A Baby For The Village Doctor. Abigail Gordon

      James was aware that she was only half listening and asked, ‘Are you going to introduce me to your ex-husband, or will you both still be separate items?’

      ‘Yes and no,’ she told him. ‘Ben has gone back to London, but he intends to return. I don’t know where he’s going to stay, and neither do I know how he’s going to fill his time. But he told me that with regard to work, he’s a free agent, and he needs a break. He also said that he’s going to be there for the birth and afterwards.’

      And how could she object? It was his child as much as hers. But it wouldn’t be like it had been with Jamie. They’d been a family, a happy threesome, wrapped around with love. This time it would be two separate families. Mother and child as one of them, and father with his child the other.

      James was observing her sympathetically and she smiled sadly. ‘I’m sure you’ll meet him soon.’

      What she’d said to James was still uppermost in her mind as Georgina took her evening stroll later that day. Her baby was going to know its father, as she didn’t doubt for a moment that Ben would be back. He’d made that crystal clear. It would be as an older, more sombre version of the husband she’d adored, but a loving father nevertheless.

      As she’d told James, she didn’t know where he was going to stay. But it couldn’t be with her. They might be about to start a new family, but it didn’t mean she was going to accept that as a reason for pretending anything that wasn’t there.

      When she turned to wend her homeward way in the quiet evening the silence was broken by a train en route for the city, travelling across the aqueduct high above the river. Once it had gone there was peace once more down below, and a fisherman engaged in one of the quietest of sporting activities cast his rod over the dancing water.

      * * *

      It was two days later. Georgina had done some shopping in the village on her way home—meat from the butcher’s, fresh bread and vegetables from the baker’s and greengrocer’s—and as was her custom, she went straight through to the kitchen to start preparing the food.

      When she glanced through the window, her eyes widened. Ben was mending a gap in the fence between the two cottages, and as if conscious that he was being watched, he looked up and with hammer in hand gave a casual wave then carried on with what he was doing.

      She drew back out of sight and hurried to the front of the house. Surely enough, the ‘To Let’ sign had been replaced on the cottage next door to one that said ‘Let by Robert Ingram’.

      Ben had never been in the habit of doing things by halves, she thought as she leaned limply against the doorpost. It was one of the reasons why he was so successful in his career. But this time he’d excelled himself.

      Not only had he come to live in her village, but he’d taken up residence almost on her doorstep. Obviously he wasn’t intending to miss anything that concerned his pregnant wife and the child she was carrying.

      Maybe repairing the gap in the fence was an indication that though he’d sought her out he was going to stay on his own side of the fence, or perhaps on discovering that she was pregnant his interest had moved from mother to child, and until it was born he would be keeping his distance. If either of those things were in his mind, shouldn’t she be relieved?

      Contrary to all the thoughts that had been going through her mind since they’d met at her gate, she went out into the garden and, leaning over the fence, said stiffly, ‘I’ve bought steaks and fresh vegetables and it’s just as easy to cook for two as for one. It will be ready in about half an hour if you want to join me.’

      He paused in the act of hammering a nail in and looking up, said, ‘Er…thanks for the offer, but I’ve been shopping myself and have a lasagne in the oven.’ He hesitated. ‘It’s big enough for two. It would save you cooking after a busy day at the practice.’

      Taken aback by the suggestion, she gazed at him blankly and he groaned inwardly. After the other day’s chilly welcome, he had promised himself that now he was established in the village he would take it slowly with Georgina. Keep in the background but be there if he was needed. So what was he doing?

      ‘I only made the suggestion because I’ve had cause to discover that it’s no joke coming home to an empty house and having to start cooking after working all day,’ he said into the silence. ‘At one time I was keeping the fast-food counters in the stores going, but that didn’t last.’

      His kitchen door was open. She could smell the food cooking and told herself that Ben asking her to dine with him was no different than her asking him over. They were both doing it out of politeness. It didn’t mean anything.

      ‘Yes, all right,’ she agreed. ‘How long before we eat?’

      ‘Twenty minutes, if that’s OK?’

      ‘Yes. It will give me time to shower away the day and change into some comfortable clothes.’ Turning, she went back inside with the feeling that she was making a big mistake.