The Village Doctor's Marriage

by Abigail Gordon

  ‘He isn’t ours,’ Sallie explained. ‘Liam belongs to my husband’s niece. We’ve are looking after him while she’s working abroad.’

  ‘Where would you like to sit?’ Jonathan asked Steve.

  ‘Wherever there’s room for a high chair beside us,’ Steve replied and they were shown to a table in the corner.

  When they were seated Cassandra presented them with menus and before she left them to make their choices she turned to Sallie and said, ‘I’ve been at catering college for the last two years and have had family responsibilities that have kept me busy, so this is an opportunity for me to say how sorry I am for being so difficult and abusive the last time I was at the surgery. I was a horror in those days, but being escorted from the surgery by the police and having to face up to my problems did me a world of good.’

  ‘Yours were difficult teenage years,’ Sallie told her. ‘Some people sail through them, while for others they are not easy. It’s been good to meet you today and discover that you’ve overcome all that. We wish you every success in what you’ve undertaken.’

  ‘Am I missing something here?’ Steve asked, when Cassandra had gone to greet some other new arrivals. ‘What was all that about?’

  ‘Cassandra came to see me about an abortion when she was eighteen. She was always very aggressive and demanding when she came to the surgery, and on the day she referred to I had to tell her that she’d left it too late for an abortion. The result was she went berserk and attacked me. The rest of the staff came and restrained her, then sent for the police and her parents, who knew nothing about the pregnancy. Do you know Jack Leminson at all?’

  Did he know Jack Leminson? ‘Er…yes. I know him slightly.’

  ‘He’s known to be a good builder, but I didn’t rate him much of a father during that episode. He was fidgeting to get back to work all the time he was with his wife and daughter and the police.

  ‘But,’ she said, lowering her voice, ‘some way, somehow that girl has sorted herself out. It is great to see her involved in something like this. She’s barely twenty-two, yet look what she’s achieved already.’

  ‘And she actually attacked you?’

  ‘Mmm. She was a handful in anybody’s book.’

  ‘Is she the reason why you were reluctant to come here today?’

  ‘Well, yes. I didn’t want it to turn into a free-for-all, knowing our past history. I haven’t seen her for years so wasn’t sure what to expect. She moved to a practice in the town and eventually had the baby, a little girl who is adored by all the Leminson family.’

  ‘So your reluctance to come here wasn’t anything to do with us, then.’

  ‘No, Steve. It wasn’t. Please, don’t read things that aren’t there into everything I say and do.’

  ‘I’ll try not to,’ he promised. He was smiling, but deep down he knew they had a long way to go before Sallie would be eager to spend time with him away from the practice. At the surgery and in the apartment they were on mutual home ground with Liam as a focal point, but he wasn’t sure if any contact outside that was ever going to be really welcome.

  After they’d eaten and congratulated the two young café owners on the quality of the food, Sallie said, ‘I’ve brought some bread with me. Shall we go by the park and feed the ducks? Hannah takes Liam there sometimes and she says he knows how to throw the bread to them, but he’s not happy if they come too near his buggy.’

  ‘We’ll have to see that they don’t, then,’ he said. ‘If it was warmer, I could row you both around the lake there. But I don’t think there would be much pleasure in it today.’

  There was a chill wind and grey winter skies above, so they wouldn’t be lingering long by the ducks either, but as long as they were together he didn’t care where they were.

  That night when they were seated by the fire after Liam had gone to sleep, Steve said, ‘Did you press charges against the Leminson girl?’

  Sallie shook her head. ‘No. She was just a mixed-up adolescent who was pregnant and frightened. I wasn’t going to take her to court. Sending for the police was enough to bring her up with a jolt. Why do you ask?’

  ‘Why do you think? Everyone in health care is at risk from overwrought and overstroppy patients. I wish I’d been there to protect you.’

  ‘It’s all in the past, Steve,’ she said distantly. ‘I am trying to forget those years.’

  Janine Gresty’s wedding was to take place on a Saturday in November and half the village had been invited. Philip had insisted that no expense was to be spared, that his condition was going to be ignored on that day and that, God willing, he would be there to take his daughter down the aisle.

  ‘It will be on crutches, I’m afraid,’ Steve had told him, ‘with Janine holding onto you and Sallie and I hovering, but I feel that you will manage it.’

  Outside caterers had been brought in to organise the reception, which was being held at the farm, but the marriage service was to take place in the village church just down the road.

  ‘If anything stops me from giving Janine away, will you do it for me, Steve?’ Philip had asked after he’d had a really bad day in the week before the wedding.

  ‘Yes, of course I will,’ he’d replied, ‘but you are going to do it. Don’t start losing your determination at the last minute.’

  Philip had smiled. ‘OK. Don’t badger me. Just stay near, that’s all.’

  ‘I’ll be like a limpet,’ he promised, ‘and so will Sallie. You’ll have two of us watching over you.’

  Hannah had offered to have Liam for the day and put him to bed in the evening, so that they could be there for Philip if he needed them, without having to be responsible for the baby at the same time.

  When the housekeeper had collected him on the morning of the wedding the two doctors found themselves alone in the apartment and there was an awkward silence

  Having Liam around all the time made the uneasiness between them less obvious. He was a focal point for them both and that way they were able to keep their distance from each other.

  There had been no real reunion since Steve had come back, just a sliding into a new way of life that was far from the way they’d once been. There’d been no opening up to each other. No new beginnings. How long could they go on like this? she thought achingly.

  As the thoughts pierced her mind like spears, Steve appeared at the door of the spare room stripped ready for the shower. He halted when he saw her expression and questioned, ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘Nothing,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I was just thinking how strange it is without Liam.’

  ‘And is that it?’ he exclaimed. ‘You’re looking as if the world is coming to an end because we’re going to be without him for a few hours?’

  Sallie shook her head. ‘No. That isn’t it. The real reason I’m looking like this is because I can’t believe that the two polite robots who live here are you and I.’

  His eyes darkened. ‘So what do you propose we do about it? You have the advantage over me, as I’m the one in the wrong.’

  ‘We were both wrong in the way we behaved,’ she said quietly. ‘I let you walk all over me instead of fighting back, and you were so hurt and angry you couldn’t think straight. And where has it got us? Almost three and a half years on we are like strangers. We used to read each other’s thoughts, know each other’s needs. You had only to touch me and I melted. We couldn’t exist without each other, or so we thought. But we have done, haven’t we…existed without each other?’

  He took a step nearer and as Sallie felt her blood start to warm he asked, ‘What’s brought this on?’

  She shook her head. ‘I don’t know. Maybe it’s the time of the month.’

  ‘Oh, that! Do you think you would melt at my touch now, Sal, after all we’ve been through?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she whispered. ‘It’s so long ago. I don’t know how I would feel.’

  ‘Are you asking me to make love to you?’

  ‘Do you want to?’

/>   ‘A needless question if ever I heard one. But do you remember when you shrank away from me, I told you then that I would never touch you again unless you asked me to. That I would have to be sure I wasn’t falling into another pit I’d dug for myself.’

  ‘So touch me,’ she whispered. ‘I’m asking you.’

  ‘Where? Where do you want me to touch you?’

  ‘Anywhere. Just so that I can feel your hands on me.’

  ‘You are just as lovely as ever,’ he said huskily. Reaching out for her, he kissed her, stroking the slender curve of her back and the mounds of her buttocks. Then with his arms still around her he led her towards the bed, exultant to know that the magic was still there.

  But he was being too optimistic. Sallie was stiffening in his arms, holding herself away from him.

  ‘What is it?’ he asked warily.

  ‘I can’t!’ she cried. ‘I’d forgotten what those last few months of desperate attempts at baby-making were like. I couldn’t go through that again. Hoping that my period wouldn’t come, and, when it did, dreading having to tell you.’

  He released her. ‘I’ve told you that it won’t be like that now,’ he said flatly. ‘I’ve accepted what happened and put it behind me. But if you’ve suddenly decided that you need an excuse to refuse me, I’ll go and have the shower that I was about to take. In case you’ve forgotten, we are going to a wedding.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Steve,’ she said to his departing back. ‘I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.’

  The arrangement was that they would call at the farm to check on Philip before going to the church, and as they drove the short distance there was silence between them once more.

  They had both dressed with care, Sallie in a long beige winter coat with a fur collar and a matching soft wool dress beneath it and Steve in a dark suit with a pristine white shirt and silk tie.

  To the uninformed onlooker they would be seen as a striking pair who had everything going for them, with their own medical practice in a beautiful Cheshire village. There’d been a rift some time ago. A bit of a mystery it had been. But from the way that Stephen Beaumont looked at his wife these days, it would seem that it was well and truly behind them.

  They wouldn’t know that Sallie Beaumont’s pleasant efficiency and her husband’s brisk approach to health care concealed the sadness of a marriage gone wrong.

  As Sallie gave Steve a quick sideways glance from beneath lowered lids, she thought that he was still the most attractive man she’d ever met. Someone that men envied and women noticed. Yet he had only ever wanted her, average figure, average looks, average everything.

  He’d wanted her back there at the apartment, and she’d wanted him, desperately, until the pain of the past had come surging back. Now she was ashamed for creating the moment that had been the last thing in his mind as he’d gone to shower.

  They needed to perk up before they got to the Grestys’, Steve was thinking. It was Janine’s big day, and also a very special occasion for her parents. He was praying that Philip was going to be able to achieve his heart’s desire but, whether he did or not, the family wasn’t going to want two of their friends arriving as if they were attending a funeral instead of a wedding.

  ‘Forget what happened earlier, Sal,’ he said flatly. ‘Maybe we’ve outgrown each other.’

  ‘If that’s what you think,’ she said tearfully, ‘would I have asked you to make love to me? It was dread that made me tell you to stop. The dread of us going back to how we were before you went away.’

  ‘I can understand that, but there was a time when you believed what I said. You know I’ve never lied to you, so why should I start now? It will not be like it was before. Trust me.’

  The farm had come into view and he swivelled to face her. ‘We need to lighten up for the Grestys’ sake, Sal. Our problems have been on hold long enough. A little longer won’t make any difference.’

  Philip was already dressed in a silver-grey suit with matching top hat when they arrived. He looked pale and anxious and Anna told them, ‘His speech isn’t good this morning. Philip is concerned that when he makes his responses, he won’t be able to get the words out.’

  ‘Just take your time,’ Sallie told him softly. ‘There won’t be any rush.’

  ‘And I’ll be hovering in case you need me,’ Steve told him. ‘But you’re not going to. You’re going to be fine.’

  At that moment the bride appeared, serene and beautiful, and Sallie felt tears prick. Despite everything, Janine was embracing the present, and if the future held anything unpleasant she would face it then instead of now, with a man who truly loved her by her side.

  Maybe she and Steve could learn something from her. When she looked up she found his gaze on her, dark and questioning, and she began to wish she could turn the clock back to those moments in the apartment when the only thing in their minds had been their need of each other. Yet maybe that was why it hadn’t felt right. Would it be possible to rebuild their marriage on just desire?

  The church was full of family, friends and well-wishers, with flowers everywhere. When Steve saw the bridegroom with his hair cut short and earring missing, he hid a smile. That was going to bring added pleasure to Anna’s day, he thought.

  He and Sallie were waiting outside the church when the car with the bride and her father arrived, and as they helped Philip out and made sure he’d got a firm hold on the walking frame that Steve had decided was a better idea than crutches, he began to move slowly forward with his daughter’s hand under his elbow.

  Relieved that they’d set in motion Philip’s dearest wish, the two doctors hurried into the church behind them and settled themselves in a pew at the back to watch a brave man give his daughter away in marriage. Philip managed to make his reply to the vicar’s question and in the emotion of the moment Steve took Sallie’s hand in his and squeezed it hard.

  ‘Oh! Sorry,’ he said, and withdrew his grasp.

  ‘Stop it!’ she whispered crossly. ‘I hate it when you’re apologetic over things that don’t matter.’

  He was smiling. ‘You’d rather I was the bolshy beast of yore.’

  ‘Yes. I mean no.’

  Janine was now standing beside her bridegroom. They were about to make their vows, and as Anna stepped forward with a wheelchair Steve moved swiftly to the front of the church and helped her to assist Philip into it.

  ‘I did it,’ he said in a low, slurred voice. ‘I don’t know how, but I did it.’

  Bending over him, Steve whispered in his ear, ‘Didn’t I say you would?’

  Swivelling the wheelchair round, he placed it at the end of the front pew where Anna was sitting and then returned to his own place at the back.

  He was holding back tears. Sallie saw them and now it was her turn to take his hand in hers, but this time there was no wry humour in him. ‘I sometimes think there is no justice in this world,’ he said, and she nodded.

  Steve had helped Anna put Philip to bed and was ready to join Sallie at the reception. When he went into the lounge of the farmhouse he saw that Henry Crabtree had collared her and he groaned.

  He wasn’t the only one to visit the building site when the opportunity arose. From what she’d said, Sallie had also been viewing what was going on there at some time during the previous week and he hoped that Henry hadn’t spotted her there.

  When he joined them it appeared that he had, as Sallie said, ‘Henry is telling me that he saw me in Bluebell Lane, admiring the house that someone is having built. He is just as curious as we are to know who is going to be living there.’

  Not wanting to say anything that might set her thinking, Steve just nodded and helped himself to a glass of champagne from a tray held by a hovering waiter.

  Anna appeared beside them at that moment and to his relief the discussion about the house in Bluebell Lane ended.

  ‘Thank you both for helping Philip,’ she said. ‘It took a tremendous effort on his part, but he got his wish. He gets weaker by t
he day and I wonder how long we are going to have him with us.’

  ‘It may be longer than you think,’ Sallie told her gently. ‘The illness will take its course and in its later stages you might be relieved to see him go.’

  ‘That was a bit steep, what you said to Anna,’ Steve said as they drove home in what had turned out to be a wet and misty night.

  ‘Anna is a realist,’ she said. ‘She won’t want to be fobbed off with platitudes. She’s seeing the man she loves grow weaker all the time and needs to know the score.’

  He sighed. ‘Yes. I suppose you’re right, and, whether Anna knows the score or not, Philip does.’

  ‘If your cancer hadn’t been treatable and had run amok, I might have been in the same position as Anna, watching the man I loved dying before my eyes.’

  They arrived home and after pulling up in front of the surgery Steve turned to face her. ‘Is that your way of saying that I should have been more anxious about the cancer and less fraught about my fading dreams of fatherhood?’

  ‘You should have been concerned about both and been thankful that Tom Cavanagh had cleared you of the cancer. That should have been enough to be going on with, but there was this overpowering need in you to have children and it took over our lives.’

  ‘I thought that you wanted them as much as I did.’

  ‘I did, but I wanted you more. All I could think about at that time was that you’d had cancer. That I could have lost you. Nothing else was as important as that.’

  Without comment, Steve looked upwards to where the lights of the apartment were shining out in the rain and mist and said, ‘Shall we go and see if Liam has missed us?

  She smiled. ‘I’m hoping that he’ll be asleep. It will be strange if he isn’t at this time of night.’

  ‘And I’m not allowed to wake him up,’ he teased.

  ‘Don’t even think about it.’

  Hannah was waiting for them at the top of the stairs with a worried expression on her face, and they tuned into it immediately.