A Single Dad at Heathermere Read online

  When Jon came back with the coffee she said impulsively, ‘I don’t want to make a nuisance of myself, Jon. I can see that you have your life mapped out and we don’t owe each other anything, do we?’

  He was frowning. ‘No. I don’t suppose we do. But I feel that you’ve had it rough over recent years. For the sake of old times I’m doing what I can to help, and once again can I say feel free to ask if there is anything else that I can do for you.’

  I won’t be doing that, she wanted to tell him. He’d already found her a job and somewhere to live, freeing her from worry on both matters, but she hadn’t come back as a charity case.

  They didn’t stay long. It was Liam’s bedtime as she’d said, but their departure was more because being with Jon in a domestic setting wasn’t easy to cope with. There was an atmosphere of relaxed living in his mother’s attractive house that would make returning to the gloomy property that had been her father’s even less welcoming.

  As they walked the short distance between the two houses, Laura told herself that soon they would be out of there. A new future was opening out before them and it was all due to the man who had once held her heart in uncaring hands and was now making amends, quite unaware of how much he still meant to her.

  Freddie had known that she’d once had a crush on Jon. When he’d asked her to marry him she’d told him that Jon was in the past and had meant it, and their marriage had been good. For one thing Liam had been born of it, but sadly Freddie hadn’t lived to see him grow up and there would always be sadness in her when she thought about that.

  When Liam was asleep she went upstairs and stood looking through the bedroom window. The village green wasn’t far away. She could see fat ducks waddling beside a pool where waterlilies floated, and there was a heron standing unmoving beside a young willow tree.

  Beyond it she could see the roof of the house that she’d visited earlier among the trees, and thinking back to those moments with Jon, it had seemed as if he was living a contented bachelor sort of life with Abby.

  It was incredible that he hadn’t found someone else while she’d been gone. Had he had any relationships since his affair with Kezia had foundered? she wondered. It would be surprising if he hadn’t. He had the looks, the job—and a ready-made family, which could create a problem for some, she supposed.

  But with a lifting of her spirits she thought that life was going to be good from now on. Working beside him, doing the job she loved and watching Liam grow up in the place where she’d spent her own young life would be joys she hadn’t expected to find when she’d come back because of her father’s accident.

  There wasn’t any problem getting Liam accepted into the school and sorting out his uniform, and once that was done she did as Jon had suggested and called in at the surgery to view the apartment and meet the staff.

  They hadn’t been in contact since the night she’d gone to tell him that she was staying. She’d seen him driving around the village on his house calls and he’d smiled, waved at her briefly and gone on his way.

  She visited the surgery in the middle of the afternoon, knowing from experience that it was usually a quiet time, and found it to be so. There were a few patients in the waiting room, booked in for the later surgery of the day, but it would be nothing like the morning’s surgery.

  A middle-aged receptionist behind the desk smiled when she saw Liam looking longingly at the children’s corner and asked, ‘Can I help you?’

  Laura nodded. It felt good to be back on surgery premises, if only briefly.

  ‘My name is Laura Cavendish,’ she told her. ‘I’m going to be joining the practice soon as a part-time doctor. Jon Emmerson suggested that I come in and introduce myself.’

  The woman’s smile deepened. ‘Really? This is a surprise.’ She held out a neatly manicured hand. ‘I’m Denise Dobson. There are three of us in Reception and we do part-time hours, too. Then there are the practice nurses, Kathy and Melanie. Alison Arkwright is the practice manager, and Tim Gosforth, the junior partner.’

  ‘Did I hear my name mentioned?’ a voice asked from behind as the door swung open and when Laura turned a youngish man with a shock of russet hair was looking at them enquiringly.

  ‘I’m here to introduce myself,’ Laura said again. ‘I’m joining the practice on a part-time basis.’

  ‘Ah, you must be Laura,’ he said. ‘Jon mentioned you only this morning.’

  He flashed her a friendly smile. ‘It will be good to have you with us. I’m Tim Gosforth, as you will have guessed.’

  ‘Laura Cavendish,’ she informed him as they shook hands. ‘I’ve just moved back into the village. I needed employment and Jon offered me the position.’

  While they’d been speaking Liam had let go of his mother’s hand and was happily amusing himself on a wooden rocking horse.

  ‘Is the youngster yours?’ Tim asked.

  ‘Yes. His name is Liam.’

  ‘He’s a bonny lad.’

  Laura smiled. ‘I’m not going to disagree with that,’ she told him.

  The door opened again and Jon came in from the street. ‘So you are doing as I suggested,’ he said approvingly. ‘Getting to know us before you start. Who have you met so far, Laura?’

  ‘Just Denise and Tim,’ she told him with a faster-beating heart.

  ‘I would have introduced you to everyone myself. But as both Tim and I have been called out on emergency visits and there are patients waiting to be seen, I’ll get Kathy, one of the practice nurses, to take over. She’s free at the moment, and Denise can keep an eye on Liam for you. When you’ve done the rounds I’ll show you the apartment. OK?’

  They seemed a friendly enough lot, Laura thought when she’d been introduced to everyone. Except for when she’d shaken hands with Alison Arkwright, the practice manager, and she’d said, ‘Aren’t you Harry Hewitt’s daughter? I’ve seen you going to and from his house, yet I’ve never seen you around before. It was sad what happened to him.’

  There was a hint of reproof in the comment and Laura thought that someone had her down for a negligent daughter. Unloved would be a better description, but her affairs were hers alone. If she’d already been coupled with her father, at least no one at the practice seemed to be aware of her past connections with Jon.

  When she went back to Reception the waiting room was empty and when she knocked on Jon’s door he called out, ‘Come in, Laura, and take a seat.’

  He smiled as she lowered herself into the chair at the other side of his desk, and said, ‘We need to discuss your hours.’

  She nodded.

  ‘The surgery opens at eight-thirty each morning. The staff usually arrive any time between eight and half past. I realise that could be awkward for you, so suggest that your hours should be from nine o’clock in the morning to half past three in the afternoon when the primary school children come out. What do you think?’

  ‘That would be fine. It’s good of you to fit in with my responsibilities to Liam.’

  He shrugged. ‘Surely it doesn’t surprise you. I have a child of my own, don’t forget.’

  ‘No. It doesn’t surprise me at all,’ she said quietly. ‘Thank you, Jon.’

  ‘Don’t mention it,’ he said, and got to his feet. ‘So we will see you at nine o’clock on Monday morning, yes?’

  He was obviously not intending to waste too much time on her, she thought, and rose to face him.

  ‘Yes, you will. Shall we go and see the flat now?’ she asked, and went to persuade a reluctant Liam to get off the rocking horse.

  The flat above the surgery was spacious and nicely furnished with two bedrooms, sitting room, bathroom and a small kitchen.

  Jon had been watching her expression as she’d looked around and now he asked, ‘So, what do you think?’

  ‘It’s fine,’ she said blithely. ‘After my dad’s place it’s a palace.’

  ‘So that’s sorted, then. It will be just a matter of transferring your personal things. But what about your furnitur
e in the house in Cornwall?’

  ‘James Penrose is buying my house furnished, so there’s no problem there.’

  When she’d gone Jon sat gazing thoughtfully into space. Laura had questioned whether he was going to regret having her around him in such close proximity and he wondered what had brought that on.

  It was good to have her back in the village again. Yet too much water had flowed under the bridge for things to ever be as they once had been. When he’d seen her standing on the back step of that ghastly house of her father’s and discovered that she was a single parent like himself, he’d wanted to weep for all the lost years of their friendship.

  Why hadn’t she come back when she’d lost Freddie? he wondered, and knew the answer even as he asked himself the question. What had there been for her to come back to? As far as he was concerned he’d blown it after the way he’d forgotten her at university, and her father wouldn’t have been pleased to have her back with the added encumbrance of a baby. It was no wonder she’d stayed put.

  He’d made his impulsive job offer for two reasons—firstly because it had seemed like common sense when they needed some extra help at the surgery and Laura would have to earn a living in some way that would fit in with caring for Liam, and secondly because it would be good having her back in Heathermere once more.

  If Laura had wanted to arrive at the practice on the Monday morning looking calm and elegant, it was not to be. Since she’d returned to the village Jon had only seen her in old cotton tops and jeans or shorts. So today she wanted to make a statement, wanted to let him see that she could look good when she made the effort.

  In a smart navy suit with a white shirt, sheer stockings and moderately high-heeled shoes, she was calm and composed until Liam burst into tears at the door of the classroom and refused to go inside.

  She was dismayed at his distress and as she tried to reassure him that there was nothing to be afraid of, Laura thought he’d been so good since she’d brought him to Heathermere, maybe Liam was entitled to a moment of protest.

  His teacher was sympathetic. ‘Don’t cry, Liam,’ she coaxed, and added in an aside to Laura, ‘Those who are apprehensive usually settle down once their mums have gone. If your little one doesn’t, I’ll give you a ring, but I’m sure he will be all right.’

  ‘We’ve been living in Cornwall,’ Laura told her, ‘and have come back to where I was brought up. So Liam is having an unsettling time. He isn’t usually like this.’

  ‘That makes it perfectly understandable,’ the teacher said, and taking him by the hand she led him gently inside, motioning for Laura to go as she did so.

  Once out of sight it was her turn to weep and when she arrived at the practice for a briefing from Jon before she started work, her eyes were red-rimmed and there was a wet patch on the front of her shirt from Liam’s tears.

  ‘What’s wrong, Laura?’ Jon asked immediately.

  She gave a rueful smile. ‘Liam began to cry when we arrived at the school and I wasn’t expecting it. He’s not usually weepy, but of course it is a big thing for any child, their first day at school, and I have uprooted him from the only place he’s ever known. He went in all right eventually with a very nice teacher and then it was my turn to get upset.’ She looked down at the sodden handkerchief that she was holding in her hand. ‘I’m sorry to turn up in such a state on my first morning here.’

  ‘Don’t apologise for caring,’ he said, resisting the urge to reach out for her and offer the comfort of his arms. ‘Go and have a cup of tea before you get bogged down with patients, and I’ll see you when you’ve calmed down.’

  She shook her head. ‘I’m all right, Jon, thanks. I’m better being occupied, and I am here to work.’

  Monday morning at any practice was one of the busiest times of the week, with the regulars and those who’d succumbed to some kind of health problem over the weekend adding to their numbers.

  ‘All right. Whatever you say,’ he agreed. ‘It should have occurred to me to ask Abby to look out for Liam in the playground. Is he having school dinners?’

  ‘Yes, and, please, don’t cause Abby any embarrassment in front of her friends. I feel that we are causing enough disruption in your lives already. What does your mother think about me joining the practice?’

  ‘She thinks it’s a good idea.’ He opened the door next to his. ‘This will be your room, Laura. We’ve arranged a few consultations for you and once the waiting room is clear, I’ll take you with me on my house calls.’

  Laura followed him in and looked appreciatively around her new practice room. It was light and airy, with some well-tended plants on the windowsill.

  ‘I’ll show you the basics so you’ll have got the hang of it before you start,’ Jon said. ‘By the time we get back from the house calls, it’ll almost be time for you to pick Liam up.’ He smiled at the anxiety that flitted across her face. ‘I’m sure he’ll have forgotten his upset of earlier, with all the new and exciting things that primary school children are involved in.’

  ‘I hope so,’ she said wryly, and went to settle herself behind the desk.

  Her first patient of the day turned out to be the most interesting. Jessica Dinsdale was a smart seventy-five-year-old who looked much younger than her age.

  Laura had brought herself up to date with the woman’s bulky records over many years before she’d called her in and had been astounded at the number of unpleasant ailments she’d triumphed over—two major heart operations, gall-bladder removal, a hysterectomy and various other problems.

  Today she had come with another serious health problem and was hardly coherent as she tried to explain what it was, because she couldn’t stop yawning.

  ‘I’ve had a stroke of some kind,’ Jessica Dinsdale said between yawns. ‘I was making a cup of tea late last night when the use went out of my left arm and leg. It only lasted a few moments but I was alarmed, and this morning I asked to see a doctor. Jon Emmerson was fully booked so they put me on your list.’

  Laura nodded. ‘I can understand you being alarmed, Mrs Dinsdale. Your records tell me that you’ve had a metal heart valve for almost thirty years and have been on warfarin all that time.’

  At the end of another massive yawn her patient said, ‘Call me Jessica, dear. Yes, that is so, and during all that time I’ve had to have my blood monitored to make sure that the warfarin isn’t making it too thin. The possibility of a stroke has always been on my mind and last evening it was even more so.’

  ‘How long have you been yawning in this manner?’

  ‘Ever since it happened.’

  When Laura sounded her heart, its beat was fast and irregular and Jessica asked, ‘Will it be the warfarin that has caused this?’

  Laura shook her head. ‘No. Not at all. Warfarin is a wonderful drug. Thirty years is a long time to have lived with a metal replacement valve, and I see that many years before you were given the valve you were operated on for mitral stenosis, a blockage of the mitral valve that was eventually replaced. What did they use in those days to clear that sort of blockage?’

  Jessica smiled. ‘The surgeon used his finger to widen it fifty years ago.’

  ‘Incredible! You’re an amazing woman to have survived all the major surgery you’ve had. I’m going to ring for an ambulance to come here and take you to hospital. After yesterday’s occurrence you need to be seen by someone in Neurology, who will probably send you for a CT scan.’

  ‘What about the yawning?’ Jessica asked. ‘I just can’t stop. It’s so embarrassing.’

  “I’ve done some specialising in neurology myself,’ Laura told her, ‘and there is an area at the bottom of the brain that controls yawning. It could be that you’ve had a small bleed there and that’s what is causing it. Do you drive?’

  ‘Yes. But I haven’t driven here. I walked.’

  ‘You should have asked for a visit,’ she chided gently, ‘and driving is out of the question for the time being, until they’ve sorted out what is going on inside your
head. Do you live alone?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Right. If you will take a seat in the waiting room the ambulance will be here shortly, and if you want to phone a relative the receptionist will sort that out for you.’

  As Jessica raised herself slowly off the chair Laura said, ‘One last question, and I hope you don’t mind my asking it. Are you Jessica Dinsdale, the crime writer?’

  The woman opposite smiled and nodded. ‘Yes, I am.’

  ‘I’m reading one of your books at the moment and enjoying it immensely.’

  ‘Thank you. I need something to cheer me up,’ Jessica said. ‘My latest book is out soon. I’ll let you have a signed copy if you like.’

  ‘That would be lovely,’ Laura told her. ‘I don’t get out much in the evenings as I have a young son, so I do quite a bit of reading.’

  During the morning she kept wondering how Liam was faring and when it was time for her to go with Jon on house calls he said, as if reading her mind, ‘We can drive past the school if you like. The children will have had their lunch by now and should be in the playground, so you might get a glimpse of Liam.’

  ‘But supposing he’s still upset,’ she said doubtfully. ‘It will be worse if he sees me, and I’ll be even more on edge.’

  ‘I’m sure that he’ll have settled in fine,’ he said, ‘and if that is the case, you’ll be able to relax until it’s time to pick him up. So shall we drive past slowly?’

  Laura nodded. She couldn’t say no to that, whatever might be the result.

  Tears were threatening again and she fought them back. Someone was looking after her, considering her feelings, understanding what it was like to be a single parent, and incredibly it was Jon, who she’d worshipped from a distance all that time ago.

  ‘There he is!’ he said as they drove past the school gates, and when she looked Laura could see Liam’s small fair head bobbing up and down as he chased around with the other children. And he wasn’t crying.

  ‘Do you feel better now?’ Jon asked as they drove on.