A Christmas Knight (4 page)

He frowned. ‘My mum's a nurse. She makes people better. Why didn't your friend go to see a nurse or a doctor?'

Dominic took a deep breath. ‘It doesn't always work that way. Sometimes even a nurse or doctor can't fix things.'

‘Oh.' Tyler digested the information. ‘Do you miss jousting?'

‘Ty, let's talk about something else,' Louisa pleaded. ‘I dunno—what the horse eats, what kind of saddle he has?'

But her son refused to budge. ‘If I'd been a knight and I didn't do it any more, I think I'd miss jousting,' Tyler said. ‘I want to be a knight.'

‘It takes a lot of practice and hard work,' Dominic warned.

‘I don't mind. I'm going to practise holding the reins at home. Bea showed me how. All I need is a ribbon.'

‘So let's go and buy the ribbon now,' Louisa said, seeing an opening. She caught Dominic's eye and mouthed, ‘Sorry.'

He said nothing, and she stifled a sigh. So much for thinking he understood about Asperger's and the way it gave a child tunnel vision. Then again, Ty had obviously trampled on a really sore spot. He hadn't meant to: he just hadn't been able to pick up the visual clues that Dominic was uncomfortable and she hadn't been able to head Tyler in another direction.

‘Time to say goodbye, Ty,' she said.

‘Goodbye, and thank you for showing me your horse,' Tyler said politely.

 

Dominic leaned back against the stable door and watched them both walk over the yard. Hell. He hadn't been prepared for that one.

Do you miss jousting?

Yes, he missed it. Missed it like crazy. Holding the lance in his right hand and the reins in his left, then focusing on the tilt, urging Pegasus to a quick canter and then closing in, focusing on where he was going to land his lance. Speed, precision and skill: the kind of thrill that reminded him he was still alive.

Except he'd been a little too precise, the last time he'd jousted. Too fast. And he'd unhorsed his opponent. Oliver had fallen awkwardly, and the armour hadn't been enough to protect his back: he'd ended up with an incomplete spinal injury. An injury that had left him stuck in a wheelchair and ruined his career—because, as a surgeon, you needed strength as well as delicacy. And you also needed to be able to move round your patient. Stand up. Lean over. Oliver couldn't do that any more.

Hell, hell, hell. He'd taken so much away from his
brother. His career, his hobbies, his mobility, his
joie de vivre
—Oliver was in too much pain, most of the time, to be full of laughter the way he'd used to be.

So giving up jousting had been the least Dominic could do. To make absolutely sure he never made a mistake like that again and someone else ended up badly hurt.

Pegasus whickered and shoved his head against Dominic's.

‘Yeah. I know you miss it, too.' He made a fuss of his horse. ‘But we just do steady hacking nowadays, OK? It's safer.'

 

On Monday, Louisa sought out Dominic at lunchtime. ‘I've got something for you.'

‘For me?' He looked at her in surprise.

She went over to her locker, took out a plastic wallet and handed it to him.

He looked at it; it was a sketch of a horse. And not just any horse. One he recognised. ‘That's Pegasus.'

‘Ty drew him for you yesterday. He just wanted to say thank you. For helping me sort out the lessons and for letting him make a fuss of your horse.'

‘No worries.' He stared at the picture. ‘Nobody's ever drawn my horse for me before. And he did this from memory, from seeing Pegasus just once?' At Louisa's nod, he blew out a breath. ‘Wow. He's seriously good at this.'

‘I'll tell him you liked it, shall I?' She looked pleased, too; clearly she was more used to people being put off by her son's directness.

‘You can tell him I'm going to frame it,' Dominic said. ‘And tell him thank you.'

‘I'm sorry about the way he grilled you. He didn't mean to trample on a sore spot. He doesn't pick up—'

‘Visual cues, and he has tunnel vision,' Dominic
finished. ‘I know. I'm used to Andy.' Andy had said the same thing, too: Why let the accident stop you jousting? He'd gone further, saying that Dominic giving up jousting wouldn't fix Oliver's back, so he was being completely self-indulgent and wallowing in it.

Maybe Andy and Tyler were right.

But Dominic still couldn't see past the guilt. Oliver would never joust again, or be a surgeon again. And that knowledge was hard enough to live with; harder still was the knowledge that his brother was in constant pain. Oliver had forgiven him, but Dominic still couldn't forgive himself.

‘Are you all right?' Louisa asked, looking concerned.

‘Old ghosts.' He shook himself. ‘Ignore me. I'm fine.'

And that was the biggest fib of all.

 

Dominic had gone back into his shell, Louisa thought over the next couple of days. He was always perfectly polite and professional if she was working with him in Resus, but she was aware of his reserve. She tried to put it out of her head; they were colleagues, so it shouldn't matter. As long as the patients were treated properly, it shouldn't matter that he was reserved with her.

And then, on Wednesday evening, her car refused to start after Tyler's riding lesson. ‘Oh, great.'

‘Why won't your car work, Mum?' Ty asked.

‘I don't know, love.' She sighed. ‘I'd better call the roadside rescue people.'

She'd been waiting for nearly a quarter of an hour when Bea came over. ‘Are you all right?'

‘My car won't start. I've called the roadside rescue people—hopefully they'll be here soon and they'll able to fix it.' And hopefully it wouldn't cost a fortune; the expenses of moving had eaten into her savings.

‘Come and sit in the kitchen. It's getting chilly out here. I'll get you a coffee,' Bea said, shepherding them inside and switching on the kettle. ‘Ty, would you prefer juice or water?'

‘Apple juice, please.'

She rummaged in the fridge. ‘Sorry, love. I've got orange or cranberry. Or milk.'

‘Nothing, thank you.'

‘Always so polite. You have beautiful manners, Ty,' she said with a smile.

Tyler was busy drawing a picture of Polo when the roadside rescue people arrived.

‘He'll be fine in here with me,' Bea said, ruffling Tyler's hair. ‘He knows where you are if he needs you—right, Ty?'

He smiled at her. ‘Right.'

When the mechanic had hooked up the diagnostic computer, Dominic came over. In faded jeans, riding boots, a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and no tie, he looked incredibly touchable. ‘What's the problem?'

‘Spark plugs,' the mechanic said. ‘Two of them. The problem is, they'll need specialist equipment to get them out—they're not a standard size and I don't have the right equipment to sort it out here. The manufacturer changed them on this particular model,' he said, rolling his eyes. ‘It's not like the old days, when spark plugs were the same on every car. If just one had gone, I could've disengaged it for you and you would've been safe to get home or to the garage, but with two gone it's not safe to do that, I'm afraid. If you ring the main dealer now, they'll still be there,' he suggested, ‘and they'll book you in so I can put your car on the back of the tow truck, and all you have to do is drop your keys through the door in an envelope.'

‘Would you be able to drop us home afterwards?' she asked.

‘Sorry, love. It's not covered by your policy. I would've bent the rules for you, given that you've got a little one, but I've got another callout waiting,' he said.

‘Fair enough. I can call a taxi.'

The dealer's service department was just about to close, but they duly booked her in for the next morning and asked her to drop the keys through their door.

She was about to arrange for a taxi to meet them at the garage when Dominic laid a hand on his arm. ‘Don't worry about calling a taxi. I'll follow you to the garage and drop you and Ty home.'

‘I can't impose on you like that.'

He shrugged. ‘From what Tyler tells me, you don't live that far from me. And I'm finished here for this evening anyway.'

‘Actually, I can drop the keys through the letterbox for you at the dealer's,' the mechanic added, ‘if that saves a bit of time.'

‘And it means you'll get home quicker—Tyler's routine won't be thrown out so much,' Dominic said.

That was the clincher. Ty. Although he coped much better with change nowadays than he had as a small child, it would still throw him. Routine was really, really important to him, and Louisa tried hard to stick to it. ‘Thank you. Both of you. That's really kind.'

 

Louisa clearly wasn't used to leaning on anyone, Dominic thought, so she must've been a single parent for quite a while now. And she'd been adamant about Ty's father not being part of his life. Whatever had happened between them, it had obviously hurt her badly. Not that he could ask. It would be way too tactless.

When he pulled up outside the little terraced house they were renting, Louisa said, ‘Would you like to come in and stay for dinner? It's nothing special—just pasta, garlic bread and salad—but you'd be very welcome.'

Tempting. So very, very tempting. He was about to say no when Tyler added, ‘If you don't, then Mum will have to buy you flowers to say thank you for helping, and boys don't really like flowers so she'll fuss about it.'

He couldn't help laughing. ‘OK, then, thanks. I have to admit, it'll be nice to have home-cooked food for a change.'

‘Don't you cook?' Tyler asked.

‘Not unless it comes in a packet with instructions for microwaving,' he admitted.

‘Tut, and you a doctor,' Louisa teased.

‘Can I show you my horse?' Tyler asked, the second Louisa had unlocked the front door. ‘I got a commendation for it in Art today at school.'

‘Well done.' Louisa gave him a hug and a kiss.

They both admired the drawing.

‘Can I show you my other horses?' Tyler asked.

‘Sorry,' Louisa mouthed.

‘I'd love to see them,' Dominic said, meaning it.

Tyler showed him the drawings, one by one. Dominic was blown away by the detail, both of the horses and of the knights. ‘You've got the armour exactly right, too.'

‘It's called a harness,' Tyler said, ‘but I guess you know that, because you have one.'

‘Ye-es.' Not that he'd used it in two years. He hadn't even been able to bring himself to polish it. It was locked away in a trunk.

‘Can I come to your house and see it some time?'

Dominic froze. And, just at that moment, Louisa walked into the living room. She'd clearly overheard the last bit
because she frowned. ‘Tyler, it's rude to invite yourself. And anyway, dinner's ready. Apple juice for everyone?'

Tyler led him into the dining room, which was small but neat. Just like the one in the living room, the mantelpiece was crowded with photographs: Louisa and Tyler, an older man and woman who he assumed were her parents, and a man who looked enough like her that he had to be her brother. Clearly she was close to her family. He'd been close to his, too; but his guilt had driven him away.

‘I'd love a suit of armour,' Tyler said as he sat down. ‘Grandad and me found a shop that sells suits of armour, when Mum and Nanna went to do girly stuff. Well,
bits
of armour,' he amended. ‘I really wanted a cuirass, but it was too big for me and it was a bit expensive. Then we sat on the beach and had chips. And I found a pebble that looks like a horse's head. I'll show you.'

He rushed up to his room before Louisa could stop him.

She grimaced. ‘Sorry. He's a bit impulsive.'

‘I think most eight-year-old boys are,' he said. ‘I know Oliver and I used to drive our mum crazy. He's a nice kid. And he's brilliant at drawing.'

Tyler rushed back in with the pebble, and Dominic duly admired it.

Dinner was simple but good; though it felt odd, being almost like part of a family.

‘How was your day, Dominic?' Tyler asked.

The question really surprised him; but then he realised this was probably part of the evening routine; obviously Louisa was gently training her son in the art of social nice-ties to make his life easier as he grew older, just as Andy's parents had done with him.

‘It was good, thanks,' he said. ‘I patched up someone
who fell off his bike and helped someone else whose heart stopped working properly.'

‘What was the best bit?' Tyler asked, looking serious.

Dominic thought about it. ‘Going to the stables. How about you?'

‘My day was good. I got a commendation in Art, but the stables was the best bit. I like the smell of horses. And Polo's hair is all soft, except his mane, and that's like Mum's hair when we've gone swimming and it dries all frizzy at the ends.'

Dominic couldn't help smiling. ‘Does yours go frizzy?'

‘No, because my hair's short.' Tyler looked at him and frowned. ‘But yours isn't, so yours must go frizzy, too.'

‘I haven't been swimming for a long time.'

‘You could come with us. We go on Thursday nights. And then we have fish and chips at Nanna and Grandad's. You could come with us tomorrow, if you like.'

‘Sweetheart, Dominic's probably busy,' Louisa cut in.

‘Sorry, your mum's right,' Dominic said. ‘But maybe another time.' And, to his surprise, he realised that he meant it. It wasn't just politeness. He really would like to go swimming with them, then eat fish and chips out of the wrapper.

And the realisation that he wanted to get involved was even scarier. He should be wanting to run a mile: Louisa wasn't the kind of woman who wanted just a fling, and she came as a package. She was nothing like the women he used to date, who tended to be tall, leggy, blonde and exquisitely dressed. And yet she drew him far more than any of those women had. He wasn't sure what it was: her warmth; her selflessness; the way she treated everyone with kindness and courtesy? All he knew was that he wanted to get to know her better.