Cara flushed slightly, her heart thumping at his proximity. ‘I don’t want to commit myself at the moment,’ she said quickly. ‘My father’s coming home this week, and I can’t make any long-term plans.’
An expression of disappointment crossed Jake’s face. ‘Fair enough,’ he said abruptly. ‘I think you would have enjoyed his work though. Perhaps another time.’
‘Perhaps. The immediate future looks pretty busy for me, though,’ Cara said firmly.
He frowned slightly. ‘You seemed happy with the idea of a meal out the other day,’ he remarked, watching her face closely. ‘Why the quick change?’
‘I told you, Dad will need a lot of care. I can’t leave him on his own.’
‘I’m not asking you to leave him for days on end—just a couple of hours one evening. Annie will be there, won’t she?’
Cara felt a sense of panic. Jake might well be asking her out for a friendly evening’s chat so why get so worked up? Because he’s too darned attractive and sexy for a platonic relationship, whispered a little voice inside her.
‘I don’t know. I’ll see what happens,’ she said lamely. She flicked a glance behind him at the full waiting room. ‘Perhaps we’d better get on—don’t want a riot on our hands!’
The morning was chaotic as Sheena had her own work to do, taking blood pressures and changing some dressings. Cara and Jake helped her out where they could, taking phone calls and arranging ambulance pick-ups for the elderly patients who couldn’t make their appointments without a lift. Then halfway through the morning the phone went for the fifth time in ten minutes. Cara took the call.
‘Ian Taylor here. I got a text message from Sheena asking what had happened to Karen. I went back to the house and I’ve just found her stumbling around, talking a load of gibberish! She seems completely out of it! Could someone get here quickly? It looks really bad!’
There was panic in his voice. ‘Don’t worry, Ian,’ soothed Cara. ‘I’ll be there right away. You’re only just down the road.’
She went into the office where Sheena and Jake were having a restorative cup of coffee after the hectic morning.
‘The good news is that Karen’s been located,’ she announced. ‘The bad news is that Ian’s found her in a most peculiar state—it all sounds very odd. I might need some diagnostic assistance—it sounds as if it could be anything from a stroke to drugs!’
Jake and Sheena looked at each other in astonishment. Karen was young, healthy and sensible—the last person one would associate with either a stroke or an overdose.
‘I’ve got to make a call further down the same road,’ said Jake. ‘I’ll pop in with you on my way, if you think two heads would be better than one.’
‘You’d better get off right now, both of you,’ sighed Sheena. ‘I’ll hold the fort. Just get Karen better again soon, or we’ll all collapse!’
Cara and Jake bent over the restless Karen. Jake prised open her eyes and frowned. ‘Pupils are quite dilated,’ he murmured. ‘More than you’d expect.’
‘She seemed out of her mind,’ said Ian worriedly. ‘Kept going on about some pop star of all people and how she was longing to see him! But her sentences were all disjointed, and when I put her on the bed she tried to get up but couldn’t.’
‘Is she on any medication that you know of? It looks almost as if she’s accidentally overdosed!’
‘She’d never do anything like that!’ cried Ian indignantly.
Cara patted his arm. ‘I know she wouldn’t. I’m just saying that it’s as if she’s had something inadvertently, or perhaps had an accidental dose of some sort of substance that’s had this affect on her.’
‘Her pulse is very fast,’ said Jake. ‘It’s extraordinary. How was she when you got up this morning?’
‘Absolutely fine,’ said Ian. ‘I went out first to take young Kirsty to school, and left Karen to have her usual bacon and eggs.’
‘Perhaps the bacon was off…some sort of food poisoning?’ suggested Cara. ‘Let’s look and see if there’s any left in the fridge.’
‘I’ll watch her—you go and see if you can find evidence there,’ said Jake, covering the woman up with a rug.
Cara peered into the fridge and saw an opened packet of bacon which she took out and looked at carefully. ‘It’s well within the sell-by date,’ she remarked. ‘Smells quite fresh, too.’
She put it back on the shelf and then paused for a second before closing the fridge door. ‘Hang on,’ she said slowly. ‘What’s this on the shelf above?’
She took out a small container lying on its side above the bacon and inspected the label. ‘I have a feeling that this is the culprit,’ she said with a wry smile at Ian. She handed him the packet of bacon. ‘And I think you’d better throw this away—it’s got a lot to answer for as well!’
Ian looked at her, mystified, as he followed her upstairs to the bedroom. ‘What on earth’s up?’ he asked.
Cara held up the container in front of Jake and Ian. ‘Your little girl, Kirsty—she has a lazy eye, right?’ she asked. ‘I guess she’s been prescribed these atropine drops, which have to be stored in a fridge.’
Ian nodded. ‘That’s right, but I don’t see how…’
Jake gave a short laugh. ‘I think I know what you’re going to say. The atropine container has fallen over and some of the contents have dripped onto the bacon and contaminated it! Am I right?’ He looked at Cara with raised brows. ‘Well done, Miss Marple!’
Ian scratched his head. ‘What do we do now?’
‘If the hospital was nearer we might take her there for observation,’ said Cara. ‘I don’t know if Jake agrees with me, but I think in the circumstances if you could stay with her and ring us immediately if her condition changes for the worse, the effects of the atropine should wear off in a few hours. She already looks a little more relaxed.’
Jake felt Karen’s pulse again. ‘It’s slowing down a little now. We’ll get Sheena to pop in and out during the day anyway.’ He smiled at Ian’s dumbfounded face. ‘What Karen’s had is a dose of deadly nightshade! That’s where atropine comes from—and it’s a very useful drug, but not taken orally!’
‘You learn something new every day,’ Jake remarked as they drove back to the surgery. ‘Now you know that it’s possible to get spaced out on eyedrops!’
He parked the car at the side of the house which was reserved for the surgery and looked enquiringly at Cara. ‘Had any more thoughts about coming to the art exhibition? I really think you’d enjoy it, and I know Peter’s done some lovely paintings of this house overlooking the loch.’
Was she being churlish to refuse an invitation like this? Cara reflected that she was probably making more of it than he’d intended—after all, it was only a few hours, not a lifetime commitment! Jake had been so kind to Dan and a tower of strength to her father—why be unsociable just because she felt her knees go weak whenever she saw the man? She’d just have to learn to control her emotions! He was a colleague and she needed to keep on friendly terms with him.
‘Thank you,’ she said primly. ‘I’d like to come and see the paintings very much!’
‘It’s a week tomorrow, so your father should be settled at home by then. We’ll go to the exhibition first and have a meal afterwards. I’ll pick you up at about seven o’clock.’
As soon as the alarm went off Cara knew in the pit of her stomach that the day was going to be a long one. A week had gone by since Jake had asked her to go out with him, and it had gathered speed relentlessly. It was a paradox that the next twelve hours would crawl by!
She dragged herself out of bed, half dreading, half looking forward to the evening, one minute telling herself that it would merely be an interesting outing to see some paintings, another minute wondering crazily if she and Jake might end up in each other’s arms again. Cara pushed that thought firmly to the back of her mind as she washed. Ursula had told her candidly that Jake had other priorities than getting involved in relationships, and she would ignore
that advice at her peril. The evening would be polite and friendly, full stop!
There was a sudden bang and her bedroom door was pushed open violently. A small body hurled itself into her arms.
‘Don’t want to go to nursery school today,’ announced Dan firmly.
‘Why ever not, Dan?’
‘’Cos Grandpa’s home now, and he says he’ll miss me. I could look after him very well—he said I could be his little nurse!’ Dan looked up Cara with his hands on his hips, and his bottom lip stuck out obstinately. ‘He said so!’
Cara laughed—it was impossible to be down for long when her son was around. ‘Grandpa’s got to rest a lot—he can do that while you’re at nursery school. When you come back he’ll have more energy and you can tell him everything that’s been happening—he’d love to hear that!’
She bent down and picked Dan up, hugging his plump little body to hers. ‘Come on, let’s have breakfast in Grandpa’s room for a change, and then we’ll leave him to have a sleep!’
Gordon was propped up in bed, reading the newspaper. His face lit up joyously when Cara and Dan came into his room.
‘Ah, it’s my little helper!’ he said jovially. ‘Buchan’s been telling me that you took him for a lovely walk yesterday with Annie by the loch.’
‘Did he tell you that himself?’ said Dan seriously. ‘He was a very naughty dog—he went in the loch and shook himself all over Annie when he came out!’
Gordon laughed, his eyes meeting Cara’s in amusement over the child’s head, and she was struck by how well her father looked after his bypass operation. Gone were the purple lips and sunken eyes—his face had a healthy pink complexion and he looked bright and focussed. He was a different man to the frail person she’d seen on the night of her return. Hopefully he had put all the heartache that Angela had caused behind him, and it was wonderful to see the loving relationship that existed between him and his little grandson.
Was it only a few weeks ago that she’d watched her father collapsing before her on the dance floor on the night of hogmanay? She shuddered. If it hadn’t been for Jake’s prompt action her father might not be here now. There would have been no time to build bridges between them.
She bent down and kissed him on his cheek. ‘Feeling better now, aren’t you?’ she said softly.
Her father nodded and said gruffly, with a quick loving look at her, ‘You’ll never know how much. Only one thing I miss, and that’s my pipe!’
‘Don’t you dare!’ scolded Cara. ‘I’ll have you struck off if you light up!’
Gordon grinned. ‘You’re a tyrant,’ he said affectionately. ‘By the way, Jake tells me you’re going to Peter Dunne’s art exhibition tonight. I’d love to have gone—he’s a great artist. Look out for anything he’s done in this area, would you?’
Cara’s heart rattled against her ribs for a moment as she was reminded of the evening’s activity. Jake and herself together for at least three hours! She was beginning to wish she’d never agreed to go!
‘Come on, poppet,’ she said firmly to Dan. ‘Time you and me were off for a day’s work.’
‘Bring me back a painting you’ve done at nursery school, Dan,’ said Gordon. ‘I’ll put it up on the wall in front of me.’
Dan nodded and spread out his arms. ‘Yes, I’ll bring you back a ’normous one—this big!’
Cara looked without much enthusiasm at the row of clothes in front of her. In the last few months shopping had not been a priority—just keeping her sanity looking after a little boy, a job and coping with the betrayal of a lover had meant there’d been little time or inclination to devote to herself.
She pulled out a crêpe navy trouser suit and held it up against herself, looking critically in the mirror. Teamed with a pink silk blouse she felt it would be suitable for the occasion. She gave a wan smile as she remembered that she’d been with Toby the last time she’d worn it, and he’d told her she looked good in it. But, then, he had fastidious taste when it came to clothes.
Pushing that unwelcome recollection to the back of her mind, Cara coiled her springy hair into a chignon at the back of her head, holding it in place with a comb, and flicked a little blusher on her cheeks, trying to disguise the day’s tiredness.
‘That will have to do,’ she said to herself in the mirror. ‘Now, let’s get it over with!’
Jake was waiting for her downstairs, sitting in a chair with Dan on his knee whilst he read the little boy a book. A reading lamp shone down on them, spotlighting their two heads together in a pool of light, and Jake’s face was turned towards the little boy’s with a tender, amused look. Cara caught her breath. This was how it should be always for Dan, she thought wistfully—someone like Jake to take time with him, to be a father figure for him. A lump came to her throat. No chance of it being Jake, not with his career ambitions.
‘Right, I’m ready.’ She smiled.
Jake looked up and his gaze darkened as it lingered over her for a minute. He set Dan down on the floor and went over to her.
‘I like the hairstyle,’ he murmured. ‘You look…very beautiful…’
Dan giggled. ‘Mummy, Jake says you’re very beautiful!’
Cara turned to him quickly, glad of the chance to look away from Jake for a moment and hide her blushing cheeks. ‘Now, shoo! Off you go to bed. Annie will read you another story if you’re a good boy.’
‘Your carriage awaits,’ said Jake, grinning at her as if he sensed her discomfort.
The gallery in Ballranoch had been converted from an old barn and had high ceilings, with huge windows which allowed in a lot of light during the day. Now it was bright with electric light, and crowded with people enjoying a glass of wine and canapés as they looked at the paintings.
Cara began to feel more relaxed as she sipped some wine and felt the buzz of the social atmosphere. It was good to do something different to the usual daily round, be a part of the little community.
Jake watched her animated face as she talked to old friends. She looked as if she was enjoying herself. He noted how the trouser suit skimmed her tall, slim figure, and the chignon of hair emphasised that beautiful long neck. She look sexy, lovely and very desirable! His mouth tightened. Had he been a fool to have asked her out? Every time he saw her he was convinced that if he’d been free she would have been his choice. He took a long sip of wine and sighed as he followed Cara with his eyes. There could be no future for them together—not with Ursula’s dependence on him.
Moodily he twirled the now empty glass in his hand as he remembered his sister’s conversation with him after she’d met Cara.
‘Quite a glamour puss,’ she’d remarked coldly, watching Jake’s reaction to that remark. ‘She’s obviously in need of a husband—wouldn’t surprise me if she hadn’t got her beady little eyes on you, dear brother. You want to be careful, or you’ll be trapped with a child to look after!’
Jake smiled sadly to himself. He knew what made Ursula say sour things like that—it was terror. She was so scared of being left on her own, lonely and unloved. He put his glass down and bunched his hands in his pockets, gazing unseeingly at a painting in front of him. Of course he would never leave his sister alone—he loved and admired her very much. She had sacrificed too much for him, he reflected, losing her beauty and her social confidence as a result. Now it was his turn to make sacrifices.
Cara tapped him on his arm. ‘What do you think of this?’ she asked, leading him to a large painting.
It was of her father’s house set against the magnificent background of mountain and loch, obviously painted in late summer when the heather stained the hills purple.
‘Don’t you think my father would love it?’ she said.
He looked down at her sparkling eyes and enthusiastic face and smiled. ‘I’m sure he would. It’s a wonderful painting.’
‘Then I’m going to get it!’ she declared. She looked at Jake with a slightly devil-may-care expression. ‘It may be I’ve had too much wine, but I’m in a buying moo
d, feeling a bit reckless. I’m going to make the most of it!’
Jake grinned. ‘Then perhaps we’d better go and eat before you buy the rest of the gallery!’
It was raining softly as they left the gallery. Jake put up his umbrella and slipped his arm through Cara’s, bringing her under its protection.
‘Must be getting near spring,’ he remarked. ‘At least the snow’s turned to rain.’ He steered her up a small side street. ‘The restaurant’s up here. I think it’s quite good, although there’s not much in Ballranoch to compare it to.’
Cara laughed. Suddenly it was good to be out, and much to her surprise she was enjoying the evening, but she didn’t allow Jake to draw her any closer as the rain increased in intensity.
There weren’t many people about. In front of them an elderly woman was taking her dog out for its nightly walk, and there was a youth coming towards them, his shoulders hunched, a baseball cap on his head.
Cara didn’t really notice what happened next, it was so quick and unexpected. The youth suddenly veered off towards the old lady, then snatched a bag from her shoulder and with a burst of speed disappeared back up the street.
There was a distressed cry from the woman as she staggered back against the wall at the impact, and a roar of fury from Jake. Cara watched, open-mouthed, as he took off in front of her, disappearing in the direction the youth had gone.
Cara ran up to the old lady, standing in a dazed way by the roadside.
‘What happened?’ the woman said tremulously. ‘That lad banged into me, didn’t he? He’s taken my bag!’
Cara put her arms round the trembling woman. ‘Don’t worry, you’re all right. I’m here. Lean on me and we’ll go and sit down for a minute.’
The victim allowed herself to be led into the restaurant, where the staff leapt round to sit her down and bring her a warm drink. Her little dog followed her and sat down beside her, the two of them looking forlorn and bedraggled.
The Bachelor Doctor Page 11