by K Leitch
He turned on Susan angrily pushing his face into hers so that she could see the madness and desperation in his eyes.
‘No you don’t understand sweetheart,’ he spat at her, ‘I don’t get my money and it’s going to be all over the newspapers, what you and your fat hubby did…ha! It’s a sort of poetic justice isn’t it really…yeh there’s a sort of weird symmetry to all of this don’t you think? Susan could only stare at him in horror as he walked to the front door; which was opened as he got near to it. Gordon and Hannah came in all smiles, although Gordon looked enquiringly at the stranger in his hall.
‘Well thank you Mrs Marshall, I’ll be in touch,’ the man said as he left with a smile for little Hannah.
‘Who was that?’ said Gordon to his wife, who was looking like she was about to throw up, ‘Not another of those bloody reporters again…I am going to call the police, this is getting ridiculous…’ he broke off as he got a good look at the terror on Susan’s face… ‘Suzy…what’s going on, if that reporter has been badgering you?’
‘No! It wasn’t a reporter…I’m afraid it was very much worse than that…oh god Gordon, I don’t know what we’re going to do…he could destroy everything…that was him…Declan I mean, that was Declan O’Shay!’
CHAPTER 34 - MAGGIE
Maggie made her way wearily from her car and took the now familiar route along the polished corridors and antiseptic scented stairways, to where her son still lay sleeping. It seemed like she lived at this place at the moment; everyday as soon as she could reasonably do so, she left her office and headed straight here to sit with Jed for a couple of hours. Only leaving when Greg was due to arrive. She felt it was better to avoid seeing him if possible, until she had time to really think about what he had said to her the other night before all the excitement. He hadn’t referred to it again, and Maggie was sure that now that some time had passed, he had thought better of it. He was probably relieved that his declaration of love had been overshadowed somewhat by the drama of that night, and was almost certainly hoping that Maggie had forgotten all about it.
The weird thing was that a few weeks ago she would have given anything to have heard him say those words to her, but now that he had, she just felt…well…nothing. Or rather she felt angry, very, very angry. He had torn their family apart with his affair; breaking her heart, breaking the boys hearts, all for nothing. Now, according to him he was on the verge of breaking another woman’s heart, another young boy’s heart…well she wanted no part of it. Much as she hated Misha, she would not sink to her level and break up a family…besides she found she didn’t want Greg anymore, he was just a fond memory from her past that she would always think of with love and affection, nothing more.
After the adrenalin rush of the other evening, Maggie had come down with an enormous bump. What with her hospital vigils and trying to get her head around seeing so much of Greg, she was really struggling to carry on. And worst of all was not having her fun loving Jed around to help cheer her up.
Jed had been put on Jessop ward; a smallish room which only had three other beds. It was normally a haven of quiet in a rather busy hospital; but this evening as she arrived for her visit, she became aware of a good deal of activity, particularly around the nurse’s station. Hetty and Frances, two of the regular nurses that Maggie had got to know during her many visits, seemed to be whizzing through the regular checks that they had to make on every patient. Blood pressure cuffs were being pumped up with extra ferocity and thermometers were being poked into any available orifice. They also seemed to have taken a lot of trouble on their appearance this evening. Both seemed to be sporting new hairdos and Hetty was definitely wearing false eyelashes which, Maggie was sure, defied the health and safety regulations pertaining to working on a hospital ward. They barely registered her greeting as she walk through to where Jed was, Frances being too engrossed in trying to see how many buttons she could get away with undoing on her top without exposing herself completely, causing old Mr Brindle’s blood pressure to rise more than was good for him, and Major Thompson to almost fall out of bed as he tried to get a look.
‘What’s going on?’ Maggie asked Jools as soon as she’d given her a hug hello, ‘those two look as if they’re expecting Brad Pitt to be admitted any minute.’
‘Better than that apparently,’ said Jools with a laugh. ‘Mr Fellows, the head honcho is doing the rounds tonight. According to Hetty he is this amazing doctor, brilliant surgeon, fabulous bedside manner, a total hotty and single! So all the nurses had to draw straws to decide who was to be on the seven o’clock shift, and those two won! They’ve been preening themselves all afternoon. Hetty got into awful trouble earlier, she locked herself into the sluice room to top up her fake tan; so none of the bedpans could be emptied, there was quite a queue building up by the time that old battle axe, sister Agnetta arrived and ordered Hetty out of there. Of course Hetty made up some excuse, like she’d been caught short or something, but she’s been getting more and more orange as the afternoon’s gone on and I’m sure sister Agnetta is on to her. It’s been so funny Maggie, Jed and I have had a scream.’ She took Jed’s hand as she said this as if hoping for a reaction; which was happening more and more frequently, and both the doctors and Maggie and family were getting very excited about it. Not only was he squeezing hands but his eyes were definitely fluttering a lot more, Maggie was sure it wouldn’t be long before they had him back again.
She sat and talked to Jools, who said she wasn’t going anywhere until she’d had a good look at this amazing doctor that the nurses were in such a tiz about. And Maggie told Jed about her day and about how well little Owen was doing.
She tried to pop in and see him every time she came to see Jed, poor little chap, even though physically he was much improved he was still not talking, and his parents seemed to be so desperate to get him back to normal. But heaven only knows what he had been through and what he had witnessed. Just the fact that he was covered in blood spoke volumes about the ordeal he’d suffered and Maggie hoped his mum and dad would just let him heal at his own pace, no matter how much they wanted to just get on with their lives.
Maggie had spoken to them briefly; Gordon Marshall had thanked her with tears in his eyes for finding his son, but Susan had seemed almost resentful that Maggie had spent any time with him, and that for a while Owen had clung on to Maggie’s hand instead of hers. ‘I suppose I can understand that,’ she had thought to herself. ‘If anyone had taken one of my sons I would be very precious as far as they were concerned for a while.’ But all the same she tried to visit when it was just Gordon there, it was easier that way.
It was getting late; nearly 8 o’clock and the fabulous Mr Fellows had yet to make an appearance. And much as Maggie was agog with curiosity to see what all the fuss was about, she always tried to leave before Greg arrived at the hospital. So regretfully she gave Jed a hug and prepared to go, she was just arguing with Jools about giving her a lift home, when a kafuffle in the corridor heralded the arrival of the wonder doctor himself. Maggie sat back down again; and then cursed as she saw Greg walking in behind the Doctor and his entourage.
‘Shit,’ she muttered under her breath to Jools, ‘I was hoping to avoid him.’ Jools just gave her a sympathetic smile and got up to kiss Greg hello, Greg the bastard had obviously managed to charm the pants off Jools as he did everyone else.
Maggie totally ignored Greg and kept her eyes firmly fixed on the doctor. He was certainly worth looking at, from the back at least. Six foot something with dark almost black hair which he wore slightly long; and he had undoubtedly reduced the nursing staff to giggling, dribbling imbeciles. Even sister Agnetta was smoothing down her uniform over her ample bosom, and hanging on his every word. Maggie had seen and heard enough, gorgeous he might be but there was something slightly distasteful about the way his trousers clung to his firm buttocks and Maggie for one, was not falling for it.
She stood up to leave; and was just putting her coat on when Mr Fellows turned ro
und and looked straight at her. Maggie felt the air rush out of her chest, he had to be the most delectable man she had ever seen. Long dark lashes framed light green eyes, eyes that were at the moment looking at her in amazement, and as she watched him his face broke into the biggest most heart stopping smile she had seen for a long time and he said…
‘Crabs!…It is you isn’t it…Crabby Maggie.’ Maggie looked around her in embarrassment she hadn’t been called Crabs since her school days and then only by…
‘Oh my god…Shortylong Fellows…it can’t possibly be you can it?’ said Maggie in amazement. ‘Last time I saw you, you were a five foot nothing, skinny oik with your head down Abigail Sumner’s cleavage…wow you have definitely grown up.’ And with that, totally ignoring the resentful stares from the hopeful nurses and the angry mutterings coming from Greg, Maggie threw herself into Thomas (Shortylong) Fellows arms and gave him a bear hug.
Thomas returned the hug swinging her round for good measure, very nearly knocking over a drip stand containing life giving medicine to one elderly gentleman who slept on, completely unaware of how close to death he had come.
Once her feet were back on the ground again Maggie introduced him to her family.
‘Thomas was my first boyfriend,’ she blushed (yes actually blushed) and went on, ‘We never called him Thomas though, we called him Shortylong…Shorty, because believe it or not he was a little short arse, and Long because of his second name Fellows…Longfellow you see? Anyway he was the heart throb of the school despite his lack of height and,’ she said turning to Thomas, ‘I see that nothing has changed Dr Fellows, still managing to get the girls hearts beating faster.’ Thomas laughed and gave her another squeeze.
‘Well you can talk, you glamour puss, you haven’t changed a bit. Although I notice your names not Crabtree anymore; and this sleeping young man is your son so life hasn’t stood still for you either has it Crabby?’ They were standing near Jed’s bed holding hands and smiling into each other’s eyes and who knows how long they might have stood like that were it not for sister Agnetta clearing her throat loudly and bringing Thomas back to earth with a bump.
‘Um…yes well this is all very touching Mr Fellows, but we do have rather a lot of patients to get through and I for one, would like to get home tonight sometime,’ she said with an edge to her voice and giving Maggie a death stare.
‘Of course sister my apologies,’ said Thomas, he squeezed Maggie’s hand. ‘Please don’t leave without giving me your number Crabby, it would be great to have a catch up sometime.’
‘Well what time will you finish tonight?’ said Maggie completely ignoring a growling noise coming from Greg’s direction.
‘In about an hour I think, as long as sister Agnetta doesn’t think up anything else for me to do,’ sister Agnetta gave him a firm look and folded her arms over her impressive chest.
‘We should be done by about 9.30 Doctor,’ she said pursing her lips and looking Maggie up and down.
‘Oh great,’ said Maggie taking her coat back off again and sitting down. ‘I’ll just wait here then and maybe we can go for a coffee, if you’ve got nothing else planned.’
Thomas smiled, blew her a kiss and said he’d see her later; and went back to the now dejected nurses, who were all looking at Maggie with seething hatred, to carry on his rounds. Leaving Maggie to deal with Jools and Dom; both of whom were looking at her in open mouthed amazement. And an angry spluttering Greg who had, for once in his life, been completely overshadowed.
Jed slept on but there was a definite smile on his lips.
Thomas was as good as his word; and a couple of hours later Maggie found herself driving to a little wine bar she knew of with the gorgeous doctor in the passenger seat.
She’d had to put up with a load of banter from Dom and Jools during the hour long wait in the hospital, and of course Greg had had to have his say on the subject of middle aged women making fools of themselves with puffed up doctors, who probably slept with everybody they met.
She’d put up with the teasing about her nickname; and had even listened with untypical patience to Greg’s jibes, because she had found herself having to deal with something that she had thought she had got over years ago…first date nerves! Of course this wasn’t a first date, or even any sort of date…how stupid…I mean, it was just a drink with an old friend. Only no one had explained that to Maggie’s stomach, which was rolling and churning with nerves.
She drove in sweaty palmed silence for the first few minutes; desperately trying to think of something clever and witty to start off the conversation, but her brain had turned to mush, and she was having enough trouble just driving without killing them both. Shorty wasn’t helping either, after a quick peck on the cheek when he had met her in the hospital he had hardly said a word…maybe he was regretting the impulse that had led him to ask her out, or maybe he had just accepted the invitation out of embarrassment… oh god that was it! He had taken pity on her…oh how mortifying, Maggie felt her face going red with the shame of it.
She cleared her throat, ‘Um…I hope you hadn’t made other plans that you had to cancel because of this…because it’s no big deal…um we could do this any…’
‘No! Of course not,’ he reassured her, ‘it is so lovely to see you again Crabs. In fact this is really weird because I was just thinking about you the other day…um about that day that we drove down to Brighton in my dad’s old MG…do you remember?’
‘Oh my god, how could I forget,’ Maggie laughed, ‘you hadn’t told him you were borrowing his pride and joy. I will never forget the terror on your face when he pulled up beside us at those traffic lights. Oh he was so cool though, you have to admit, calling the police after stopping us and making a citizen’s arrest, I was well impressed. And he was so polite to me.’ Maggie smiled at a the fond memory, ‘I remember he said, “You must be Crabby” even making my awful nickname sound respectable, “so pleased to meet you at last, Thomas has told us so much about you. If you don’t mind I will be escorting you home as my son has a rather pressing engagement at the Brighton Police Station”, oh he was sooo sexy. I had such a big crush on him.’
Thomas laughed. ‘Well I’m glad he never knew that or he would have tried to get into your knickers, terrible womaniser my father. But he made sure I never stole his car again…bloody bastard, I spent hours in that bloody police cell before they let me off with a caution, messed up all my plans for a romantic day out with you too.’
‘Oh well we made up for it didn’t we, remember the summer ball at my school?’ said Maggie looking at him with a shy smile.
‘How could I forget…you were truly amazing Maggie, I always regretted losing you,’ his deep seductive voice was doing unspeakable things to Maggie’s equilibrium, and she felt herself blushing hotly again. She tried hard to concentrate on driving the car; she hadn’t felt this moved by a man for a long time, but she had been around the block far too many times to jump in too fast, so she played it cool.
‘Oh yes I remember how much you regretted it Shorty, who was your next victim…hmm let me think…oh yes Tracy Wallbanger, not two days later if I remember correctly.’ Thomas had the grace to look shamefaced as he laughed.
‘Ok, ok you got me, I know I was a terrible flirt in those days, but you know how it is… if you are lucky enough at 17 to have half a girls school throwing themselves at you well…what a boy with raging hormones to do, except to accept the gifts he’s given.’ He smiled so smugly at Maggie that she had to laugh… and then gave him a dead leg as they got out of the car.
They sat in a quiet corner of the buzzing wine bar; chatting and giggling until gone midnight when they suddenly realised that they were the only ones left, and the staff were all waiting to go home. As they reached Maggie’s car, Thomas pulled her to him and kissed her deeply. It felt so good and so right and Maggie wished that it would go on forever. Standing there in Tom’s arms she felt safe and protected; something she hadn’t felt since finding out about Greg’s betra
yal. This was what it was all about… this feeling right now. She looked up and met Tom’s eyes, and saw her feelings reflected back in them.
‘Please tell me I can see you again Crabs,’ he said with a smile.
‘Yes please,’ said Maggie reaching up and kissing him again.
CHAPTER 35 - HELEN
Helen’s life had taken on a pattern of working in the mornings until lunch, which seemed to be getting longer and longer, and resting in the afternoons. It was just so tempting to settle down at the table with a glass of wine for Maya and a cup of tea for her, and just while away the hours chatting and making plans for the baby’s imminent arrival.
With Maya’s help Helen had turned the second bedroom into a beautiful nursery. Maya had stripped the walls and painted three of them a lovely soft lemon colour. On the fourth Helen had painted a wonderful summer meadow scene, complete with butterflies, ladybirds and field mice. Today they had put together the cot that Helen had bought on the internet and Maya was busy filing it with gorgeous handmade quilts and blankets. Helen couldn’t believe how wonderful her life had become since meeting Maya, and she couldn’t contemplate life without her now. She had started to depend on her in so many ways, and in her quieter moments she had to admit she found this all a bit scary.
Maya, on the other hand seemed to take it for granted that she would be spending almost all her time with Helen, and didn’t seem to find it at all strange that two women who had known each other only a few months should be so wrapped up in each other.
One afternoon when they had both finished a bowl of Maya’s amazing chicken broth, Helen started to tell her all about the events that had led up to her attempted suicide. It was the first time that she had been able to talk about it to anyone. Maggie had tried to get her to open up a few times, and all of the witches had let her know that if ever she felt like talking they would be there, but she just hadn’t wanted to. And then she had found out about the baby and she had just started keeping everything to herself. She felt pretty bad about not telling the other girls, she knew they would have been thrilled for her and supported her 100 percent, but somehow the time had just never felt right and before long it had just felt too late.