The Surgeon's Family Wish (14 page)

She laughed, still on a high, and said teasingly, ‘I could take it off.'

He pushed the door to behind him with his foot and, following her lead, said, ‘If you'd like to lean forward I could manage a kiss without wetting you.'

Bending from the waist with lips protruding, she obliged. But not for long.

Lucy was calling up the stairs, ‘Grandma says she's made a pot of tea, Annabel.' Aaron had to make a swift departure.

It was going to be wonderful, she thought as she looked down at his wet footprints on the carpet. She was so happy she could burst.

* * *

‘Wow!' he exclaimed when she came down the wide staircase that evening in a strapless dress of pale gold that clung to her waist and swirled around her ankles. It made her hair and eyes look like soft brown driftwood and the tilt of her mouth had an invitation all of its own.

She was lovely, this clever, dedicated doctor, he thought tenderly. The time really
had
come to move on with his life and if she would agree to be part of it his happiness would be complete.

‘Will I do?' she asked in a low voice.

‘Will you do?'
he echoed.

Taking her hand, he took her to where mistletoe hung in a bunch above the doorway and kissed her soundly, while behind them Lucy clapped her hands in excited approval.

There were some of Mary's friends at the party, including an ex-army officer with whom she seemed to be on very good terms. Richard was there with a svelte auburn-haired woman by his side...and Nicola, who surprisingly seemed to be lacking her usual effervescence.

Charles Drury and his pleasant grey-haired wife were holding court in a corner of the sitting room and Mark Lafferty ambled in during the course of the evening and told Annabel that she was a fine woman, a comment that made her think he had been imbibing the wine.

She was enjoying herself immensely. Every time her glance met Aaron it was there, the promise of what was to come, and her sparkle increased.

Over supper Annabel found Nicola by her side and the petite school teacher said disconsolately, ‘I can see where Aaron's affections lie and it isn't with me. I hope you'll both be very happy.'

It was an awkward moment and Annabel didn't know what to say. She was sorry for the other woman and admired her generosity of spirit, but it was a bit early for congratulations so she gave her a sympathetic hug and said nothing.

When all the guests had gone and Mary had said a fond farewell to her ex-major before going up to bed, Aaron and Annabel were clearing up after the party.

‘Do you think that my mother has been coaxing me into finding a new wife because she's ready to fly the nest herself?' he asked as they filled black refuse sacks.

‘It's possible, I suppose,' she replied, her colour deepening. ‘She and Thomas Parbold did seem very fond of each other.'

‘He's from the bridge club that she goes to every week,' he explained. ‘I've heard her mention him, but tonight was the first time we'd met.'

‘What did you think of him?'

‘He seemed very nice. Smartly dressed, straight as a ramrod. Not always the case with men of his age. I liked him. But do I fancy him as a stepfather?' he said quizzically. ‘He was an officer in the army and I don't want to have to stand to attention every time he's around.'

‘What would happen if you went to live in Canada? Would he sweep your mother off her feet and persuade her not to go, do you think?'

‘Canada!' he echoed blankly. ‘I'd forgotten about that. It's been the last thing on my mind in recent days. When you asked me about the job offer the other day I wanted to tell you then that it would depend on
you
more than anyone whether I accepted it. But it wasn't the right moment.' He'd dropped the bag of rubbish and was moving towards her.

‘You know I'm in love with you, don't you, Annabel? Have been from the moment we met, when I kept wanting to put you on some vitamins. I've discovered since that beneath your frail exterior is an amazing woman.

‘I
have
let go of Eloise, you know. I'm truly sorry about that business with the dress. You are very different from her in every way, and that is how I want it to be. You are your own person and so was she. So am I for that matter, and at this moment I am asking if you would take us on, Lucy and I. I love you and so does Lucy.'

‘You shouldn't need to ask,' she said softly. ‘After what has happened to me during the last twelve months
I thought I would never be happy again, but you've changed all that, Aaron.'

He held out his arms and she went into them. As the clock struck midnight he said softly, ‘Merry Christmas, Annabel. May it be the first of many that we spend together. As for Canada, there's plenty of time to discuss that.'

* * *

It was Christmas morning and it seemed as if they'd hardly gone to their beds before Lucy was calling. ‘He's been! Santa Claus has been!' And on a more awed note she added, ‘He's eaten the mince pie and drank the sherry we left him.'

Standing tousled and bleary-eyed in their dressing-gowns, Annabel and Aaron showed themselves to be suitably impressed and settled back to watch Lucy open her gifts.

Every moment of the holiday had been enchanted so far, Annabel was thinking. Not least when they'd been clearing up the night before and Aaron had told her he loved her. Nothing could equal the joy of that. And as the day progressed, with Christmas dinner in the late afternoon and a walk afterwards in the snow which was still persisting, her happiness was unabated.

When Lucy had gone to bed that night they were alone. Aaron's mother had gone to a party at the major's house with the same crowd who'd been there the night before, and the little girl, over-excited and tired, had eventually dropped off to sleep.

Seated together on the sofa in front of a crackling log fire, Aaron was holding her close, stroking her hair and kissing the smooth cheek nearest to him, when the phone rang.

‘Damn!' he said. ‘Who can that be?' He glanced at
the contented figure beside him. ‘I hope it isn't the hospital for you.'

It wasn't. She didn't know who it was but could tell that it wasn't anyone from Barnaby's, although there was consternation in his expression.

‘When did this happen?' he asked sombrely.

‘Last night! Christmas Eve! How could he be so cruel? Yes, of course I'll come. Don't concern yourself about Lucy. I have a friend staying with me. She'll be there if she wakes up.'

When he'd replaced the receiver he stood for a moment with a furrowed brow, then turned to Annabel and said, ‘That was Terry Sullivan's wife, Magda. You know, Terry, my deputy.'

‘Yes, I know him,' she agreed, wondering what was coming next as the call had obviously been about some sort of emergency.

‘He's been having an affair with one of the sisters at Barnaby's and she's pregnant. That item of news was his Christmas present to Magda and the children last night. They were invited to the party but didn't turn up and now I know why. The poor woman is in a terrible state. Completely demoralised.'

‘And where is
he
?' she croaked as the all too familiar story line unfolded.

‘Terry's still there. For how long I don't know. But he won't want to leave his kids. The philandering rat! And as for women who steal the husbands of others, often because they can't get a man of their own, they are the lowest of the low.'

In his indignation Aaron hadn't seen her colour drain away or the horror cloud her eyes. He was leaning over and saying gently, ‘I have to go, Annabel. I know it's ruined our evening but that poor woman needs someone
and I'm fond of Magda and the boys. Terry can stew as far as I'm concerned, but I have to be there for them. What a Christmas they must be having!' Unaware that he had just blighted hers, he went, calling over his shoulder, ‘If you're called out, ring me and I'll come straight back.'

She wasn't called out. Would have felt better if she had been. There would have been no time to talk when he came back. No time to tell Aaron the full story about her past stupidity.

His face was grim when he returned a couple of hours later.

‘What a mess!' he hissed. ‘Magda is on the verge of collapse and the children are trying to grasp what's happened without really being told the full story. As for Terry and his bit on the side, I would imagine that they're both wishing they'd never bothered.'

‘So he's staying with his family, is he?'

‘Yes. If Magda will let him. But how she's going to cope with watching another woman carry his child, I really don't know.'

‘Which of the ward sisters is it?' she asked.

Not that it mattered. She was merely prolonging the moment, but her face stretched when he said, ‘I don't know her name but she's tall, with brown hair and eyes like you.'

It was as if her heart had stopped beating. So the villain of the piece looked like herself. Very fitting.

‘The man who fathered
my
baby was married, Aaron,' she said tonelessly. ‘
He
had a wife and family. That was why he wasn't over the moon when I told him I was pregnant.'

His face became even whiter than hers.

‘I don't believe it! You had an affair with someone
else's husband. So you only told me half a tale. Thought that the seedy part of the story was best left unsaid.'

‘Yes, but it wasn't how you think,' she pleaded.

‘Don't make matters worse by making excuses,' he thundered.

After that she went upstairs and packed her case without a word from him and let herself out of the house like a thief in the night, and that was probably what he saw her as. Someone who had stolen his trust, his confidence and was well and truly back on the sidelines.

* * *

Back at the flat Annabel stood tearless and drained in its small hallway. She'd had two days of supreme contentment and should have known it wouldn't last. Why did she have to give her heart to a man as moral as Aaron Lewis? A man who saw no grey, just black and white. Yet his integrity was one of the things she loved most about him.

If he'd given her the chance to tell him that she hadn't known Randy had been married Aaron might have calmed down, but he hadn't wanted to know. She'd condemned herself out of her own mouth and not been given the chance to explain the true circumstances.

She had to make him see that he wasn't the only one who didn't sleep around. She hadn't exactly fallen into bed with him at the first opportunity. If she was guilty of anything it was taking Randy at face value. Being a trusting fool and not looking into his background.

Aaron's castigation of her had hurt. It had been totally unjust and in the midst of her devastation anger was kindling.

She'd already paid for her affair with the American with the loss of her self-esteem and the much more painful
loss of her child. And now she was being made to pay again.

Well! Once was enough. Aaron could continue to wallow in self-righteousness. And while he was at it he could go to Canada, and see if
she
cared...

But, of course, she did care. She cared so much that the rest of the holiday was a blur of tears and angry avowals.

She was called out on Boxing Day, having to put aside her misery to cope with the problems of others.

A child had been transferred to Barnaby's with injuries from a road accident. The parents had been driving home in a winter dawn after an all-night party when a drunken driver had swerved into their vehicle. The father was in Intensive Care at the Infirmary with multiple injuries, the mother had escaped with cuts and shock and their six-year-old son was unconscious with injuries similar to those Lucy had sustained when she'd fallen off the climbing frame.

Annabel had never felt less like performing a tricky operation, especially one with such personal connotations, but she had no choice. A child's life was at stake and that was what she was there for. To save it if at all possible.

Her own problems belonged to that other life where she was the woman who didn't come up to scratch. But there in the operating theatre she was going to rise above all that, God willing, and use her expertise once again for the good of a child.

* * *

When Mary Lewis came home in the early hours of Boxing Day she found Aaron gazing sombrely into the dying embers of the fire.

‘Annabel gone to bed?' she asked casually.

He shook his head.

‘Then where?'

‘She's gone,' he said heavily.

‘Gone! Gone where?'

‘Back to her place.'

‘But why?'

‘I had a phone call from Magda Sullivan earlier. She was in a terrible state. Terry's been having an affair with one of the nurses and she's pregnant. Needless to say, Magda isn't coping. Apparently he told her last night. Christmas Eve. What a start to Christmas, eh?'

His mother sank down onto the nearest chair.

‘What a start indeed,' she agreed. ‘But what has it got to do with Annabel?'

‘It appears that she was involved in a similar situation at the hospital where she worked before.'

‘What? She had an affair with a married man?'

‘Exactly.
And
she fell pregnant.'

‘And where is the child now?'

‘She lost it.'

‘Poor Annabel.'

‘That was what I thought when she told me. But I didn't know the full story until tonight.'

‘And now that you do, your feelings have changed?'

‘Yes. No. I don't know how I feel. One thing is for sure. She won't come back after what I said to her. Why couldn't she have been honest with me?'

‘Maybe she thought that it had nothing to do with anyone else. That it was her business, and hers alone.'

‘That's all very well. But I more or less asked her to marry me. However, after seeing the state of Magda and her children tonight, witnessing the devastation that kind of thing can cause, I have no time for men who cheat
on their wives or women who covet the husbands of others.'