be on her case to have sent a fellow doctor to her in her hour of need.
A tear rolled down her cheek but he wasn’t there to see it. The man who’d taken over the village practice and moved in on her home ground was halfway down the stairs and wishing that Miriam Platt, the other GP at the surgery, would cheer up.
He’d inherited the fifty-year-old widow with the practice. Peter Swain, who was now retired, had asked him to keep her on, and he’d agreed to do so unless for any reason he found her unsuitable. She was a good doctor, but personality-wise she was depressing. The slightest thing to go wrong had her sighing and he wished she would lighten up.
Miriam worried him. He wished she would talk to him. Tell him why she was always in such low spirits. The practice revolved around the two of them and if she had any problems that he could help with, he would be only too pleased.
He was aware that they needed another doctor, that they were short-staffed, and that his absence this afternoon wouldn’t have gone down well with Miriam. But he couldn’t have left that poor girl in the state she was in. For one thing, he liked Ruth Barrington. She was a pleasant, kindly woman, and for her sake as much as anything he’d stayed to sort her daughter out.
Ruth had been asked by her old friend Peter if she could accommodate the new doctor until his house was ready. She’d agreed and he was enjoying some good food and the pleasure of living in Jasmine Cottage for the time being.
He’d known that Ruth had a daughter somewhere and had sensed that she was concerned about her in some way, but she hadn’t said why and he hadn’t expected her to confide her anxieties to a stranger.
And now the daughter had appeared. Whether she was back for good, or just visiting he didn’t know. But Kate hadn’t been overjoyed to find him established in her mother’s house, even though he’d explained that it was a temporary arrangement.
He was approaching the surgery where Miriam was moaning and patients were waiting to be seen, so she was going to have to sort herself out until his working day was over.
‘So is Kate all right?’ Jenny asked the moment he appeared.
‘No. Not really,’ he told her. ‘I would say that it’s some sort of virus she’s got, and as we all know it is usually a case of keeping the temperature down and letting it run its course.’
‘Does Ruth know she’s poorly?’ Jenny asked, not letting go until she had the full story.
‘She’s at her mother’s in Newcastle-on-Tyne. The old lady has been taken ill, too. So I’m in charge at this end.’
As she passed over the notes of those who had come to consult him, Jenny said, ‘Is there anything I can do to help with Ruth being away?’
He smiled, admiring how the villagers were always ready to rally round when needed. No one would be left to suffer alone in this place. He was amazed at the community spirit, but he had a feeling that on this occasion the patient would want to be left alone.
‘Er…no, not at the moment. Thanks just the same,’ he told her. ‘Kate just seems to want to sleep.’ With that, he went into his room and buzzed for his first patient before Miriam had a chance to cast her frowns upon him.
As he waited, he recalled how the local people had been wary of him at first. Peter had been their doctor for as long as some of them could remember. But they’d had time to get to know him and now they had his measure, knew him to be competent and briskly kind.
If any of the women patients wondered why such a presentable member of the opposite sex had arrived in their midst with no obvious family ties, they were left to ponder. Daniel was like his landlady. He kept his own counsel in matters close to his heart.
Patients came and went, some only mildly suffering, and others in dire distress. Now Millie from the chemist’s was sitting opposite him. She was fighting breast cancer and needed a mastectomy because it had come back in a more serious form after a long remission.
‘Would I have a better chance if I had them both removed?’ she asked anxiously.
‘Only the oncologist can advise you on that, Millie,’ he told her gently, ‘and remember there is a chance that having the one mastectomy might be sufficient to give you a clean bill of health for a long time, maybe even permanently.’
‘And it might not,’ she reminded him. ‘I’d rather go the whole way now, instead of wishing I had.’
‘Have they given you a date?’ Daniel asked.
‘No. Not yet, but they’ve told me it will be soon. I wanted a word with you first before I approached them about a double mastectomy.’
‘It is a difficult decision for you to make.’
She shook her head. ‘Not really. If it gives me a few more years, it will be worth it.’ She gave a watery smile. ‘At least I won’t feel lopsided.’
‘So what does your husband say, Millie?’
‘All he cares about is that I get better.’
‘So have a word with the oncologist and see what he says.’ Daniel advised patiently.
‘It’s a she,’ Millie explained.
‘Fine. You may find it easier to explain your feelings to another woman.’
As the numbers in the waiting room dwindled and the clock ticked on, Daniel wondered how his patient at Jasmine Cottage was feeling. She was far from well and somewhat disgruntled, but he sensed that her disappointment at finding her mother missing was mostly to blame for her lack of cordiality, as well as discovering that she hadn’t got the house to herself.
But she couldn’t have it both ways. At least he’d been there to look after her when she’d fainted and afterwards. And if she wasn’t happy about him staying at Jasmine Cottage, he would have to keep a low profile while she was there and hope that it wouldn’t be for long.
‘I’m sorry I was delayed earlier,’ he said to Miriam as they were clearing up at the end of the day. ‘Ruth’s daughter arrived home unexpectedly and she wasn’t at all well. She fainted and I couldn’t leave her until I was sure she would be all right.’
‘I see,’ she said distantly. ‘It was just that we were rather busy.’
‘Yes, I know. We need another doctor and I’m going to sort it the first chance I get.’
He didn’t know how at that precise moment, but there were always young graduates keen to go into general practice, or more experienced doctors needing to relocate for family or other personal reasons.
It had been hectic since he’d taken over, but now everything was settling down and with another doctor in the practice he might find time to explore the Cheshire countryside.
One of the best things to happen to him since he’d become part of the rural community had been staying at Ruth Barrington’s. He’d bought a piece of land down by the river and was having a detached house built on it. But it was going to be a matter of months before it was ready, and while that was going on he was happy and grateful to be based at Jasmine Cottage, or at least he had been until today.
It was half
