The Village Nurse's Happy-Ever-After (3 page)

Yet not for long. It quickly turned to surprise when he said crisply, ‘You were right to send for one of us. I'm of the opinion that Rory is allergic to the antiseptic cream they gave him at the hospital. Although it is
highly recommended by most doctors, I have heard of the occasional case where the patient has had an allergic reaction to one of its components, so we will change the ointment and check the condition of the injury once again after twenty-four hours.'

He was writing out a prescription as he spoke and said to Phoebe, ‘I see there's a chemist two doors away. If you would like to pop in there and get this made up, perhaps Mr. Stephenson might have another cup of coffee on offer before I depart.'

S
O
H
ARRY
B
ALFOUR
was human after all, Phoebe thought while the chemist was making up the prescription. Not as approachable as that nice guy Jake maybe, but not quite as scary and abrupt as she'd at first thought. Although, of course, it was early days. He didn't yet know there was a teething infant just across the landing, and his reaction to that might depend on just how much he valued his sleep!

When she returned to the shop, he'd departed, leaving a message to say he'd gone back to the practice to prepare for the second surgery of the day. So once she had put the new antiseptic cream on Rory's leg and placed a clean dressing over the infected area, she bade uncle and nephew goodbye, promising to return the next day to check on the effects of the new cream, and proceeded to the next housebound patient on her list.

She was back at the surgery by half past three. After updating her patients' records, Phoebe was about to depart just after four when Harry came out of his consulting room. Observing that she was dressed for going out into the cold January day once more, he asked, ‘Have you had another callout?'

She smiled weakly. ‘Er, no. I finish at four. Ethan agreed that I could.'

‘I see,' he commented. ‘And you didn't think fit to inform me of an arrangement you'd made with my predecessor?'

‘It is in my records, Dr Balfour.'

‘Maybe, but I only arrived back in Bluebell Cove late last night. Since I presented myself here in the surgery at a very early hour this morning, there have been many things I needed to get to know. As you might imagine, checking staff records is low on my list of priorities at the moment.'

‘I'm sorry. It was remiss of me not to mention it,' she said, uncomfortable in the knowledge that he hadn't the slightest idea why she was allowed to finish early, and probably wasn't going to be over the moon when he found out.

Ethan had agreed to her finishing at four each day when she'd started work at the end of her maternity leave, and she'd been most grateful—it had meant she'd been able to collect Marcus from the nursery earlier than she'd expected. The normal finishing time for surgery staff was six-thirty, so the early finish gave her an extra two and a half hours each weekday evening with her baby. It had meant less pay but time with Marcus came first.

‘So you'd better be off, then, hadn't you, if that's the arrangement?' Harry said into the middle of the awkward moment. ‘We'll have a chat regarding your hours when I've had the chance to settle in properly.'

She nodded and went hurrying off. Watching her go, he wondered what it was about her that brought out the worst in him.

Was it because she was so strangely beautiful…and alive?

 

When Phoebe arrived at the nursery the report on Marcus was that he'd been a little fretful but otherwise fine. She breathed a sigh of relief. There was no indication that the tooth that was bothering him had come through but at least, from what Beth had said, he hadn't been crying all day.

Teething, walking, talking…they were all natural processes in the normal growth of a child, she thought, but could still prove to be times of anxiety for the parent until they had been safely achieved.

 

From half past six onwards, after the surgery had closed, Phoebe was listening for the footsteps on the stairs, but all was silent. She wondered if Harry was still down there catching up with more information regarding the running of the surgery, or if he had gone out somewhere.

Marcus had been asleep for hours and she was about to slide under the covers herself when she heard him come upstairs. It was gone ten o'clock, and Phoebe felt herself relaxing. They may not have had the best of introductions, the single mother and the abrupt widower, but it was good to feel that she wasn't on her own above the sprawling surgery complex.

 

Barbara Balfour had rung Harry late that morning to pass on a word of welcome, and to enquire if everything had been in order both below and above when he'd arrived the night before.

‘Yes,' he'd told her, ‘everything is fine.'

‘So will you come and dine with us tonight, Harry?' she'd said. ‘We are both so pleased to have you back here in Bluebell Cove. It seems a long time since you and Jenna used to take your surfboards down to the beach for hours on end.'

‘That's because it
is
a long time, Aunt Barbara,' he'd said with one of his rare smiles. ‘It seems strange to think of Jenna married with a baby.'

‘Strange or not, it is so,' he'd been assured. ‘Her husband Lucas is a cardiac surgeon. I'm one of his patients, as a matter of fact. Our son-in-law is also a great friend of Ethan. He and Francine are godparents to our little Lily.'

‘It all sounds very happy and cosy.' he'd said lightly, relieved that she hadn't been able to witness the envy in his expression.

Nonetheless, he'd accepted Barbara's invitation. Having been warned by Ethan about the physical deterioration of his hostess, he had concealed his dismay when he saw her, while at the same time taking note that the razor-sharp mind was still very much in evidence.

After a pleasant evening with his relations, he'd left, promising Barbara that he would keep her informed about what was going on at the practice. At the moment of departure he'd paused and asked, ‘Did you know that the other apartment is occupied, Aunt Barbara?'

Her expression had said she hadn't known and her husband Keith said, ‘It will be an arrangement that Ethan will have agreed to before he left—probably a member of the staff.'

‘That's correct,' Harry had told him. ‘Her name is Phoebe Howard, she's the district nurse.'

The retired doctor had shaken her head. ‘Although I take a great interest in the practice, I'm afraid I don't know every member of staff, Harry. She must be someone new.'

‘Yes, I suppose that could be it,' he'd agreed, and after saying his farewells had disappeared into the winter night.

And now he was back at the apartment and wondering if history would repeat itself, if the door opposite would be opened a crack to observe him. But it remained closed and there was silence all around, which was how he preferred it to be, wasn't it?

 

It was two o'clock in the morning and there was silence no longer. He'd been awakened by a strange sound and was lying wide eyed against the pillows, trying to identify it. It wasn't a cat yowling out on the tiles, he told himself, or someone who'd had too much to drink breaking into song as they went past the surgery building.

He sat up suddenly. It was the loud cry of a baby that was shattering the peace and he was out of bed in a flash, quickly throwing on a robe.

The door opposite was still closed when he went out onto the landing but he had no doubt about where the cry was coming from. Phoebe had a baby in there and
from the noise issuing forth, it was not a happy one. The doctor in him simply couldn't not check if everything was all right.

The crying stopped for a moment and he knocked on the door, but it still remained closed. In case the district nurse had a husband or partner with her who might be bristling at the invasion of their privacy, he called, ‘I've no wish to intrude but can I help?'

There was no response and he was in the process of knocking again when the door opened suddenly and he almost fell on top of Phoebe. The baby she was holding observed him with tear-drenched brown eyes as she said apologetically, ‘I'm sorry we've disturbed you, Dr Balfour. I'm afraid that Marcus is teething.'

He glanced around the room and still poised on the threshold asked, ‘Are you living alone up here with a young baby?'

Phoebe hesitated and as if on cue the infant in her arms began to cry again. She stepped back reluctantly to let him in and said, ‘Yes, I'm afraid there are just the two of us. If you want to help, could you possibly hold Marcus for a moment while I make him a bottle? It usually soothes him back to sleep. And, Dr Balfour, the reason I didn't tell you I had a baby was exactly because of nights like this. I didn't want us to disturb your privacy, but I should have known better.'

Harry had stepped inside and was observing her doubtfully as she held out the baby for him to take from her. She smiled and told him, ‘He won't bite you. He's only been protesting because he's teething. Look, he's smiling now.' He looked down at the small warm body
that he was now holding close to his. Sure enough, there was a little smile coming in his direction from the child with the same pale skin and wide brown gaze as his mother.

She was moving towards the kitchen to make the bottle, and Harry said in a low voice, ‘Do I take it that his father isn't around?'

‘Yes,' she said quietly, not looking at him. ‘We're divorced.'

He nodded, and looking down at the child in his arms said wryly, ‘And this is the reason why you finish early? Why on earth didn't you tell me that?'

‘Yes, Marcus is the reason,' she said steadily. ‘I take him to a nursery in the village before I start at the surgery on weekdays and have to pick him up at four o'clock. I suppose one of the reasons for me not telling you was because I don't want anyone seeing me as disadvantaged. I chose the kind of life I'm living and have no regrets. It was Ethan's suggestion that I finish early and I was hardly going to refuse when it gave me some extra time with my son.'

‘So how long have you lived here?'

‘Only since New Year. My maternity leave was up at the end of December. I'd lived with my sister and brother-in-law before that,' and with a tired smile. ‘So now you have the story of my life.'

‘Not entirely, I would imagine,' he said dryly. He looked down at Marcus who was getting ready for another weeping bout. ‘If that bottle is ready, now might be the moment to produce it.' With a feeling that he was
out of his depth and had served his purpose, he said, ‘If you're sure he's going to settle, I'll leave you to it.'

‘Yes, we'll be fine,' she said hurriedly. ‘I feel that I've been taking advantage of your good nature, Dr Balfour.'

‘I haven't got a good nature to take advantage of,' he informed her shortly and then pausing in the doorway, amazed himself by saying, ‘Before I go, why don't
I
make
you
a warm drink? Coffee maybe?'

‘Er, yes, please, that would be lovely, and do make one for yourself,' Phoebe said meekly, wanting to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She couldn't remember what it felt like to have someone do something for her, and of all people it was the unpredictable new head of the practice who was waiting on her in the middle of the night.

 

Marcus had been fed and changed, and was now sleeping peacefully in his cot. On the point of finally going back to his own apartment, Harry said, ‘Just one thing—if ever you need any help like tonight, feel free to call on me.

‘I would rather you did that than me having to lie there imagining you struggling on your own. And by the way, Nurse Howard, why is this place so much less attractive than mine?'

‘I'm not sure,' she told him, ‘but it isn't going to be like this for long! And I will only ever disturb you if it's an emergency—when we move house we can't choose our neighbours, can we? They come as part of the package.'

Harry wondered if that was in the form of an apology, or letting him know that she wasn't all that keen on having him living so close.

But if she'd been expecting a reply, there was none forthcoming and as tiredness took hold of her, she wished him goodnight and bolted the door behind him.

When she went back to bed exhaustion was there, but not sleep. Her mind kept going over what had turned out to be the strangest of days. It has been full of highs and lows between Harry Balfour and herself, then had ended with him knocking on her door and offering to help with Marcus. She'd been so tired and frayed at the edges she'd welcomed him with open arms and thrust her little one at him.

Yet there was no way she was going to take him up on his offer by using him as a standby in times of stress. The odds were that he wouldn't have taken the apartment across the landing if he'd known that his neighbours were going to be a single mother and her baby.

Despite his offer of help, he hadn't exactly seemed very comfortable around Marcus. Lucy, the elderly practice nurse, had told her on the day he had been due to arrive that he hadn't any family to bring with him, which maybe explained his reluctance to hold Marcus and his eagerness to be off once he had been satisfied that calm had been restored.

Yet he'd lingered long enough to make her the hot drink she'd been gasping for, and had made one for himself, as she'd suggested. But those had been things unconnected with her child… A last thought struck as
her eyelids began to droop. Maybe his reaction on discovering there was a baby living only feet away wasn't all that strange, as it clearly wouldn't be every man's idea of heaven.

 

Across the landing Harry's thoughts were moving along different channels. Seated in a chair by the window, looking out bleakly at a starlit winter sky, he was remembering a time long ago when a baby precious to him and his parents had been lost, and how nothing had ever been the same afterwards.

Only small himself, he'd been left lonely and unloved while they'd tried to cope with their grief by spending all their time in their business, running stables in Bluebell Cove. Ever since, he'd been reluctant to take on the responsibility of bringing a child into a world where nothing was certain and loss could bring with it such pain and loneliness.

So family life wasn't something he was familiar with due to his childhood. Marriage to a woman who had been in no hurry to start a family had also left his wariness of it unchanged.

Yet Phoebe across the landing had opted for it without the support of a husband or partner and seemed content, so which of them had the right idea?