Christmas Magic in Heatherdale

by Abigail Gordon

  But before that there would be what there always was, young lives needing a gift of another kind, that of a healthy body, and Ryan was forever thankful that he could help towards that end in his clinic, on the wards and in the operating theatre.

  As he pulled back the curtains to let the light of a winter moon into his bedroom and lay back against the pillows Ryan wondered just how close Melissa was to him at the other side of the wall.

  * * *

  The next morning Ryan had already left when Melissa sallied forth. She’d been waved off by Mollie and the children, who were still in their nightdresses at that early hour.

  It wasn’t until she and Ryan met on the wards that he had a chance to speak to Melissa, and his first words were, ‘Good news about the decorating. I’ve given Mollie your key to pass on to Jack.’

  ‘Yes, I can’t wait to see it,’ she said wistfully, with a vision of the furnishings in the house she’d had to sell coming to mind, but why was Ryan suddenly so chatty? Could it be that he had decided that there was no cause for unease, that she posed no threat to his organised existence?

  When Rhianna and Martha had waved her off that morning she had felt a lump come up in her throat. Ryan may have lost his wife but he still had his children to cherish, safe and happy, while she had no one.

  As if to emphasise that fact, Julian had caught her up in the car park and looking around him had said, ‘I see that the boss is here before us, needless to say. He’s always first on the job, as if he hasn’t a moment to spare.’

  ‘If you mean Dr Ferguson, maybe he hasn’t,’ she’d said dryly. ‘I think he’s amazing.’

  ‘So do a lot of other women,’ he’d told her, ‘but sooner or later they have to accept that he is a one-woman man, even though the woman in question isn’t around any more. If he ever decided to get married again, they would be queuing up.’

  ‘Really!’ she’d commented, and had left it at that. There was no way she was going to discuss with Julian the man who had been her saviour at one of the darkest times of her life.

  After their brief chat about the decorating the day began satisfactorily from a medical point of view. Ryan dished out instructions. ‘We have two clinics today, Melissa. I’m taking one and Julian the other. I want you to sit in at mine as joining me whenever you can will be a big part of your duties until you are ready to take a clinic of your own.’

  She was smiling. The job, the wonderful job, was like balm to her soul. Even if Ryan never ever did her another good turn she would bless him for ever for this chance to use the skills that she’d had to put to one side.

  As adults with children appeared before them, one lot after another, he turned to her frequently and asked her advice, explaining to them that she was a doctor from a Manchester hospital who they were pleased to have as a new member of staff at Heatherdale.

  The courtesy of his introduction brought the sting of tears after dealing with debt collectors and bailiffs for months, with the added pain of missing friends and an ex-fiancé.

  When the clinic was over he said briskly, ‘Well done. You are going to be a big help to me. When you’ve had a break go back on the wards with Julian for a late-morning round.’ When Melissa didn’t immediately answer he asked, ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Yes,’ she breathed. ‘Oh, yes!’

  She was, from a job point of view, but Julian’s comments about Ryan earlier had taken her into uncharted territory, and she knew that of all things she must be careful where he was concerned. The last thing she would want was to become one of the hopefuls waiting in the wings.

  * * *

  Ryan was very pleased. It wouldn’t be long before Melissa was taking a clinic of her own. Maybe an extra doctor on the unit would give him more time with the children, as well as it being the answer to some of her problems. Further than that he was not going to think. A good relationship on the unit was enough to be going on with and as he hadn’t given her any cause to think otherwise it should work all right.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE DECORATING OF the sitting room was finished and Melissa was delighted with it, so much so that when she arrived home and saw it on the evening of the third day of the transformation she had to restrain herself from going to the house next door to invite Ryan and his children to come and see it.

  When she’d been on the point of leaving for the hospital that morning, Jack Smethurst had asked, ‘Do I take it that the roll of pale gold carpet is for in here?’

  ‘Yes,’ she’d told him, and had wondered if Ryan was also acquainted with a carpet fitter. He’d found her a decorator so maybe he was.

  It was one of the two lengths of carpet that the buyers of the Cheshire house hadn’t insisted be included in the sale and she’d chosen the red-and-gold wallpaper with it in mind.

  And now she saw that she needn’t have concerned herself about the fitting of it as the carpet had been laid and was the perfect finishing touch to the room. She could have wept with thankfulness.

  On observing that no charge had been made for it on the account that had been left for her, she vowed that the first thing she would do when the decorator came for payment would be to ask how much she owed him for the extra work.

  What Melissa couldn’t know was that the night before Ryan had said to Jack Smethurst, ‘I saw the wallpaper that time when Melissa fell off the ladder and presume that the gold carpet is to go with it. If she says that it is, will you fit it and let me have the bill? And don’t tell Mollie or she’ll be shopping around for a wedding outfit. Although she never puts it into words, I know she worries about my solitary state.’

  Jack had laughed. ‘She’s already looking for an outfit but it’s not for your wedding, it’s for ours, so be warned, but don’t worry. She loves the three of you too much to stay away from you for long, and, yes, I’ll see to the carpet, but tell me, why are you doing this? You hardly know the woman.’

  ‘I met Melissa on the night she came to live in Heatherdale and she was in a dreadful state. The house was filthy and she’d been let down by the cleaners, but it wasn’t just that. I felt that something had happened to her beyond bearing. She was like a lost soul and I can’t forget it, even though she is so different now, employed at the hospital, making her house fit to live in, and doesn’t seem so alone as she did then.

  ‘But there is still something about her that worries me, that’s why I want her to have the pleasure of seeing the carpet fitted and the room finished when she comes home tomorrow. So do we have a deal? And don’t forget, Jack, not a word to Melissa about it...ever.’

  ‘Yes, if you say so’ had been the reply.

  * * *

  It was no use, Melissa decided. Whether Ryan approved or not, she just had to go and tell him how thrilled she was to have at least one room fit to live in. Surely he wouldn’t object to what he usually saw as an intrusion because he was the one who had caught her when she’d fallen off the ladder and found her a decorator.

  His car was outside so he was home, but she was going to restrain herself until he and his family had finished their evening meal. It wouldn’t be fair to butt in before that and so she made herself a sandwich and spent the next half-hour gazing rapturously around her.

  She was about to venture forth when the phone rang and she was spared having to seek him out.

  ‘I hope you don’t mind me ringing,’ he said, ‘If you remember, I asked for your phone number when you started at the hospital in case I had to get in touch with you regarding an emergency of some kind on our patch.’

  ‘No, not at all,’ she replied, relieved that it was Ryan’s turn to cross the privacy line. ‘What can I do for you?’

  ‘You can tell me how the room looks. Are you happy with it?’

  ‘Over the moon,’ she told him with a lift to her voice. ‘And guess what, Ryan? Your decorator friend has fitted the carpet for me and it looks dreamy.’

  He was smiling and carried away by her delight. ‘So is it all right if I bring a bottle of
champagne to celebrate the occasion and the girls and I come to admire the transformation?’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ she said eagerly, and went on to tell him laughingly, ‘Just as long as Rhianna and Martha won’t be expecting to see a ghost. The only person here who is a shadow of their former self is me!’

  When they arrived shortly afterwards Ryan was carrying the champagne and his daughters were on either side of him. He saw that Melissa was wrapped around with delight and hoped she would not discover his part in the fitting of the carpet.

  While he was thinking those sorts of thoughts Melissa had been into the kitchen and had come back with the champagne in two flutes out of boxes of oddments that had survived the removal, and with glasses of fruit juice for the children.

  Ryan raised his glass. ‘So, now that you have an elegant sitting room, does it mean that you are going to stay here in Heatherdale and make the rest of the house as attractive as this room?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘The place is growing on me. When I went into the centre the other day I was entranced by the beauty of the architecture and the pump room with the well beside it forever providing the famous spa waters. I think I might get to like Heatherdale. I am already over the moon with its hospital, and in any case I can’t afford to buy or even rent another property elsewhere.’

  The conversation was about to take an awkward turn. Martha had come to stand by her side and looking up at her said, ‘Do you know any mummies? When you came to breakfast you said that you weren’t a mummy, but we thought you might know where there is one.’

  Although her glance was fixed on the small questioner, Melissa could feel Ryan’s tension so keenly it was as if he was glued to her side, and she said with great gentleness, ‘I’m afraid I don’t, Martha, but you have got a lovely daddy, haven’t you?’

  ‘Yes,’ Rhianna chipped in, ‘but lots of our friends have a mummy as well as a daddy.’

  Ryan was cringing. ‘That is enough from both of you. We came here to look at Melissa’s house, not to be impolite and nosey.’

  ‘It’s all right,’ she assured him. ‘I understand.’ And to take the sting out of what he’d said to them, she went on, ‘They are lovely children, Ryan, a credit to you.’

  He was not to be humoured. ‘I’m not looking for “credit” and now I think we shall go. Say goodnight to Melissa,’ he told his daughters and as they wished her a subdued farewell, unable to help herself, she bent and kissed them both, holding them close just for a second.

  In return they clung to her and when she looked up she saw pain in Ryan’s expression and was immediately sorry for causing a situation that would have no joy in it for him. Ryan marched to the door, opened it, and waited for Rhianna and Martha to leave her side.

  When they’d stepped out on to the drive he said in a low voice that was for her ears only, ‘It would seem that I am not very successful with regard to my children’s contentment, although it is only since they met you that this kind of thing has kept cropping up.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I meant no harm, Ryan. They’re both so appealing I couldn’t resist holding them close for a moment.’

  He nodded. ‘I suppose that’s fair enough.’ And taking them by the hand he went with a brief goodbye.

  * * *

  When Rhianna and Martha were asleep he stood looking down at them with the feeling that he’d behaved like a complete moron by objecting to a moment’s affection for them from Melissa.

  Martha had never fretted about not having Beth around before. He doubted that her fixation with the subject was because Melissa reminded her of her mother as she was not like her in any way. Maybe she sensed something about her that she and Rhianna needed, something that he couldn’t see but which the eyes of a child saw, and he was just going to have to live with the disruption in their lives that it was causing until it had passed. He’d felt sick inside as he’d watched them lift up their faces to be kissed. His heart broke for them all.

  They left their respective houses the next morning with the same thought in mind. Whatever had been in their minds the night before, today they both had jobs to do. His far more important than hers, and as tomorrow was Saturday Melissa hoped that the weekend would give them the chance to avoid any further uncomfortable meetings.

  The trouble was that Ryan knew only the brief details of her past that she’d told him on the day when she’d first gone to the hospital. Was it any wonder he was wary of his children getting too close to a virtual stranger?

  Thankfully their positions at the hospital had an impersonal approach that gave them some degree of separation otherwise it could be awkward, to say the least.

  * * *

  Having made a good recovery from the meningitis, young Georgia was due to go home and, as was sometimes the case, her grateful parents had brought a bottle of something for the doctor who had saved her life and chocolates for the nurses. As they were ready to leave, Georgia’s father said to Melissa, ‘We are having a party next Saturday to celebrate having our little daughter back with us and would like Dr Ferguson to be there, but he tells us that he has other commitments. Can you not persuade him to change his mind?’

  As if! she thought. She was the last person Ryan would take note of, and in any case he was certain to have something planned with Rhianna and Martha, so she smiled and said that she had no authority over him.

  She didn’t see Ryan again during the rest of the morning. He and Julian were both taking clinics and she’d been left to do the rounds while they were absent.

  When she was taking a short lunch break in the staff restaurant Julian appeared and for once his expression was grave. ‘What’s wrong?’ she questioned.

  ‘Two young lads and their respective parents were at the clinic this morning,’ he informed her, ‘and both of the youngsters have been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, which, as you know, is caused by a faulty inherited gene from somewhere back in their families. Ryan had the ghastly job of telling them.’

  ‘Not telling the children surely?’ she questioned.

  ‘No, of course not,’ Julian replied. ‘Just the parents. It is at their discretion what they tell the youngsters.’

  ‘There have been some huge steps forward with regard to muscular dystrophy over the years,’ she reminded him. ‘Diagnosis and treatment have advanced a great deal.’

  ‘You seem to be well informed,’ a voice said from behind her, and Ryan was there, the golden Viking who was just as fierce as men of old when it came to protecting those who belonged to him.

  She didn’t deny it. ‘Yes, I am. I’ve been on a course about the illness.’

  Julian had been to the counter and was coming back with sandwiches and coffee for the two of them. Having no wish to intrude into their lunch break, Melissa got to her feet and left them to it.

  * * *

  The rest of the day passed uneventfully and so did the evening, with the only interruption the arrival of the decorator to enquire if she was satisfied with the room now that it was finished.

  ‘It’s perfect,’ she told him, ‘and I can’t thank you enough for fitting the carpet. Do you want to add it on to the original account, or give me a separate one? Either way will be fine, but I would like to pay for all the work that you’ve done while you’re here.’

  ‘The fitting of the carpet is included in the first figure I quoted,’ Jack Smethurst said awkwardly, with the memory clear of Ryan’s stipulation that Melissa must not know about his being involved in it.

  ‘But you didn’t know then that I was going to have it put down in the sitting room,’ she persisted.

  ‘I suppose I guessed,’ he replied, and thought that Ryan’s concern for her was complicating what should be a simple payment for a job well done.

  Still unconvinced, Melissa wrote out a cheque for the original quote and when he’d gone decided that if she asked him to do any more work for her she would insist at the time of asking that he give her a separate price for the laying of any carpets, o
r carpet, as she’d only brought the two pieces with her.

  As it was, she could only feel that Ryan had done her a really good turn by recommending Mollie’s man friend to do the job, and when he had gone she sat unmoving with the thought of the coming weekend on her own bringing no joy.

  She’d seen the signs of Christmastime appearing on the wards and in the corridors of the hospital while she’d been there today, and it had been the same when she’d driven home along the quiet lanes where high in the trees there had been the rare sight of mistletoe, and down below every so often a bright red flash of holly, but there had been no joy in it. Christmas was just going to be something to be endured this year.

  She’d thought of volunteering to work along with others over the Christmas weekend so that staff on the neuro unit with children could be with them, but the thought came that Ryan was one of them, and if he was caught up in any emergencies that couldn’t be avoided, it would be catastrophic unless Mollie could be there for the children.

  Saturday morning brought with it wintry sunshine, a chill wind, and the opportunity for her to carry on organising her new home as best she could with whatever was available in the form of resources.

  She’d seen Ryan and the children go out on foot in the direction of the town centre, which was only a short walk away, while she had been putting curtains up at the dining-room window. She wished there was someone as close to her as his children were to him in spite of Martha’s yearning for a mother.

  Her own mother was long gone, her father had followed her just a short time ago, and she’d been an only child. As for her friends and the man she’d thought she was going to marry, none of them knew where she was and that was how she intended it to stay.

  Having seen Ryan and the children strolling along happily had made her feel restless, and the chores that she’d had lined up were something that could be left for another day, so after showering and dressing carefully she ventured forth into the town centre.