He hoped that his friend wasn’t treating what was going on between Andrina and himself as a quick flirtation. Eamon would have him to answer to if he was and he would have to convince him that he was a fit person to take care of Jonathan on a permanent basis.
Because his doubts about that had already surfaced. But he kept telling himself that he need have no worries on that score as he would be there on the sidelines all the time and if either of them put a foot wrong…
He groaned inwardly. What was he thinking of? If Andrina heard that, she would conclude that he was blaming her for leaving Jonathan as she had, when he knew full well it had to be a matter of life and death for her to have done such a thing. And as for the rest of it, she loved the baby too much to ever let a guy like Eamon near him unless she was sure of his worth.
But she had been in Eamon’s arms, and he knew from past experience that she didn’t spread her favours around lightly.
When they stopped outside the grocer’s the shop was shut but the lights were still on, and when Drew tapped on the door the man himself came to open it.
‘We’ve brought Iris home from the town centre,’ Drew told him. ‘She’s had a stressful afternoon and is ready for a cup of tea.’
‘Is that so?’ he grunted. ‘She can make me one while she’s at it.’
‘So much for hoping he would take the hint,’ Andrina said as they drove off. ‘Maybe you’re right. That Iris would be better with less bossing around from her husband.’
Andrina was shivering when she got out of the car and Drew said, ‘You’re suffering from delayed shock. Go straight to bed and I’ll bring you some hot, sweet tea up once I’ve got Jonathan settled.’
She shook her head. Her glance was on the baby in his arms.
‘I can’t bear to let him out of my sight.’
He nodded.
‘I know. But do as I say and I’ll bring him up to you. He can snuggle down beside you.’
‘All right,’ she agreed wearily as they went inside, but with her foot on the bottom stair she turned, ‘I really am sorry for what I did.’
He was moving towards the kitchen to put the kettle on and didn’t register the pleading in her eyes.
‘Forget it,’ he said briskly. ‘You weren’t to know that Iris Bovey is having behaviour problems. The incident is over. No harm done.’
No harm done! she thought grimly. Was he kidding? She could tell a mile off that he wasn’t feeling as relaxed about it as he would have her believe. It would be all the more reason to keep her on the edge of things.
Drew took her the drink and brought the baby to her, as he’d promised, and when he looked in on them later they were both asleep, with Andrina holding him close.
What could he do to end the day on a brighter note? he wondered. If the local garden centre was still open he could get a tree and ornaments and have it up by the time she woke up.
He got there with just minutes to spare, made his purchase and then it was back home and all systems go. When Andrina came down later, it was there in all its brightness. A sign of the fast-approaching season. A large spruce decorated with gold and silver balls and coloured lights, emblazoning a corner of the farmhouse’s spacious sitting room on this their first Christmas together. Whether it would also be their last he had yet to find out, but for the moment he was putting the thought to the back of his mind.
He was seated by the fire, flipping through a medical journal, when she appeared huddled inside a warm robe. When he looked up he saw tears and was on his feet in an instant.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing,’ she sobbed. ‘I was remembering the awful feeling inside me when we didn’t know what had happened to Jonathan.’
He held out his arms.
‘Come here,’ he said softly, and she obeyed.
As he cradled her to him he murmured, ‘I know what you mean. But he’s here with us where he belongs, snug and safe in his cot. So cheer up and tell me if you like the tree.’
A smile was replacing the tears as she looked up at him.
‘Yes, of course I do. It’s lovely. Where did you manage to get it at this time of night?’
‘Just caught the garden centre before they closed. Are you ready for something to eat? You must be famished.’
She nodded but didn’t move out of his arms and he said gently, ‘Should we be doing this under the circumstances? I don’t want you to think that the moment I touch you I’m ready to take it from there. I think that we both know there is a reason why I shouldn’t.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said stiffly, and this time she took the hint and moved out of his hold. ‘I rely on you too much.’
Drew gave a twisted smile.
‘Maybe, but it won’t always be like that,’ he reminded her, with Eamon in mind.
‘It won’t have to be, will it?’ she said, misunderstanding completely, and moved towards the kitchen.
* * *
Sunday was a much more tranquil day than Saturday had been. Marion came round in the afternoon and said she’d been told they’d been treating the injured at an accident in the town the day before and wanted to know all about it.
‘Ask Drew,’ Andrina said. ‘I still can’t bear to think about it.’
‘Why? Was it so bad?’ she asked.
‘It was bad enough. We were told afterwards that the brakes of the van had failed. It came careering onto the pavement and smashed through a shop window. The fire services had to cut the driver free, and when Drew rang last night to enquire about him he was told that he was in Intensive Care with chest injuries and multiple fractures. The other seriously injured person was an elderly man who was standing in the shop near the window. The van hit him full on and he suffered a cardiac arrest.’
‘Yes, but you’ll have seen that kind of thing before surely?’
‘I have. The reason I don’t want to look back on it is because we lost Jonathan.’
Marion’s mouth had gone slack with amazement.
‘Lost him!’ she said incredulously. ‘How?’
‘Andrina asked Iris Bovey to look after him while she went to help the man, and when we’d done our bit and went to get him, both he and Iris had gone.’
‘Gone where?’
‘Exactly. That is what we didn’t know.’
‘Oh, dear, and because Iris hasn’t been herself lately, you thought the worst?’
‘Something like that, but it turned out that she’d taken him into a nearby park because of all the noise and commotion at the crash scene. So all was well that ended well,’ he said equably. Observing his expression, Andrina wondered if that was really how he saw it in the cold light of day.
‘You poor things,’ Marion said sympathetically. ‘You must have been frantic.’
‘Yes, we were,’ he said in the same measured tone. ‘It was one of those moments when parenting and doctoring clashed, but Andrina found him, thank goodness, and we managed to convince Iris that she’d done the right thing, so she was none the wiser regarding the panic she’d caused. She’s a nice woman who’s short of a bit of tender loving care.’
‘And so with that traumatic incident in the past, what are you planning for the baby’s first Christmas?’ the elderly receptionist asked.
‘I thought we’d have a party on Christmas Eve,’ Drew said before Andrina could reply. ‘Would you be free to come, Marion? It would be nice to have Jonathan’s godparents there.’
‘Yes. I’m free on Christmas Eve.’ She beamed. ‘What about Eamon?’
‘He hasn’t been asked yet but I’m sure there won’t be a problem,’ he said smoothly, telling himself he must be crazy. Stage-managing the event so that Andrina could be with Eamon. Throwing them together when he was wishing his friend miles away.
Andrina didn’t comment. The last thing she wanted was a house full of people on Christmas Eve. She wanted it to be just the three of them as they hung up a Christmas stocking for Jonathan and spread their presents beneath the tree, but maybe Dr
ew was thinking there was safety in numbers.
She suspected that he was inviting Eamon so that she wouldn’t feel left out. Drew didn’t know that the less she saw of the garage owner, the better.
* * *
In the week before Christmas they decided that they would do any future festive shopping separately after that disastrous first attempt, with Andrina doing the food shopping one evening and Drew taking advantage of late-night opening in town to do the rest.
Drew had known for weeks what he would like to give Andrina, a ring of the kind that would tell the world they belonged together, but the Eamon episode had put paid to that and he was having to have a rethink.
On Andrina’s part, one afternoon when Drew was out on calls she’d taken Jonathan with her to a professional photographer to have a studio portrait taken of them to give to him on Christmas morning. She thought ruefully as she posed for it with the baby on her knee that in time to come it would be something to remember her by…should he want to.
* * *
In those last few days before Christmas the thing that both children and adults always hoped might happen did come to pass. It began to snow. Not just a fine white sprinkling but heavy flakes that stuck purposefully wherever they fell.
It came in the evening out of a leaden sky, and as they watched it fall onto the trees and lawns at the front of the house Drew said whimsically, ‘It might look like winter wonderland out there, but if it keeps it up we’re going to have trouble visiting patients in the more remote areas.’
Jonathan had just had his bath and was wrapped in a big towel as Andrina held him up to see the swirling white flakes.
‘Just wait until you and I are out there, making a snowman,’ he said to the baby, and Andrina winced. There’d been no mention of her at all.
The snow fell steadily through the early hours of the night and when she looked out of her bedroom window the next morning it was sparkling like diamonds beneath a winter sun.
She caught her breath. It was a beautiful sight and so easy to forget that it had its down side when roads were blocked and blizzards whistled across the moors above the village.
When he’d eaten Drew went out to clear the drive so that they could get to Monday morning surgery, and while he was out there she dressed Jonathan in his warmest clothes and thought about the day ahead.
Although the flu outbreak had slackened off there were still lots of people with coughs and colds coming to the surgery because remedies from the chemist weren’t helping and antibiotics were needed.
They’d been called out to one or two cases of hypothermia among the elderly during the past week, and as the voice of the morning weather forecaster butted into her thoughts she wondered what sort of a day it was going to be…
It seemed that there was going to be more heavy snow, but this time not a still white carpet to admire. Gale-force winds were being forecast during the next twenty-four hours, which would cause blizzard conditions in exposed areas, and she thought that maybe the people around the Pennines were going to have to pay a price for a white Christmas.
James was off sick with a gastric bug and so she was going to take the late surgery while Drew did the house calls, and when they dropped Jonathan off at the nursery they explained to Serena that one of them would pick him up at the first opportunity.
‘Fine,’ she said and as they turned to go, ‘Are you going to the hunt ball, by any chance? I’m selling tickets.’
‘Yes. I think so,’ Drew told her. ‘Save me a couple, will you?’
‘It’s the top social event in the area, and takes place on New Year’s Eve,’ he said as they went out to their cars.
Andrina nodded. She recalled Tania mentioning it when she’d barged into the farm that first time, using it as an excuse to talk to Drew. Since then she’d never given it a thought, but it would seem that someone else had.
‘If I go, it will be with Eamon,’ she said smoothly, cringing at the idea that Drew might think she was expecting him to take her. As the lie hung between them she saw that he was nodding as if he wasn’t surprised.
He had some cheek, she thought angrily. All right, she’d lied, but what if she had? He was making it just a bit too obvious that he was happy to be unloading her onto his friend.
And what was she going to do now? Ask Eamon to take her to the most salubrious occasion of the calendar year, like some forgotten Cinderella, when she’d been at such pains to fight him off? Why couldn’t she have just said that she wasn’t going?
There was a hospital report on her desk when she got to the surgery. It was about the woman that she’d suspected might have ovarian cancer and her face was sombre as she picked it up. But as she began to read her brow cleared. The problem had been a cyst, not a tumour, and it wasn’t malignant. Ovarian cysts usually weren’t, but there was always the chance that one might be.
When she’d finished reading the report she sat back for a moment. After that unsettling conversation at the nursery she’d needed some brightness to start off the day and that had been it.
If she went to the ball she would have to do some clothes shopping, she thought as the day wore on. There was no way the flame silk dress was going to put in another appearance. That was if Eamon was prepared to be picked up and put down when it suited her.
She was still cringing at the thought of what she’d done and had decided that she would ask the favour of him over the phone. It would be easier that way. He wouldn’t be able to see the mortification on her face.
But to her surprise and dismay he appeared when she was having a quick bite in her room before afternoon surgery.
‘Drew around?’ he asked casually.
She shook her head.
‘No. He’s out on his calls.’
‘Any joy between the two of you?’ he asked in the same easy tone.
‘Why do you ask?’
‘Well, if he still hasn’t come up to scratch, how do you fancy tripping the light fantastic with me at the hunt ball.’
‘Yes,’ she said immediately, unable to believe her luck.
He smiled.
‘Oops! That was fast. Do I take it that you’ve had a change of heart?’
She shook her head again.
‘No. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. Drew has bought two tickets but I don’t know for certain who he’s taking, so I either stay at home or accept your kind invitation.’
‘So I’m still second best, am I?’
‘I’m afraid so. If you want to take back the offer, I’ll understand.’
‘Naw, it stays. I’ll get the tickets, then.’ Before she could say anything further, he loped off and left her to finish her lunch in peace.
As the afternoon wore on the weather worsened. Was this what old Eli had forecast? she wondered with an uneasy feeling. The kind of conditions that brought the power lines down and those living on the tops were snowed in? It was only a couple of hours since all had been white, still and sparkling.
Where was Drew? she wondered. Hopefully he was on his way back to the practice. He knew the roads and lanes like the back of his hand. If anyone was unlikely to get lost in a snowstorm it was he, but she was anxious to see him back nevertheless.
Sometimes they brought just one car to the surgery and on other occasions, if there was a chance that Andrina might be needed to do some visits, they brought both. Today, with James being absent, they’d brought them both, in case an emergency came up.
In the middle of afternoon surgery she rang Drew’s mobile and was relieved when he answered immediately.
‘I’m running a bit late,’ he said. ‘Driving conditions are not good. The roads are treacherous. Are there many for the late surgery?’
‘No,’ she told him. ‘I think the weather is keeping them away. As soon as I’ve seen those who are here, I’m going to pick Jonathan up and go home.’
‘Yes, do,’ he agreed. ‘I’ll call at the practice to clear away before I come back to the farm. Any news on James? Do
you think I should go and check him over?’
‘It’s up to you, but do, please, be careful. Don’t get bogged down in a drift on any of those lonely tracks. From what I’ve been told, the Snake Pass gets blocked very quickly, and locally the narrow lanes become undrivable even faster.’
‘I’ll remember that,’ he said meekly. ‘I have been out in bad weather before, you know.’ She could tell that he was smiling.
It was as the last patient was leaving and the staff were anxious to do likewise that a call came through and it was Marion who answered it.
‘It’s Eli Thompson from up by the reservoirs,’ she said. ‘He’s coughing and gasping. Sounds as if he’s ready to draw his last breath. He’s asking for Dr Curtis to go and visit him. Shall I see if I can get him on his mobile?’
Andrina hesitated. In another hour the call would have been transferred to the call-out service that covered evenings and weekends, but at this time of the afternoon the responsibility was theirs.
‘Yes, try him,’ she said. ‘I spoke to him earlier and he said he was on his way back, but I don’t know exactly where he was.’
‘No answer,’ Marion reported seconds later.
Andrina nodded. ‘He’ll be out of reach of the signal somewhere. I’ll have to go.’
‘It’s time Eli was in care, but try telling him.’ Marion said. ‘Can’t we just send for an ambulance? I don’t like to think of you driving along that dark road.’
‘We can’t send for an ambulance until I’ve seen him,’ she said. ‘I’ll take oxygen with me and some medication for his chest, as there is no way he’ll be able to get to a chemist in this and they won’t want to come out to deliver a prescription either in these conditions.’
As she buttoned up her coat and reached for her bag she was thinking that it was only minutes since he’d been in her thoughts and now she was about to meet the elderly Romeo.
CHAPTER NINE
ON HIS way back to the practice Drew called at the Brewsters’ house. He hadn’t seen Tim in the last few days and as his GP felt that he owed him a visit.
The Doctors’ Baby Bond Page 13
