The Village Nurse's Happy-Ever-After

by Abigail Gordon

  ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked with ominous calm, and his second-in-command stared at him.

  ‘I’ve taken over from Phoebe. She’s gone to live elsewhere, so I’m renting the place with Janet’s permission. You remember I asked about one of these if there was ever a vacancy? As it turned out, Phoebe decided to up sticks before you did. Come on in, I’ve just brewed up. Do you want a cuppa?’

  ‘No, thanks,’ he said as he tried to take in what he’d just been told.

  He was to blame for Phoebe leaving the village, he thought numbly. Now that he’d got his priorities sorted out and rushed home to her, she wasn’t here.

  ‘I’m assuming that you have a forwarding address for her,’ he said levelly.

  ‘No, I haven’t, as a matter of fact,’ Leo replied. ‘She was reluctant to tell me where she was going and I don’t think she gave Janet one either. In any case our practice manager is away for the weekend. I imagine that Phoebe has gone to her sister’s, but it’s only a guess.’

  ‘And do you know where her sister lives?’

  ‘I have a rough idea. She’s moved to Manchester since Phoebe came to live here. As you know, that’s where I come from and she knew that. One day when we were chatting she said what part of Manchester her sister lived in, and surprisingly it was the same area where I was brought up.’

  ‘Do you know their name?’ he asked, still with that false calm on him.

  ‘’Fraid not, but what I do know is that they went to be near his father, who is in a care home just a few doors away from them. My mother was in there for a short time before my sister took her to live abroad with her. And Harry, if you don’t mind, I’d like to put some clothes on now.’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ he said apologetically. ‘If you’ll write down the directions to get to this place, I’ll be off immediately,’

  ‘Yes, sure,’ he agreed, ‘though what’s the rush?’

  ‘Can’t stop now—tell you later,’ he said as Leo scribbled down the name and address of the nursing home. ‘I don’t see me being back in time for tomorrow’s surgeries. Can I impose on you for one more day, Leo?’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ he said easily. ‘You have no idea how many times Ethan filled in for me last year when my mother was ill and I had to keep going back to Manchester to look after her.’

  It was early evening and Harry had found the road where Katie and Rob lived quite easily due to Leo’s mention of the nursing home. The fact that Phoebe’s car was parked outside a house a couple of doors away from it also helped.

  The curtains were drawn upstairs so it would seem that Marcus was sleeping up there, but of the woman he’d come to see there was no sign. Though he was longing to talk to her, he decided to restrain himself until morning and went and booked himself into a nearby hotel for the night.

  Now that he knew where she was, he was calming down. To discover Phoebe had packed up and left during his short absence had wiped every other thought from his mind. He’d intended sweeping her off her feet when she opened the door to him and asking her to marry him on the spot.

  Instead, he’d been confronted by a bewildered Leo, and didn’t want to contemplate what he would have done if the amiable man hadn’t come up with a suggestion that had helped him to find her.

  He was appalled that he could have upset her so much that she’d left Bluebell Cove without a word, and planned the move for a time when he wasn’t around. He prayed that, come morning, she would have some answers for him, if only he could get to speak to her. His only consolation so far was that her car was still outside the house.

  It was half past nine next morning when he arrived back at the road where Phoebe’s sister lived. He’d parked his car down a side street with the feeling that if Phoebe saw the red sports car, she would be forewarned of his presence and might refuse to see him.

  He would have been round there at first light, so desperate was he to speak to her, but this wasn’t like knocking on the door of her apartment. It was her sister’s home where he was going to be intruding.

  As he was approaching the house, he stepped back out of sight. Someone who had to be Katie had come out of the house with Marcus in his buggy and set off in the opposite direction.

  He breathed a sigh of relief. That left just Rob, Phoebe’s brother-in-law, to get past, and with a bit of luck he would have gone to wherever he was employed.

  The trauma of leaving Bluebell Cove and the long drive to Manchester was still there, Phoebe thought, but the rest that she’d promised Katie she would have was bringing some of her strength back, though not her sense of purpose. She felt as if she’d lost that somewhere along the way.

  Her sister had taken Marcus to the park and Rob was away on business for a few days, so she had the house to herself as she came downstairs from the shower, intending to do something with her hair, which had been fastened back with a rubber band ever since she’d arrived.

  She’d just had a bout of morning sickness and was feeling anything but lively when the doorbell rang, and still wearing a robe and slippers she went to answer it.

  When she opened the door and saw Harry standing there, she clutched the robe more tightly around her with one hand and held onto the door post with the other.

  ‘Hello, Phoebe,’ he said gently. ‘Will you marry me?’

  She shook her head. ‘No.’

  ‘Why not?’ he asked with the gentleness still there.

  ‘You know why not!’ she cried as the shock waves that had hit her on seeing him began to recede. ‘I’ve explained in the letter that I don’t want you marrying me out of kindness or duty.’

  ‘Do you think I might step inside for a moment?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’ She led him into the sitting room.

  Still keeping his calm, he asked, ‘And what letter might that be?’

  ‘The one I asked Janet to give you.’

  ‘I see. I got back from Australia yesterday morning, made the disturbing discovery that Leo was living in your apartment, and learned from him that you might have gone to your sister’s. He remembered a conversation he’d had with you about where she lived, and that is how I come to be here.’

  ‘So you don’t know?’ she breathed. ‘You haven’t asked me to marry you because of what was in the letter?’

  ‘No, whatever it might be.’ He brushed it to one side. ‘I’ve loved you from the moment of our second meeting. If you remember, the first one on the night of my arrival in Bluebell Cove was rather odd! But, getting back to why I’m here, I’ve hesitated to tell you how much I love you because for a long time my unhappy childhood cast a shadow over the thought of a family of my own. It has taken you, a single mother, to show me how wrong I’ve been, and I want to take care of you and Marcus for the rest of my life…if you’ll let me.’

  ‘You crazy man,’ she said softly. ‘You made me unhappy by trying to avoid making me unhappy! I adore you, but I left the village because I thought you didn’t want me. And there was another reason as well…’

  ‘And what’s that?’ he asked gently, drawing her into his arms, complete with rubber band.

  ‘I’m pregnant, Harry. That’s why I said no when you asked me to marry you. It was what I’d been dreading—that you might offer to marry me because I’m pregnant, and for no other reason. And at the back of my mind was always my ex-husband Darren’s response when I told him I was pregnant with Marcus. He wanted me to get an abortion, which is why we got divorced, and I just couldn’t bear to think of what I’d do if you weren’t interested in being a father. I didn’t know you hadn’t read my letter and that you were asking me because you really do love me.’

  He had become very still, had neither moved or spoken while she’d been explaining. Easing herself out of his arms, she looked up at him questioningly.

  ‘Say something, please,’ she begged.

  ‘How about wonderful, marvellous, you amazing woman?’ he cried joyfully. ‘Not only do you love me but you are going to give me children, and no
t just one but two, because I love Marcus as if he was my own. I’m so sorry to hear the reasons why your first marriage broke up, but reassure yourself that you’ve just made me the happiest man in the world! Can I propose to you again?’

  ‘Yes, please do.’

  ‘Will you marry me, Phoebe?’

  ‘Yes, Harry,’ she said softly. ‘I would love to be your wife.’

  ‘So can I take you back with me to where you belong?’

  ‘Yes, but remember I have nowhere to live. Can I share your apartment?’

  ‘Just for a short time, yes.’

  ‘And what then?’

  ‘We’ll be moving.’

  ‘Where to?’

  ‘With hope in my heart, I’ve bought Glades Manor for us and our children, my beautiful bride-to-be. I’m signing the contract tomorrow, the sale will be finalised soon afterwards. And now can we please spend a few moments making up for lost time?’

  ‘Yes,’ she breathed, ‘and just think, Harry, we have the rest of our lives to do that!’

  He placed his hand gently below her waistline, where his child lay safe and snug, and when their glances locked she saw something that hadn’t been there before. The tranquillity that came with contentment.

  When Katie returned some time later with Marcus, the scene before her was what she’d prayed for. One glance at the man who had come for his bride was enough to tell her that Phoebe had found her heart’s desire at last.

  ‘Harry is taking us back to Bluebell Cove, Katie,’ she said. ‘We’re going to be married as soon as we can. Thank you so much for your kindness, and we’d love you to be my bridesmaid if you will.’

  ‘Of course,’ she said, and with a smile for the man who was going to give Phoebe the love she so much deserved, ‘Rob will be so sorry to have missed meeting you, Harry.’

  ‘We’ll make up for it at the wedding, Katie,’ he promised.

  They were ready to leave, with Marcus strapped firmly into his car seat and Phoebe on the point of saying goodbye to Katie, but one thing was missing.

  ‘I brought something with me and don’t want to forget it,’ she told Harry.

  ‘It’s in the garage.’

  ‘Okay,’ he replied. ‘I’ll go and get it. What is it?’

  ‘A gate,’ she said laughingly. ‘Your first gift to me was a gate and I will treasure it for ever.’

  CHAPTER TEN

  THEY’D stopped off a couple of times on the way back for refreshment and for Marcus to have a little play. Every time Phoebe saw the two of them together, it was as if all the dreams she’d ever dreamed were coming true because Harry loved her. And in the autumn, when grain was being harvested and leaves were turning to bronze and gold, there would be another child to cherish, born of the love he had for her.

  She was going to suggest to him that if it was a girl they should call her Cassie, just so his bubbly and fiery first wife would never be forgotten.

  When Leo stepped out of his new accommodation the following morning, he was amazed. If he’d had any doubts about whether Harry’s search for Phoebe had been successful, proof was there in the sturdy gate fitted at the top of the stairs. That explained the sound of drilling at a late hour!

  They’d slept in each other’s arms with the contentment of lovers reunited after a long absence, as that was what the weeks of hurt and misunderstanding had felt like to both of them. Marcus was safely tucked up on the sofa beside them and once the day was under way, they would go out to buy a cot.

  When they’d made love before sleeping, there had been none of the doubts and uncertainties of before to trouble them. The way ahead was clear, the past was over, they loved each other totally, and what could be more wonderful than that?

  On the way home they’d made plans for the following day in the form of a visit to the solicitor on the main street during Harry’s lunch-break at the surgery. There he would sign the contracts for his purchase of Glades Manor and would request an early completion of the sale.

  At the weekend they would shop for furniture and fittings to grace the elegant house where they were going to bring up their children and at the same time plan a wedding.

  ‘There are going to be some raised eyebrows when the surgery staff find out that I’m back and living with you in your apartment,’ Phoebe said the next morning as they ate their first breakfast together.

  ‘So why don’t we put up a notice announcing our forthcoming marriage and inviting them to be our guests when we’ve fixed a date?’ Harry suggested.

  On the way to the solicitor at lunchtime he said, ‘Janet gave me the letter first thing and, after reading it, I love you more than ever, Phoebe.’

  ‘It was my darkest hour when I wrote that,’ she told him, ‘and my brightest when I opened the door of Katie and Rob’s house to find you on the doorstep.

  ‘I’d been so sure of how I was going to plan the rest of my life without you, yet putting it into practice felt like a knife in my heart. I was weak and wilting without you, but not any more, Harry, because you love me. I’m not just part of the package that comes with Marcus.’

  ‘You never were,’ he said softly, pulling up at the roadside. ‘You were yourself, beautiful and kind, loyal and understanding, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life making you happy.’ Oblivious of passers-by, he reached across and traced her lips with a gentle finger and then he kissed them.

  The legal business had been completed and they were driving back to the practice when Phoebe said, ‘When you mentioned Janet earlier, I intended telling you that her daughter is the new district nurse. Have you met her at all?’

  ‘Yes, briefly, and she seemed fine. So was that part of your plan when you decided to move to Manchester, fitting Janet’s daughter up with a position here?’ he asked quizzically.

  ‘Well, yes, I couldn’t just pack up and go leaving the surgery short-staffed, could I? It would have made life difficult for you and that was the last thing I wanted.’

  ‘Life would have been more than difficult without you Phoebe, it would have been hell on earth,’ he told her. ‘Why don’t we call in at the vicarage on our way back and fix a date for the wedding?’

  ‘How about May Day if the vicar is free?’ she suggested. ‘Saturday the first of May. We could erect a maypole in the garden at the house and after the wedding all dance around it with me wearing the Easter Bonnet clothes! It will be as if your parents are there with us then, giving us their blessing.’

  The church was in sight and everything else was forgotten in the need to get things moving in time for the first of May.

  The vicar was able to grant their request for a wedding on that date. The solicitor had already promised a quick completion, and, unbelievably, when Barbara Balfour had phoned Ethan to tell him that Harry was marrying Phoebe, the young district nurse that he’d been so protective of while he’d been in charge of the surgery, he’d offered them his house in Bluebell Cove for the wedding reception and accepted Harry’s invitation to be his best man. When the decision had been made to go to live in the place where Francine had been brought up they had decided to keep the house in Bluebell Cove for visiting the village whenever the urge came over them, and now it would be serving its purpose.

  It also meant that the whole family would be coming over from France for the occasion, Ethan himself, Francine and their children, Kirstie and Ben.

  Katie, as arranged on the day that Harry had proposed to her sister, was to be Phoebe’s maid of honour, and Lucy had offered to look after Marcus on the great day, and so the arrangements proceeded.

  Barbara Balfour was delighted at the prospect of seeing Ethan again and completely overwhelmed at the thought of having the two men that she loved like sons together again in Bluebell Cove.

  Leo, whose love life was a flourishing but fleeting thing, was taking stock and wondering whether he was missing out on something every time he saw Harry’s contentment.

  And, in the midst of everything, Phoebe had been for her first antena
tal appointment at a birthing centre that had recently been opened adjoining Hunter’s Hill Hospital in the town and been told that her pregnancy was coming along fine.

  Glades Manor became legally theirs just before the wedding and while Harry was at the practice, Phoebe supervised the delivery and arranging of the furnishings they had bought. At the same time she watched two men from the village erect a maypole with bright ribbons streaming from it in the centre of one of the lawns adjacent to the house.

  When Harry saw it he said, ‘You aren’t really going to wear my mother’s things when you dance around it, are you? You looked wonderful in them, but they are quite old-fashioned!’

  ‘But of course—just watch me,’ she teased.

  ‘Watching you is my delight,’ he told her softly as she moved into his waiting arms.

  All the village had turned out for the wedding of the district nurse and their GP, and as the bells rang out over Bluebell Cove, the small church was filling up rapidly.

  Harry had kept his promise to his lawyer and Jonas had just arrived straight from the airport. Ethan and his family had appeared a couple of days ago and those who knew them best thought how well and happy they all looked after their traumas of the year before. It was good to know that moving across the Channel had been the right decision for them.

  On a clear May morning, Katie’s husband Rob walked Phoebe down the aisle to take her place beside Harry. In a wedding dress of heavy cream brocade that was stunning in its simplicity, and with a coronet of pearls on her head, she walked sedately down the aisle, linking one arm through her brother-in-law’s and in the other carrying an arrangement of bluebells and lilies of the valley.

  The man of her dreams was waiting and as their glances held, it was there in his eyes how much he loved her, and how much he was looking forward to their life together. But it was down to little Marcus, sitting in the front pew on Lucy’s knee, to make their day truly perfect, as he spoke his favourite new words, ‘Mummy’ and ‘Daddy’!