Country Doctor, Spring Bride

by Abigail Gordon

  A photographer from the local paper was there wanting a picture of the hero of the hour, but Daniel said, ‘No, thanks. I only did what anyone else would have done.’

  ‘What did you do, Uncle Dan?’ Alex asked. He’d just been dropped off and was gazing around him wide-eyed.

  ‘Nothing,’ he told him, ruffling his dark locks,

  ‘I’ll tell you what Dr Dreyfus did,’ the sister said. ‘He went into the burning building and rescued one of my patients. The old man had locked himself in a smoke-filled room and he had to break down the door to get to him.’

  When Daniel glanced at Kate there were tears on her lashes and he knew that she must have thought that he might not come out alive. It was humbling to know that someone could care for him so much

  Alex was experiencing no such feelings but, then, he had no reason to. ‘Wait till I tell Scott!’ he cried, with visions of his playground credibility improving by leaps and bounds.

  At last the hall was empty. The residents had been taken to their new homes and, bereft of their charges, the staff from Furzebank had gone back to view the damage.

  The fire service was still inspecting the property for the cause of the blaze and were having discussions with council representatives who had been summoned to the scene, as it seemed as if the wiring of the building could be suspect.

  Despite his exhaustion, Daniel still had to fetch Tom, and night was wrapped around the village as he drove along the main street in the direction of Jasmine Cottage. Tom, who had been dozing in the passenger seat, had woken up and was slowly stretching his legs and observing with interest the quaint shops and limestone cottages

  ‘They look more cheerful than that place of mine, don’t they?’ he said wryly, and although he didn’t comment Daniel had to agree. They’d gone to the tidy semi-detached where Tom lived with Alex in a quiet Gloucestershire street to pick up clothes and other necessities that he would need during the coming weeks, and there had been an unlived-in look about it.

  It wasn’t surprising as it had been empty for weeks and now, by comparison, Tom’s first glimpse of the village was of glistening frost on the trees and grasses, and the lamplit windows of the houses.

  ‘I can see why you like living here,’ he said. ‘All this, and Kate, too.’

  ‘I wish,’ he told the man who he’d once thought would be his father-in-law. ‘The village asks nothing of me except that I look after the health of its inhabitants, but Kate is a different matter.

  ‘When we first met she was reeling from a broken engagement, and there has always been anxiety at the back of my mind that she might be on the rebound. Though she did ask me to take her wedding dress to the charity shop. But that worry has gone. A girl from the village was married in the dress yesterday and Kate was fine about it, quite pleased, in fact. But we have another ongoing problem that isn’t proving so easy to solve. When we first met I was still mourning Lucy, had never thought of putting anyone in her place, and I made it clear when Kate showed an interest in me.

  ‘Now I need to convince her that I’m ready to move on. That Lucy is my past, and she is my present. But I keep getting sidetracked and the fact that I allow that to happen makes me wonder if I’m being fair to her. In a nutshell, I think Kate could do better than me.’

  Tom shook his head. ‘Never! I’m not going to let you say that! You had a raw deal when you lost Lucy and I’m delighted that you’ve found someone else to love. It doesn’t mean that because we’ve been getting on with our lives Alex and I loved Lucy any the less, and I’ve always wanted you to see it that way.

  ‘From what I’ve seen of Kate and heard of her mother, they are very special people. I’m looking forward to meeting Ruth and am sure that Kate’s generosity of spirit will allow for your memories of Lucy.’

  Jasmine Cottage was in sight. There was no more time for giving voice to his innermost thoughts to the man by his side. He just wished that Kate was as easily convinced that he was ready to move on as Tom was.

  As he stopped the car the cottage door was flung open and they were there. Alex jumping up and down with excitement as his father eased himself slowly out of the car and balanced himself on two crutches, and Kate beaming her welcome.

  The driveway was displaying a fine film of ice and Daniel took Tom’s arm to give him extra support as he moved slowly towards them, and then they were all inside.

  Leaving father and son to enjoy their special moment, the two doctors went into the kitchen where a casserole was waiting to be served and an apple crumble was browning nicely in the oven.

  ‘So getting Tom here safely is plan A accomplished,’ he said. ‘Are you happy about that?’

  ‘Yes, of course I am,’ she said brightly. ‘It’s great to see them together.’

  ‘And tomorrow plan B will fall into place. Your mother will be home at last. But what about plan C? You and I?’ he questioned carefully.

  ‘What about it?’ she said levelly, and went into the sitting room to announce that the meal was ready.

  It was a light-hearted affair on everyone’s part except Daniel’s. Kate was going to give up on him, he thought. She was weary of all the affection being on her side and she wasn’t to know that if it hadn’t been for the fire at Furzebank the previous night, he’d been going to ask her to marry him.

  But nothing had gone to plan and afterwards he had decided that before he proposed to her he was going to have a ring to put on her finger…if she said yes.

  With that in mind he’d stopped off at a large jeweller’s in the town on his way to pick Tom up and now had a solitaire diamond in small box in his pocket, waiting for the moment when he had Kate to himself for once.

  They’d had a rethink regarding rearranging the bedrooms to accommodate Tom. Instead, they’d cleared out the study at the end of the hall and turned it into a bedroom so that he would have no need to climb the stairs. There was a toilet and shower room next to it so he would be able to stay at ground level all the time he was with them.

  After what must have been an exhausting day for him he’d gone to bed as soon as an excited Alex had finally drifted off, and once the two of them were alone Daniel said, ‘We need to talk, Kate.’

  ‘Is that so?’ she said coolly.

  He sighed. Today had been his first chance to buy the ring. He hadn’t had a moment to spare from the surgery since then to go shopping and was about to explain when she had him groaning in dismay.

  ‘I’m afraid that my stay in the village is going to be short,’ she said. ‘I’m going to move on to somewhere where I can regain my sanity.’

  He was appalled and now there was anger in him. ‘So you’re going to let us down at the practice, then,’ he said tightly, picking on the thing that mattered least. It was the thought of her disappearing from his life that was like a knife thrust.

  ‘Not until you’ve replaced me.’ Kate replied stiffly.

  ‘You’re crazy! This place is where you should be. Not in some other general practice or living in hospital accommodation somewhere.’

  ‘I’ll be the judge of that.’

  ‘Yes, I’m sure you will. But I have a better idea. I’ll go and leave you where you belong.’

  ‘No! You can’t do that,’ she said hastily. ‘I don’t want to drive you away. What about your beautiful house, and Tom and Alex?’

  ‘There are “beautiful houses” in other places. With regard to Tom and Alex, I’m not their keeper. Tom is quite capable of managing his own affairs now that he’s becoming mobile again. He said in the car that his firm has offered him early retirement and he’s going to take them up on it. So that will make life less complicated for them both.’

  ‘But Alex loves it here,’ Kate reminded him.

  ‘Yes, I know, but it was never meant to be permanent. How could it be?’

  Her world was falling apart around her, Kate was thinking. She’d mentioned leaving the village to see how Daniel would react and had obviously said the wrong thing.

  ‘
I wanted to do some shopping before we talked again,’ he said, ‘and on my way to pick Tom up was the first opportunity.’

  ‘Shopping!’ she said incredulously. ‘What kind of shopping?’

  ‘This sort of shopping. Hold out your hand.’ He took the box with the ring in it out of his pocket and placed it on her open palm.

  ‘It’s meant to be worn on just one particular finger,’ he said evenly, ‘so don’t consider wearing it anywhere else just to please me, Kate. Only put it on if you mean it. I can’t believe that after all we’ve achieved together you would disappear from my life just like that. I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight.’

  When he’d gone she stood motionless in anguished astonishment with the box still unopened on her palm, then followed him slowly up the stairs and didn’t open it until she was in her bedroom with the door shut.

  CHAPTER TEN

  RUTH was home and delighted to be so. She had met Tom and Alex, and when Kate popped home from the surgery in the lunch-hour to make sure she had arrived safely she found them getting along famously.

  After mother and daughter had held each other close in happy reunion Ruth said, ‘There’s bad weather on the way for tomorrow. We’ve just seen the weather report and heavy snow and gale-force winds are forecast for these parts.’

  ‘Oh, no!’ Kate exclaimed, and turned to Tom. ‘When it snows around here the road through Woodhead Pass is blocked at the first fall. Folk who live up near the tops are often snowed in for days until it thaws.’

  Ruth was observing the daughter that she knew so well and could tell that Kate was not her usual bouncy self. She was pale and looked tired, as if she wasn’t sleeping well.

  There was something wrong, she could tell it a mile off. But any questions would have to wait until later in the day when they had a moment to themselves. She’d been hoping to come home to find that Kate had finally found the man of her dreams, but it wasn’t looking like that.

  That evening as they all sat around the dinner table Ruth said, ‘This is wonderful, having my lovely home filled with special people. It’s been an empty place for me since Kate’s father died and she went to work away.’ She smiled at Alex. ‘We’ve even got some young blood amongst us, and if we aren’t too happy about the snow that’s on its way, I know that he is.’

  ‘Yes!’ he cried, and turning to Kate who was sitting next to him, ‘Will you and Uncle Dan help me to make a snowman, Kate?’

  ‘Of course we will,’ she said, giving him a squeeze, and as he watched them, Tom’s eyes were moist. He could tell from the way he talked about her that Alex loved her. That without presuming in any way she had taken Lucy’s place in his life, and he was grateful. She had also taken Lucy’s place in Daniel’s life and he prayed that she would give him the love and tenderness that he so much deserved.

  Daniel was sitting opposite her and had never taken his glance off her since the moment they’d both arrived home from the surgery, but Tom had noticed there had been no conversation between them, and if Kate was aware of Daniel’s preoccupation with her, she wasn’t showing it.

  Later in the evening, when Alex was asleep and the men had gone to their own rooms, Ruth went to have the chat with Kate that she had promised herself.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked the moment they were closeted in her bedroom.

  ‘I’ve really messed everything up with Daniel,’ Kate said with her usual directness.

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘Lack of understanding. Being too pushy. Lots of things. Last night I told him I was leaving the village because we weren’t getting anywhere, and guess what? He had a beautiful engagement ring in his pocket.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘He gave it to me, still in the box, and as good as told me not to wear it unless I’d got my act together.’

  ‘And have you?’ her mother asked gently.

  ‘No. Not really. I feel as if I’ve badgered him into giving it to me.’

  ‘So it’s stalemate.’

  ‘Yes. That describes it exactly,’ Kate said dolefully.

  ‘That may be,’ Ruth commented, ‘but his gaze was on you all the time we were having dinner tonight.’

  ‘It would be Alex he was looking at, sitting next to me. He dotes on him,’ she said, not to be comforted.

  ‘So now you have the chance to give him some children of his own to love.’

  ‘You wouldn’t think so if you’d heard him when he thrust the ring at me,’ she told her. ‘He never said he loved me.’

  ‘Did you give him the chance?’ her mother asked gently.

  ‘Er, maybe not, but…’

  ‘What have you done with it?’

  ‘It’s in the drawer of the dressing-table,’ she said listlessly, ‘and it’s beautiful. Do you want to see it?’

  Ruth shook her head. ‘Not until it’s on your finger.’

  But what if that never happened? Kate thought sadly.

  The next morning the snow that had been forecast had arrived and, as promised, it had brought a strong, biting wind with it that would not let it settle, so that it was drifting up against fences and railings as the two doctors drove to the surgery in their separate cars.

  Alex’s last words as Kate had dropped him off at school had been, ‘Don’t forget we are going to make a snowman when we get home.’

  ‘I won’t forget,’ she’d promised, and had wished her relationship with Daniel was as uncomplicated as when she was with Alex.

  It was a vain hope that they might have a quiet morning, with the snow keeping people indoors. The waiting room was full and kept refilling, and in a miserable sort of way Kate was glad.

  So far the only conversation between Daniel and herself had been about practice matters and that she could cope with.

  As the weather worsened steadily he suggested to Miriam that she go home as her house was in the next village, and if she stayed until the end of the day, the roads might be impassable.

  She didn’t refuse and, having tidied up all the loose ends regarding her patients, she left with all speed, leaving Kate and Daniel to deal with house calls and the afternoon surgery. Fortunately only one visit had been requested, to a farm not too far away, and at the end of the morning Daniel went to deal with it.

  He had only been gone a matter of minutes when another request came through to Kate. It was from Jane Appleton in the remote cottage that they’d visited not so long ago in much better weather, and this time the elderly woman was in great distress.

  ‘It’s Jane Appleton here,’ a voice quavered in her ear. ‘I need a doctor urgently. Is anyone available?’

  ‘Er, yes,’ Kate said. ‘I am, Mrs Appleton. What is the problem?’

  ‘When I got out of bed this morning the room began to spin round and I’m so dizzy I can’t keep my balance. I’ve been on the floor twice.’

  ‘Stay where you are. Don’t move until I get there,’ she told her. ‘What’s the weather like where you are?’

  ‘Not good,’ she said weakly. ‘Have you got a shovel?’

  ‘I most certainly have,’ Kate told her. ‘I’ve lived in these parts too long not to respect the weather in winter. I’ll be with you shortly.

  ‘I’m going to Jane Appleton’s place out in the wilds,’ she told Jenny as she flung on her long winter coat. ‘Will you tell Daniel when he gets back? I’m hoping not to be long with the weather being what it is, but it all depends on how long it takes me to get there, and how ill she is when I do.’

  She gave her mother a quick ring before she set off to explain where she was going, and Ruth said worriedly, ‘Daniel won’t want you out there in this weather and neither do I.’

  ‘I can’t help that,’ she said wryly. ‘Our patients don’t become ill according to how the weather is.’

  It was still snowing, large white flakes falling silently out of the sky above, and the wind, still as boisterous, was making them drift high against the hedgerows as Kate drove slowly up the hillside.

  The gr
itters had done their job and the road was reasonable to drive along, until she turned onto the moors and found herself facing extreme blizzard conditions that almost made her miss the track that led down to Jane’s cottage.

  As she drove slowly along, with drifts on either side, Kate was wishing that the old lady had taken the advice of others and moved to somewhere more accessible to avoid this kind of situation, but at least she’d managed to get to her. She would worry about getting back when she’d sorted Jane out.

  The old lady managed to stay upright long enough to let her in by holding onto the furniture, and Kate saw immediately that she hadn’t called her out for nothing. But she had known before she’d set off that Jane would never do that. She was a hardy old soul who didn’t like to make a fuss.

  After she’d examined her eyes and ears, felt her temples and checked her blood pressure, Kate informed her, ‘Your blood pressure has taken a downward plunge and that is the reason for the dizziness. You are on medication for high blood pressure, aren’t you? Sometimes it can bring it too low.

  ‘Normally I’d put you on tablets to bring it back up, but tablets would take too long because of the severity of the dizziness. So I’m going to give you an injection, Jane, and then I think I need to take you to somewhere safer until the weather improves.’

  ‘My sister lives in the village. I can stay there until the snow has gone,’ Jane told her. ‘She’s always on at me to go and stay with her permanently. Maybe this is the nudge I’ve been needing. If anything happened to you because I’d called you out in this weather, I would never forgive myself.’

  ‘Yes, well, let’s not worry about that sort of thing just now,’ Kate said after giving her the injection. ‘Have you got a warm coat, boots and some blankets?’

  It took some time to get Jane into her outdoor clothes and wrapped in blankets in the front seat of the car, as she was still having difficulty keeping her balance. Once that was accomplished Kate went back inside to make sure that everything except the heating was switched off, and then turned her attention to the state of the weather.