The husband she’s never forgotten….
Laura Armitage’s heart broke the day she said goodbye to her husband, top oncologist Gabriel—but how could she stay in a marriage where she always came second to his career? Only, now Gabriel has joined Laura in the beautiful Lakeland village of Swallowbrook, and is determined to prove he’s never stopped loving her.…
She almost dropped the flask when a shadow fell across her
At the same second, she heard Sophie cry ecstatically “Daddy!” When she looked up, Gabriel was there, observing her gravely for an incredible moment, until Sophie flung herself into his arms. And as Josh followed suit, Gabriel held them both close and Laura saw the wetness of tears on his cheeks.
When the children had calmed down after lots of hugs and kisses and were tucking into the food, she asked in a low voice, “So you decided to come earlier?”
“Yes, but I’m not staying.”
“The children won’t like that! Don’t you think they’ve waited long enough to be with you?”
“Yes, I do, but, Laura, my life has been on hold for long enough. I have things to sort out at the hospital. I want the way ahead to be clear with regard to my career, so that I know where I’m at, what I’m doing.”
The hurt inside her was beyond bearing as she listened to what he was saying and it came forth in anger as she said tightly, “So nothing changes, Gabriel? It’s still career first, and family second,” she said, and with her glance on the children who were out of earshot, “Well don’t let us stop you….”
Dear Reader,
Once again we meet between the pages of one of my books. This time it is the third story out of four about The Doctors of Swallowbrook Farm, and here we meet Gabriel, a doctor who has a great sense of dedication toward his profession, and Laura, his wife, who throws their lives into chaos quite unintentionally.
Their story is about the love and loyalty that binds them together at a time of great unrest in their lives, and how the strength of it finally brings back the happiness that they thought they had lost. I do hope that you will enjoy meeting them.
With very best regards,
Abigail Gordon
MARRIAGE MIRACLE
IN SWALLOWBROOK
Abigail Gordon
Recent titles by Abigail Gordon
SPRING PROPOSAL IN SWALLOWBROOK**
SWALLOWBROOK’S WINTER BRIDE**
SUMMER SEASIDE WEDDING+
VILLIAGE NURSE’S HAPPY-EVER-AFTER+
WEDDING BELLS FOR THE VILLAGE NURSE+
CHRISTMAS IN BLUEBELL COVE+
COUNTRY MIDWIFE, CHRISTMAS BRIDE*
** The Doctors of Swallowbrook Farm
* The Willowmere Village Stories
+ Bluebell Cove
These books are also available in ebook format from www.Harlequin.com.
For Stephen and Judith who generously gave me their time and their hospitality while showing me Lakeland.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
A SUMMER sun was shining when Laura Armitage drew back the curtains in the master bedroom of the house that her uncle had given her. Its mellow golden rays were spreading far and wide from the ripening corn in distant fields to the shores of the tree-lined lakeside nearby, but to the woman at the window the brightness of the morning was blotted out by dark uncertainties about the future.
A month ago she and her children had moved into a spacious old house that she’d had renovated in the beautiful lakeland village of Swallowbrook. She’d been offered the position of practice manager at the medical centre in the village and, desperate to leave London, she’d accepted the opportunity to take up where her uncle, who had held the position before her, had left off. He had gone to spend his retirement in Spain and as a parting gift had given her his house.
The children, eight-year-old Sophie and six-year-old Josh, loved the place after the noise and bustle of London. The lake, beautiful in all weathers, was encircled by a bracelet of rugged fells that attracted walkers and climbers from far and wide all the year round, especially at this time, while down below them an assortment of craft of all types and sizes sailed the lake’s clear waters.
The children’s favourite pastime was when the three of them sailed to its far reaches on one of the pleasure launches that went to and fro all the time during the hours of daylight. But wherever they went, whatever they did, there was always the same question coming from Sophie, ‘Mummy, when is Daddy coming home?’
‘Soon,’ she would tell her gently. ‘He is just so busy looking after the sick people.’
* * *
As she gazed unseeingly out of the window Laura thought that she would love Swallowbrook as much as they did if only Gabriel was there with them. Without him life had no meaning. But a horrendous turn of events had taken him from them and until he surfaced again she had no idea if the light of a marriage that had already begun to fade had been extinguished completely.
He knew that she’d taken her uncle up on his offer of the house called Swallows Barn, and that she was now employed at the practice from nine o’clock in the morning to when the children came out of the village school in the afternoon.
When she’d told him about her uncle’s generosity he’d been less than enthusiastic, ‘Fine, if that’s what you want, Laura, but when I get out of here I intend to go straight to the town house.’ And with a bleak smile he’d added, ‘I take it that it’s still there? That it hasn’t been repossessed?’
‘No. of course not!’ she’d said steadily, holding back the tears that she had never shed in front of him on the nightmarish visiting days when they’d sat across from each other at a small table without touching and behaving like strangers.
She’d never wept in front of the children either, determined that nothing should spoil their youthful innocence. Her tears were shed in the long hours of the night in the big double bed that was bereft of the presence of the husband she’d adored.
‘I’ve taken the job in Swallowbrook to help pay the bills while you’re not around,’ she’d told him that day. ‘The gift of my uncle’s house clinched it with regard to moving there, but from what you’ve just said it would seem that you aren’t intending to join us. I thought you were desperate to see the children, Gabriel, knowing how much it must have cost you to refuse to let me bring them with me on days like today.’
‘I am desperate,’ he’d said grimly, ‘but first I want to get a decent haircut, and to be able to turn up looking the same as when they last saw me. Yet it doesn’t mean that every day I’m without them isn’t hell on earth.’
‘And what is every day without me like?’ she’d asked, stung by the lack of any mention of herself.
‘An exercise in accepting that I was never there when you needed me, and in the end for a fleeting moment I mistakenly thought you’d turned to someone else,’ he’d said in the same flat tone.
‘Yes, and when you came home early for once and found me in another man’s arms, you felt entitled to become judge and jury without providing the opportunity for any explanation, and nearly killed someone who did want my company,’ she’d parried, without raising her voice in the crowded
visitors’ area.
They’d gone over the same ground countless times while they’d been waiting for the court hearing, and it was only the fact that he had resuscitated and brought back to life the man he had attacked when he’d found him holding her close that had saved Gabriel from a longer sentence than the one he was serving now.
He had dragged her free of his hold and with one fierce blow had sent Jeremy Saunders reeling backwards and his head had hit the big marble fireplace behind him with an ominous crack. When they’d bent over him they’d discovered that his heart had stopped beating and it had been then that Gabriel had come to his senses and his medical training had kicked in.
* * *
She turned away from the window and slowly made her way downstairs, the hurt of that conversation as raw as ever, and saw that it was time to look forward instead of back if the children were to get to school on time.
They had settled into life in the country as to the manner born, with Sophie her usual caring self where her small brother was concerned. She was like Gabriel in both looks and personality, dark hair, hazel eyes, quick thinking and determined when it came to life choices, even at such an early age.
Josh was more like her, or rather how she used to be. She was no longer steadfast and tranquil, wrapped around with the contentment of the joys that life had brought her in the form of a husband she adored and who adored her in return, and a small son and daughter to cherish.
They’d lived in one of London’s tree-lined squares, not far from where Gabriel had practised as a consultant oncologist working entirely within the NHS and very much in demand, so much so that over the last few years she had begun to feel like a one-parent family because he was never there.
Both of his parents had died of cancer when he’d been in his teens and on choosing medicine as a career he had decided to specialise in oncology. Every life he was instrumental in saving from the dreadful disease helped to make up a little for the loss of those he had loved.
She had always known and accepted that was the reason for his dedication to his calling, but as time had gone by the ritual of him arriving home totally exhausted in the early hours of the morning and being asleep within seconds of slumping down beside her on the bed that was so often empty of his presence had begun to tell.
Then it would be back to the hospital again almost before it was daylight and their physical relationship had become almost non-existent as it had seemed that his obsession with his career was going to drive them apart if he didn’t ease off a little to give them some time to be a family.
It had been of all things a swelling in her armpit that had brought everything to a climax. Gabriel had already left the house and been on his way to the hospital one morning when she’d been drying herself after coming out of the shower and had felt something under her arm that hadn’t been there before.
Immediately concerned, she’d phoned him to tell him about it and on the point of performing a major operation on a cancer patient he’d said, ‘Pop along to the surgery and get them to have a look at it, Laura. I’m just about to go into Theatre.’
She’d put the phone down slowly. No woman on earth would want to find a lump in the place she’d described, but she was the lucky one, or so she’d thought. Her husband was one of the top names in cancer treatment, so it was to be expected that anything of that nature with regard to his wife would have his full attention, but instead he’d told her to see her GP who, knowing who her husband was, had observed her in some surprise.
He had tactfully made no comment and after examining the swelling had told her, ‘It could be anything, Mrs Armitage, but we doctors never take any chances with this sort of thing, so I will make you an appointment to see an oncologist. Have you any preferences?’
‘Er, yes, my husband,’ she’d told him, and his surprise had increased, but it hadn’t prevented the appointment being made for the following day.
* * *
When she’d arrived at the hospital Laura had seated herself in the waiting room with the rest of those waiting to be seen and when a nurse had appeared and called her name she had followed her into the room where Gabriel was seeing his patients.
He’d been seated at the desk with head bent, having been about to read the notes that he’d just taken from the top of the pile to acquaint himself with the medical history of his next patient. When he’d looked up she’d watched his jaw go slack and dark brows begin to rise as he’d asked, ‘What are you doing here, Laura? Can’t you see that I’m busy?’
‘I need to see you,’ she’d said implacably.
‘Whatever it is, surely this is not the right place to discuss it,’ he’d protested. ‘Can’t you wait until I come home?’
‘No, I can’t, that’s why I’m here, Gabriel. You’re never there, and it isn’t anything domestic I want to discuss. I’m here as a patient.’
‘What!’ he’d exclaimed. ‘Why? What’s wrong with…?’ His voice had trailed into silence as for once his quicksilver mind hadn’t been working at top speed, and then realisation had come. ‘The swelling in your armpit? You’ve been to see the GP?’
‘Yes,’ she’d told him woodenly. ‘He managed to conceal his surprise at me consulting him when I’m married to one of the country’s leading oncologists and made me an appointment. I’m surprised that my name didn’t register with your secretary, but she wouldn’t be expecting me here as a patient, I suppose.’
‘Let me see it,’ he’d said as remorse washed over him in shock waves, and as he’d felt around the swelling they were both acutely aware that it was the first time he’d touched her in months and it had to be for something like this.
‘It’s difficult to say,’ he’d announced as she’d replaced the top that she’d taken off. ‘It could be hormonal, or muscular strain, even a benign tumour, so don’t let’s jump to any conclusions until we’ve done the necessary tests, which I’ll set up for tomorrow. Okay?’
‘Yes,’ she’d said, and without further comment was about to depart.
‘If you will hang on for a few moments, I’ll run you home,’ he’d offered contritely, but she’d shaken her head.
‘No, thanks. I’ll be fine.’ And before he could protest, she’d gone.
* * *
Amongst the uncertainties of her life, the position that Laura had taken up in the medical practice at Swallowbrook was like a calm oasis in spite of the pressures of a busy surgery and enough paperwork to keep her fully occupied.
There were four doctors in the practice, husband and wife Nathan and Libby Gallagher, and Hugo Lawrence, newly married to Ruby Hollister, who had joined them some months previously as a junior doctor. But soon they would be down to three again as Libby was pregnant and about to become a full-time mother to her new baby and Toby, their six-year-old adopted son. Laura had been working in hospital administration when she’d met Gabriel Armitage and the attraction between the clever oncologist who had a dark attractiveness that made him stand out amongst other men, and the serene golden haired vision behind a desk in the office had been an instant thing.
It had been at the hospital’s Christmas ball they’d met and the romance had progressed from there with wedding bells not long after, and until Gabriel had become one of the area’s leading experts on cancer and in huge demand, they had been a united happy family with their two children.
But the end of that had come on the day when he had arrived home early for once and along with his anguished regret for letting a situation develop where his wife had been forced to make an appointment to see him, he’d brought flowers, a huge bouquet made up of all the blooms she loved the most.
But no one on the staff at the surgery knew much about her, and for the moment she was happy to keep things that way. As far as they were concerned, she had taken up the job on Gordon Jessup’s recommendation.
Though she’d caref
ully kept details of her private life to herself it seemed as if her new colleagues assumed that her marriage had suffered a split, and it was altogether easier to let them continue to think this, at least until she had some idea herself of where things were going with Gabriel.
Still, her new workmates had been very welcoming. The two Gallagher doctors had invited Laura and the children round for afternoon tea one Sunday as a welcoming gesture and Toby and Josh, of a similar age, had hit it off immediately, while Sophie, who was the proud owner of a pink mobile phone, had received a call and chatted non-stop to the caller on a bench in the garden while the boys kicked a ball around close by.
‘That was Daddy,’ she’d said with cheeks flushed and eyes sparkling as they’d walked home, unaware of her mother’s heartache because Gabriel hadn’t had anything to say to her. How could they ever hope to mend their marriage if Gabriel wasn’t even prepared to talk to her? Or for him was it simply too late? Did he want out of the marriage once he got out of prison?
* * *
They’d gone in the ambulance to A and E on that dreadful day, with Gabriel and paramedics watching over Jeremy Saunders, and she huddled beside them in a state of shock brought on by what had happened to him and the knowledge that Gabriel, who had been her joy and her life no matter how much he was absent from it, had thought her capable of infidelity.
If he’d arrived just a few seconds later he would have seen her pushing the other man away and sending him packing, but after what had happened earlier in the day he’d been in no state for coherent thought after his wife had come to see him as a patient who might or might not have cancer because she hadn’t been able to get his attention any other way.
The police had been waiting at the hospital when they’d got there, having been notified by the ambulance crew of the circumstances of the emergency they were bringing in, and while the injured man was being treated Gabriel had been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm.
Marriage Miracle in Swallowbrook Page 1
