A Wedding In The Village

As a reminder of that fact he heard the creak of a bedroom window being opened in the next room to his, and when he went to investigate he found Oliver halfway out of the window and preparing to jump onto the roof of an outhouse down below.

When he saw him he hesitated and Luke said, ‘Don’t even think of it, Oliver.’And taking his arm, he helped him back into the room.

‘Where were you intending going?’ he asked quietly, dreading that he’d been on the point of running away.

‘Mothing,’ was the surly reply. ‘I meet my friend Mikey out on the lane at the back and we go into the fields with our nets.’

‘And does your mother know?’

‘No. She wouldn’t let me if she knew.’

‘I see,’ Luke said unsmilingly. ‘So how about we do a deal. If you promise to go back to bed and stay there, I’ll come with you and Mikey tomorrow night, and any other night for that matter, but you have to promise that you won’t sneak out again.’

‘What? You’ll come mothing with us, Uncle Luke?’ Oliver exclaimed with his good humour restored in the form of a wide smile. ‘I didn’t think grown-ups did that sort of thing.’

‘They don’t,’ Luke told him dryly, ‘but for you, Oliver, anything. And now I’m going to ring your friend’s parents to tell them to check on his whereabouts.’

‘He won’t have gone out yet,’ Oliver told him calmly. ‘Mikey always waits until he hears me whistle beneath his window.’

‘Is that so? Well, I’m going to phone them nevertheless, and now let’s have you back in bed, Oliver. I have my first day at the surgery tomorrow and don’t want to be half-asleep.’

‘OK. I get the message.’ Oliver grinned. ‘Goodnight, Uncle Luke.’

When he looked in on him a few moments later Oliver wasn’t pretending. He was fast asleep and as Luke closed the door quietly behind him, he decided that his own affairs were going to have to be put on hold for quite some time if tonight was anything to go by.

He’d taken on two big commitments, looking after his sister and her children, and the position at the practice, both requiring patience and stamina. Yet compared to living with Alexis they would seem like a holiday, and on that thought he turned on his side and slept.

CHAPTER TWO

WHEN Megan awoke the following morning the first thing that came to mind was Luke appearing in the sunset with a bottle of wine. Thinking about it, she wished she could have been a bit less stilted in her manner, but surprise and unease had been responsible for that.

And in the light of day the unease was back. She wasn’t going to be able to cope with being on tenterhooks all the time in case the matter of the Valentine card came up, and she decided reluctantly that the best thing to do was take the bull by the horns and mention it herself.

That way it would be over and done with. She would be able to work alongside him more comfortably when she’d reassured him that the card had just been the result of a youthful crush. It was going to be the first thing she did when she got to the surgery, she decided. She would mention it casually, poking wry fun at herself, and it would be over.

She was using her mother’s room for consultations and Connie, the cleaner, had been asked to come in over the weekend to give the room that had been her father’s a good spring clean, ready for Luke’s arrival.

Megan had to smile when she saw it. Everywhere was immaculate. Connie had even put flowers on the window-sill and a fresh box of tissues for any patient who might be distressed during a consultation. All it needed now was the arrival of its new occupant.

It was a quarter past eight. In fifteen minutes the wheels would start turning and another day at the Riverside Practice would begin. Luke needed to get a move on. She wanted to introduce him to the staff and put him in the picture as to how the surgery was run before he settled himself behind the desk in the room that had been prepared for him.

He arrived just before eight-thirty, looking nothing like the man who’d toasted their partnership the night before. There was a tightness around his mouth and his tie needed knotting into place.

‘I am so sorry,’ he gasped. ‘I intended being here early, but while I was under the shower those lads started playing Sue up, and once I’d sorted them and they’d ambled off to school, she began to cry. I couldn’t leave her in that state, so I hung on until she’d calmed down.’

He flashed a wry smile. ‘Does it sound as if I’m whingeing? I’m sorry if it does. The process of helping them adjust to losing their dad is not going to be easy. I’ll tell you later what Oliver got up to last night.’

She nodded and thought, So much for putting the Valentine episode to bed. It would have to wait.

‘I’ll introduce you to the staff first,’ she told him, ‘and then a quick run through procedures. I’m sure the patients won’t mind waiting a few moments longer.’

There were three receptionists, all efficient middle aged women, and after they’d smiled their welcome, Megan took him into the nurse’s room where Pat Howarth, heading for retirement and dreading it, ruled the roost. Working alongside her was Kath Storey, a young mother of two little girls, who showed a less dominant attitude towards staff and patients.

The practice manager was Anne Faulkner, a quiet woman with accountancy qualifications, who rented the apartment above the surgery.

Connie, the cleaner, was absent. After her labours over the weekend Megan had told her to take the day off.

While the introductions were being made Luke was pleasant and friendly, but he didn’t miss a thing. He’d smiled when he saw the flowers on the window-sill and said, ‘You didn’t have to do that, Megan.’

‘I didn’t,’ she told him. ‘It was Connie, the cleaner. She came in over the weekend to make the place spick and span for you.’

‘Really? That was very thoughtful. Was it her idea?’

‘No, it was mine.’ Connie wasn’t going to get all the praise, she decided. ‘How about I start morning surgery while you wander round and watch us in motion? Maybe you could have a word with Anne, the practice manager, who can answer any questions you might have on the admin side. Then when I’ve finished we could join up for the house calls.’

‘Sure,’ he said easily. ‘Whatever you say. And I promise that by tomorrow I will be up to speed.’

‘I’m sure you will,’ she told him, and left him to it.

* * *

When they met up just before midday Megan said, ‘I suggest that we do the visits together for a few days. It will give you the opportunity to find your way around and meet some of the people in the village.’

Megan was driving, and as they headed along quiet roads lined with old stone cottages, their gardens full of colour, she told him about their first patient. ‘Our first stop today is going to be at the home of my aunt, Isabel Chambers. And I feel I must warn you that she has a sharp tongue and doesn’t wrap up her words. She’s in her early seventies and has diabetes. But she’s a strong woman. She’s been on her own since her husband died forty years ago. They never had any children.’

She turned right up a leafy lane. ‘I call to see her every Monday, just to make sure that she’s all right, and that nothing regarding her health is going haywire. It’s the house next to the old water mill on Rabbit Lane. We’ll be there in a moment.’

As they walked up the path that led to the front door of a large stone house Luke saw that it was unlatched and a voice called from inside, ‘Come in. Megan.’ It belonged to a small grey-haired woman sitting facing them in a rocking chair and as bright eyes looked him up and down she said, ‘So you’ve brought the new doctor to see me, Megan.’

‘Yes, I have, Aunt Izzy. This is Luke Anderson. He and I are going to be running the practice from now on.’

‘I see,’ she said, and held out her hand for him to shake. ‘You look all right to me,’ she told him, taking in the height of him, and added to Megan, ‘But I can see you getting a crick in your neck having to keep looking up.’

‘I’m sure we’ll manage,’ she said quickly, dreading what was coming next.

She had cause to. ‘Have you brought a wife and some young ’uns with you?’ she asked Luke, and he shook his head.

‘I’m afraid not,’ he told her. ‘I’ve come to look after some young ’uns but they aren’t mine.’

‘Dr Anderson is related to Sue Standish,’ Megan told her aunt. ‘He’s come to give her some support.’

‘Hmm. I see,’ she said, then turned her sharp eyes on Megan. ‘And who’s going to look after you, lass? I told your mother and father they’d no right leaving you like that.’

Concealing her mortification Megan said, ‘I don’t need minding, Aunt Izzy. I’m twenty-nine years old.’

‘Maybe,’ the old lady said crustily, ‘but you’ve been left with the practice to see to and a stranger to deal with.’

Megan saw Luke turn away to hide a smile and thought, enough is enough. ‘I’ve come to check on your health, Aunt Izzy,’ she said firmly. ‘So let’s see what the diabetes has been up to. I’m going to test your blood pressure, and see what your blood-glucose levels are. And while I’m here I’ll have a quick look at your feet.’