Healing in the Hills

by Ruth Clemence

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I haven’t forgotten what you said about feeling relief, not pain, at his death. If Felicity had been a little less clever, if she’d been a little more ambiguous in that letter, she’d have succeeded in her intention of parting us effectually for all time. But it was that sentence about you feeling you could never forget Peter that didn’t ring true. I thought it over and eventually decided to accept the invitation to come down and watch this special operation. It gave me a reason for being in Cambridge if my hunch turned out to be wrong. It never occurred to me you wouldn’t be in when I called.’

  ‘But how did you know I’d be here?’

  ‘Your mother told me it was one of your favourite places if you had a few spare minutes. But looking for you took longer than I bargained for. Will you have dinner with me so we can talk the whole thing out? In the meantime,’ Lewis glanced quickly at his wristwatch, ‘if I don’t hurry I’m not going to see the operation at all. Have you got time to show me the way to the hospital? Or should I grab a taxi?’

  ‘No need for that,’ Ismay answered swiftly. ‘They’re temporarily doing all the ophthalmic work right in town and not out at the main hospital. It’s not five minutes’ walk away—I happened to hear my father mention it only the other evening. Come on, follow me. We can take a short cut through the side entrance to the college.’

  She led Lewis in the direction of a carved archway on the far side of the big forecourt. As they passed under the arch and entered the small carpark beyond with its notices ‘For Fellows Only’, Lewis suddenly captured her hand and swung her round to face him. ‘I can’t go into that operating theatre without making sure you’re real and not likely to disappear again,’ and he swept her into his arms, his lips meeting hers in a hard, demanding kiss.

  Ismay melted against him, suddenly feeling as if her feet were ten feet off the ground. She was brought abruptly down to earth as his hold slackened and she opened her eyes to see Lewis gazing over her head at someone immediately behind.

  She turned to see a burly individual standing about six feet away. He was in the process of raising his bowler hat and when Ismay met his eyes the man bowed and murmured, ‘Madam...’

  Ismay did not need to glance at the insignia on the lapel of his jacket to recognize one of the college stewards. She felt her face begin to flame. Before words could be uttered by a tongue that felt all knots, however, Lewis stepped forward. ‘We’re not members of the college. Please forgive this uninhibited behaviour. The fact is,’ and he grinned wickedly, ‘we’ve just become engaged.’

  ‘In that case,’ the official raised his bowler hat once more, ‘sir,’ there was a pause as he bowed towards Ismay, ‘miss, let me offer you my congratulations,’ and her own eyes began to twinkle as the steward turned his back and marched stolidly away under the archway and out of sight.

  ‘Well, you learn something new every day,’ Lewis said as he turned to glance down into her eyes. ‘At least we know the Establishment is human after all. Now come on, we haven’t got another moment to lose.’

  After she left Lewis at the door of the eye unit, Ismay hardly knew how she got home. She was pounced on immediately she got through the door by her mother with a demand for an explanation as to the ‘reason why’ that charming, good-looking young man called. ‘I know you’ve mentioned Lewis Kynoch in your letters, but you’ve been playing your cards very close to your chest, young lady,’ Mrs. Carroll said when Ismay had given the required information. ‘Now come on, tell me all about it.’

  Ismay blushed. ‘There isn’t much to tell, Mother. The fact is we rather got at cross purposes.’

  ‘Not any more, I gather, judging by your look of infatuation,’ Mrs. Carroll remarked, her eyes on Ismay’s glowing face.

  ‘Well, I hope we’re going to sort out our differences this evening. Lewis had to rush off to see his op, but I’m meeting him down at the Blue Boar at seven o’clock. You don’t mind, Mummy, if explanations wait until after that? I’ll bring him home when we’ve had dinner, I promise. I want to introduce him to Dad as well.’

  When Ismay came downstairs that evening clad in a French navy silk sleeveless frock and carrying a light coat over her arm it was obvious that her mother had told Dr. Carroll of the day’s surprises, but although his eyes twinkled all he said as Ismay walked into the living-room was, ‘I hear you’re going out, my dear. I’m not on call this evening, perhaps you’d like to take the car.’ Dear old Dad, Ismay thought to herself as she took the keys he was holding out, and with a quick ‘good-bye’ and a kiss for each of her parents she set off.

  She was fortunate enough to find a parking place fairly easily, but as she walked down Trinity Street she began to feel unbelievably shy again. Although she was looking forward eagerly to the evening and to seeing Lewis, suddenly she was overcome with a feeling of strangeness. After the weeks of slowly dissipating hope the sudden excitement of having him arrive so unexpectedly in Cambridge, and the revelation that Felicity’s malice had been the reason for his silence had caused such a feeling of relief that only now was she beginning to feel the anticlimax.

  Ismay hesitated a moment before she entered the hotel. But her qualms were very soon set at rest as Lewis, who must have been on the look-out for her, walked across the hallway and took her by the hand. He did not speak, but his eyes went over her, taking in every detail of her appearance. Then without a word he turned her towards the entrance to the cocktail lounge.

  They had found a small table in the corner and ordered drinks before he spoke. ‘Do you know, it wasn’t until you walked through that door that I was really sure I hadn’t been dreaming and you’d turn up.’

  Ismay looked towards him, her mouth open in amazement. So she hadn’t been the only one who had felt uncertain, incapable of taking in the sudden overwhelming happiness. Lewis too had been feeling the strain. He took her hand and held it under cover of the table top as he gazed into her eyes for a moment in complete silence. ‘You’re absolutely sure now? No last-minute qualms about what we said this afternoon?’ he asked her. ‘No feeling that after what you went through with Peter I too am trying to rush my fences?’

  Ismay silently shook her head, her eyes never leaving his. ‘Are you sure yourself? What about Marie? You told me once you had never found anyone to match up to her. I thought when I didn’t hear from you that perhaps Dr. Naylor had filled the gap.’

  Lewis hardly let her finish the sentence. ‘Whatever put that thought into your head? Dr. Naylor is a good anaesthetist, nothing more. And if I said anything about Marie, it was probably only in self-defence. You seemed so uninterested in me, in fact at the beginning quite antagonistic.’

  Ismay looked down at her hands. She quietly disengaged her fingers from his. So even now he still did not know the real reason why she had held him at arms’ length during those first weeks. It was no good beating about the bush. He was shrewd enough to guess in the end and she looked up bravely to meet his eyes again. ‘I thought ... you see ... I...’

  ‘What did you think?’ his voice was impatient

  ‘I thought that you and Felicity were married and the girls’ parents.’

  ‘Oh no, not Felicity again!’ Lewis reached out for his glass and lifting it to his lips took a quick gulp of the contents. He set it down thoughtfully, his eyes on the amber liquid in the glass. ‘She’s my brother’s wife and I don’t want to say anything about her, but really,’ and he looked up now straight into Ismay’s eyes, ‘whatever made you imagine she and I...’ Words failed him.

  ‘Well, nobody told me you weren’t married, there was no mention of anybody else. Her name was Kynoch, naturally I thought that you and Felicity were husband and wife.’

  ‘But the girls call me Lewis.’

  ‘I know, but they call nearly everyone by their Christian names. It means nothing these days. And although they address Felicity as Mummy to her face, when she isn’t around they refer to her as Felicity. I thought you were one of these modern c
ouples who had just a marriage of convenience.’

  ‘Then you obviously are a poor judge of character,’ Lewis said, but his eyes twinkled in their captivating manner as he spoke, taking the sting out of his words. ‘But it explains the Turkish treatment I received when I tried to kiss you.’

  ‘I should apologize, I know, for that slap,’ Ismay said. ‘You’ve no idea how often I wished when I finally discovered Alec was Felicity’s husband that you’d repeat the offence. But until Clare fell over that cliff I’d given up all hope of seriously taking your fancy.’

  ‘Can you blame me? I got that slap, remember, the night before Anne had her fall. In the excitement of getting her seen to that morning you left your bedroom door open. I saw the packed suitcases and thought I’d scared you into leaving. After that I trod carefully and if Clare hadn’t had her accident I’d probably not have shown my hand even then.’ Ismay smiled shyly as Lewis reached for her hand again. ‘Are we going to kowtow to the conventions and wait a respectable period before we take the plunge,’ he asked, ‘or are we going to get married quietly as soon as we can, because that’s what I’d like to do. If you can’t face the criticisms of your friends down here we could go up and have a quiet country wedding in the village church at Hepthorpethwaite.’

  ‘There’ll be talk anyway. There always is. And people get to know what’s going on no matter how hard you try and hide it. I think Mother and Father would prefer me to be married here, and I’m past bothering about what people think. If you want us to be married soon, Lewis, I’m happy to fall in with your wishes.’

  ‘Happy to fall in with my wishes or as eager as I am to start our life together?’ he demanded, and there was a certain arrogance in his tones.

  ‘Come off your high horse!’ Ismay in her turn was beginning to sound a little heated. ‘That wasn’t what I meant at all. The fact is—’ She stopped. Even though she now knew Lewis did not like Felicity it was going to be difficult to put into words.

  ‘Now what? Out with it, lass,’ his tones were gentle once more. ‘Tell me what’s bothering you.’

  Ismay looked up and met his eyes. ‘I can’t share a house with Felicity. I’m sorry, Lewis. I don’t want to split your family up, I don’t want to change things in any way, but after what she’s done I really couldn’t live under the same roof.’

  ‘Well, if that’s all that’s bothering you,’ Lewis let go of her hand and sat back in his chair, ‘there’s no need to worry any more. Alec’s starting a protracted tour of the United States and although Felicity doesn’t know it yet, he intends taking her with him. The girls will stay behind, of course. They’ll be at boarding school during term time and with Mother and me during the holidays. Would you mind starting matrimony with a ready-made family of one mother-in-law and two nieces? It’s a lot to ask, I know, but I really don’t feel that I can go away and leave Mother to cope alone.’

  Ismay let out a sigh of pure relief. ‘What a silly question! You know how much I love your mother and I’ve missed the girls enormously since I came back to Cambridge, even though I’ve been busy coping with Peter’s mother and Jo-Anne. It would be heavenly, just the five of us at Little Grange. Why didn’t you tell me this before?’

  ‘I didn’t get a chance, did I?’ Lewis’s glance was quizzical and seeing the indignation on her face he laughed outright. ‘I can see we’re going to have a lively time ahead of us, you and I, Ismay my dear. We shall never see eye to eye on everything, and we shall fight about lots of things, but at least life won’t be dull.’

  ‘No,’ this time it was Ismay who reached out and took hold of Lewis’s hand, holding it between both her own, oblivious to any interested spectators in the cocktail lounge. ‘No, it won’t be dull, Lewis. And that’s what my life would have been with Peter, whether I’d been in love with him or not. He’d have expected me to toe the line as the perfect wife, keeping in the background, and I knew right from the start that I really wasn’t cut out for it.’

  ‘Do you think you could turn into a good consultant’s wife?’ Lewis asked, and cocked an eyebrow. ‘There are certain obligations attached even to that.’

  ‘Pouf!’ Ismay waved this problem away with a shrug of the shoulders. ‘I’ve lived in medical circles all my life, so at least we do talk the same language and in any case, if we’re not to disappoint your mother, I shall be too busy to have time to play the eminent surgeon’s wife.’

  Lewis did not pretend to misunderstand. He smiled broadly. ‘I forgot to tell you—Sally’s come up to scratch at last. It’s due next spring.’

  ‘Oh, lovely! Your mother will be delighted.’

  ‘She is, and busy knitting already. Bootees this time, instead of squares for refugees. It’s really quite a welcome change to see pastel wool in the lounge. If you’re so eager to rush ahead and fulfil her dearest wishes I’d better tell her to do everything in duplicate when I get back.’

  Ismay blushed a fiery red and bit her lip. ‘Hadn’t we better get fully licensed first?’ and then she stopped abruptly.

  ‘Now what?’ Lewis asked, resignation in his voice. ‘Thought of another bombshell to explode about my unsuspecting head?’

  ‘It’s nothing really.’ Ismay’s tones were thoughtful. ‘I’ve just remembered. Mother was a twin, and they say it usually jumps a generation, don’t they?’ and she looked demurely up into Lewis’s face.

  That long-suffering gentleman gave her a look, downed the contents of his glass and got to his feet. ‘Come along,’ he said, and held a hand out towards her commandingly. ‘Let’s eat. I can take no more on an empty stomach,’ and as Ismay took his hand and they turned shoulder to shoulder towards the door, she felt as if she was bursting with joy. What a pity this feeling could not be captured and sold at a chemist’s, for it was the true prescription for happiness. She was happy she hadn’t had to settle for less.