The Doctors’ Baby Bond

by Abigail Gordon

  He smiled back at her, unabashed.

  ‘Sure thing. Remember, if you need any car repairs while you’re here, this is the place to come.’

  ‘Thanks. I’ll bear that in mind,’ she told him, and went on her way feeling somewhat ruffled.

  There would be no long silences and infrequent rings of the doorbell in this place, she thought as she made her way back to the farm. There mightn’t be much privacy either. But she’d had her fill of long hard slogs at the hospital and then falling into bed to be ready to drag herself out of it the next morning. And now that Jonathan was on the scene, coping with that sort of a job would be even harder.

  She’d given him his lunchtime bottle, found some cheese in the fridge to make herself a sandwich, and was seated on a bench in the garden with the baby in her arms when Drew came striding up the path in the middle of the afternoon.

  When he was level Andrina got to her feet.

  ‘Have you eaten?’

  ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘Have you?’

  ‘Mmm.’

  ‘How was your tour of the village?’

  ‘A mixture of things.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘Impressive, illuminating, irritating.’

  ‘Oh, did someone say something to upset you?’

  ‘Everyone was lovely…’

  ‘Except?’

  ‘The man who owns the garage came across and was rather patronising.’

  Drew groaned. ‘That would be Eamon. What did he say?’

  ‘Just that you were into waifs and strays.’

  ‘He’s a good man but he can be a clown sometimes. Thinks he’s God’s gift to the female sex, for one thing.’

  She ignored that.

  ‘Is that how you see us?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘As charity cases?’

  ‘No. Of course not!’ he said abruptly. ‘You’ve got plenty of get up and go of your own without needing anyone’s charity. What do I have to do to convince you that I have no hidden agenda?’

  ‘I’m sorry for being so prickly,’ she said contritely. ‘Do, please, forgive me. It’s just that I’m very sensitive about anything concerning Jonathan and me. Apart from having my feathers ruffled by your friend, everything else is lovely. I can understand why you love this place so much. But at the risk of being seen to be difficult again, what is it like in winter? The thought of visiting patients amongst the peaks in blizzards is a bit nerve-racking.’

  ‘You’d cope,’ he said confidently. ‘And if there was any danger, I would never put you at risk in any way.’

  His face had been sober ever since she’d mentioned Eamon, but it was lightening as he said, ‘So you are considering my suggestion, then?’

  ‘It was just a passing thought. And in any case, you haven’t checked me out yet.’

  ‘Let’s discuss it tonight. You can tell me all about yourself and I’ll tell you what will be involved.’

  ‘All right,’ she agreed, ‘but you have to give me time, Drew.’

  ‘Of course,’ he agreed, and wanted to add, But don’t take too long. I want you both under my roof. But he thought better of it. If he appeared too eager she would start having doubts about his motives again.

  Reassured by his answer, she smiled, and as always it transformed her face, made the pale skin covering fine bone structure glow and the eyes that had been wary and unwelcoming when he’d first appeared on the scene luminous.

  ‘I have the afternoon surgery to do yet,’ he said, ‘but once that is over the rest of the day is ours.’

  ‘I’ll start the meal if you like,’ she offered. ‘So that it will be ready when you come home.’

  ‘That would be great. There are steaks in the fridge and fresh vegetables and ice cream for afterwards. If that’s all right with you.’

  ‘Yes, it will be fine. I bought a bottle of wine in the village so we’ll open that, shall we?’

  ‘Yes, why not?’ he agreed. He looked down at the baby in her arms. ‘And what about our child. Has he been good?’

  ‘Yes, not a murmur. I think that you’re both in a conspiracy to make me stay.’

  Her colour had risen. Our child, he’d said. She knew it was only a figure of speech, but it made her feel all trembly inside. One day he would say that to some lucky woman and mean it in the true sense.

  * * *

  That evening, after Jonathan had been settled, they talked about all sorts of things but mainly about the job at the practice. Drew asked questions and was impressed with Andrina’s answers.

  Finally he said, ‘The fact that you’ve done GP training is ideal, and that you seem to have worked on most of the wards in the hospital where you were employed is also a great advantage. If you came to live here you would have a lot of benefits. A more relaxed lifestyle in the countryside, a job that, though demanding, wouldn’t be quite so stressful as the one you’d left, and someone to share the responsibility of looking after Jonathan.

  ‘Obviously we would both be free agents in our personal lives and if either of us ever wanted to settle down with someone we met, we would have to have a rethink.’

  He was observing her questioningly. ‘I’m taking it that there isn’t anyone in your life at the moment or you would have said so.’

  ‘That’s correct,’ she informed him, feeling that the admission made her appear even more unprepossessing.

  ‘During these first few months of his life I think Jonathan needs us both,’ he continued, without any reference to what she’d just said. ‘What do you say, Andrina?’

  ‘What I have to say is this,’ she said levelly. ‘Do you really want me as part of the practice or is it the waifs and strays thing? Are you going to find me a niche so that you can have Jonathan here?’

  ‘Nothing of the kind. You joining the practice would be the ideal solution. You would be independent of me, for one thing. It’s quite clear that you don’t like taking favours from anyone.

  ‘I think I should point out that the surgery is one of the focal points of the village. The other being the Grouse.’ He laughed. ‘They go in there to drink and then come across to us to have their livers checked.’

  He became serious again. ‘So is it a deal, Andrina? Are we going to team up?’

  ‘I think so,’ she told him, ‘but I’ve only been here a day. Let me sleep on it.’

  She was well aware that he was offering her the solution to all her problems, yet would it create a new set that would be even harder to deal with? She wished she knew.

  But the long-term future was something she could face up to when the time came. It was the present that had been her nightmare. Now there was light at the end of the tunnel. She was being offered the position of a country GP. Drew was impressed with her track record, and if she agreed to his proposal, Jonathan was going to be brought up in the place where his father and uncle had spent their youth.

  * * *

  Over breakfast the next morning she told him, ‘I’ve made a decision, Drew. I’m going to accept your offer, as long as I’m allowed to share household expenses with you, and you tell me straight if ever you want to end the arrangement for any reason. I promise to do the same.’

  He smiled his delight across the table.

  ‘Agreed,’ he said. ‘I’ll set up a contract about your employment at the surgery, and start making one of the small bedrooms into a nursery for Jonathan. What will you do about your place?’

  ‘Put it up for sale. Box-like though they are, there’s a big demand for apartments.’

  CHAPTER THREE

  THE week that followed was hectic, with Andrina taking Jonathan back to Gloucestershire with her while she sorted out her affairs at that end and Drew working hard on the nursery.

  She sent in her resignation to the hospital and thought a few times that it was perhaps as well that she was busy, otherwise she might have been wondering if she was doing the right thing by taking what seemed like the easy way out.

  But there was another reason
for what she was doing, and it concerned Drew himself. She was now ready to believe him when he said that his only desire was to help, and it wasn’t just because he was offering her a place in his home and his practice. Drew was the only man she’d been really aware of in a long time and she wanted to get to know him better.

  It was an amazing thing that someone like him didn’t appear to be in any kind of relationship. And apart from his dead brother, he hadn’t mentioned any other family, so it would seem that he was, like her, pretty much on his own.

  The assumption that Drew had no one else in his life lasted until the Sunday night at the end of a busy week. Andrina and the baby had now moved in with him, and in the nursery all that remained to be done was to hang blue curtains with teddy bears on them at the windows.

  ‘This room is lovely,’ she told Drew. ‘The nursery at my place was a corner of the lounge.’

  He grinned across at her, pleased that she was happy, and said, ‘Nothing but the best for Jonathan, Andrina.’

  She nodded, thinking that he was so easy about everything, so reasonable. He would make a wonderful father for children of his own one day. For a crazy moment she wondered what it would be like if Jonathan was theirs. Life would be so much simpler if they weren’t just stand-in parents.

  ‘Anyone at home?’ a voice called up the stairs at that moment, and for the first time since she’d met him she saw Drew with a grimace on his face. But it was only for a moment as he went onto the landing and called down to the person below. ‘Tania! What are you doing here?’

  As a head of glossy dark hair appeared over the bannister Andrina felt herself tensing. She hadn’t a clue who the visitor was but she sensed that she meant something to Drew.

  The body that went with the head became visible and she noted that it wasn’t short on curves. But if she was surprised at the interruption, Tania was dumbstruck as she took in the blue and white nursery. Then her gaze swivelled to Andrina and it was as if a chill wind had suddenly sprung up.

  ‘What on earth is going on?’ she asked Drew, who was carrying on hanging the curtains. ‘Why do you need a nursery?’

  At that moment she had her answer. Jonathan, who’d been asleep downstairs, had woken up and was exercising his lungs.

  ‘A baby!’ she exclaimed. ‘You’ve got a baby in the house.’ She turned to Andrina. ‘Whose is it? Yours?’

  ‘Yes, in a manner of speaking,’ she said coolly. ‘Although his birth mother was Jodie Stewart.’

  A smile spread over a face that was a mixture of petulance and dark allure.

  ‘And where is she?’

  ‘Jodie is dead, Tania,’ Drew said in a low voice.

  ‘Oh! Good grief! How? What happened?’

  ‘She was killed in a car crash.’

  ‘Really! When?’

  ‘Just over a month ago.’

  ‘Hmm. Right.’

  She wasn’t exactly devastated, Andrina thought, and wasn’t surprised when Drew changed the subject.

  ‘How have you enjoyed your holiday?’ he asked.

  ‘It was fabulous,’ she gushed. ‘I went with a great crowd, but it wasn’t the same without you. See, that’s how much I missed you.’ She held out her left hand and wiggled her fingers under his nose.

  ‘Take the ring off, Tania,’ he said coldly. ‘We’ve gone into all that. It’s over.’

  She pouted at him with full red lips.

  ‘You can’t forgive me, can you? In spite of all the times I’ve said I’m sorry.’

  ‘No, I can’t, but this isn’t the place to be arguing. I’m sure Andrina doesn’t want to hear us…and, by the way, she and the baby are going to be living here in future.’

  ‘What? Why, for goodness’ sake?’

  ‘Because little Jonathan needs someone to feed him, bath him and change his nappies. But you wouldn’t know about those sorts of things, would you?’

  ‘You’re doing this out of spite, aren’t you?’ she snarled.

  ‘No,’ he told her with his calm intact. ‘I’m doing it to fulfil a need, his and mine, and now, if you don’t mind, we have things to do.’

  ‘My luggage is downstairs,’ she told him. ‘I paid off the taxi. Are you going to run me home?’

  ‘Yes, if you want me to, but I will be coming straight back.’

  ‘So you’re not going to call in to see my parents.’

  ‘No, I’m not.’ He turned to Andrina. ‘I won’t be long, and when I get back I’ll give Jonathan his bottle.’

  * * *

  ‘Whew!’ Andrina breathed when they’d gone. So much for the good doctor having no women in his life. Who was the overpowering Tania? Someone who thought she had a claim to him, it would seem, though Drew hadn’t fallen over himself to be friendly. But he had taken her home and, though he’d told her he wasn’t stopping, it appeared that he was on visiting terms with her parents.

  And the ring business. What had that been about? From where she’d been standing, she couldn’t see what sort of a ring it was, but Drew had understood what the gesture meant.

  He was back within minutes and came upstairs with Jonathan in his arms. Andrina knew immediately that he wasn’t going to disclose anything about the unexpected visitor and she certainly wasn’t going to ask. He didn’t owe her any explanations. She was there for one reason only—because of Jonathan.

  * * *

  They’d arranged that Andrina would start at the practice in a week’s time, to give her the chance to get settled in at the farm first, and as the days went by she found herself slotting into village life with a new zest.

  It was heaven to be away from the incessant grind of traffic and the disturbances created by people in other apartments. Also, the air was like wine, especially first thing in the morning.

  She was enjoying having a neighbouring farmer deliver full cream milk to the doorstep each day, instead of having to buy it in plastic containers from a supermarket shelf.

  Drew was easy to live with. He gave her space and yet was there the moment she needed his help. And she imagined that Jonathan didn’t cry as much since they’d moved. Maybe he sensed that she was calmer.

  There were some awkward moments in those first few days, which was to be expected. They came mostly in the evenings when Jonathan was asleep and the chores of the day were done. It was then that she realised how little she and Drew knew about each other.

  They were strangers and moving in with someone she barely knew would have been the last thing she’d have considered in normal circumstances. But the situation wasn’t normal—anything but. It had taken a parentless baby to make her do what she’d done, and only time would tell if it was a mistake.

  After the first couple of evenings spent making polite conversation, Drew said, ‘I’m going to carry on with what I used to do before you came, unless you have some plans of your own.’

  Andrina shook her head. She’d no urge to venture into the night life of the village which was mostly centred around the Grouse, but had thought that might be where Drew was intending making for.

  When he appeared moments later in old dungarees and a hard hat, she found herself laughing.

  ‘What’s the joke?’ he asked.

  ‘I was expecting you to be off to the pub.’

  He smiled back. ‘No such thing. I’m going to knock down the wall between what was the old dairy and the pantry in the derelict half of the house. I’ll be well away from Jonathan’s room so shouldn’t disturb him.’

  When he’d gone Andrina sat deep in thought. There’d been no mention of Tania since that night when she’d come calling, and she couldn’t help but be curious. She must live nearby if the length of time it had taken him to drive her home was anything to go by. And yet they’d seen nothing of her since, but that didn’t take away the feeling that she hadn’t seen the last of her. Remembering her dark beauty made Andrina feel positively anaemic.

  On very short acquaintance she would class Tania as superficial, and there was nothing like that about
Drew. He was the most uncomplicated, unselfish man she’d ever met.

  She had a feeling that he was finding her hard going, which was understandable if he mixed with women like Tania, and tonight it would seem that he couldn’t stick another evening of trivialities and had used the renovations as an escape.

  Perhaps he was already regretting his impulsive offers of a home and a place in the practice, realising that he was lumbered with her for the foreseeable future and was wishing he wasn’t.

  There was nothing like that in his attitude towards his nephew, though. He adored him. He went straight to wherever the baby was when he came in at the end of the day and would bathe him, feed him and wind him with an expertise that made Andrina feel clumsy and fumbling.

  ‘Why didn’t you offer to just have Jonathan?’ she asked when he came in at suppertime.

  He was hot, grimy…and puzzled by the question.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You didn’t have to have me as part of the package. You could have hired a nanny.’

  ‘What has brought this on?’ he asked as he peeled off the dusty dungarees. ‘Are you not happy here?’

  ‘Yes, of course I am. Everything is wonderful. But, like I say, you didn’t have to take me under your wing as well as the baby.’

  ‘Is all this because you want out?’ he said with a frown. ‘That now I’m on the scene you’d like to bow out gracefully? Do you feel that you’ve done your bit?’

  Andrina could feel her cheeks burning. She’d said what she had because she sensed that she was there on sufferance due to his generosity of spirit, and she didn’t want charity.

  ‘You’ve got it all wrong,’ she said quietly. ‘I asked you the question because I feel that you find me a liability. That I’m boring and under your feet.’

  He smiled through the grime.

  ‘Is all this because I went to do some work outside? Because if it is, my thoughts must have been similar to yours. I felt that you must be wishing you hadn’t come. That you were bored. And if you had been thinking along the lines, I wouldn’t have blamed you. We’re a crazy pair, aren’t we?’

  ‘Yes,’ she agreed, her face softening. ‘Maybe in future we shouldn’t keep our thoughts so much to ourselves.’