what is that?’
‘I think that you’re hurting for some reason. I saw you this afternoon when I was examining the baby with the dislocated hips.’
He watched her face close up and knew he’d hit a nerve.
‘You’ve no right.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘To be watching me.’
‘I can’t help it. I’m curious about you. For one thing you seem so alone.’
‘That’s because I am.’
‘And is that how you want it to be.’
‘Not particularly,’ she said in a casual tone that he found irritating. ‘But circumstances alter cases, just as broken noses alter faces.’
Aaron frowned.
‘Obviously it doesn’t bother you all that much or you wouldn’t be so flippant about it.’
She was serious now. ‘It’s more a case of having to accept what life hands out to us, Aaron.’
‘And what has it handed out to you?’
‘Nothing good of late.’
‘So I’m right. There is something troubling you.’
Annabel could have told him that it was there in the form of a great big lump of misery, but for some strange reason she wanted her acquaintance with Aaron Lewis to be free of past encumbrances. She didn’t want him to see her as someone with poor judgement so she didn’t answer.
‘What about family?’ he persisted, knowing he was being intrusive but unable to conceal his curiosity.
Within minutes they would be at the house. This brief moment of closeness in the car would be over and for some reason it was important to know what was going on in Annabel’s life. She already knew most of what there was to know about him, but he knew nothing about her past, present or future expectations.
He was about to find out...some of it.
‘My parents were archaeologists, more interested in old relics than a small child, I was fobbed off on relatives for most of my childhood and the moment I was old enough I cut free and enrolled in medical school. Not long after that they were on a dig in India when there was an earthquake. They died there, along with many others. I was almost nineteen at the time. So, you see, you are the fortunate one. You have your mother and Lucy, both of them delightful. I envy you.’
‘Yes, I am fortunate,’ he agreed, bemused by Annabel’s condensed description of what must have been a miserable childhood. But he didn’t feel so ‘fortunate’ at night in his lonely double bed.
The house was looming up in front of them and Annabel said, ‘Wow! What a lovely place you’ve got. The flat will seem like a rabbit hutch after this.’
He smiled. ‘I’m sure that you could do better. Is there a reason why you’re in hospital accommodation?’
‘It’s only because I couldn’t be bothered to go house-hunting when I got the job at Barnaby’s.’ As he drove onto a wide paved drive beside an immaculate garden she added, ‘But after tonight I might be spurred on to greater things.’
His mother and Lucy were coming out to meet them and Annabel thought, This is unreal. What am I doing here? Aaron is doing the polite thing, showing his gratitude by inviting me to eat with them. He didn’t have to do it.
When she glanced across at him there was a look on his face that she couldn’t fathom, but there were other things to claim her attention. Lucy was saying shyly, ‘Hello, Dr Swain.’ His mother was beaming her welcome and for the first time in months Annabel was beginning to unwind.
Bending down to the little girl, she said softly. ‘My name is Annabel, Lucy. No need to call me Dr Swain. That’s just my hospital name.’ She turned to a smiling Mary. ‘It’s so nice to meet you again, Mrs Lewis. I’ve just been telling Aaron how lucky he is to have you with him.’
Mary’s smile was slipping as her glance went to her son, and Annabel sensed undercurrents. But the comment had been innocent enough and if she’d been barging in where she shouldn’t, it hadn’t been intentional. There was the missing wife and mother, of course. Maybe it was to do with that.
The inside of the house was just as imposing as the outside. Someone who had a feel for colour and style had been responsible, and when she commented on it, almost as if it was the opening she’d been waiting for, Mary said, ‘My daughter-in-law was an interior designer. She had a feel for those sorts of things.’
‘Have you got a mummy, Annabel?’ Lucy asked suddenly.
‘Er...no, I haven’t,’ she told the little girl, with the feeling that this evening was turning into a ‘get to know you’ sort of occasion. It was only minutes ago that she’d been telling Aaron about her family background, or lack of it, and now Lucy was tuning in, but Annabel wasn’t prepared for what was coming next.
‘My mummy drowned. So did my grandad.’
‘Oh!’ Annabel breathed. ‘I am so sorry. What a terrible thing to happen.’
She was speaking to Lucy but her gaze was on Aaron standing very still beside his daughter.
‘Yes, it was,’ he replied tonelessly, ‘but, Lucy, we haven’t brought Annabel here to upset her, have we? And I’m sure that Mummy and Grandad are watching over us somewhere and hoping we have a nice evening.’
Annabel’s mind was reeling. She’d been so wrapped up in her own misery and what she’d just heard had been like a bolt from the blue. She wasn’t going to ask but Aaron’s composure told her that the tragedy wasn’t very recent and his mother was calm enough as she announced, ‘The meal is almost ready, Annabel.’ She glanced at her son. ‘Shall we have a drink before dinner, my dear?’
‘Er...yes,’ he said, as if bringing his thoughts back from somewhere far away.
Lucy, quite unaware that she’d dropped a bombshell, piped up, ‘And I’ll have a drink of orange, please, Grandma.’
As the evening progressed the atmosphere was friendly and relaxed and Annabel thought wistfully that, whether the mother figure was missing or not, this was family life at its most enjoyable.
When it was time for Lucy to go to bed Mary said, ‘We’ll let Daddy off bathtime tonight, shall we, Lucy? Annabel is our guest and it is only good manners that he should entertain her while I get you ready for bed.’
Aaron was smiling, but there was a glint in his eye that puzzled Annabel, as if messages were flashing between his mother and himself, but Mary’s expression was innocent enough and Lucy had no problems with the suggestion. She trotted off obediently after planting a shy kiss on Annabel’s cheek.
When she’d gone Annabel said into the silence that had fallen, ‘Lucy looks fine, Aaron. Are you satisfied with her progress?’
He nodded. ‘Yes. I am. That was a nightmare
