The Taming of Dr. Alex Draycott (5 page)

‘I guess so.’ He pressed his lips together briefly. ‘She’s a very fierce believer in getting things done. Once she sets her mind on doing something, it becomes the be-all and end-all…there’s no stopping her. Of course, that’s great, if you’ve a project that needs to be up and running, but it doesn’t bode well for anyone who would hanker after a cosy home life.’

‘Like you?’ She was frowning a little, wondering what it must have been like for him as a young child to live with parents who were constantly travelling the world. ‘I expect you must have seen more than your fair share of countries.’

‘That’s right. I always went with them in the beginning, but there came a time when I was due to start my secondary education, and I wanted stability. So that’s where my aunt and uncle came in…although my uncle passed away a few years ago. My parents kept in touch by phone and email—we even have a video link set up now.’ He smiled. ‘My mother was anxious about leaving me, but Aunt Jane is a home bird and she more than made up for any sense of loss I might be feeling. My uncle and aunt didn’t have any children of their own, and so I think they were glad of the chance to look after me.’

‘She’s a lovely woman,’ Alex said. ‘I took to her straight away—and the minute she saw that I had children she offered to help out. I still feel anxious about letting her take that on, especially with the school holidays coming up soon…but she seemed like a godsend at the time.’

He nodded. ‘Strange, that,’ he murmured. ‘I’d no idea that you had children.’ He stood up then to go and fetch biscuits from a cupboard on the wall. ‘We have bourbons, sandwich creams, plain, ginger…’ he said, rummaging through the various packets. ‘Or there are fruited tea buns left over from yesterday afternoon.’ He pressed the packaging to test their freshness, and his features lit up. ‘They seem fine. Would you like one?’

She grinned at his boyish pleasure. ‘Thanks, that would be great.’

He set them out on plates, and added a selection of biscuits. ‘I’m starving,’ he told her with a hint of apology. ‘My lunch was interrupted today—an emergency cropped up. It’s always happening—that’s why I keep a stash of goodies on hand in here.’

He came to sit back down, and pushed a plate towards her before biting into a tea bun. ‘You’ll be pleased to know that I made an appointment for my aunt to see a specialist friend of mine—I managed to arrange it for next week, so we should soon know the score about what’s causing the high blood pressure. Like you, I’ve been worried about her.’

‘I’m glad you did that.’ Alex smiled, and he looked at her, almost as though he was seeing her for the first time, his gaze lingering on her features for a while.

Then he seemed to pull himself together and said cautiously, ‘As I said, it was a bit of a shock to find that you had children. It must make things difficult for you, doing a high-powered job like this one and still having to maintain a family life.’

‘It isn’t easy, I grant you.’ Alex took a bite from the remaining bun, and chewed thoughtfully for a moment or two. ‘First there was the move down here to Somerset, that was an ordeal in itself, for me, at least, and it was a bit of a challenge for the children, having to settle into a new house.’

He glanced at the fingers of her left hand, and then frowned. ‘And your husband? I don’t see a ring. Are you and he divorced…separated?’

‘Neither. I’ve never been married.’ She finished off the bun.

He drew in a deep breath and looked faintly puzzled. ‘But the children’s father…’

‘Is in hospital. He’s my brother.’ She took pity on his bewilderment and went on, ‘He and my sister-in-law were involved in a bad motorway accident. They were travelling back from a reception organised by his firm when it happened, so, in one way, perhaps it was fortunate that they were on their own in the car. The children were staying with friends.’

‘I’m so sorry, Alex.’ He reached for her hand, covering it with his palm. ‘That must have been a terrible shock for you.’

‘Yes, it was.’ She tried not to think about the way his gentle touch evoked warm ripples of sensation and sent them coursing along the length of her arm. ‘I suppose, in the end, I’m just thankful that they survived. It was bad, but it could have been worse.’

‘Yes, it could. But at least the children were safe. I suppose that became the immediate priority.’

She nodded. She was finding it hard to concentrate with his long fingers clasping hers. It was a gesture of comfort and support, and it made her feel good inside, as though he was letting her know he was there for her and that she need not be alone in all this. It had been a long while since she’d felt that way.

‘There was no one to look after the children, and Beth was desperate that they shouldn’t go into care, so I stepped in. I love my family and I want to do the best for them.’

‘Of course you do.’ He frowned. ‘So what was the reason for you buying the house?’ he asked in a puzzled tone. ‘Didn’t they have a place of their own?’

‘They did. They’d all moved into rented accommodation some six months ago when Ross took up a new job in the area, but the lease expired and the landlord didn’t want to renew it. So I had to look for a place with enough room for all of us.’

He shook his head. ‘It sounds as though you had a hefty task on your hands. I can’t imagine having to juggle all those problems at once. You must have worked wonders to hold it all together.’

She gave him a faint smile. ‘I don’t know about holding it all together. Sometimes I worry that I’ve taken on too much, especially with the house. But at least the children were already settled at school. That was one less problem to sort out.’ Her brows drew together. ‘All I have to worry about now are the school holidays. I’m going to have to sort out some full-time care for them. I don’t want to ask Jane, because she seems so unwell.’

‘That’s true, but I’m sure you’ll find someone very capable and willing to look after them. Obviously it will be better if it’s someone you know.’ He frowned. ‘And this job must be an extra worry for you. You’ve taken on a big responsibility.’

She sighed. ‘Yes, but I’m sure things could work out well if we just put our heads together and try to sort things out…’ she sucked in a breath ‘…which reminds me, weren’t we going to discuss those budget cuts?’

‘It’s true, we were.’ He straightened up, reluctantly sliding his hand away from her. Then he swallowed the remains of his coffee and glanced down at his pager. ‘But it appears that I’m wanted in Resus.’ He glanced at her. ‘Sorry to have to break things up, but I must go.’

Alex stared at him. ‘I didn’t hear your pager go off.’

‘No,’ he said, ‘you wouldn’t. I set it to silent alarm.’ He showed her the text message that was displayed on the pager’s screen and then gave her an encouraging smile. ‘But not to worry, perhaps we can do this another day? I’ll come up with all the figures you want, I promise. Meanwhile, why don’t you stay here and finish your coffee? It’s been good to see you relax for a while. I’m sure a little longer will do you the world of good.’

He stood up and made for the door, and Alex was filled with frustration as she watched his disappearing back. It seemed that all her efforts to get the job done were fated where he was concerned.

‘I
F ONE
more ball goes flying over the fence into next door’s garden, I shall stop you from playing football out there.’ Alex abandoned her battle with the ancient Aga and went to remonstrate with James in the garden. ‘Auntie Jane has better things to do than to keep throwing them back, and sooner or later you’re going to damage something.’

‘Oops.’ The warning came too late. James pulled a face as his favourite football went sailing over the fence and was followed a second or two later by an ominous thudding sound. ‘I didn’t mean it,’ he said, with a bemused expression. ‘It was an accident.’

Alex sighed. ‘You’d better go round there and apologise,’ she told him. Turning to his sister, she said, ‘Will you go with him, Sarah, please? Find out if there’s been any damage. I have to stay here and keep an eye on the pizza in the oven.’

‘Okay.’ Sarah took James by the hand and led him away.

‘Why do we have to go?’ James complained. ‘I didn’t do it on purpose. I just tapped it and it went over.’

‘Yeah, like always,’ Sarah said. ‘That’s ’cos you keep trying to see how high you can kick it.’

‘No…I was just aiming for the goal. You wanna see how Rooney does it,’ James said, warming to his theme. ‘See how they did it in the match on telly? You have to run and shoot, get it in there quick.’

‘Yeah, but they lost the game,’ Sarah pointed out in a blunt tone. ‘Didn’t do them any good, did it?’

‘Well, they’ll do it next time.’ James scowled at his sister as they went out of the back gate.

Alex could still hear them bickering as they walked along the path to her neighbour’s property. A wave of guilt swamped her. There was no doubt about it, she ought to have gone with them, but there was just so much to do…lunch to prepare, laundry to finish, ironing, and that was before she made a start on tackling the endless round of decorating that was needed to spruce up this old farmhouse property.

And now the Aga was playing up. The pizza, which should have been cooked several minutes ago, was still pale looking, and Alex guessed that meant she would soon be paying out for a new thermostat for the oven.

She left it to bake some more and started to gather together the ingredients for a salad. And what of the football game that had gone wrong out there? Was she going to have to fork out for damage to Jane’s property as well?

The children came back a few minutes later. ‘Auntie Jane made us a cake,’ Sarah said excitedly, bursting into the kitchen.

‘Goodness! A reward for causing her all that trouble? Auntie Jane must be a saint.’

‘It’s all covered with strawberries and cream.’ James was licking his lips in anticipation. ‘I’m hungry,’ he said. ‘Can we have some now?’

‘After you’ve eaten your lunch,’ Alex murmured.

‘Isn’t that just typical of adults?’ a familiar, deep voice commented, and Alex was startled to see Callum follow the children into the kitchen. ‘There are never any goodies to be had till after the main course, are there?’ He peered around the door. ‘Is it all right if I come in?’ His glance slid warmly over her, moving from head to toe and taking in her slender shape, outlined by the snug-fitting jeans and the stretchy cotton top she wore.

‘Of course.’ She studied him in return, flummoxed for a moment, seeing him here, in her kitchen. He looked good, dressed in casual clothes, dark chinos teamed with a loose cotton shirt, a strong contrast to the smart, formal suits he wore for work.

She waved him to a seat by the table. ‘Come and sit down.’ She frowned, and then added hesitantly, ‘I was just about to serve up lunch. You’re welcome to stay and eat with us, if you like.’

He smiled, seeming surprised by the invitation, and she was back-footed all over again by the way the smile softened his angular features. ‘Are you sure? Thanks. That would be great…if you’re positive it’s no trouble?’

‘None at all…though I won’t guarantee the state of the pizza.’ She frowned. ‘It started out with all the promise of a healthy, home-made meal, but it’s a bit of a sorry effort now, given that the Aga’s putting on a go-slow.’ She took the pizza from the oven and set it out on the worktop.

Callum studied it. ‘Looks fine to me. Lovely golden melted cheese…with ham, tomato and salami… Definitely a winner.’ He sniffed the air appreciatively. ‘Smells good, too. This reminds me of being in my aunt’s kitchen when I was young. Lots of lovely baking smells.’

‘Talking of which…’ He held out a large, round plastic container and placed it on the table. ‘Aunt Jane asked me to give you this…it’s her famous Somerset pound cake. Apparently it’s a mix of butter, sugar, flour and a whole basket full of eggs.’ He grinned. ‘I can tell you from experience that it’s a mouth-watering concoction, anyway.’

Alex looked at the cake. ‘It’s wonderful,’ she said. ‘She’s too good to us—we really don’t deserve it after the trouble we’ve been to her. I’ve lost count of the number of times the ball has landed in her vegetable patch—and last time it went over, we heard this awful thud…was anything broken?’

He shook his head. ‘The shed took a strong hit, but it’s a solid, sturdy piece of workmanship. She says not to worry about it.’

‘That’s easier said than done. I’d be getting stressed out if the neighbours kept doing it to me.’

His mouth made an odd quirk. ‘Yes, but you seem to be constantly under pressure, what with work and keeping up with this place. Aunt Jane tells me you’re finding all sorts of problems here—you need to have some of the roof tiles replaced, she says. That must be a hassle you can do without.’

‘And the rest.’ She pulled a face. ‘I didn’t realise this place needed quite so much work, when I took it on.’ She glanced at him as she set out plates on the table. ‘But you must be having problems of your own—didn’t you say you had builders working on your house? It was why you hadn’t been able to get around to seeing your aunt, you said.’

‘That’s right. I was having work done on the garage and in the garden. The work’s all finished now, though. Obviously, it was nothing compared with what you have to do here.’

Alex nodded. ‘I keep asking myself why I bought this place.’ She broke off to tell James and Sarah to go and wash their hands at the sink. ‘Originally, I’d no intention of buying such a rambling place, but it sort of drew me in… It looked like a dream house, with its lovely, honey-coloured Somerset stone and the sloping roofs at all angles, and once I set eyes on it, I was hooked. I’ve never owned a house before…I’ve always lived in small, rented accommodation. Nothing else seemed necessary.’

‘But suddenly you wanted to put down roots?’

She nodded. ‘I think so. I don’t know why. I really don’t know what came over me. Up to now, I’ve been so busy with work that I didn’t need anything more than a place to rest my head. Then I came here…’ She frowned. ‘Perhaps I thought it was time for a change. I had visions of this old farmhouse being lovingly renovated, and the orchard bursting with fruit—a kind of rural paradise, if you like.’ She grinned. ‘Now I’m beginning to wonder if I might have bitten off more than I can chew.’

Callum opened his mouth to answer, but he was interrupted by a horrible clanking and groaning sound coming from the water pipes as the children turned on the kitchen tap. No water came out.

‘Where’s the spanner?’ James asked, his face serious as he began to hunt around in the cupboard underneath the sink.

‘Isn’t it there?’ Alex frowned. ‘I must have moved it. Look on the shelf by the fridge.’

Callum looked from one to the other, clearly puzzled. ‘He’s not going to try to fix it, is he? Surely he’s too young?’

‘Nah…it’s easy,’ James told him, putting on his man-of-the-house expression. He found the spanner and bent down inside the cupboard, concentrating deeply on the task in hand. Then he gave the pipe a couple of hard whacks. ‘Try it now,’ he instructed Sarah.

She did as he told her, and obligingly water spurted from the tap.

Callum watched in wonder. ‘I’m impressed. Who needs a tradesman when you can do it yourself?’

Alex’s mouth curved. ‘It is annoying, though,’ she said. ‘The water pipes creak and groan and make an almighty noise a lot of the time. I’m going to have to do something about it, because one of these days banging on the pipe just won’t do the trick.’

The children finished washing and came to sit at the table. ‘I love pizza,’ James said, trying to cram a whole portion into his mouth at once.

‘That’s great, but slow down,’ Alex warned him. ‘I don’t want to see you choking on your food.’

James grinned amiably, and he and Sarah compared slices before James began to show his sister how to make faces with pieces he arranged carefully on his plate. ‘You just cut it with your knife, like this,’ he explained.

Alex turned her attention to Callum. ‘So how is Jane?’ she asked. ‘I looked in on her this morning, but it seemed as though she’d been overdoing things again. Her cheeks were very flushed, and I guessed her blood pressure was up. Has there been any news from the hospital?’

‘Yes, I talked to the specialist yesterday, and I gave her the news this afternoon. She said it was okay to let you know the result.’

‘And that is?’

‘She has Conn’s syndrome. It’s very rare, and that’s perhaps why it wasn’t picked up before, but the CT scan showed a tumour on her adrenal gland. It’s causing the gland to produce too much aldosterone, and that’s pushing up her blood pressure.’

Alex pressed her lips together briefly. ‘That must have come as a huge shock to her. Is she all right?’

‘I think so. She went to lie down for a while, but she seemed to take it well enough.’

‘And what about you? How do you feel about it? It must be a real worry for you.’

His mouth straightened. ‘I’m not sure. Generally these things turn out to be benign, so I’m trying to stay calm about it. I tried to paint a positive picture for my aunt, too…but she’s a hardy woman, generally. I think she’ll be all right. Things don’t normally knock her back for long.’

Alex pulled in a quick breath. ‘I’ll make sure to give her any help and support she needs,’ she vowed. ‘When will she be having the surgery? Is your friend going to operate?’

He nodded. ‘He said he’d do it next week. One of his patients postponed, because of unexpected travel plans, so he’ll fit my aunt in then.’

‘That’s brilliant news. She’s healthy enough otherwise, isn’t she, so there shouldn’t be any problem?’

‘Let’s hope so.’ He helped himself to salad, and then sent a cautious glance in the children’s direction before asking quietly, ‘How are your family doing? You said they were involved in a nasty accident and they must already have been in hospital for quite a while.’

Her eyes clouded. ‘It’s going to take some time before they’re back on their feet. Ross is still on a ventilator, but Beth is doing a little better. Even so, there were broken bones that need to heal, as well as the internal injuries.’

She shot a look at the children. Thankfully, they were both still engrossed in seeing who could make the best pattern with what was left of the pizza. Sarah had added cherry tomatoes to her effort, along with a curved slice of red pepper for a mouth, and now she pronounced that she had made the best face.

‘She has curly hair, too,’ she said proudly, showing off the adornment of pasta spirals.

James pursed his lips. ‘Faces are easy,’ he said. ‘I’m making a tractor.’

‘Oh, is that what it is?’ Sarah squinted at his effort, tilting her head sideways so as to see it from a different angle. ‘You need some salami rings for the wheels.’

‘Yes, but I ate them,’ James said, frowning. He inspected her plate. ‘Can I have yours?’

‘No, you can’t.’ Sarah moved her plate out of reach when he would have swooped with his fork, and Alex closed her eyes fleetingly.

‘Try eating your food instead of playing with it. And when you’ve finished, you can go outside and play on the swing for a while. Get rid of some of that energy,’ Alex said to both of them.

‘I want to play football,’ James said, his grey eyes challenging her.

‘No more football today,’ she answered. ‘We talked about that.’

‘Well, then, why can’t we go to the seaside instead? You keep saying we’ll go, but we never do.’

‘Yes, but we’ve only been here a few weeks, James, and we’ve been busy. There’s been a lot to do, moving in here and getting everything shipshape.’

‘It isn’t a ship!’ James retorted, his brows shooting upwards. ‘I want to go to the seaside.’ He glowered. ‘Mum would have taken us.’

Alex hid a groan, and Callum’s mouth twitched a fraction. ‘They know how to hit where it hurts, don’t they?’

‘Too right they do.’ She glanced at the children, but by now James was making another attempt to steal salami from Sarah’s plate, and she decided it was time to intervene.

She picked up James’s plate and held it aloft. ‘Have you finished with this?’ she asked. ‘Do you want me to put this out for the birds?’

James scowled, but shook his head.

‘All right, then. Eat up. Any more messing about and I’ll take it away, and then there’ll be no strawberry cake.’

Both children began to eat, and Alex gave a faint sigh. ‘They’re like this all the while,’ she told Callum, with a shake of her head. ‘I don’t know how their mother used to cope. I feel as though I’m run ragged half the time, sorting out their disputes.’

‘I expect she lets them get on with it,’ he said, smiling. ‘By the time you’ve come around to playing referee, they’ll have moved on to something else.’

‘That’s true enough,’ she said with a laugh.

He glanced at the youngsters, who had begun to argue over which one of them had more cheese than the other, and added softly, ‘Of course, James does have a point about the seaside, you know. To a child, a day can seem a long while to wait for something, let alone several weeks—and the coast is only a few miles from here.’

A small line creased her brow. ‘I know I should have taken them—it’s just that the weekends are so full, and they haven’t really mentioned it much.’

‘Perhaps they were waiting for you to arrange it. Anyway, I can’t help sympathising with youngsters who want to spend time at the seaside…especially when their parents aren’t around to take them there.’