The Vet's Secret Son

by Annie O'Neil

  Ellie went out to the central reception desk and grinned. Everyone was talking, petting animals that weren’t theirs, discussing summer plans and whether or not they’d change because of Fluffy’s cone of shame or Patch’s paw in plaster. Every day was different, but she was pretty sure that having Lucas around brought this extra level of wattage to the clinic’s waiting room.

  Whilst it was mildly irritating that everyone who came to see her asked, for the first time ever, if she was really sure about her diagnosis and maybe they should get Lucas in for a second opinion, she also knew everyone who did see him was in good hands.

  One thing she knew for sure about Lucas Williams was that he was a good vet.

  Just as well given that everything else was up in the air.

  * * *

  After a busy morning of seeing numerous cats, dogs and a ferret, Ellie headed out to the van to make sure it was all kitted out for the on-site calls they had lined up next, including the wild pony. Once she’d done her check she headed off to find her son who would no doubt be starving after surf school.

  She quietly eased opened the door to the puppy unit and instantly felt the air leave her lungs.

  There, sitting amongst the pile of snoozing pups was her son, curled up on a lamb’s wool rug, asleep, with two puppies snuggled up close. Sitting next to them, eyes also closed, puppy in one hand, the other gently resting on Mav’s leg, was Lucas.

  If she could erase the past six years and rewrite them, this was one of many moments she would’ve written in. Absolute perfection. Despite herself, she tugged her phone out of her pocket and took a photo. For Maverick, obviously.

  Lucas’s eyes opened at the shutter sound. When they lit on Ellie he smiled exactly the type of smile she should be resisting if she didn’t want her heart broken all over again.

  He eased himself out of the tangle of puppies and little-boy limbs and joined her at the edge of the pen. ‘He’s a credit to you.’

  The both looked at Maverick, pride swelling in both of their chests. Ellie was struck by what a ‘proud parents’ moment it was. Something she definitely should not get used to. Lucas might be all about staying now but he hadn’t been through a tired little boy tantrum. Or an ‘eat your vegetables’ standoff. He’d tire of it soon enough. Wish himself back into his old life.

  ‘We should get going.’ She went to get Maverick but Lucas beat her to it. More deftly than she would’ve imagined, he scooped their little boy up into his arms, his head nestling into Lucas’s shoulder, exactly where she’d used to snuggle when they had been watching a film or a bit of telly in between study sessions.

  ‘Where do we take him?’

  Ellie pointed to the flat. ‘Tegan’s mum, Cardy, is up there. She’ll be there for him when he wakes up and get him some lunch. After that he’ll go to my parents’. They’re having a board games afternoon at the pub and Maverick has got a jigsaw puzzle on the go.’

  Something passed across Lucas’s eyes she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Remorse? Respect? A mix of both? It was hard to say.

  Once he’d tucked Mav into his bed, they tiptoed out of the flat.

  ‘Right,’ Ellie said with as bright a smile as she could muster. ‘Ready for some cowboy action?’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  LUCAS PULLED OFF his long glove, wiped his brow and smiled. ‘I’ve never done that before.’

  ‘Seriously? No breech alpaca births in London?’ Ellie held out a bag for him to put the gloves in, popped it to the side then took a deep drink from her water bottle, a trendy reusable number with the clinic’s logo on it. It was a hot summer’s day with only a hint of a sea breeze as they were a few acres inland at Viola’s farm, the very aptly named Seaview Farm.

  ‘Nope. Not on my watch anyway.’ Lucas leaned against the fence, in awe as the newly born alpaca tried, then succeeded in standing up on his reedy little legs. ‘I would say this entire week has been filled with quite a few firsts.’

  Ellie threw him a look.

  Seeing each other for one.

  Learning he had a son for another.

  Then finding a weird but strangely workable routine over the past week where, between the two of them, they looked after Mav. More accurately, Ellie showed him how parenting worked whilst keeping her own feelings about things hidden.

  Despite the little flashes and flares of frustration that crackled between them, he liked to think he was settling into the groove of things. He willingly dived into getting Mav sorted for surf class or science camp or supper or bedtime. Making sure he had enough puppy time, nap time and brushed his teeth. Genuine, honest to goodness, quality time.

  It didn’t mean it was all footloose and fancy free. He hadn’t missed Ellie’s odd aside about Maverick still being in awe of the fact that his father was the Uber-Vet so was on his best behaviour. She couldn’t wait to see how he handled things when Mav had a tantrum in the middle of the supermarket or refused to brush his teeth or, God forbid, came down with anything, because Maverick was many things, but a good patient was not one of them.

  ‘Chickenpox,’ she’d whispered. ‘You were lucky you missed it.’

  ‘No,’ he’d retorted. ‘I regret having missed it. That and so much more.’

  Not that he’d had much time to wallow in a sea of regrets. The clinic was a constant hive of activity. Very different from the specialised work he’d been focussing on to keep the show’s ratings up. The Dolphin Cove Veterinary Clinic was half animal hospital, half community centre. It made sense seeing the place had largely been built from local crowd funding. And, of course, it made sense when you knew Ellie. She loved people every bit as much as she loved animals. And she loved animals a lot.

  They’d caught the wild pony in the end. Turned out all you had to do was walk up to it with a carrot. Ellie had let him think otherwise for just a little bit too long on that front. Never mind. There were worse hurdles she could throw in his path. Like refusing to let him have access to Maverick. One week in and his heart had shown an elasticity he’d not believed it capable of. He loved his little boy more than he had ever imagined loving anyone...anyone apart from Ellie. Not that he was free to ‘go there’ any more. That chapter was well and truly finished. A niggle surfaced. Was it? Could he change his own rules?

  Ellie took another drink of water and handed him her bottle. ‘Here. Hydrate.’ She inspected him for a minute. ‘I would’ve thought you’d have seen every animal under the sun by now.’

  ‘You didn’t ever really watch the show, did you?’ He handed back the bottle, catching Ellie’s eyes observing him as he eased out the kinks from the awkward way he’d had to stand during the birth of the cria. He pretended he didn’t see the flush hit her cheeks. ‘Cats and dogs were our bread-and-butter cases. They’re more relatable.’ She nodded for him to continue. ‘We had a python who’d swallowed a football, but wisely brought in a specialist herpetologist.’ He ticked off some more animals. ‘Ferrets, tortoises, mice and hamsters have made the odd showing. Goats, cows, horses, pigs, but nope. No alpacas.’

  Ellie gave him a grin, her golden curls swishing across her shoulders. ‘Well. Now you can tick that off your list.’

  He folded into a courtly bow. ‘Much obliged to you, m’lady. Got any tigers hidden away anywhere?’ His eyes flicked up to meet hers. The heat in her cheeks doubled.

  ‘Not unless you count the beast of Bodmin Moor,’ she answered loftily.

  ‘Ah...the fabled Beast of Bodmin. Whatever happened to it, I wonder.’

  ‘Probably waiting for the Uber-Vet to show up so it could make a splash on telly.’

  Ouch. The jibes weren’t frequent, but when Ellie made one, he felt it.

  ‘Ha-ha.’ He nudged her with his elbow then turned serious. Finding out he had a son mustn’t detract from the fact he had originally come down here to make amends. ‘I’m not all about the bright lights big city you know.�
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  Ellie looked at him. Hard. She swallowed as if she was choking back something not very nice to say then gave a nonchalant shrug. ‘I guess.’

  Lucas took another swig of water from Ellie’s bottle. ‘Mmm... Good. Better than the water in London.’ It was the closest he could come to saying that he wished things had turned out differently.

  ‘Everything in Cornwall is better than London,’ Ellie said with a cheeky grin.

  ‘Ha! That’s quite a statement.’

  ‘She’s not wrong,’ a firm, posh voice cut in. ‘Air’s better. Sea’s cleaner. Sun’s warmer. Not a finer place on earth than Cornwall.’

  ‘Viola!’ Ellie took two long strides forward and took the small bale of straw out of the elderly woman’s hands. ‘You should’ve called. I would’ve brought the hay. Look. The little lad’s up on all fours already. Have you decided what you going to call him?’

  ‘Well,’ the white-haired woman said, squinting against the midday sun. ‘We’re on an X year, so... Xavier? Xander?’

  ‘X?’ Lucas echoed. ‘You’ve been raising alpacas for twenty-four years?’

  Viola gave Lucas an appraising look. ‘Not just a pretty face, are you?’

  Lucas laughed. ‘I spent some time at a clinic up north where we used to go to quite a few dairy farms.’ He glanced at Ellie. They’d done the internship together. It had been the first time they’d lived together. A preview, he’d thought, of the life they would share together. From the pained look on her face she must’ve thought the same. He rubbed his hands together. ‘Anyway, several of the farmers used the alphabet to track the birthing years.’

  ‘X,’ said Ellie, turning her attention to the cria, wobbling its way to its mum for a first drink. ‘Um...how about Xanthus?’

  Viola pressed her wrinkled hands to her heart. ‘Xanthus?’

  ‘What on earth made you think of that name?’

  Ellie pointed up at the sky and playfully said, ‘Divine inspiration?’

  Viola’s features softened. ‘I was once courted by a young man called Xanthus.’

  ‘Oh?’ Ellie gave Lucas a this-should-be-interesting look.

  ‘Yes.’ Viola’s gaze drifted out to the sea. ‘He was a sailor. Naturally,’ she added. ‘With a name like that what else would he be?’

  ‘A Greek god?’ Lucas suggested.

  ‘He was a touch of that, too,’ Viola said, her look growing even more distant as the memories crowded in. ‘He had blond hair. A bit like yours... Lucas, was it?’

  Lucas smiled and nodded. Viola clearly didn’t watch Uber-Vet either.

  ‘Yes. We met when the motor on his fishing vessel gave out a few miles off the coast. One of the other boats saw his emergency signal and towed him and his crew in. He stayed at The Hungry Pelican.’

  ‘Oh?’ Ellie said, more interested.

  ‘Long before your parents ran it, of course, Ellie, dear. It was a bit more...rustic, but, as pubs often are, it was the heart of the village, especially on a Saturday night.’

  ‘And did you meet on a Saturday?’

  ‘Friday,’ she said wistfully, as if she’d never had a Friday since. ‘Yes, we met on a Friday night and by Saturday night we were firmly in love. That’s how it was done back in the day. None of these long courtships you young people seem to have.’ She arched an eyebrow at Lucas as if she knew all about him.

  Lucas shifted uncomfortably. He’d fallen in love with Ellie the moment he’d laid eyes on her. So why had he taken so damn long to propose? It wasn’t as if he’d expected his love to run dry once vet school had finished. Putting family first had always seemed the right thing to do, but...he’d wanted a family with Ellie, too. Why had he made them two separate things?

  ‘Three, four, ten years! I don’t know what you young folk are waiting for,’ Viola continued. ‘Of course, with the war and rationing and heaven knows what else, none of us expected to live quite so long back then...’

  Her eyes took on a faraway look as she reached out to an alpaca who had spotted the hay and come up to the fence line to have a munch.

  As if she couldn’t stop the story from being told, Viola continued. ‘He asked me to go back with him. Xanthus. Leave Cornwall behind for Greece. Start our own family. I told him not to be ridiculous, we would stay here.’

  Her lips pressed into a thin, pink line.

  ‘And...?’ prompted Ellie, throwing a See, it isn’t only me look in Lucas’s direction.

  ‘And then his motor got fixed and I never heard from him again.’ Viola gave Ellie a tight smile then lavished the alpaca mum with praise about how beautiful she was. How her love was pure. Unconditional.

  That one stuck in Lucas’s throat. He’d made his love for Ellie conditional. But what was he meant to have done? Left his family to flounder? Dragged Ellie into unknown levels of debt? The show had been a fluke. He’d thought he’d been protecting everyone. But...to what end?

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Ellie said, her voice scratchy with emotion. Lucas looked over at her. She gave a shake of her head and looked away quickly, but he could’ve sworn he’d seen a film of tears in her eyes.

  ‘Don’t be, dear.’ Viola gave her arm a squeeze, the sharp, savvy glint returning to her eyes. ‘If I wasn’t worth fighting for, then I’m sure it would’ve all turned out horribly anyway.’

  Ellie suddenly became very busy packing up the rest of their equipment.

  ‘I’m sure you were worth fighting for,’ Lucas said, his eyes catching Ellie’s as Viola batted his comment away. A flash of pain shot across her features so vividly it felt as though it had slashed through his own heart. He ached to say, I fought for you. In his own way he had. By setting her free. Would she have really wanted to weather the storm with him? Put her dreams on hold to fulfil a family responsibility?

  The thought sank deep into his gut. If she had...he would’ve been by her side as she’d carried their child. Their son.

  Viola gave a wistful sigh. ‘Look at you two. So young. So much life left to live. Everything exciting that’s happened to me happened before either of you were even born.’

  Ellie squeaked in dismay. ‘Oh, Viola. That’s not true. Look at the difference you’ve made to the clinic. Without you, we wouldn’t have the surgical wing.’

  Viola waved the statement away.

  Ellie persisted. ‘You’ve got such a lovely farm and so many friends. Your family adore you.’

  Viola gave them a look, dismayed at Ellie’s naivety. ‘They adore my money, love. Not me. I’d give it all away right now if I didn’t have all of these lovely beasts to take care of.’

  ‘I’m sure it’s not the money.’ Ellie’s protest was weakening.

  ‘No, dear. Much like me, my family like animals more than humans. The truth is, the likes of Caspian could do with rolling his sleeves up the way you do. Learn how to earn his keep.’ She gave the alpaca another appraising look then spoke as if she were a High Court judge. ‘I would strongly advise the two of you to seize the day. You never know what’s round the corner. Or who you might lose when you turn it.’ She brightened and gave each of them a quick head-to-toe inspection. ‘You’re both so tall the two of you. You’d make a fine couple. Ellie? What about keeping this one?’

  Ellie flushed a deep red and muttered something about having another call to get to. Then, as if she’d been having a tug-of-war with her conscience about what the right thing to do was, she pulled Viola into a quick, fierce hug and said, ‘You come down to the clinic anytime. You know we have the kettle on round the clock and there is always someone there to talk with.’

  Viola gave her a smile and said she would definitely take her up on the offer.

  After Ellie had headed back to the van and was safely out of earshot, Viola gave Lucas a schoolmarmish look and said, ‘She won’t wait for ever, you know.’

  ‘Sorry?’

  �
�Don’t play the fool with me, my dear. I remember you.’

  Lucas tried to remember when he might have crossed paths with Viola during one of his visits with Ellie back in the day. Truth was, he’d only had eyes for her, so apart from her parents and Drew he didn’t really remember anyone else.

  ‘Carpe diem, love,’ Viola whispered. ‘Carpe diem.’

  He knew what she was saying. This was his chance and he was already risking losing it.

  ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Viola pointedly. ‘Do.’

  * * *

  Ellie slammed the van door shut, barely waiting for Lucas to close his door before reversing the vehicle out of the barnyard and onto the country lane.

  She felt his eyes on her, but refused to look at him, finally exhaling when he sat back in a thoughtful silence.

  She flicked on the radio and punched up an alternative music show. The singer was howling away about a following his dreams. It was the type of music her mother would’ve called shouting with instruments.

  The perfect atmosphere for letting her own thoughts run wild.

  What on earth had possessed Viola? Keep this one. She would’ve if she could’ve, but if there was one thing she’d learnt when Lucas Williams had handed her her walking papers? It was that no one had the power to make anyone stay.

  Yup. That’s right. She’d begged. The most humiliating thing she’d ever done. Begged and cried and asked over and over why he was doing this. He’d been immovable. Like a man whose heart had turned to stone.

  When she’d gone home, Drew had been the one to tell her parents. She hadn’t had the strength. The strength to say it without bawling her eyes out anyway and the last thing she wanted to do was shed a solitary tear for Lucas ever again. She’d vowed to never, ever let herself feel so low. So unworthy.

  And, then, of course, she’d felt even lower when a couple of months later he’d popped up on telly with an utterly gorgeous woman on his arm. This, just about when she’d found out she was carrying their child.