‘Would you mind asking him to come across? I want a word with him.’
‘You’re the driver on the school bus, aren’t you?’ the other girl said.
‘Not any more. The tree that fell put paid to that,’ he said wryly, and watched as they went to deliver his message.
When Ben heard who it was asking to see him he left what he was doing straight away. He’d been to see Dennis a few times in hospital and the elderly bus driver had really appreciated it. To discover that he was now back home with his family was great news.
‘I’ve brought you something, laddie,’ Dennis said when he came galloping up, and he presented Ben with a gift-wrapped parcel. ‘It’s to say thanks for what you did. Your parents must be very proud of you.’
‘We are,’ Ethan told him as he and Francine approached, delighted to see Dennis at the bonfire and curious to know why he was there.
A crowd was gathering, also curious, and when they saw Ben and Dennis together someone shouted, ‘Three cheers for Ben Lomax, our local hero.’ And having got used to being a celebrity, he bowed amidst the cheers.
When everyone had dispersed and gone back to their enjoyment of the night, Ben opened the parcel and gave a whoop of delight when he saw what was inside. Dennis had given him a collector’s piece, a pewter desktop model of a Ferrari, and was smiling as he witnessed his young friend’s pleasure.
After they’d chatted for a while Ben took him to the community centre for some food and a rest and Ethan said laughingly, ‘If it goes on like this, our son won’t be able to get a baseball cap to fit his head.’ As Francine sparkled across at him it was a special moment of the kind that had become all too rare.
He ached with love for her and all the time wished he’d handled it better when the subject of them going to live in France had first cropped up. He’d once thought he must be the only man in the world who’d had to compete with a house for his wife’s affections. Yet it applied both ways, Francine coming second to a medical practice, or so she saw it.
In the light of the fire her face was indescribably beautiful with its fine bone structure and lovely green eyes. He hoped the baby she was carrying would have its mother’s grace and attractiveness, as Kirstie and Ben did.
Jenna and Lucas were there and when they met up with them the two women were soon engrossed in baby talk and the men in medical matters.
From Lucas came a comment that he’d seen Barbara at his clinic a few days ago and she’d been in reasonable health considering the state of her heart and her debilitating rheumatoid arthritis.
‘In fact, my mother-in-law was quietly content, happy almost,’ he’d said ‘and whatever the reason, I hope she’ll be in the same frame of mind when her grandchild arrives.’
‘You need have no doubts about that,’ Ethan told him. ‘Barbara will be over the moon when she and Keith become grandparents, and without my betraying a patient’s confidence, keep an eye on Jenna’s father, will you? He’s the one with health problems at the moment, but doesn’t want to worry his wife and daughter for the time being.’
When they strolled along to the community centre Leo was there, chatting to Lucy, the elderly practice nurse, and Ronnie, the lifeguard, who wasn’t looking quite so bronzed in the chill of winter.
The Enderby family was also there and as Ethan chatted to the villagers who depended on him for their good health Francine thought with sudden wistfulness that she was doing the right thing in selling the house in France.
His happiness came first. The children were easy enough to please because they were only young, but Ethan’s contentment was a different matter, and with regard to that there was the valuation she’d been given the week before. At the time it had seemed reasonable but having checked house prices on the Internet that morning before Ethan and the children had arrived home, she was regretting having only asked for one. Her parents wouldn’t want her to sell their beautiful house for less than its worth.
The fact that she was selling it at all would be unexpected to everyone except herself, and come Monday morning she would arrange for other valuations to be done, with each property firm gaining access with the key that was in the keeping of her French solicitor.
It would delay telling Ethan of her decision for a little while longer, but she did want it to be already on the market when she told him, so that he would see just how much she was prepared to forget her dream.
Preparations for another Christmas in Bluebell Cove were under way as soon as Bonfire Night was past and with each reminder of it came the thought for both Francine and Ethan that soon their baby would be born into a new year shrouded in uncertainty.
One day in late November Ethan had a phone call from Barbara, asking him to stop by the first chance he got as there was something she wanted to discuss with him.
She gave no inkling of what it was and he was curious, as with complete confidence in him she never interfered with the practice—or his private life, for that matter, though she had been rather sour towards Francine when she’d come back to Bluebell Cove.
On the evening of the same day he went to Four Winds House and, leaving her husband to watch television, Barbara took Ethan into her study and once they were settled asked, ‘Are you happy with your life, Ethan?’
He was observing her with raised brows and questioned, ‘Why do you ask?’
‘Because I care about you. I’ve watched you over past months and can see that you’re pulled two ways by your dedication to the practice and your wife’s longing to return home since she lost her parents.’
He sighed. ‘That’s true enough, Barbara, but where is all this leading? I don’t think even you can suggest a solution.’
‘Don’t underestimate me,’ she said with a dry laugh. ‘I have a plan that might work to the satisfaction of you, me, Francine and one other person.’
He smiled. ‘I’m afraid you’ve lost me.’
‘Not for long, I promise. I can’t tell you what it is at this moment but I should soon be able to and then it will be up to you. So will you trust me on this?’
‘I’ve never had cause not to, have I?’ he replied. ‘So, yes, of course I’ll trust you, though you’ve left me extremely curious.’
She was getting slowly and painfully to her feet, reaching for her stick and telling him, ‘Like I say, it won’t be for long, and now will you join us for a glass of wine? Keith and I usually indulge around this time.’
Later that evening he walked home thinking that maybe Barbara was cracking up, fantasising, but it was kind of her to be concerned about him and he put the strange conversation out of his mind and turned his thoughts to what the children had said they would like for Christmas. He wanted to give Francine something that would make her really happy, but so far hadn’t thought of anything that was going to achieve that in the present climate.
The valuations she’d asked for were coming through slowly, too slowly, Francine felt, eager to let Ethan see how much she loved him. Some of them were higher than the first, others lower, and she was wishing she’d taken more care in getting the right selling price for the house before leaving it. There was just one left to come and then she would decide.
She was still working mornings at the surgery, against Ethan’s wishes now that the pregnancy was so far advanced, but as she insisted that she felt fine and as it was flu vaccination time, he was going along with it.
Charlotte Templeton had popped in to tell her that the chemotherapy that the oncologist at the hospital had prescribed had resulted in some improvement of the Paget’s disease. Francine had been able to reassure her that a report she’d received from them had confirmed that, and the popular headmistress had left with a lighter heart.
There’d been no further cryptic meetings with Barbara and Ethan’s curiosity was dwindling as the silence from that direction confirmed his surmise that she was starting to be confused, even though she was the last person he would have ever expected it to happen to.
There had also been no recent weekends in F
rance for Francine and he wondered why, but decided that the less it was mentioned the better, quite unaware that now the die had been cast Francine wasn’t going to go back because it would hurt too much, even though the decision had given her the peace of mind she’d sought.
He was to find that he’d been wrong about Barbara with the razor-sharp mind. He’d done her an injustice by taking it for granted that her mind was failing. It was definitely not the case.
Another phone message had him calling again at the house on the headland and this time everything became clear, so clear that he was dumbstruck at the shrewdness of what she was suggesting.
‘You know that when I had to retire you were the only person I could trust to take over from me, don’t you, Ethan?’ was her opening comment. He nodded and she went on to say, ‘There is one other person who has my respect as much as you have, and that’s my nephew Harry.
‘Suppose he was available to take your place and by doing so could leave you free to live in France with your wife and family, how would you feel about that?’
‘Are you telling me that Harry is leaving Australia to come back here?’ he asked, his voice hoarse with amazement. ‘Since when, Barbara?’
‘Since he lost his wife in an accident. He’s coming back to his roots and Francine wants to go back to hers, doesn’t she?’
‘Er, yes, she does,’ he said slowly, as what she was suggesting sank in.
Harry Balfour had been a great guy when they’d worked together in the practice in the old days as G.Ps with Barbara in charge. It would be good to see him again.
He’d married an Australian girl he’d met on holiday and had gone to live in Australia and practise medicine there, and now it seemed that sadness had come into his life.
‘But would you be willing to make that sort of sacrifice?’ she was asking.
‘Yes, I would,’ he said levelly. ‘It wouldn’t be a sacrifice if it made our marriage whole again. I’ve sometimes thought I’d like to do the same as Harry did, get involved in the medical side of things in another country. So is it definite that he’s going to be free to take over?’
‘Yes. I’m pretty sure. We’ve spoken at length about it, but I didn’t want to involve you until I was certain. I’ll speak to him again the first chance I get, but don’t say anything to Francine until Harry has confirmed his intentions.’
As he walked home Ethan was in a daze. From the most unlikely source had come an answer to months of heart-searching and he couldn’t wait to see Francine’s face when he told her that her dream might be about to materialise. But before he said anything he had to be sure that Harry Balfour was available to take over the practice and that Kirstie and Ben would be happy to live in Paris permanently.
Francine had said she thought them saying they wanted to live in Bluebell Cove all the time was a ploy to get them all living together rather than reluctance to live in France. So he was going to have to make sure she was right. And that they would be as happy living there as they were here, as long as he could promise them that both their parents would be there with them.
He recollected that there had been plenty of friends on the scene near the French house when the three of them had surprised Francine by turning up unexpectedly that time, but he needed to hear from their own mouths what they thought about it as a permanent arrangement.
It was a week before he heard from Barbara again. It seemed that Harry had been out of town, visiting friends, and hadn’t expected to hear from her so soon. The answer when it came was that he would love to take over the practice from Ethan and would be free of his commitments over there by the middle of January.
That meant a chat with the children was his first priority without a word to Francine who he knew, like himself, would put their happiness first.
If they had no problem with the move then would come the special moment when he would be able to tell her that he was ready to do what she’d asked him to do so many times, that the long wait was over.
It was Saturday morning and Kirstie and Ben were watching television when he went across to Thimble Cottage. He’d watched Francine drive off to do some shopping so he took the opportunity to put the question to them.
When he asked them if they would like to live in France all the time they observed him doubtfully and, reading their expressions, he said, ‘I mean all of us.’
Ben was the first to speak in the silence that followed the question. ‘And would we go to the same school where we went before?’ he questioned.
‘I don’t see why not,’ he told him. ‘We can check on that.’
‘Yes, then,’ was the reply. ‘We said we didn’t like it over there because we wanted to live with you and Mum at the same time, but actually it was just as great living there as it is living here, wasn’t it, Kirstie?’
‘Yes, it was,’ she agreed, ‘but what does Mum say?’
‘She doesn’t know yet, so please don’t say anything. I’m going to tell her tonight that I’ve found someone to take charge of the practice and that we’re all going to live in Paris.’
The last valuation had arrived that morning. Francine had made a decision on which to choose and was going to ring the company first thing Monday morning to instruct them to put the house up for sale.
Now she could spring the big surprise on Ethan and watch the happiness on his face when he heard what she had to say. Tonight they would share the same bed, sleep in each other’s arms with the little kicking one between them, and she would be content.
She rang him when she got back from the shops and said, ‘Would you like to come over for dinner tonight?’
‘I’d love to,’ he told her, and hoped the children hadn’t forgotten their promise not to say anything before they’d gone to the birthday party of one of their friends. They’d been invited to stay the night, which fitted in nicely with what he had planned, leaving Francine and him with the place to themselves.
When she opened the door to him it was clear that she’d dressed for the occasion, overdressed, he decided, if she didn’t know what he’d come to say, in a flowing, gold-embroidered kaftan that concealed her pregnancy and with soft golden slippers on her feet.
On the other hand, she might think that he was acting a bit over the top. He’d brought her flowers, a huge bouquet of cream roses, and her surprise at the gesture told him that Francine knew nothing of what he had to tell her.
Yet when he saw the table set out with the best china and cutlery he wasn’t so sure, and when the food she’d cooked turned out to be some of the French dishes that he loved he was even less sure.
When they’d finished the meal and were sitting by the fire with their coffee he cleared his throat. The moment had come that Francine had long waited for. He was about to show her what really came first in his life, and it wasn’t the job.
She was placing her cup and saucer carefully onto the small table beside her and before he could speak she said softly, ‘I have something to tell you that is very special, Ethan.’
‘Go ahead, then,’ he said evenly, and thought that whatever it was it couldn’t be as ‘special’ as what he had to tell her. He wished he’d been able to have his say first.
‘I’m putting the house in Paris on the market,’ she was saying with eyes bright with the anticipation of his delight. ‘I’m accepting a valuation I’ve been given and am going to ring first thing Monday to instruct the company to undertake the sale of it.’
If she was expecting delight, she didn’t get it.
‘What? Why?’ he cried. ‘For goodness’ sake, don’t do that, Francine!’
‘Why do you say that?’ she asked blankly. ‘Don’t you understand? I can’t hold out any longer. I need to be with you all the time, Ethan. Without you I might as well not exist.’
‘I don’t want you to come back here to live.’ he continued in the same raised tone. ‘You can’t sell the house in France. You’re going to need it.’
She was deathly pale. ‘Are you telling me that you
have someone else to love—yes? Maybe it is Phoebe, eh? You concern yourself about her all the time.’
He groaned. ‘There is no one else. There never has been. There never will be.’
‘Yet you tell me I will need the house! Please go, Ethan. I was willing to give up my dream for you because I love you so, but it’s too late for us. You don’t want me any more, do you?’
She had one foot on the bottom of the stairs as he said in a low voice, ‘You aren’t the only one who will need the house, Francine, we all will. I’m resigning from the practice and we’re going to live in France. So, you see, the dream isn’t lost, it is alive and well.’
She turned slowly to face him, transfixed. ‘It is what I have wanted so much,’ she breathed, ‘but I can’t let you do that, Ethan. The practice is your life.’
He shook his head. ‘No. You are my life, Francine.’
There were tears on her lashes. ‘But who will take your place?’ she choked. ‘Leo hasn’t been with you long enough, although he’s good at the job, and the folks in Bluebell Cove won’t take kindly to a stranger. They’re used to having doctors that they know and can trust in charge of the practice.’
‘And that is what they’re going to get,’ he told her with quiet satisfaction. ‘It’s sorted. Harry Balfour is coming back to the UK to live and wants to return to the life of a country G.P—in Devon.’
‘I don’t believe it,’ she whispered.
He was smiling. ‘You have to. The children are all for it. We had a chat this morning and you were right in what you thought. They are happy to live in either place as long as we’re all together, and if you’ll come closer I’ll show how much of a one-woman man I am, then maybe you won’t keep trying to fob me off onto Phoebe.’
CHAPTER NINE
WHEN the children were dropped home on Sunday morning they found their parents enjoying a leisurely breakfast at Thimble Cottage and in the hall was an assortment of suitcases.
Christmas in Bluebell Cove Page 13
