A Family To Come Home To. Josie Metcalfe

in front of the practice.

       ‘You didn’t have to do that,’ he objected, his protective male instincts rebelling against the thought of someone as slight as Kat hefting such a heavy weight. She threw a wry glance in the direction of his bulky leg, pointing out without saying a word that he certainly wasn’t in a fit state to carry anything, and he subsided glumly.

      ‘It hardly seems worthwhile bringing everything in when I won’t be staying long,’ he said, when she returned with the last of his luggage. ‘You’ll be needing the room for whoever takes the job.’

      ‘But the job’s yours!’ she exclaimed, clearly startled. ‘It’s my fault that you’ve been injured, so it’s my responsibility to look after you until you’re on your feet again.’

      That was just what he didn’t want…to be another responsibility for her to carry on those slender shoulders. But the alternative—to leave Ditchling without ever having a chance to get to know this courageous woman—was unthinkable, too.

      ‘I can’t just be a burden on you,’ he objected. ‘The whole reason why you were advertising for an associate was because you’re either rushed off your feet without a minute to call your own, or you’re paying vast sums for other people to cover for you.’

      ‘Mum! Can you come and hear me read?’ called Sam, his voice loud in the sudden silence between them.

      ‘Coming!’ she called back. ‘Have you brushed your teeth?’

      She paused in the doorway, almost as if she was momentarily suspended between her roles of mother and GP. ‘We’ll talk about this when I’ve finished settling the boys down. There must be something…’

      That little pleat was back between those silky eyebrows and he was struck by the sudden urge to smooth it away with a fingertip…or a kiss.

      ‘Enough!’ he growled to himself as soon as she was out of earshot. ‘You don’t need any complications in your life, especially ones that come with children, no matter how tempting their mother is.

      ‘And she doesn’t even realise just how…’ He was lost for words, searching for them inside a head that could only think about how much the light fragrance surrounding him suited her.

      ‘Is this some sort of reaction to the accident? Did they give me something in A and E that’s scrambled my brain?’

      The only solution was, as ever, hard work that left him no time to think.

      ‘Time to unpack,’ he decided, gripping the wheel-rims of the chair and turning it laboriously around.

      It didn’t take him long to discover that making the decision wasn’t the same as carrying it out. Even the smaller of his two suitcases was beyond him when he couldn’t use his lower body to help him lift it onto the bed, and that would be the only level at which he could reach into it.

      He paused for a moment, slumped in the hated chair and muttering swearwords under his breath when he had the prickling sensation that someone was watching him.

      A quick glance over his shoulder told him the worst and a wave of guilt swept over him that he’d been caught setting such a bad example.

      ‘Sorry about the bad language,’ he said flatly. There was a brief flash of surprise on the youngster’s face, as though he hadn’t expected an apology from him, but he could tell that their brief truce surrounding his injury was over.

      Josh’s hackles were up again.

      ‘This was my dad’s room…and my mum’s,’ he announced truculently, letting Ben know in no uncertain terms that his presence wasn’t welcome on such hallowed ground. But Josh hadn’t finished. ‘My mum’s a widow but she still loves my dad,’ he added fiercely, and Ben wondered just how badly his usual control had slipped. Had his unexpected response to Kat been so obvious that even an eleven-year-old had noticed? It was time for some judicious damage control.

      ‘Good,’ he said with an approving nod. ‘That’s how it should be in a good marriage.’ Hah! The little voice inside his head commented. What would you know about it? You couldn’t even…

      ‘So, why has Mum put you in here?’ Josh demanded, childish frustration at the incomprehensibility of adult actions spilling over. ‘It’s her room now. And you’re supposed to be upstairs in the flat.’

      ‘And I would be if it weren’t for this.’ Ben knocked his knuckles on the cast draped in voluminous pale green cotton. ‘I can’t manage stairs with it yet, but in a couple of days…’ He shrugged, hoping it looked nonchalant enough to convince Josh’s protective instincts. Once more he reached for the suitcase and this time tried to swing it up onto the bed. Instead, he nearly toppled the wheelchair over and wrenched some of the more tender areas of his back.

      He only just managed to hold in a curse but thought the effort well worthwhile when he caught a glimpse of sympathy replacing the animosity in Josh’s stance.

      ‘I could help you with that,’ he suggested suddenly, and Ben blinked in surprise. Unfortunately he was going to have to refuse.

      ‘I think it would be too heavy for you to lift. I’m afraid I usually pack too many books,’ he added hurriedly when Josh began to look affronted, obviously seeing his refusal as a slight.

      ‘Could we do it together?’ Josh offered, for the first time moving further into the room than his defensive position in the doorway.

      Agreement was Ben’s only option. For Kat’s sake he had to get on with her sons if he could. He was already a major burden on her. A bad atmosphere in the house might be the final straw.

      ‘We could give it a go,’ Ben agreed, as he wheeled the chair back a little to allow him to take up position on the other side of the case. ‘How do you suggest we go about it?’

      It was the work of mere seconds after that to decide on a likely method and to implement it.

      ‘That was completely painless,’ Ben said, as he reached forward to unzip the case and flip the lid back.

      To his surprise, Josh burst into chuckles.

      Ben couldn’t help an answering grin when he saw just how untidy it looked.

      ‘That’s what my suitcase looked like when I tried to pack it,’ Josh confided. ‘I had to get Mum to do it for me because I couldn’t fit everything in.’

      ‘Perhaps it’s a woman thing…being able to pack a case properly?’ Ben suggested, and had to stifle another smile when he saw Josh considering the idea so seriously.

      ‘Probably,’ Josh pronounced several seconds later with a decisive nod. ‘And they like everything else to be tidy, too, so you have to put your laundry in the basket and make your bed and put your toys away.’ He sighed heavily.

      ‘I can remember my mother making me do all that,’ Ben agreed, only too willing to foster the glimmer of a bond. He lifted his wash bag out of the suitcase, deposited it on his lap and started turning the wheelchair to take it to the bathroom.

      ‘I could take that through for you,’ Josh suggested diffidently. ‘I’ll put it beside the basin.’

      Ben caught his eye and when he saw the answering gleam of mirth they added in unison, ‘Tidily!’

      An hour later, Ben collapsed into bed completely exhausted. He would never have believed how much energy it took just to get himself undressed and washed. It had probably been a wise decision not to practise getting about on the crutches tonight. He’d probably have fallen flat on his face and broken something else.

      The trouble was, even though he was physically tired, his brain was still wide awake, contemplating the consequences of his temporary disability.

      Obviously, I won’t be able to drive anywhere for a while, he thought dryly, trying to imagine how far back he would have to push the seat to get the cast into the car. Would he even be able to reach the steering-wheel?