Christmas At Willowmere. Abigail Gordon

a shock, seeing him here in Willowmere,’ she said, thinking how that was putting it mildly!

      At the time she’d broken up with Glenn the only things that had been registering with James had been his wife’s death, the needs of his children and his sister’s recovery from her injuries. What had been going on in her private life had been a blur, and in any case he’d never met Anna’s boyfriend.

      ‘So where has he been all this time?’

      ‘He’s a doctor and has been working with one of the aid organisations in Africa. ‘It’s what I’ve always wanted to do but the accident put paid to that.’

      ‘I’ve never heard you say that before!’ he exclaimed.

      ‘Why would I mention it?’ she said gently. ‘It belongs to the past. Though it is something I might do in years to come.’ And the thought was there that it wouldn’t be the same without Glenn beside her.

      ‘And he wants to see you again for old times’ sake, is that it?’

      She shrugged. ‘So it appears. Glenn has booked into The Pheasant for a few days and because I didn’t have time when we met to talk to him properly, I’ve agreed to meet him there tonight for a drink. You haven’t got anything planned, have you?’

      ‘No,’ he said immediately, ‘and if I had I would cancel it. Why don’t you ask him round for a meal? I’d like to meet him. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine, though I don’t recall you ever mentioning him much in the past.’

      ‘There was nothing to tell. He went working abroad and we kept in touch for a while and that was it. The Glenn I knew in those days was clever and caring in his approach to medicine. That was why he was so eager to help the world’s suffering.’

      ‘You weren’t in love with him then?’

      Her reply was evasive. ‘We were close at one time but it didn’t work out.’ She glanced around her. ‘And I’m here to work, aren’t I? Though surprisingly there doesn’t seem to be anyone needing to see a nurse at this moment.’

      ‘There soon will be,’ James promised, and putting to one side for the moment the discussion they’d just had he went to call in his next patient.

      But as the morning progressed and those who had come to consult him came and went, it kept coming back, and he thought, as he’d done a thousand times, that he owed his children’s wellbeing and his sanity to his sister.

      It had been she who had been there for him during days and months of despair after he’d lost Julie, and at the same time she’d helped look after the babies that had been left without a mother, while making a slow recovery from her own injuries.

      It concerned him constantly that she’d had to put her plans on hold for their father’s sake and his, yet every time he brought up the subject Anna always told him gently that she was fine and he would be the first to know when she wasn’t.

      He’d been able to tell from what she’d said that the Hamilton fellow had been a close friend. He remembered Anna saying that someone from university had called some weeks after the accident, but he’d been at the practice at the time and with so much on his mind it had barely registered.

      During Anna’s last year at university and when she’d come home at the end of it, he’d been so concerned over Julie’s difficult pregnancy and his father’s failing health that what had been going on in his sister’s life had passed him by.

      For instance, he hadn’t known until today that she’d wanted to work abroad when she’d qualified and had given up that idea because she’d been needed back home. They’d always been a close and loving family but Anna’s devotion had gone way beyond the call of duty.

      He supposed he should have married again, giving her back the freedom she’d so willingly forfeited. But the thought of replacing Julie was more than he could bear, and if he ever did meet someone who came near to her in his affections, would she want a widower with two young children for a husband? Anna adored Polly and Jolly just as much as he did, but his was the responsibility.

      There had been blood tests to do during the morning, along with injections, dressings to change and other duties that went with the job for Anna and Beth Jackson, the other practice nurse, and as always the time flew past. There was no opportunity to think about the evening ahead but when three o’clock came and it was time to pick up the children, seeing Glenn again was the thought uppermost in her mind…

      He is here in Willowmere, she thought incredulously as she waited for them to come out of school. I can see The Pheasant from my bedroom window just five minutes’ walk away and I may as well enjoy the thought while it lasts, as nothing will have changed by the time he is ready to leave. I just can’t blight his life. He deserves better than I can give him.

      When they arrived home Pollyanna and Jolyon played in the garden in the snow until the light faded and then she brought them in for a change of clothes and a warm drink, and all the time she was wishing that the hands of the clock would move faster.

      She dressed with care for the evening ahead in the colours that suited her best. Dark green trousers and a short cream jacket with a long scarf to match showed off the red-gold of her hair and the beautiful hazel eyes that once had been clear and cloudless.

      She’d changed a lot over recent years but tonight she wanted Glenn to see that she was still the same woman as before. There was no need for him to ever know what she’d given up for him, or feel sorry for the life she was leading now.

      It had been an act of love and if she sometimes felt she should have given him a choice, she put the thought firmly from her mind. He was the idealist and might have said it didn’t matter, which would have left her in a limbo state of always wondering if he regretted his decision. No, she had done the right thing.

      Anyway, he was here now, and maybe he didn’t hate her as much as she’d thought he would. He’d seemed friendly enough towards her, and she’d even sensed compassion in him when she’d told him about her father, but whatever his life was like now, she knew there would still be bitterness in him for the way she’d treated him, and she couldn’t blame him.

      But, she decided firmly, he had come to Willowmere of his own accord, so why not make the most of it for the short time he was there? Picking up her bag and keys she went out into the snowy night.

      CHAPTER TWO

      THE accident had happened just as Anna had been ready to let Glenn know she was flying out to join him. The babies were a month old and it had seemed as if she might be no longer needed at Bracken House with Julie back to her normal self, the problem of the high blood pressure having disappeared once she’d given birth. And with James around to keep an eye on their father, the time had seemed right.

      Glenn had still been out of contact but was due back soon on the day that she’d driven Julie and the children to the hospital to have their feet checked by a paediatric consultant while James had held the fort at the surgery.

      Both babies had been born with feet slightly inward turning, due to being in a cramped position in the womb, and had immediately been put into tiny boots that would correct the problem. And on an icy winter morning she and Julie had taken them for a progress check.

      The report had been good. They’d told the anxious mother that it was a common enough thing and as it was being treated promptly it should soon right itself. They’d set off for home in good spirits and all had been fine until a car coming fast out of a minor road had skidded into them on the icy surface and hit the side where Julie had been sitting.

      By some miracle, the babies hadn’t been hurt, but their mother had taken the full impact of a car much heavier car than theirs and by the time the emergency services had arrived she had died from severe head and spinal injuries.

      Anna had been found injured in the driver’s seat, not too seriously at first glance, but in great pain in the pelvic area.

      As a paramedic had bent over her she’d heard the babies crying and