Once Upon a Christmas Night...

by Annie Claydon

  ‘Difficult to say. Would you like to see the house?’

  ‘Why not?’

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE HOUSE WAS full of large, chilly rooms that could have been light if it weren’t for the heavy drapes at the windows and the dark wood panelling everywhere. Jess smiled politely and tried to see the best in it all.

  ‘What’s through here?’ She pointed to the door at the end of the corridor that led from the top of the stairs. If she could find some corner of this house that she could genuinely own up to liking, she was determined to do so.

  ‘It’s the inside of the old turret. I used to play in there when I was a kid.’ He strode forward, opening the door. ‘No one’s been in here for a while.’

  The room was circular, with tall narrow windows that curved to a point at the top and a complex, many-angled ceiling above their heads. Dust sheets covered what looked like seating and occasional tables.

  ‘This is great, Greg.’ This time she could give unqualified praise.

  ‘You like it? It’s not very practical.’

  ‘It’s fun, though.’

  ‘Yeah, it’s definitely fun. I used to fight my way up and down those stairs quite regularly when I was a kid.’ He nodded towards the stone stairway, which followed the curve of the wall down to the ground floor.

  ‘Your very own medieval castle.’ Complete with a few ghosts from the past, if the memories flickering in Greg’s eyes were anything to go by.

  ‘Yeah.’ He was looking around, seeing things she couldn’t. ‘We had a film crew here once. It was just a B movie and I don’t think they set much store by historical accuracy but I loved it. I made my mother bring me here every day, just to watch.’ He grinned proudly. ‘I had a bit part.’

  ‘Really? Who did you play?’

  ‘A nameless, grubby urchin. Didn’t get any lines, but I gave it my all.’

  ‘I’m sure you did. So what’s the film?’

  ‘My mother has a copy. I dare say if you ask her, she’ll let you savour every moment of my time on the silver screen in glorious slow-mo.’ He went to turn but something stopped him. The ghosts weren’t done with him yet, and he seemed caught, unable to move, his breath misting white in the chill of the air.

  ‘Those memories are important.’

  ‘They’re… ’ He was making a visible effort to resist some beguiling force, but Jess couldn’t tell what, and it was difficult to imagine what Greg could want that he didn’t already have. His attention was suddenly focussed back onto her. ‘It’s cold in here. You’re shivering.’

  So do something about it. Hold me. Keep me warm. ‘I should have packed a warmer sweater.’

  ‘I have a few here.’ He turned abruptly. ‘Come and pick one out.’

  His sweater didn’t fit, but it was warm, and Jess could fold the cuffs so that her hands didn’t disappear completely. And it smelled of him. Warm and sexy, and not really hers. She’d packed her best jeans, on the off chance she might need them, and Greg produced a pair of wellingtons along with a pair of thick woollen socks from the cloakroom.

  ‘Are you sure it’s okay for me to turn up at your mother’s looking like this?’

  ‘I think you look rather fetching. Red suits you.’ Greg’s smile would have made her feel fabulous, even if she’d been wearing rags. ‘Anyway, you wouldn’t want to make me feel underdressed, would you?’

  The idea was faintly ludicrous. His jeans were a shade of something between indigo and black, which you generally didn’t find on the high street. His sweater wasn’t new, but it was soft, thick cashmere, like the one he’d lent her. Coupled with those dark good looks, he was quality from head to toe and would have fitted in anywhere.

  He caught his car keys up from the hall table. ‘I’ll get your coat from the car.’

  They tramped across the fields, keeping up a brisk pace against the cold. Jess was glad of the woollen scarf and gloves that Greg had produced from the cloakroom, which was beginning to take on the nature of a magician’s cubby hole, from which it was possible to conjure up all manner of useful things that appeared to belong to no one in particular.

  ‘That’s where we’re headed.’ He pointed towards a house, standing on the outskirts of the village.

  ‘It looks lovely.’ Jess didn’t have to search for something nice to say this time. The yellow-brick, rambling farmhouse was everything that Greg’s father’s house wasn’t. Blending in with the trees and evergreen bushes that surrounded it, as if it had just grown there instead of having been brutally hewn from the countryside. ‘This was your real home, then.’

  ‘Yeah.’ His pace seemed to quicken, the nearer they got. As if he was leaving some burden behind. ‘Where did you grow up?’

  Jess smiled. ‘Nowhere so grand.’

  He twisted the corners of his mouth down. ‘This isn’t so very grand, is it?’

  ‘It is quite grand. We didn’t have our own medieval tower at home.’

  ‘It’s only mock-medieval—’ He broke off, grinning. ‘Yeah, I suppose the tower’s not your average home extension. But stop changing the subject. I’ve already spilled the beans.’

  Maybe he had. Maybe he’d just told her what he wanted her to know and kept the rest back. ‘Not much to know. Just me and my mum. We had a little house in South London.’

  He nodded. ‘No brothers or sisters?’

  ‘No. My father left before I was born.’ Jess shrugged. ‘I don’t miss him. I can’t, I didn’t know him.’

  ‘Can’t you miss things that you didn’t have?’

  ‘I’m not sure there were any.’ She answered too quickly. Maybe even a bit defensively.

  He laughed. ‘May I have your autograph?’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I’ve never met anyone who’s had everything they ever wanted before.’

  Jess nudged her shoulder against his arm. ‘Don’t be dense, Greg. There’s not much point in wanting things you’re never going to have.’

  ‘No. But sometimes you have to acknowledge them.’

  ‘Because?’

  ‘Because you can’t start to work on what you need, unless you acknowledge what’s missing.’

  Maybe. She’d need to think about that. ‘I guess I miss knowing about him. Silly things, like whether my eyes are the same colour as his. Whether there’s anything in his medical history that I should be watching out for.’

  He chuckled. ‘Always good to know. Have you any idea where he is now?’

  ‘In a manner of speaking. He was killed in a car accident fifteen years ago. Someone came to tell Mum.’ Jess remembered that day well enough. The stranger who’d knocked on their door, and who her mother had taken into the kitchen to talk with privately. The silence in the house, and then the sudden resumption of normal life, as if her mother had made a conscious decision to put all of that behind her and never speak of it again.

  Greg’s pace slowed and he found her hand, tucking it under his arm. They fell into step together almost automatically. ‘Did anyone ever say they were sorry? For that loss?’

  ‘No. No one ever thought it was one.’ It was what Jess had told herself, too.

  ‘I’m sorry. For your loss.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She smiled up at him. He must have repeated that phrase any number of times in his career, but he always seemed to mean it. It came as a surprise to find how much it meant to her, too.

  ‘Can I ask you a question, Greg?’

  ‘Since when did you need permission for that?’

  ‘How did you feel when your mother remarried? I mean… did you mind?’

  ‘Mind? Well, Ted was practically living with us anyway. And we all went to Italy and had an enormous party, and I got to stay with my aunt, while they went off on honeymoon. I kissed a girl, broke my arm coming off my cousin’s motorbike and generally had a whale of a time. My mother was horrified when she got back.’

  ‘I bet she was. How old did you say you were?’

  ‘Fifteen.’

  ‘Hmm. M
y mother married when I was twenty.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘And her husband’s a really nice man. He gives her the life she’s always deserved and she’s happy with him.’

  ‘That’s nice. And?’

  He waited. Laid his gloved hand over hers, tucking it more firmly into the crook of his arm.

  ‘I don’t know if I should even say it. It sounds so stupid… ’

  ‘Oh, go on.’ He chuckled. ‘You can’t leave me hanging now.’

  Why not? He’d done the same to her. But if Jess gave a little, maybe he would. ‘It was just a bit confusing. All my life she’d been telling me that we could manage on our own, that I didn’t need a father and she didn’t need a husband. Then all of a sudden she upped and got married.’

  He chuckled. ‘Must have been love.’

  ‘Yeah. Suppose it must have been.’ Jess wrinkled her nose.

  ‘Did you look that disapproving when she broke the news?’

  ‘No! Of course I didn’t. I’m happy for her, of course I am. I just… When I was little I used to think that it would be me who would get a great job, find somewhere nice for us to live. That I’d be the one to make sure she was comfortable.’ Jess forced a smile. ‘I’m just being silly.’

  He shrugged. ‘Sounds reasonable enough to me. You know the trouble with people—families in particular, I’ve noticed—is that you have these great plans for them, how you’re going to make everything right and so on, and then they just go out and do it all on their own. It’s frustrating.’

  Jess couldn’t help laughing now. ‘Is that a touch of megalomania I hear?’

  ‘More than a touch, I imagine. Aren’t all kids megalomaniacs? That’s what growing up does to you, makes you realise that you can’t control the world.’

  ‘Oh, so you’re saying that I need to grow up, are you?’ Jess suspected that she probably did.

  ‘Don’t you dare. Stay as you are.’ He grinned at her and quickened his pace. ‘Only perhaps you could walk just a bit faster. We’ll be late if we don’t hurry.’

  Being late didn’t seem to figure much in Rosa’s household. Dinner was cooking on the range, and Greg and Jess were both kissed and seated in the warm, bright kitchen. Ted arrived, kicking the mud from his boots at the back door, and Greg rose to meet him, their handshake giving way to a hug.

  ‘I hear you’re a doctor.’ He accepted a glass of wine from his wife and sat down, next to Jess.

  ‘Yes. I’ve been specialising in cardiology for the last year.’

  Ted nodded. ‘Interesting. I expect you’re at the sharp end of things, working down in London.’

  ‘The department’s done some groundbreaking work in the last couple of years. I’m very junior, though.’ Jess grinned. ‘But I get to watch sometimes.’

  Ted laughed. ‘Best way to learn.’

  ‘She’s being modest,’ Greg broke in. ‘She’s a rising star in the department.’

  ‘A young woman with a bright future, then.’ Ted was watching her thoughtfully and Jess felt herself flush.

  The meal was served and eaten and Jess was forbidden from moving when it came to clearing the plates away. Rosa and Greg busied themselves with the washing up, leaving Jess to talk to Ted. ‘Your practice must serve quite a big area. In comparison to London.’

  ‘Yes. There are three of us, and we cover about sixty square miles. We keep busy.’

  ‘It must be demanding. Not many of you to go around.’

  ‘It has its moments.’ Ted reached for the pot to pour himself a second cup of coffee, and the sharp note of a phone sounded.

  ‘Oh!’ Rosa made a splash in the washing-up water with her hand. ‘Really?’

  Ted smiled. ‘Looks like it.’ He reached for the phone.

  ‘What?’ Everyone but Jess seemed to know what the call was about before Ted had even answered the phone.

  ‘Ted’s an immediate care doctor. Means he’s on call for any emergencies where ambulance personnel need support at the scene. That’s his alert phone.’ Greg had put the dishcloth down and was waiting, watching Ted.

  ‘Okay. Yes, tell them I’ve accepted the call.’ Ted snapped the phone shut and looked at Greg. ‘There’s a pile-up on the motorway. Want to take a ride with me?’

  Greg was already reaching for his jacket and grinned towards Jess. ‘Are you coming?’

  ‘If that’s all right?’ She shot a querying look at Ted.

  ‘I never turn down a helping hand.’ Ted turned to Rosa. ‘Sorry, darling.’

  ‘Go.’ Rosa was clearly used to this kind of thing. ‘Just come back again.’

  Ted chuckled. If Rosa’s return smile was anything to go by, they’d worked this one out a long time ago.

  It was beginning to get dark, shadows reaching across the lanes in front of them, as if to smother what was left of the day. Ted joined the motorway and hit the siren, speeding towards the site of the accident.

  ‘There, look.’ Greg indicated a slew of stationary headlights up ahead.

  ‘I see it.’ Ted guided the SUV into a space and got out. Jess could see flashing blue lights approaching from the other direction, and hoped that it was an ambulance.

  They moved as if choreographed. Ted was in the lead, the reflective panels on his jacket advertising his presence. Greg was half a step behind him, medical bag and torch in hand, stopping to listen to a man who had detached himself from the small crowd that had gathered around three vehicles, which the force of impact had locked together, like in some gruesome sci-fi movie.

  ‘Okay, take me to her.’ Greg turned, beckoning to Jess to follow him, and the man led them to an upturned car.

  ‘She’s under there.’ Panic was welling in the man’s voice as he pointed to the tangled wreckage. ‘We couldn’t get her out. It’s her leg, it’s trapped.’

  ‘That’s okay. We’ll take care of her.’ Greg stripped off his jacket and dropped it on the ground. ‘Jess, will you see what other casualties we have?’

  He didn’t look around to catch her assent. He didn’t need to. Jess jogged over towards Ted, pushing through the circle of people that surrounded him.

  ‘What have you got?’

  ‘Someone’s trapped underneath a car there. Greg’s going to see if he can reach her.’

  ‘Okay. I’ve a couple here, but there’s nothing major. You go and assist Greg.’ Ted passed her his car keys. ‘Take the green bag from the car over to him.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Jess took the keys and made for the car, pulling out the large holdall in the back, hoping it would contain whatever they needed. She could see Greg carefully manoeuvring himself under the wreckage, trying to reach the injured woman, and doubted that her leg was his immediate concern. He couldn’t treat her here. All he needed to do was to keep her alive until she got to the hospital.

  She jogged over to the car, dumping the bag on the ground and calling out to Greg to let him know she was there. A slight nod of his head told her that he’d heard, and that was all he needed to know for the time being. She could see the woman now, her leg pinned under the collapsed steering column, apparently unconscious.

  The side of a truck blocked the driver’s door and Greg had crawled in via the passenger door, twisting his body around the buckled frame to examine the woman as best he could in the cramped space. Jess unzipped the bag and quickly looked through the contents, arranging what she might need to one side.

  They worked as if they were one unit. They’d done this before, although not for a while now, but the passage of time hadn’t dulled their edge. Greg worked quickly, Jess putting what he needed into his hand, almost before he had a chance to ask for it.

  ‘I think she’s waking up.’ Jess saw the fingers of the woman’s outstretched hand flutter then clench. ‘Pain relief?’ Jess got the words out two seconds before the woman started to scream.

  ‘Yep.’ Greg’s head snapped back as a flailing hand caught him square in the face, and he struggled for a moment to control his patient. ‘Okay. Okay. I’m
a doctor. You’re going to be okay. We’re getting you something for the pain.’ He held her tight. Not just to stop her from moving and injuring herself any further, but for comfort. The screams subsided and the woman whimpered in his arms.

  He called out the dosage, and Jess slid carefully inside the car, gasping as the sharp smell of blood and sheared metal hit her. She could reach the woman’s arm, and she cut the sleeve of her coat and searched for a vein. ‘Okay… That’s it… done.’

  ‘Good. Now go.’ His voice was suddenly harsh, an order instead of a request, and Jess wriggled backwards out of the wreckage.

  She wished he wouldn’t do that. He was the senior doctor, and there was no need for two of them to run the risk of being inside the wreckage. All the same, it rankled somehow that she wasn’t by his side. The firefighters had just arrived on the scene, and she was pushed aside so that the senior man could speak directly to Greg and assess the situation.

  She heard Ted’s voice behind her. ‘The hardest decision is knowing when to step back.’

  Jess composed her face into a smile and turned. ‘I just do as I’m told.’

  ‘Really?’ A smile played around Ted’s lips. ‘I’d be disappointed if that turned out to be true.’

  He pulled her to one side, as someone came through with props to shore up the unstable wreckage. She could hardly see Greg now, masked by twisted metal and concentrated activity.

  Ted was still watching every move that the firefighters made. ‘See, they’re going to cut through there. It won’t be long now, and Greg knows what he’s doing.’

  ‘Yes, he does. He’s a great doctor.’

  Ted nodded, with the air of a suspicion confirmed. ‘Damn shame.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘If he decided to re-evaluate his priorities.’

  ‘But he’s only just back from… ’ Jess stared at Ted. His measured demeanour wasn’t just for show, he’d said no more and no less than intended. What was going on with Greg?

  She could find that out later. For now it was enough to watch as the fire crew began the task of carefully peeling back the layers of metal that imprisoned the woman. She had calmed as the morphine kicked in, and Jess could hear Greg talking to her in between the shouts and the sounds of machinery. She knew he’d be watching her like a hawk, checking her responses, her BP, her pulse. His job was to make sure that she was brought out of the wreckage alive, and his quiet, reassuring tones were all part of the fight that he was putting up to do so.