A Wedding in the Village (16 page)

‘Can you manage to take your shirt off?’ she asked.

He winced. ‘I’ll try, but it’s agony to lift my arms above my head.’

‘Take your time, then,’ she advised. It wasn’t policy to help a patient dress or undress as it could soon be misconstrued, but, watching him struggle, she thought it would be so much quicker if she could help.

He eventually managed it with the occasional groan and when she’d finished examining him she said, ‘Everything seems to be in place, but there is some swelling there. I’m going to give you some painkillers and a gel to rub in gently. If it is no better in a couple of days, get back to me.’

‘I’ll do that,’ he said promptly, ‘and thank you, Doctor. I can’t say it’s been a pleasure as my back’s killing me. But as I was expecting to be seen by some elderly village type you’ve been a nice surprise.’

When he was ready to go she walked into Reception with him and was smiling at what he’d just said when Luke came out of his consulting room.

‘Who was that?’ he asked when Joel Taylor had gone.

‘New patient,’ she said briefly.

‘Really? You seemed to be getting along very well.’

‘He seemed like a nice guy.’ Without elaborating on that, she added, ‘I’m going across to the bakery. Do you want anything?’

‘Yes. A smile if you’ve got any to spare.’

‘Sorry. I’ve used up today’s supply,’ she told him, still disappointed about the ball.

He shrugged. ‘OK. Maybe when you’re in a better mood, you’ll tell me what’s wrong.’

W
HEN
Megan arrived at Woodcote House that evening to help put the finishing touches to Santa’s grotto, Rebekah was coming down the drive. She still came each day to tidy up and make an evening meal for Sue, Luke and the boys, even though the young widow was now back in charge again. Rebekah’s help reduced the stress levels Sue was under, and gave her more time to concentrate on the garden centre.

Connie wasn’t around at the moment. Her operation had been a success and she was now mobile again, though walked slowly and painfully. Yet she was happy that she’d gone ahead with it, even though she would have to face the same procedure again soon as only one foot had been operated on so far. It would be some time before she was back working at the surgery and Woodcote House.

When Rebekah saw the young doctor approaching she smiled. The household where she worked was a much happier place these days. Owen and Oliver didn’t look so lost. Their mother was gradually facing up to her new responsibilities, and Dr Anderson, who was a tower of strength, was in love with their own Megan. She was sure of it.

While she’d been vacuuming and dusting around the house she’d found a mysterious package hidden away in his bedroom and hadn’t been able to resist taking a peek.

It had been a portrait of the young woman now walking towards her, and the fact that it wasn’t on view seemed to say that Megan wasn’t aware that he’d got it.

‘Hi, Rebekah,’ Megan said when they drew level. ‘Is that another day done and dusted?’

The older woman’s smile was still there. ‘It is indeed, my dear. I’m going home to put my feet up while you are involved in more work after your busy day at the surgery.’

‘I don’t mind,’ Megan told her. ‘It’s a different kind of occupation, but just as therapeutic. Are they all in there?’

‘Yes. The boys are upstairs, playing computer games. Sue is already at work on the grotto, and the delightful Dr Anderson, who seems to have one eye on the clock for some reason—are you a bit late perhaps?—is fixing the coffee-machine in the café, while Ned concentrates on the plumbing.’ With a gentle squeeze of her hand Rebekah went on her way.

When she’d gone Megan stood there without moving. The report on the activity inside the house should have motivated her, but it hadn’t. She was aching to have Luke to herself for a little while. Just the two of them without patients and friends around.

At that moment the front door of the house opened and he was there, dressed in old jeans and a T-shirt, with an electric drill in his hand.

He smiled and said easily, ‘I thought you weren’t coming. What are you standing out here for Meg o’ mine?’

Irritated that he should be so carefree while she was down in the dumps, she thought he’d remembered how Sonia had called her that on the day she’d taken him round to meet her, and said snappily, ‘Don’t be too quick to make assumptions.’ There was nothing she wanted more than to be his. But the likelihood of that happening seemed to be as far away as the moon and stars.

The smile had disappeared, so had the easy manner. His car was parked in the drive and he opened the door on the passenger side and said, ‘Get in.’

She wanted to refuse, but suddenly weary she did as he asked, wondering what was coming next. When he’d slotted himself behind the wheel Luke drove off with the drill on the back seat of the car and Megan beside him, thinking that she’d got her wish. She had him to herself, but she hadn’t wanted it to be like this.

He pulled up beside the recreation ground at the bottom of the road and came round to open the door for her. There was a bench facing the children’s swings and pointing to it he said, ‘Sit.’

Once again she obeyed him and when they were seated he turned to her and said, ‘So what is the matter, Megan? What have I done?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Huh! It looks like it.’

She was aware of how childish she was being and all because of the Christmas ball. Yet it wasn’t just that, was it? Luke was so near, yet so far all the time. She was head over heels in love. It was a new experience and should have been wonderful, but she was making a mess of everything. But at least she could be truthful. She owed him that.

‘I thought you were taking me to the Christmas ball.’

He was staring at her in amazement. ‘So that is what it’s all about.’ He put his hand into one of the back pockets of his jeans and produced two tickets. ‘I’ve got the tickets, but have been holding back in case there were other guys wanting to take you who fitted your requirements better than I do. Like that fellow this morning who, according to his records, is free and unfettered.’

He was quirking a quizzical eyebrow. ‘So shall we start again, Megan? Can I take you to the ball?’

‘Yes, please,’ she said softly as her world righted itself.

‘Good.’ He was on his feet, holding out his hand, and as he raised her to face him he said, ‘For two intelligent people we don’t communicate very well in our private lives, do we? You were upset because I hadn’t followed up my invitation, and I’ve been hesitating because I thought you might have had the better offer that you thought you might get when I first asked you.’

‘I was just teasing when I said that,’ she confessed, so aware of him she felt as if her legs would cave in. He was still holding her hand. It was their only physical contact, yet she felt as if they were melting together. Desire was taking over, spiralling inside her in a warm surge of longing. Her lips were parted, her eyes luminous, and as he looked down at her in the light of the streetlamps Luke thought she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

He was about to forget all the promises he’d made to himself about giving Megan some space before he told her how he felt when a small voice said, ‘Dr. Megan, it’s me, Alicia.’

The park had been empty when Luke had taken her in there, and engrossed in each other they hadn’t noticed that a family with small children had come in from an entrance at the far end. And now a little hand was pulling at the leg of Megan’s jeans.

The two doctors exchanged a smile, and as Luke let Megan’s hand fall to her side he took a step back, thinking that little Alicia Adamson had brought them back down to earth and maybe it was as well. For the two of them to be seen in each other’s arms in the playground was surely not in keeping with the protocol of the practice. It was going to have to be another time, another place.

Megan had dropped down on to one knee and put her arm around the little girl. ‘Hello, Alicia,’ she said gently, with a smile for her parents who were some yards away. ‘Is your leg better now?’

‘Mmm,’ the child said, lifting it for her to inspect.

It looked as if it was. Alicia’s mother had brought her to the surgery the week before with a nasty sore on her leg. She’d fallen onto an old spade in the garden and gashed it, which had resulted in an infection. Megan had sent her to the nurse to have it treated and she’d been coming in each day to have antiseptic dressings on it, but from the look of it that would no longer be necessary.

As Luke watched her with the little girl there was a lump in his throat. They dealt with children just as much as adults at the practice, but they weren’t at the practice now. Yet Megan was just as patient and gentle with Alicia as if they were.

If she would marry him
she
would give him the children he longed for, with red-gold hair and beautiful green eyes, he thought. Yet would she want them to grow up as she had, with parents who were both busy doctors and hadn’t much time for family matters? But he didn’t want to marry her just for a family. He ached for her, adored her, wished with all his heart he could have met her before Alexis came on the scene.

But he wasn’t taking anything for granted. He knew Megan was attracted to him as much as he was to her, but it didn’t follow she would marry him if he asked her. She was an idealist and his past didn’t meet her requirements.

When the little family had wandered off he said, ‘We’d better go before Sue and Ned send out a search party.’

She nodded. The moment she’d been longing for had gone. It hadn’t been the right place in any case, she thought wryly. But some joy had come out of it. Luke was taking her to the Christmas ball, and where he thought all these other men who were dying to take her were, she didn’t know. In any case, beside him the rest of the eligible male population were as nothing.

‘Does it say fancy dress on the tickets?’ she asked as he pulled into the drive of Woodcote House once more.

‘No. It just stipulates black tie for the men.’

‘So I’ll have to go shopping, then.’

‘I might tag along and let you help me choose my Christmas gifts for Sue and the boys. That’s if you don’t mind.’

‘I don’t mind at all,’ she told him. ‘You can help me to select an evening dress at the same time.’

* * *

It was the first week in December and the star attractions at the garden centre were due to open on Saturday with Santa in his grotto, Ned on the door, and Sue and Megan in charge of the café.

They’d been extra-busy at the surgery with coughs and colds, and in the midst of it Aunt Izzy had fallen in the middle of the night and ended up lying on the bedroom floor until morning, when a passer-by had noticed that her curtains had still been drawn and had rung the surgery.

Leaving Luke to deal with her patients, Megan had rushed round to her aunt’s house and with the spare key she always kept in her bag had let herself in. Fortunately the old lady hadn’t seemed to have broken any bones or developed hyperthermia, as she’d fallen quite close to a radiator, but shock and bruising had prevented her from being able to raise herself upright, and to Megan’s dismay her aunt, who had always been in control, seemed to have lost her confidence.

She’d taken her to A and E to be checked over and been told that she’d been lucky, as the only thing she had was heavy bruising, but Izzy didn’t want to be on her own at night any more, so until she could find an easier solution Megan was sleeping at her house. Her aunt was all right during the day, but when night came she started to panic. Afraid it might happen again, no matter how much Megan reassured her.

Looking after her patients during the day, helping to get ready for the opening of the new-look garden centre in the evenings, and having disturbed nights with Izzy calling out all the time to make sure she was there, Megan was wishing there were more hours in the day.

* * *

As they were leaving the surgery at the end of Friday Luke said, ‘You look whacked, Megan, as if you could do with a good night’s sleep.’

She gave a tired smile. ‘You’re not wrong about that.’

‘What are you going to do about Izzy?’

‘I’ve spoken to my mother about her. Mum mentioned that there is an apartment for sale next to theirs on the Costa Del Sol, and did I think Aunt Izzy would be interested. Out there they could keep an eye on her, and I know she was rather envious when they made their move.’

‘Have you told her what your mother suggested?’

‘I haven’t, but Mum has, and she says Aunt Izzy seems quite keen, but is worried that she won’t be able to sell her house.’

‘Are you kidding? It’s the nicest house in the village. A dream of a place. If she decides to go, I’ll buy it.’

‘So you intend to stay,’ she breathed as her tiredness fell away.

He was observing her with raised brows. ‘Yes, of course. I can’t remember ever having said otherwise. There is nothing for me outside this place. All I care about is here. So don’t forget. Megan, if your aunt decides to sell, make sure she knows that she has an on-the-spot buyer.’

Oh, she would let Aunt Izzy know that, Megan thought as she drove home in the dark December night. There was nothing surer. Luke had been right when he’d described her house as the nicest in the village. It was a lovely, unspoilt country home, with a large, safe, garden for children to play in, and with a few touches of their own it would be perfect.

But she was getting carried away. So far there was no indication that she would be part of the package if Luke bought her aunt’s house. He cared about her, she knew that. But he cared about Sue and the boys, too, and maybe that was how he felt about her, protective and concerned.

If that
was
the case, she supposed she should be grateful, but she wanted more than that. She wanted passion from him, the same kind of desire that made her feel weak whenever she was near him.

Sometimes when she lay alone at night, gazing up at the beams of the old ceiling above her head, she imagined what it would be like if they made love, and if she’d been sleepless before, that really brought her wide awake. She longed for his touch, his lean nakedness next to hers, and most of all to hear him say,
I love you
.