‘Andrina! So you made it.’
His pleasure at seeing her was infectious and in spite of her doubts and deliberations she smiled back.
‘Like you, I try not to say things I don’t mean, and I did say I would come.’
The receptionist was tuning in to what they were saying. Taking Jonathan from her, Drew walked across to the counter and said, ‘This is my nephew. Marion, meet Jonathan Curtis, junior.’
‘Really!’ she exclaimed. ‘You mean this is Jonathan and Jodie’s child! Well, I’m blessed! So where is she? Has she come back to us?’
He shook his head.
‘Jodie is dead. She was killed in a car crash and Andrina, her sister, has been looking after the baby.’
The woman behind the counter held up her hands in horror.
‘Oh, dear! Poor girl! Poor baby!’
‘Yes, indeed,’ he agreed sombrely, ‘but fortunately he has us, Andrina and myself. That’s why she has come here.’
Marion demonstrated that she was kind as well as inquisitive.
‘Well, you know I’ll do anything to help, and the rest of the folk around here will rally round if you need them. Jonathan was one of us and we all liked Jodie.’
Andrina felt tears prick her eyes. Here was another stranger who had crossed her path and was showing compassion, but the feeling of everything moving too fast was still there.
Drew hadn’t told the receptionist she was only here for a visit, that she’d come to get the feel of the place before making any big decisions, but courtesy demanded that she thank Marion for her kind offer so she said, ‘It’s very kind of you to say you’ll help us should we need it, but Jonathan and I may not be staying very long.’
‘Oh, I see,’ she said disappointedly. ‘So I’m not going to get the chance for a cuddle.’
Drew’s smile had disappeared while Andrina had been explaining that her stay might be short, but it was back again as he said, ‘Yes, you will, Marion. Trust me. And now I’m taking Andrina and the baby to my place. James will take the late surgery for me. He’s capable enough. Tell him to give me a call if anything crops up that he can’t handle.’
As they went out to their cars he was still smiling and she eyed him questioningly.
‘Marion has a heart of gold, but she is something of a busybody,’ he said. ‘She’ll be on the village grapevine already, spreading the news, so don’t be surprised if everyone knows all about you when you meet them.’
‘I’m not sure how I feel about that,’ she said slowly. ‘It’s all too much, being lifted from obscurity to all this. And could we please get one thing clear? You told Marion that I have been looking after Jonathan, as if it was a thing of the past. Well, it isn’t. Where he goes I go.’
‘Why are you so doubtful about my motives?’ he protested. ‘I’ve told you that I have no intention of causing grief to either of you. Will you, please, believe me?’
‘Yes, but if we came to live here, who would be in a minority? Me! From what Marion said the villagers would receive your brother’s son with open arms, as you are doing. But what about me? I’m not prepared to be relegated to the sidelines.’
Drew was frowning.
‘If that is how you feel, you will just have to trust me. I’m not used to being looked on with suspicion, but I suppose under the circumstances it is only natural. Perhaps you would have been happier if I’d run a mile from what I see as my responsibility. But this isn’t getting us any nearer to settling you in at Whistler’s Farm. It’s about half a mile away, up on the hillside. If you follow my car, I’ll lead the way.’
The part of the farmhouse that he had renovated was as tasteful and relaxingly furnished as the surgery, with the addition of a sort of toned-down elegance, and as Andrina looked around her she couldn’t help but think that it would be hard to deny Jonathan the privilege of living in such a place.
Drew was clever, she thought. He’d seen her apartment, knew there was no comparison, and during the next few days would be unfolding before her the pleasures of village life, in the hope that she would succumb.
* * *
Andrina had unpacked their things in a spacious bedroom that was almost as big as the whole of her flat put together, and now she was seated on a kitchen stool holding Jonathan while Drew prepared a meal.
It was warm in the room with the afternoon sun on it and the heat from the oven, and she yawned.
He looked up from chopping vegetables and eyed her sympathetically.
‘Does Jonathan wake up much in the night?’ he asked.
‘Yes. I’m afraid so. He has his last feed at about ten and usually lets me know he is hungry again around two. Why do you ask?’
‘I suggest that once we’ve eaten you go and catch up on some sleep. I’ll give him his late feed and see to him in the night.’
‘That’s a very tempting offer. I’ll make up a couple of bottles before I go,’ she told him.
‘No need,’ he said calmly. ‘I am a doctor, you know. Just tell me the quantities and I’ll do the rest.’
‘You may be a doctor,’ she told him, ‘but you’re not a father, are you? You mightn’t hear him in the night.’
She saw him wince and wished she could stop being on the defensive. However, he didn’t take her up on the comment, just pointed to the stairs when they’d eaten and said, ‘Your bedroom has an en suite bathroom so when you’re ready to head for sleep, feel free. Jonathan will be perfectly all right with me.’
* * *
Andrina woke up in the night in a panic. Unsure of where she was for a moment, she felt frantically around her in the darkness for the sides of Jonathan’s cot. As her eyes became accustomed to the gloom it all came flooding back, and with the memory was the realisation that she’d left Jonathan in the care of a stranger. Drew may be his uncle, but he was a stranger as far as she and Jonathan were concerned.
Not waiting to put on a robe, she went out onto the landing dressed in just a long cotton nightdress, and as she hesitated saw a light on below. As she went down the stairs the clock in the hall said it was two a.m.
The door to the sitting room was open, and as she looked in she saw Drew feeding the baby his bottle. Clad in just a pair of boxer shorts, he was totally engrossed in what he was doing and as she stood watching Andrina couldn’t help but be aware of his attractiveness.
His chest was broad and tanned, with golden body hair the same colour as that on his head. His hips were trim inside the smart cotton shorts and she thought wryly that she didn’t feel the least bit shrivelled up inside, as Jodie had once teased she would become if she didn’t get involved with a man soon.
Drew looked up suddenly and saw her standing there. There was a sort of satisfied contentment in his expression and in that moment she knew he was cut out to be a family man. That one day he would make some child a wonderful father. But she wasn’t going to let Jonathan fill the slot just to satisfy his uncle’s yearnings.
‘No need to check on us,’ he said softly. ‘We’re both fine. I took Jonathan’s cot into my room so you wouldn’t be disturbed. He woke up a few moments ago and made it clear that he was hungry.’
She nodded.
‘I’m really looking forward to the time when he will go through the night.’
‘It won’t be long hopefully,’ he said. ‘When they reach a certain weight babies usually begin to sleep for longer periods.’
This is incredible, she was thinking. I’m here in my nightdress. The most attractive man I’ve met in ages is in his underwear, and all we can talk about is babies sleeping through the night. It was a sign of the times as far as she was concerned. What Drew was thinking she didn’t know, but was about to find out.
‘Go back to bed,’ he told her. ‘We’ll be up shortly once the bottle is empty and Jonathan is winded.’ And because it was too good an offer to refuse, she did so, curling up under the covers with peace of mind for the first time in weeks.
When she came down to breakfast the next morning Jon
athan was lying in his pram, gazing around him contentedly, and Drew was standing by the kitchen table, dressed in a dark suit, eating a piece of toast.
As she observed the scene in some surprise he said, ‘It’s a suit and tie job again this morning. I have morning surgery at half past eight and house calls afterwards, but I’ll call back here early this afternoon to make sure you’re both all right. There are eggs and bacon in the oven and porridge simmering on the stove here. A nourishing breakfast is what you need to complement a good night’s sleep. Did you sleep well?’
‘Yes. Like a log.’
‘Good. What do you think you’ll do while I’m out? Have a look around the village maybe?’
She smiled. ‘Yes, why not? It looked very nice as I drove in, but I didn’t get much chance to look around while I was in the car. With Jonathan in the pram, I can take a leisurely stroll.’
‘You won’t be disappointed,’ Drew said as he picked up his bag and headed towards the door, ‘but remember what I said about Marion. You’ll receive some curious glances and will find that people may want to stop and chat, so be prepared.’ And on that note he went.
It would be nice to have a proper look around the village, she supposed as she cleared away the breakfast things some time later. She’d enjoyed the meal immensely, unable to remember the last time someone had cooked for her.
Maybe it was all part of the plan to make her want to stay, but as she’d eaten the good wholesome food it hadn’t seemed to matter all that much.
She was feeling rested and less apprehensive this morning, and if she did have to cope with the curiosity her arrival had aroused she would have to put up with it.
She’d needed a change of scene badly—hadn’t realised just how much until now. Ever since that dreadful night in July the only joy in her life had been the baby. But Drew seemed determined to broaden her horizons and so far he wasn’t making a bad job of it.
* * *
Marion was waiting to pounce the moment Drew walked through the door of the surgery, and he took her into his consulting room so they wouldn’t be overheard.
‘I still can’t believe it,’ she said the moment the door was closed behind them. ‘Jodie dead. That child an orphan and a strange woman is in charge of him. Who did you say she was?’
‘Andrina Bell. Jodie’s stepsister. She was sent for when the accident occurred and has been looking after him ever since. She came here yesterday at my invitation. I’m hoping the two of them will move in with me for a while.’
He gave a twisted smile. ‘Unfortunately, she seems to doubt my motives. Andrina is very protective of the baby, which is not surprising as he was thrust upon her out of the blue and she’s had to rearrange her life accordingly. All I want to do is help, but she seems to see me as a threat.’
‘Yes, well, she will, won’t she?’ Marion said. ‘You are the blood relative. She is only related by marriage.’
‘That may well be, but my thoughts aren’t running along those lines. At this moment all I want to do is help…if she’ll let me.’
‘How did you find her?’
‘As you know, I’d been to see Jodie a couple of times in London to make sure she was all right physically and financially, but the last time I went her flat was empty. No one could tell me where she had gone. So I looked up her records here and went to look for the woman whose name was there as next of kin.’
‘And so what are this Andrina’s plans?’ Marion wanted to know.
‘I’m not sure. She isn’t giving anything away at the moment, except the feeling that she is wary of me. We’re going to have a chat when I get back from my rounds.’
‘See if you can persuade her to stay. We’ll all rally round.’
His smile flashed out. ‘Great minds think alike, Marion. But getting down to the day’s duties, how many are there waiting?’
‘An average number, I’d say,’ she told him. ‘Young James has already started seeing some of the less urgent cases. That young fellow will be a godsend to somebody’s practice one day.’
It was a fact that the trainee he’d taken on recently was a very capable twenty-one-year-old. And once he’d found someone to replace his brother, running the practice should be plain sailing. As it had been before Jodie Stewart had appeared and she and Jonathan had fallen in love. At that time there hadn’t been a cloud in the sky. Never, ever had he expected it all to end as it had.
Drew and Jonathan had put the money their parents had left them into the practice and had worked together for five years until, shortly after he’d become engaged to Jodie, Jonathan had been diagnosed with leukaemia. The disease had been painful and relentless and their time together had been short-lived, but long enough for her to fall pregnant.
For the first time in her life Jodie had been made to look deeper than the surface of things and she hadn’t been able to cope, especially as she’d been carrying Jonathan’s child. She’d left the village, saying she couldn’t bear to stay there any longer.
He’d begged her not to go. He’d told her that it was his nephew she was carrying and she must let him have an address or he would be worried sick about her. But she’d still gone. The only reassuring thing had been a promise to come back for the birth.
But in the end his brother’s child had been born in the A and E department of a London hospital, and he’d known nothing about it until three days ago when he’d knocked on the door of a high-rise apartment in the Midlands.
His life had changed in that moment, just as Andrina’s had on the night of Jodie’s accident, and he knew that it would never be the same again. Not with an orphaned baby to consider, along with the hazel-eyed woman who was so fiercely protective of him.
* * *
As she looked in the window of a small grocer’s shop called Bovey’s, Andrina was amazed to see an assortment of cheeses that would have put a larger food store to shame. Inside she could see an elderly man in a spotless white apron serving a customer with butter from a big wooden tub. There was a large basket of free-range eggs on the counter beside him and the shelves behind were stocked with various jars of home-made preserves.
It was as if everything was conspiring to make her aware of the wholesomeness of the place, she thought wryly.
‘Old Bovey’s butter melts in the mouth,’ a voice said from beside her, and when she turned an elderly man leaning on a stick was observing her with twinkly grey eyes.
‘Does it really?’ she said in a voice that matched her thoughts.
He’d gone over to the pram and was looking down at the baby as he said, ‘I’m Frank Fairley and this, I take it, is young Jonathan’s offspring. I can remember his father when he was this small.’
‘Yes, this is Jonathan junior,’ she told him, without elaboration.
The old man shook his head. ‘It’s been a sad affair all round. And now it’s up to you and Dr Curtis, I take it.’
‘Yes, something like that,’ she said, anxious to be on her way.
‘There’s a lot of folk here who knew ’em both,’ he said, ‘and will do what they can to help. Just a matter of asking, that’s all.’
Tears weren’t far away again as Andrina listened to him. In those first weeks after she’d taken Jonathan home she would have given anything to hear someone say that. She’d never felt so alone in her life, and she was realising that if she’d been in this place during that time, it would have been different.
But now everything had changed. She’d met Drew and she wished that she knew what was really going on in his mind. What his plans and his needs were.
It was clear to see that he loved children. Anyone seeing him with Jonathan would know that. But why hadn’t he got any of his own? He would be seen as a catch in any woman’s book, yet that didn’t appear to have taken him to the altar. From what she knew of him so far, he was as solitary as herself.
The old man touched his cap and tapped his way along the street towards the post office while Andrina followed at a slower pace. When she got
there the postmistress was outside on the pavement, putting an advertisement into the big glass case on the wall nearby. She gave a shy smile into the pram, then shook her head.
‘Poor wee mite, and what a lot of responsibility for you and the doctor,’ she said. ‘But it will be nice to see him grow up among us.’
Andrina was left with the feeling that Marion had indeed been busy.
Set back from the pavement at the end of the village was the local pub, the Grouse, and as it was midday Andrina wasn’t surprised to see that it was the busiest place she’d seen yet, with customers spilling out onto the wooden tables and chairs outside.
It was all very idyllic on a warm summer morning, but what would it be like in winter? she wondered with her glance on the peaks towering above. Those green slopes would be bleak, with snow in the gullies. How would Drew describe his paradise in those months of the year?
If she became a GP in the practice she would have to drive up there to visit outlying patients. She was a town person, used to being where there was transport and gritted roads in bad weather.
You’re just making excuses, she told herself, and Drew will know it if you start going along those lines. She was passing the only garage that the place seemed to possess, and a man on the forecourt in country tweeds was observing her curiously.
He came across, blocking her path, and asked, ‘Can this be the sprog that my friend Drew has taken under his wing? You fit the description of the stand-in mother.’
And what sort of a description was that? Andrina wondered. A tall brunette with a washed-out appearance? Yet she felt that his glance was on her rather than on the baby. He was tall and gangling with russet hair and freckles, and from the sound of it he was a friend of Drew.
‘Yes, this is Drew’s nephew,’ she said quietly, ‘and you are?’
‘Eamon Dawlish. Owner of the garage. I’ve known Drew for a long time. He’s a great guy, especially with waifs and strays.’
‘Is that so?’ she said stiffly. ‘Maybe I should point out that this baby is not a waif and I have not strayed here. I was invited.’
The Doctors’ Baby Bond Page 3
