Christmas Magic In Heatherdale. Abigail Gordon

with anyone at the moment was the last thing she wanted to do. Especially with the man who lived next door.

      All she craved for was solitude, somewhere to hide while her hurts healed, but the die was cast. She wasn’t going to get the chance to be just a stranger who nodded briefly during her comings and goings job-seeking and then went in and closed the door.

      But, as if to balance the scales, there were those two lovely children and it would be a pleasure to babysit them if ever Ryan felt he could trust her.

      She’d also contacted the electricity people. She was informed that they were on their way with a new meter and were going to check all the primitive services and appliances in the house while they were there.

      They arrived within minutes and as light began to appear in her darkness, in more ways than one, Melissa rolled up her sleeves and looked around her for what had to be her first task of the day. The guy who had just fixed the electricity meter decided it for her by pointing to an ancient but solid-looking gas fire and asking if she’d contacted the gas services yet as both the fire and an ancient cooker were gas powered.

      She needed no second telling as having the fire working meant warmth and the cooker hot food, when she’d cleaned the grime off it and had the chance to shop.

      The most pressing mission for Ryan, on his arrival at the hospital, was to start the search in earnest for the new registrar for their department.

      The procedure with staff vacancies at the hospital was to advertise them internally first, but so far there had been no joy for the two consultants and the vacancy would soon be advertised locally

      Today he had two clinics arranged for consultations, plus a slot in Theatre in the late afternoon. With all of that ahead of him he hadn’t had time to check on how his new neighbour was coping at her house.

      There’d been an electricity van outside and a plumber’s vehicle pulling up alongside it as he’d driven past. He decided he owed her one more visit to check she was managing okay then he would step back and let her get on with her life while he got on with his.

      The surgery he was committed to in the afternoon was minor compared to some of the operations he performed on unfortunate little ones and hopefully he would be home in time to have a quick word with Melissa before his special time with his children began.

      As Ryan was preparing to put in an appearance at his first clinic of the day his assistant, Julian, appeared and commented breezily, ‘Still no sign of a saviour in terms of over-booking, I see. Personnel need to pull their finger out and get us another doctor. I’ve got a list as long as my arm for today and I’m not used to it.’

      Julian Tindall, with his dark attractiveness, was every woman’s dream man, until they got to know him better!

      Inclined to be lazy, but on the ball in an emergency, Julian was a paediatric consultant like himself and could go places if he stopped fooling around with every attractive woman he met and got his act together.

      Ryan held the paediatric unit together with the kind of steadfastness that he applied to every aspect of his daily life, and if the nights spent without Beth by his side were long and lonely, only he knew that.

CHAPTER TWO

      MELISSA’S SECOND DAY in Heatherdale was progressing and she was beginning to feel calmer. The neglected house was starting to come out of its murky cocoon, though not enough for her to rejoice totally. There was going to be mammoth amount of decorating and refurbishing to be done.

      But the electricity was on, the plumber she’d asked to come had switched on the water and checked for leaks, and, joy of joys, the cleaners were hard at work, getting rid of the grime and mustiness of years.

      Her clothes and the few belongings she had salvaged from the sale of the Cheshire house had arrived in the late afternoon. They included a couple of carpets, an expensive wardrobe and dressing table, a dining table and two easy chairs, but there was no kitchen equipment, which meant that for the time being she was going to have to manage with a solid-looking but unattractive gas cooker that was so old it would qualify as an antique.

      Yet it had lit at the first attempt and as soon as the cleaners had finished for the day with a promise to come back in the morning, she began to clean it, and was on her knees in front of it when a knock came on the door. She raised herself slowly upright.

      With hair held back with a shoelace and dressed in an old pair of jeans and a much-washed jumper that the Cheshire set would never associate her with, she went slowly to answer the knock. He was there again, the Viking from next door, observing her with a reluctant sort of neighbourliness.

      ‘I’ve called to see how you’ve fared today,’ he said. ‘I see that you’ve got lighting, but have you got heat and water?’

      ‘Yes,’ she replied, stepping back reluctantly for him to enter.

      ‘I have light, and heat in the form of an old gas fire. A plumber has been to turn on the water. The cleaners have removed most of the dust and grime and are coming back in the morning to finish the job.’

      ‘And I see that your belongings have arrived,’ he said easily, as if she now had a house full of furniture instead of a few oddments. Unable to resist, he went on to ask, ‘Do you have family who will be coming to join you?’

      ‘No. Nothing like that,’ she said in a low voice, without meeting his glance. She wished that he would go and leave her in peace. She’d seen the inside of his house and it was delightful, with décor and furniture that was just right for the age and design of the property, all obviously chosen with great care.

      No doubt he was thinking that hers was going to lower the tone of the neighbourhood and for the first time since she’d arrived in Heatherdale the grim pride and determination that had helped her to stagger through recent months surfaced.

      As if he sensed that she wanted him gone, Ryan moved towards the door but paused with his hand on the handle and said, ‘I’m sure that you will like it here once you have made the house look how you want it to be.’ He would have to be blind not to realise that she wasn’t happy about coming to live in Heatherdale.

      He almost asked if she would like to eat with them again but sensed the same reluctance as the night before. He bade her goodbye and, determined to put Melissa Redmond to the back of his mind, he went to join his daughters and the faithful Mollie, without whom he would be harassed full time.

      ‘I saw you call at the house next door,’ she said when he appeared. ‘Is she all right? It has been all systems go in there today.’

      ‘Yes, it would seem so,’ he told her. ‘I felt she was relieved that I didn’t linger. I get a distinct feeling that Melissa Redmond wants to be left alone.’

      ‘Give her time,’ she said. ‘The lass looked totally traumatised when we saw her last night. Something isn’t right in her life. It stands out a mile, or she wouldn’t have come here to live in a house that hasn’t been touched for years. Don’t forget the couple of times that you’ve seen her she won’t have been at her best.’

      ‘Yes, I suppose you’re right,’ he said absently, as Rhianna and Martha came running down the stairs at that moment, and as he hugged them to him the stranger next door was forgotten in the pleasure of the moment.

      When Ryan had gone, Melissa sank down onto the bottom step of the stairs. The cooker and its requirements temporarily forgotten, she gazed into space.

      She wondered what Ryan did for a living. When she’d joined them for breakfast it had been plain to see that he was a loving father in the absence of a mother who wasn’t around any more, yet he would have to earn a living somehow or other.

      There was an air of authority about him that was noticeable and, much as she was not eager to be involved in the lives of those around her, she couldn’t help wondering about him.

      Still,