Ruby had grown older and begun her medical career she had understood more than anyone the feeling of being flawed that was with her mother constantly and once when she’d asked her what she would have done if she’d known she carried the gene, she’d replied sadly, ‘I don’t know, Ruby. Because I didn’t know I was a carrier of the haemophilia gene I was never faced with having to make a choice with regard to having children.
‘Your dad is loving and supportive, tells me to stop fretting, that I am not to blame for what is happening to Robbie, that it is not because of any known fault of mine, genetics have made me what I am, but I still have to live with it, don’t I? Live with the knowledge that Robbie’s illness isn’t the only blight I’ve put upon my family. There is also what I’ve done to you, Ruby.’
On that occasion with a wisdom beyond her years she had held her mother close and told her, ‘All you’ve ever done to me is to be the best mother in the world and Robbie, when he is older, will feel the same, so don’t weep for what you didn’t know about, Mum. What Dad says is right.’
But tonight when her mother’s voice came over the line there was only happiness in it as they chatted about Ruby’s return to Swallowbrook and her first day at the practice, until she told her about her attractive landlord-cum-colleague-cum–recluse neighbour.
‘You aren’t going to fall in love, are you?’ her mother asked, trying not to sound anxious.
They’d gone through this scenario a few times, the worry that relationships with the opposite sex brought about, and understanding only too well her mother’s thought process Ruby told her gently, ‘Not with this one. He is dubious about my suitability from all angles.’
When she’d finished speaking to her mother Ruby rang Hugo to ask what time he would like her to go across to the house to discuss the tenancy.
‘Come now if you want and let’s get it over with,’ was the brisk reply, without any hint of welcome. ‘It won’t take long. Just a matter of fixing a rental, the two of us signing the appropriate forms, and me giving you a copy of rules and regulations, along with details of the user instructions for everything.’
So ‘Mr Nice Guy’ from the surgery had changed back into ‘Sir Keep Your Distance’, Ruby thought as she replaced the receiver. What did he think she was going to do, take her knitting with her? She would be in and out like a flash and would not be asking him to tell her about the patient that he’d called to see on his way to the surgery that morning.
She wasn’t to know that he’d been expecting a call from his sister, and as always when he spoke to Patrice there was the dread in him that the new life she’d gone to without a second thought might turn out to be a mistake.
When she’d gone it had been as if he’d been given his life back. Opportunities to do his own thing for a change had presented themselves and he was out to guard them like precious gold.
Patrice always rang him on a Monday evening and until she did he was always on edge in case she was having second thoughts about her impulsive move abroad and wanted to come home. So far there had been no mention of any such thing, she and the children sounded happy enough in their new surroundings, but so stressful had been the eighteen months when he’d given up every spare moment to them he still couldn’t believe that it was actually over and she had found some degree of happiness at last.
He’d thought it was going to be her when Ruby had phoned. Had let his tension loose on her and was now regretting it, so when he opened the door to her he was smiling. Stepping back to let her in, he said, ‘My sister usually rings from Canada at this time on a Monday evening, so I hope you will excuse me if I have to break into our discussion to answer the call. I am always on edge until I know that all is well with her—you know how it can be, a new life in a new land.’
‘Yes, of course,’ she replied, and thought she would bear in mind that Monday evenings were not a good time to ring her prospective landlord.
He was leading her through to the sitting room and pointing to the sofa for her to be seated and the memory of Saturday night came back, with her drooping like a rag doll against its soft cushions after a dreadful day.
Hugo had been right when he’d said that the rental arrangements wouldn’t take long. In no time at all they had completed the paperwork needed for Ruby to rent the apartment for the next six months, to begin with at a very reasonable figure.
When she expressed her gratitude he said with none of the abruptness of earlier, ‘I thought you might have to pay off a student loan, and it is worth it to me that someone I already know will be living there, instead of an array of strangers.’
‘I do have a loan to pay off,’ she told him. ‘My parents are helping me with it, yet it is still my responsibility, so thanks for the thought, Dr Lawrence.’
He nodded and asked with casual curiosity, ‘Where is your family situated?’
‘In Tyneside. We used to live here in Swallowbrook but had to move because of my father’s job, yet I have always wanted to come back.’
‘Are you their only child?’
‘No, I have a young brother, Robbie, in his early teens.’
‘So your parents have the same as mine had, a son and a daughter, though in our family it is the other way round—my sister, Patrice, is the younger of the two of us.’
At that moment the phone rang and he said, ‘This will be her now.’
As she got up to go he said, ‘You don’t have to rush off. I thought you wanted to hear about the patient I called on before morning surgery.’
She was smiling, her earlier dismay at his abrupt manner having disappeared as she said, ‘It will keep for another time,’ and letting herself out she returned to the apartment and once again danced a little jig at the thought of being its new tenant.
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