‘Yes, well, it will be time to concern ourselves about Christmas when this other thing is sorted.’
‘I’m hoping that it’s connected with Melanie,’ she told him. ‘Because if it isn’t, it’s going to be a bit cramped in here over the festive season.’
‘It is connected with her,’ he admitted as he tucked into the food she’d put in front of him, ‘but only in a roundabout sort of way. As it’s Saturday tomorrow, there’ll be all the time in the world for me to explain what it’s all about.’
‘This project that you’re doing with some of the men from the village—is Jack Leminson involved in it?’
He stopped eating and raised his head. ‘Why do you ask?’
‘He was at the surgery with a whiplash problem and was asking if you’d taken me to see something or other that sounded as if it might be the same thing.’
‘And what did you say?’
‘Not a lot. I just let him see that I was more concerned about you being missing than some village matter that will, no doubt, sort itself. Tonight we have more important things to attend to.’
He was on his feet with the plate empty, and, taking her in his arms, he said softly, ‘Haven’t we just.’
She was laughing up at him. ‘I’m referring to me tucking you up in bed for a few hours while you recover from your ordeal. You look exhausted.’
‘Nothing of the kind!’ he protested.
She stroked the strong lines of his face with gentle fingers and saw the desire in his eyes that only she had ever kindled. ‘I’d like you to be at the peak of your prowess when we make love for the first time in an eternity,’ she teased.
He pretended to shudder. ‘Don’t mention that word. I’ve had my fill of peaks during the last twenty-four hours. I don’t care if I never see another.’ He paused and his expression grew serious. ‘On the subject of those majestic piles, what about Jennifer? I’ll have to follow that up tomorrow. When the ambulance came for her I impressed on them that she wasn’t to be sent home in the present weather conditions. I believe the elbow was fractured, so I did the right thing sending her to A and E. But everything would have been so much simpler if I hadn’t locked up her house and given her the key. I could have sheltered at her place until the blizzard was over.’
‘So ring the hospital first thing in the morning,’ she suggested, ‘and now go to bed, Steve. I’ll still be here when you wake up.’
‘All right,’ he agreed, ‘but on one condition.’
‘And what’s that?’
‘When I’ve made love to you, we have the ceremony of slinging out the shirt. It has served its purpose. When you need something to hold onto in the night, I’ll be there…for ever and always.’
He came to her at dawn, as she’d sensed he would. So dear was he to her heart that the tears came again. Without speaking, he put a finger to his lips and carefully wheeled Liam’s cot into the other room. Then he came back to stand beside the bed and as he looked down at her in the early morning light he asked, ‘Are you sure about this, Sal? I’ve waited a long time for it and so have you. I can wait longer if I have to.
‘You said yesterday how much you loved me, but you were overwrought and overwhelmed with relief when I turned up. It wasn’t the right time for such declarations. You could be having regrets by now.’
She raised herself up and, reaching out for him, pulled him down beside her and told him softly, ‘My only regret is that it’s taken me so long to start living in the present, instead of letting the past bog me down. You and I were always meant for each other, but somewhere along the way we took a wrong turning, and the magic went. Do you think we can find it again?’
‘Yes. I know we can,’ he said as he took her in his arms.
And later, much later, after they’d been to the stars and back and she was cradled in the crook of his arm, Sallie knew that he hadn’t been wrong.
When Steve turned into Bluebell Lane later and stopped the car beside Henry’s cottage, Sallie said, ‘Henry’s away at his daughter’s.’
‘Yes. I know,’ he said calmly. ‘We’re not here to see Henry.’
Liam was behind them in the baby seat and as Steve reached in and undid the strapping he said, ‘Have you noticed that the house next door is finished?’
‘Yes, so it is!’ she exclaimed, getting out of the car. ‘I haven’t been this way for a while. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? And uncanny the way it has all the features that I would have chosen.’
Steve smiled. ‘It isn’t uncanny,’ he said. ‘It’s been planned. The house is ours, Sallie. This is where I’ve been coming in the evenings to check on progress. When we looked at the plot that day and you told me what kind of a house you would build on it if it was yours, I decided that was what it was going to be—yours and mine.’
He hesitated before continuing. ‘The only thing that has taken the pleasure out of watching it take shape has been the thought that you might have drifted so far away from me that you wouldn’t want to live here.’
So far she hadn’t spoken. She’d just listened opened-mouthed to what he’d had to say, but now she found her voice and as they walked through the gates and slowly up the drive she said, ‘I can’t believe it, Steve. That you would go to all this trouble for just a whim of mine. It’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever done for me and I’m glad we had those fantastic moments this morning before I saw it. So that you know how much you mean to me, no matter what you do.’
‘Talking about places to live, has anything occurred to you?’ he asked.
‘No. Should it?’
‘I said I’d found somewhere for Melanie to live, didn’t I?’
‘Of course!’ she cried. ‘They can have the apartment.’
‘Yes, they can.’ Putting his hand in his pocket he pulled out a bunch of keys. ‘Welcome to your new home. Dr Beaumont, and if you’ll give me a moment while I put this young man back into the car seat, I’ll carry you over the threshold once you’ve unlocked the door.’
As Sallie went from room to room, entranced with everything she saw, Steve told her, ‘I haven’t done anything about furnishings except for having carpets put down. I thought you would want to choose everything else yourself. If we go into the town this afternoon and smile nicely at some of the staff in the furniture stores, who will not be busy because everyone is out buying presents, we should be able to get the basics delivered before Christmas.’
‘I don’t mind if we have to sleep on the floor,’ she said dreamily. ‘I feel as if we’ve come out of a long dark tunnel.’
‘We have,’ he said, eyes darkening, his voice tender, and she knew he was remembering what had happened in the winter dawn. They had come together with such passion and joy she’d thought she would burst with happiness, and now there was this, too, this wonderful house that Steve had had built for her.
Before Steve had had a chance to ring the hospital that morning Jennifer had come on the line to say that the snow ploughs had been out and cleared the way to her house and she was now back home with a carer in attendance.
He hadn’t been too pleased to hear it, having asked the authorities to get in touch with him before they did any such thing, but when he’d protested she’d said, ‘I’m to blame for that. When they told me you’d been trapped on the moors, I was appalled and told them that you were not to be bothered after such an ordeal. So I’m home now. The arm is in a cast. They had to operate, by the way, and I’ve got a carer coming up from the village from nine to five every day.’
‘So you are all right?’
‘Yes, I am, and guess what? The vicar came to see me when I was in A and E. He was there visiting somebody else and saw me arrive. I’ve asked him to call when the snow has gone about me starting a drama class in the village hall. I’m beginning to feel as if I belong after all, and the three of you can take credit for that, you, your lovely wife and the vicar. But most of all you, Dr Beaumont. You’re a good man.’
As he’d replaced the receiver Steve
had been smiling. ‘She is some woman, that one. She’s home, with her arm in a cast, and has sorted out a carer from the village to come in every day as she didn’t want to bother me after what happened to me. But wait for it, most surprising of all, she’s going to start a drama group in the village.’
‘So she has a heart after all,’ Sally had said delightedly.
Jack was back to see Sallie about his aching neck, or so he said, but she had a feeling that it was really to find out what she thought of the house.
‘It’s delightful,’ she told him. ‘The most wonderful surprise. I believe you had orders not to tell anyone who it was for while it was being built.’
He grinned at her from the other side of the desk. ‘Sure did. I told your husband that his wife was a lucky woman to have that sort of a surprise being arranged for her. For my part, building a lovely house for you made me feel a bit better over the way our young Cassandra behaved that time.’
‘That’s all in the past,’ she told him. ‘She’s turned out a fine young woman, and as for myself, yes, I am fortunate, very fortunate indeed. Steve and I got lost along the way and it was an awful time for both of us. But finding each other again has been so wonderful it has made up for what went before.’
‘Good for you,’ he said, then added, ‘So, about my neck.’
‘Is it better or worse?’
‘It’s about the same, painful.’
‘Maybe a course of physiotherapy is called for.’
‘Sure. Anything that will make me fit for the job. I might be the boss but I do my share of the heavy work.’
Melanie and Rick were due to fly into Manchester Airport early on the morning of Christmas Eve, and after days of non-stop activity the two doctors and the baby had moved into their dream house to leave the apartment ready for their arrival.
Steve was going to the airport to pick them up before morning surgery, and Sallie knew that he would be giving the new man in his niece’s life a critical once-over.
They had cared for Liam devotedly and, knowing Steve, he wouldn’t be happy to let him be transferred into the care of someone he thought unsuitable, whether Melanie was the mother or not.
Neither of them had slept on the night before their arrival because ever since the day Steve had come back to where he belonged there had been a family feeling in the apartment and they’d both revelled in it, each of them loving Liam equally.
But now that part of their lives was over. It was time to hand him back to his mother, which was right and proper. No more cuddles and baby smiles or tender moments when they watched him lovingly as he slept.
As Sallie tossed and turned restlessly Steve took her in his arms and said consolingly. ‘There is one good thing, Sal. At least we’ll be able to watch Liam grow up. He’ll be where we can see him as the years go by, instead of being somewhere far away.’
She nodded sombrely. ‘Yes. I know we should be glad that we’ll have that to hang onto. I always knew it would be like this when we had to give him up but, Steve, I wouldn’t have wanted to miss looking after him for Melanie. Would you?’
‘No, of course not. He was the extra little bit of icing on the cake when you let me come back into your life.’
And now the moment they were dreading in one way and looking forward to in another had arrived. As Sallie opened the door of the apartment, they were coming up the stairs with the eager young mother in the lead, followed by the new man in her life and Steve bringing up the rear.
She saw that he was smiling and a quick glance at the stranger supplied the answer. Rick Martinex was tall, with blue eyes and shoulder-length blond hair, yet it was his smile that Sallie noticed first. A broad, friendly beam that was immediately reassuring.
But it was Liam in his play-pen who took centre stage. He’d just learned how to pull himself upright by holding on to the bars and was watching what was going on with big eyes.
When she saw him, Melanie burst into tears. ‘Oh, Sallie,’ she sobbed. ‘He’s so big and so beautiful! How can I thank you both?’
‘You could let us babysit, or sometimes push him out in his buggy,’ Steve said wryly, and Sallie swallowed hard. She could feel the familiar pain around her heart. It was always there when she thought of their childlessness. But this was their moment, Melanie’s and Rick’s, and she didn’t want to cast any gloom around.
Unaware of her momentary melancholy, Steve was saying to the young couple, ‘Welcome to village life. There’s nothing to beat it. If you don’t mind, I have a job to do, taking the last surgery before Christmas. Sallie is going to give it a miss this morning, but one of us has to be there.’
When he had gone downstairs she said, ‘It’s so lovely to see you both here safe and well. Steve has had a house built for the two of us, so the apartment is yours, if you want it.’
‘That’s great!’ Melanie cried, and Rick thanked Sallie profusely.
‘I’ve written down Liam’s routine,’ she told them. ‘It will take him a while to get used to you and he might cry for us sometimes. But if his daily routine stays the same for the time being, he should be all right, and I’m just down the road if you need me.’
‘I’ve stocked the fridge and changed the sheets and I’m now going to pick up the turkey that I’ve ordered from the butcher, while you get to know your son again, Melanie. We’re expecting the three of you to join us for Christmas lunch, if that’s all right with you. We’re looking forward to getting to know you, Rick. I hope you’ll be happy here.’
As she drove to the new house, after doing the last of her food shopping, Sallie was thinking that she should be content, knowing that the young couple had arrived safely and were adequately provided for with accommodation and food. But the knowledge that their time with Liam was at an end was going to hurt in days to come.
He was where he ought to be now, with his mother, and she’d no quarrel with that, but it was still hard to let go and she knew that Steve was going to feel the same.
Melanie was going to have to take it slowly with her little one. So far the three people he’d bonded with had been Steve, Hannah and herself. His mother and her partner were going to have to do some bonding of their own.
When she turned into Bluebell Lane her spirits lifted as the house came into view. It was still hard to believe it was theirs until she put the key in the lock and stepped inside. Living and loving in this beautiful house was paradise. It was the kind of home she’d always dreamed of, with fields and the river close by. When they lay in each other’s arms in the night they could hear it bustling along on its never-ending journey to join the mighty Mersey.
She and Steve were back to how they’d once been, older and wiser maybe but with their delight in each other restored. Life was perfect It was as if all the clouds but one had disappeared from their sky and she wasn’t going to dwell on that.
The first time she’d seen the house she’d been able to picture children frolicking in the garden and sleeping in the bedrooms, but it seemed as if that would never be. Not their children anyway. But as long as they had each other again they were going to take each wonderful day as it came and be thankful.
Christmas morning in the new house was magical. There were presents waiting to be opened beneath the tree, the turkey was in the oven and a flash of bright colour on the river bank announced the presence of a kingfisher. Up above a flock of geese swooped and swirled in formation on their way to the further reaches of the river.
Soon Melanie and Rick would arrive with Liam for Christmas lunch and the day would be complete for the two doctors whose most precious gift to each other was a love that had been battered but not broken.
There were changes in some people’s lives after Christmas. Melanie took on a part-time receptionist’s position at the surgery and Rick was working for the local estate agent, and with his easy charm was proving to be the right man for the job.
Still with her arm in a cast, Jennifer started the drama group the first week in January with the vicar’
s blessing, and was amazed to find how popular it was.
Any change in Philip Gresty’s life had to be for the worse. He was much less well than he’d been at Janine’s wedding, and whenever Steve visited him he was humbled by his friend’s acceptance of his lot.
The district nurse and the physiotherapist visited regularly, but there wasn’t a lot they could do, except for the nurse to help him with bathing and the physio to arrange some gentle exercises.
Dale had taken over the running of the farm and Anna and Janine spent their time caring for Philip and keeping the riding school and shop functioning.
And then there was Liam. There’d been a big change in his life and for a while he’d been fretful, missing Sallie and Steve, but with regular visits from them, and the short memory of children of his age, he was adjusting, with lots of love from his mother.
CHAPTER NINE
THE days of bliss came to an end when one morning Steve found some kind of body change in the place he’d been operated on. It wasn’t a lump exactly, but there was something there.
‘I knew it was too good to last,’ he groaned as he came out of the shower.
‘What do you mean?’ Sallie asked, quite unprepared for what was coming next.
‘I think the cancer might have come back. I can feel something there.’
‘Oh, no!’ she breathed.
‘Oh, yes, I’m afraid,’ he said tightly. ‘I’ve been clear for three and a half years and now, when life is so wonderful, this happens.’
It was a Sunday morning, so getting in touch with Tom Cavanagh would have to wait until the following day, and for the rest of the weekend it was like sitting on a knife edge, with Steve not saying much but being just as loving as ever, and Sallie praying that he was wrong.
Thankfully they’d moved on since the last time, she was thinking. He wouldn’t let it get to him like it had before. For one thing, he would be much more aware of the seriousness of the situation if the cancer was back, although Tom had assured him that he was in full remission, and so had oncologists he’d seen in other places.
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