A Baby for the Village Doctor

by Abigail Gordon

  The boot had turned out to be on the other foot. It was she who had given him joy with the promise of another child to love. After those first few agonised moments when he’d thought it might belong to some other man, he’d never stopped smiling, even though it had cut deep, knowing how long she’d waited to tell him. But that was a bed he’d made for himself and he had no choice but to lie on it.

  In the middle of the morning he went into her garden and brought in the line of washing that she’d hung out first thing. On discovering that a fresh breeze had dried it, he fished out an iron and ironing board from one of the cupboards in his kitchen and applied himself to the task.

  When the ironing was finished, he decided to go and find some lunch and then do some exploring of the rural paradise where she’d chosen to start a new life. He had passed the surgery with eyes averted and, unaware that he was being observed from one of the windows, had gone to the Pheasant for a ploughman’s lunch, before familiarising himself with the delights of Willowmere.

  He’d had a change of mind about that while he’d been eating, hoping that Georgina might want to show him around the village herself, which could be an indication that she wasn’t as dismayed by his arrival as she was making out. Now he was listening for her car to pull up on the lane that was almost as quiet during the day as it had been during the night.

  She was tired, he thought, noting her pallor and the droop of her shoulders as she got out of the car, but when he came out of his door and joined her on the driveway, she straightened up and with a steady smile asked, ‘So what has your day been like?’

  ‘Different,’ he replied, ‘and last night even more so.’

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘I saw a fox slinking along by the hedge over there and an owl was hooting somewhere nearby in the kind of silence I’m not used to. It was weird.’

  ‘You weren’t impressed, then?’

  ‘Er, yes, I was. Both things were an improvement on the drone of the city traffic, be it night or day. I nearly went to explore the village when I’d had some lunch but thought that you might want to show me around the place yourself.’

  ‘Possibly, but not on a week night. A short stroll by the river or around the lake is my limit, and tonight I have some ironing to do.’

  He shook his head and she observed him enquiringly.

  ‘What?’

  ‘It’s done. I brought the washing in and ironed it.’

  She felt like weeping. It was so long since anyone had done anything for her. Instead, she said flatly, ‘There was no need for you to do that, Ben. Please don’t interfere in my life. I have it sorted. Don’t try to change anything.’

  ‘Surely you see that it’s already changing with the child that you’re carrying,’ he said levelly. ‘How were you going to manage when the baby came?’

  ‘As I have managed for quite some time. On my own.’

  She was tired and wishing she’d never got involved in the conversation that was taking place. It was turning out the way she’d hoped it wouldn’t. Ben had been around for only a few hours and he was trying to take charge.

  ‘What about antenatal care? What are you doing about that?’

  He was making matters worse and she said stiffly, ‘It is sorted. I’m registered privately with a gynaecologist at St Gabriel’s. I wasn’t going to take any chances with my being on my own. The sense of responsibility is far greater when one is about to become a single parent.’

  ‘It doesn’t have to be like that, Georgina,’ he said steadily. ‘I was the one who made you pregnant, which makes me even more responsible for our baby than you are.’

  ‘Can’t we just leave it for now, Ben?’ she said dejectedly. ‘I’m hungry and tired.’ With a vestige of a smile she added, ‘Which is not a cue for you to ask if I’m taking any vitamins.’

  ‘Point taken,’ he said with a smile of his own, and followed it by suggesting, ‘How about I go to fetch some fish and chips? I saw a shop in the village that looked appetising. It would save us both cooking.’

  ‘Yes, all right,’ she agreed weakly, aware that it would be the second time they’d eaten together in a situation that was awkward to say the least, but until she’d got to grips with it, that was how it was going to be.

  While Ben was gone she showered quickly and changed into a loose pink top and maternity jeans, and had plates warming in the oven and the kettle on the boil by the time he arrived with the food.

  When he came inside, he looked around him curiously. This was the place that Georgina had made her home, he thought, when the one they’d made together had been too alien for her to want to stay there.

  It was attractive, elegant in a toned-down sort of way, like the woman herself, who was making it clear that she was not going to change anything since he’d appeared on the scene.

  With regard to himself he’d drifted into an existence of much work and very little play, but since coming to Willowmere, he was finding a new reason for living in being near his wife again. To him the term ‘ex’ didn’t apply. Georgina would be his wife until the day he died. He was a one-woman man and since he’d been without her, there had been no others.

  ‘I feel better already,’ she told him when they’d finished eating. Regretting the way she’d dealt with his earlier concern, she went on, ‘Maybe we could go for the stroll I told you about. Willow Lake isn’t far from here and for me that place is Willowmere. Needless to say, there are lots of willows there and they really are the most graceful of trees. It is where Glenn asked Anna to be his wife and they were married a month later before going out to Africa on a new and exciting venture.’

  ‘You sound envious.’

  The smile was back and this time it wasn’t so hard to come by. ‘No, not at all. I have lots of things happening in my life at the moment, and, Ben, if you think me cruel for not telling you I was pregnant, there were countless times during the months that have passed when I’ve started a letter or picked up the phone to tell you about the baby.

  ‘In the end I sat down, wrote to you, and almost ran to the post office. Once the letter was on its way I felt so much better. It never occured to me that you might not be there to receive it. When you didn’t get in touch I didn’t know what to do.’

  ‘But I found the letter at last, didn’t I?’ he said gravely. ‘And you’ve given me a new reason for living. What more could I ask?’

  It was there again, she thought. The implication that she was going to be the outsider in the forthcoming threesome.

  ‘So shall we go for our stroll, if you really feel up to it, before the light fades?’ he suggested, and she nodded. It could have been a special moment, but it hadn’t turned out that way.

  It was the oddest feeling, walking through the village with Ben by her side, Georgina thought. People going to the Pheasant hailed her as they would normally do, while at the same time casting curious glances at her companion.

  Ben said, ‘How are you going to explain me if anyone asks?’

  ‘I’ll tell them the truth, of course,’ she replied. ‘No point in doing otherwise if you intend staying.’

  ‘Oh, I intend staying,’ he told her. ‘Wild horses wouldn’t drag me away.’

  ‘And would you be so definite about that if I wasn’t going to give you another child? You never made any attempt to come looking for me before.’

  ‘Maybe that’s because I didn’t know where you were. Nicholas is very good at clamming up when he has to. If you hadn’t written to me everything would have been as it’s been since…’

  His voice trailed away, and she said gently, ‘Saying his name isn’t going to drag us back into the nightmare. I had to smile the other night. Oliver Twist was on television, and it reminded me of when Jamie was Oliver in the primary school Christmas play.’

  He was laughing now. ‘Yes, and how we thought he was miscast as he looked too well fed. I always thought he would have preferred to be the Artful Dodger.’

  ‘And do you remember how they as
ked you to be the Father Christmas, and we were on pins in case he recognised you behind the whiskers?’

  ‘Yes, I do,’ he replied. ‘I can still smell the glue that one of the teachers used to stick them on me.’

  At that moment they saw the glint of water ahead, and as they stood beside the silent lake in the gloaming of a spring day, he said, ‘You’re right, Georgina. Willow Lake is beautiful.’ He turned to observe her standing beside him with the so obvious signs of what was to come in her changing shape and thought, And so are you.

  They walked back to Partridge Lane in silence, each wrapped in with their own thoughts, and when their cottages came into view, Georgina said, ‘Thanks for doing the ironing. I could have been more grateful when you told me it was done.’

  He was laughing and she observed him in surprise. ‘What a mundane comment to end the evening after visiting that idyllic lake,’ he said. ‘If you leave me a key under the mat tomorrow and the vacuum cleaner handy, I’ll carry on with the chores. Just make a list.’

  ‘If it got around that you were my new home help, it wouldn’t fit in with your image in the medical world,’ she told him jokingly, and marvelled at the moment of rapport that had suddenly surfaced.

  They were standing at her gate, ready to separate, and she wondered if Ben was waiting to be invited in for the rest of the evening, and if that was the case, what should she do? But it seemed there was no cause to concern herself about that. He was turning to go into his rented cottage and said over his shoulder, ‘Goodnight, Georgina. Sleep well.’

  ‘And you, too,’ she said weakly.

  He was smiling. ‘I most certainly will…now.’

  CHAPTER FOUR

  WHEN Georgina was ready to leave the cottage the next morning, Bryan Timmins, the farmer who delivered her milk, was coming up the drive. Looking at the now-occupied place next door, he said, ‘Do you think your new neighbour will want his milk delivered, Dr Adams?’

  ‘I would think so,’ she told him. ‘The person in question is accustomed to getting it from the supermarket and won’t have realised that he can get milk delivered.’

  ‘So can I risk leaving him a couple of pints, then?’ the farmer asked.

  ‘Yes, I’m sure you can. I’ll tell him it was my doing.’

  ‘Who is he? Do you know?’

  ‘Er, yes, I do. His name is Ben Allardyce. He’s a paediatric surgeon.’

  ‘Another doctor, eh?’ With a change of subject, he asked awkwardly, ‘And how are you keeping.’

  ‘I’m fine, Bryan,’ she told him. ‘And what about your pregnant lady? I didn’t see Maggie at the antenatal clinic last week.’

  ‘No, you wouldn’t. The wife has gone to her mother’s for a visit before the baby comes. We can’t wait. If it’s a boy, young Josh wants us to call him after some pop star that he’s keen on. I shudder to think!’

  ‘And if it’s a girl?’

  ‘He hasn’t come up with anything for that so far. Have you chosen any names yet?’

  At that moment Ben’s door opened and as he eyed them questioningly Georgina said, ‘Ben, may I introduce Bryan Timmins, who supplies me with fresh milk every day?’ As the two men shook hands, she explained, ‘Bryan owns the farm that we passed when I took you to see the lake. I’ve taken it on myself to arrange for your milk to be delivered. Is that all right?’

  He was smiling. ‘Yes, of course, that would be fine. It would seem to be another of the delights of living here.’

  The burly farmer laughed, ‘Aye, it is, though it’s not all moonlight and roses, you know. There’s the worry of foot and mouth, for one thing which is every farmer’s nightmare, though I’ve never had that to contend with so far. Then there are trespassers who don’t keep to the designated paths and trample the crops of some of us, but all in all it’s a good life and a happy one, living in the countryside. You think so, don’t you, Dr Adams?’

  ‘Yes, I do,’ she agreed, knowing that Bryan had yet to discover the connection between herself and her new neighbour.

  When he’d gone, Ben said, ‘You’re off early, aren’t you, Georgina? It’s only eight o’clock.’

  ‘James wants a short practice meeting before the day starts.’

  ‘I see. Would it be all right if I popped into the surgery later in the day to have a look around and maybe meet the senior partner?’

  ‘Er, yes, I suppose so,’ she said, taken aback at the fact he hadn’t lost interest at the practice. It would be another part of her life here that Ben was invading if he got involved in the work there. ‘How do you want me to introduce you?’

  ‘However it suits you best,’ he said calmly. ‘Your next-door neighbour, a colleague from the past…or you could tell them the truth, that I’m your husband. You said it wouldn’t bother you if people found out, as long as they don’t get to know the reason why we split up.’

  ‘But you’re not my husband any more, are you?’

  ‘Legally, no, but there are more important things than paperwork and documents.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘Do I have to explain?’

  ‘No,’ she told him hurriedly.

  It was neither the hour nor the occasion to start delving into the past. She didn’t think there ever would be a right time for that. If they had to live side by side for however long it took, she would abide by it, and if Ben was intending taking a major role in their baby’s life, there wasn’t much she could do about that, other than apply for sole custody, and she could not do that to him.

  He had suffered enough, they both had, and after the hurt she’d caused by not telling him she was pregnant for so long, to do that would be rubbing salt into the wound.

  ‘What time are you thinking of visiting the surgery?’ she asked. ‘Early afternoon is always quietest, when we’re back from the house calls and have a lull before the second onslaught of the day.’

  ‘Twoish, then?’

  She nodded. ‘I’ll tell James that you’re coming to look us over.’ And without further comment, she went to start her day.

  The staff meeting that James had called didn’t last long. In essence it was to welcome Gillian and to tell them that he was going to delay appointing another permanent partner until his new brother-in-law came back.

  They all dispersed to their various duties after that except for Georgina, who stayed behind for a moment and said, ‘Is it all right if Ben comes to have a look around when we’re quiet this afternoon? He’s interested in everything that’s going on here and has even suggested that he would be willing to help out until Glenn gets back from Africa.’

  She’d said it as a kind of warning, in case Ben did say something to that effect, and James stared at her in surprise.

  ‘Really?’ he exclaimed. ‘And is he qualified?’

  ‘Er…yes. His name is Ben Allardyce. He specialises in one particular branch of medicine, but in the past he has been a general consultant as well.’

  ‘Are we talking about the Ben Allardyce? The paediatric surgeon?’

  ‘Yes. He is my ex-husband. I think he’s decided that he’s going to need something to fill the days while he’s in Willowmere, and that’s where the suggestion came from.’

  ‘I would welcome him into the practice on a temporary basis with open arms,’ James said. ‘But how would you feel about it, Georgina?’

  ‘I’m not sure. I wasn’t happy when he first suggested it, as he’s already renting the cottage next to mine, but we do need someone, James, and it will be even more urgent when I’m off after having the baby. So feel free to ask him, if you so wish.’

  He was smiling. ‘I do wish, Georgina. I’ll have a word with him when he comes this afternoon—just as long you’re sure that you’d be happy with the arrangement?’

  ‘I think one of the reasons he’s offering is because he wants to make it easier for me during the coming weeks, so how can I object?’ she said, with the feeling that she might be losing her strength of will.

  Leaving James to take
in what could be good news for the practice, Georgina went to start her day.

  Edwina Crabtree’s test results were back and they were positive for the presence of Helicobacter pylori. Georgina requested one of the receptionists to ask her to come in to discuss the findings.

  It was today that Christine Quarmby was seeing the first of the two consultants that she’d referred her to, she thought as patients came and went, and wondered how long the sick woman would have to wait for a result.

  * * *

  Ben arrived at exactly two o’clock and as she saw him come through the main doors of the practice with a positive stride, Georgina felt a sudden rush of warmth. He had been so dear to her once, she thought. How could she not want him back in her life again?

  But remembering the hurts from the past, she was still unsure. His decision to stay in the village was because of the baby rather than her, and could she blame him for that?

  He’d been a loving father to Jamie, and gentle with his small patients in the London hospital where he’d worked. He was a natural with children. So the thought of another one of his own to love was obviously bringing him out of the depression that he’d fallen into three years ago.

  ‘Hi,’ he said when he saw her coming towards him. ‘As you didn’t leave a key or the vacuum handy, I’ve cleaned all the outside windows, yours and mine.’

  ‘Great, so I’ll be able to see who’s coming up the drive,’ she said, smiling as if her mind wasn’t filled with the whys and wherefores of him actually standing beside her in the village practice. ‘You seem determined to make yourself useful.’

  ‘It makes a change, don’t you think?’ he replied sombrely, and she had no reply to that.

  James came out of his room at that moment and when she’d introduced them, he said, ‘Shall I show Ben around the surgery, Georgina, or would you like to do the honours?’