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She waved to a seat and positioned herself safely behind her desk. ‘What can I do for you?’
He sighed thoughtfully. ‘Oh, Emily, there’s a question and a half.’
‘David …’ Her voice contained a warning, and he grinned, melting her insides.
She almost groaned aloud. Sue was right—he was a sexy beast.
‘This afternoon,’ he said, the grin replaced by a businesslike expression that wasn’t nearly so heart-melting—thank God, she thought. He went on, ‘Mr and Mrs Blake are coming to see you. They’re my patients, and I don’t know what they want—perhaps it’s family planning or something. Anyway, they specifically requested an appointment with the new lady doctor when she arrived, and the appointment’s been booked for over a week.’
‘I’ll tell you what it’s about,’ she promised.
He nodded. ‘OK. I’ll be around if you want to refer to me—perhaps sneak out to get a form from reception or some such excuse.’
She eyed him curiously. ‘Do you really think that’ll be necessary?’
He shrugged. ‘Probably not. I just get a feeling about them. I don’t think they’re all that happy together, and a joint appointment with a stranger—’ He shrugged again. ‘Could be nothing, of course, but I just thought I’d prime you. Right.’
He unfolded his legs and stretched his hands over his head, yawning widely. ‘Oh, God, I hate weekends on duty. I’m going home to walk the dogs—I’ll be back before two for my clinic. What are you doing about lunch?’
She opened her drawer and pulled out some sandwiches.
‘You don’t want to come with me and grab a snack at home and a quick stroll over the hill?’
It sounded lovely, just the way they had spent their honeymoon, but she forced herself to shake her head. This was hardly the way to start, and working with him would be hard enough without encouraging little intimate walks over the hills.
‘I think not,’ she said as firmly as she could manage, and with a rueful grin he left her alone, wondering if she’d lost her marbles completely or if it just seemed that way.
She should have known to trust his instincts, she thought as she studied the couple opposite her.
They were in their thirties, a very average professional couple, but the way the consultation was going was far from average.
‘Of course,’ Mr Blake was saying, ‘we’d probably stand more chance of having another child if the first one wasn’t always in our bed.’
Mrs Blake’s eyes slid away, and Emily’s own instincts prickled. Her attention switched to the woman.
‘How old is your child?’
‘Four—and she has terrible nightmares. If we don’t have her in bed with us, she wakes screaming and it takes ages to settle her down again.’
‘Not that long,’ her husband argued.
‘No, well, it isn’t you that ends up doing it,’ she returned bitterly. ‘You just lie there on your back snoring your head off and complain that I’ve woken you with the creaky boards—though if you’d ever put them down again properly after you fixed that pipe they wouldn’t creak—’
‘I think we’re rather getting off the point,’ Emily interjected gently but firmly. ‘I have a son of six, and when his father died recently he was very upset. He started getting into bed with me at night, and I could see this becoming a pattern, so what I did was when he woke I got into his bed for a little while and gave him a cuddle, then slipped out again when he’d gone off. If he came to me, I’d carry him back once he’d settled.’
She regarded the couple in front of her. ‘It worked for us—it might work for you. I certainly don’t think you can leave a child upset in the middle of the night, but to allow her presence to affect your relationship to this extent I think is probably not healthy either for the child or for you—’
‘Not healthy?’ Mr Blake bristled. ‘Are you accusing us of abusing her or something?’
‘No, of course not,’ Emily soothed. ‘I’m simply suggesting that a better sleep-pattern, undisturbed by a frightened child, or more opportunities to concentrate on the physical aspect of your relationship might be emotionally and physically healthier for all of you.’
‘Well, it wasn’t my idea to have her in bed with us in the first place, and she’s much worse now than she used to be.’
‘And I suppose that’s my fault!’ Mrs Blake said defensively—too defensively.
Clearly, Emily thought, she wasn’t going to get anywhere until she split these two up—and perhaps a word with the intuitive Dr Trevellyan might be in order.
‘I don’t seem to have all your notes here,’ she said blandly to them. ‘If you’ll excuse me a moment, I’ll just go and see what I can find in the office.’
She nipped out of the door and down the corridor. Sue was on the reception desk, and Emily asked if she knew where David was.
‘In his office—he’s alone, so if you want to go in you can. I think he’s half expecting you.’
She knocked on the door and went in. ‘You were right,’ she said directly.
‘The Blakes? What’s the problem?’
‘He’s complaining that they can’t have another child because the first is still coming into their bed at night and so they don’t have the opportunity. Reading between the lines, I would say Mrs Blake isn’t keen anyway. Apparently they’ve been trying for over a year.’
David’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Have they, indeed? So why did she come and see me six months ago for another diaphragm?’
Emily’s jaw dropped, and then she nodded. ‘Oh, that figures. The child’s a smokescreen—she’s using her so she doesn’t have to sleep with her husband—or, at least, can only sleep.’
‘Hmm.’
‘Hmm?’
‘I heard a rumour—it might be nothing, but she could be having an affair.’
Emily’s mouth formed a round O. ‘Tricky.’
‘Very. I’ll give you the details later. Split them up, send him in to me for a physical, and get her to spill the beans.’
‘OK. Now?’
‘Yeah, send him straight in. I’ll return him to the waiting-room.’
She went back and sent Mr Blake to David, then confronted Mrs Blake.
‘OK. On your notes it says you have a diaphragm. I’ve spoken to Dr Trevellyan; he confirmed it.’
Panic flared in the woman’s eyes. ‘He won’t tell Neil, will he? I mean, it is confidential?’
‘Of course he won’t tell him. And clearly you haven’t, or else you wouldn’t be here today talking about infertility.’
She let the silence stretch, then Mrs Blake gave a shaky sigh and reluctantly met Emily’s eyes. ‘I don’t want another baby,’ she said slowly. ‘At least, not Neil’s.’
‘Things don’t seem all sweetness and light between you,’ Emily acknowledged.
The woman gave a short, bitter laugh. ‘You could say that. It was OK for a while, we struggled along making the best of it, but then—there’s someone else, someone I love—’ She pressed her fingers to her mouth, clearly upset, and Emily settled back in the chair.
‘Take your time,’ she said reassuringly.
‘He’s wonderful—warm, tender, understanding.’ She paused. ‘He’s also married.’
‘Ah.’
‘His wife’s disabled. He loves her, but like a sister, you know? Not that there could be anything else between them. She’s got multiple sclerosis, and she’s—well, she’s bad.’
‘Oh, dear.’ Emily’s soft heart went out to the unknown woman whose husband apparently loved her, but not enough to stay at home.
‘She’s permanently bedridden now—she’s incontinent and her limbs are very spastic. She finds swallowing difficult, and she’s very depressed.’ Ann Blake looked at Emily. ‘I’d hate her to find out about us, but Richard’s coping all alone and someone has to help him through it. He gives her so much, not just his time but friendship, support—he gets really depressed. That was how it started, really—he was sitting in the park, and I was out with Jane and the dog. He looked so bleak, so alone. We started to talk, and …’
Ann paused, her face softening. ‘He laughed, for the first time in months, he said. I saw him again by accident, and then we began arranging to meet, always quite innocently. We never meant this to happen.’
‘But it did.’
‘Yes. And all I want is to be with him, but I can’t.’
‘And meanwhile you’re living with a man you no longer love, who wants to have another child.’
She nodded, and her eyes filled. ‘What can I do? Richard can’t leave Jenny, and I can’t afford to leave Neil and live on my own with Jane. Anyway, he’d probably want custody and she loves him.’
‘Is it fair to her to use her as a smokescreen?’
There was silence for a long while, then Mrs Blake shook her head. ‘No—no, of course not. I didn’t even realise I was doing it until just now. It was only when you suggested that if we put her back in her own bed it would give our physical relationship a chance that I realised how badly I didn’t want that to happen.’
Emily eyed her thoughtfully. ‘Mrs Blake, when did you and your husband last make love?’
She snorted. ‘We don’t make love, Dr Thompson. We had sex back in—June? July? And that was the first time since Easter.’
‘And it’s now September. How long can you fool him?’
She shrugged helplessly. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Nor do I,’ Emily told her, ‘but one thing I do know—it isn’t fair to Jane to use her like this. She must start sleeping in her own bed again, and I don’t mean with you. How you persuade your husband that you aren’t going to have intercourse is your problem, but if you want any help or counselling advice you can always go to Relate, the marriage guidance people. They’re very good. Perhaps you ought to try it.’
‘And what can they do?’ Ann asked heavily. ‘Make me fall back in love with Neil again? I doubt it.’
So did Emily, but there was nothing more she could do. There was clearly no fertility problem that exposure to the appropriate opportunity wouldn’t solve, and there was obviously no need for any further medical involvement. How Mrs Blake dealt with it from here was her own problem, and it was one Emily didn’t envy her one bit.
As she was leaving, she turned back to Emily. ‘Dr Thompson, this is confidential, isn’t it? I mean, whatever we’ve told each other in here won’t get back to Neil?’
‘No, of course not. Not without your permission.’
‘So he won’t ever know what went on in here today?’
As Emily confirmed that, it occurred to her that it was a strange way to phrase the question. After her surgery was over she went and sought David out.
‘Tricky one,’ he said. ‘I expect she intends to lie through her teeth to him.’
‘Oh, dear. Do you think he’ll come back for some answers?’
David shrugged. ‘Depends how convincing she is. Some women aren’t very convincing liars.’
He was looking at her oddly, as if he was referring to her, and she felt her heart thud uncomfortably. Not that she had lied—except by omission, to allow him to think that Jamie was hers.
Still, his eyes searched hers as he stood up and came slowly round the end of the desk.
‘I ought to tell you all about the man she’s having the affair with. Why don’t we do it over a drink on the way home?’
She had to physically stop herself from backing up against the wall to get away from him.
‘No! I mean—I’m tired, and it was Jamie’s first day at school. I ought to get back and see him and ask Mrs Bradley how he was when she picked him up.’
‘Mrs Bradley?’
‘Our housekeeper.’
David’s brows quirked slightly. ‘Housekeeper, eh? I thought you’d have an au pair.’
Emily shook her head. ‘No—it was a provision of Philip’s will that she have a home with us for life, and a living allowance. He left us all very well provided for, and Mrs Bradley’s just another example of his thoughtfulness. She’s been with his family for years, and Jamie knows her. It seemed very sensible, and to be honest I’m very grateful to her for all she does. I couldn’t do my job properly without her.’
‘No, I can see that,’ he said. He paused, those soft grey eyes searching her face until the need to run was paramount. And yet he wasn’t threatening—rather the reverse. His hand came up and brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face, and she quivered at his touch. ‘Poor Emily,’ he said softly. ‘It must be very hard for you. How does Jamie cope with his mother working when his father’s died so recently?’
She should have corrected him then, but she didn’t—another lost opportunity. Tonight, though, didn’t seem to be the time. Instead she focused on his words. ‘I haven’t worked since Philip became very ill near the end.’
‘Was it cancer?’
She nodded. ‘Yes—stomach cancer. For ages he thought he had an ulcer. By the time they realised it wasn’t, it was too late.’
‘But you didn’t pick it up?’
She shook her head. How could she have done? She wasn’t there; but David didn’t know that. She must find a time to tell him all that had happened, before he thought she was deceiving him. After all they had been through, she owed him honesty, even though Jamie made a useful smokescreen.
To think she had just finished telling Ann Blake that she couldn’t use her daughter to hide behind!
And Jamie, her son or not, needed her now. She might not be his mother, but she was the closest the poor child would ever get, and she fully intended to do her job well. ‘I must get home,’ she said now. ‘Jamie will be fretting.’
‘Of course.’
He seemed suddenly distant, and for a moment Emily felt a shocking sense of loss sweep through her.
Absurd.
Without giving herself time to think, she bade him goodnight and made her way out.
He was the last person she would want to see, David told himself disgustedly, but it didn’t stop him pulling up outside her cottage with a pot plant from the local garage and a bottle of plonk.
