Temper threatened to get the better of him. ‘How did you know I had stayed with Alexandra? What did you say to her on the phone?’
‘I knew you were going to the dinner. I watched your house. When you didn’t come home, I drove by and saw your car at Alex’s place,’ she informed him as if it was a normal thing to do. ‘As for what I said, I just told her a few home truths. Come on, Kyle, what other woman but me would put up with your sulky moods and this ridiculous grief you hang on to over what was little more than some malformed foetus?’
‘Get out.’ The order came out icy-calm, although fury raged within him. He rose to his feet, his eyes narrowed to slits as he faced down the woman he had looked on in dark days as a friend but who had betrayed and manipulated him. ‘Your severance pay will be sent on, but don’t expect any kind of reference. You’re not welcome here any more.’
‘Kyle—’
‘Get out of my sight.’
‘You can’t do this,’ she spat. ‘I’ll talk to Robert and Elizabeth, I’ll—’
‘We already know, Penny,’ Robert stated, stepping forward with Elizabeth from where they had been waiting out of sight. ‘We know everything, we heard it all. You are finished here, finished in nursing. We’ll see to that. You will not contact any one of our staff or patients—should you try to, we’ll take legal action. Leave now or I shall have you removed. You’ll be hearing from the nursing authorities in due course.’
As if realising she had played her final card and lost, Penny glared at them one last time. ‘Damn you all to hell,’ she cursed, before spinning away and slamming the door behind her.
Kyle slumped to his chair, feeling as if the solid ground he had been standing on for the last eighteen months had been ripped out from beneath him, leaving him rootless. He couldn’t sort out all the jumbled emotions and facts in his head.
‘I’m sorry, Kyle.’ Robert’s words were sad and full of concern. ‘You did what you had to do.’
‘We are all behind you. And we were all taken in by her, so don’t blame yourself,’ Elizabeth added.
Not everyone had been taken in, had they? Not Lisa. Not Alexandra. Lexie…He groaned, all at sea over her, so unsure of her feelings for him. If she even had any now. What had Penny done? What had she said to drive Alexandra away? More importantly, could he ever hope to win her back? He knew he had to try all in his power to make it happen. But he also had other things he needed to do, to understand, to sort out, before he could go to her. Penny had given him advice, and had given Helen advice all those months ago. He had been so wrapped up in his grief, his hurt, that he had taken Penny’s friendship at face value. Now he knew he had been wrong. How much else had he been wrong about back then? What had really happened? What had Penny told Helen? How had Penny conspired to drive the wedge deeper between himself and Helen and their already rocky marriage?
If Penny had really cared a jot for him, she would not have done so much to hurt him. That he had allowed her to even go so far as neglecting patients made him sick to his stomach. He didn’t care about himself but he did care about his patients and staff…and about Alexandra.
Now he had to put things right. He just hoped it wasn’t too late. But he had to face the past before he could hope to offer Alexandra a future.
He looked at his partners, knew they would support him. ‘I need to go away for a couple of days.’
‘Whatever you have to do, Kyle,’ Robert stated, and Elizabeth nodded her agreement.
‘I’ll be in touch.’
Rising to his feet, he prepared to put his fledgling plans into action. First he had a couple of phone calls to make, things to arrange, before taking a trip to Ayrshire. Then, hopefully, he could come back to Rigtownbrae and claim Alexandra for his own.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
IT HAD been the strangest weekend. Alex had tried to keep busy—and goodness knew, there’d been enough chores awaiting her attention—but she had felt listless, heartsick, troubled about what was going to happen at work and with Kyle.
Part of her had wanted him to phone or visit but as Friday night became Saturday, and Saturday became Sunday, she had given up hope of any word from him or any reconciliation. At least she still had a job…for now. Lisa had rung to tell her to come in on Monday as usual, that she would be out in the community doing home visits. Which was a relief. It meant she wouldn’t have to see Kyle. But Lisa had said nothing else, had given no word about Penny, and Alex was left worried, her imagination running riot.
She had pretty much made up her mind that she would have to leave Glenside and find work elsewhere when the phone had rung on Saturday evening and Conor’s reassuring voice had greeted her.
‘You sound low, sweetie. Is everything all right?’ He asked.
‘Not really.’ She had to bite back a sudden threat of tears, knew Conor had heard it in her voice. ‘Things aren’t going to work out at Rigtownbrae.’
‘Would you like me or Kate to come over for a chat?’
She was grateful for the offer—they were wonderful people and she was so fond of them—but she couldn’t forget they were Kyle’s friends and she didn’t want to make the situation more difficult. ‘No, I’ll be fine.’
‘Ring any time if you change your mind,’ Conor insisted. ‘We care about both of you, Alex. Don’t throw in the towel yet.’
On Sunday afternoon, she was still puzzling over Conor’s unexpected phone call and his advice when a car arrived in the driveway. Gravel crunched under tyres and for one heart-stopping moment she thought it might be Kyle. She ran to the kitchen window, her spirits sinking when she realised her visitor was Hannah. Not that she wasn’t pleased to see her friend, but…
‘Hi,’ Hannah greeted her, giving her a hug before she hung up her BASICS jacket in the porch. ‘I’ve been out on a call and thought I’d stop in on the way home and see you.’
‘I’ve just put the kettle on.’
‘Great!’
Hannah sat down at the kitchen table and made a big fuss of Max. Frowning, Alex busied herself preparing two mugs of tea. ‘I didn’t think you were on BASICS duty this weekend.’
‘I wasn’t, but I took Kyle’s shift as he had to go away for a couple of days,’ Hannah explained, surprising her.
‘Oh.’ She didn’t want to wonder where he had gone, still less who he had gone with. Penny? The thought cut deep and added to the unbearable hurt weighing her down. ‘I see.’
Hannah accepted her mug with a smile of thanks, sympathy and understanding in her gold-flecked eyes. ‘Things not going so well?’
‘Not really. Work is grim. Things have been happening, making me look bad, but Lisa Sharpe is on my side and knows it wasn’t me, that I was set up,’ she explained, struggling to mask her feelings of hurt betrayal. ‘I presented my report on Penny. You were right, there were other incidents of her lack of care. But I’ve not heard back from the doctors what, if anything, they are going to do about it.’
‘And Kyle?’
Alex ducked her head, evading Hannah’s gaze. ‘What about him?’
‘We had high hopes for you two,’ she confided. ‘You’re good for each other.’
‘It’s not going to happen, Hannah. That all got stuffed up, too. I think we both realise where we stand after this last week.’
‘But—’
‘In fact, I’ve decided to look for another job,’ Alex pressed on, not wanting to talk about Kyle any more. It hurt too much.
Cupping her mug in her hands, Hannah frowned. ‘I don’t think you should make any hasty decisions, Alex. Sometimes things aren’t as bleak as they seem.’
After Hannah left, Alex thought how odd it was that both of Kyle’s friends had checked up on her over the weekend. Neither had done that before. Was something going on she didn’t know about, or was she just so confused and upset that she was reading more into a perfectly innocent coincidence? She had no answers to any of her questions, just an increasing anxiety about what she would face when she went to work the nex
t morning.
Nervous and edgy, Kyle stood on the doorstep and tried to pluck up the courage to ring the doorbell. He’d spent Saturday with his parents and brother at the farm, talking things through, and now he was here on Sunday afternoon, facing the past, knowing he had to follow through, however difficult it was for them all. Thinking of Alexandra made him both fearful and hopeful, but gave him strength to take the next step. Sucking in a deep breath, he reached out and announced his presence.
The door opened and a gentle hazel gaze widened in shocked surprise. ‘Kyle!’
‘Hello, Helen.’
‘What do you want?’ she asked, her voice hardening.
‘Can we talk?’ he asked, seeing the doubt in her eyes. ‘Please. It’s very important.’
She hesitated, glancing behind her into the house. ‘All right. You’d better come in. Colin is here,’ she added, as if in warning.
‘That’s fine. I’m not here to make any trouble, I just need to ask you something.’
Helen led him through the small, attractive cottage to a traditional kitchen where he had an uneasy meeting with Colin Maxwell. While Helen made tea, Kyle admired the sleeping twins, surprised to find the bitter pain had mellowed and, whilst he was envious, the resentment had vanished. Seeing Helen and Colin again was not proving as difficult as he had feared. He regretted the past, the hurt, the things that had gone wrong—most of all their lost child—but he realised now that he had let go. He didn’t love Helen, didn’t hate her, just wished her well for her future and hoped he could make a success of his own life from now on.
‘I know things were difficult in the past, I’m sorry about that,’ he began once they sat down with their tea. ‘I hope we can now speak without acrimony and bad feeling.’
‘What is it, Kyle? Why have you come?’ Helen queried in puzzlement.
He set his cup in the saucer and frowned. ‘I need to know what went on back then. Did Penny say things to you?’
‘Kyle—’
‘Look, I’m not being difficult, I really need to know. It’s happening again, Helen, and I don’t want to make the same mistakes.’ He drew in a deep breath and continued. ‘Penny kept telling me you didn’t want children, that you were seeing someone else. She said you blamed me when you lost our baby, but you were glad because it meant you didn’t have to stay with me, that the best thing was to let you go. Nothing blatant, just little hints and whispers, all insidious and crafty, as she sowed seeds of doubt in my mind at a time when our marriage was already in trouble. It’s no excuse but I was under a lot of pressure, grieving for our baby, as you know, and I allowed her to convince me.’
Helen’s eyes widened with hurt surprise. ‘But that’s exactly what she told me! About you. Little asides that you felt I’d trapped you into marriage, that you were secretly glad when I lost our baby, that you never wanted children or me, that you and Penny had something going together. She said that you would be glad if I left you so you could go on with your own life, and she encouraged me to turn to Colin!’ she exclaimed, taking her new husband’s hand. ‘I didn’t see any of it clearly, Kyle, not at the time. Now you have confirmed niggling doubts,’ she finished with a deep sigh.
‘Penny has never been more to me than a colleague and, I wrongly thought, a friend. I was never unfaithful to you,’ he assured her now, anger burning inside him. ‘So all the time Penny was playing us off against each other, taking advantage of the problems we were having and the breach growing between us? I was so hurt and angry when you married Colin and had the twins with him. I just couldn’t come to terms with having lost our baby.’ Shaking his head, trying to get his thoughts straight, he ran the fingers of one hand through his hair. ‘I’m really sorry, Helen. And I genuinely am pleased that you and Colin are so happy now. I wish you all the best, both of you, and your children. You deserve it.’
Helen’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Thanks, Kyle. That means a lot to us.’ She gave a tremulous smile when Colin confirmed the sentiment. ‘I think we both know, though, looking back, that our own marriage wasn’t going anywhere, even without Penny’s interference,’ she added softly.
‘You’re right. It wasn’t just Penny. She was merely the catalyst, spotting what was already broken beyond repair and using that knowledge to her own advantage, for her own sick ends.’
‘I know I was wrong, Kyle, to hold you to the marriage in the first place. We cared about each other, I never doubted that, and I always felt so safe with you. But we were more friends than lovers,’ Helen admitted, voicing what he had often thought himself over these last painful months.
‘Even without Penny, the relationship had been floundering…for both of us. In the end friendship wasn’t enough to hold together a marriage that would never have worked.’ He paused, collecting his thoughts, shaking his head. ‘I know now that having children wouldn’t have kept us together, not long term.’
‘No, it wouldn’t. But I regret losing him, Kyle. Our baby. I always will. Whatever happened to us.’
He nodded in agreement, emotion burning inside him at the thought of his lost son, and the terrible words Penny had flung at him on Friday. ‘I still can’t believe what Penny did.’
‘How did you find out?’
Kyle sighed and explained how Penny’s abuse of patients had been unmasked and how, in her anger, she had taunted him with what she had done. ‘I had no idea she had those kinds of feelings for me, no clue that she was neglecting patients and continuing her whispering campaign to me and others.’
‘She’s a manipulator—cold, calculating, clever. It wasn’t just you she fooled, Kyle.’ Helen paused and regarded him curiously. ‘Does this mean there is someone new in your life now?’
‘Yes. But I’m not sure she feels the same after whatever Penny has said to her. I hope I can rescue things now I know the truth,’ He confessed, closing his eyes as he thought of Alexandra and how important she was to him, his life, his happiness.
‘Don’t let Penny mess things up again.’
Kyle nodded as he rose to his feet. ‘I’m sorry I was so blind before, and both of us had to get hurt and go through what we did.’
‘We were both blind. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you and had no idea what the loss of the baby really meant to you. It was never your fault, Kyle, no one was to blame. We weren’t right together, but I hope you will make a go of things with your lady and be happy now.’ Helen and Colin saw him out and shook his hand, a new understanding between them. ‘Thank you for coming, for setting things straight. Good luck, Kyle.’
‘Thanks. You too.’
He left Ayrshire with the answers he needed, but still angry that Penny’s calculating lies and scheming had contributed to the wrecking of his already damaged marriage, adding unnecessary pain and ill-feeling. It was true that he and Helen had not shared true love. Had they done, had their marriage been right all along, they would have fought harder to sort things out, would not have given up so easily when things had been hard. But now Penny’s actions threatened to destroy what he had with Alexandra, and this time he was fighting tooth and nail for what he wanted…the woman he loved more than anything and needed as much as his next breath. If it wasn’t too late. His stomach clenched. All he could think of was how to persuade her to give them another chance.
Alex was just settling her last patient back into bed late on Monday afternoon when her mobile phone bleeped with an incoming message. She glanced at the display, frowning when she noted the urgent appeal for her to call the surgery when she was free. Tension coiled inside her. Was this about Penny? She’d heard nothing about her report on the other nurse, had heard nothing about Kyle, had no idea if she herself was to be sacked. Casting her worries to the back of her mind, she focused on making her patient—a middle-aged man convalescing after returning home following a serious operation—as comfortable as possible.
‘Is there anything else you need before I go, Douglas?’ she asked, her smile natural as she fussed with the bed clothes.
‘No, lass, you’ve been wonderful, thank you.’ Pale and drawn, he rested back against the pillows. ‘My daughter will be in shortly with something to eat.’
Alex lingered, making sure his water, phone and reading materials were within reach. ‘You relax, now. Your system’s been through a major upheaval, but you’re doing well and will be up and about again before you know it.’
‘Can’t be a day too soon for me.’
‘Ring any time if there is anything we can do for you.’
She took her leave, stowed her things in the car, and then sat behind the wheel staring at the brooding outline of the hills in the distance silhouetted against the darkened sky. Sighing, nerves fluttering inside her, she pulled out her mobile phone and rang the surgery.
‘Alex, good,’ Lisa greeted her briskly. ‘I’m sorry, but we’ve had another call and it is important to fit it in today. No one else is available.’
‘All right. I’ve just finished my last scheduled visit so I can go there now. Can you give me the details?’ she asked, resigned to another late night.
‘Thanks, lovey.’ There was a pause and she could hear Lisa rustling papers. ‘The address is here in Rigtownbrae,’ she informed her and Alex scribbled it down in her notebook. ‘A Mr Smith.’
‘What’s his situation?’
Another pause followed, and Alex frowned at the reserve in Lisa’s voice when the practice manager spoke again. ‘He has heart problems. Get there as soon as you can. And let yourself in. I have to go, I have another call on hold,’ she finished, hanging up before Alex had the chance to ask more questions.
Pushing her tiredness and inner turmoil aside, Alex drove back to town and found the correct address, not far from the surgery, without any problems. Collecting her bag, unsure what was needed, she walked up the paved pathway and rang the bell to announce her presence before opening the door and stepping inside. The house looked tidy but impersonal, decorated in plain, muted colours with polished wood floors.
‘Hello,’ she called. ‘It’s Alexandra Patterson, the district nurse.’
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