A Country Affair (23 page)

“Mungo’s covering that. Like you I feel that he won’t be back. With Zoe having wound down her involvement until after the baby, we are terribly shorthanded. At three I’ve got a temporary coming for an interview. Someone who’s free to begin on Monday. So we’ve not been entirely annihilated by his departure. I can’t begin to imagine what really made him go in such a tearing hurry. He doesn’t say, you see, except about his mother. That seems genuine enough.”

Kate didn’t answer.

“I wondered if he’d said something to you about his mother?”

“No.”

“It’s come as a considerable shock.”

Kate agreed. “Must get on, though. Going to print out the end-of-month figures.”

“Oh, right. I’ve put the kettle on. Cup of tea?”

“No. Thanks all the same.”
I wish she’d
go!
Just go and leave me alone.

“I’ll leave you to get on, then. We shan’t need you on reception until Stephie goes at four. Miriam’s been helping to free me to sort out a temporary. She’ll cover when Mungo and I interview this one at three.”

“Right. I’ll press on, then.”
Please
go.
Please. I can’t hold on any longer.

“I’ll bring some tea in later.”

“Thanks.”

If he had to go, the only good thing that’s come out of this is my eternal gratitude to Miriam for taking Perkins out for his walk when she did. No. Damn Miriam for coming out when she did. At least I would have known what it was to have been loved by him. Now I’ll never have the joy of it.
He would have been a tantalizingly passionate lover, she was sure. The tears were just beginning to come when the door burst open and in came Lynne.

“Have you heard? Bunty’s flipped her lid. It’s all that Scott’s fault. Mungo’s operating and Sarah One’s having to take over assisting him and she’s shaking like a leaf because he frightens her to death. Bunty’s mother’s going to come to take her home. Apparently it was Scott’s baby after all and she’s still carrying a torch for him. We all reckon he won’t be back. Sorry about his mother and all that but . . . Good riddance, I’d say, wouldn’t you? Catch me going to pieces over a man. I’d keep out of Mungo’s way if I were you, by the way; he’s furious at all the upset. Are you all right? You look quite flushed.”

“I’m fine. Got to press on.”

“Oh, all right, then. Just thought I’d keep you up to date with all the news. You should have been here this morning! Talk about rumors flying around, the air was thick. Aren’t you glad you didn’t get involved with him?”

“Oh yes. Not worth it, is it?”

“Mind you, he was a gorgeous hunk. Well, everyone thought so, but I saw through him. All right for a quick fling, but he’s the type to run a mile if a girl began to get serious.” Had Kate been looking at her, she would have seen a malicious grin on Lynne’s face. “Must press on, as they say.” She shut the door behind her with a cheerful slam, which Kate felt go straight through her, so fragile did she feel.

For fully ten minutes Kate sat quite still with her hands gripped tightly together to stop them shaking, her head bowed, trying to come to terms with Scott’s departure.
Not a word from him to me. Not a word. How could he do that to one he said he loved? How could he?
His last words to her were, “Love you.” Where on earth had she gone wrong? To go without a word. If he couldn’t face her, he could have written to her. But he hadn’t, and she’d learned her first lesson about love. Never ever again would she allow herself to become so hopelessly involved. She had to get through the next few weeks somehow and she would. She wouldn’t let a setback like this ruin things forever. No. She’d do as he had done and walk away without a backward glance. Some chance.

The afternoon dragged on. Too late she found she’d printed out the September figures in error and had to begin again. The printer paper got itself into a ruck and she had almost to dismantle the machine before it ran true. Altogether, an afternoon like today she never wanted again.

At five past four she was on the reception desk feeling like death because all the time in her mind’s eye she could see Scott: his blue eyes more blue, his tan deeper than ever, his streaked hair more blond than she could have imagined, his tender mouth on the verge of a smile. He’d been so handsome. Such fun. Like no one she’d ever met before or would again. But Kate was brought back to earth by the hurly-burly of the afternoon clinic, so the pain and the heartbreak had to be put on hold for the time being.

S
HE
drove home a different way to avoid the road works and Mia was just beginning to worry when she heard Kate opening the front door. “Why, Kate! You are late! I was starting to worry.”

“Hello. The clinic was so busy we overran and then we had to tidy up. Then I came home a different way to avoid the road works and all in all I’m tired out.”

“You look it too. Sit down. I’ll soon have your meal heated up. Gerry, get Kate a drink. She needs perking up.”

“Hello, love. Long day? Gin and tonic?”

“Thanks, Dad; yes, I will.”

Kate slumped down on her chair at the kitchen table and patiently waited to be ministered to.

“I think I’ll join you. What about it, Mia?”

“Yes, please, after all it’s Friday. Why not?” Mia could see that something was wrong with Kate but couldn’t for the life of her put a finger on what it was. Maybe when she’d eaten she’d be able to tell them.

Kate drank down the gin in a trice but poked her food about without appetite and made a poor show of eating it.

“Kate! That’s your favorite—my chicken and vegetable pie. Are you not well?”

“You remember Scott?”

“Well, of course we do, don’t we, Gerry?”

Gerry nodded. “How could we forget? Such a nice chap. He really enjoyed working my train set. We’ll have him around some time and he can have another turn.”

“He’s gone back to Australia.”

Mia sat back, astounded. “Back to Australia! But you watched him deliver that calf only, what, two nights ago. How can he have gone?”

“Well, he has.”

“Why? Did he say?”

“He sent a letter to Joy. He says his mother is seriously ill and he’ll be back as soon as he can, but we all think he won’t.”

Anxious to ease Kate’s obvious pain, Mia babbled, “But if his mother is ill, he had to go. He’ll be back, surely, as soon as he can?” She saw she hadn’t convinced Kate. “Perhaps he got fed up with the English weather; just needs a break from it. It’s been diabolical recently. Perhaps all he wanted was some sun and warmth. Or maybe he wanted to see all those blessed sheep. Homesick—perhaps that was it. You can get it bad, homesickness, so bad you feel physically ill. Or perhaps he longed for all those wide-open spaces they have in Australia; here on this island in comparison we’re so cramped.” Mia stopped thinking up any more reasons to make sense of Scott’s departure when she saw she wasn’t lifting Kate’s spirits. “Anyway, what’s done’s done.”

Gerry, from behind his newspaper, said, “Not right that, leaving without giving notice. ’Spect it’s left them in a hole.”

“No. We’ve got a temporary starting Monday and Mungo’s doing his weekend for him.”

Gerry lowered his paper. “Surprising how the waters close over your head when you leave somewhere. You think you’re indispensable, but in no time at all that phrase ‘Oh, we shall miss you!’ is as hollow as a drum. Never you mind about him, Kate, there’s plenty more fish in the sea for someone like you.”

Mia saw the heartache in her eyes when Kate looked at her briefly before answering her dad. “I expect there are, but it’s not much comfort at the moment.”

“Have your dessert, love. You’ll feel better when you’ve eaten something, and you always like my treacle sponge.” Mia was rewarded with a pale kind of smile. She whipped the treacle sponge into the microwave and had it in front of Kate, complete with custard, before she could change her mind. Kate plodded her way through it right to the last spoonful of custard, leaving the really treacly bit to the last as she always did.

“Thank you for that. I’ll take my cup of tea upstairs with me and finish it in bed. I’m tired.”

“Of course, love, you do that. And sleep late in the morning. You’re not working tomorrow. Good night.” Mia got up, gave her a kiss and sat down again, remembering how Kate had said she thought things were moving along with Scott. Obviously, this very day her whole world had been turned upside down.

When she’d gone, Gerry said, “It’s not like her to go to bed this early; it’s only half past eight. What’s the matter with her?”

Mia sighed. “Oh, Gerry!”

N
EXT
morning there were letters for Kate and Mia, along with a parcel for Gerry. Mia tore hers open and to her surprise and delight found in it the confirmation for a commission: a miniature of a baby at the request of doting grandparents willing to pay a premium. She handed Gerry his parcel and paused for a moment to study Kate’s letter. She didn’t recognize the handwriting and couldn’t read the postmark because it was too smudged.

She’d take it up along with Kate’s breakfast. She had the tray already laid, so all she had to do was make a pot of tea for her.

“Morning, Kate. There’s a letter and I’ve brought your breakfast up.”

Kate’s bedside table was cluttered with textbooks and papers, so Mia put the tray on the carpet while she opened the curtains a little to let the light flood in.

From under the duvet a cautious question came: “Who’s the letter from?”

“I don’t know, love. I can’t recognize the handwriting.”

But Kate could. She’d seen that writing on countless notes she’d typed into the computer at the practice. That was Scott’s writing.

Mia noticed her reluctance to open the letter while she was there, so despite her curiosity she left Kate to herself.

Dearest Kate,

I’m at the airport awaiting takeoff. My mother is seriously ill with a heart problem. You will already know when you read this that I am going home to see her. I didn’t intend writing to you, but at the last minute I can’t help myself.

No one who saw your face when we delivered the calf that last night could fail to realize that the veterinary profession is for you. You were so alive that night. I knew if I stayed I would be tempted to want you to go home with me and that you would come, and in no time at all begin bitterly to regret not qualifying. I cannot stand in the way of your fulfilling your ambition.

I said you were different from any girl I’d kissed before and you are, so very special, to me. You will always be close to my heart. Take care, sweet one.

They’re loading the plane. Must go.

All my love,
Scott

There was a splotch of a tear at the bottom of the letter and she didn’t know if it was a tear of Scott’s or one of hers. But it was still wet, so it must be hers. Though there was another splotch near the words
sweet one,
which had dried, or maybe that was a splash of lager. Whatever it was, Scott had written that letter and she knew he meant every word. There was no address at the top. So he really did mean it to be final, though in his letter to Joy he had said he’d be back in a couple of weeks. But like Joy, reading between the lines, she sensed he would not come. In any case, if she read her own letter a thousand times, it would still say she wouldn’t see him again.

She lay back on the pillow, drained of emotion. Was she glad or was she not? Kate didn’t really know. There seemed to be a great big hole somewhere in the middle of her, a hollowness that wouldn’t go away.
Oh, Scott! Oh, Scott!

He was right, though. If he’d asked her, she would have gone wherever he went and as he said would have been most likely, when it was too late, she would regret it all the rest of her life. She thought about how she felt when she saw the calf being born and tried hard to put it foremost in her mind, but Scott would keep creeping around the edges of her resolve and obliterating her determination not to think of him.
Oh, Scott! To sacrifice yourself for me. You surely belong to the great and the good.

Maybe one day she would travel to Australia and look up his name in the Veterinary Register and seek him out. She wrapped her arms around her waist to stem the tide of pain. This was acute physical agony she felt, a very real gnawing in her innards. Whatever, she wasn’t going to let anyone at the practice know just how much she missed him. She’d brace herself to speak of him without flinching and do all her grieving at home. She hid her head under the duvet and wept for him.

Oh, Scott! Oh, Scott!

T
HAT
Saturday night Mungo rang Joy and asked if he and Miriam could come around for an hour. “Not for a meal, just for an emergency business meeting. If you’re not going out, that is.”

“We’re not. Of course, come around; be glad to see you.”

“That man from the agency—I wasn’t keen.”

“Oh, I see. Well, come around, then. If you don’t mind Duncan being here.”

“Course not. Colin’s covering just for the evening, so I won’t get called out.”

“Right. See you then.”

“About nine. Bye.”

When they came, Miriam arrived with a gift, as she always did when she visited anyone. This time it was flowers.

Mungo kissed Joy, and Miriam kissed her and Duncan, and eventually Miriam and Joy went into the kitchen to put the flowers in water while Duncan poured drinks for them.

“Whiskey?”

Mungo nodded. “You’re a man of leisure at the moment, then?”

“I am. Till the next project comes up.”

“I can’t understand how relaxed you are about it. I need to have daily work on a regular basis, on the go all the time. I wouldn’t know what to do with leisure like you’ve got right now. Taking a holiday’s a different matter altogether, but I find even that hard.”

They could hear Joy and Miriam laughing together in the kitchen.

Duncan sat down. “They get on amazingly well, those two, don’t they . . . considering?”

Mungo looked at him in surprise. “Considering? Considering what?”

There was a pause before Duncan replied, “Both loving the same man?”

“The same man?” Mungo went deathly still.