‘Don’t be,’ he told her huskily, with the wonder of the moment sweet upon him. ‘We’ve made a child, Georgina, and we’re going to give it all the love that we never got the chance to give Jamie.’
‘I want to see you again in a fortnight now that you’re into your third trimester of the pregnancy,’ the consultant was saying. He turned to Ben. ‘I’ve checked the blood pressure myself, even though as a doctor Georgina is quite capable of monitoring it, and at this stage I’m satisfied there are no problems coming from that direction. I know that she had a difficult pregnancy with your first child, so I’ll be keeping a keen eye open for any signs of hypertension.’
When they’d left the building, and were going to their separate cars, Ben said, ‘I’m relieved that so far your blood pressure is behaving itself. I’ve been dreading…’
He hadn’t put it into words, so she said it for him. ‘That we might lose this child as well?’
‘It just seems too good to be true. Everything does.’
‘Not quite everything,’ she said gravely, and as she wasn’t going to beg, got into her car and set off for Partridge Lane, leaving Ben to make his way back to the practice for the rest of the afternoon.
She didn’t see him that evening, which was something of an anti-climax after those incredible moments at the gynaecologist’s. Having the afternoon off meant that she ate earlier than usual and had her walk earlier. She’d expected that he would be home by the time she got back, but there was no sign of Ben’s car on his driveway. Feeling tired and disappointed, she decided to go to bed.
When she’d undressed and put on the roomy nightdress that he’d once ironed for her, Georgina stood motionless by the wall that separated the two cottages. The longing to have Ben beside her through the night was so strong she felt that he must surely sense it on the other side of the wall.
But nothing moved. There was no knock on her door or urgent ringing of the phone and, turning away, she climbed slowly into bed. It was as she placed her head on the pillow that she heard it and it was not the kind of sound she was longing for.
There was hammering coming from the other side of the wall and the whirring of a hand drill, and she thought wryly that Ben’s thoughts must be a million miles away from hers if he was putting shelves up or hanging pictures.
Since he felt that they still had separate agendas for the future, Ben found the evenings never-ending with Georgina next door, so near physically yet so out of reach in every other way. He needed something to occupy himself with and had decided he was going to fill the empty hours by making a cot for the baby.
They’d bought a crib but he knew that infants soon outgrew their first sleeping place and the thought of their child lying in a cot that he’d made for it was appealing. He’d bought all that was needed for the venture on his way home and was now hard at work in the spare bedroom, unaware that the noise of his labours could be heard through the thick stone walls of the cottage.
‘What were you doing last night, putting shelves up?’ Georgina asked the next morning as they were about to leave for the surgery in their separate cars.
‘Why? Could you hear me?’ he exclaimed. ‘I’m sorry if I disturbed you.’ Intending that the cot was going to be a surprise, he replied, ‘No. I was repairing a loose floorboard.’
‘Oh, I see,’ she replied, and let the matter drop.
CHAPTER SEVEN
AS THEY drove to the practice they passed Jess, the nanny, taking James’s children to school. When they arrived at the surgery, Georgina said, ‘Are we going to do as you suggested and take Pollyanna and Jolyon out for the day?’
He didn’t reply immediately and she wondered if he was remembering Jamie and thinking that he was always involved with other people’s children, never his own. Yet surely the baby she was carrying was going to take some of that kind of ache away? And it had been Ben’s idea in the first place.
He was observing her thoughtfully, and she wasn’t to know that his hesitation was on her behalf. She was nearing the end of her pregnancy, had a demanding job at the practice, and should be resting whenever possible. But he knew what Georgina would say to that. It would be the same thimg she said to the women at the antenatal clinic at the surgery. Pregnancy was a natural thing, not an illness. But with regard to the woman he adored there was the spectre of possible blood pressure problems in the background.
He longed to hold another child of theirs in his arms, but she came first. Three long and lonely years had shown how much she meant to him, and he’d resigned himself to accepting it if she didn’t want him back in the fullest sense. As long as he could be near her and the baby when it came, so that he could watch over them, he would stay on the fringe of their lives for ever if he had to. It would be better than nothing.
She was waiting for an answer. ‘Yes, if you like,’ he said with assumed easiness. ‘But only if you feel up to it and whatever we do isn’t too strenuous.’
‘I’ll mention it to James, then. How about this coming Saturday?’
‘Fine by me,’ he said, unable to stop his spirits from lifting at the thought of spending some prime time with her. ‘Where should we take them?’
‘There’s a stately home not far from here that gets lots of visitors. The inside is full of beautiful pictures and antique furniture, which wouldn’t be of much interest to Pollyanna and Jolyon, but in the grounds there are brilliant amusements for children and lots of animals for them to see. Once we’ve done the rounds, there are grassy slopes where visitors can picnic if they don’t want to use the restaurants.’
‘That sort of place would be ideal for keeping a couple of youngsters happy for a few hours,’ he agreed. ‘Hopefully the picnic will be an improvement on our last one.’
‘Thanks for reminding me of the day you gave up on me,’ she said quietly, and preceded him into the roomy stone building that was the centre of healthcare in the village.
* * *
‘That would be great,’ James said, when Georgina aproached him about having the children for the day. ‘It will give me the chance to do a few things I haven’t been able to get to for ages. What time shall I have them ready?’
‘Ten o’clock, shall we say? It will take us an hour to get there.’
‘They’ll love it,’ he enthused. ‘Especially if Ben is there. Don’t be surprised if Jolyon turns up with his cricket gear.’
‘I never did find out where Ben got that cap from,’ she said laughingly.
‘It probably belonged to one of the junior team and had been left hanging around the pavillion.’ He smiled.
Georgina was smiling too as she drove to the local children’s boutique, a small but classy place called Ribbons and Rompers. The owner, Tessa Graham, had asked for a visit. After leaving James to his own activities, she was making the shop her first stop.
When Georgina arrived there, she saw that the shop blinds were still down and there were no signs of life around the place. She rang the bell outside a door at the bottom of stairs that led to an upstairs apartment, and it was a few moments before it was opened. Tessa was revealed hunched in a towelling robe and looking pale and listless.
As she led the way upstairs the shopowner said weakly, ‘I’ve got the most awful stomach cramps, Dr Adams, and have been vomiting and had diarrhoea for most of the night. I think I passed out once. I found myself on the bathroom floor and don’t recall how I got there.’
‘It sounds as if you might have food poisoning,’ Georgina told her, ‘or a severe gastric upset of some sort.’ She was looking around her, could see into the kitchen and it was spotless, as was the rest of the apartment.
‘Have you eaten anything in the last twenty-four hours that could be suspect?’ she asked.
‘I went to a barbeque last night and had some sausage that could have done with being cooked a bit longer, but apart from that I can’t think of anything else that could have caused it. I’m usually very fussy about what I eat.’
‘Maybe not
fussy enough this time,’ Georgina suggested. ‘It could be the sausage that has caused this, so don’t eat any food until you haven’t been sick or had diarrhoea for several hours, and then only small amounts of very plain food. In the meantime, try small sips of water and gradually build up your fluid intake. Make sure you drink regularly. The only comfort to be had from this sort of thing is that once the stomach has emptied itself and the colon likewise it can only go on for so long and then it must be allowed to settle. Send for me again, Tessa, if the symptoms persist or get worse, but I think it will have been the sausages that have upset you.’
When she arrived back at the practice, Ben was closeted with a patient. As soon as he was free he asked, ‘Have you spoken to James?’
‘Yes, he’s happy for us to have the children for the day.’
And are we sticking to plan A?’
‘Yes, and I think we should pray for good weather as these dry, sunny days aren’t going to last for ever.’
He nodded, and in a more serious tone said, ‘Have you decided what you are going to do about the practice when you have the baby? Are you going to take the full maternity leave? I can’t believe we haven’t discussed it.’
‘That’s because of the confusion in our lives,’ she told him. ‘But you’re right. It needs to be sorted.’
‘So why don’t I take you out for a meal tonight and we’ll talk about it while we’re relaxing? It will save us having to cook.’
If he thought she was going to be relaxed while they were discussing the future, Ben was very much mistaken. But the idea of dining together, as they’d done a few times when he first came to the village, was appealing, and she said, ‘Yes, that would be nice.’
James had overheard the conversation and said, ‘There is something that has just cropped up that might influence your plans, or otherwise. You know that I wouldn’t want to lose you, Georgina, as the practice wouldn’t be the same without you, but if you decided you wanted a break from work until your little one is older, I’ve had a registrar from St Gabriel’s on the phone. He wants to move into general practice and as his contract with the hospital is up at the end of May, he asked if there was any likelihood of a vacancy in Willowmere.
‘His name is David Tremayne and he met Anna and Glenn in A and E last winter on the day when there was a near tragedy on Willow Lake. It was frozen over and when the ice began to melt someone fell through and nearly drowned.
‘It must have stuck in his mind and he’s coming in for a chat. He sounded a very capable guy but, Georgina, I want us to do what is best for you. So let me know once you’ve decided. And enjoy your meal.’
She smiled. It would be great just getting dressed up and going to a nice restaurant, but the real pleasure would be in the opportunity to spend some time alone with Ben. If only he felt the same as she did, she would stand over a hot stove if she had to.
When he’d first come to Willowmere, he had been desperate for her company. Now it was just the opposite. It was she who longed for his, but ever since he’d said that it wasn’t working out between them, it had been in short supply socially.
She was seeing plenty of him at the surgery but that was a different ball game. They were there to work.
When she opened the door to him dressed in a long black skirt and a low-necked top, relieved by a silver choker, he said, ‘Very nice! It reminds me of how it used to be before we were married. You opening the door of your parents’ house to me all dressed up for the evening ahead. You’re a beautiful woman, Georgina.’
She patted her midriff laughingly and questioned, ‘Like this?’
‘Yes, like that. Pregnancy suits you.’
‘Next thing you’ll be saying I should try it more often,’ she teased, still in a light-hearted mood, but his reply was serious.
‘I suggest that we focus on getting this little one safely into the world.’
‘Yes, of course,’ she told him. ‘I’ve started putting my feet up for half an hour each evening when I get home.’
‘They’re not swelling, are they?’
‘Just a little, but they’ll be down by morning.’ She pushed him gently to one side as she locked the door, and then they were off.
‘So where are we heading?’ she asked half an hour later as Ben turned the car onto the hill road in the dusk of a spring night.
‘A new place that was recommended to me by a patient,’ he explained. ‘It’s described as a farm restaurant and she said the food was delicious.’
‘Ah! I know it!’ she exclaimed. ‘I noticed it when I was up there visiting a patient a few weeks ago. I remember thinking that someone had invested a lot of money in it, considering that it’s rather out in the wilds.’
‘Yes, that may be, but don’t you think that people are prepared to travel miles for some good food?’
As they were shown to a table in a tastefully presented dining room that was already half-full, it seemed as if Ben’s comment that the population would travel far for some good food had been correct. When it was put in front of them, they had their answer in succulent steaks and crispy home-grown vegetables.
They ate silently and with relish after a long and busy day, and it wasn’t until they were relaxing over a coffee for Ben and a herbal tea for Georgina that she said, ‘Until you came I intended to take full maternity leave from the practice, for obvious reasons. I was on my own, and I didn’t think I could bear to leave the baby in someone else’s care any sooner than I had to. If that someone was you it would be a different matter. But now you’re involved in the practice as much as I am.’
‘I don’t have to be if James takes on another doctor. He might decide to do that if this registrar from St Gabriel’s is the right man for the job.’
‘You said you were going to look for a property,’ she reminded him. ‘That could affect any arrangements we made—especially if it was out of the area.’
As if! Everything he cared about was here in Willowmere.
‘Have you seen anything suitable?’ she continued.
‘No, not yet. I haven’t had a lot of time for house-hunting so far.’
She nodded. ‘The weeks are speeding past. Sometimes I can hardly believe that I’m carrying our child and will soon be giving birth.’
He didn’t have that problem, Ben was thinking. The baby was always in his thoughts. As was his beautiful wife.
Ever since he’d found out that Georgina was pregnant it had been like stepping out of darkness, but it wasn’t stopping him from feeling that he didn’t deserve it after the way he’d acted in the past. Calm, clinical doctor that he was, neither did it prevent him from waking up in the night with the dread in him that something could go wrong.
After they’d seen the scan at the gynaecologist’s rooms, Ian Sefton had phoned him that same night, and he’d been tense as a violin string when he’d heard his voice at the other end of the line. But it had been merely a social call to say that until he’d seen them together he’d had no idea that he was the father of Georgina Adams’s baby.
‘She was my wife once,’ Ben had explained in clipped tones, ‘but we lost our little boy in a tragic accident and our marriage broke down.’
‘Sadly, that can happen,’ the other man had said gravely. ‘But you’re back together again and starting a new family, which has to be good. Before I take up any more of your evening, the reason I called is because I’d very much like to chat with you some time. I’m a great admirer of your work, and often paediatrics and gynaecology walk hand in hand.’
‘Yes, why not?’ he’d agreed. ‘Some time after the baby is born, perhaps.’
‘You’re not listening,’ Georgina was protesting.
‘Sorry. I was thinking about a phone call I had from Ian Sefton the other night.’
‘Not about me, I would hope!’
‘No. That would hardly be ethical, would it? He wants me to meet up with him when it’s convenient, to discuss our respective professions.’
‘That’s nice.�
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‘Yes, I suppose so. Let’s talk about babycare. There are a few options open to us. My staying at home while you go back to work is one of them. It would give me lots of time with the baby.’
‘I wouldn’t want you to do that,’ she told him.
He stilled. ‘Why?’ Because I’m not really your husband? he thought.
‘Ben, your skills are too important to be hidden away. I know there are times when you feel that your life is full of other people’s children instead of your own, but those same children need you. You can’t disappear out of their lives.’
‘So what, then?’ he questioned.
‘I don’t know. James isn’t rushing me into a decision now that he’s got you, and if you want to go back to what you do best he will still have David Tremayne in the practice, which gives me ample time to decide what my future role in it will be. It will depend largely on what sort of arrangements we make for the future.’
Georgina was giving him an opening, but he remained silent, and her hopes faded. It seemed that Ben hadn’t changed his mind. They were going to be together, yet apart, with just one precious bond to bind them.
With the departure of the sun that had beamed down on Willowmere during daylight hours there was a chill in the air when they left the restaurant and Georgina shivered in the flimsy clothes she was wearing.
Ben had seen the shudder and was already taking off his jacket and draping it around her shoulders protectively. The simple, caring gesture brought tears to her eyes.
He saw them and wanted to know, ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing,’ she told him, managing a watery smile, and thought that their lives were full of contradictions.
When he turned the car into Partridge Lane, she said hesitantly, ‘Would you like to come in for a nightcap?’
A Baby for the Village Doctor Page 10