Country Wives (10 page)

“No, you’re not being manipulated. He’s not that kind of person. Dan is as straight as a die. I know it in my bones. Since
when have you taken notice of Letty’s opinions, anyway? Never to my knowledge.”

“If we hadn’t needed her money so desperately to enable us to move here, I would never have had Colin for a partner. Letty’s money put the icing on the cake, so to speak, but I didn’t realize we’d be taking on Mrs. Moneybags too. Is Dan all bad?”

“No. But ask Joy; she has to work with him.”

“I will.” Mungo left Miriam reading her book and went to speak to Joy. When he came back, he said, “She says Dan’s abrupt and speaks his mind no matter what, and gets her dander up occasionally because he expects everyone to work at the same pace as he does and won’t tolerate inefficiency. But she says she’s getting more used to him; and she’s had a couple of clients ask specifically for him, and you can’t do better than that. In her weaker moments she wishes Scott were back and then remembers all the trouble he caused. Says Dan’s outspoken and doesn’t get on with Letty when she comes in. Bring back Lynne is all Joy will say on that score.”

He grinned and Miriam asked him why. “Apparently, Dan gives Letty a Nazi salute when he sees her … and clicks his heels.”

“The devil he does! Oh, dear.” Miriam closed her book. “Just let things ride for the time being. See what the interviews on Monday bring. You can’t expect Zoe to give you an answer at the moment anyway. Her answer will be no, though, seeing as she and Dan don’t hit it off.”

“After our ill-fated dinner party?”

Miriam nodded. “He struck out rather forcibly at her, didn’t he? I wonder why? All very personal, I thought.”

“Don’t ask me. I’ll leave that to your woman’s intuition.”

“On his résumé, does it say single or divorced or married?”

“No idea. So long as they do a good job it doesn’t bother
me. But all this opposition to Dan … it makes me wonder if inviting him to stay would be a good thing. Zoe, Letty and inevitably Colin, Joy—all against him. We have to work so closely together all day, every day; maybe we’d be inviting disaster if he stayed.”

When Zoe came in to show off the one-week-old Oscar, it so happened that Dan had called in with some samples to be posted. He was in Joy’s office explaining to her about them when he recognized the thin wail of a newborn baby. “That sounds like Zoe.”

Joy’s face lit up. “Really? Leave them there; I’ll see to them. Got to look at the baby. Are you coming?”

“They’re urgent; I want them off in today’s mail.”

“So they shall be.” Joy squeezed past him, then turned back and said quietly, “You must come.”

“I am.”

Expecting a crumpled red little thing in whom only a mother could see any beauty, they were all stunned by how gorgeous he was. Oscar had a smooth pink-and-white complexion with a covering of very blond hair all over his head and the dark-blue eyes of the new infant. His delicate starlike hands waved impatiently from inside his crocheted shawl; one of his fingers became entangled in a hole and Joy gently unhooked him. “Why, Zoe, he’s beautiful. Really beautiful.” She smoothed a fingertip across his cheek. “Isn’t he, Dan?”

“How are you, Zoe? Well?”

“Thank you, yes, I am. What do you think of my blip then, Dan?”

“He’s a wonder. Very beautiful. You must be proud of him.”

“I am. Very proud. For a blip he’s not too bad, is he?”

“He most certainly isn’t. He didn’t get his fair skin and hair from you, did he?”

Zoe’s dark eyes glared at him and while she thought of a
tart reply, Joy intervened. “Come and sit in my office, and we’ll have a cup of tea. I’ll ring the flat and see if Miriam’s in. I’m sure she’d love to see him.”

Stephie made the tea while Joy rang up to the flat, and in a moment Miriam was down the stairs and begging to hold Oscar. “Why, he’s lovely, Zoe, really lovely.” Taking him in her arms, she gently rocked him, placed a kiss on his forehead and stood silently admiring him.

They all crowded together in Joy’s office, drinking tea and talking, till Joy clapped her hands and said, “Sorry, everyone back to work.” Reluctantly Stephie and the two Sarahs left, Miriam handed back the baby to Zoe and she too left, but she didn’t go back up to the flat. Instead, she went to stand outside by the back door to pull herself together. Looking up at the hills rising immediately from the edge of the car park she strove to control her longings.

She couldn’t see the summit of Beulah Bank Top for the heavy looming cloud. This was the kind of day she didn’t like. Sunshine and blue skies suited her personality best, but maybe the mood she was in matched up better to the dark clouds. The agonizing physical pain she was feeling became unbearable. She knew she shouldn’t have taken hold of the baby, that it would bring back all her dreadful memories, but she hadn’t been able to help herself; so now she suffered the appalling pains all over again as bad as ever they had been. The empty arms, that was the worst. Empty arms aching to cradle … Gripping her hands together, Miriam put her knuckles to her mouth to stop herself from openly weeping.

The back door opened: it was Dan coming out to continue his calls. “Why, Miriam! It’s too cold to be out here without a coat.”

Miriam didn’t answer. Then Dan saw her anguish and, not knowing the cause, didn’t know what to say.

The shuddering, almost animal-like groan Miriam gave as she tried to gain control struck Dan’s heart like a hammer blow. In his concern all he could think to say was, “Can I help?”

She shook her head. Dan put his arm round her shoulders and gave her a comforting squeeze. “If there’s anything I can do …”

Miriam replied, “There’s nothing anyone can do for me. I should never have held the baby. I was a fool.”

Thinking it was because she was childless Dan said, “I see.”

“No, Dan, you don’t. It’s my children, you see. We had two, Mungo and I, and they both died. A genetic disease, so we didn’t dare have any more.”

“I’m so sorry. So very sorry.”

“The pain never leaves me.”

Still gripping her shoulders, Dan looked up at the hills as he said, “There are things which happen to us on which we ourselves have to close the door. I know it’s quite dreadfully hard to do, but it has to be done. We need to turn our faces to the light when we’ve suffered as you have and let the pain go; otherwise we’re only leading half a life, and life is so very short. Doing that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten, or that we care any less.”

Miriam blew her nose and cleared her throat. Looking at him, she found his eyes still focused on the hills. Shakily she murmured, “You speak as if you know how I feel.”

He came back from wherever he’d been, saying, “No, no, not at all. I just feel for you, that’s all. Better now?”

She nodded. Dan took his arm from her shoulders. “You’d best go inside. It’s too cold. I’ll be off. Think about turning your face to the light and enjoying all the good things life has to offer.”

She watched him rev up, reverse and swing off out of the car park at his usual breakneck speed. Miriam went to the staff
washroom and splashed her face with water, found a comb someone had left behind, tidied her hair and then, hearing angry voices, went to seek them out.

Joy and Zoe were talking with Mungo in his office. Mungo sounded as though he was striving hard to keep a check on his temper. “I had to ask what you thought, Zoe. You are a partner, after all.”

“Exactly, and this partner is saying no.”

Miriam stood listening in the doorway because the room wasn’t big enough for four of them.

“That’s all very well, but we’ve interviewed. Two have refused the job, one wasn’t suitable, one has said he’ll think about it and, meanwhile, good temps do not grow on trees. We are short-handed and we can’t expect you back just yet, can we? That wouldn’t be fair to you or Oscar.”

“I still say he isn’t for one minute to think he’s being taken on permanently. He’s a bloody pain, he is. He’s an arrogant, abrupt and bloody rude male chauvinist pig.”

Mungo began to lose his temper; Miriam saw it in the way his shoulders straightened and his good looks became pinched. “All this is becoming very personal. Your decision isn’t professional at all. I shall excuse you because you’ve a new baby, and all your hormones have got their knickers in a twist; consequently, you’re not thinking straight.”

“How dare you patronize me? Just because I’ve had a baby, it doesn’t mean I’ve gone soft in the head.”

“It bloody sounds like it to me. Anyway, Colin and I agree, so that’s two out of three. So I’m afraid he’ll be here for some time yet, like it or not.”

“Letty rang me last night…”

“Did she?” The tone of Mungo’s voice left Zoe in no doubt what he thought about that.

“Yes, she doesn’t want him to stay either.”

“According to my paperwork, Colin is the partner not Letty. Much as she might like to think she is, she
isn’t;
so her opinion damned well doesn’t count.”

“She’s determined to persuade Colin. They’re having lunch together tomorrow to discuss it.”

“She’d damn well better not. We can’t manage without Dan, and that’s the end of the bloody matter.” Mungo banged his fist on the edge of the desk to emphasize his determination.

Joy said, “Mungo’s absolutely right; none of us likes him, but we can’t manage without him.”

Zoe looked across at Joy with spiteful eyes. “Since when was Joy Bastable made a partner? It’s not for you to put your pennyworth in, either for or against.”

Joy, affronted by Zoe’s savage retort, opened her mouth to shout, “I’ve a right to an opinion; I have to work with him too.”

But Miriam thought things had gone quite far enough. Very quietly but firmly she said, “Zoe! Take your baby home. It isn’t right for him to be hearing all this anger.”

Zoe sneered at Miriam, finding her sentiment laughable.

Almost inaudibly, Miriam continued, “Take him home and leave the management of the practice to Mungo. He’s never let you down in the past, and he isn’t going to let you down now. So go home, take your three months off and enjoy that baby you’ve been
privileged
to be given. Mungo’s decision about Dan is absolutely right. The man’s a gem and this practice needs him. Now go home.” She stood away from the door to allow room for Zoe to pass her.

Zoe gave the three of them in turn a defiant stare, but when she saw the unaccustomed determination in Miriam’s sweet face, she stood up to go, suddenly wearied by it all.

“Drive carefully; he’s precious.”

After Zoe had left, Miriam turned to Joy. “You are my dear
friend, Joy, and always will be, but you must understand this. I don’t want to hear any more from you about not liking Dan, because I want him to stay. You’re making a serious misjudgment of his character, I’m afraid.”

She left Mungo and Joy staring at each other, nonplussed by her out-of-character interference.

K
ate heard the entire story about the row in Mungo’s office the previous afternoon from Stephie. Listening was unavoidable, Stephie said, because the door was open. The only part she’d missed was what Miriam said to settle the matter. “Good thing the afternoon clinic hadn’t started, or else it would have been all over the town by last night. They really shouted at one another. I know Mungo has a temper, but this was above and beyond anything I’ve heard before. They were swearing, and you know what he thinks about that. I only got this job because he sacked the previous receptionist for using bad language to him once too often. Anyway, Mrs. Price sorted them out without so much as raising her voice. For the rest of the day Joy was very subdued, so I reckon she’d had a telling off from Mrs. Price too.”

“So is Dan staying, then?”

“That’s what I heard Mungo say. But we can’t manage without him at the moment anyway, can we?”

Graham Murgatroyd’s client came to the desk to pay, and from then on the morning got busier; so Stephie and Kate had no more time for discussing the events of the previous day.

Just as Mungo’s morning consultations were finished and he’d gone up to the flat for his lunch, Letty pushed her way through the glass door and came striding in. “Colin? Is he back yet, Stephie?”

“No, Mrs. Walker, he’s right out at Pick’s Farm doing TB testing. I doubt he’ll be back until the middle of the afternoon.”

“He knew I was coming in.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that. He volunteered to go, actually, because Dan was down for going and …”

“Did he indeed. I’ll have something to say about that. Mungo in?”

Stephie lied through her teeth, her fingers crossed behind her back. “Gone out to see a client who is too ill to bring his dog in for a consultation. Right the other side of Shrewsbury.”

“There must be a conspiracy. I’ll call Colin on his mobile.”

Letty marched through into Joy’s empty office and commandeered the telephone.

The two of them waited for her to return, which she did in no time at all. “His mobile must need recharging.” Her pale lips settled into a thin line. “I’ll go for lunch and make a definite appointment for tomorrow. Goodbye, Stephie.”

Stephie waited until Letty had shut the inner glass door and then said, “Thank my lucky stars Mungo didn’t come down while she was here.”

“Why did you lie?”

“Because anyone in her bad books deserves help. Poor Colin, he won’t half catch it in the neck. It’s all to do with Dan staying permanently. Apparently, Letty’s dead against it. I’m so glad he wasn’t back in time. Fancy having to lunch with her! God, it’d be like dining with a fiend.”

They both laughed, only to find when they’d sobered up that Colin was standing listening to them. Kate went bright red, but Stephie, having gotten herself in the mood for telling
lies, was unfazed by his unexpected arrival. “Oh, Colin! You’ve just missed Mrs. Walker. If you hurry you might catch her.”

But Colin didn’t hurry out. Instead, he looked pointedly at Stephie, raised an eyebrow and said, “If Mungo’s gone to see that dog, he’ll be awhile before he’s back; won’t he?” From the way he phrased his question, they knew he’d been hiding in the back from Letty while they’d been talking to her. Otherwise, how would he have known what lie Stephie had told?