The Wishing Well

by Jilly Bowling

  “Yes please,” she said as she went behind the screen.

  After the doctor had palpated her stomach, to her horror he insisted on doing an internal; covering her embarrassment with a sheet, he allowed Roman to hold her hand while he gently examined her. When he’d finished he slipped off his gloves said “You may get dressed,” and washed his hands.

  Joining him at his desk where he was tapping up his findings on his computer she asked “Well, am I pregnant? Could you tell?”

  Smiling at her he said “Yes you are definitely pregnant, about six to eight weeks I think. We’ll arrange for you to have a scan at twelve weeks and you must come to our antenatal clinics.”

  Roman pulled Bella into his arms and said “This is fantastic, we’ll bring the wedding forward.”

  “Whoa, hang on, there’s no need to panic,” she said, then turning to the doctor she asked, “when will it be due?”

  “About the middle of September.”

  “See, we’ll be married in plenty of time,” then she asked, “but I still don’t know how it happened.”

  Roman grinned but before he could say anything to embarrass her Dr. Wilson said “I see from your notes that you had a hefty dose of antibiotics in the weeks before Christmas.”

  “Yes, I finished them a few days before Christmas.”

  “Didn’t anyone tell you to use extra protection until your next period.”

  “No.”

  “Well, unfortunately antibiotics make the pill less effective.”

  “Oh!” Bella blushed as she remembered how many times they’d made love over Christmas and the New Year.

  Roman made the connection too and he laughed “We’ll have to call him Noel.”

  “No way, anyhow it may be a girl.”

  “Noelle then.”

  The doctor stood up “Now look after yourself, eat well, exercise sensibly and rest when you feel the need to.”

  “Thank you doctor,” Bella said and as they turned to leave Roman shook his hand and said “You couldn’t have given me better news.”

  When they stopped at the reception desk to make the appointment for the antenatal clinics, Marcia’s face became even gloomier as she reluctantly said “Congratulations are in order then. Never thought you’d get caught Roman Cowle.”

  “It was me did the catching and I’m absolutely delighted,”he flung his arm around around Bella and they left the surgery. Back in the car she turned to him and asked “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

  “Absolutely, but the question is do you?”

  “When I first became suspicious I did have some doubts. Which is why I couldn’t bring myself to believe it. However after I realised that I liked being looked after and that I trusted you completely, I was thrilled, excited and terrified. I’m going to be a mother and I don’t know how.”

  “Knowing you you’ll be terrific, and don’t forget I’ve never been a father so I don’t know how either. We’ll learn together.”

  As they drove home they excitedly made plans for incorporating a nursery into the barn conversion. The next seven months were going to be more hectic than they’d imagined.

  Chapter 19

  The sale of the London house went through smoothly and Edward and Lydia were planning a housewarming party to which Roman and Bella were invited.

  The planning permission for change of use, for The Manor, had come through and the week after the party work on it and the barn conversion would be starting. Roman insisted Bella have a new dress for the party and took her down to Plymouth, to Drakes Circus to buy it. Her stomach now had a very gentle curve to it and her breasts were feeling taut and sensitive but other than that she was still looking very slim.

  They found the perfect dress and as she twirled in front of him he laughed as she said “Does my bum look big in this?”

  “No but it’s making a part of my anatomy feel very big and uncomfortable,” then he laughed out loud as she blushed and caught her to him. “All you need is a grating blowing hot air and you’d look like Marilyn.”

  The dress was red with wide shoulder straps that plunged down into a low decolletage, smooth around the waist then flaring out, like the dress Marilyn Monroe wore in that iconic picture. It showed Bella’s slim waist and legs off to perfection but instead of high heels she chose a pair of sweet little ballet pumps. As she paid for the outfit Roman asked “Is it too early to look at baby things?”

  “Yes, let’s wait until after the scan, then we’ll know what to buy.”

  “Spoilsport!”

  “No just sensible.”

  They were laughing as they walked out of the shop, then Roman spotted a jewellers across the way and dragged her into it.

  “We need to think about wedding rings,” was the excuse he gave her but then his eye was caught by a case containing necklaces and earrings.

  “What are we looking for?” Bella asked.

  “That dress needs a special kind of necklace. The kind that says, I love and adore you and thank you for making me a father.”

  Tears sprang into her eyes and she swallowed hard to stop them flowing. “That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.”

  He put his arms around her waist and hugged her before pecking her on the lips and saying “That’s just how you make me feel.”

  An assistant came over and they spent a happy half hour choosing a necklace and matching earrings. A simple eighteen carat platinum, chain with a peardrop diamond that would nestle between her cleavage was Bella’s choice and although Roman had wanted something more dazzling he had to admit it suited her perfectly. The neat diamond on platinum peardrop earrings were just right for her face, however she decided to wear her hair. She balked at the price, stunned at the thought of wearing something so expensive until Roman told her they would be insured and just to think of them as costume jewellery.

  “It must be a very special occasion,” the assistant commented as she wrapped the pretty boxes the jewellery came in.

  “Yes, my gorgeous fiance has just made my life complete, we’re expecting our first child.”

  The assistant congratulated them and the manager came over and shook hands with Roman “Congratulations,” he said, “don’t forget we do a very fine line in christening presents.”

  The pleasant female assistant looked embarrassed at his crassness, but Roman grinned and said “I’ll make sure all our friends know that.”

  They left the shop with Roman carrying the jewellery in his inside pocket and as they walked away from the shop they both burst out laughing.

  “Well, I suppose he’s on commission,” Bella said.

  “Then he should be happy this afternoon.”

  “I wonder who buys babies silver or gold things for christenings nowadays.”

  “Baby grows and bibs seem much more useful.”

  Walking back to the car Bella recognised the name on a plate outside a firm of solicitors. She stopped and looked closer at the names on the shop front “Do you know, I think if I remember right, these were Aunt Lucy’s solicitors. I wonder if they know anything about my family?”

  “Only one way to find out,” Roman said, taking her hand as he pushed the door open.

  A very smart receptionist looked up as they entered “Good afternoon, how can I help you?”

  Bella explained who she was and the young woman brought up her details on her computer. “Ah yes, we handled the details of your aunt’s will four years ago. Our Mr. Fenchurch dealt with it, it all seems to have been straight forward enough. Is there a problem?”

  “No, but I wondered if he knew anything about my wider family.”

  “Mmm,” the girl frowned, “you don’t have an appointment.” She tapped her computer again. “I see Mr. Fenchurchs last client for the day is in with him at the m
oment. Perhaps when the client leaves he’ll be able to spare a few minutes. If you’d like to take a seat I’ll ask Mr. Fenchurch if he’ll see you when he’s free.”

  “Thank you, that’s very kind of you,” Bella said as she went to sit down, Roman following her.

  They waited for fifteen minutes while the receptionist typed away until an inner door opened and a young man emerged, nodded at her and left. Picking up a telephone she spoke quietly into it, then looked up “Mr. Fenchurch can see you now, please go through.”

  They entered the inner office to find an elderly gentleman with white hair and beard, immaculately dressed in a fine suit, snow white shirt and silk tie.”

  “Please sit down,” he said, “so you are Lucy’s great niece. I’ve often wondered how you were and what you’d done with the cottage.”

  “I’m good thank you and I live in the cottage now.” Then she introduced Roman as her fiance.

  “Lucy would have been so pleased on both counts,” he smiled, “now, how can I help you?”

  Bella explained about her mother and how, now she was going to have a baby she wanted to know more about her family.

  “But didn’t you get the letter your Aunt left for you?”

  “No.”

  “That’s strange, mmm, let me think,” he steepled his fingers and gazed at her over them. Then he nodded to himself as if he’d come to a big decision. “Your great aunt, your mother’s aunt was deeply concerned about her. She was headstrong, foolish, lived for music and concerts, then she met your father at Glastonbury. She ran away with him, became addicted to cocaine, and he treated her very badly. When she realised she was pregnant she knew she had to get off the drugs, so she told him she was going to stay with her aunt. He attacked her hitting her over the head and cracking her skull, but when he realised what he’d done he at least had the decency to call an ambulance, before he left. She was in hospital in an induced coma for weeks; the doctors thought she might lose the baby, but you hung on in there, and when she was well enough to leave hospital, drug free, she came to stay with Lucy. I think it was the happiest time of both their lives. They gardened walked and painted together, your mother could have been a fine artist. When you were born Lucy doted on you, but your mother had started to get angry easily and finally she fell out with Lucy and, taking you, why we don’t know, left.

  Over the next few years she lived with this man or that, like you, she was beautiful, but was easy prey to controlling men who usually tired of her very quickly. You were in and out of care apart from when she had the decency to send you to Lucy who desperately wanted to keep you, but her health was failing, she was twenty years older than her brother, your father. Then she had a stroke and the powers that be decided she wasn’t capable of looking after you. It broke her heart that she couldn’t help you. Then your mother became so unstable that she had to be locked away, she badly hurt another woman over a man, but was found to be too mentally damaged to stand trial. She was put into a secure psychiatric until, which was terrible and Lucy had her moved to the private facility she’s in now.”

  Bella was speechless, she’d known bits and pieces of course, but she’d been a child and no one thought to explain what was wrong with her mother. “So the damage to her mind was caused by the blow to her head?”

  “That and the drugs she became addicted to.”

  “So it definitely isn’t hereditary?”

  “No, not at all.”

  Roman had taken hold of her hand and as she heaved a sigh of relief, squeezed it.

  “My father, did he marry my mother?”

  “No, which is why you are called Bella Carrington which is your mother’s family name.”

  “My grandparents, do they know about me?”

  He sighed “They died in a motor accident, while your mother was with Lucy. They were on the motorway coming down to Devon, to see if they could help. It was the money that Daisy got from their wills that caused the row between her and Lucy. When she decided she’d had enough of the quiet life it enabled her to leave. Needless to say, it didn’t last very long.”

  Bella was too choked up to speak so Roman asked “So is that where Lucy got the money from to put Daisy in a private clinic and keep her there all this time?”

  “No. Lucy got nothing, Daisy got the lot.”

  “So how did Lucy afford a private clinic?”

  Mr. Fenchurch shook his head “I don’t know. I certainly never had any dealings with the clinic for Lucy, she did it all by herself.”

  “Do you know which clinic?”

  “No.”

  Bella looked up “But I do, it’s The Portway in Bristol. I was seventeen the last time I went there. It was then that the doctors told me not to come back as it upset her so much.”

  “How did you look after yourself once you’d left foster care?” Mr. Fenchurch asked.

  “I’d got a place at art college and my social worker arranged for me to get a tiny bedsit. Then I got a letter telling me that I was going to receive a grant, so with that, and part time jobs in shops and restaurants I managed. I saved like mad and when I left college rented a flat in Knowle and started a little business, making things. Along with a part time job in the local cafe I was doing quite well. Then I met Gervaise.”

  “Did you see Lucy during that period?”

  “Yes, about once or twice a year I’d hitch hike down and a few times she came up to Bristol to see me. Then she wasn’t well and I’m ashamed to say I let Gervaise bully me into not visiting her.”

  “I see.”

  “I never thought of her as old, she was so full of life, even after the first stroke, she bounced back as if it was nothing,” Bella swallowed, “I feel so ashamed that I abandoned her so easily for a rat like Gervaise.”

  “She told me you wrote to her regularly and seemed to be very happy with him.”

  “At the beginning I was. I suppose looking back I desperately needed someone to love me and I thought he did. When it started to go wrong I couldn’t bring myself to let my aunt know, so I wrote cheerful letters about nothing really.” Furious at herself for her weakness, Bella wiped the tears away and accepted a handful of tissues from him.

  Roman who had been sitting quietly all this time put his arm around her and said “So, obviously someone is paying for Daisy’s care, but who?”

  Mr. Fenchurch shook his head “It has always been a mystery to me. Lucy certainly couldn’t have done it, and there are no other family members that I know of.”

  “So the only way to find out is to visit the clinic and ask.”

  “Bella is Daisy’s next of kin so they have to tell her.”

  She had dried her tears and had her emotions under control so she said “Then that’s exactly what we’ll do.”

  Mr. Fenchurch stood up and walked round his desk to show them out and as he did so he said “It would be interesting to know what happened to the letter Lucy told me she’d left for you; remember Bella if we can be of further help let us know, Lucy was a friend of mine for my whole life and I know she’d be so pleased you’d found happiness.”

  “I have,” Bella squeezed his hand, “Roman and I are getting married and we’ve just discovered we’re going to have a baby.”

  “Congratulations, perhaps if it’s a girl you’ll call her Lucy?”

  Bella looked at Roman and he nodded “Sounds like a perfect name, Lucy Cowle.”

  They left the office after promising to keep in touch and walked back to the car. As they drove out of Plymouth Bella said “When do you think we can go to Bristol?”

  “We’re in London Saturday and Sunday for the housewarming, then on Monday work starts on The Manor and the barn conversion. Our estate workers are going to be working on The Manor so I need to be there next week. The company who we’ve hired to do the conversion are starting on Mo
nday as well, but I’ve used them before and they’ve worked with our architect before so it’ll just be a case of being around to answer any initial queries. If the clinic agrees we could probably go on Friday. I know waiting will be hard but...,” he bit his lip and looked at her in concern.

  “It’s ok, I’ve left it this long and we’ll probably need to make an appointment anyhow. I just wish I knew what had happened to Lucy’s letter.”

  “Did you throw much away or sell something, what about that old sideboard?”

  “I emptied all the drawers and cupboards, put everything into boxes until I had time to sort through them. There were a lot of papers come to think of it.”

  “What did you do with the boxes?”

  “I did sort through them when I cleared out the lean to. I threw the rubbish away but couldn’t be bothered to read through the papers,” Bella thought for awhile, “do you know I think I put them in the attic, in a box on one of the shelves. I’ll look as soon as we get back.”

  It was early evening as they drove through Widecombe and Roman suggested they have something to eat at the inn. As they walked from the car to the main entrance he saw a figure skulking out of the back door and stopped to watch its stumbling progress.

  “What’s the matter?” Bella asked.

  “Nothing, I just thought I saw Jakeman coming out of the back door, but I’d been told he was living in Bristol.”

  “I expect he’d come back occasionally, after all, his friends and family are here.”

  “Mmm, he had no friends that I knew of, I hope he’s not been bothering his poor wife.”

  They entered the bar and were greeted cheerfully by the barman “Are you eating or just after a drink?”

  “We’ll eat please,” Roman said, “by the way was that Jakeman I saw scurrying out the back?”

  “Yes, belligerent as ever, so I refused to serve him,” he laughed, “he was just about to get nasty when someone said `Here’s Roman and his girl,” and he scuttled off like a rat up a drainpipe.”

  “Didn’t know he was back in these parts.”