Christmas Magic in Heatherdale Read online

  ‘Yes, I suppose you’re right,’ he said absently, as Rhianna and Martha came running down the stairs at that moment, and as he hugged them to him the stranger next door was forgotten in the pleasure of the moment.

  * * *

  When Ryan had gone, Melissa sank down onto the bottom step of the stairs. The cooker and its requirements temporarily forgotten, she gazed into space.

  She wondered what Ryan did for a living. When she’d joined them for breakfast it had been plain to see that he was a loving father in the absence of a mother who wasn’t around any more, yet he would have to earn a living somehow or other.

  There was an air of authority about him that was noticeable and, much as she was not eager to be involved in the lives of those around her, she couldn’t help wondering about him.

  Still, there were more important priorities than getting to know the neighbours in this town, which would fit in a corner of Manchester. Such as turning her grandmother’s house into a home and finding a job. Dared she intrude on the man next door once again by asking him for information about the famous hospital that she would love to be part of, and the local job centre in that order, so that tomorrow she would have a head start on the employment scene? No sooner had the thought occurred to her than she was acting on it.

  Changing her working clothes for a stylish cashmere top, which belonged to happier days, and skinny jeans, Melissa was pressing his doorbell seconds later. When the door opened and he was framed there, looking not the least surprised, she said awkwardly, ‘I wondered if you might be able to tell me anything about Heatherdale Hospital? Also, can you let me know where the job centre is? I’m going to go looking for employment tomorrow.’

  ‘In that case, hadn’t you better come in?’

  She nodded awkwardly and stepped past him into the hall with its beautiful staircase, aware from the surprise in his glance that it was the first time he had seen her looking even the least bit attractive. As she waited for him to say something she felt herself reddening.

  ‘Are you aware that Heatherdale Hospital is for children only?’ he asked, breaking into the moment. ‘If you feel that you need some sort of hospital treatment, you will have to go to Manchester.’

  She was smiling. ‘I need the information about the hospital because I would just die for the chance to work there.’

  ‘Doing what?’ he asked, with raised brows.

  ‘I’ve got a degree in paediatrics. When I qualified in the summer I was offered a position at a big Manchester hospital and loved it, but that came to an end when my life fell apart. I had to resign because I intended to leave the area due to my family circumstances.’

  So that was what she’d meant when she’d said she had a job making sick children well again. At the time Ryan had wondered if she was employed by some sort of charity, but it seemed she was much more hands on than that, and incredibly he and Julian needed someone like her. Melissa Redmond might be heaven sent!

  Obviously he’d never seen her in action. The offer he was going to make her at this moment would be a temporary one until he had her measure, and aware that they were still standing in the hall as she had meant it to be just a brief call on her part, he said, ‘Come through to the sitting room, while I make my contribution to this night of surprises.’

  When they were seated with her eyes fixed on him questioningly he said, ‘How would you like to work with me at Heatherdale Children’s Hospital?’

  ‘What?’ she gasped. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘I’m the paediatric consultant for the neurology wards there and my assistant and I need another registrar to help with the workload. It would be on probationary terms at first but with the opportunity of permanency for the right person. What do you say? Do you want to give it a try?’

  ‘Of course I do!’ she breathed, her eyes shining. ‘I had no idea that was what you did for a living.’

  ‘I don’t mean to pry, Melissa, but can you tell me something about what brought you to Heatherdale? I need to know if it would have any effect on your work and position at the hospital.’

  She nodded mutely, took a deep breath. ‘My father died six months ago as a result of a road accident when he’d had quite a lot of alcohol. From having a life of luxury and pampering I became penniless because, unbeknown to me, he’d accumulated huge gambling debts over the last couple of years.

  ‘I was engaged to be married at the time and fully expected that my future husband would be there to support me as I dealt with bailiffs and demands for payment from those that my father owed money to, but I was mistaken.

  ‘My fiancé couldn’t break off the engagement fast enough, and once I’d paid all my father’s debts, which meant selling the fabulous house we’d lived in, all I could think of was leaving the area and finding a bolt hole, somewhere to lick my wounds. The only answer to that was my grandmother’s house, which is a far cry from the property I’d lived in before but is mine and isn’t tainted. So there you have it, a sorry story worthy of a reality TV show.’

  ‘Thanks for telling me,’ Ryan said. ‘We all have our nightmares to face at one time or another and you have certainly faced up to yours. Can you come to the hospital some time tomorrow and I’ll show you round and introduce you to people, including Personnel, who will need you to fill out endless forms.’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ she breathed. ‘Thank you for giving me the opportunity to get back into paediatrics. I love working with children and hope to have some of my own one day.’

  He nodded as the memory of Rhianna and Martha’s approval of their breakfast guest resurfaced. The stranger who had come to Heatherdale in the dark of a winter night would make some child a loving mother one day in every sense of the word, he imagined, just as Beth had been to their children.

  ‘What time do you want me to come to the hospital?’ she asked.

  ‘Some time in the afternoon when my clinics are over and I’m not in Theatre, around three—unless you have something else planned at that time?’

  ‘No, I haven’t,’ she told him firmly.

  She’d intended spending the afternoon looking for a washing machine that would fit in with her budget but that could wait, everything could wait. He was offering her the chance to be back where she wanted to be, and if Ryan Ferguson was willing to take a chance on her she was not going to disappoint him.

  Later that night, for the first time in months sleep came like a healing balm.

  * * *

  A wintry sun was shining overhead as Melissa drove to the famous children’s hospital the next afternoon, and although her mind was full of what lay ahead she couldn’t help but notice the beautiful architecture of some of the buildings she was passing.

  Maybe the market town of Heatherdale wasn’t going to be as dreary as she had expected it to be. Life was beginning to feel worth living again.

  Walking away from her parked car, she looked around her. The hospital was another apparently ageless building, built from the beautiful local stone that seemed to be everywhere she looked. She hoped that its interior would not lack the trappings of the latest in modern medicine for the sake of its young patients.

  There was no cause to be concerned about that. The inside was bright, cheerful and immaculate, with sunshine colours on the walls and lots of pictures of things that children would like.

  As she followed the directions to the neuro wards Melissa’s heart was beating faster. She was on home ground, within reach of being back on the job she loved once again.

  She found Ryan at the bedside of a small girl, who had been brought in by an ambulance with sirens wailing, with what might be meningitis. It was a road he’d been down more times than he could count and it was never any less horrendous to have to tell a family that one of their little ones had succumbed to the dreadful illness.

  There was a fellow doctor standing beside him, but his presence barely registered. Melissa’s glance was fixed on the man who in a short space of time had brought some zest into her life. No
t only had Ryan taken her in out of the cold that first night but he was going to be the means of finding her employment in the very place where she wanted to be.

  He glanced up then, saw her standing in the doorway, and sent his assistant over to suggest that she join them as an observer of the emergency. With her adrenaline quickening, she was beside him in a flash.

  ‘It seemed that the child had become very drowsy during the lunch hour. It had been then that her parents had noticed the tell-tale rash and it had become panic stations. While the ambulance had been speeding to the hospital the little girl had lapsed into unconsciousness.’

  Ryan turned to the anxious couple at the other side of the bed and began to explain what would happen to their daughter next—blood tests and a lumbar puncture to test for bacterial meningitis.

  When the parents and their sick little one had been taken with all speed for the tests, Ryan’s colleague asked. ‘So, are you going to introduce me, Ryan?’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ he said. ‘Julian, meet my new neighbour, Melissa Redmond, recently employed in paediatrics in the Manchester area and now about to join us here on a probationary basis with a view to a permanent position. Melissa, this is Julian Tindall.’

  Ryan noticed that she was looking a different person altogether today, dressed in smart clothes and with her hair and make-up perfect. She was quite beautiful in a restrained sort of way.

  As Melissa shook hands with Julian she was aware of him sizing her up and immediately had him pegged as an attractive, dark-eyed flirt.

  ‘So when do you want to start?’ Ryan asked, ‘Tomorrow perhaps?’

  ‘Er, yes, if that’s all right with you.’

  ‘Certainly, if you’re available,’ he replied.

  She had never felt more ‘available’ in her life. He knew she was out on a limb here in Heatherdale, that apart from getting her house in order there was no one who cared a jot about her. Why wait to begin this job of a lifetime?

  Melissa wished that there was someone to share her good news with, but the days were gone when she’d had a loving father, an attentive fiancé, and lots of friends to communicate with.

  Her glance rested briefly on the house next door where she’d been welcomed into the home of a stranger and had been reluctant to accept his hospitality on a dark and lonely night. Ryan Ferguson must have thought her some sort of ungracious oddball.

  The lights were on, which was not surprising as his children would be home from school by now and being looked after by his housekeeper. Melissa wondered again what had happened to their mother.

  Whatever it was, the two of them had seemed happy enough until they’d discovered she was coming to live next door. Then had come the protest about it being haunted and she’d tried not to smile at their childish imaginings.

  As afternoon turned into evening she saw there was no car outside so obviously Ryan wasn’t home yet, and as she began to prepare a snack sort of meal, which was becoming the norm since life had become so drab and disillusioning, she hugged herself at the thought of tomorrow.

  * * *

  Ryan had phoned home to tell Mollie he would be late due to a seriously ill child with bacterial meningitis that he wanted to try to get stabilised before he left her in the care of the night staff.

  It wasn’t the first time he’d been late home because of his job and it wouldn’t be the last, and on such occasions he was very grateful for Mollie’s presence in their lives. She lived alone just down the road from them, having lost her husband from heart failure some years previously and was happy to be of use to him and his children to such an extent.

  The girls were in bed by the time he arrived and after a brief chat and a cuddle he left them sleepy and contented to go downstairs to have the meal that Mollie had kept warm for him.

  She wished that his life was less stressful, but knew it had been his choice to parent single-handedly after his wife’s death. She admired him for the way he cared for his children. Yet she couldn’t help wishing that someone would come along who would make Ryan realise what he was missing, that Beth would not have wanted him to be alone for the rest of his life, always involved with work or family when it came to the social life of the town and its hospital.

  ‘I’ve found a new registrar to lighten our load at the hospital,’ he told her as she placed the food in front of him.

  ‘That’s good!’ she exclaimed. ‘Another man, is it?’

  ‘No, it’s a woman. Actually, someone you know.’

  ‘That I know?’

  ‘Yes, it’s Melissa from next door. She has a degree in paediatrics and she joins us tomorrow. What do you think of that?’

  ‘I’m amazed, but what a good thing for both of you that she has found employment so quickly and that your stresses will be lighter. It’s as if her coming to live in Heatherdale was meant to be.’

  Ryan smiled. ‘Don’t get too carried away, Mollie. I only found out about her qualifications last night and offered her the job on condition that she fits the bill, so it will be probationary to begin with.’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ Mollie agreed, thankful that something was going right for him for once.

  * * *

  The blood tests and lumbar puncture had shown that little Georgia had indeed got bacterial meningitis and he’d explained to her distraught parents that she was going to be given large doses of antibiotics that he’d arranged for her to have intravenously in the hope of preventing the dreaded illness increasing its hold on her.

  When he’d eventually left the hospital it had been with the determination to ring the ward later for a report on her progress as the next few hours would be crucial.

  The answer was what he’d hoped for when he did. His small patient was regaining consciousness and her horrendously high temperature was coming down, so with Mollie having returned home and Rhianna and Martha asleep, Ryan decided to spend the rest of the evening with a medical journal that had been languishing on the back seat of his car for a few days.

  When he went out to get it he saw that the house next door was in darkness and he observed it thoughtfully. What was the bet that Melissa was having an early night so that she would be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow?

  He supposed it could be said that it hadn’t been a good idea to offer her a job working with him most of the time, but discovering that she was in paediatrics had been too good a chance to miss in his busy working life. He went back into the house in a thoughtful mood and with the feeling that maybe he needed to cool it where she was concerned.

  It was an eight o’clock start for day staff on the wards and the next morning Melissa watched as Ryan kissed his children goodbye with Mollie in attendance, and drove off.

  As the taillights of his car disappeared she followed him at a distance, having no wish to be on the last minute on her first day at the hospital.

  Today could or could not be the beginning of a new life. A life on a lower level than before maybe, when the envious had called her ‘golden girl’, but at least she would have some dignity, wouldn’t be an object of pity or sly smirks.

  In the short time that she’d been in the house she had been aware that something strange was happening. The children next door had said it was haunted and she wasn’t going to go along with that, but one thing she did feel was that the grandmother she had never really known was somewhere near, content that the one person she had always wanted to live in her house had arrived.

  Miserable and lonely she may be, but she was there in the house that had been bequeathed to her all those years ago because the old lady had foreseen what the future might hold for her pleasure-loving son’s child. Today Melissa was about to take the first step towards becoming a working member of the community.

  CHAPTER THREE

  RYAN HAD SEEN Melissa arrive from the window of his office, which overlooked the car park. She was so different from the woman he had been confronted with just a couple of nights ago, it was unbelievable. Her hair, her clothes, the newfound
calm had altered her totally.

  She was still the stranger who had erupted into his life from nowhere but she was no longer nondescript. Yesterday, when she’d come to the hospital to have a look round and meet Julian and any of the nurses who were present, he’d thought that she was beautiful and still did. Not in a voluptuous sort of way but fine-boned and slender.

  Still, there was the promise he had made to himself to cool it with regard to Melissa Redmond. The absence of a woman in his life in the true sense meant that never again would there be the agony of loss such as he’d suffered when he’d lost Beth.

  With that in mind he wished Melissa a cool good morning when they met at the entrance to the wards and suggested that she find herself a white hospital coat.

  ‘I’ve brought one with me from my last job,’ she told him, and wondered who had rubbed Ryan up the wrong way so early in the day.

  It wasn’t likely to be Julian as so far there was no sign of him having arrived, though on the other hand that might be the reason for Ryan’s abrupt manner. Whatever it was, she was determined that nothing was going to blight this day of all days.

  Julian came strolling down the corridor towards them at that moment and she flashed him a smile, and after putting on the white hospital coat followed them into the ward.

  ‘I’d like you to do the ward rounds with Julian today,’ Ryan told her. ‘Watch and learn and you’ll soon get the hang of things. Little Georgia is in one of the side wards where she is making a good recovery, and her parents are with her most of the time.

  ‘We also have a ten-year-old boy with us who is a new admission. He suffered a head injury when he fell off his bike. It’s quite serious, but at the moment does not require surgery.’

  Then Ryan looked straight at Melissa.

  ‘Some time this afternoon I’d like a brief word with you. In the meantime, when the two of you have finished rounds, Julian will direct you to Personnel so that you can get the processing of a new employee over and done with.’

  ‘Yes, fine,’ she said, having decided that she was being given the hint that being neighbours didn’t mean any special treatment. As if she would expect anything of that kind.