A Single Dad at Heathermere Read online

  When Jon had gone Laura stood like someone mesmerised. Their reunion, if it warranted such a description, had been unsettling and upsetting. If she’d known he was coming she might have achieved some degree of composure, but as it was she’d been stunned to see him.

  When she’d calmed down she went slowly upstairs and stood looking down at Liam. If she came back, where would they live? The cottage in Cornwall would bring a reasonable amount, but she would have to sell it before she could look for somewhere here, and, as Jon had explained, prices in the Cheshire countryside would be a lot higher than she would get for the home she’d shared with Freddie.

  Her father had left her a little money, but it would be like a drop in the ocean if she bought a property in the village, and the question would be where and how.

  You’ve soon changed your mind, she told herself. One glimpse of Jon and you’re prepared to throw caution to the winds. Maybe a chat with the local estate agent will help to clear your head. It was sensible thinking. But did any of that matter? In the last hour an old friendship had taken a feeble step towards a new beginning.

  The following evening, as Liam played in the garden before bedtime, Laura sat deep in thought on an old bench that had been there ever since she could remember.

  The estate agent she’d spoken to that morning had echoed what Jon had said almost word for word, but it hadn’t affected her new resolve. Cornwall was a beautiful place to live, but ever since Freddie had died it had lost its appeal, and her heart had always been in Heathermere, where she had been born. It would be a fresh start, and she knew the village would be a wonderful place for her son to grow up.

  Laura needed a quick sale of the cottage in Cornwall and then she would be able to balance her budget. She knew that any property she could afford would be very basic, but the urge to come back to live in Heathermere was becoming stronger by the minute. She kept pushing to one side the thought that she’d been going to do the exact opposite until she’d seen Jon again.

  Something more important than money was affecting her judgement.

  They’d both changed out of all recognition, but they would be living in the same community once more, and even if they never became close again, it would be better than nothing, as, apart from Liam, nothing was what she’d had for a long time.

  She looked at her young son playing happily with his toy truck. He would have been starting school in Cornwall in two weeks’ time. So by enrolling him at the one in the village she wouldn’t be uprooting him from somewhere that he’d only just settled into. It was the same one that she’d gone to herself, a single-storey, sprawling building of local limestone, just off the main street.

  She and Jon had both gone there when they’d been small and, no doubt, his daughter would be doing the same. The thought of their children being at the same school would need some adjusting to, and she hoped he wouldn’t see it as an intrusion into the life he’d made for himself.

  She was moving on too fast, she told herself. There was still the small matter of finance. If she didn’t get a buyer for the cottage, she wouldn’t be moving back, and the thought of that filled her with gloom.

  The following day, Jon called again in the middle of his house calls and Laura greeted him warily. She had bumped into Marjorie down at the shops that morning and during their friendly chat, let slip that she was thinking of staying. She knew that Marjorie would have told Jon of their conversation and wasn’t sure how he would react, whether he would be pleased, sorry or just not interested.

  ‘I believe you’re staying,’ he said.

  ‘Yes. If I can get a buyer for my cottage,’ she told him, without meeting his glance. ‘Then I will look for something small here.’

  ‘Well, when you’re ready there is a part-time job at the practice available if you’re interested. We could fix the hours to fit in with your son’s school times.’

  Her eyes widened in surprise. ‘What would I be doing?’ she asked carefully, knowing from what she’d heard people say that there were already two doctors there. Maybe they wanted someone to keep the place clean and make the tea.

  Jon stared at her with surprised dark eyes. ‘You would be working there as an extra GP. What else? You told me that’s what you’ve been doing in Cornwall.’

  She nodded, stunned by this unexpected turn of events. ‘Yes, it is.’

  ‘So think about it, Laura. There’s no rush. Sort out your affairs and then let me know what you’ve decided. I’ve been thinking we need extra help for a while and it could solve both of our problems. That is, if you need employment.’

  ‘Oh, I will need it all right,’ she assured him. ‘Properties here are twice the price of houses in Cornwall, and Liam and I have to live. But are you sure that you would want me on your staff?’

  ‘Why not? It will depend on how capable a doctor you are, and if I remember rightly, we both got good degrees, even though in my case I’d made a hash of everything else.’

  ‘The head of the practice in Cornwall would give me a reference and the primary care trust would soon let you know if I have any black marks against me,’ she pointed out, ignoring his last comment.

  She could imagine elderly James Penrose’s expression when he discovered she was leaving the Cornwall practice. The grizzled Cornishman who was senior partner there was a good friend. He’d been kind and supportive and Liam saw him as a grandfatherly figure.

  But James would always want what was best for them both and would be pleased to know that she was sorting her life out in the place where she’d grown up.

  ‘Why are you doing this?’ she asked, not wanting to leave the matter there. ‘You don’t owe me anything, Jon.’

  ‘I know that. I am offering you the job because it is what I would do for anyone that I thought might be suitable. Now I must go. I have calls to do and in our family we try to have our evening meal together. It gives me the chance to hear what Abby and my mother have been doing with their day, and after we’ve eaten Abby and I have our special time until she goes to bed.’

  ‘It must have been a relief to have had your mother around since Abby was born,’ she commented.

  He nodded. ‘Mum is a gem. It would have been very difficult without her.’

  He looked at her, his dark eyes serious. ‘You haven’t had any family to support you, have you? But now you’re staying there’ll be lots of people here who’ve never forgotten you and will want to help.’

  ‘Hmm. Maybe,’ she said coolly. ‘But I am used to coping.’

  ‘Yes, I’m sure you are,’ he said dryly. ‘Otherwise you might have let some of us know that you were bringing up your child on your own.’ And on that note of censure he went.

  Jon didn’t have to patronise her, she thought as he disappeared from view. Had he expected her to come running back home when her life had fallen apart with Freddie’s death? She wouldn’t have come back, no matter what. Her father would have had scant comfort to offer, and she and Jon had become too estranged.

  He’d made it clear that the offer of the job at the practice wasn’t personal so there was no point in reading anything into it, but it had come as a surprise and a welcome one at that. It would mean that she wouldn’t be far away from Liam when he was at school, and she’d seen that during the holidays there was a playgroup that met there for children whose parents were working. She would manage somehow.

  Now she was eager for the sale of her property to go through with all speed. She was being given the chance to come back to Heathermere and begin a new life with Liam. For the first time in ages she felt happy and relaxed, even though she didn’t know where they were going to live.

  Her son came in from the garden at that moment and when she opened her arms wide he ran into them and looked up at her with his bright blue gaze.

  ‘Who was that man, Mummy?’ he asked. ‘He said, “Hello, Liam”.’

  ‘His name is Jon Emmerson,’ she told him as she planted a kiss on his smooth cheek. ‘He is a doctor, like me. We used to
play together when I was only as big as you. He wants me to work at the surgery with him, like I’ve been doing with Dr Penrose in Cornwall.’

  ‘And are you going to?’

  ‘Yes, I think so. You know that Heathermere is where I was born, don’t you? That I went to the school just down the road?’

  He nodded his small golden head and wanted to know, ‘So are we going to live here and will I be going to that school?’

  ‘Yes. Do you think you will like that?’

  ‘Mmm, I will,’ he told her cheerfully, ‘but we don’t have to stay in Grandad’s house, do we?’

  ‘No, my little love, we don’t,’ she told him, and thought, not even if they had to live in a tent.

  CHAPTER TWO

  THE following day Laura phoned James Penrose at the surgery in Cornwall and told him of her plans. His reaction was what she’d expected. The elderly Cornishman was sad to see her go, but happy for her and Liam to be starting a new life among old friends and acquaintances.

  ‘Now I’ve made the decision I’m anxious to get my affairs sorted. I need to sell my cottage as soon as possible,’ she told him, ‘but as summer is almost over I can’t see a big demand for holiday homes or small properties at the moment.’

  She heard him chuckle at the other end of the line. ‘You could be wrong there, lassie. I’ll buy it off you…furnished, if you like.’

  ‘You, James!’ she exclaimed. ‘It’s only a quarter of the size of your house.’

  ‘Yes, I know. But the situation is this. Millie and I are getting a bit old for having our children and their children staying with us for weeks on end in the summer. We love having them but it can be a bit much. I’ve been on the lookout for a cottage like yours where they can stay separate from us and yet be near.

  So you have a buyer, my dear.’

  ‘That’s wonderful,’ she choked. ‘I can’t believe it. You aren’t doing this because you’re sorry for me, are you?’

  ‘No. Of course not. I’m fond of you, Laura, and want to see you happy. If moving back to this village of yours will bring that about I’ll be only too pleased. Let me know the name and address of the solicitor you’re going to use and I’ll get in touch.’

  When they’d finished their conversation Laura sank down onto the nearest chair and tried to take it in. James was going to buy her cottage. The die was cast. Some unseen force was shaping the future. She would be able to tell Jon that she would take the position he’d offered and set the wheels turning to find Liam a place in the village school.

  She hoped Jon wouldn’t have changed his mind about her working at the practice. The feeling that the offer had been made on impulse kept coming over her and that now maybe he was regretting it. If that was the case she would rather tell him face to face that she was definitely staying in the village and would be happy to be involved in the practice. That way she would be able to tell if he’d been having second thoughts.

  That evening she went to the big stone house where she had played with Jon as a child. In those days his father had been alive, but his mother still lived there from all accounts and she was presuming that he and his daughter lived there, too.

  With Liam gazing around curiously beside her, she rang the bell. There was no answer. About to retrace her steps, Laura was brought to a halt by the sound of voices. Seconds later Jon and a small girl who had her father and grandmother’s dark good looks came round from the back of the house and stopped in surprise when they saw her and Liam on the doorstep.

  ‘Hi,’ he said easily, as if her calling round was nothing out of the ordinary. ‘I thought I heard the bell. How long have you been here? My mother has gone to a meeting in the village hall and Abby and I were playing tennis on the back lawn.’

  His glance was resting on Liam, who was smiling across at a solemn-faced Abby, and he said in greeting, ‘Hello, there, Liam.’ Then he turned to Laura. ‘He reminds me of you when we sat next to each other on our first day at primary school. Except that you had your hair in plaits, if you remember.’

  Of course she remembered. She remembered everything they’d ever said and done, but most of all she remembered how she’d adored him, had had a secret crush on him at the time they’d gone to university and had thought that once they were out in the wide, wide world they would be drawn together by their affection for each other.

  The dream had been short-lived, and as their college days had gone by, Jon’s affair with Kezia Carter in the last year of their course had finally set the seal on the separate lives they’d been living ever since going to university.

  When he’d reluctantly told her that Kezia was pregnant with his baby she’d been devastated. But it had finally made her realise that they had no future together, and with the news that Kezia didn’t want the baby and that he was going to become a single father to his child, she had realised even more that there was no place for her in his life, short of taking on the role of a secondhand rose.

  Marrying Freddie some time later had been like stepping into calm waters after a ride on a rough sea. They’d had a loving marriage that she had expected to last forever, but it wasn’t to be and it had become her turn to be a single parent, but for a very different reason.

  Abby of the beautiful dark hair and eyes was fidgeting, wanting to get back to what they’d been doing, and it was clear that she was wondering who these strange people were.

  ‘Yes, I do remember,’ she told him in a low voice. Flashing Abby a friendly smile, she said, ‘We’ve interrupted your game, haven’t we, Abby? I won’t keep your father long.’ She turned to Jon. ‘I’m here to tell you that I’ve sold my house. When I rang the surgery in Cornwall the senior partner there said he would like to buy it for when his family come to stay. So I can accept your job offer, if it is still open.’

  ‘Yes. It’s still open,’ he said, his expression giving nothing away. ‘When can you start?’

  ‘Next week if they can take Liam into the school, and in the meantime I will have to find some temporary accommodation until my finances are sorted.’

  ‘I don’t see you having any problem with the school,’ he said. ‘And how would you fancy living over the surgery? There are two apartments up there. Abby and I live in one and the other is to let furnished.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ she said slowly, with the feeling that some unseen force really was at work in her life.

  ‘I’m sure that there is a vacant apartment there, yes,’ he said dryly, his eyes glinting with amusement.

  ‘You know what I meant. Are you sure that you would want us in such close proximity?’

  He was laughing and Laura thought it was the first time she’d seen him anything other than sombre since they’d renewed their aquaintance.

  ‘Why? Have you got something catching?’ he teased and she smiled.

  ‘No. I’m just amazed at what you’re suggesting. It’s as if you have a magic wand that solves all my problems. I would be grateful to rent the apartment and thanks for the offer.’

  ‘Why not call in at the practice the first chance you get so that you can view the accommodation and meet the staff? I have a junior partner called Tim Gosforth, who will be keen to introduce himself, and the rest of those working there are mostly local people. You might even know some of them.

  ‘What about Liam after school? Have you thought about that?’ he asked.

  He glanced at the smiling child beside her again before switching back to Abby, and the thought flashed through his mind that anyone who didn’t know the children might take the four of them for a family, so strong were their resemblances to their respective parents.

  ‘There is a playgroup available for after school hours and holidays. So I will have to use that, I’m afraid,’ she replied, and wondered where his thoughts had moved on to. From his expression he wasn’t tuned in to what she was saying and for a moment he gazed at her blankly.

  ‘What? Oh, yes. It’s a facility for working parents, but I did promise we would try to arrange your hour
s to suit school times. I would be having the same kind of problem myself if my mother wasn’t around.’

  “I’m thirsty, Daddy,’ Abby said, tired of waiting. ‘Can I go to get a drink?’

  ‘Yes, sure. Take Liam with you and get him one.’

  When they’d disappeared round the side of the house, with Liam skipping along happily and Abby not sure whether she wanted this strange boy tagging along, Jon said, ‘Aren’t you going to come inside for a moment? We don’t usually keep visitors standing on the doorstep.’

  His tone was polite but not effusive and Laura could feel her colour rising. He was making it clear that was what he saw her as. A visitor to be treated with the casual courtesy he would offer to any caller.

  From her own point of view she felt as if she was more of a reminder of a time he would like to forget than a visitor. But circumstances had brought her back into his life again and with no strings attached he was trying to be helpful. She supposed she ought to be grateful for that.

  She managed a smile. ‘I will come in for a moment, thank you, but mustn’t stay long. It is almost Liam’s bedtime.’

  He was opening the door and standing back for her to pass him, and for a second they were close enough for Laura to feel the warmth of him against her. Then they were inside. She could hear the children’s voices in the kitchen somewhere and Jon was asking, ‘What about you, Laura? What can I get you to drink? A sherry? Tea? Coffee?’

  ‘Er…a coffee would be nice, thank you.’ As he disappeared into the kitchen Abby and Liam came out sucking on ice lollies and Laura had to smile as she thought that perhaps Abby had decided that they were the quickest way to get Liam back to where he belonged, so that she and her father could carry on with their game of tennis.