But every time she looked at the satin-like perfection of the pearl on her finger she was brought back to earth. If life with Aaron was at present all kisses and cuddles, the memory of the choosing of the ring was a bleak reminder that all was not as it seemed.
The Sullivans’ marriage was still hanging by a thread, with the erring husband performing his duties at Barnaby’s with a sort of shamefaced bravado, and the wife tearfully seeking sympathy from anyone willing to lend a sympathetic ear. That person being mostly Aaron, who was still being supportive to Magda and the children.
So much so that Annabel wondered if his concern was activated in part by her misdoings. Magda seemed to be seeking him out at all times of day and night, and she thought it unwise of him to let the woman lean on him so much. If she had to open her heart to anyone, it should be her husband. Only that way would they reach some kind of understanding.
Sobbing in the arms of his boss all the time wasn’t going to achieve anything, and how many deceived wives turned to the husband’s friend or colleague as a replacement?
She was irritated and knew it, yet Aaron was the last person to get involved in that kind of set-up. He would be lowering himself to her own level if he did that. Yet she felt that he was overdoing the caring friend role.
When she went into his office one day unannounced because she thought the place was empty, Annabel found him with Magda nestling in his arms and he was stroking her hair.
He wasn’t looking too happy and when he saw her expression his discomfort increased.
‘Oops! Sorry,’ she said, and glanced at her watch. ‘I was expecting you would be at your clinic at this time.’
‘I would have been,’ he said stiffly, ‘but Magda had a problem that she needed my help with.’
‘Yes, I’m sure she did,’ Annabel retorted smoothly, ‘and so do all the children that are waiting to see you.’
And if that didn’t earn her a telling-off she would be very surprised she thought as she strolled out of the office.
What she’d said had been a bit unfair because Aaron wasn’t the only one seeing patients in the clinic. There would be at least two junior doctors handling the cases with him. But he was the spearhead, the one they turned to if they weren’t sure, and here he was comforting that woman again.
He must have sent Magda quickly on her way as he caught Annabel up before she’d got to the ward, and she wasn’t wrong about the telling-off.
‘You just interrupted a private conversation in a rude and disruptive manner,’ he said coldly. ‘Who do you think you are? Accusing me of neglecting my patients.’
‘Was I wrong?’ she asked smoothly.
‘Yes, you damned well were. Charles is taking my clinic this morning. Magda had asked to see me and he offered to stand in for me until I’d got her sorted.’
‘I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware that you’d made other arrangements,’ she said, still unrepentant. ‘But can I tell you something?’
‘Go ahead.’
‘You will never have that woman ‘‘sorted’’. It’s time she stood on her own two feet like the rest of us have to do. If this is what she’s like all the time, maybe there was a reason Terry looked elsewhere.’
‘But, of course, you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?’ he said silkily. ‘It stands to reason that you’ll see what happened to the Sullivans from the girlfriend’s point of view.’
‘I might have known you would think that,’ she flared back at him. ‘Well, Mr Holier Than Thou, just take care that you don’t fall off your pedestal, too. That woman wants you. Say the word and her tears will be dried in a flash.’
‘You’re demeaning Magda’s grief,’ he said stonily, ‘and ought to be ashamed. I suppose that somewhere in your moral confusion you see a justification for it, but don’t start bringing me into it. All I’m doing is trying to help.’
‘Yes, well, I hope that Terry sees it that way. It’s a wonder he hasn’t told you to mind your own business. And just for the record, though I don’t expect you to believe me, I didn’t know my American lover was married. He was plausible and charming and, like a fool, it never occurred to me to look any further. So you can book me down as guilty on that count, but not for anything else. And next time you feel like snuggling up to me in front of your mother, forget it!’
When she’d gone striding off Aaron stood staring into space as his annoyance evaporated. Magda was becoming a drain on him, but he felt so sorry for her and the children he’d had to offer support.
Annabel’s outburst had come as a surprise. Surely she wasn’t jealous. He shook his head. It was more likely her thinking he was making a fool of himself that had brought forth the floodtide of annoyance.
Knowing her as he did, he could believe that she hadn’t been aware that the guy she’d had an affair with had been married. If he’d been as supportive to her in her sadness as he was being to Magda, he might have something to be proud of. But instead he’d condemned her without letting her get a word in edgeways and was now trying to make up for it with a sham engagement.
He felt suddenly weary. He didn’t seem to be getting anything right these days. He couldn’t see Annabel falling into his arms once his mother was married and agreeing to turn the pretence into reality after what had just gone on between them.
But there was no backing out at the moment. His mother was a determined woman. If she knew she was being deceived she would call the wedding off, and if that happened he would be devastated. At least one of them deserved some happiness.
* * *
So much for death wish two Annabel thought as she scrubbed up for a routine tonsillectomy some minutes later. She’d told Aaron to keep away from her and had pretended she’d meant it, when all the time she ached for everything to be right between them.
Her criticism of his behaviour had been out of order. If Magda was taking advantage of his kindness, his actions were innocent enough. And yet she’d acted like a jealous wife herself during their slanging match in the corridor. Was nothing ever going to go right between them? And did Aaron believe what she’d said about not knowing Randy had been married?
She was due to go round that evening to help Mary arrange the seating plan for the reception, but now wasn’t sure what to do. However, her mind was made up for her when, answering a ring on the doorbell, she found Aaron outside.
‘I was passing and knowing that you’re due at our place thought you might like a lift,’ he said flatly.
‘Er...yes...thanks,’ she managed. ‘I’ll get my coat.’ Reaching up into the hall cupboard, she paused. ‘But it will mean you having to bring me back.’
‘So what?’ he said in the same monotone. ‘I don’t mind. After all, you’re doing Mum a favour.’
Aaron was not his usual brisk self, she thought. He sounded weary, defeated almost. She wondered if it came from their earlier skirmish. Whether it did or not, an apology was due.
‘I was totally out of order this morning,’ she said as she faced him with the coat draped over her arm. ‘I don’t know what got into me. It wasn’t my place to decide the depth of Magda Sullivan’s distress, and I do know that you’ve been helping her from the best of motives.’
‘Forget it,’ he said. ‘You were probably right. Maybe I have been too available for her. I don’t know.’ He gave a tired smile. ‘Everyone isn’t as self-sufficient as you and I, though at this moment I’m not sure if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew.’
‘In what way?’
‘Several. You and I being at the top of the list.’
‘Am I supposed to understand what you mean by that?’
‘Not really.’
‘So explain.’
He frowned. ‘I don’t know if I can. I feel that I’ve given you a raw deal. Rebuking you like a Victorian father one moment and the next cajoling you into deceiving my mother.’
‘Both things are understandable,’ she told him gently. ‘You do what you do because you love your mother and Lucy. You se
nt me packing because you thought I wouldn’t be suitable for you or Lucy and the hoax we’re playing on your mother is from the best of motives. With regard to my feelings on the matter, I may as well make them clear.
‘I accept that I’ve been tested and found lacking with regard to us and Lucy. As far as your mother is concerned, I’m as anxious as you that she should be happy. But, Aaron, at the risk of telling you how to run your life, if I find that Lucy is going to be fobbed off onto childminders, you will marry me whether you like it or not. Because part of the blame will be mine.’
To her surprise he smiled. Why, she didn’t know, after the ultimatum she’d just given him. Yet she’d meant every word. Lucy had been brought up without a mother, but she’d had a loving grandma in her life, and now she, too, was leaving her. Couldn’t Aaron see what that was going to mean to the child? What had happened to his organising skills that she’d thought second to none?
‘That’s the first marriage proposal I’ve had in years,’ he said, ‘and knowing you, it would have to be different.’
‘I’m not joking.’
He was serious now. ‘I know you’re not, and I’m sure that Lucy would appreciate your concern.’ And he added with a smile, ‘As for me, if the worst comes to the worst I suppose I’ll have to marry you.’
‘That’s the deal,’ she said, buttoning her coat before she locked the door behind them and telling herself as she did so that when it came to crazy conversations, the one they’d just had was in a class of its own.
* * *
While Annabel and Mary were discussing arrangements Aaron went into his study to do some paperwork that he’d brought home with him. When they’d finished what they had to do Annabel went to tell him that she was ready to go.
He was asleep with his head resting on his forearms on the desk top, and as she looked down on him she thought that she hadn’t been wrong. He had been tired and had given in to fatigue. Aaron spent himself caring for others, sick children, Lucy, his mother and deceived wives. He gave little thought to himself.
She loved him unreservedly. He could give her the family life that she’d never had if only he would relent, but there was no way she was going to take the initiative. Aaron was the one who’d shattered her dream and he was the one who had to put it together again.
‘He’s asleep,’ she told his mother when she went back into the sitting room. ‘I’ll get a taxi.’
Mary got to her feet. ‘I’ll take you home,’ she offered, but Annabel shook her head.
‘No. Lucy might wake up and Aaron is so sound asleep he won’t hear her. I’ll take a taxi.’
* * *
The next morning he sought her out before the day got under way.
‘Why didn’t you wake me up last night?’ he asked. ‘I said I would take you home.’
She smiled. ‘It would have been cruel to disturb you. You were in a really deep sleep.’
‘Not so deep that I didn’t sense you’d gone.’
‘How?’
He shrugged. ‘I don’t know, but I did. The room suddenly went cold.’
She laughed. ‘That was when your mother opened the front door to let me out.’
‘So that was it,’ he said absently, and led the way to the two children’s wards.
Three new patients had been admitted the previous day—a baby living in poor conditions had been admitted with hypothermia, a six-year-old with pneumonia and a little girl from Indonesia, recently arrived in England with suspected tuberculosis.
In the case of baby Alex a dramatic fall in body temperature had been picked up at the local clinic and the infant rushed to hospital where it had been given warm drinks, warm baths and had had its head covered to prevent any further rapid loss of body heat.
The bewildered parents, having no previous experience of hypothermia and being both very young, had been stunned to discover that their quiet baby had developed something that was life-threatening.
Alex’s body temperature had risen almost immediately, but lack of warm clothing and heat in the home would have to be looked at before the little one was discharged back into the community.
His admission to Rainbow Ward had been followed by the transfer from A and E of the six-year-old with pneumonia who had been testing the ice on a frozen pond a couple of days previously and had come to grief when it had cracked. He’d been rescued almost immediately but had been taken home instead of to A and E and pond water in the lungs and the general effects of immersion had brought on pneumonia.
Of the three new admissions the child with the suspected tuberculosis was giving the most concern. She was being kept separate from the other children in a side ward while tests were being done. A chest X-ray had shown abnormalities of the lungs and the sputum was being examined for tuberculosis organisms.
She was coughing all the time and so far the large doses of drugs she was being given were having no effect. But both doctors knew that the bacteria would have been in the lungs for some time and a quick cure was not viable. It could take months of treatment before she showed any signs of recovery, but at least modern medicine did have a cure for most forms of tuberculosis.
At lunchtime Aaron sought Annabel out in the restaurant, and as she observed him questioningly he said, ‘Can I ask a favour of you?’
‘Er...yes.’
‘My mother and Tom flew to Spain this morning on the spur of the moment to look at property there. They fancy a Spanish villa as well as the property they’ll have here, and while they’re away I intend to finish early each afternoon to pick Lucy up from school. But I’ve just been told that the clinical services manager for paediatric care has arranged a meeting here for heads of departments this afternoon and it’s vital that I’m present. Could you possibly pick her up for me just this once? I’ve checked your list and see that you are free then and for the rest of the afternoon.’
She smiled. ‘Yes, of course I will. Tell me where the school is and I’ll be there.’
There would be just the two of them, she was thinking. She could pretend she was Lucy’s mother for a couple of hours until Aaron came home...
CHAPTER TEN
AS ANNABEL stood amongst the group of mothers in the schoolyard, waiting to pick up their offspring, there was a lump in her throat.
Normally it would be her grandmother waiting for Lucy when she came out, and today it should have been Aaron, but due to circumstances he’d had to trust her with his daughter, and she wasn’t going to put a foot wrong.
When the children came pouring out, Lucy was chatting to a friend and then she looked up, saw her in the crowd and her face lit up.
‘Annabel,’ she cried, and running across flung herself into her arms.
‘I thought she was your mother, but you haven’t got one, have you?’ the other child said, observing them curiously, and Annabel saw Lucy’s smile fade.
How many times had Aaron’s daughter been faced with this sort of moment? Annabel wondered and, holding her close, she said softly, ‘I’m here in place of Lucy’s mum and I love her just as much.’
As the friend, suitably impressed, went to find her own mother Annabel saw that Lucy’s smile was back, her confidence restored, and taking her hand they went to find the car.
They’d had milk and biscuits when they got in and played a couple of easy board games. Now Annabel was investigating the larder to see what she could make for an evening meal for when Aaron came home, when Lucy came into the kitchen and asked for some bread.
‘It’s for the robin,’ she explained. ‘There’s one that hops around the garden and I feed it every afternoon when I come home from school.’
‘All right,’ Annabel agreed, ‘but it will soon be dark. Don’t move off the patio.’
She’d found some steaks and fresh vegetables and was setting the table when she heard Aaron’s car pull up outside. Seconds later he came striding in, bringing a gust of cold air with him.
‘Hello, there,’ he said. ‘Everything all right?’
She nodded. ‘Yes. Fine.’
‘Where’s Lucy?’
‘On the patio, feeding the robin.’
He nodded. ‘It’s getting very cold out there. I’ll go and bring her in.’
He was back in seconds.
‘Where did you say she was?’
‘Er...on the patio. Why?’
‘She’s not there.’
‘She has to be.’
‘She’s not.’
‘Well, she must have wandered off into the garden, then, or come back inside while I wasn’t looking,’ Annabel said with calm reason, but when they went out together in the gathering dusk the garden was empty, and so was the rest of the house as they searched each room. There was no sign of Lucy.
Annabel could feel the blood draining from her face. Where was she? She hadn’t been out there more than a couple of minutes when Aaron had come home. But the bread was there on the stone flags of the patio, and in her absence the robin was feeding itself.
‘She’ll be next door at Richard’s,’ Aaron said suddenly. ‘The lights are on so he’s home. She’ll have wandered across. You can reach the coach house without going round the front of the houses.’
Even as he was speaking he was opening a wicket gate between the two gardens and striding towards the house next door.
As she watched him go Annabel felt the first sick stirrings of unease. Lucy had to be at Richard’s, she told herself. Where else could she be? And with the asking of the question came the thought that there were a thousand places where she could be if someone had taken her.
But that was a ridiculous thought. It had to be. She’d been in charge of Lucy. No one else had been around. Nothing could have happened to her. She would be hiding somewhere, trying not to giggle as she watched them searching for her.
Aaron came back, his face grim. ‘She’s not there,’ he said tightly, ‘and Richard says he saw some guy hanging around the backs of the gardens when he came in earlier.’
‘No!’ she breathed.
The Surgeon's Family Wish Page 14
