City Doctor, Country Bride

by Abigail Gordon

  ‘I don’t understand why they haven’t hired some extra help while his father’s been in hospital,’ she said. ‘It would seem the obvious thing to do.’

  ‘They might have done if they could have afforded it. Most of the farmers just about make ends meet, and for these two guys there’s no home baked bread coming out of the oven and nourishing casseroles after a hard day’s work.

  ‘With the woman of the house gone, it’s a case of living out of tins and sending for take-aways, which is not the cheapest way of eating. It’s probably what I’d be doing if Kate wasn’t around. So, shall we say four o’clock on Saturday?’

  ‘Yes, that will be fine,’ she told him.

  The routine at the practice was that the doctors took it in turn to do the short Saturday morning surgery and this week it was Matthew’s turn.

  ‘I’ll do the surgery if you like,’ Henrietta offered. ‘It will give you a free morning if you’re going to be taking us to the farm in the afternoon.’

  ‘What will you do with the children?’

  ‘Take them with me. It’s only for a couple of hours and they won’t get in the way.’

  ‘No need to do that. You can drop them off at my place. I’ll look after them. If you are going to fill in for me, I’m going to spend the morning attacking the jungle that is my garden. They can help me if they like.’

  ‘They’ll love that.’ She smiled. ‘Especially if they find any worms.’

  He was doing it again, Matthew thought afterwards. Letting his barriers down. Maybe it was because the memory was so clear of her standing there in the silk nightwear with the children on either side of her on the night that the cows had come. It went with the expensive perfume that he’d commented on when she’d first started at the practice.

  Henrietta hadn’t known it was the same as Joanna used to wear and he’d been less than civil about it, instead of telling her what was in his mind. What had he been expecting her to wear, he wondered, winceyette at night and lucky bag scent during the day?

  When Henrietta went to pick up Mollie and Keiran after the surgery was over, she found the three of them having a cold drink beside a parched looking lawn, and when Matthew suggested she join them she shook her head.

  ‘No, thanks just the same,’ she told him. ‘But if you’d like have lunch with us, you’ll be very welcome. It would be my way of saying thanks for looking after the children.’

  ‘I enjoyed it.’ He shrugged, and wished she’d been there to make up the foursome. ‘And I’m the one who should be saying thanks to you for taking the surgery for me. Was it busy?’

  ‘No, not really, but I did have a couple of patients who wouldn’t have wanted to wait until Monday to see one of us.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘Does the name Craig Carter ring a bell?’

  ‘Yes. He has the ladies’ hairdressers at the other end of the village. What was wrong with Craig?’

  ‘Two badly swollen hands. I think the inflammation is allergy related. He’s been using some kind of new perming solution. Said he wears gloves when he’s applying it, but I don’t see how he can have been.’

  ‘So you told him to lay off it, did you?’

  ‘Yes, and prescribed an antihistamine to take the soreness away. Even so, I can’t see him doing any hair-dressing for a few days.’

  ‘And who was the other?’

  ‘A mother with a young baby that has nappy rash,’ said Henrietta. ‘She uses the terry towelling squares, a rare practice now. When I asked what kind of washing powder she used, I found the reason for baby’s sore bottom. She left with a prescription for a water repellent, emollient cream and the suggestion that she change to soap flakes, or one of the other gentler washing products.

  ‘Both patients should have been in plenty of time to catch the chemist before they shut at midday. And now, getting back to ourselves, are you going to join us for lunch?’

  After a morning spent with the children Matthew was looking more relaxed than she’d ever seen him, and she thought this was what he was short of. A chance to unwind in a family setting instead of shutting himself away in that ghastly looking house. If his wife had been as lovely as Kate had described her, she wouldn’t want him to be carrying the burden of grief for the rest of his life.

  ‘I’d love to,’ he said, and watched the dimples appear as she flashed him a smile.

  ‘Good. Shall we say one o’clock?’

  ‘Sure,’ he said easily.

  It was clear that the children had no objections to the arrangement. They were nodding in enthusiastic agreement, and Keiran said, ‘We’re going to have lunch on the patio, aren’t we, Henny? Bacon butties and gingerbread men that Mrs Crosby has made for us.’

  ‘Oh, well, if Mrs Crosby made the gingerbread men, I’ll have to come, won’t I?’ he told them. ‘She used to make them for me when I was little.’

  ‘Did she?’ Keiran was suitably impressed.

  Matthew grinned. ‘Mmm, she did.’

  When they arrived home Henrietta said, ‘Right, children. First of all your hands need a good washing after helping Dr Cazalet in the garden. Then you can put a nice cloth on the table out on the patio and lay out some cutlery and plates. While you’re doing that I’m going upstairs to change out of my working clothes, and when I come down we’ll see what’s in the fridge.’

  She’d invited Matthew to have lunch with them on the spur of the moment and now wasn’t sure if she’d done the right thing. Maybe it would be more sensible if they didn’t get involved in each other’s lives, but so far he’d been the one making all the moves and she didn’t want him to feel it was all one-sided.

  He arrived at just before one o’clock and when she opened the door to him with a plastic apron over the jeans and cotton shirt that she’d changed into, there was something in his glance that made her colour rise.

  ‘You are so different from your sister it just isn’t true,’ he said in a low voice. ‘The children are so lucky to have you.’

  Not knowing what to say, Henrietta babbled, ‘Do you know what they said to me the other night when I was tucking them up in bed?’

  ‘Er…no. But, then, I’m not likely to, am I.’

  ‘They said that their mother thinks it is time I had some children of my own.’

  ‘And what did you say to that?’

  ‘What could I say? I told them I would see what I could do, but that wasn’t enough. They wanted to know if I’d got a boyfriend, and when I said no, they asked who I wanted to marry. The answer to that was no one, and I beat a speedy retreat.’

  She smiled, but Matthew didn’t and she thought with a sinking feeling that the description of her non-existent social life might have sounded like a come-on to a man in his position, but she needn’t have worried.

  ‘There’s a lot to be said for the single life,’ he said coolly, and moved smoothly on to another topic. ‘The children need to call me something less formal than Dr Cazalet. What do you suggest?’

  ‘Matthew, I suppose, if you don’t mind that. Though it is rather going to the other extreme.’

  ‘I don’t mind at all.’

  Henrietta was grateful that Mollie and Keiran kept the conversation going while they had lunch. She was still feeling uncomfortable about the way she’d babbled on about their interest in her love life.

  Matthew’s thoughts were running in a different direction and she would have been surprised to know that he was telling himself that she wouldn’t be unattached for long.

  He’d seen one or two of the local romeos eyeing up the new doctor.

  Why couldn’t John have taken on someone—anyone—else? he thought grimly. Then he wouldn’t be acting against his better judgement by using the children as an excuse to get to know Henrietta away from the surgery. They were delightful, but it was her that he couldn’t get out of his mind.

  The life he’d been living since losing Joanna had been a safe sort of existence. No one to be taken from him. No one to ache over or worry
about, except Kate, who he loved dearly.

  When they’d finished eating he got up to go and when the children protested he told them, ‘I’ll be back to take you to the farm in a couple of hours.’ He turned to Henrietta. ‘Thanks for the lunch. My place really will look drab after dining here. Maybe today is what I’ve been needing to give me an incentive to do some refurbishing.’

  ‘Make sure you choose sunshine colours if you do,’ she said. ‘Pale gold, cream, honey…’

  ‘I’ll remember that,’ he told her unconvincingly. ‘Maybe I should ask you to be my interior designer if I ever get around to it.’

  She smiled. ‘You have only to ask. I could bring light into your life with a few tins of paint and a pasteboard.’

  He didn’t take her up on that, just waved to the children and said, ‘I’ll see you later.’

  As he drove home Matthew was thinking that she didn’t know it, but Henrietta had already brought some light into his life, and something else that she couldn’t be expected to know was that he wasn’t sure whether he was glad or sorry.

  As the children eyed the tiny, flat-nosed piglets snuffling around their mother in the pen where they were kept, and dodged some nosy geese waddling towards them, Matthew was smiling.

  ‘Don’t tell me that they live in the country and have never been to a farm,’ he said in amused disbelief.

  ‘Oh, I’m sure they will have,’ she told him. ‘I’ve heard Charles say that he goes to one of the farms for free-range eggs. It might be this one, for all we know. They’re just enjoying everything going on around them. The noises from the milking shed will be adding to the thrill of the place as they’ll recognise them from the night the dairy herd came to visit us.’

  Bill Bradley was home from hospital but not yet fit for work. The two doctors knew it would be some time before he could take up where he’d left off in the running of the place. But Paul was already looking less harassed now his father was home, and as the older man watched the children from the farmhouse window there was a smile on his face.

  ‘It’s good to see your dad back with you,’ Matthew told Paul. ‘I’ll go and have a word with him while Mollie and Keiran get to know your animals.’

  ‘Dr Cazalet can do anything,’ Paul said when he’d gone inside. ‘Having him around has stopped me from going crackers. He even baked me a cake when he was here the other day and stuck a stew in the oven, and they were just as good as my mum used to make.’

  ‘Yes. I can believe it,’ she told him.

  She already knew that Matthew was a man of many faces and it would seem that he was also a man of many talents. She supposed that Kate wasn’t always around to make him a meal and he wasn’t the type to starve. It was a pity that among his accomplishments he wasn’t able to turn his private life around.

  When Matthew came out of the farmhouse he said, ‘I’ve given Bill a prescription for painkillers. He has a limited supply from the hospital that should cover the next couple of days, but may need more until the soreness wears off. I’ll still be coming up each day to help with the milking so I’ll be able to keep my eye on him.’ He looked around him. ‘Where are the children?’

  ‘In the shed with Paul. Renewing their acquaintance with the cows.’

  He smiled. ‘Right. So when they come out I’ll run you back to The White House and then come back for the milking.’

  ‘What time will you be done here?’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘You’ve given up most of your day already.’

  ‘I should be home about sixish and then the evening will be mine. You’ve no need to worry.’

  ‘Will Kate have made you a meal?’

  ‘No. She goes to the town with her friends on Saturdays, but I do know how to open a tin of baked beans.’

  ‘And you also know how to bake a cake and…’

  ‘Cobble a casserole together? You have been talking to Paul, haven’t you. As a matter of fact, I always dine at the Goose on Saturday evenings. I have a regular booking.’

  ‘Where’s that?’

  ‘The hotel down a leafy lane off the road that leads out of the village. So, you see, I’m not going to die from malnutrition. But thanks for the thought, Henrietta. If you hadn’t been childminding you could perhaps have joined me.’

  Not quite sure if she’d heard him correctly, she made no comment and instead said, ‘And do you make a night of it?’

  He shook his head and she thought, Surely he doesn’t go home to that empty house the moment he’s finished eating? But he was about to surprise her further.

  ‘No. Once I’ve eaten I go and get a few beers and go round to Daniel’s house to play cards or watch television with him. It gives his parents the chance to have a night out together, and I know that Joan wouldn’t want to leave him with anyone else. And I enjoy it. He’s a great kid.’

  When he’d taken them home and gone back to the farm, Henrietta couldn’t stop thinking about him. Matthew was something else. What other man would spend Saturday evening with a patient to give the young man’s parents some time off? Or get up at crack of dawn to help with the milking at a nearby farm and then do a full day’s work at the practice, before going back to the farm again to assist with the second milking of the day? When she saw him again on Monday she was going to ask him how he’d found time to bake a cake.

  It had been a lovely day. Mollie and Keiran had enjoyed every minute of it and so had she. She wasn’t sure whether Matthew had or not. He wasn’t one to show his feelings, but he had accepted her invitation to lunch, which was a step in the right direction, if only she knew what the right direction was.

  When Henrietta asked him about the cake and the casserole on Monday morning he laughed and said, ‘I suppose I’d better come clean. Kate had prepared the casserole. All I had to do was put it in the oven. But I did make the cake. It was a Victoria sponge, which, as you probably know, doesn’t take long. And while it was in the oven I helped with the milking.’

  ‘And I suppose that afterwards you filled it with whipped cream and raspberry jam,’ she teased.

  ‘No way. The raspberry jam, yes, but no whipped cream. I was dying of hunger myself by that time.’

  ‘Amazing.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘The fact that you just knocked together a Victoria sponge, and I suppose it rose beautifully.’

  He was smiling and she thought how it transformed the strong lines of his face. He ought to do it more often.

  ‘As a matter of fact, it did,’ he said as he seated himself behind his desk and made ready to greet his first patient of the day. As Henrietta went to her own room to do likewise she was thinking that the settling in period at the practice was proving much easier than she’d thought it would be. She was going to be happy there. A rapport was forming between herself and the man she’d been so unsure of at their first meeting, and it felt good.

  ‘Who’s the girl with the long hair and long legs?’ Gary Fenton asked as he seated himself opposite Matthew in the middle of the morning.

  ‘That’s Dr Henrietta Mason, who is sharing the running of the practice with me,’ he said, glowering at Gary, the owner of the local garage. ‘And I don’t think she’d be too keen on your description of her.’

  Gary was in his late forties and known to like women, especially other men’s wives, and Matthew was surprised how irritated he felt at what the man had said.

  It was the way the garage owner talked about every young woman he met and under other circumstances he wouldn’t have taken much notice, but Henrietta was different.

  ‘I’d would be careful what you say if you have to consult Dr Mason over anything, Gary. You might end up with an enema, or at the least castor oil.’

  Unabashed, Gary said, ‘It’s funny you should say that, Doc. It’s my colon I’ve come about.’

  Trying to keep a straight face, Matthew asked, ‘So what’s the problem?’

  ‘I’m losing blood.’

  ‘Right, so take your
pants off and I’ll examine you.’

  When he’d finished the examination Matthew said, ‘I can’t see or feel anything suspicious, but I can tell you what you have got. You’ve got haemorrhoids and that is likely to be where the blood is coming from. I’m going to give you some ointment to spread on the affected area and stick to a healthy diet. Cut out the stodgy foods and eat plenty of fruit and veg.’

  When he’d gone Matthew knew that his annoyance with Gary was because Saturday was still fresh in his memory. Working in the garden with those two great kids. Then Henrietta appearing after the morning surgery and inviting him to lunch. Later in the afternoon there had been their visit to the farm and the pleasure of watching Mollie and Keiran with the animals. He hadn’t felt so happy and relaxed in years.

  Was this what he’d been waiting for? he wondered. Kate had told him often enough that he needed to get on with his life. That it was no fault of his that Joanne had died, and she wouldn’t want him to be grieving for evermore, but it never brought any comfort.

  He and Joanna had known each other since they’d been children and when he’d come back to the village after getting a degree in medicine they’d met up again and fallen madly in love.

  She’d been a teacher at the village school and had loved it. They’d often talked about the children they would have one day.

  When the morning surgery was over and they stopped for a quick bite Henrietta said, ‘I like wallpapering and painting. If you want to brighten up your house I would love to help. I’d have to bring the children with me, of course, and it would have to be at the weekend, but what do you think?’

  In view of their ripening acquaintance she was expecting him to say yes but, unaware of the sombre road his thoughts had been travelling along, she was being too optimistic.

  Without showing any interest in the suggestion, he said, ‘Perhaps some time, yes. But I don’t feel there’s any rush. It’s good of you to offer, but I’m not out to compete with your sister’s residence.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said hurriedly. ‘I didn’t mean to be intrusive. I just thought you might look forward to going home more at the end of each day if the house was bright and cheerful.’