As patients came and went she found herself facing the local hairdresser across her desk one morning. Sharon Smith had found a lump in her breast and was white-faced with dread.
When Laura had finished examining her she said, ‘Sharon, there is a small swelling there, but it could be lots of things besides cancer. It could be a calcium deposit or a benign cyst, so don’t start thinking the worst until you’ve had some tests. The hospital will do a biopsy and X-rays. Try to keep calm until you have a result.’
‘I’ve been working hard to build the salon up into a profitable business,’ Sharon wailed, ‘and just as I’m beginning to see some progress, this happens.’
‘Yes, I know,’ Laura said sympathetically, ‘but, as I’ve just said, don’t jump to conclusions until you know you have something to worry about. You won’t have to wait long for an appointment and in the meantime carry on with your life as usual. Are you married?’
‘Not yet. I’m engaged and we’ve set the wedding date for later in the year.’
‘You’ll make a lovely bride. Don’t let this scare take away the anticipation of your wedding day.’
When she’d gone Laura rang the hospital to make an appointment for her before calling in the next patient. Once that was sorted she decided that the next time she was passing the salon she would book an appointment to have her hair cut and restyled on Saturday morning. She wasn’t expecting Jon to be bowled over when he saw her, but at least she would get a buzz from it.
She was wrong about his reaction. When she opened the door to him and Abby early on Saturday afternoon he said, ‘Wow! Your golden mop has never looked so, er…’
‘Tidy?’ she questioned wryly. ‘Is that the word you were searching for?’
‘No. It wasn’t. I was going to say fantastic.’
Sharon had certainly displayed her skills with the unruly golden ‘mop’, as Jon had just described it, and now it hung smooth and shining just below her ears.
Without giving her time to reply to the compliment, he said, ‘So are we ready to go?’ With a glance at Abby and Liam, waiting impatiently at the gate, he added, ‘The children are.’
The fair was like it had always been, bright, noisy and a magnet to young and old alike. When they went on the dodgems Liam surprised them by saying ‘I want to be in Dr Jon’s car.’
Not to be outdone Abby said shyly, ‘Can I come in yours, Dr Cavendish?’
‘Of course you can,’ Laura told her, ‘and, Abby, my name is Laura. You don’t have to call me Dr Cavendish.’
‘And, young man, my name is Jon,’ he told Liam. That having been sorted, they paid for a couple of cars and went whizzing round and round to delighted cries from the children.
Then it was the Caterpillar ride, and as Abby cuddled up to Laura in the semi-darkness it was like getting to know a daughter she’d never had. Seated beside Jon, she could see that Liam was taking it all in his stride, with the occasional glance at the man beside him.
Was this therapy or madness? Laura wondered. Showing the children glimpses of the mother and father figures they’d never known. Whatever it was, they were a happy quartet as they wandered among the sideshows and amusements. It was only when hunger surfaced that Abby and Liam were ready to leave the fair.
It was the same at the fast-food place, Liam sitting next to Jon and Abby beside Laura, and the children chattered happily as they tucked into their meals.
‘We have so much in common, don’t we?’ Jon said after they had finished their meal and were leaving the restaurant. ‘The children, the job, the village that we both love, and soon we’re going to be living next door to each other. Do you think you are going to find me too suffocating?’
The answer to that was a simple No! Never! But she felt that he was just making conversation and would be dumbfounded if that was her reply, so it was a casual answer to a casual question that he got.
‘I’ll let you know if I do,’ she told him airily, and he was left to think that the feeler he’d just put out to discover how she saw him now that he was back in her life hadn’t worked.
It was the middle of the evening and time to go their separate ways. The children were past their bedtimes but showing no signs of tiredness and Jon said, ‘Come back to my place, Laura. You’ve not seen where Abby and I live yet. The children can have their bedtime drink together and I’ll make something for us.’
Reluctant for the day to end, she smiled. ‘Yes. I’d like to see your home.’
His answering smile was wry. ‘You will, no doubt, see the absence of a woman’s touch, but not where Abby is concerned. She chose her own bedroom furnishings and pink is the word. Lots of it. We have a comfortable sitting room and for the rest of it, well, it’s basic, but we like it.’
Jon’s description of the home he’d made for Abby and himself didn’t do it justice, Laura thought when she saw inside. It was comfortably furnished, admittedly without a lot of ornaments and pictures but, having lived in her father’s gloomy rented house for the last few weeks, it was hard to fault it.
When Abby asked shyly if Laura would like to see her bedroom, she said immediately, ‘Yes. I’d love to.’ She was enjoying getting to know Jon’s daughter and hoped that after today Abby would see her as someone she could talk to.
‘Oh!’ she exclaimed when Abby opened the door. “What a pretty room.’ And it was. As Jon had said there was lots of pink, but pink was a young girl’s colour, and there was pride in the eyes of the child standing beside her as she showed her round the room that held all her treasures.
When Laura had finished admiring everything, Abby surprised her by saying, ‘My daddy says that you and he used to play together when you were young, like Liam and I do. But that you went away when I was born. Why was that?’
Laura said gently, ‘Well, your daddy had met your mummy and then you were on the way, so we didn’t see so much of each other while that was happening, and then I married Liam’s daddy and we went to live in Cornwall. But now we are back, and we are going to be friends, you and I. Would you like that?’
‘Yes,’ Abby told her with her confidence restored. ‘And can Liam come round to play sometimes?’
‘Of course, but you will need to ask your daddy first.’
When they went downstairs Jon observed her questioningly and Laura said immediately, ‘Abby’s bedroom is lovely, and to think that she chose everything herself.’
‘Yes, indeed,’ he replied with the question still there in his glance, and when the children went across the landing into the rooms that she and Liam would soon be occupying he asked, ‘What has she been saying to you?’
‘She asked me why I went away when she was born.’
He groaned. ‘Abby asked me who you were and I tried to answer as sensibly as possible by telling her we were brought up together and then you moved away around the time she was born. It never occurred to me that she might think it was something to do with her. Let’s face it, only you know why you rushed off and married Freddie.’
She frowned. ‘I didn’t rush into anything. We were happy together. If you are hinting that I made an unsuitable marriage, I would have thought you’d be the last one to be going on about unsuitable relationships,’ she reminded him coolly, and thought they were ruining the last moments of what had been an idyllic day.
‘I don’t want to quarrel with you, Laura,’ he said. ‘But you are not aware that when you appeared out of the blue Abby hoped that you were the mother that she’s never seen come to look for her. I’m not sure where she got that idea from, but she knows that her mother hasn’t been around since she was a baby and maybe she connected your going away with Kezia’s absence and thought you were one and the same.
‘Or it might be simply that she wishes you were her mother. She doesn’t ask about her an awful lot, but whenever she does I try to answer her questions truthfully. It was a painful moment when I had to dash her hopes with regard to you.’
‘How sad,’ she breathed.
‘Yes,’ he agreed so
mbrely. ‘So maybe I painted the wrong picture for her. If I did, I hope you’ll forgive me.’
As her anger fled she told him softly, ‘I can forgive you anything, Jon. I’m just so sorry that your beautiful child should have had to suffer such a disappointment. How Kezia could bear to leave her behind I will never know. If Abby were mine I would never want to leave her side.’ She sighed. ‘What would you do if Kezia ever reappeared?’
He sighed. ‘I don’t know. Kezia and myself are long over. But she is Abby’s mother. A poor one, but nevertheless that is what she is and I could never turn Abby against her if she had the nerve to come claiming the rights that she gave up all that time ago. One day when Abby is older she will want to know what it’s all about, and I will explain what happened in the kindest way I can.’
He managed a smile. ‘And in the meantime she is opening up to you. Liam she already adores. It’s a joy to see them together.’
At that moment the children came back and as Laura and Liam prepared to leave Jon said in a low voice, ‘It’s been a great day, hasn’t it, even though it did end on a more serious note?’
‘Yes, it has,’ she told him with her sparkle back. ‘I haven’t been so happy in ages.’
‘That is all I want to hear,’ he said, and gave her a swift hug.
On seeing it Abby did the same to a red-faced Liam and the two doctors exchanged smiles above their heads.
Laura spent the rest of the weekend preparing for the move. It was mostly packing clothes and toys and objects they’d accumulated since their return. The decorator would be finished by Tuesday. Her father’s belongings were going to auction the following day, and that evening she and Liam would take up residence above the surgery.
Uneasiness kept coming over her every time she thought of what she was about to undertake. Would she be able to cope with the closeness of the arrangement without giving herself away?
Saturday had been wonderful. Even the misunderstanding at the end of the day hadn’t been enough to spoil it. Yet every time she thought back to it she felt sad that Kezia might still one day mess up Jon’s life again. But against that there would be the feelings of a young girl to consider. If Abby wanted to meet the mother that she’d never known, he would not deny her that.
The odds were that Kezia never would come back, so determined had she been, and in the meantime she decided that she, Laura, would do her utmost to fill the gap in Abby’s life, if she could. She loved her already. Had done ever since she’d seen her looking after Liam on his first day at school, and she felt the same as Jon, that it was a joy to see them together.
On Monday morning the teacher who’d looked after Liam on his first day at school was waiting to see her. Monica Blake had been diagnosed with diabetes some weeks ago, but at the clinic the week before had been told that her blood glucose was normal. The practice nurse had said that if she stayed on a low-fat diet there was no need to worry about her sugar intake as long as she didn’t overdo it, and Monica was confused.
‘So, Doctor,’ she said, ‘I stopped taking sugar in any form and lost a lot of weight that I didn’t want to lose, all for nothing.’
‘Yes, well, you went off the sugar before the doctors here had a chance to discuss it with you, Monica,’ Laura explained. ‘And, yes, it did cause weight loss that was worrying at the time. But the thinking about diabetes has changed, and now we tell those who aren’t on medication for it that a low-fat diet is the most important thing.’
Monica went away still mystified but delighted to hear that she could indulge a sweet tooth sometimes. Laura’s next patient was Ann Stephens, the home help of sheep farmer, Martin Pritchard.
‘My hearing isn’t good at all these days, Laura,’ she said. ‘I think I’m going deaf.’
‘Maybe you are,’ Laura told her. ‘But first we’ll see if there is any wax in your ears.’
When she’d looked into both of Ann’s ears she was smiling. ‘You need them to be syringed, but first drop olive oil into your ears for a couple of weeks.’
As Ann thanked her and and got to her feet, Laura said, ‘By the way, how is Mr Pritchard getting on?’
Ann smiled. ‘We’re expecting him home at the weekend and the farmhands and I are going to keep an eye on him.’
‘So he’s making a good recovery.’
‘Yes. He seems to be. Can’t wait to get back to the farm, of course.’
‘Yes, well, don’t let him do too much.’ ‘We won’t. He’s a good old guy. We’re all fond of Martin.’
It was Wednesday night and Laura was making up the beds in their new accommodation when Jon appeared. He’d told her to take the day off as she’d needed to be at her father’s house in the morning when the people from the auction rooms came, and it had given her the chance to move their belongings into the apartment in the afternoon instead of waiting until evening.
Once that had been accomplished she’d taken the keys of the cottage to the landlord and had known that now it was too late to turn back. That she and Liam were about to begin a new phase of their lives and only time would tell if she’d made the right decision.
‘So how does it feel, moving on top of the job?’ Jon asked as he helped her to ease a quilt into its cover.
‘I feel as if Liam and I are like gypsies, never in a settled abode,’ she told him.
‘Yes, but that’s going to change now, isn’t it?’ There was a hint of anxiety in the question and she knew her reply wouldn’t help.
‘I hope so. But I’ve long since learned never to take anything for granted.’
‘Am I to take it that there’s a message for me in that comment?’
‘Only if you want there to be,’ she replied, and added to discourage any further questions, ‘Where are the children?’
‘Watching television at my place and making the most of the novelty of the new arrangements. I came to tell you that I’ve got coffee percolating and my mother has made a cake in honour of the occasion.’
Suddenly it was all too much and, sitting on the edge of the bed, Laura burst into tears.
‘Hey!’ he said in surprised concern and, seating himself beside her, Jon put his arms around her for the second time in her life. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing,’ she sobbed. ‘You are both so kind. If I don’t feel welcome now, I never will, will I?’
‘That sounds as if you have doubts about it, Laura. Have you?’
She shook her head. ‘I don’t know. It’s just that I’m used to fending for myself. It feels strange and rather unnerving having my problems solved and being made so welcome.’
‘You’ll get used to it,’ he told her confidently, and, picking up a small lacy handkerchief off the top of a pile that were waiting to be put away, he dried her tears and warned, ‘We can’t let Liam see you crying. It will spoil the excitement of moving next door to Abby. If you like, I’ll go and cut the cake while you powder your nose.’ She threw him a watery smile and he went striding off, as if being in her bedroom was nothing unusual.
Later when Abby was asleep and Laura and Liam had gone to spend their first night under the same roof as himself, Jon stood watching the moon over the tops of the peaks and wondered why he had ever thought that taking up where he’d left off with Laura would be easy.
Maybe it was because when they had been young she’d been so uncomplicated and comfortable to be with, but now it was as if she was on her guard all the time, putting up a barrier between them. It hadn’t been there on Saturday, when they’d had such a happy day, but it kept appearing and he had the feeling that he was missing something.
He realised that life had been less kind to her than it had to him, and that she wasn’t going to be the smiley Laura of way back any more just to please him. But he didn’t think that was the reason why she went so quickly on the defensive. There was more to it than that and he wasn’t going to rest until he knew what was wrong.
He was more aware of her with every day that passed and amazed at the protectiveness s
he aroused in him. He knew he’d treated her badly in the past so wanted to make up for it, and on that score he was doing all he could. But he always sensed withdrawal on Laura’s part when he tried to get closer to her.
She was lovely with Abby and he knew that she was appalled at the thought of his young motherless daughter mistaking her for the mother she’d never known.
He moved away from watching moonlight over the moors and went to stand beside his sleeping daughter. His beautiful girl wouldn’t miss what she’d never had, he thought, and remembering how she’d wanted to stay close to Laura at the fair his spirits lifted. If there was one person beside his mother that he could trust Abby with, it was her.
It was July. The long summer break from school was looming and when Laura would have arranged for Liam to be enrolled into the holiday scheme for children with working parents, Marjorie stepped in with a generous offer.
‘I have Abby during school holidays,’ she told her, ‘and as the two of them get on so well, why not let me look after Liam too? It would be no trouble, Laura, and I know that Jon would be happier if your son was with me while you were at the surgery.’
‘That’s very kind of you,’ Laura replied, touched by the concern of mother and son. ‘Liam will love that, and I could take both children off your hands in the afternoons when I finish. But are you sure?’
‘Yes. I’m sure,’ Marjorie told her serenely, with the memory clear of Jon asking, ‘Could you cope with young Liam as well as Abby during the school holidays, Mum? Laura will still be on the same hours so she’ll be free to pick him up at half past three, and Abby won’t need as much to occupy her if she’s got Liam around. They’ll keep each other amused.’
‘Yes, of course,’ she’d agreed. ‘Shall I mention it?’
‘If you will. I’m trying to avoid Laura thinking that I’m always pulling her strings.’
‘I’m sure she doesn’t think that,’ she’d protested. ‘You get on all right living so close, don’t you?’
He’d nodded. ‘Yes, which is fortunate, as the children are forever wanting to be with each other.’
A Single Dad at Heathermere Page 6