Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property of Buffalo Pictures. I own nothing.
Chapter Nine
Sat on the bed, Martin tried to understand why Louisa had got up and gone downstairs. What he'd said had been completely logical so, obviously, Louisa must be feeling very emotional this morning. He was about to pass it off as hormonal, even though she shouldn't be pre-menstrual at this stage in her cycle, when his medical training supplied him with the answer; Louisa was suffering from stress. After all, she'd been injured when the classroom ceiling had collapsed and several of her pupils had been killed. Martin knew she'd been very upset about that. He'd been alarmed about how much she'd cried until he'd checked with Milligan, who'd explained that it was not unusual. He found it hard to understand how she could love other people's obnoxious, disgusting, germ-ridden children, but she did. Concerned, he put on his dressing gown and slippers and went downstairs.
The kettle was just coming to the boil when Louisa heard Martin coming downstairs. Putting a teabag in a mug, she prepared herself for another barrage of logic. Perhaps one day she'd be able to explain to Martin why logic couldn't apply to everything but so far her attempts to explain had just left him confused and annoyed.
'Louisa, are you feeling all right?'
'Yes, I'm just a bit annoyed.'
'Annoyed? But I was just being logical,' said Martin.
'Yes but it was just a joke, Martin.'
'A joke?'
Martin looked baffled and Louisa realised that somehow everything had got lost in translation again. She tried to explain,
'Yes, offering to kiss you better, like your mother did? It was a joke.'
'My mother never kissed me better.'
The absolute truth of Martin's words hit Louisa with the force of a tornado. He never lied. His mother had never kissed him better.
The rage coursing through her veins overwhelmed her, leaving her shaking and speechless. She walked over to Martin, put her un-plastered arm around him and held him tightly.
Louisa fidgeted restlessly in her chair. She was allowed to work mornings now and she was supposed to be doing paperwork but what Martin had told her just kept going round and round in her head. She already knew Martin's father had beaten him and that he'd been locked in the cupboard under the stairs as punishment as well. She'd assumed that that had been his father too. She'd thought that Martin's mother had been too scared to do anything about it but was that true? Louisa knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep until she knew. She checked the time before taking out her phone and dialling,
'Joan Norton.'
'Joan, Louisa here. Would you like to come over for lunch?'
'Love to. What time?'
'Well, I finish at one. Shall we say half past one?'
'Half past one. At your place? Or would you like to eat at Bert's? My treat.'
'No, I'd rather you came to me, if that's all right? I need to ask you something.'
Feeling slightly more settled, Louisa forced herself to start reading through the minutes of the latest meeting of the Board of Governors.
Sally Tishell smothered a yawn as she checked another prescription. She had had trouble getting back to sleep after giving Martin the information he needed. The thought of someone giving himself a mixed bag of randomly selected medications without checking with her or Martin made her blood run cold. Martin hadn't told her who it was last night but he'd rung her this morning and she'd been horrified to learn that it was Danny Steel. And then she'd heard from Bert Large about the scene in the pub. Martin might have been killed. She decided to have a word with Danny when he came in; he was old enough to know better.
She was back out in the shop again when her phone rang,
'Pharmacy. Mrs Tishell speaking.'
'Sally. Paul here.'
Sally was aware that she was blushing and was grateful that no locals were in the shop at the moment,
'Hello.'
'Hi. I…um…wanted to apologise for last night again. It won't happen again, I promise.'
Sally quickly stifled a pang of disappointment,
'There's no need. It was my fault too.'
'Well, mostly mine, I think. But, anyway, are we still on for dinner tonight at Bert's.'
'I don't know if that's a good idea.'
'We could bring our laptops; make it a working dinner.'
'Well, all right. What time?'
'Seven o'clock?'
'Seven o'clock at Bert's.'
'Good. See you then.'
'Yes.'
'Well, my next patient's arrived so I'd better go.'
'Right. Bye.'
'Bye.'
Sally Tishell served the two female tourists in front of her, unaware that they'd heard her side of the conversation.
Once outside, the women smiled and one said,
'She's obviously got what it takes. I hope I'm still being asked out on dates at her age.'
Louisa picked up some sandwiches at the shop, knowing that if she didn't, Joan would insist on making lunch for them. Thank goodness her plaster was coming off next week; trying to do things one-handed was driving her nuts.
When she got home, Tracy, her childminder/home help, was waiting,
'He's been fine. He had his solids half an hour ago and he should be ready for his bottle in a minute.'
'Good.'
'Do you need any help with anything?'
'No, thank you. Why don't you take a couple of hours off? Mrs Norton's coming over and she'll help me, if I need anything.'
'Are you sure?'
'Of course.'
Tracy hurried off and Louisa relaxed. Tracy was wonderful and she and Martin had already decided that they would keep her as Peter's childminder once she was back at work but Louisa hated needing her help with everything else. She had always been independent and she was finding asking for help difficult.
And she certainly didn't want this conversation overheard.
Joan arrived promptly at one thirty and Louisa put the food on plates whilst Joan gave Peter his bottle and put him down for his nap.
Louisa encouraged Joan to fill her in on all the latest news while they ate but eventually, Joan said,
'So, are you going to ask then?'
'What?'
'Whatever it is that you asked me over here for. You aren't that interested in my friends.'
Louisa took a deep breath and said,
'What's Martin's mother like?'
'Margaret? Probably the most unpleasant woman I've ever met. Why?'
'Martin said she never kissed him better when he was a child.'
'No, I don't suppose she ever did. She made no bones about the fact that she never wanted him. I don't know why she didn't have an abortion really.'
'She told people that she didn't want him,' said Louisa, aghast.
'Oh yes, and Marty too.'
'That's terrible!'
'Yes. Margaret is the most selfish person I've ever met. If it doesn't add to her pleasure she doesn't want it and she enjoys being cruel to people. I think Christopher convinced her a baby would be fun. When it turned out to be hard work, she didn't want anything to do with it. She was delighted when Phil and I wanted to adopt Martin. Couldn't sign the form fast enough.'
'You tried to adopt Martin?'
'Yes but Christopher decided it wouldn't look good so he refused to sign the form and a couple of years later he stopped letting Marty come to stay with me in the holidays as well.'
'So his father wanted him?'
Joan paused,
'I don't know. He certainly didn't want to bother with him. Martin was sent to boarding school when he was seven and Christopher certainly never showed him any affection.'
'Did you know that he beat Martin?'
'I suspected it but I could never prove it. He came to us directly from school so he never had bruises then and Christopher was too clever to send him to school with marks on him.'
Louisa swallowed down nausea as the impact of what Joan had said registered. Martin had been abused by both of his parents.
Authors love feedback - please review.
