job. Julienne sat at the desk of the clinical room to update the logs and then went to the bedroom since it was about 11 at night. She had been out for over 12 hours.
Evangelina was sitting on her bed and she was sobbing. Julienne couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Don’t mind me. I read the newspaper tonight and it made me awfully sad…”
Julienne sat next to Evangelina in silence and she started rubbing soothing circles on her back.
“I have two brothers. I hope they won’t be called. And all those men who'll die because one war wasn’t enough. I was in France in 1917, in the trenches, I was barely 18 and I saw boys aged 16 dying. I don’t get why they don’t understand that with war everything can be lost. Her Hitler and his other bald Italian friends are the dumbest men alive.”
“Evangelina, don’t worry…” said Julienne taking her hand… “We will face together what those foolish will throw at us…”
“You are very kind…” said Evangelina “With my attitude, I don’t deserve all this comfort and kindness..”
“I think you deserve more than you think. And you hide your kind soul behind your attitude, am I right?”
Evangelina smiled and blushed a bit. Julienne, that young woman she had known for 72 hours, had read her like a book.
Evangelina’s brother, or better Enid’s, had always told her that her biggest weakness was her endless love for everyone and the good she saw in everyone. Sometimes Evangelina needed some time to get used to changes.
In the following six years, during the war, Julienne and Evangelina would deliver countless babies under German bombs and they tried to do their best even if life was hard.