Chapter 19: The Board

The Marlow General boardroom held twelve chairs and seventy people on Monday morning.

I stood against the back wall in my good blouse.

Hattie was on my left with a thermos.

My nurse manager was on my right, in her cardigan, with her arms folded.

Behind us the corridor was full of nurses in scrubs who had traded shifts to come.

Eleanor sat at the head of the long table in black.

She had put her pearls back on, newly restrung.

"We are here," she said, "to consider whether a staff member's public conduct has brought the hospital into disrepute."

Conway was not in the room.

I had asked him to stay outside, because I wanted the board to look at me and not at his face.

He was in the truck, with the window down.

"Nurse Somerville," Eleanor said. "Step forward."

I stepped forward.

"You are alleged to have staged a disturbance in a church."

"You are alleged to have appeared on live television."

"You have been the subject of a video seen by millions."

"Yes," I said.

"You do not deny it."

"I deny none of it. I'd do all of it again."

A few nurses behind me stifled laughs.

Eleanor's mouth thinned.

"The hospital's reputation depends on the calm of its staff," she said. "We care for children. Their parents expect steadiness."

"I agree," I said.

"Then you will agree that a woman in a state like yours should not be near sick children."

"What state am I in?"

"Overwrought." She said it gently. "Unwell."

"Mrs. Harcourt, I notice you used that word on Channel Four through your son."

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