Beneath Still Waters. Alex Archer

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СКАЧАТЬ but regarding any movement, with two fractured legs it will be slow progress, whatever the doctors over there decide to do.

      ‘By the way, I called at the garage on my way here this morning and they’d picked up the motorcycle as soon as you’d been in to ask them to do so.

      ‘When his parents phoned I told them where it was and they’ve asked the garage to repair it for him. They are insisting on reimbursing you for the money you paid the garage to collect it.’

      Before she could reply their patient arrived from Recovery and without further discussion she went to supervise the little girl’s transfer to the ward with her traumatised parents by her side.

      * * *

      The day had run its course and the staff of the orthopaedic unit were homeward bound. As Leonie pedalled out of the main gates of the hospital Callum passed her in a smart car and pulled up a few yards ahead.

      He wound the window down. ‘It’s good to have you on the unit, Leonie. You have the right touch with the children and having read your application form from when you applied for the position you also have all the necessary medical knowledge and experience for the position.’

      The colour rose in her cheeks and he groaned inwardly at the way he’d sounded so patronising when that was the last thing he’d wanted to be. If he had any doubts as to that was how he’d come across, her reply confirmed it.

      ‘I would have thought that the opinion of the person who interviewed me when I applied for the job would have been enough to reassure you with regard to my abilities,’ she said coolly, ‘unless, of course, I was proving unsatisfactory.’

      ‘Certainly not that,’ he said. ‘Surely a word of praise can’t be unwelcome?’

      ‘No, of course not,’ she said quickly. ‘I’m sorry.’

      ‘There’s no need to be,’ he assured her. He was about to drive off but had one last thing to say that he feared would also not please her.

      ‘You are going to let the biker’s parents pay you for having the bike brought to the garage, I hope? If it had been the child of either of us that had been hurt and strangers had shown them such kindness, I think that we would want to do the same, don’t you?’

      Her reaction surprised him. ‘Yes. I suppose so,’ she agreed, almost choking on the words, and as she started to pedal away from him he saw tears on her lashes and wondered what that was all about.

      * * *

      Leonie called at Julie’s flat on the way home to make sure that she really was over the bug that she’d picked up and found her on the point of returning from a busy day at the community centre looking fully recovered.

      They were good friends and noticing Leonie’s red-rimmed eyes Julie was concerned. ‘Have you been crying?’

      Leonie managed a smile. ‘Just a moment’s blub, that’s all.’

      ‘A sick child twisted your heartstrings?’

      ‘Yes, that was it.’ No way was she going to go into details about a momentary return to the past. She quickly changed the subject. ‘So how are wedding plans progressing?’

      ‘We’ve decided on a date in June. I’d like to be a June bride, and guess what?’

      ‘Go on, tell me. What?’

      ‘We were going to have the reception at a nice hotel but have had a better offer. The council is having the community centre remodelled and have invited us to have our wedding reception there after a service in the church because we are both staff. What do you think?’

      ‘That would be lovely.’ No way was she going to let the mention of weddings and children turn the day into an even more painful occasion.

      * * *

      It was Saturday after what Leonie felt had been a strange week on the unit, getting used to Callum’s presence. But she’d adjusted and admitted to herself that, whatever their original meeting had been like, working with him was a pleasure.

      To her surprise, the young biker’s parents had called at the yurt one evening to repay what they insisted they owed her, and remembering what Callum had said she’d graciously accepted it. They had stayed for a while and had told her over coffee how much they felt indebted to Dr Warrender, who had given of his time and expertise to make sure that their son would walk again without difficulty in the future.

      ‘He spoke very highly of you,’ the young guy’s mother had said. ‘Of the assistance you gave him and of how you had given up your Saturday to take those kids out into the countryside in place of someone who was sick.’

      ‘And we believe that you also work in the orthopaedic section of the hospital?’ his father commented.

      ‘Er, yes, that is so, although Dr Warrender and I have only recently started working together,’ she told him, though it seemed like for ever.

      * * *

      That afternoon Leonie took care in getting ready to attend the garden party that Melissa and Ryan Ferguson were having to celebrate the joining of their two houses and, even more delightful, the wonderful entwining of their lives.

      She’d got to know Melissa, who was a part-time doctor alongside her husband in the neuro unit of the hospital, when between them they had jointly brought back to health a young patient with a cerebral problem who had spinal problems from a fall. They had been firm friends ever since.

      * * *

      Callum had spent the morning up on his beloved moors, but had returned before lunch to get ready for the garden party. If the invitation had come from anyone other than Melissa and Ryan he wouldn’t be going.

      He’d gone to enough parties to last him a lifetime to please Shelley when she’d been around, and ever since the divorce he had toned down his social life until it was almost non-existent, which was going to the other extreme, he told himself sometimes. Today he was going to go through the ritual to please his friends and then would slope off somewhere.

      * * *

      As he parked outside the crescent of elegant town houses where Ryan and Melissa had joined theirs together on the occasion of their marriage, he could hear music and voices coming from the large garden at the back and hoped that his arrival was going to go unnoticed.

      Yet he could hardly shuffle in amongst those there without greeting his host and hostess and presenting their two children with the presents he’d brought them from America. Rhianna and Martha were special and he couldn’t help but envy Ryan and Melissa their family.

      A taxi pulled up at the kerb edge behind him and when he turned his eyes widened. Leonie Mitchell got out, looking fresh and relaxed in a pretty floral dress that matched her colouring exactly. When she straightened up and saw him standing there her face reddened.

      ‘Hello,’ she said uncomfortably. ‘I didn’t know that you would be here.’

      ‘Ryan and Melissa are friends of mine,’ he explained, and as two small voices from not far away called his name, ‘and Rhianna and Martha are delightful. They will be here in a moment, eager to see what I’ve СКАЧАТЬ