He checked the time. ‘We’d better be getting back, Henrietta, or they’ll be sending out a search party, and if it gets around that we’ve been alone up here with not a soul in sight, your reputation will be tarnished for ever.’
For the rest of the week Henrietta debated whether to ask Matthew to go to the school play with her. She knew how much he enjoyed being with the children, but didn’t want him to think she was pushing it after their clash of wills on the night that Mark McIvor appeared.
They were back on good terms now, though only as the friendly colleagues they’d been before. But she wasn’t giving up on him. She wanted Matthew. Wanted him in her life, her bed, her every waking moment, and the school play could be a move in the right direction.
It was to take place on the Wednesday of the following week and after that Mollie and Keiran would be at home for the long summer break and she was concerned about what they were going to do while she was working.
Maybe Kate would keep an eye on them for part of the day, or she could ask Matthew for fewer hours or take leave. But she hadn’t been at the practice long enough to have earned much vacation time.
Her sister might be good at organising, but she hadn’t made provision for that, she thought. The summer holidays were a long time for children not to be happily occupied in a safe environment.
They had come home from school with two tickets for the play, so she had a good excuse for asking Matthew if he wanted to go with them, and when she mentioned it he said, ‘I thought you’d never ask.’
‘I’ve been hesitating because I thought you might feel you’d spent enough of your free time out of working hours with us.’
He frowned. ‘What about your free time, which you’ve given so generously while we’ve been decorating my house?’
‘That was my pleasure,’ she said, smiling across at him.
‘And you think the giving of my time wasn’t?’
‘I don’t know, do I?’
‘Well, you should. So what time does this play start and what is it?’
‘Wind In The Willows. The children are trees, so we might have some aching arms afterwards. We’ll need to leave the village about sixish to give them time to get changed and for us to be settled in our seats, as it starts at seven.
‘Mollie and Keiran will be coming home as usual in the afternoon and Kate will be making us a meal as she normally does, so why don’t we all eat together. It would be less hassle for her.’
‘Why not?’ he agreed with a lift to his voice. To be sitting close to Henrietta for a couple of hours during the play would be blissful, and sharing a meal with her and the children before that would be an added pleasure.
‘We’ll have to sort something about the school holidays, won’t we?’ he said later that day. ‘Have you had any thoughts about how you’re going to cope with the job and the children? You can have time off if you want. Kate has said that she’ll help out in any way she can if you want her to, and I can be flexible at the surgery if need be.’
‘You’re always one step ahead of me, aren’t you?’ she said, as tears pricked at his thoughtfulness.
‘Do you think so? I would have thought lagging behind described my function in your life.’
‘And whose fault is that?’ she asked, as she made her way to where one of the practice nurses was waiting for them to start the antenatal clinic.
Meriel Martin’s blood tests were back and when she came in for the results Henrietta had to tell her that the pathology department were asking for another test, this time after fasting. The vet’s wife was immediately anxious and wanted to know why.
‘It’s most likely because something has shown up borderline and they want a definite diagnosis,’ she told her. ‘Try not to get agitated about it. We’ll know soon enough what has caused the inflammation in your foot. At the moment the antibiotics are doing a great job. I see that the swelling has almost gone. But we need to know why it happened, and once we know that we can treat the cause.’
She was hoping there would no more mention of matters that had occurred before she’d come to live in the village, and to her relief this time there wasn’t. Reception would give Meriel an early morning appointment after she’d fasted from the night before, and it would be wait-and-see time again. All neatly arranged, but it didn’t stop Henrietta from wondering what would happen when the son came home.
‘I’m looking forward to the children’s stage debut,’ Matthew said on Wednesday morning.
‘Yes, so am I,’ she told him, and thought that a school play, seated on hard chairs that made a scraping noise when moved, next to a cloakroom smelling of sweaty trainers, wasn’t exactly moonlight and roses, but if Matthew was as attracted to her as she was to him, none of that would matter.
At the moment she didn’t know what was going on in his mind, but one thing she did know was that some unseen force was pulling her towards him. Whether it was having the same effect on him she had yet to find out. Sometimes the pull was so strong she felt that he must be aware of it. But knowing him, if he had something to say he would have said it by now. Maybe he was around so much because he was enjoying spending time with Mollie and Keiran and she was the way to them, she thought sombrely.
Having seen him with the kids, she thought that he really should have a family of his own. But he’d probably worked that out for himself and didn’t need her to point the way.
As they all sat around the dining table at The White House that evening, Matthew, Henrietta, Kate and the children, he said whimsically, ‘I could take to family life like a duck to water.’
It was all pretence, of course. The only one present who was his family was Kate. The children belonged to someone else and as for Henrietta she seemed determined to keep him guessing.
Seated across the table from him, her glance was on Kate and she saw that his aunt’s eyes were moist, but her voice was brisk enough as she said, ‘So do something about it, Matthew.’
‘I intend to,’ he said smoothly, and carried on eating.
He was still dressed in the dark suit that he’d worn to the practice, having had no time to go home to change, but Henrietta had dashed upstairs the moment they’d arrived at the house and changed her working clothes for a long beige tiered skirt and a pale apricot top that made her skin glow and brought out the lights in her hair.
There was nothing she could do to make herself small and cuddly, she’d decided, but she did have some physical assets and may as well use them. If she was going to have Matthew to herself while they watched the play, she was going to make the most of it.
It hadn’t gone unnoticed and Matthew had moved to stand by the window, gazing out over the gardens when she appeared. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to resist taking her in his arms and kissing her until she begged for mercy. But Kate had been buzzing in and out of the kitchen and the children had been toing and froing and he hadn’t wanted to put on a show for them.
There wasn’t time to linger over the meal and soon they were on their way to the school with the children hyped up in the back seat at the thought of the night ahead, and the two adults so aware of each other it was like a fast fire burning.
Henrietta’s gaze was on Matthew’s hands. Capable, strong, with well kept nails, they were gentle with those whose needs brought them to him. They would be safe hands to be loved by, she thought, and she found herself hungering for his touch.
As if aware of her thoughts, he took his glance off the road for a second and with a raised eyebrow asked, ‘What? What are you looking at?’
‘Your hands.’
‘My hands!’ Amusement glinted in the dark eyes looking into hers. ‘Why? Were you checking to see if my nails are clean before I meet the headmistress?’
‘No. Nothing like that.’
‘What, then? Are you going to tell me?’
‘Not at this moment.’
The school had appeared on the skyline and the children were getting more excited by the minute. The
explanation that Matthew was waiting for would have to wait, but as he parked the car he said in a low voice, ‘You haven’t got away with it, you know. I will still want to know what is so fascinating about my hands.’
She pretended not to hear and ushered Mollie and Keiran towards the main entrance. As the children made a beeline for a teacher who was directing operations, the two doctors waved goodbye and joined the crush of parents and friends trying to find a seat.
The play was rather wordy with quite a degree of talent amongst some of the older pupils, but it was on two small trees that Henrietta and Matthew had their eyes fixed, and she took some photos to send to Pamela and Charles.
After the play was over refreshments were served in the school canteen, with tea and biscuits for the adults and fruit juice for the children. As Mollie and Keiran chattered excitedly beside them, Matthew said to Henrietta in a low voice, ‘I don’t believe it. We haven’t been mistaken for their parents.’
She smiled. ‘Do you wish you were?’
His gaze had darkened. ‘There are some parts of the arrangement that would suit me very well, but with regard to children, I would prefer to start from scratch, as Mollie and Keiran, delightful though they are, belong to someone else.’
He watched the colour rise in her cheeks, waiting for a response, but it wasn’t forthcoming. Henrietta was thinking achingly that she didn’t want to have to listen to hidden meanings. She was in love with Matthew and wanted straight talk from him if he had anything to say, so she gave him a cool smile and changed the subject.
‘I think we need to be making tracks,’ she said in a tone that matched the smile. ‘It’s been a long day for the children, though they don’t have to get up early for school tomorrow, thank goodness. I spoke to Kate this morning and she has agreed to keep an eye on them in the mornings, and if you’ll agree to me finishing after I’ve done the house calls, the time they would normally be at school will be covered.’
‘Yes, of course. Take the afternoons off,’ he said easily, as if he hadn’t just been sidetracked.
As they were going to the car, which was parked near the school gates Keiran was in front, dribbling a ball that he’d found somewhere, and Mollie was walking between the two doctors, holding their hands. Without warning, a car with luggage piled on the roof came careerning through the gates at speed.
The driver was slumped over the wheel and Keiran was standing transfixed in its path, not knowing where to run as it was zigzagging from side to side. As Henrietta plunged forward, Matthew was faster and with the car almost on him pushed the terrified child out of its path. But there was no time to save himself. The out-of-control vehicle hit him and then veered sideways into a car parked nearby and came to a standstill.
Mollie was crying and Keiran standing mutely beside his sister as Henrietta ran towards Matthew, lying on the tarmac of the car park.
‘Stay there, children,’ she cried over her shoulder. ‘Don’t move!’ And then she was on her knees beside him. He was on his back, unconscious, with blood running down his face and spreading out from underneath his head, but he was breathing, she thought thankfully, and after checking his airway she reached for her phone and dialled the emergency services.
‘Two ambulances needed, fast,’ she said when the call was answered. ‘A double accident at Moncreith Junior School. One person unconscious, and the other collapsed and crashed his car. He appears to be moving, but you must hurry.’
While she’d been phoning, people had been running from the school building, having heard the noise of the runaway car crashing into the other vehicle.
A teacher had taken charge of Mollie and Keiran and some of the fathers who’d been at the play were trying to open the doors of the car to get the driver out. Another teacher, who said she was trained in first aid, went to help while Henrietta stayed with Matthew.
At that moment there was a loud cry and a mother with three young children at her heels came running towards them. ‘That’s our car!’ she was crying. ‘What’s happened?’
Henrietta was barely aware of what was going on around her. Matthew was hurt. He’d risked his life for Keiran and taken the brunt of the impact himself. Please, God, don’t let him die, she was saying silently over and over as she examined him for further injuries. I love you so much, Matthew. Don’t leave me. But he didn’t hear her. He was somewhere else in the dark realms of unconsciousness.
CHAPTER TEN
THE headmistress was hovering over her. ‘What happened, Dr Mason?’ she asked anxiously.
‘The car was out of control,’ she said tightly. ‘The driver was slumped over the wheel and it was heading straight for Keiran. Dr Cazalet pulled him to safety but didn’t have time to get out of the way himself. I’ve asked for two ambulances and they should be here any moment.’
Her glance was on Matthew’s left arm. She suspected a fracture from the appearance of it and thought grimly that along with the head injury it was enough to be going on with.
When she looked up the children were beside her with the teacher, and Mollie asked tearfully, ‘Is Uncle Matthew going to die, Aunt Henny.’
‘Not if I can help it, Mollie,’ she said firmly. She turned to the teacher. ‘Dr Cazalet’s aunt is his nearest relative. Could you ring her for me so that she can meet us at the hospital?’
‘Yes, of course,’ she said immediately, and followed it with, ‘What are you going to do with the children?’
‘Take them with me until I can sort something out. I’ve no one to leave them with.’
She checked Matthew’s pulse and heartbeat again. Both were irregular and she wished the ambulance would hurry. He looked so defenceless lying there that she wanted to weep, but it was a time for action, not tears.
‘What about the other man?’ she asked the teacher. ‘How’s he doing?’
‘He’s conscious and I heard someone say something about him being a diabetic who had forgotten to take his medication, which caused him to pass out at the wheel. He’s a father at the school.’
At that moment Matthew gave a sighing sort of groan and opened his eyes. ‘Henrietta,’ he croaked. ‘My head hurts.’
‘Yes, I know, ‘ she said gently, relief at having him back in her world making her legs feel weak. ‘Lie still until the ambulance gets here. You fell backwards and cracked your head on the tarmac. Also I think you might have a fracture of your left arm.’
He had closed his eyes but was still conscious. ‘Is Keiran all right?’
‘Yes. He’s not having much to say, but he’s fine—not a scratch on him. I wish I could say the same for you.’
The two ambulances that she’d asked for pulled onto the car park and as a couple of paramedics came hurrying over, a second pair were heading for the injured car driver, who was leaning weakly against the side of his car, with his wife hovering anxiously.
Henrietta explained that she was a doctor and that Matthew’s injuries were due to him being hit by the other man’s car.
‘Do you suspect a skull fracture?’ one of them asked.
‘It is possible so, please, handle him carefully. I will be following by car with the two children.’
‘No,’ said Matthew as he was lifted onto a stretcher and transferred to the ambulance. ‘Henrietta, go home and put the children to bed. I’ll be fine.’
‘Oh, yes?’ she said gently. ‘Do you honestly think I’m going to leave you in this state? The children and I will be right behind you all the way to A and E. And I imagine that Kate won’t be long after us.’
As they took Matthew to X-Ray at the hospital Henrietta walked beside the trolley, holding his hand, and the children were trailing behind. When he was finally wheeled back to a cubicle in A and E, Kate had arrived in their absence and was waiting ashen-faced for their return.
‘They’ve been telling me what you did, lad,’ she said as tears rolled down her plump cheeks. ‘Don’t die on me, Matthew. I want to see some young ones of yours before it’s my turn to go.’
> ‘No need to fret, Kate,’ he said, managing a smile. ‘I’m still going to be around to plague you.’
The doctor was approaching and as he came through the curtains of the cubicle with the X-ray plates in his hand and saw them all gathered there, he said, ‘Just one of you, if you don’t mind.’
As Henrietta made to leave with Mollie and Keiran, Kate said, ‘You stay, Henrietta. It’s what he’ll want.’
She flashed her a grateful smile. ‘Thanks, Kate.’
The results could have been worse. The elbow was fractured, but the head injuries did not include any serious damage to the skull. There was no internal bleeding or bone fragmentation. But there were deep cuts on the back of Matthew’s head that would need stitching, and the arm would have to be put in a cast.
‘In view of the period of unconsciousness after the car hit you and the blow to your head, we will be keeping you in for observation for a few days,’ the doctor told Matthew. ‘And if you’re as much on the go as we doctors are in here, I would take advantage of the rest.’
He didn’t want a rest, Matthew thought grimly. He wanted to be back at the practice with Henrietta and, with that thought in mind, how was she going to manage with him in this place, and the children on school holidays? Yet he was no fool. What this doctor was saying made sense. He’d just have to grin and bear it.
He nodded. ‘OK, you’re in charge.’ Turning to Henrietta, whose thoughts couldn’t have been more different, he said, ‘Now, will you please go home, Henrietta, and take Kate with you? Tomorrow we’ll discuss how we’re going to manage at the practice and still take care of the children.’
She smiled. The terror of losing him was abating. What did a few days matter in a lifetime. If she had to, she would take the children to the practice with her. They could take some games and the receptionists would keep an eye on them.
She stroked his blood-streaked face gently and kissed him on the cheek as she was about to leave him, and as she looked down at him her eyes were soft with tenderness.
He gave a twisted smile. ‘I know what this is for. You’re grateful that I saved Keiran, but it’s not your gratitude I want, Henrietta.’
City Doctor, Country Bride Page 14
