Summer Seaside Wedding

by Abigail Gordon

  ‘No. When it has happened before I’ve ignored it and it has gradually gone away.’

  ‘But not today?’

  ‘No. Not today.’

  ‘Then an ECG is called for. If you will accompany me to the nurses’ room it will be done, and whatever the feedback we will find out what, if anything, is wrong with your heart.’

  As Esther Arbuthnot got slowly to her feet she said grudgingly, ‘They say that a new broom sweeps clean, so maybe being passed to you for my consultation isn’t such a bad idea after all. What is your name?’

  ‘Amelie Benoir,’ she said as she led the elderly woman towards the ECG facility, where Lucy would perform the test.

  The speed with which the results came through had Esther Arbuthnot in a state of amazement that turned to alarm when she was told that there could be a problem with one of the valves of her heart and that there had been evidence of a minor heart attack some time in the past.

  ‘We need to refer you to a cardiologist for further tests,’ Amelie told her gently as she observed how the patient’s bumptiousness was disappearing fast, yet not so fast that she wasn’t already planning ahead.

  ‘There is a top heart surgeon in Bluebell Cove,’ Esther informed Amelie. ‘His name is Lucas Devereux and he has a private clinic that he runs from his home.’

  ‘He’s the consultant I want to see. I can well afford it. He is married to Barbara Balfour’s daughter Jenna, who was a practice nurse here until they had their first child. So if you would arrange for me to see him as quickly as possible, I would be obliged.’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ she assured her, ‘and in the meantime no excessive exertion. Just take it quietly and rest whenever possible. I will be in touch as soon as I have an appointment for you.’

  When she’d gone Amelie wondered how many Balfours there were in Bluebell Cove. They had to be related to Harry Balfour, the head of the practice, in some way. At the first opportunity that arose she would ask Leo who this Barbara Balfour was.

  CHAPTER THREE

  AMELIE’S first morning at the surgery was over and as she waited for Leo’s much longer list of patients to come and go before they set out on the home visits she was thinking how much she’d enjoyed her first taste of general practice.

  She’d coped with the patients that had been passed to her by the other two doctors without having to consult either of them, and when Leo finally appeared and asked, ‘So how was it?’ she had a smile for him.

  But there was uncertainty behind it and he thought she was unsure of him, still aware that he hadn’t liked being questioned as to whether he’d passed on details of her private life to Harry. But she was not to know that though some saw him as lightweight, he cherished his integrity and admired that of others.

  ‘I enjoyed it immensely,’ she told him. ‘I liked the one-to-oneness of it. In a hospital situation there are sometimes too many fingers in the pie.’

  ‘So, are you ready for an interesting couple of hours visiting the sick and seeing the sights of Bluebell Cove when we’ve had a coffee?’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ she said obediently, and it was there again, a withdrawal of the unaffected easiness that she’d displayed when in his company previously.

  Yet as he pulled out onto the coast road she was the first to speak, and it was to ask if Dr Balfour had relations living in Bluebell Cove. She went on to explain that a patient had mentioned someone called Barbara Balfour.

  ‘Yes, he has indeed,’ he replied. ‘Harry was brought up in this place and when he got his degree came to work at the practice as a junior doctor like you. At that time his aunt, Barbara Balfour, was in charge of the practice and I’m told was a force to be reckoned with, but she had to retire due to ill health. She and her husband live in Four Winds, the large house on the headland.

  ‘Barbara was instrumental in persuading Harry to come back to Bluebell Cove after losing his wife in an accident, and also helped Ethan Lomax with his problems at the same time. The lady in question is a household name here and revered by all who know her, but she is also something of a tartar, even though she isn’t in charge any more.’

  ‘And it is her daughter who is married to the heart surgeon?’

  ‘Yes, she was Jenna Balfour before she married Lucas Devereux. So now you can place us all in our slots,’ he said whimsically.

  ‘All except you, Dr Fenchurch. You don’t seem to have one. All the others appear to have roots in Bluebell Cove but not you. Where do you come from?’

  ‘The north-west. I’m from Manchester.’

  ‘So you are a long way from home.’

  ‘Yes, but not as far from home as you are, though you seem contented enough.’

  She shook her head. ‘Not always, I’m afraid. Yet I know I’m going to be happy here, I can feel it inside. Bluebell Cove is so beautiful, how could I not be?’

  He gave her a quick sideways glance and thought how different she was from other women he’d known. She had no airs and graces. She was just herself, an enthusiastic young doctor with, from the sound of it, parents who had put their careers before their daughter. Had they been around when in the not so distant past she had suffered heartbreak at the hands of some two-timing upstart?

  But she was getting on with her life with an ingenious kind of acceptance that a lot of the women who sought him out wouldn’t be able to boast.

  ‘Our first call of the day is at the marine museum next to the harbour,’ he said, bringing his thoughts back to the reason they were driving in that direction. ‘The caretaker and his wife live in an apartment on the premises and they’ve asked for a home visit.’

  ‘Why?’ she asked, all eagerness on her first venture on house calls with him.

  ‘I’m not sure. It was his wife who rang up and the message was rather garbled. If I understood it rightly, her husband is having some sort of severe gastric attack.’

  ‘Oh, dear, that sort of thing can be most unpleasant,’ she commented, and he tried not to smile. If they didn’t come across something worse than that during the next couple of hours he would be surprised, but had to have a rethink when he saw the elderly caretaker.

  He was deathly white and in a lot of pain, which his wife said had started in a milder way around and above the navel then had increased sharply and was now located at the lower right-hand side of the stomach. When he’d examined the patient Leo turned to Amelie, who had been watching intently.

  ‘Would you like to examine our patient and give an opinion?’ he asked, and turned to the man’s wife. ‘Dr Benoir is going to be working with us at the surgery for a while. She has come over from France to join us.’

  Amelie was already doing as he’d requested and when she’d finished she straightened up, looked him in the eye and said, ‘I suspect appendicitis.’

  ‘I would agree,’ Leo told her. ‘The hospital will do a laparotomy and if that is what it shows, they will remove the appendix.’

  He was quick to reassure the caretaker’s wife. ‘I’m sending for an ambulance and if it should turn out to be appendicitis your husband will be operated on without delay to avoid infection spreading.’

  ‘You seem to be something of an expert in diagnosing appendicitis, Dr Benoir!’ he commented, impressed by Amelie’s confident diagnosis.

  ‘I have seen it in a child. It was in the same place and very painful.’

  ‘So you know that the most dangerous time with appendicitis is when the pain goes. It is the calm before the storm when the appendix bursts and peritonitis develops, so watch out for that.’

  When the ambulance had come and gone, with the suffering caretaker and his wife on board, Leo drove them to the next house call, where they found a small boy with measles.

  He had a high temperature, the usual rash, and was waiting for their visit in a darkened room as the illness made the small patient very sensitive to light.

  ‘It was wise of you not to bring your boy to the surgery,’ Leo told his mother. ‘Measles is very infectious. Also I
see that you are taking care of his eyes, which is good. Measles is a serious illness that was almost stamped out until the scare that the vaccine might be connected with autism. Am I to take it that your son hasn’t had the three-in-one MMR?’

  She nodded glumly. ‘My husband and I did what we thought was best for him, but now I’m not so sure and am not going to leave his side for a moment until he’s better.’

  ‘Plenty of rest and lots to drink will help, and once the rash has gone you will see an improvement. He should stay in quarantine for at least four days so he doesn’t infect anyone. Like all the familiar childhood illnesses measles will take its course and the young ones need plenty of care and love while it is doing so.’

  As they were leaving the house Leo said wryly, ‘Being a good parent is the job of a lifetime and not everyone gets it right or even wants to, but that child’s mother was giving it a good try, even though she’d decided on the wrong course of action.’

  The moment he’d made the comment about families he wished he hadn’t. Amelie’s family life didn’t sound fantastic, if it existed at all.

  When he glanced across she was staring out of the car window, her face expressionless. He hoped he hadn’t spoilt her first foray into the world of those not well enough to go to the surgery.

  As they made their way back to the practice, once they’d completed all the home visits, Amelie’s gaze was fixed on the sea below and suddenly she wound the window down and said urgently, ‘The tide is coming in fast around the entrance to a cave down there and I can see children inside.’

  He slammed the brakes on and flung wide the door and they ran side by side down the cliff path that led to the beach.

  ‘Where is everyone?’ he cried. ‘There isn’t anyone in sight.’

  Waves were crashing against rocks and they could see two small girls crouching in the entrance to the cave, about to be swept out and battered against them any second.

  There was no time for discussion between the two of them. Every moment was vital if they were to get to the children and bring them to safety, but this young doctor was in his charge, Leo thought frantically. If anything happened to her…

  He was cold with horror at the thought as he clambered over the rocks and prepared to lower himself into the sea, with her close behind. Calling over his shoulder, he told her, ‘I’ll deal with this. Stay where you are, Amelie.’

  It was too late. She’d run to a point farther along and was already striking out towards the cave and the children trapped there. A powerful swimmer himself, he saw once again that she was in a class of her own in the water.

  As they reached the cave a huge wave swept into the opening and on receding brought the children with it. Amelie grabbed one of them, he took the second in his grip and they fought their way to the nearest rocks where they heaved them up to safety as two lots of frantic parents scrambled towards them.

  ‘We only left them for a short time,’ one of the mothers cried as she hugged her child to her. ‘The men wanted a drink and persuaded us to go with them. The tide was way out then and the children are having swimming lessons.’

  ‘The sea came in from the side and was in front of the cave where they were playing before they had a chance to escape,’ he explained grimly, ‘and it would have been too powerful for children as young as these to swim in a high tide such as this.’

  ‘Yes, well, thanks,’ one of the fathers said sheepishly. ‘We’ll know next time.’ And with the children wrapped in towels, they moved towards the car park.

  When they’d gone Amelie looked down at her soaking-wet blouse and skirt. Thankfully she’d kicked off her shoes in the car so at least they would be dry.

  Beside her, Leo was stripping off his shirt and squeezing water out of his trousers, and when their glances met he said tightly, ‘I suppose you didn’t hear me when I called that I would handle it. I was having nightmares out there in case something happened to you while you were under my supervision.’

  ‘Is that all you were concerned about?’ she asked miserably, as the feeling that she was of no consequence to anyone surfaced once more. ‘Concerned that I didn’t embarrass you by drowning while I was in your charge? Had you forgotten that I can swim like the best of them?

  ‘When I was young my parents had to take me with them on their postings abroad and often there was nothing else for me to do except go to whatever school was available and spend the rest of my time swimming. I even trained as a lifeguard one summer.’

  It had been his turn to offend her, Leo was thinking, but it was no time for soul-searching. She was beginning to shiver in her wet clothes and he said, ‘There is a long raincoat of mine on the back seat of the car. Take your wet things off and put it on before you catch a chill. I’ll wait here until you’ve done that and then we’ll be off. The village is only a short drive away and you’ll be able to have a shower and a hot drink before the afternoon surgery starts.’

  She nodded meekly and went to do as he’d suggested. Within minutes they were pulling up in front of the Lomax house and he was bidding her goodbye as he went to change his own clothes before returning to the practice.

  Typically of village life, by the time they both arrived back at the surgery Harry and the rest of he staff had heard about their rescue in the cove and he’d opened a couple of bottles of wine for the staff to toast them, which Amelie felt was a more celebratory attitude than Leo’s had been. Yet she supposed it was understandable. She might have felt the same in his position, so she could see his point of view.

  That she could always see the other person’s point of view was her Achilles’ heel. She’d even seen Antoine’s when he’d opted for someone more raunchy and lively than her. Had known she’d been wrong in thinking that because he was so ordinary and undemanding he would want her, who was the same, when all the time he’d had other ideas.

  It hadn’t made the hurt any less but she’d understood better and would be very careful in her next choice, if there was ever a next time.

  At the end of the day Leo said, ‘I’d like a word in private. Would it be all right if I popped across when I’ve finished here?’

  ‘Er…yes,’ she said, with bluebell eyes wide and questioning, ‘but only if you aren’t going to tell me off again.’

  He sighed. ‘I’m not going to do anything of the kind. I’ve got one more patient to see so should be about fifteen to twenty minutes. The guy has phoned to say that he’s held up in traffic, so I’ll come over when he’s been, OK?’

  ‘Yes. I’ll be doing steak and salad. Shall I do it for two so that you don’t have to cook when you get in, or are you dining out with friends?’ she asked, and couldn’t believe what she was saying.

  He gave her a long level look and informed her, ‘I don’t eat out all the time, you know. It’s usually weekends when I do my socialising so, yes, thanks for the offer, Amelie. It will be a change from an endless round of ready meals.’ And a change from the kind of company I usually keep, he thought, which is long overdue.

  When he came he’d changed again for the second time and was dressed in a smart casual top and jeans, and Amelie thought how incredible he looked with his golden fairness and the trim six feet of him.

  Without giving serious thought to how it might sound, she said, ‘When you met me at the airport I was half-asleep and thought you were either the Angel Gabriel or some Greek god who had come back to haunt womankind.’

  ‘Really?’ he said dryly, with lips pursed and eyes rolling heavenwards. ‘I lay no claim to my looks. I inherited them from my Nordic grandfather and in any case what we look like from the outside isn’t always an indication of what goes on within.’

  ‘What did you think when you saw me?’ she wanted to know.

  He was smiling and it took the sting out of what he was about to say.

  ‘I thought you were odd, a bit scruffy and rather vacant.’

  She laughed at the description. ‘I can’t deny any of that. I’d just worked twenty-four hours non-s
top, had had the quickest shower of my life and flung myself into a taxi, praying all the time that I wouldn’t miss my flight. They were calling it as I rushed into the airport and I made it with only seconds to spare, so must admit that my appearance was the last thing on my mind.’

  He nodded. ‘Yes. That was understandable.’

  ‘And so are you going to tell me why you are here before I serve the meal? I won’t be able to eat with curiosity gnawing at me.’

  ‘I came to apologise for my tactless comments after we’d brought those youngsters to safety. You were incredible, so fast thinking and even faster in the water. Yet even though we were back on dry land with everyone safe and sound I was still imagining what it would have been like if I’d had to tell Harry that you’d drowned on your first day in the practice. I’m sure you can understand that.’

  ‘Yes, I can,’ she said soberly. ‘I have this bad habit of always being able to see someone else’s point of view. Though at that moment it wasn’t working too well as you were making me feel that I didn’t matter as a person, that I was just an encumbrance, the gauche, wet-behind-the-ears trainee that you’d been burdened with and wanted to take back to the practice intact for your own reputation.’

  Stopping for breath, she wondered if she was suffering from some kind of verbal override. She’d hardly stopped talking since he’d appeared and supposed one reason might be that she was nervous in his company.

  It was his turn to be amused. ‘Thanks a bunch for that powerful description of your opinion of me. If I remember rightly, at the time you were wet in other parts of the anatomy besides the ears, and I’m not too sure about the gauche label. I’d give it five out of ten.’

  ‘Now you’re making fun of me.’

  ‘Not at all. I have to say that whatever else you are…you’re different. But getting back to why I came, do you accept my apology?’

  ‘Yes, of course. And I thought what you did was pretty special too.’ Before she said or did anything else that might be misconstrued, she added, ‘If you will excuse me for a moment, I’m going to serve.’ She indicated the dining room where the table was set. ‘If you would like to take a seat.’