The ring was still there in its box, waiting to be produced. What better time than Christmas to tell Julianne how much he loved her? But the moment had gone because he’d loved her too much and let pique come between them.
CHAPTER TEN
NOVEMBER had gone, taking with it the usual grey days and unexciting nights of the month, and December had arrived with tinsel and toys, mulled wine in the shops, and restaurants eager for early bookings of their Christmas fare.
With all the signs of the most popular festival of the year around her Julianne was finding it difficult to raise any enthusiasm because Aaron was still where he had placed himself on the edge of her life, and it looked as if he intended to stay there.
Added to that, George was home, having made a good recovery but talking about selling the business and retiring, and that could mean an end to her contentment above the bakery.
* * *
The first day of the month was a Saturday. The Christmas meal that the practice manager had arranged for the staff was to take place that evening and as Julianne observed the contents of her wardrobe she thought that, whatever she decided to wear, it would not be the red dress.
Something black maybe to fit in with her mood, or a turquoise silk number that she was fond of, anything but red. She still shuddered at the thought of what she must have looked like when Aaron had come back to The Mallard unexpectedly.
Shoeless, shameless, he’d probably thought, and not to be missed in scarlet! If he hadn’t been sure if she was like the rest of her family, he would be now. After leaving her looking pale and washed out after a stressful day, he’d gone back to be there for her the rest of the evening, only to find that the Marshall in her had surfaced and she was back on top form, like she’d been when he’d first arrived in Swallowbrook.
But if he had thought any, or all, of that, he had prejudged her, she felt, with tears pricking. She’d gone down to find warmth and light below without any other thought in mind and it was only when her friends had come strolling in that she’d felt the need to put on a good face. They’d rarely seen her downcast and she hadn’t wanted to be asked questions that she hadn’t wanted to have to answer.
Since then the only connection between Aaron and herself had been on medical matters at the surgery and of one thing she was sure, she would not be the life and soul of the party tonight. So out of the wardrobe came the demure turquoise number. If she’d had a nun’s habit, she might have worn that!
She was the last to arrive, having left the ordeal to the last moment, and, sure enough, when she got there the pharmaceutical rep who’d had designs on Hugo and had had to back off was hovering around Aaron like the limpet she was, so with a brief nod in his direction Julianne went to find where she had been placed at the dining table and discovered that it was next to him, which would be a conversation stopper if ever there was one.
‘Why were you so late?’ he asked as everyone began to take their places for the meal. ‘I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.’
‘I have to admit I was undecided... Would it have mattered if I hadn’t?’ she asked in a low voice that was for his ears only.
‘I would expect you to know the answer to that.’
‘Yes, well, I don’t, I’m afraid.’ The hurt of the moment brought the sting of tears. She forced them back and turned to speak to the person seated on the other side of her, who happened to be Nathan’s father, John, long retired from the practice but still with a great interest in the health care that it provided for the village and surrounding areas, while he lived contentedly in a pinewood lodge on a river bank not far away, where he spent most of his time fishing.
Further along the table was Laura Armitage, the practice manager who had masterminded the Christmas gathering, and beside her Gabriel, her charismatic husband.
Opposite them were Ruby and Hugo Lawrence, who were soon to adopt a baby.
There was happiness everywhere Julianne looked and she wished that her Christmas was going to be as delightful as theirs, but with Aaron still on the edge of her life the chances of that were slim.
‘Do you want to dance?’ he asked when the meal was over and they had all toasted the practice and the cancer clinic and were congregating in the area of the hotel ballroom and the bar.
Of course she wanted to dance. There was nothing she enjoyed more when she was out with her friends, but dancing with Aaron was a different matter. He had most likely asked her because the social butterfly that he thought she was would want to be seen and admired, and what better place to give her that pleasure than on the dance floor?
He was observing her with raised brows as no reply was immediately forthcoming, and said, ‘It is what you enjoy most, isn’t it?’
‘I like dancing, yes, I always have, but it doesn’t rule my life.’ Pointing to an empty table on the edge of the dance floor, she told him, ‘I will be quite happy just watching the dancing, thanks just the same.’
‘The reason being that either you don’t think I will be up to your standard after exiling myself in Africa for the last five years? Or you don’t want anything more to do with me?’ he questioned dryly.
‘Neither of those things!’ she protested unsteadily. ‘I just don’t want any more hurt.’
‘Not from me surely!’ he exclaimed. ‘When have I ever hurt you, Julianne?’
‘You haven’t...’ she gulped ‘...but just knowing you has been hurtful. Do you remember at the wedding when you accused me of being happy when Nadine ran off and left you?’
‘Yes, I remember only too well. I’m hardly likely to forget any of the happenings of that day, but it wasn’t me that was dishing out the hurt, was it? Why hark back to that? And if we are going to start bringing skeletons out of the cupboard, I suggest that we do it in private.’
Taking her arm, he led her away from the rest of the surgery staff to where there was one of many small terraces overlooking the lake that was unoccupied. Seating her on one of the sofas that it was furnished with, he stood looking down at her thoughtfully and said, ‘You were saying?’
‘Yes, I was,’ she breathed, with hands tightly clasped. ‘It is true that I didn’t want Nadine to marry you.’
‘Why, for God’s sake?’
‘There were two reasons.’
‘And they were?’ he asked grimly.
‘First of all I knew she would hurt you and deceive you. That at the same time the two of you were planning to marry she was seeing someone else regularly. I didn’t know his name, had never seen him, yet he was there in the background all right and was wealthy.’
‘I see. And the other reason why you weren’t sorry to see me left high and dry at the altar?’
She took a deep breath. ‘I wanted you to love me instead.’
‘Whaaat? The young sister who I wouldn’t have known if I’d passed her in the street in love with me!’
He sank down on to the seat beside her and said dazedly, ‘I suppose we all have childish crushes at some time or another when we’re young. I certainly had no knowledge of that. I wouldn’t have ranted at you in the church vestry that day if I had.
‘When I next saw you, working at the practice, I wouldn’t have recognised you as the bridesmaid because you had changed so much. It was only when I heard your name that it dawned on me that you were a member of the family that you warned me about not so long ago.’
‘Maybe I warned you too well.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that when you came back to The Mallard the other night you soon found a brush to tar me with. I had gone downstairs looking for light and warmth away from that grotty room, and no sooner had I done so than some of my friends appeared and my smiles and laughter were for their benefit. I haven’t seen much of them since you’d been around and I didn’t want any awkward questions coming my way
.
‘After you wouldn’t stop for me when I tried to flag you down, I went back up there and went to bed with the feeling that I’d just been found wanting, and that feeling is still there.’
Nathan appeared at that moment and said, ‘Libby is going to relieve the childminder, and having noted that neither of you have brought your cars, she’s asking if either or both of you want a lift home now?’
Aaron shook his head. There was no way he wanted to leave Julianne at that moment. It was true what she’d said about his reactions when he’d seen her at The Mallard that night. For a few fleeting moments he had labelled her with the same description as the rest of her family, and it had been totally unfair. As soon as Nathan had gone he was going to put things right between them for ever.
But it didn’t work out like that. She forestalled him by telling Nathan, ‘I would be grateful for a lift.’ She turned to him, and he was taken aback by the quick escape route she’d found for herself. ‘Bye for now, Aaron.’
After that clear indication that for her the night was over as far as they were concerned, he went back to join the rest of the party still stunned by what she’d told him. She’d cared for him then, but what about now? There had been a large gap in their lives between the two.
He needed to tell Julianne that to him she would always be her delightful self, not labelled as a member of a family who seemed to do as they pleased with each other’s feelings.
The night when he’d gone back to The Mallard and seen her in an apparently happy mood, his annoyance had been more along the lines of pique. Because he’d left her tired and dejected and the moment she’d seen her friends Julianne had brightened up, something she hadn’t been able to do with him.
With Nadine back where she belonged without a goodbye, and George far from well with his heart condition, he’d been totally protective of her, to the point of asking her to stay at his place for safety’s sake. Her refusal had lit the spark of his annoyance when she’d opted for The Mallard instead, and when he’d gone back with his concern for her unabated and found her smiling as if she hadn’t a care in the world, the spark had become a flame fuelled by angry disbelief, until tonight.
His mouth softened at the memory of how she’d confessed to being in love with him all those years ago. He hoped that time and absence would not have changed that when he asked Julianne to marry him. Yet there had been no mention of it being an ongoing affection. She would surely have said if it was, or would she not want to risk a rebuff? They hadn’t exactly been in tune over recent days.
* * *
She’d done it! She’d cleared the air about her feelings for him on the non-event that was to have been his wedding day. Aaron knew now that there had been no deceit or conniving on her part, that her only crime had been in wanting him.
It had been noticeable during those few painful moments when she’d been telling him what her feelings had been on the worst day of his life, that he’d shown no urgency to discover if her love for him had survived, and Libby’s offer of a lift, even though the evening was only half-over, had come just at the right moment.
It was an hour later and she was debating what to do next. Did she want to stay at the practice, knowing that every time she felt Aaron’s glance on her she was going to feel she’d put herself at a disadvantage through her confession of earlier in the evening?
He’d obviously been touched by it, but it hadn’t altered the fact that she was still one of a family who were never there when she needed them. Nothing was going to change that, and if in the past she’d managed to forget it sometimes, having Nadine now living so near was going to change that.
When the intercom buzzed suddenly into the silence, her heart skipped a beat. When it sounded again she went slowly to answer it and Aaron’s voice filled the room.
‘Let me in, Julianne,’ he said. ‘There’s something I want to say to you.’
Without replying, she released the catch on the downstairs door and within seconds could hear him bounding up the stairs.
‘Back at the hotel you said that you loved me once,’ he said, without any of the niceties when he came striding into the room.
Speechless, she nodded.
‘That was then. It didn’t last? Absence didn’t make the heart grow fonder?’
He was firing the questions at her as if she was being interviewed for a position and when he produced a small velvet box and lifted the lid to reveal the diamond ring that he’d been longing to put on her finger, it was a fitting description of the moment.
‘I’ve never loved anyone else, Aaron, if that is what you want me to say,’ she said in a low voice. ‘The long absence didn’t make me love you more because I thought I would never see you again. It was only when I heard that you were coming to work in the practice and going to live in Swallowbrook that I knew just how much I longed to be near you again.’
He was smiling and it lit up the dark hazel eyes looking into hers, ‘So will you marry me, Julianne?’ He took the diamond ring out of its box. ‘And wear my ring? Soon I’ll put a gold band beside it to tell the world that you’re mine. I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you that day in the surgery and realised who you were. You were so beautiful and full of life.’
‘And you think you’ll be able to cope with your in-laws?’ she said laughingly.
‘Just watch me,’ he promised. ‘I’ll even be godfather to this child that Nadine’s going to have one day to please old moneybags, that’s if I’m asked, of course.’
‘Yes, I’ll marry you, Aaron,’ she said softly. ‘I feel as if I’ve been waiting for this day for ever.’
He held out his arms and said, ‘Then come here where you belong. The waiting is over for both of us, only the future matters from now on.’ After that there was a long silence in the small apartment above the bakery until he said, ‘I’ve bought The Falls Cottage. How do you fancy living next to a waterfall?’
‘Fine,’ she told him, glowing with the joy he had brought. ‘Wherever you are is where I will always want to be.’
EPILOGUE
IT WAS the morning of New Year’s Day after the most fantastic Christmas of their lives, filled with joy, laughter and sweet promises, and a wedding was to take place in the village church.
The bride was to be given away by her father, who had suddenly decided that he was ready to live on dry land for a while, and her mother was going to be there too, having coaxed her second husband to bring her back to her own country for a prolonged holiday.
Her sister wasn’t sure she if she would be joining them as she was experiencing a lot of morning sickness, but she and her husband had been invited to join the wedding party if they so wished.
The church bells had been pealing out across the Lakeland village since the middle of the morning and now it was midday, time for Julianne and Aaron to make their lifelong commitments to each other, and as she walked sedately down the aisle on her father’s arm in a wedding dress that was exquisite in its simplicity, the first flakes of snow of the New Year began to fall from the sky.
There had been a scattering of them on the day of the crowning of the Snow Queen, but this was the real thing, just as the wedding that was to take place was the real thing for the bridegroom standing straight and tall at the altar and for his beautiful bride who had loved and lost and loved again, this time for ever.
Seated not far away from them, George wiped a tear from his eye. He had gone ahead with his plans to retire and would shortly be moving into one of the pine lodges near that of John Gallagher, but before hanging up his baker’s hat and apron he had made their wedding cake for Julianne and Aaron and now it stood proudly in the centre of the top table at the reception that was to take place at the hotel after the wedding.
All the staff from the practice were there to wish them every happiness in their life together, and as th
ey said the ageless words of their wedding vows, promising to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, they both knew that was how it was going to be, and now Aaron was keeping the promise he had made to Julianne on that night in the apartment when it had all come together for them. The gold band of marriage was taking its place beside the diamond.
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781460307526
Copyright © 2013 by Abigail Gordon
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Swallowbrook's Wedding of the Year (The Doctors of Swallowbrook Farm) Page 14