Spring Proposal in Swallowbrook (7 page)

Unaware of the direction of his thoughts, she was observing him questioningly and bringing them into line he said, ‘I’m going back to the party, Ruby. Sorry to have disturbed you.’ And before she had the chance to speak he was in his car with the engine running and within seconds disappeared from sight.

She watched him go dry eyed, but was weeping inside. What had just happened between them had made her even more aware of the futility of her feelings for him. For a few ecstatic moments she’d felt that she was where she belonged, in Hugo’s arms, but reality had been sharp in following those sentiments and nothing had changed, she told herself bleakly.

When Libby and Nathan came home not too long afterwards, concerned that they might be keeping her too long in her role as babysitter, she was leafing through a magazine, outwardly tranquil with no indication that not so long ago she had been kissed until she was breathless by the fourth member of the practice.

Yet Libby was observing her thoughtfully, remembering how Hugo had disappeared as soon as she’d told him why Ruby wasn’t at the party, how he’d gone looking anything but festive and returned in an even more sombre mood.

She liked Ruby, who was an intelligent and caring addition to the practice but hardly likely to catch Hugo’s eye, she would have thought. But he’d been bogged down with his sister’s affairs from the moment of arriving in Swallowbrook, hadn’t had a moment to call his own, and now it was different, he was living his own life for a change and if Hugo had set his sights on Ruby, good for him.

When Ruby arrived back at the apartment the house beside it was in darkness so Hugo must still be living it up at the party, not intending letting their earlier skirmish spoil his evening, and could she blame him?

He’d come to the cottage out of concern for her and she’d been quite odious, especially after he’d taken her breath away with the kisses that had come out of nowhere, so he’d obviously gone back to where there was warmth, laughter and friendship, and on that assumption she went upstairs to bed but, as was getting to be a habit, it wasn’t to sleep.

Hugo was watching the time and wasn’t in party mood. The room hired for Gordon’s retirement party was gradually emptying as midnight was approaching, but
he
wasn’t able to leave yet as, wanting to relieve Ruby of her duties back at the cottage, Libby and Nathan had asked if he would stay until the end and see the elderly practice manager safely home as he was drinking quite a lot of champagne. And then there was Bryony to chauffeur back to her hotel in the town, so it was a cert that Ruby would not be awake when he finally arrived home.

The pharmaceutical rep had enjoyed herself hugely at the party in the company of various unattached men, but had commented on the way home, after they’d seen Gordon safely inside, that she hadn’t seen much of him and if she’d known that he was going to be here, there and everywhere during the evening she might have thought twice about putting in an appearance.

But any slight niggles she might have had disappeared when after stopping outside her hotel he produced out of the boot of his car one of the beautiful flower arrangements that had graced the gathering and presented it to her. Once that was accomplished he breathed a sigh of relief and set off for home.

He was wrong in thinking that Ruby would be asleep when he arrived home. She heard his car pull up on the drive and tiptoed to the window without putting on the light. The sight of the tall figure in evening dress walking towards the house made her want to run out to him and explain what it was that had always made her stay clear of serious relationships with men.

Hugo was a doctor, for heaven’s sake, and if she couldn’t tell him, who could she tell? Yet she couldn’t bear the thought of watching the light go out of his eyes with the telling of it, as there was always Darren Fielding’s reaction to take into account.

She awoke the next day to the sound of the bells of the old Norman church pealing out over the village on a Sunday morning in spring and saw that the sun was already shining in a cloudless blue sky. With the sound and the sight of those things there came the urge to be beside the lake, away from all unhappy thoughts.

The eating places beside the water would be already open so why not go and have breakfast there and then renew her acquaintance with the nearest of the fells for a while? That way she wouldn’t be spending the morning wondering if and when Hugo was going to appear.

When she walked into her favourite place she saw immediately that she didn’t have to wait for that to happen. He was already up and about, a solitary diner seated at a table in the corner with his attention centred on the cooked breakfast in front of him, and she almost groaned.

The events of the night before were still painfully clear. She hadn’t wanted to meet up with him again so quickly. Tomorrow at the surgery would have been soon enough, but it was as if some unseen force had taken over her life and if she didn’t make a quick departure it would be there again, strong and compelling, drawing her to him like a magnet.

As she turned to leave he looked up and, putting down his knife and fork, got to his feet and came across to where she was hovering in the doorway.

‘What’s the matter, Ruby?’ he asked in a low voice. ‘I don’t bite. Why not join me for breakfast? I can recommend the food. I always come here on Sundays and then go walking on the fells, weather permitting.’

He hadn’t slept much after arriving home in the early hours. Had kept remembering how she’d felt so right in his arms and how after the first few seconds she’d succumbed to his passion, but it had all ended on a flat note when she’d asked him not to kiss her again.

Finally after much introspection he’d rejected the idea of having a lie-in and had kept to his usual routine, which would take him out of Ruby’s line of vision from the apartment, but it was as if she’d read his mind. She was here in the bistro beside the lake dressed for fell walking, if he wasn’t mistaken, in a checked shirt, jeans, a warm jacket, boots and with a woolly hat on her head.

‘Yes. I know you don’t bite,’ she said in a low voice, ‘but the other things you do are just as painful.’

She was following him to the table and he said whimsically, ‘So I’m not the charmer I thought I was. I can’t recall any woman I’ve kissed before describing it in those terms. Maybe I’ve been ranking myself too high.’

‘Don’t make fun of me, Hugo,’ she said as she seated herself opposite him. ‘I am not “any” woman. I’m my own person and will let you know when I want to be kissed,
if ever
.’

The pleasure of seeing her appear in the doorway of the café was still strong upon him and letting that comment pass he pointed to the menu and said, ‘At least let me buy you breakfast,’ and beckoned for one of the staff to come to take her order.

The food was good and having finished his own meal Hugo sat back in his chair and watched her enjoy what was put in front of her. At one point he said, ‘Do I take it that you are dressed for fell walking?’

She nodded. ‘Yes. I am. It‘s quite some time since my dad used to take me up there. He was a keen walker and loved this place like I do. It was a blow for him when we had to move because of his job.’

Her mobile phone rang at that moment and Hugo saw her stiffen as if it was a rare occurrence and could be a cause for anxiety, but her expression cleared as she listened to what the caller had to say and in reply told them, ‘I’ll try to collect it today if I can. What time do you close on Sundays? Twelve-thirty? I’ll do my best, otherwise it will be next Saturday.’

When she’d switched off Ruby said, ‘That was about Theodora. She’s ready to be collected.’ As he observed her blankly, she added, ‘Theodora is my car. A clapped-out old banger compared to the car I’ve been using since I came here, but dear to my heart nevertheless, and I don’t want to have to wait another week before she is returned to me. So I need to get moving if I’m going to be there before the garage closes. Once I’ve sorted out train times I’ll be off. Thanks for inviting me to breakfast, and now I must dash.’

‘Hold on,’ he said, gently pushing her back down onto her seat.

‘Where is this garage?’

‘In Manchester, which is quite some distance away. It was the nearest one when the car came to a standstill and I asked the breakdown people to take it there. They’ve been ages sorting out the problem and ordering spare parts.’

‘No need to start chasing off to the nearest station,’ he said calmly. ‘Trains can be few and far between on Sundays. I’ll take you.’ Her eyes widened at the offer. ‘Maybe you’d better go back to the apartment to change into more suitable shoes first, and me too. We can’t drive with heavy boots on our feet.’

As she nodded, still in a state of surprise, he went to pay for their food and once that was done they walked quickly back to the apartment, where she changed her footwear and collected the cash she’d been saving to pay for the repairs. Then they were off, together again whether she wanted them to be or not.

There was silence as his car ate up the first few miles with its powerful engine and Ruby was happy with that. No talking meant no awkward moments, until out of the blue Hugo asked, ‘Are you going home for Mothering Sunday in a couple of weeks’ time?’

‘Yes,’ she replied, surprised by the question. ‘I would never want to miss
that
.’

There was something in her tone that made him take his glance off the road for a second to observe her expression and he saw sadness in it.

What was it that Ruby was hiding with regard to her background? Whatever it was she wasn’t going to be telling the likes of him, that was for sure. She had already made it clear that her private life was a no-go area as far as he was concerned.

After that any conversation between them was just casual stuff regarding the weather and how long he expected them to be before they reached the outskirts of Manchester so that she could be reunited with the treasured Theodora.

They did discuss one serious matter but it was surgery related and of interest to them both—Gordon’s replacement as practice manager. He had suggested his niece for the job with the information that she had worked in administration of various sorts and was coming to live in his house once he had taken up residence in a Spanish villa that he’d bought.

‘Laura is on her own with two children,’ he’d told the three senior doctors, ‘and running this place would fit her like a glove.’ So on his recommendation they had asked her to come for an interview the following week and Ruby was curious to know what Hugo thought of the idea.

He was smiling. ‘It’s wait-and-see time, Ruby. Gordon speaks highly of her but he once recommended a cleaner for the surgery and she didn’t know a vacuum cleaner from a lawnmower.

‘If she gets the job his niece won’t be starting for a while. He’s moving to Spain in Easter week and Gordon says that she intends having some work done on the house to suit her own tastes, which could be tricky with regard to organising it as she will be moving up here from the Midlands with two children to consider in whatever she plans to do.

‘Why can’t we talk about you for a change?’ he suggested. ‘You always clam up for some reason when I try to do that. I get the feeling that you have strong family ties but don’t want to talk about them.’

‘Yes, I do have a great relationship with my parents and young brother and, no, I don’t want to talk about it,’ she replied. And when a sign ahead on the motorway indicated Manchester five miles, ‘We’ll be at the garage in a matter of minutes, Hugo.’

They were, and when she saw Theodora waiting for her Ruby’s face lit up. Going to the car, she traced her hands gently along the bonnet and watching her Hugo thought once again how different she was from all other women he had known. It was an old car, a much-out-of-date model with nothing to catch the eye about it, yet to Ruby it was supreme.

CHAPTER SIX

B
EFORE
they set off on the return journey Hugo said, ‘We’ll stop off for lunch somewhere, I think, either at one of the motorway services or maybe find a place to eat when we turn off. I’ll drive in front and keep a lookout for somewhere while you follow in Theodora, if that’s all right with you.’

She nodded, in a state of bliss to have her car back and to be spending the day with Hugo without any strings attached. A sandwich by the roadside and a bottle of water would do fine as far as she was concerned, but she doubted that he had anything so mundane in mind.

They’d just left the motorway and he was ahead of her on a quiet side road when the driver of a car in the process of overtaking her lost control and, missing Theodora by inches, ended up in a ditch by the roadside.

Ruby slammed on the brakes, and flinging herself out of her car ran towards it.

A woman in her thirties or thereabouts was slumped unconscious over the steering-wheel when she looked inside and to her horror there was a baby wailing in distress fastened in a child’s seat in the back of the car.

Hugo had appeared beside her, having seen the crashed car so narrowly miss hers from where he’d been driving a short distance in front.

Its doors were locked, as was to be expected, smoke was rising from the engine, there was a strong smell of petrol, and aware of the fire hazard in such circumstances he said, ‘Phone the emergency services fast, Ruby,’ and called over his shoulder as he ran towards his car, ‘I’m going to have to prise the doors open. There’s a spade in the boot of my car, maybe the flat edge of that will do it.’ The smoke continued to seep out of the bonnet. ‘We need to get them both out fast.’

The spade did what was required of it and as the door on the driver’s side of what was a small two-door model came open he left Ruby to examine the injured woman as best she could and ran round to the passenger side to give the door there the same treatment, and once again it was successful.

The baby’s wailing was now a protesting howl and as Hugo tried to reach it to release the safety straps that were holding it firmly in the car seat it became clear that there wasn’t going to be enough room for him to get near enough.

Ruby was bending over the unconscious woman, feeling her pulse with one hand and trying to stop the bleeding from face wounds where she’d hit the windscreen with the other. Aware of the lack of space he was encountering, she straightened up and said, ‘I’ll get the baby, Hugo.’

If the car went up in flames while she was inside it with the child and he couldn’t get them out in time he would want to die too, he thought raggedly, but he nodded grimly and watched as easing herself inside she began to fiddle with the straps that had been out of his reach. Once they’d come loose she reached for the frightened child and eased herself backwards until she was near enough to pass it into his waiting arms, and then they both ran round to the other side to check on the mother.

At that moment they heard the welcome sound of sirens and as she stood looking down at the crying baby in her arms while Hugo prepared to explain the situation to the emergency services, it seemed as if on the surface it was unharmed.

But the staff in A and E would be the best judge of that, and as an ambulance and fire engine arrived simultaneously, a paramedic took the little one gently from her, and while the fire service personnel began the task of getting the mother out of the car with as little further injury as possible, Ruby and Hugo stood by and watched gravely.

The police came next to control the traffic that had been building up since the accident, and in response to their questions Hugo told them, ‘We are both doctors from the Swallowbrook Medical Practice and were travelling in separate cars when the baby’s mother tried to overtake Dr Hollister and lost control. That is basically all we can tell you, but if you need to speak to us further you can reach us at the practice or on our home phones.’

After watching mother and baby being taken into the ambulance and a breakdown vehicle arrive to remove the damaged car, Hugo said sombrely, ‘That was a nightmare, Ruby, that I wouldn’t want to experience again. The car could have gone up in flames any moment, yet you were so calm. You continue to amaze me as I get to know you better, and that is what I want, to get to know you better, so please don’t keep backing off from me.’

She swallowed hard, praise indeed from the man of her dreams, but he was the man of her nightmares too, the nightmares that she’d had to live with for the last twelve years, and if she gave in to the attraction he had for her and she for him, she would be involving him in them and it just wouldn’t be fair to put that burden onto a man who wanted a house full of children like Toby.

When Robbie had been diagnosed a haemophiliac and her mother had been discovered to be the carrier of the defective gene it had changed everything for Ruby too. She was tested and found she too was a carrier and could inflict upon a son of her own the miseries of what Robbie had to endure, or pass on the carrier gene to a daughter along with the dreadful feeling of inadequacy that was always there when she thought about the future.

It hadn’t hit her so much at first. In her early teens she’d brushed it to one side, but as she’d grown older the magnitude of the problem had hit her like a sledgehammer. She’d gone for genetic counselling and finally made the heartbreaking decision that she wasn’t going to have any children.

She’d been doing well so far with casual dates that meant little to her, but had always known that the day would come when she would meet ‘the one’! The man she would love for ever. She’d often wondered how would she cope with that and now the time of testing might be here, unless she could keep Hugo on the fringe of her life.

‘Thanks for those kind words, Hugo, and obviously we
are
going to get to know each other better to a degree, both of us working at the practice and you being my landlord, and I will be quite happy with
those
arrangements as they stand.’

He sighed. Ruby couldn’t make it much plainer how she felt about their relationship, and not so long ago he would have been happy to hear her comments, but not so much now.

The degree of his disappointment when she hadn’t been at Gordon’s party the night before had shaken him with the force of it and brought into focus how much it was beginning to mean to him having her near.

When they’d met unexpectedly at the lakeside café early that morning he’d been only too happy to offer to take her to pick up her car. It would give him the opportunity to spend some prime time with her, he’d thought, help to lessen the disappointment of her non-arrival at the party, and that was how it had been, until in the aftermath of the accident she’d made light of his praise and the suggestion that they see more of each other.

‘I’m not sure if by what you’ve just said you are letting me off lightly, or are deliberately misunderstanding me,’ he commented flatly, ‘so shall we get back into our cars and point ourselves homeward once more?’

‘Yes’ she agreed meekly, and thought they wouldn’t be stopping to eat somewhere after
that
and she was starving, but she was wrong. He pulled up outside a restaurant beside one of the smaller lakes in the area and when she drew level said, ‘I suggest that we stop off here.’

She nodded, willing to agree to anything after that childish attempt to warn him off, and as they were shown to a table said in a low voice, ‘I think it’s time that you were my guest, Hugo.’

‘Not at all,’ he said dryly. ‘It was my idea that we stop here.’

They ate the food put before them in silence and were soon on the last lap of the journey with Swallowbrook not far away, to Ruby’s relief.

She was desperate to be back in the apartment with just her own thoughts to answer to, and as soon as they both pulled up on the drive of Lakes Rise she was out of her car and after thanking him for taking her to Manchester and for the meal they’d stopped off for, she was gone.

The simplest thing would be to find a job near home instead of continuing to live her dream in Swallowbrook, she thought once she was inside the apartment and huddled in a chair by the window. That way she would be immune from the longing that Hugo aroused in her and hopefully in time she might forget him.

When she looked up he was striding purposefully across the short distance that separated the apartment from the house and a moment later was ringing the bell. She opened the door to him reluctantly and as if he had read her mind Hugo said, ‘Just a quick word. I’ve been on to the hospital about the mother and baby and they told me that the reason for her losing control of the car was because she’d had a heart attack, which it was impossible for us to diagnose from the position she was in.’

‘And what’s the situation now?’ she asked anxiously.

‘She’s in Coronary Care and has fractures of the cheekbones from being slammed against the windscreen, but she’ll survive.’

‘And the baby?’

‘Being kept in for observation, but so far no problems. The husband is with them both and in a state of shock as neither he nor his wife were aware that she had a heart defect.’

He was turning to go and said over his shoulder, ‘I’m not expecting
you
to need
me
for anything, but if you do I’ll be in The Mallard as the night is still young.’ And off he went, the tall raven-haired man with clear blue eyes who had unknowingly turned her life upside down.

With a yearning to hear the voice of someone who understood she rang home and when her father’s voice came over the line it was as welcome as her mother’s always was, sometimes even more so because Ruby knew that always behind her mother’s apparent calm and cheerfulness there was a deep sorrow that came from what nature had done to her.

‘And so how’s my girl?’ he asked.

‘Not bad,’ she said. ‘I just needed to hear a voice I knew. How is Robbie, is he all right? And Mum, how is she?’

‘They’re both fine,’ he told her, knowing how much she needed to hear that. Only he knew about the black pit of depression that her mother had to climb out of sometimes. ‘Robbie is at the local youth club and your mother has gone to the cinema with a friend, so no cause for worry there, Ruby. She’s looking forward to seeing you on Mother’s Day. Have you got the car back yet, or do I need to come and fetch you?’

‘Theodora is back where she belongs I’m pleased to say, so no problem regarding transport. I’ll drive down on Saturday morning and come back late Sunday night.’

When they’d finished chatting Ruby went back to the window again and gazed out into the night. Her father would have gone back to his favourite chair in front of the television. Her mother was at the cinema, Robbie at the youth club, and with a pull at her heartstrings she knew Hugo was relaxing in The Mallard. He was everything she’d ever wanted, caring and kind, generous in his praise when they’d been involved with the mother and baby in the car crash. He’d even told her that he wanted to get to know her better, which would have been like music to her ears under other circumstances, but little did he know that was the one thing she couldn’t promise.

Yet he’d obviously rallied from what she’d said about that because he’d gone to join residents and tourists in the popular Mallard for the rest of the evening, which left her out on a limb. With sudden determination she showered and changed out of what had been meant to be her walking clothes and went to see if the launches were still ploughing across the lake.

They were, with just an hour to go before anchoring for the night, and on impulse she boarded one that was ready to leave at any second.

As the boat cut through the water the island came into view with Libby and Nathan’s house on it, and she envied them the tranquillity of the place. It was a small but very beautiful oasis amongst the grandeur of the lake and she stood looking back at it until it had disappeared from sight and the boat was stopping beside the marina at the far end where the owners of various crafts kept them moored when not in use.

As she made the return journey, which would be the last one of the day for the lake authorities, it was in the spring dusk, and calm and common sense were descending upon her. She was reading too much into a casual comment, she decided. Hugo wanting to get to know her better didn’t have to mean that he wanted anything more than friendship, and if she could put his kisses to the back of her mind everything would be all right.

She’d been kissed before a few times by men and had never taken it seriously, so why not do the same now? As she put her key in the lock of the apartment it all seemed so simple to keep her problems out of the light and live each day as it came in the Lakeland paradise that she’d returned to.

The lights were on next door, she noticed. Hugo was back early from The Mallard. Maybe like herself he needed to recharge his batteries ready for Monday morning at the surgery and she went up to bed with the tranquillity still upon her.

It lasted until Wednesday morning, with Monday and Tuesday being average sort of days and the two Lakes Rise occupants pleasantly polite to each other and returning home to spend the evenings separately in their own spaces.

The interview for the now vacant position of practice manager that had been arranged for Gordon’s niece had been scheduled for Wednesday morning at eleven o’clock and as it would be the first change of staffing since she had joined the practice Ruby was keen to get a glimpse of her.