Christmas at Willowmere

by Abigail Gordon

  When James had gone Glenn finished his meal and then went up to his room. He was smiling. The opportunity to stay in Willowmere was a gift from the gods. He hadn’t wanted to return to London, but as a change of heart on Anna’s part was not forthcoming there had seemed nothing else to do, short of outstaying his welcome.

  But in the last hour everything had changed. He was filled with a renewed sense of purpose. If Anna didn’t love him any more, and there was no reason why she should, at least they might become good friends.

  She’d told him that she’d become a solitary person when she’d taken him to see the lake and he thought he understood. Her life was full of many things but they were the affairs of others, and there must be times when she was aware of that and felt alone.

  She was surrounded by love, the giving and receiving of it, and unselfish and caring, would never accept that she was paying a price by putting to one side her own dreams and desires. Now he was back in her life, wondering if they could ever take up where they’d left off, longing to love and cherish her, but would she let him? He didn’t think so and until Anna explained why she had sent him away on that dreadful day, nothing was ever going to make sense.

  He arrived back from London late on Sunday evening and when he stopped the car in front of Bracken House its lights were shining out across what was left of the snow. As he sat looking around him for a moment he had the strangest feeling. It was like coming home, a sensation that he was not accustomed to.

  In his young days ‘home’ had been anywhere his separated parents had been living at the time, and even now there was no reason for him to feel he belonged, but it was there nevertheless.

  Anna’s place next door was in darkness so it seemed that she wasn’t around, but that didn’t spoil the moment as he knew that she soon would be. They were going to be seeing each other all the time, at the surgery, here at Bracken House, and around the village.

  Life was good and it became even better when she opened the door in answer to his ring on the bell. ‘Hello, again,’ she said coolly. ‘I’ve been checking that all is in order for you, like clean towels in the en suite and fresh sheets on the bed.’

  As she led the way into the kitchen she was aware that Glenn hadn’t spoken so far, and the feeling of unreality that she’d had all day increased. She wasn’t to know that the pleasure he’d felt out there in the car was still there and he was wallowing in it.

  ‘How was the traffic?’ she asked, and he eyed her blankly for a moment.

  ‘Oh, all right,’ he replied. In truth it had barely registered, so eager had he been to be where she was, but the cool greeting and the polite enquiry about the journey indicated that Anna hadn’t exactly been glowing with anticipation, but he could cope with that. The main thing was that he was here in Willowmere to live. It was more than he had ever dreamed of and the fact that she had been in favour of it had given him new determination not to be sidetracked any more.

  Unaware of the thoughts going around in his mind Anna was leading the way upstairs. Looking around him, he said, ‘Is James not here?’

  ‘No,’ she replied. ‘He’s gone round to have a quick word with Elaine, the practice manager. He’s so busy during the week there’s no time for discussing administration matters and they often communicate over the weekend. He said to tell you he won’t be long and to make yourself at home.’

  They were on the landing now and when she opened the door nearest to them he followed her inside.

  ‘I hope you’ll be comfortable in here,’ she said, ‘and feel free to call the rest of the house your home for however long you are here. James is looking forward to you staying here.’

  No mention of her feelings on the matter, he noticed and his glance went to the double bed. Did Anna remember the times they’d slept together in blissful contentment after they’d made love? he wondered. He turned to face her and knew she was reading his mind.

  He took a step towards her and she backed away. ‘Don’t!’ she begged.

  ‘Don’t what?’ he questioned in a low voice.

  ‘Don’t bring it all back. It’s gone, Glenn,’ she choked.

  ‘I don’t intend to,’ he said in the same quiet tone, and looked around him. ‘This is a charming room. Thanks for making it so. I shall look forward to enjoying the view from the window when daylight comes.’

  Anna was already at the door and bringing the moment down to basics was asking, ‘Have you eaten?’

  ‘Yes, thanks, though I wouldn’t mind a cup of tea.’

  ‘Of course. I’ll switch the kettle on.’

  At that moment James returned. The two men were chatting when Anna appeared with two mugs of tea and when her brother asked why she wasn’t joining them she made the excuse that she was leaving them to discuss Glenn’s arrival at the practice and was going to have an early night.

  ‘Sleep well,’ she said to Glenn from the doorway, still in the role of the polite hostess, ‘and don’t bother to set an alarm. The cockerel at the farm down the road will waken you at an early hour, and if he doesn’t the children will.’

  ‘Magical! I’ll remember that,’ he said dryly, and James, seated beside him, laughed at his wry expression.

  ‘I’ll be off, then,’ she told them, and as Glenn fixed her with his dark blue gaze she knew she hadn’t been wrong about the way they’d been ready to gravitate towards each other in the bedroom. Thank goodness she’d had the sense not to weaken.

  She wasn’t going to get away so easily, though. He was on his feet and saying, ‘I’ll see you to your door,’

  ‘It’s only a few feet away!’

  ‘Nevertheless.’ He turned to James. ‘I’ll only be a matter of minutes.’

  Her brother was smiling. The undercurrents he’d sensed on the night that Glenn had dined with them were still there. If not on Anna’s part, they were certainly there on Glenn’s.

  ‘This is crazy!’ she protested as they walked the few feet to her door.

  ‘Yes, maybe,’ he parried. ‘As crazy as what happened up in the bedroom, do you think?’

  ‘Nothing happened in the bedroom,’ she protested flatly.

  ‘Exactly, but it could have done.’

  She was putting her key in the lock. ‘It was over a long time ago, Glenn. Don’t try and rake up the ashes.’

  ‘Is that how you really feel?’

  ‘Yes. I’m afraid so.’

  He took a step back. ‘Fair enough. Maybe one day you’ll tell me what it’s all about.’

  ‘There’s nothing to tell,’ she said, pushing the door wide. ‘Goodnight, Glenn.’

  Anna’s arrangement with James for weekday mornings ever since she’d moved into the annexe had been that he would get the children up and give them their breakfast, and once that was over she would come in to oversee Pollyanna and Jolyon getting washed and dressed and ready for school while he prepared to be at the surgery for half past eight.

  The following morning would be the same, except that Glenn would be there, making his own preparations to accompany James. When she appeared he flashed a smile in her direction and she was relieved to see that it held no reminders of the night before. The same didn’t apply to his thoughts, but she wasn’t to know that.

  In the midst of the hustle and bustle he said, ‘To work with just the sounds of the countryside in my ears will be pure joy. And, Anna, I don’t believe I thanked you last night for getting my room ready. It was remiss of me and my only excuse is that I had other things on my mind.’

  She paused in the middle of supervising Jolyon tying the laces in his school shoes and looked up at him from a crouching position.

  If Glenn thought she was going to take him up on that, he had another think coming. It was daunting enough having him around at this time of day without playing mind games, and she went to check that the children had everything they needed for school.

  She’d woken up with the same kind of dread as when she had a dental appointment. The feeling that pain, or at least
discomfort, lay ahead. But there was no time to dwell on what Glenn’s first day in the practice was going to be like, she would know soon enough.

  He was already settled in the room next to Georgina, when she arrived after taking Pollyanna and Jolyon to school, and was saying goodbye to his first patient of the day, Esther Whittaker, the oldest inhabitant of the village.

  ‘I’ve seen some doctors come and go at this place in my time,’ she was telling him with a wizened smile. ‘I like to see a new face now and then so you’ll be seeing a lot of me as I’m an old crock who is a regular visitor to this place.’

  ‘I will bear that in mind, Mrs Whittaker,’ he told her gravely as he saw her safely off the premises.

  Bemused by the sight of crusty old Esther Whittaker eating out of his hand, and unable to resist commenting on it when he came back inside, Anna said, ‘It hasn’t taken you long to settle in.’

  ‘Maybe it’s because settling-in time was not on the agenda where I’ve been,’ he said quizzically. ‘The moment we stepped out of a helicopter, or put a foot on dry land if we’d used a boat to get to some far-away place, people were there, begging to be treated.’

  She nodded sombrely. ‘I would like to hear about it some time. It will be in the far distant future before I get the chance to do anything like that, but maybe one day. In the meantime, I make the most of my nurse’s training by helping to look after the people here in Willowmere.’ She glanced over at some new arrivals. ‘I see a couple of them heading for the chairs in the passage outside the nurses’ rooms, so I’ll leave you, Glenn. I take it that you’ve been introduced to everyone.’

  ‘Yes. James did the honours as soon as we arrived.’

  ‘Where is he now?’ she asked.

  ‘He’s with Elaine, sorting out final details of my function here with regard to the primary care trust. He seems to think that they won’t need to be involved as I’m not here on a permanent basis.’

  ‘No, of course not,’ she said, and thought that now Glenn was actually here she didn’t want to be reminded that it might not be for long.

  ‘You’ve kept your friend Dr Hamilton to yourself, haven’t you?’ Beth teased as they prepared the bigger of their rooms for the heart clinic. ‘I’ve only spoken to him briefly, but he’s certainly going to brighten up our days while he’s here.’

  ‘We’ve only just renewed our acquaintance,’ she told Beth. ‘It’s five years since I last saw Glenn and he is only a friend. He came to look me up and James saw the opportunity for some experienced help in the surgery.’

  ‘Why? Where was he before?’

  ‘Abroad, working with teams bringing health care to deprived areas.’

  ‘That makes him more impressive than ever,’ Beth said. ‘A friend of my husband volunteered for that kind of thing and he said it takes a special kind of dedication for a person to do that.’

  ‘Yes, I do know that,’ Anna told her quietly, ‘and I’m quite sure that Glenn will go back when he’s had the chance to unwind.’ She didn’t really want to discuss him with Beth. Didn’t want to be reminded of his zeal and idealism.

  Compared to that she’d had just a single-minded determination to be there for those she loved and in the midst of it she’d lost the precious privilege of having children.

  She didn’t see Glenn much during the day. The two nurses were kept busy with those suffering from coronary problems who attended the heart clinic, checking blood pressures, sounding heartbeats, monitoring breathing and passing on details of any alarm signals to the doctors.

  Only Georgina was around when Anna was on the point of going to collect the children in the afternoon and she said, ‘James has taken Glenn with him on his house calls and he is about to find that in a country practice like ours the problem is not so much the number of patients as where they live. The distance between each call once away from the village can be very time-consuming. He seems a nice guy. I took him a coffee when I had mine in the middle of the morning.’

  A wintry sun had been out and turned what was left of the snow to slush, and as she walked along Anna was thinking that if Glenn was going to be such a hit with the women on the staff, the low profile she intended to keep would be easier to achieve than she’d expected.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  WHEN James came in at the end of the day he was smiling, and Anna asked, ‘How did it go?’

  ‘Very well indeed.’ he replied. ‘Glenn took to the surgery routine like a duck to water, and with regard to ducks and water he seems to have been impressed with his visit to Willow Lake. What prompted you to take him there in the middle of winter?’

  ‘I suppose I was showing off. Keen for him to realise what a beautiful place this is.’

  ‘Because now that he is here you want him to stay?’

  ‘No. If you remember, I wasn’t over the moon when you suggested bringing Glenn into the practice. My life is sorted, James. I don’t want any complications in it and at the risk of Glenn becoming our main topic of conversation, what was he planning to do for his evening meal?’

  ‘He’s gone to the Hollyhocks for their last serving of the day.’

  She smiled. ‘That figures. He really enjoyed the food there when we went for afternoon tea.’

  ‘If it’s all right with you, I thought I’d invite him to eat with us each evening,’ James suggested. ‘He seems on top of the world to be here and, you never know, he might find himself a wife and become a permanent fixture.’

  ‘Yes, he might,’ she said with a sudden loss of appetite.

  James received a phone call the next morning just as the two doctors were about to go to the surgery, and as he listened to what was being said at the other end Anna and Glenn watched his expression change.

  ‘I’ll go on ahead,’ Glenn said.

  She nodded as she heard James say, ‘I’ll be there as soon as I can, but first I will have to make some arrangements at this end.

  ‘That was the nursing-home in Sussex where Julie’s Aunt Alice has stayed for the past few years,’ he explained when he’d finished the call. ‘They rang to tell me that she died last night and as her executor I’m going to have to go to sort out funeral arrangements and deal with any other urgent matters that need attention.

  ‘I hate to leave you to cope with the children, Anna, and am not happy about Glenn being thrown in at the deep end when he’s only just joined us, but poor Alice had no living relatives, so I will have to go. Hopefully I’ll find a hotel to stay the night and will be back late tomorrow. I’ll go and speak to Georgina and then have a word with Glenn. It’s going to mean you staying here tonight, so it’s fortunate that he’s going to be around. I’ll be easier in my mind, knowing that you’re not on your own with the children.’

  ‘James!’ she protested. ‘I’m quite able to take care of myself and Polly and Jolly, so don’t even think of asking Glenn to keep an eye on us. Right?’

  ‘Right,’ he agreed mildly, and went to find Georgina.

  ‘No problem there,’ he said when he came back. ‘Both she and Glenn said not to worry so I’ll go and pack an overnight bag and be off after I’ve said goodbye to the children.’

  ‘Watch out for ice on the roads. There’s still a lot of snow about too in some parts of the country,’ she warned.

  ‘Who’s fussing now?’ he wanted to know.

  ‘Do I have to remind you that your children have already lost one parent in a car accident?’

  ‘No, you don’t,’ he said sombrely. ‘I will be careful.’ He glanced at Polly and Jolly, who were dawdling around getting dressed. ‘Thanks for this, Anna, especially at such short notice. I hate leaving you guys.’

  ‘Yes, I know, but we’ll be here when you get back,’ she said gently. ‘Have no worries about that.’

  James had left, the children were dressed in their school uniforms and Anna had just come out of the shower when Glenn came back at just gone half past eight, bringing a gust of cold air in with him.

  As she looked down at him f
rom the upstairs landing, with a towel draped around her head and a warm robe loosely covering the rest of her, he said, ‘Just a quick call to ask if there is anything I can do before I present myself to the waiting public.’

  When she shook her head the towel fell off, and as she tried to retrieve it the robe nearly fell open.

  He quickly turned away saying, ‘Obviously the wrong time to call. I’m delaying you. Sorry about that.’

  With the towel hanging loosely from one hand and holding onto her dignity with the other, she said lightly, ‘Thanks for the offer but everything is fine, Glenn. I’ll catch up with you later.’

  ‘Right. I’ll be off, then,’ he said, and went back to where he’d come from. As he closed the door behind him Anna thought that at one time they would have rolled about laughing at what had just happened with the towel.

  But the clock was ticking on. It was time to dry her hair, put some clothes on and take the children to school, before presenting herself at the surgery.

  ‘I’ve come for my B12 injection,’ Melanie Bowers, a stressed-out mother of teenage sons, said when she presented herself at the nurses’ room midmorning. ‘I made an appointment yesterday.’

  Beth was busy in the adjoining room, doing a spirometry test for someone with breathing problems, and Anna said, ‘Come in and tell me what those boys of yours have been up to since I last saw you.’

  ‘How much time have you got?’ Melissa said, raising her eyes heavenwards. ‘I thought it was hard work with three under five when they were little, but those days were a piece of cake compared to now!’

  ‘You love them to bits, though, don’t you?’ Anna said as Melanie held out her arm for the injection.

  She laughed. ‘Yes, of course I do, but bear in mind what I say. Enjoy every moment with those two little darlings of yours. These are the easy years, Anna!’

  Smiling, Anna put a plaster over the injection site, then said goodbye to Melanie. She went to the kitchen to make a coffee for Beth and herself, and as she passed the open door of Georgina’s room she saw that the two doctors had had the same idea.