Marriage Miracle in Swallowbrook

by Abigail Gordon

  When he arrived back at the house the routine was in place. There was no sign of her and her bedroom door was shut. But one thing was different: there were two notes on the kitchen worktop.

  The first one said that she was so sorry that her job at the practice had spoiled the occasion, that she had enjoyed the food immensely, it had been delicious, and it would have been even more enjoyable if he’d been there. And had he ever thought of becoming a chef?

  It had been a light-hearted comment with an undertone of having accepted that he wasn’t going back to medicine, and he smiled a grim smile.

  The second missive was to explain that she intended going early to the surgery in the morning to check that all was in order with regard to the building work before the day began, so she wouldn’t be joining them for breakfast. Disappointed that the day had ended so badly after a shaky start, Gabriel turned out the lights and headed off upstairs himself to spend his anniversary alone.

  * * *

  Laura had kept to her decision of the night before and was nowhere to be seen when he went downstairs the following morning. But when he drew back the curtains he caught a glimpse of her striding purposefully down the road, looking neat and trim in one of the smart suits she wore for the job, and his thoughts of the night before by the lake came back. Now it was her turn to be gone for the day before he was awake.

  * * *

  When she arrived at the surgery all was in order, with the workmen already on the job, and it seemed that there had been no further leaks during the night.

  ‘I called back to check at two o’clock in the morning just to be on the safe side,’ the boss said, ‘and everything was okay.’ As if aware that their lack of speed, carelessness and long lunch breaks might lose them the contract, he followed it with, ‘We’re going to forge ahead with it today and hope to be finished soon by working over the weekend like you asked us to.’

  ‘Good,’ she said absently, with her thoughts on Gabriel, Sophie, and Josh breakfasting without her. She had looked in on the children before leaving the house. Both of them had been sleeping peacefully, and she’d paused for a moment outside the door of Gabriel’s room, but that was all it had been, just a fragment of time filled with longing before she’d set off for the day ahead.

  * * *

  A short meeting with the doctors to explain the trauma of the previous night before the day got under way had Nathan all for sacking the workforce on the spot, but Hugo said with his usual calm reasoning that as the refurbishments were almost completed they should allow them to finish but keep a close eye on the amiable trio, and once it was done have all the work checked over by their insurers before settling the account.

  After that had been agreed upon, Laura carried on with the duties of the day and tried not to think about how Gabriel must have felt about his wasted efforts of the night before.

  She’d sat gazing at the untouched food for ages after he’d gone and then, not wanting to cause him any further hurt, had eaten her fill of it and left a note to say how much she had enjoyed it.

  * * *

  When she arrived home that evening at the correct time he asked, ‘So no more leaks or other hiccups?’

  She managed a smile. ‘No, none. The

  timing was all wrong, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Just a bit,’ he agreed, ‘but that was yesterday. Today I have had major heart surgery.’

  ‘What?’ she gasped.

  Unbuttoning his shirt, he displayed a long white strip of material wrapped tightly around him and spattered with tomato ketchup.

  As she laughed at the spectacle Sophie appeared with Josh close behind. ‘We’ve been playing at doctors and nurses,’ she announced with matron-like precision, and as he gave a theatrical groan she went on, ‘Daddy was the patient.’

  ‘That makes a change, then,’ Laura commented. ‘What was the problem?’

  ‘His heart,’ Josh said.

  ‘Really!’ she exclaimed with appropriate concern. ‘And what was it that had caused that?’

  ‘It was broken,’ the young nurse in charge said, observing them with a look that was old beyond her years.

  ‘We’ve had to mend it with sticky tape,’ Josh explained.

  ‘Incredible!’ she breathed.

  ‘Like father, like children,’ Gabriel said, smiling at her above their heads, ‘You see before you an amazing recovery.’ Laura felt as if she was on solid ground for once.

  For a moment they were back how they used to be, together, laughing at the antics of their offspring with all the cobwebs of the past scattering on the wind. If Gabriel had been a father not around much before, he was making up for it now and she loved him for it.

  When the four of them were seated around the table for their evening meal it was still there, the tranquillity that came with minds in tune, brief though it might turn out to be.

  * * *

  It was brief, as it happened. They were watching the children have a last romp before bedtime when the vicar appeared at the side of the hedge that surrounded the garden and called across in the husky voice that had attracted Gabriel’s attention, ‘May I disturb you good people for a moment?’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ Laura told him, and went to greet him with a welcoming smile.

  ‘It is actually your husband that I have come to see,’ he said.

  ‘I thought it might be,’ she told him with the smile still in place, and when Gabriel joined them she left the two men together and went back to her seat on the patio to avoid being reminded on a tranquil summer night of the uncertainty of Gabriel’s future in cancer care.

  ‘I have come to express my gratitude for your concern on my behalf, Dr Armitage,’ the vicar said as the two men shook hands. ‘It was almost as if you were heaven sent. It seems I do have some cancer of the throat and am being given radiotherapy to see if it will clear up the problem.

  ‘Thanks to you, it has been caught in its early stages and the outlook is good so I am very much indebted to you. Do I take it that you are having a sabbatical from your work here in our lovely village?’

  ‘Er, yes, something like that,’ Gabriel told him.

  ‘So where is it that you practise?’

  From her seat in the garden Laura couldn’t hear the question being asked in the other man’s hoarse voice, but she could tell what it was by Gabriel’s reply, and it was as if their moments of togetherness earlier had never been as he said, ‘I’m not involved with cancer care at the moment. I suppose you could say I’m at a crossroads, undecided which one to travel along in the future.’

  ‘Ah, yes, I see,’ the vicar said, and changed the subject as Laura decided it was time that she joined them. ‘There is a barn supper in the village hall on Friday night,’ he informed them. ‘Do come along if you get the chance.’

  ‘Yes, we will,’ she told him, and off he went, back to the vicarage and an anxious wife.

  ‘So what is a barn supper?’ Gabriel asked when he’d gone

  ‘It is a Country and Western type evening with dancing and a supper that everyone contributes to,’ she told him. ‘They were talking about it at the practice otherwise I wouldn’t be so well informed.’

  ‘I see, and now that you’ve explained that, Laura, perhaps you can tell me why the shutters are down again between us? Is it what I said to the vicar about the job?’

  ‘It could be,’ she told him. ‘It sounded so lightweight the way you explained it.’

  Lightweight, he thought grimly. It was the first time he’d ever heard a nightmare described as such.

  * * *

  Most of the refurbishment of the surgery had been completed. The building work had been passed by insurers and an outside company connected with the local council, to put Laura’s mind and everyone else’s at rest, and now it was carpet-fitting time with new seating
ready and waiting to be put in position. As the final stages of the project unfolded before her, she wished her life would untangle itself so pleasantly.

  There was much progress also taking place on the clinic next to the practice and Libby had once said when the two of them were taking their lunch break together that her father, when next he came to Swallowbrook from his home in Somerset, would be pleased to know that the farm he had neglected all those years ago was bearing fruit of a different sort from what he had grown, in the form of a centre of hope for the sick and suffering.

  CHAPTER SIX

  IT WOULD be Libby’s last day soon and all the staff had been invited to a farewell party that Laura had been asked to arrange on behalf of the practice.

  Previous similar occasions had been held at the hotel on the lakeside. John Gallagher, Nathan’s father, and one-time head of the practice, had chosen to have his retirement party there, and so had Laura’s uncle, Gordon Jessup, who had preceded her as practice manager.

  But Libby’s choice was one of the launches that sailed the lake with restaurant and bar facilities, and everyone was looking forward to the new venue.

  Gabriel had been invited, along with other partners of surgery staff. Josh and Sophie were also on the guest list at Toby’s request, and there had been a suggestion that Sophie bring a school friend for company if she wanted to.

  With that event to take place shortly, the other three doctors were turning their thoughts to a replacement for Libby, and along with her other duties Laura was arranging interviews to find a suitable candidate.

  Her working days seemed to fly past as summer wended its way towards autumn. Having Gabriel there for Sophie and Josh during the long summer holiday from school was solving what could have been a problem otherwise, though not an insurmountable one with holiday clubs available for children with working parents.

  But being with their father, who always had something interesting planned for the three of them, was what they liked best, and until they were asleep in the evening after the day’s activities everything was fine.

  After that, with Gabriel doing jobs in the garden and Laura drawn to what was left of the sun, the feeling of living separate lives was still there.

  * * *

  The four of them went to the barn supper as Laura had told the vicar they would, and it felt good, Gabriel thought when they arrived, as if they were no longer newcomers to Swallowbrook but belonged there.

  As the children went to seek out their friends he took Laura’s hand and as they joined the dancers already in Country and Western mood he smiled across at her.

  Laura smiled back and it was there again, one of the brief moments of togetherness that came suddenly and went as quickly, but not this time, he hoped. When the caller cried, ‘Swing your partner,’ he swung her into his arms and held her close, and the longing they had for each other was there, vibrant, demanding, and never brought out into the open since the day that Gabriel had told her he was giving up medicine.

  When the dance was over, still holding her hand, he led her onto the deserted village green and in the shadow of an old oak tree that looked as if it had been there for centuries he said, ‘When we arrived everyone smiled and waved and I had a fantastic feeling of belonging. It was like coming home, as if this place had always been waiting for me. Do you have that kind of feeling about Swallowbrook, Laura?’

  ‘I didn’t at first because you weren’t there,’ she said. ‘I saw the house that my uncle gave us as just a means to an end with a job thrown in, and it still feels like that sometimes because we’ve lost something special along the way.’

  She saw him flinch. ‘But, yes, I do love living here, the children are so happy away from the big-city atmosphere and I enjoy working at the practice. But there are bigger issues at stake, aren’t there, Gabriel?’

  Watching his face darken, she knew that it would have been better if she’d let the matter of his career stay in the background of their lives, as she’d promised herself she would, because she’d just spoilt the moment that had been theirs when they’d left the dancing and come out into the scented night to be alone.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said contritely.

  ‘For what?’ he wanted to know. ‘Sorry for what you knew was going to happen the moment we were out here alone, or sorry for mentioning the unmentionable—my lack of employment?’

  ‘No, I’m sorry for breaking into the feeling of togetherness that comes so rarely in our lives these days,’ she told him. ‘I do understand how much you are hurting, but ever since you came back to me from that unmentionable place I’ve felt that you are shutting me out.’

  ‘That’s because I feel so guilty about everything.’

  ‘Yes, I know,’ she said gently, and reaching across she held his head between her hands and brushed her lips against his fleetingly, and the moment, delayed by her earlier comment, came surging back, this time with it feeling so right to be in Gabriel’s arms with her mouth tender beneath his kisses and her body language telling its own story.

  But they weren’t exactly in the master bedroom of the house. Any moment someone might come along, and the children were only feet away inside the village hall, so at last he said reluctantly, ‘We need to go back inside. Sophie and Josh will be wondering where we are.’

  She nodded, and when she held out her hand he encircled it with his and they joined the dancers once more, as if they’d never been absent.

  When it was time for the buffet that everyone had contributed to the vicar was there, looking less than his usual cherubic self after his first radiotherapy treatment but smiling and chatting as best he could to some of those present, and as he watched him Gabriel was overwhelmed by a feeling of uselessness.

  Was that all he had to his credit over recent weeks and the months out of circulation? he wondered. His only role to provide a warning to the unsuspecting that there might be cause for alarm? He ought to be doing more than that, much, much more. If he wasn’t carrying the burden of guilt that had made him tell Laura that his work with cancer patients was over, he would be back in the thick of it by now…if those in authority would let him.

  The vicar’s wife was approaching and knowing that the role of bystander could sometimes be almost as painful as that of the patient, he waited to see what it was that she wanted of him and was not surprised when she said, ‘Am I right to be concerned that my husband is doing so much talking after the treatment, Dr Armitage? He is so used to chatting to everyone and thinks he can carry on like that, but…’

  ‘He should be resting his voice as much as possible at the moment,’ he told her. ‘It will be painful for him to talk. I suggest that you persuade him to go home where he will not feel the need to chat.’ He smiled reassuringly for the anxious woman. ‘Tell the vicar that is what I advise him to do.’

  * * *

  There was silence as the four of them walked the short distance home after the barn supper. Sophie and Josh were tired after the late night and their parents were thinking their own thoughts.

  Laura was remembering Gabriel’s conversation with the vicar’s wife and thinking he must surely be aware of how little he had to do with oncology in their present situation. For his part, Gabriel’s feeling of inadequacy had returned to haunt him.

  But the most memorable moments of the evening had been those they’d spent in the shadow of the old oak tree. For a precious short time they’d been moulded into one, like they used to be, and he wondered if she would come to him when the children were asleep to carry on where they’d left off.

  * * *

  Laura had showered and perfumed herself once Sophie and Josh had drifted into dreamland and it was as she was crossing the landing to Gabriel’s room that she heard Sophie cry out in pain.

  He’d heard it too as the door swung open immediately, and after one startled look in her direc
tion he rushed to where Sophie’s cries were becoming louder. Grabbing a robe hung behind the door to cover her scanty nightwear, she followed him at the same speed, with everything else forgotten except their daughter’s need of them.

  She was crying out in pain, flushed, had a temperature, and her cheeks were wet with tears as Gabriel asked gently, ‘What’s wrong, Sophie? Where does it hurt, sweetheart?’

  ‘It’s my tummy,’ she cried, and as he pulled down the covers Laura saw that her small abdomen was swollen. Gabriel was feeling it gently and when he touched the lower part of it on the right side she cried out and started to sob more loudly.

  ‘Could be appendicitis,’ he told Laura, taking her to one side, ‘but it is very rare in young children. We need to get Sophie to hospital. Will you go and get Josh up? The three of us need to get dressed fast, but first I’m going to call an ambulance and Josh will have to come with us. There is no one we can disturb at this hour to come and stay with him.’

  ‘She is so young to have something like that,’ Laura breathed as she helped a sleepy Josh back into the clothes that he’d only taken off a short time ago. ‘Please don’t let it be appendicitis.’

  Gabriel thought, Please don’t let it be anything worse, and if it is the appendix let us get there before the pain disappears, which means it’s going to burst and she might develop peritonitis.

  They were waiting for them in A and E and the doctor they saw was of the same opinion as Gabriel, that it might be appendicitis, but before tests were commenced he asked, ‘Has your daughter had a cough or cold in the last few days, or raised lymph glands in the neck?’

  ‘We haven’t had cause to think her lymph glands were swollen,’ Laura told him, ‘but she had a virus sort of thing a week ago.’

  ‘Why do you ask?’ Gabriel wanted to know. ‘Are you thinking that it might not be appendicitis, that it could be connected with some kind of mesenteric inflammation?’