‘What are you looking like that for, Felicity? It was you that said maybe you’d come to the right place, because you found out I used to teach dance. It was also your idea that I should be getting some exercise and I’d rather be walking around in the ballroom than outside, getting rained on and dirty shoes.’
‘I...um...guess it might be a useful thing to know how to do.’
‘It’s more than useful. It’s simply good manners, as far as I’m concerned. Like knowing how to eat your soup correctly.’
The look Flick had sent in Lachlan’s direction at that point had been priceless. She might as well have had a bubble over her head like a cartoon character, saying ‘There’s a correct way to eat soup?’
Oh, yeah... They needed to have Felicity Stephens in that house. It was coming back to life. No... Lachlan couldn’t remember it ever having the kind of life that seemed to be taking hold now. The kind that made him wish he’d already completed his afternoon appointment so that he could be heading home right now. Who knew—maybe Flick would encourage his mother to embrace life the way she did herself? To find some happiness, even?
Maybe the suggestion of getting another dog was worth thinking about as well? And if anyone could persuade his mother to take on a challenge like training a new pup, it would be Flick. After all, she’d practically goaded Lady Josephine into giving her dance lessons, hadn’t she, and broken the barrier that had kept the older woman in her personal suite of rooms for months.
Lachlan’s breath came out in a huff of laughter. How many times had she trodden on his mother’s toes already?
No wonder London Locums considered her to be one of their best. Flick was more than simply an excellent nurse, she was capable of not only dealing with difficult patients but making real progress with their health issues. And she was absolutely professional at all times.
Well...almost all times. Perhaps dancing with your employer might be considered less than entirely professional but it wasn’t as if she’d kissed him. She knew as well as he did that it would be crossing an unacceptable line.
What would his preferred choice really be, Lachlan mused as he turned off the motorway and took the route his sat nav was advising to get to Gloucester General Hospital—to keep Flick as a professional medical carer for his mother? Or to be free to kiss her senseless?
His sigh was resigned as he completed his journey and had to leave the cocoon of this glorious car and get back to the real world. He would choose both, of course, but, sadly, that wasn’t an option.
‘Hi,’ he heard someone call. ‘What are you doing out here?’
Lachlan was turning, his key in his hand so that he could press the control and double-check he’d locked his car. When he turned back, he couldn’t see who the woman had been calling to and, oddly, she seemed to be looking at him. Was this going to turn into another one of those weird encounters like the ones he’d had in Cheltenham Central’s emergency department the other evening?
‘Hey... Josh...?’
Apparently it was.
‘Oi!’ the woman was shouting now. ‘What’s going on, Josh? Are you seriously just going to walk away from me?’
That did it. He’d had enough. He stopped and turned.
‘What is it with people calling me Josh?’ he demanded. ‘It seems to happen everywhere I go around here. And who the hell are you?’
A very attractive woman, he realised as he spoke. She had wildly curly auburn hair and dark eyes and she looked...well, about as feisty as Flick. But she was nothing like Flick, really, so noting her attraction was purely academic.
‘My name’s Stevie,’ she told him. ‘And I’m sorry I shouted at you like that but...but you look incredibly like a friend of mine. Someone who works here. I...thought he was ignoring me.’
‘Ah...’ Lachlan managed to find a hopefully polite smile. ‘And this friend is called Josh, I take it?’
‘Yes...’
‘I’m Lachlan,’ he said. ‘Lachlan McKendry. If you work here, perhaps you can help? I’m heading for a meeting in the paediatric department.’
‘Oh...of course. I’ve heard about you. You’re the famous plastic surgeon.’
A random nurse in the car park knowing who he was was almost as disconcerting as being called by the wrong name. He didn’t have the time to waste on something that was making the hairs prickle on the back of his neck, anyway. He turned towards the hospital buildings again.
‘Wait...’ Stevie sounded hesitant. ‘I know this might sound totally crazy but...are you, by any chance, adopted?’
Lachlan could feel his jaw sagging. This was just getting weirder. ‘Not that it’s any of your business,’ he said slowly. ‘But, no, I’m not.’
‘Sorry...it’s just that you look so much like Josh, you could be brothers. Twins, even.’
That made him laugh but then he shook his head. ‘Sounds like the stuff of fairy tales. If you’ll excuse me, I don’t want to be late for my meeting.’
‘I know exactly where you need to be,’ Stevie said. ‘Follow me.’
She led him rapidly through hospital corridors and up flights of stairs but when she finally opened a door and held it for him, he found himself somewhere he couldn’t have dreamed of expecting. He was on the roof of the hospital. This was getting beyond weird.
‘What’s going on...?’
‘Wait here.’ Stevie’s voice suggested he would be wise to do what he was told. ‘Trust me, please...there’s someone you have to meet before you do anything else. He’s the head of the paediatric department so it’s who you’ve come here to see anyway, but...’ She shook her head as though it was going to take too much time to explain. ‘I’ll be back in a few minutes and then you’ll understand why this is so important.’
He could have simply ignored her instruction, followed her back into the stairwell and found his own way to the paediatric department but...there was something in her tone and body language that made him feel curiously on edge. As if something major was about to happen in his life. If nothing else, a few minutes in the fresh air might let him regain his balance and, as far as hospital roofs went, this was an interesting place. It seemed to have been taken over by raised garden beds that looked like they were full of vegetables. Some of the planters had sizeable trees in them and there were seats dotted around, giving the impression that this might be a place that hospital staff came for some time out. To have lunch, maybe?
He was still admiring the layout when Stevie reappeared with someone following her.
That was when weird became spooky.
Lachlan was watching a mirror image of himself walking towards him. Same height. Same hair. Same nose...
‘Josh?’ Stevie was looking up at her companion. ‘This is Lachlan McKendry. Lachlan, this is Josh Stanmore. Um... I thought it might be a good idea if you two had a bit of time before your meeting.’
Lachlan couldn’t say anything. Neither, apparently, could Josh, until he responded to Stevie asking whether he wanted her to stay. Seconds later, they were alone, still staring at each other, and Lachlan had the impression that Josh knew exactly how he was feeling. That maybe his world was spinning off its axis enough to make him feel that he was about to fall.
‘Come...let’s sit down.’
They went to one of the wooden benches between the gardens, sat down and then stared at each other again. As strangers, it should have been incredibly rude. Instead, it felt as natural as breathing.
‘Where were you born?’ Josh asked.
‘Cheltenham.’
‘Me, too. When?’
Lachlan named the year and month and day of his birth and watched colour drain from Josh’s face. His words were no more than a whisper.
‘Same...’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘I think I might.’ Josh closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ‘I’m adopted.
’
‘But I’m not.’ Lachlan shook his head. ‘Why would my mother have given one of her babies up for adoption? My father told me once that they’d been trying to have a baby for years. That he was the happiest man in the world to finally have a son and heir. My mother would have done anything to keep him happy and surely giving him two sons would have been even better?’ His head was spinning even faster now. ‘The only way it could make sense was if she didn’t know.’
Josh frowned. ‘I don’t understand. How could she not know she was pregnant with twins? They had pre-natal medicine and ultrasound back then.’
‘Maybe she was told one of her twins had died. Maybe somebody stole you.’
Lachlan knew he was staring again but this was beyond huge. He had a brother. He could have had a companion for the whole of that long and lonely childhood. Someone to share the fear of being sent away to boarding school. Someone to help him build those secret places in the woods. Someone who could have made everything so much better. He had a lump in his throat that was impossible to swallow and his voice was raw.
‘I’ll find out,’ he promised. He pulled his phone from his pocket. ‘Give me your number and I’ll get in touch as soon as I can.’
‘Let’s meet again.’ Josh nodded. ‘But not here. I’ll give you my address as well. This is going to break the hospital grapevine as far as gossip goes so we’ll need to decide how we’re going to handle it.’
‘But we have a meeting.’ Lachlan checked his watch. ‘It should have started five minutes ago.’
‘I’ll go and postpone it. Toby’s surgery isn’t urgent and I doubt that either of us would be able to focus right now so it would be a complete waste of time for everybody involved.’
It took only a minute to exchange details.
‘Can you find your own way out?’ Josh asked. ‘It might be better if we’re not seen together yet.’
‘Agreed. It was lucky your girlfriend found me in the car park and brought me up here.’
‘Stevie’s just a good friend,’ Josh said. ‘But you’re right. She’s bought us some private time to get a handle on this and find out what actually happened. I guess your mother might be the only one who knows the truth.’
Lachlan could hear the grim note in his own voice. ‘We’ll soon find out.’
* * *
‘One-forty over ninety.’ Flick removed the earpieces of her stethoscope and hooked it around her neck. ‘That’s not bad, Lady Josephine. Your GP will be pleased to hear that your blood pressure’s down a bit. Now, it’s nearly time to check your blood sugar and—’
The interruption as the door of the sitting room burst open without warning gave both women a fright. Flick’s immediate concern was for her patient’s blood pressure but then she turned towards the door and that changed into concern for Lachlan.
He looked nothing like the confident man who was in control of his world that she’d met on the doorstep when she’d arrived at this house but it wasn’t that she was getting a glimpse of the man who was hidden beneath that image. Or maybe she was. This was Lachlan upset. Thrown off balance for some reason and...angry? His words were measured but, yes...they were coming from a place that was raw.
‘I want...the truth...’
It was probably only Flick who could hear the raggedness of the breath that Lady Josephine sucked in. It was hardly surprising that the automatic defence of being acerbic was used.
‘What on earth are you talking about, Lachlan? And what do you think you’re doing, coming in here without being polite enough to even knock? The truth about what, exactly?’
‘About why you let someone steal my brother.’
It was Flick who gasped this time. The other two people in the room were completely silent as they stared at each other. She shouldn’t be here, Flick thought, in the middle of what was obviously a private family matter. But what if emotional stress was enough to bring on an asthma or angina attack for the woman whose health was her responsibility?
‘Or was it something more than that?’ Lachlan broke the silence. ‘Did you give one of your babies away because you didn’t want twins? Put him up for adoption?’
‘Go away, Lachlan. I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘I should go...’ Flick said quietly.
‘Stay where you are,’ Lady Josephine ordered. ‘And find my spray.’ She put her hand on the middle of her chest as if she could feel pain.
If she was, it wasn’t about to distract Lachlan.
‘I met him today,’ he said.
Flick could see the muscles in his neck move as he swallowed hard and she realised that Lady Josephine wasn’t the only person she was worried about here. Lachlan was grappling with something so huge he was having trouble finding where to start. She wanted to go and stand beside him and offer support.
To hold his hand...?
‘His name’s Josh Stanmore,’ Lachlan continued. ‘Born in Cheltenham. On exactly the same day as me, but even before he told me that, there was no mistaking that we were twins. Probably identical twins. It was like...like meeting myself...’
No wonder he was looking so shocked, Flick thought. Her gaze sought the small red cannister that held the GTN spray, in case Lady Josephine’s chest pain was genuine. It was on the medication tray beside the asthma inhaler.
‘He told me he was adopted,’ Lachlan added. ‘But he’d never known he had a twin.’
‘You can’t blame me,’ Lady Josephine snapped. ‘I wasn’t told it was twins.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ Lachlan said. ‘You must have known you were pregnant with more than one baby.’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, Lachlan. You’re being dense.’ His mother looked away, as if the view outside was of more interest. ‘I was never pregnant. You were also adopted.’
The silence this time was so deep Flick felt like she was falling into it. How appalling was this? She knew how much Lachlan cared about his mother. And he was only now finding out that she wasn’t the woman who’d given birth to him? How much worse could this be?
Quite a lot, it seemed.
‘Even if I had known it was twins, I wouldn’t have taken you both.’ Lady Josephine’s voice rose. ‘I didn’t want one baby, let alone two. I only agreed to the adoption because I knew it was the only way to save my marriage. Your father wanted an heir much more than he wanted me.’
The sound Lady Josephine made as she dragged in a new breath could almost have been the start of a sob. It could also be the first sign of respiratory distress. Flick watched as another breath was taken, a shorter gasp this time, and she could definitely hear a wheezing sound. She stepped towards the tray and picked up the inhaler but her gaze shifted to Lachlan as she did so. She wanted him to know that she understood how awful this was for him to hear and that, if she didn’t feel so incredibly helpless, she would do whatever she could to try and ease his pain.
He caught her gaze but not for long enough for any silent message to be exchanged. He stared at his mother again and, for a horrible moment, he looked like a small boy who was fighting not to burst into tears and a piece of Flick’s heart broke at that point. She couldn’t do anything about it, however. Lady Josephine was definitely having trouble breathing now and she was reaching towards the inhaler Flick had in her hand. She shook the cannister, took the cap off and held it to the older woman’s lips.
‘Let all your breath out,’ she instructed. ‘I’ll press the button when you start breathing in.’
She didn’t see Lachlan leaving the room. She just heard the door slam shut behind him.
A minute later, though, she saw him again as a movement outside caught her peripheral vision. Lachlan was walking fast, heading towards the woodland that surrounded the garden. The squeeze on Flick’s heart made her aware of just how worried she was for him. How lonely was it going to be for him trying to
get his head around what he’d just learned?
But she had to turn back to the person she was employed to care for.
‘That sounds better,’ she said. ‘But try and slow your breathing down. Like this...’ She modelled taking a slow inward breath and then releasing it again. ‘I’ll count for you. Take a breath in—one...two...three... And now out again—one...two...three...’
Another glance through the window showed that Lachlan had vanished, presumably into the trees, and Flick’s heart sank a little further. It wasn’t that long before it would start getting dark, and he hadn’t even put a warm coat on...
CHAPTER SIX
‘HE’LL BE ALL RIGHT, lovey. He knows those woods like the back of his hand.’
‘But it’s dark. And cold.’
‘I know.’ Mrs Tillman wiped her hands on her apron as she sighed heavily. ‘Such goings on. This was never the happiest house but this...this feels very different.’ She headed back towards the oven. She was cooking Lachlan’s favourite dinner of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding because she’d told Flick she didn’t know what else she could do to try and help.
‘Did you know he was adopted?’ Flick asked.
Mrs Tillman shook her head. ‘He was a toddler when me and Jack started work here. Maybe two years old? He had a string of nannies. I think Lady J. found a reason to get rid of them as soon as she knew her husband had started sleeping with them.’
‘Oh, no...’
‘How is Her Ladyship now?’
‘She’s upset. It took a while to get her asthma under control but it was definitely an emotionally triggered attack. I think she’s telling the truth about not knowing that Lachlan was a twin but... I don’t know, it might have been better not to tell the truth about never wanting a child in the first place.’
‘Aye...’ Mrs Tillman sighed again. ‘I’ll take her up some dinner, though I don’t expect she’s hungry. Are you going to have something?’
‘Later. I’ll wait until Lachlan comes back. If he comes back...’
A Surgeon with a Secret Page 7