Swallowbrook's Winter Bride Read online

  When he’d reached the lych gate in the churchyard a bus had pulled up beside him on the pavement and he’d boarded it, uncaring where it was bound in his haste to get away before he was seen.

  As he’d waited for a flight to take him back to where he’d come from he’d thought sombrely that his arrogance all that time ago when in her despair at the thought of him going away Libby had confessed her love for him and been told he wasn’t interested, had only been exceeded by him expecting her to want to talk to him of all people on her wedding day.

  She had turned up at the airport on the morning he had left for Africa and been the only one there. He’d said his farewells to his father the night before and told everyone else he didn’t want any send-offs, so it had been a surprise, and he’d had to admit a pleasant one, to see her there.

  They had been due to call his flight any time and during those last few moments in the UK Libby had begged him not to go. ‘I love you, Nathan,’ she’d pleaded. ‘I always have. Until I awoke this morning I had accepted that you were going out of my life. Then suddenly I knew I had to see you just one more time.

  ‘I know the importance of the work you are going to do in Africa, but there would still be time for that when we’d had our time, some life together in happiness and contentment and maybe brought up a family.’

  She had chosen the most inopportune moment to make her plea, with only minutes to spare before he boarded the plane, and with the memory tugging at him of a failed engagement not so long ago that had done neither he nor his fiancée any credit.

  There had been tears in her eyes but instead of making him want to comfort her he’d reacted in the opposite way and been brusque and offhand as he’d told her, ‘How can you face me with something like this at such a time, Libby? I’m due to leave in a matter of minutes. Just forget me. Don’t wait around. Relationships aren’t on my agenda at present.’

  Then, ashamed of his churlishness, he’d bent to give her a peck on the cheek. Instead their lips had met and within seconds it had all changed.

  He’d been kissing her as if he’d just walked into light out of darkness and it would have gone on for ever if a voice hadn’t been announcing that his flight was ready for boarding.

  As common sense had returned he’d said it again. ‘Don’t wait around for me, Libby.’ And almost before he’d finished speaking she’d been rushing towards the exit as if she couldn’t get away from him fast enough.

  Aware that his behaviour had left a lot to be desired, and cursing himself for trampling on what was left of her schoolgirl crush, he’d vowed that he would phone her when he arrived at his destination and apologise for his flippancy, but in the chaos he’d found when he’d got there his private life had become non-existent, until he’d received his father’s phone call some months later to say Libby was getting married on the coming Saturday.

  Then it had all come flooding back—her tears, the loveliness of her, and his own arrogance in brushing to one side her feelings for him by telling her not to wait for him, indicating in the most presumptuous way that he wasn’t interested in her.

  But, of course, by then it had been too late. How could he ever forget how happy she had looked when the vicar had made his pronouncement to say Libby and Ian were man and wife? And he’d thought how wrong he’d been in considering that she might be marrying Jefferson on the rebound.

  Now, as he looked down at Toby, young and defenceless beneath the covers, he knew that there would be barriers to break down in coming months and bridges to build, not just in one part of his life but in the whole structure of it, because his contract in Africa was up. He was home for good, and coming back to Swallowbrook was his first step towards normality.

  He’d done nothing when he’d heard that Jefferson had died. To have appeared on the scene then might have seemed like he’d been waiting in the wings and it would not have been the case. But now he’d had no choice but to come back to England because his best friend and his wife had been amongst tourists drowned on a sinking ferry somewhere abroad. The tragedy had changed his life and that of the sleeping child for ever.

  As she sat hunched over the teapot Libby was thinking what a mess her life had turned into in the three years since she’d last laid eyes on Nathan. Anxious to prove to the world, but most importantly to herself, that her feelings for him were dead and buried she’d turned to Ian Jefferson, someone who had already asked her to marry him twice and been politely refused.

  And so six months later, with Nathan’s never-to-be-forgotten comments at the airport still painfully remembered, she’d agreed to marry Ian at his third time of asking.

  They’d been reasonably happy at first, living in Lavender Cottage, across from the surgery, but as the months had gone by she had discovered that Ian had merely wanted a wife, any wife, to give him standing in the village, and the blonde doctor from the practice had been his first choice.

  Marriage hadn’t made him any less keen on spending endless hours on the golf course, sailing on the lake by Swallowbrook and, while his staff looked after the stables, riding around the countryside on various of his horses, which had left him with little time to comprehend the burden of care that Libby carried with her position at the practice, a position that left her with little time or energy to share in his constant round of pleasure.

  It had been one night whilst out riding that he had been thrown from a frisky mare and suffered serious injuries that had proved fatal, leaving her to face another gap in her life that was sad and traumatic, but not as heartbreaking as being separated from Nathan.

  When she’d drunk the teapot dry Libby went to bed for the second time and after tossing and turning for most of the night drifted into sleep as dawn was breaking over the fells. She was brought into wakefulness a short time later by voices down below at the bottom of the drive and when she went to the window the dairy farmer who delivered her milk was chatting to Nathan, who, judging from the amount of milk he was buying off him, was making sure that he and Toby would not have to go begging for his bedtime drink again.

  Not wanting to be seen watching him, she went slowly back to bed, grateful that it was Saturday with no need to get up if she didn’t want to, and as a pale sun filtered into her bedroom she began to go over the astonishing events of the previous night.

  Nathan is back in Swallowbrook, a voice in her mind was saying, but not because of you. He has a family. He has made his choice and it has to be better than the one you made.

  She surfaced at lunchtime in a calmer state of mind and, dressed in slacks and a smart sweater, went to the village for food and various other things she needed from the shops after being away.

  There had been no sign of anyone from next door when she’d set off, but Nathan’s car had still been in front of the cottage, so either they were inside out of sight or had ventured out for the boy to see where they had come to live, and the man to reacquaint himself with the place where he had been brought up amongst people who had been his patients and friends.

  To make her way home she had to pass the park next to the school that strangely for a Saturday was empty, except for Nathan and the boy, who was moving from one amusement to another in the children’s play area.

  Don’t stop, she told herself. Nathan has had all morning to see you again if he wanted to, so don’t give him the satisfaction of thinking you’ve followed him here.

  The two of them looked lonely and lost in the deserted park. He was pushing Toby on one of the swings, but on seeing her passing lifted him off. Now they were coming towards her and she was getting a better look at the prodigal doctor than in her mesmerised state the night before.

  His time in Africa had taken its toll of him, she observed as he drew nearer. He was leaner, giving off less of the dynamism that had so attracted her to him over the years, but his hair was the same, the dark thatch of it curling above his
ears, and his eyes were still the unreadable dark hazel that they’d always been where she was concerned.

  ‘I can’t believe you were going to go past without speaking,’ he said as they drew level.

  ‘Why?’ she asked steadily. ‘What is there to say?’

  ‘On my part that I was sorry to hear of Jefferson’s fatal accident, and for another—’

  He was interrupted by the child at his side tugging at his hand and saying, ‘Can I go on the slide, Uncle Nathan?’

  ‘Yes, go along,’ he replied. ‘I’ll be with you in a moment.’ As Libby observed him in a daze of non-comprehension he explained, ‘I’m in the process of adopting Toby. Both his parents are dead. They were lost when a ferry sank while they were touring Europe. Thankfully he was saved. His father was my best friend and I am the boy’s godfather.

  ‘I went out to bring him home when it happened and applied to adopt him as there were no other relatives to lay claim to him. The paperwork is going through at the moment and soon he will be legally mine.’

  ‘How do you cope?’ she asked as the heartache of thinking that Nathan had a family of his own began to recede.

  ‘It was difficult in the beginning because although Toby knew me well enough, naturally it was his mummy and daddy he wanted. He is adjusting slowly to the situation, yet is loath to ever let me out of his sight.’

  Poor little one, she thought, poor godfather…poor me. How am I going to cope having Nathan living next door to me with the memory of what he said that day at the airport still crystal clear? He has never been back to Swallowbrook since and now, as if he hadn’t hurt me enough then, he has chosen to live in the cottage next to mine.

  He was observing her questioningly in the silence that her thoughts had created, and keen to escape the scrutiny of his stare she asked, ‘How old is Toby?’

  ‘He’s just five, and the ferry catastrophe occurred three months ago. You might have read about it in the press or seen an account of it on television.’

  That was unlikely, she thought wryly. In the mornings it was a quick breakfast, then across the way to the practice, and in the evenings the day’s events had to be assimilated and paperwork brought up to date.

  ‘What will you do now that you’re here?’ she asked, trying to sound normal. ‘Enrol Toby at the village school?’

  ‘I’ve already done so and am not sure how he is going to react to yet another change in his life. I have to tread softly with his young mind. He soon gets upset, which is to be expected, of course.’

  She felt tears prick. It was all so sad that Nathan had been forced to take on such a responsibility and felt he had to return to Swallowbrook for the child’s sake if nothing else.

  As they went to wait for Toby at the bottom of a small slide the man by her side was smiling, which was strange, as given what he had just told her he hadn’t got a lot to smile about.

  CHAPTER TWO

  IT WAS a lot to take in. Only yesterday she had been flying home from two refreshing weeks in Spain with Melissa. Today she was in the park with Nathan and a child that he was adopting, and though she felt great sympathy for their loss she couldn’t help but feel relieved that Nathan hadn’t found himself a ready-made wife and family during his time in Africa.

  If she had known he was coming back to Swallowbrook in the near future she would have had time to prepare herself for meeting up again with the man who had made it so painfully clear on parting that he didn’t return her feelings. But instead it was as if she’d been thrown in at the deep end.

  She was bending to pick up the bag with her food shopping inside when he forestalled her by saying easily, ‘I’ll take that,’ and to Toby, who was coming down the slide for the umpteenth time, ‘Time to go, Tobias.’

  When the little one had joined them they walked back to their respective properties in silence. As they were about to separate Libby asked, ‘Have you been to see your father?’

  He nodded. ‘Yes, we went to see him yesterday in a gap between deliveries of furniture and other household goods, and before you came back from wherever you’d been.’

  ‘I’d been to Spain for a fortnight with a friend for a much-needed break,’ she said coolly, ‘and hope to be on top form at the practice on Monday.’

  ‘Ah, yes,’ he said vaguely, as if he had only a faint recollection of the place. ‘Dad told me he plans to hand the practice over to you.’

  ‘Yes. I’m delighted to have his trust. I think I love that place almost as much as he does. I couldn’t bear to see it close down with his retirement and said as much to him.’

  ‘So you’ll be a doctor short now that Dad’s gone,’ he commented as she fumbled around in her handbag for the door keys.

  ‘Yes. John and I have seen one or two hopefuls, but he was strangely reluctant to make a decision and now I see why. He’s been waiting for you to come home.’

  He nodded. ‘Possibly, but Dad has only just found out about Toby and now realises that it wouldn’t work. I need to be there to see him into school in the morning and to be waiting when he comes out in the afternoon.’

  ‘Part time?’

  ‘Yes, unless I was to employ a nanny, but he has had enough changes to put up with already without my putting him in the charge of a stranger.’

  She had the keys in her hand now, but before putting them in the lock had one thing to say that hopefully would end this strange moment.

  ‘Your father might want you back in the practice, Nathan, but I’m not sure that I do. I have my life planned and it doesn’t include working with you. At the moment the doctors in the practice are myself and Hugo Lawrence, who came to us from general practice in Bournemouth to be where he could give support to his sister and her children. She was widowed some time ago and isn’t coping very well.

  ‘There are three nurses, three part-time receptionists and Gordon Jessup is still practice manager from when you were there before, and with a district nurse and a midwife attached to the surgery we have an excellent team with just one more doctor needed to make it complete. I’m not enjoying the interview process much—it’s not really my area of expertise. Also it’s proving difficult to fill the vacancy. We face stiff competition from urban practices, lots of younger doctors seem put off by the remoteness of the community, but we don’t want anyone too near retirement either. The patients and the practice need stability. I’ve already heard a few rumblings from those concerned about your father’s departure.’

  ‘But you don’t want me?’

  ‘No, not particularly, but as the senior partner I suppose I should forget personal feelings and consider the best interests of the patients. They would most likely be thrilled to see the Gallagher name remain above the threshold. And I suppose you working part time might work very well for us—it wasn’t something I’d considered before.’ In a voice that sounded as if she was reciting her own epitaph she went on, ‘So, yes, if that is what you want, come and join us.’

  ‘Thanks a bunch,’ he said with a quizzical smile, knowing she felt he deserved her lack of enthusiasm. Though would Libby still feel the same if she knew about his last-minute attempt to speak to her before her wedding? But no way was he going to use that to turn her round to his way of thinking.

  Apart from the practice, which she would serve well as head, there must be little for her to rejoice about in any other sphere of her life now that Jefferson was gone.

  He hadn’t been expecting a fanfare of trumpets on his return to Swallowbrook, or Libby throwing herself into his arms, but he had been hoping she might have forgiven him for what he’d said in those moments of parting long ago.

  It had been partly for Toby’s sake that he’d come back to Swallowbrook, but always there had been the hope that one day he and Libby might meet again and a chance to make up for the past would present itse
lf.

  ‘Do you want to come to the practice on Monday morning to discuss your hours? I could make sure I’m free at ten o’clock,’ she was suggesting.

  ‘Yes, please.’

  He’d said it meekly but the glint in the dark eyes looking into hers said differently.

  He hasn’t changed, she thought. Nathan Gallagher is still a law unto himself. She put her key in the lock and told him, ‘So ten o’clock on Monday it is.’

  Bending, she planted a swift kiss on Toby’s smooth cheek and said in gentle contrast to the businesslike tone she’d used to Nathan, ‘We have a lovely school here, Toby, I’m sure you’ll like it.’

  He was a wiry child with a mop of fair curls, and so far hadn’t said a word to her, but that was about to change.

  ‘Are you my uncle’s friend?’ he asked.

  Aware of Nathan’s gaze on her, she said carefully, ‘No, I am just someone he used to work with.’

  Having satisfied himself on that, Toby had another question that was more personal.

  ‘Have you got any children?’

  ‘No, I’m afraid not.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I have never found anyone nice enough to be their daddy,’ she told him.

  ‘So why—?’ The small questioner hadn’t finished, but didn’t get the chance to continue the interrogation as Nathan was taking his hand and preparing to depart.

  ‘Say goodbye to Dr Hamilton,’ he said, and with half a smile for her, ‘Until Monday, then, at ten o’clock, Libby.’

  She nodded, and with sanctuary beckoning opened the door and went inside.

  It seemed as if Sunday was going to be a non-event day and Libby was thankful for it. While she was having breakfast she saw Nathan and Toby go down the drive and get into the car with fishing rods and surmised they were going to spend some time with his father at the pine lodge he’d recently moved into.

  When they’d gone she did what she’d been doing ever since their discussion about Nathan coming back into the practice, which was wishing she hadn’t been so overbearing in her manner.