A Baby For The Village Doctor. Abigail Gordon

seen your name mentioned a few times regarding paediatric surgery. You’re a high-flyer these days, aren’t you?’

      ‘Some people might think so,’ he replied dryly, and thought that though he might be good at his job, when it came to coping with grief he’d fallen flat on his face. ‘It was just a thought. But if you don’t want me around during your working day, just say so. What sort of a position are we talking about?’

      ‘We need another doctor.’

      ‘I see. Interesting. But don’t be alarmed, Georgina. I’m not going to crowd you.’

      ‘Not much!’

      ‘You mean my moving in next door?’

      ‘Well, yes.’

      ‘I’ve rented the place so I will be close at hand if you need me when the baby comes.’

      ‘Right.’

      ‘What? Don’t you believe me?’

      ‘Yes, of course I do,’ she said. ‘I’m sure on some wakeful night on our child’s part I will be grateful to have you near, but don’t take me too much for granted, Ben.’

      He didn’t reply. Instead he said, ‘Shall we take our coffee into the deluxe sitting room of my new accommodation?’

      They spent the rest of the time together talking about the village and when he mentioned the practice again, and the part she played in it, she answered his questions warily.

      ‘This James Bartlett sounds a decent guy,’ he remarked. ‘I’d like to meet him. Is he married?’

      ‘James lost his wife in a motor accident five years ago, just a few weeks after she’d given birth to twins. Pollyanna and Jolyon are in their first year at the village school.’

      ‘And he’s never remarried?’

      ‘No. James and the children live next door to the surgery with an excellent nanny and housekeeper to help out. His sister, Anna, was a nurse in the practice until she married a locum who was with us, and now they’ve left and gone to work in Africa, leaving James with two replacements to find.

      ‘He’s found someone to fill the gap of practice nurse but is hanging fire with the doctor vacancy, saying that he might wait until Glenn Hamilton, his sister’s new husband, comes back from Africa to offer him a permanent placing, and in the meantime employ someone on a temporary basis as he did with him originally.’

      ‘It puts more strain on you both, doesn’t it, leaving the gap unfilled?’ She was getting up to go, feeling they’d talked about the practice enough, and he said, ‘You’ve missed your walk tonight, haven’t you? I’m surprised that it takes you by the river. I would have thought it the last place to appeal to you.’

      She turned away, thinking that she might have known that Ben would still be out to give her memory a nudge given the chance, and was tempted to tell him that she needed no reminders of what had happened to Jamie and never would.

      ‘A river only becomes a dangerous place because of the elements above and the actions of those of us at its level,’ she said in a voice so low he could only just hear it.

      If he’d wanted to reply, he didn’t get the chance as she was opening the door and telling him, ‘Thanks for the meal, Ben.’ Then she was gone, out into the spring dusk and back to the place where she’d felt content until now.

      Ben watched her go from the window and felt like kicking himself for his apparent insensitivity. He hadn’t meant it to be a hurtful comment. It had been said more out of consideration for her feelings, but in the past that hadn’t always been the case and he couldn’t blame Georgina for freezing up on him.

      He’d been congratulating himself that he’d been making progress in getting to know his wife all over again but he’d blown it. Resisting the urge to go after her he turned away from the window, deciding that he’d already been guilty of one moment of bad timing—no point in risking another.