‘Why don’t you go to meet the children?’ he suggested when the lunch hour was over and he was ready to go back to the activity up above. ‘That way I can work straight through until the surgery closes. I will be more help to Hugo and Ruby that way.’
She was only too happy to agree. For one thing she would get to see Sophie and Josh earlier than when she was there until the surgery closed for the night, and for another because Gabriel had slotted into the surgery type of routine as if he’d never left it, and that could only be good.
For it to be excellent it would have to be the same kind of thing on a much bigger scale, and how that was going to come to pass she didn’t know.
As she waited for the children to come pouring out of school amongst the throng of primary and junior pupils Laura felt as if she was lit up like a beacon because bringing Gabriel into the practice, if only for a short time, had turned out to be the right thing to do, and it had been such a long time since she’d done anything that wasn’t wrong where the two of them were concerned.
* * *
When Aaron had heard from the practice manager in Swallowbrook wanting to know how long it would be before he joined them there, he had been loath to inform her that he would be delayed. He was a man who when he made an arrangement liked to keep to it, but that wasn’t always possible under the circumstances that prevailed at the hospital where he worked.
Two of the doctors were ill from another of the gastric bugs that always seemed to be lurking in the dry heat of the country that had been his home for the last four years, and like every other problem of that nature it was threatening to assume epidemic proportions, so he’d had no choice but to delay his arrival in the UK until he could leave with an easy conscience.
He’d been happy enough there, had achieved a sort of uneasy contentment, but from the moment he had decided to go home he had been longing for the day when he was back where he belonged, so when he’d replied to the message from Swallowbrook it had been with regret that he’d explained about the delay.
* * *
It was working well, Laura thought at the end of Gabriel’s first week as locum at the practice. When Libby and Nathan called in with Toby and their newborn they were impressed to find him dealing with patients in one of the spare consulting rooms. ‘This is great!’ Nathan exclaimed. ‘Did Gabriel need much persuading?’
‘He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea when I first suggested it,’ she told him with the memory of his comments about the reaction of patients to his past, ‘but it is working out well from everyone’s point of view.’ Especially mine.
They were having lunch together each day in her office, and she was picking the children up from school instead of having to wait until the evening to be with them, and if it wasn’t exactly how she longed for Gabriel’s expertise to be put to use, between them she and Gordon had found ways to rekindle his dedication to healing.
The truth of it, if she only knew, was that they had nothing to congratulate themselves about. Gabriel’s dedication to his calling was alive and well in the form of an aching void inside him that would never go away until he was back where he belonged, with those whose lives were under the threat of cancer.
Gabriel had his heart’s delight family-wise in Swallowbrook and would never want to change that, but the ache inside him was stronger than it had ever been and he regretted ever telling Laura that he was going to give up medicine.
As Nathan and Libby were leaving the practice with baby Elsie, so was the patient that Gabriel had been seeing, and he came out to congratulate them on the birth of their daughter,
While Laura and Libby were chatting he managed to have a quick word with Nathan and asked him urgently, ‘How much longer?’
‘There is a meeting next week,’ was the reply. ‘You will know definitely by then, and, Gabriel, they are crazy if they don’t agree to what you want.’
‘Hmm,’ he murmured doubtfully. ‘I wish I was that sure. It’s Laura’s birthday the week before half-term and I do need to know before then.’
* * *
‘The vicar came to see me today as soon as he heard I was helping out at the surgery,’ Gabriel said when he arrived home after six o’clock that evening. ‘He has had good news about the throat problem and wanted to share it with me. It would seem that the radiotherapy is working and the tumour is shrinking.’
‘He is a great guy. Has had no moans or groans since he was diagnosed, just wants to get his voice back so that he can communicate with his people once more.’
There was a lift to his voice, a new purpose in his manner, and Laura prayed that it would continue. Though how could it? He was going to be working at the surgery for just three weeks if Aaron arrived when he’d said he would, and immediately after that Gabriel would be driving to London for the hearing, and if it didn’t go down well, what then? Would he go back to fishing?
He’d been observing her expression and said levelly, ‘Don’t start crossing bridges that you don’t have to, Laura. We’ve got used to living one day at a time, so why not keep on doing so?’
‘Because that isn’t how I want it to be,’ she protested, ‘and it isn’t how you should want it to be either.’
‘Sometimes we have no choice,’ he told her, with the thought in mind that if the local health authority would get a move on he might be able to contradict what he’d just said and give Laura something that she really wanted for her birthday.
In the meantime, tomorrow was his day for seeing Gordon at the town house, where he would be going over the results of tests he’d arranged for him to have over the last few days.
Blood tests and a bone scan had so far indicated that the cancer didn’t appear to have spread to any other organs, which was good news, and though it was too early to expect any results from radiotherapy, he was hoping that if a full recovery wasn’t possible he might at least be able to halt the spread of it and create a situation where it was kept under control for the rest of his elderly patient’s life.
Gabriel was off early in the morning before any of them were up and when Laura went into the spare room and saw that the bed covers were in a tangle as if he’d had a restless night. She wondered just how much longer they would be able to endure the crazy game they were playing with their emotions and desires.
The flame was still burning, the desire just as strong, so why weren’t they doing something about it?
* * *
Later that week she saw Gabriel chatting to the builder whose firm was responsible for the completion of the clinic building next to the surgery and when he joined her for lunch at midday she asked, ‘Did the builder say how long it will be before the clinic will be open and working?’
‘Yes, he expects it to be finished by the end of the month,’ he told her. ‘The guy said that there is going to be a special opening ceremony with the mayor doing the honours and all the local big-wigs present who have contributed to the cost, which I imagine has been enormous.
‘I’d had a quick look around the place before you saw me talking to him and it will be fantastic when it’s finished, with all the latest equipment, attractive waiting areas, a café and snack bar, and countless toilets and kitchen facilities. The environment will hopefully make patients’ treatment easier to endure.’
They hadn’t discussed it further as a medical rep had an appointment with her and had just arrived, but later in the afternoon she had a few moments to spare and spent them gazing across at the new building that was going to help improve cancer care in the area, while Gabriel seemed to be content to let his contribution towards it go to pot.
* * *
Baby Elsie was to be christened on the Sunday of that week with Ruby and Hugo as two of the godparents and Libby’s friend Melissa from Manchester making it a total of three.
‘How is the vicar going to manage that?’ Gabriel sai
d immediately when Laura told him about the christening.
‘He’s going to use a hand mike.’
He wasn’t impressed. ‘Why the rush? Some people don’t have their children christened until they’re walking and talking.’
‘The reason is because Libby’s father is coming up from Somerset for the christening. He is a sick man with severe heart problems and doesn’t know how long he might have,’ she explained.
‘Fair enough, then,’ he agreed. ‘As long as the vicar doesn’t over-tax his voice.’
Gabriel was on edge and knew it. He was going to tell Laura on her birthday about the holiday he’d arranged on the Greek island for the four of them, and there would be no problem about that. It was somewhere she’d always wanted to visit and all the arrangements were made.
The half-term break from school would commence a week after her birthday and he had arranged for them to fly to Greece on the Monday at the start of it. By the time they were ready to go Nathan would be back at the surgery, and hopefully Aaron would have put in an appearance, so all ends would be neatly tied up.
He intended to burden her with gifts on her special day, the holiday being the first, with others to follow, but first, before that, there was the hearing, and a phone call that he was waiting for. With regard to that he had hoped that Nathan might have some news for him at the christening.
He had, and it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. The phone call was going to be delayed due to someone’s illness. A meeting had been postponed and would take place the following week. So he gave his full attention to the simple yet moving service of baptism in the village church.
Later that evening when the children were asleep Laura asked, ‘What was wrong at the christening? You were very sombre. Were you wishing that we had a tiny newborn to present for baptism?’
He laughed but it was a hollow sound. ‘Our present circumstances don’t exactly lend themselves to that sort of longings,’ he said dryly, ‘and for it to happen any other way I would have to be a contortionist.’
He was right. It had been a foolish question, she thought, turning away. Amongst the things that were not right in their marriage, and top of the list, was that they hadn’t made love since he had been released.
She longed to lie with him and let the desire that had always been so strong between them wipe away the hurts and misunderstandings, but even that had gone all wrong. They weren’t in tune any more, and until they were the future would always be a blur.
The days of the following week were dragging for Gabriel, and for Laura her pleasure at having him working in the surgery was dimmed after their downbeat conversation in the wake of the christening.
The two things should be separate, she told herself, their home life and Gabriel’s career. However far apart they might have grown, nothing would diminish her delight if he ever changed his mind and went back to what he had been doing before she’d brought his neglect of her into focus.
One thing was for certain, she was expecting her birthday to be a low-key affair. He wouldn’t have forgotten, but compared to years past it would have little to commend it with their lives in such a mess. She would just have to smile and make sure she didn’t give away the hurt that she carried around with her all the time.
On Friday morning the phone message he’d been waiting for came through. After seeing the children to school, he called back at the house to see if there had been any calls. The phone rang while he was there and the words that came over the line were what he wanted to hear.
All that remained now was the hearing scheduled for Friday of the following week, the day before Laura’s birthday. He strode out briskly towards the surgery where he was going to spend the day with the ailing folk of the lakeland valley that he’d fallen in love with. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d given the sick the benefit of his expertise, and if the phone call he’d just received was anything to go by, it wouldn’t be the last.
When he breezed into her office with only seconds to spare before the surgery opened its doors Laura saw that something had pleased him and was grateful for it, whatever it might be, if it was going to get Gabriel through the week in a reasonably happy frame of mind.
For her own part it was like a knife in her heart every time she thought about what lay ahead of him. The only good thing was that whatever the verdict might be from the hospital board it would give some degree of closure to the unhappiest time of their lives.
* * *
As the days went by Gabriel’s good humour persisted and she began to wonder if it was due to him not being bothered either way what the verdict would be because he intended opting out of medicine no matter what, and if that should be the case it would mean that in spite of her hating the idea of him giving up, he was still going to do it.
* * *
A break in the tension came in the form of an invitation to supper at Ruby and Hugo’s.
Their house, Lakes Rise, which Hugo had bought off his sister when she’d gone to live abroad, wasn’t far from their own and as Laura, Gabriel and the children walked the short distance between their two houses they had to pass kennels, and as soon as Sophie and Josh saw the dogs of all shapes and sizes it was inevitable that they should want one. They were especially taken with a golden Labrador called Max.
‘What do you think?’ Gabriel asked Laura, and was surprised to see her shake her head. It was rare that either of them denied their young ones anything, unless they deemed it totally unsuitable, and for some reason she wasn’t in favour of the idea.
So with some persuasion and a few maybes they managed to get the children to leave the dogs behind and continued on their way to Lakes Rise.
‘Why don’t you want the children to have a dog?’ Gabriel asked Laura in a low voice, but got no reply, and as minutes later they arrived at their destination the discussion had to be shelved, and it wasn’t brought up again until the children were in bed.
‘If you get the all-clear from the hospital board on Friday and we have to move back to London, the city isn’t the place for a dog,’ she said when he asked once more what her objection was, ‘And I don’t want the children upset by having a pet that they can’t take with them.’
He was observing her in angry astonishment. ‘What makes you think we will be returning to London?’ he demanded. ‘Do you honestly think I would drag you all back there to fall in with my wishes? I love this place as much as you do and no way are we going to leave it because of my career, no matter what the outcome of the hearing.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she told him, ‘but you can’t blame me for thinking that one day we may have to go back to the town house in the square and the big city hospital again.’
‘Not at all!’ he said levelly. ‘No way are we going back there to live, Laura, you have my promise on that. So maybe we can give some thought to a pet for the children in a few weeks’ time.’
CHAPTER TEN
WITH a robe over her nightdress Laura was on the front step waiting to wave him off into an autumn dawn on Friday morning and he was still smiling, his good humour having returned after they’d sorted out the business of the dog. Suddenly exasperated, she said, ‘I’m glad that you’re so happy about all of this. Can it be that you already know the verdict of the hearing, is that why?’
‘No, of course not. How could I?’ he protested, and held her close for a moment. ’Are you going to wait up for me, Laura? It could be late as I intend paying your uncle a brief visit after the hearing.’
‘Yes, of course I shall wait up, and will you please stop being so chirpy about today’s ordeal?’
‘I’ll try,’ he promised, and within seconds he was off, heading for the motorway and a decision that a few weeks ago he would have been dreading, but the fates had been kinder to him in the last few days than of late, and if they wouldn’t let him carry on as before in Londo
n, all would not be lost.
* * *
James was waiting for him at the entrance to the boardroom when he arrived and as they shook hands his friend said formally, ‘They will be ready to see you in a few moments. We are waiting for a couple of latecomers and then will commence.’ In a more normal tone he added, for Gabriel’s ears only, ‘You know how much I want you back here, don’t you, Gabriel? Have you got any plans for if you get the all-clear?’
‘Er, yes,’ he told him, ‘but you may not want to hear them.’
‘Sounds ominous,’
‘Not entirely, but we aren’t at that point in negotiations yet, are we?
* * *
The hearing was going as he’d expected. Some of the elderly diehards were dubious about him being allowed back, but the number of those who knew his strengths was far greater and soon Gabriel was asked to leave the room while a decision was made.
It didn’t take long and when he was called back in James was smiling and soon congratulations were being showered upon him. When everything had quietened down Gabriel told him his plans and because James knew the pain and heartache that his friend and his wife had endured over recent months, he had no fault to find with what Gabriel was suggesting.
The two of them had a late lunch together and then Gabriel went to call on his elderly patient, and Laura’s uncle was delighted to hear that he would once more be doing the work that he excelled in.
‘Don’t say anything to Laura before I get the chance to tell her myself, will you?’ he asked him as he was about to set off for home.
‘It is her birthday tomorrow and I’m hoping she will feel it is the best one ever when she sees and hears what I have for her.’
* * *
Laura was asleep, curled up on the sofa, when he let himself into the house at gone ten o’clock in the evening. He’d made no noise, but almost as if she sensed his presence she awoke the moment he entered the room, and as she raised herself into a sitting position the question was there. ‘Gabriel! How did it go?’
Marriage Miracle in Swallowbrook Page 13
