was he?’ asked Megan.
‘No. He was in hospital, recovering from a car crash. But once he was discharged he was on my case. Sorting me out. Stopping me from going crazy.’
‘Has he no family of his own?’
Sue shook her head. ‘He was married once but it didn’t work out and you know what they say about once bitten.’
‘So when is he moving in?’
‘Soon. He has an apartment near the university and is sorting out all the loose ends connected with that and the job. I imagine that he’ll move in here the weekend before he becomes part of the practice. You’ll like him, Megan. He’s great.’
‘Mmm, I’m sure I will,’ Megan said, trying to sound confident. “It’s going to be changes all round, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it is,’ Sue agreed bleakly, and Megan thought that what was happening in her friend’s life made her own misgivings seem as nothing.
* * *
As she waited for Luke to arrive in the village Megan kept pondering over what Sue had said. That he’d been married once and it hadn’t worked out. Each time she thought about it she shuddered. Suppose he’d been married at the time she’d sent the Valentine card? He’d commented about roses being red and violets blue, but had had nothing to say about the rest of it, where she’d written, ‘And I have to admit I’m attracted to you.’ If he had been married at the time, he must have felt she’d had some cheek.
Another thought that kept haunting her was that she was happy working in the village practice. It had been part of her life as long as she could remember and she was apprehensive at the thought of someone who’d once been her dream man taking her parents’ place in her working life.
Why couldn’t he have been satisfied with running the market garden for Sue instead of applying for the vacancy in the practice? But even as she asked herself the question, the answer was there. Sue had her own staff to do that, village folk, long tried and tested. His function would most likely be the admin of the business, rather than nurturing seedlings and selling bedding plants, conifers and suchlike.
The two boys, Owen and Oliver, would be the biggest problem. They might have coped better with losing their father if they’d had some warning, but he’d been gone in seconds and they were lost without him. It would be a stroke of genius on their uncle’s part if he could bring them through such a terrible time, unscarred and well adjusted.
* * *
After seeing her parents off at the airport on a Sunday afternoon a month later, Megan returned to her cottage in sombre mood. For once the charm of the small stone house in its beautiful setting didn’t register.
The sign over the door said MEGAN’S PLACE, and that was what it was.
Everything inside it had been chosen carefully by her. Furniture, curtains, carpets, the lot, and every blade of grass in the small lawn outside was lovingly tended by her, but not today.
Life was changing. Her mum and dad had gone. She would be out on a limb from now on, and sitting on an opposite branch would be the man she’d once told she was attracted to him.
She could see Woodcote House from her back bedroom window and as she gazed downwards a big black car pulled into the drive, and in the same second Sue and the boys appeared in the doorway.
So he hadn’t changed his mind, she thought. The die was cast.
* * *
After she’d eaten Megan went to sit on a small terrace at the back of the cottage and watched the sun go down. It was a warm summer evening with the scent of flowers on the air. Lots of people would be out and about, in The Badger, the village pub, down by the river, or going more upmarket and dining at Beresford Lodge, a hotel just outside the village. While here she was, feeling lost and lonely with no inclination to do anything other than sit and mope.
Lost in her thoughts, she wasn’t aware of time passing until she heard the front gate click and sat upright. It was strange for someone to call at this hour. There was silence for a few seconds and then she heard footsteps on the stone path leading from the front of the cottage.
When he appeared he was silhouetted against the setting sun, but she could tell by his height and the trim build of him that it was the man who hadn’t been out of her thoughts since the day her parents had presented the new doctor to her.
As she rose to her feet he took a step forward and she saw that he was carrying a bottle of wine and smiling, and she wished she’d stayed seated as her legs felt weak.
‘How did you know where to find me?’ she asked in a voice that didn’t sound like hers, and knew it was a stupid question. Sue would have told him.
‘It wasn’t hard,’ he said. ‘Megan Marshall, the village doctor, is a household name. Actually, it was Sue who pointed me in the right direction. She’s in the middle of making a meal and after we’ve eaten the boys are going to show me around the place so that I can get my bearings for tomorrow.
‘But first I felt I wanted to see you. We only met briefly that day at the surgery and I got the impression that it was something of a shock and that you weren’t over the moon about it. So I’ve come to suggest that we drink a toast to our future relationship as village GPs. If that’s all right with you. I’ve also come…’
Here we go, she thought, stifling a groan. He’s going to mention the Valentine card. Wants to wipe the slate clean before we go any further. I wish the ground would open up and swallow me.
‘Because I thought you might be feeling a bit low after your parents’ departure,’ he was saying, and her eyes widened. ‘Also, I feel I should tell you that I won’t be pulling rank or anything like that. I will be relying on you to put me right if I make any mistakes.’
He’d come to sit on the seat beside her, still with the bottle in his hand, and she said in a low voice, ‘And is that it?’
He smiled. ‘Yes. I think so. I can’t think of anything else. So, are we going to drink a toast, Megan?’
She nodded, speechless with relief, and went inside to get a bottle opener and glasses. By the time she’d done that she’d found her voice and, standing in the kitchen doorway, she said, ‘Shall we drink it inside or out?’
He got to his feet. ‘Inside would be nice. I’d love to see what your home is like. It’s a beautiful place you have here.’
‘I think so,’ she said stiffly, still on edge, and stepped back to let him in. ‘Do make yourself comfortable. Though perhaps you should pour the wine first, as you’ve brought it.’
‘Whatever,’ he said easily and did as she’d suggested. ‘To us, Megan,’ he said, raising his glass. ‘To a good working partnership.’
As he took a sip of his wine, Luke wondered if she remembered sending him the Valentine card. When he’d behaved like a moron and left her red with embarrassment, instead of telling her why he hadn’t been ready to take her up on it. She had been the only one of his students that he’d ever taken note of. Small, dainty, with red-gold hair and green eyes, she’d moved like a dream.
But it hadn’t just been those things that had caught his attention. It had been the way she’d worked, steadily and with zeal, while some of the students had thought that university was a big joke. An opportunity to waste their parents’ money on living it up.
There had been a strange irony in discovering that half the class fancied him, including the girl sitting opposite him, when his marriage had crashed and he had been going through a bitter divorce.
He checked the time. ‘I must go, Megan. Sue will have the meal ready by now, and the boys will be raring to spend some time with me, as I’m the nearest thing they’re going to get to a dad.’
He sighed. ‘The poor kids are in a state at losing him, which is only natural. It’s