Chapter 12
Martin went to visit his Aunt the Tuesday after they returned. He needed to talk to her. He walked over to her cottage in his lunch hour.
After a knock on the door, she came out.
"Well hello Martin. Nice to see you. " She smiled her crooked little sideways smile while opening the door so he could go in. He went through and sat next to the table.
"Hello. How have you been? How are you feeling?"
"All right, thank you, as always. Now why do I have the pleasure of a home visit from my favourite nephew?"
"I am your only nephew" he stated matter-of-factly.
"Well, with a farther like yours, we might never know. Sorry, I supposed I should not speak ill of the dead."
"Uhm. Right. I needed to ask you…I was wondering…uhm."
"Well, uhm and ah won't get anything done."
"I need to know if you could refer me …again…to a Psychiatrist. Dr Timothy won't be able to assist us anymore. And I…was thinking of a different type of professional. I have come to terms with my haemophobia; I will just have to live with it. I am never going to be a surgeon again, so that's that. I need someone that will be able to help…me…personally. Preferably with years' experience, that won't waste time with small talk.
"So I take it the weekend away was good? You and Louisa have come to …some understanding?"
"Yes…it was valuable. But I need to get things sorted."
"Things … meaning you? Was that part of her … condition? " She was surprised that her nephew would ask for this…again.
"What? No! Not at all. I've come to realise that I might have some unresolved chi…. issues."
"I will look into some candidates I know, one or two springs to mind, but I will rather get back to you in a couple of days.
"Thank you." With that he stood up, walked to the door to leave.
"You and Louisa must sort yourselves our for once and all. You can't keep on doing this you know. That little boy is growing up quite fast and needs a steady home."
"Yes, I am trying."
Minutes after Martin left, Ruth's phone rang and when she answered she was quite surprised.
"Hello Ruth, its Louisa. How are you?" her voice sounded friendly and warm, as always.
"Good and you dear. You just missed Martin. Were you looking for him?"
"No, not at all. I just called to ask if you maybe wanted to go for coffee later on today."
"Yes dear, that will be fine."
"Great. I will come around half two. That's James' nap time, so Janice will look after him. Is that good for you?"
"Perfect."
Now that was quite interesting, Ruth thought. Rather peculiar.
When Louisa arrived, Ruth was waiting for her outside and together they walked to town. They walked over to the little coffee shop and placed their orders – coffee and cake. Louisa sat back in her chair and looked very….contend. Ruth was first to break the silence.
"So, you and Martin had a good weekend?"
"Oh Ruth…it was simply great! Martin rented this secluded cottage about an hour and a half's drive from here. Not a soul for miles. The cottage was just beautiful, with the most amazing views of the ocean with marvellous sunsets. He even did a barbeque for us! Can you imagine? It was just wonderful really. And much needed. We should have made time for something like that a long time ago. It was finally just the three of us. We could relax and just enjoy each other. No interruptions. I wish we could do that more often. You know we never went away alone since we met. Not counting our… adventurous honeymoon night. I can't help to think that if we did that ages ago, we might have sorted out a lot of misunderstandings."
"So the two of you are…sorted out?" Ruth asked with her head tipped to one side
"Well, yes. I would say. But…" She troubled her bottom lip with her teeth.
"There's always a but, isn't there"
Louisa gave a shy smile. "Yes, I guess."
"So what's wrong dear?"
"Martin opened up to me this weekend like he never did before. It was unexpected. I understand things so much better. And it made me think really hard about our future." She sat back with a far off look on her face.
After a couple of minutes Ruth said: "And? Do you still see a future with my charming nephew?"
"Oh, yes, sorry, I did not mean to imply any different. I just did some soul searching and have come to realise that I…I…well maybe I need to speak to someone…you know…professional, like you."
"Are you criminally insane?"
"Why, No!"
"Well, those were the only patients I saw in recent years, so I don't think I would be the best person to help you Louisa, plus I prefer not to treat family."
O, Right, I understand."
"But, I can refer you to a great colleague of mine. I guess this is only for you? You want to do this alone, no Martin?"
"Yes Ruth. I feel I have some unresolved problems that might have led to…rows between Martin and me. I realised that he is definitely not the only one to blame for everything that ever went wrong between us. I have been …" She stopped and frowned, but did not say anything else.
"Right. Please give me a couple of days to talk to one or two people. I will try my best to find the right person for you."
"Thank you, that's nice of you."
After they finished their coffee and cake, they headed back to Ruth's cottage.
"Thanks for joining me for coffee Ruth."
"Oh, the pleasure was mine, Louisa. Say hi to James for me, I haven't even seen him since you came from your weekend."
"Do you want to come over for dinner tomorrow night, that way we can all get together for a change?"
"I will never decline an opportunity for a decent meal. Thank you, I will be there at 6"
"See you then, bye" she waived and walked towards the surgery.
Ruth watched Louisa as she walked away.
It seemed to her that her nephew and his teacher wife had finally come to their senses. Maybe Louisa was right. They should have had time alone, away from this village, long ago. Things might have been a bit different then. But, there's no time like the present. And speaking off, she mustn't diddle in finding both of them a good psychologist. At least she will be able to play some small part in helping these two lost souls. One can only be helped if one choses to. Both of them came to her, so clearly they thought it's time. She's glad Martin came…he desperately needed to talk to someone, it was long overdue. She was a bit surprised by Louisa, as she thought the girl had it together, but you never know what goes on in the mind of another. Yes…she mustn't linger on this.
When Ruth knocked on the kitchen door Wednesday at quarter to 6, the table was already set. It looked like the food was also done. James was sitting in his high chair next to the table. When he saw Ruth he kicked and babbled!
"Hi Ruth, come on in, everything is nearly done. Martin just went upstairs to freshen up a bit. Can I get you something to drink? I have a nice bottle of wine for the two of us. Care for a glass?
"Hello Louisa. Hello James! You don't ever stop growing, do you?"
"He's getting big, isn't he? He also started saying words. Well, it sounds like words to me anyway."
"While Martin is still not down, I quickly wanted to give you the details of my colleague…as you asked for." With that Ruth handed Louisa a small piece of paper with a name and contact details on.
"Thank you Ruth, I really appreciate this." Louisa took the paper and put it on top of the fridge. She would put it into her purse later on.
Martin came down and they were all ready for dinner. It was nice to have Ruth over. Louisa kept on babbling about the nice weekend they had and how James enjoyed the beach and the cottage.
"We decided to buy a house" Martin said to Ruth after their dinner. He and Louisa were cleaning the dishes while Ruth sat with a glass of wine at the table, trying to entertain James.
"That's great news. Have you looked at property yet? When I decided to get a cottage in the village, I saw that there weren't too many houses up for sale in town?"
"Yes, or …no. I only got pictures for some of the available houses off the internet. We made an appointment with the realtor for this coming Friday to have a look at the ones we like. There were only six available and we both liked one, but not the same one." Martin spoke quickly.
"Choosing a house is exciting. But not agreeing on the same one can be difficult."
Louisa looked at Martin and smiled. "Hopefully we'll be able to come to some sort of agreement, right Martin? Martin has his preferences and so do I, maybe we'll find a house that has everything we both want"
"Hmmm" was the only answer she got from Martin.
"You know I heard quite an interesting story today while I was at the pharmacy." Ruth spoke in her even toned voice, with a big grin on her face. "I heard some villagers were quite …entertained yesterday morning when their GP graced them with a full out laugh! Sarcasm, Martin?"
Martin's eyes grew big and he started stuttering. "Ah, I…that…uhm … Rubbish!" These people have nothing better to do than gossip about small things"
Louisa looked at Ruth, clearly puzzled at what Ruth said..
Ruth just mouthed the words 'later' to her.
Ruth got up to leave. "Thank you for inviting me to dinner Louisa. It was lovely. I haven't had a lovely Chicken casserole like that in ages. But I need to get these old bones to bed now. Martin, care to walk me home?"
"It was a pleasure having you, thanks for coming over. While Martin walks you home, I will give this little man a bath and get him settled for bed"
When Ruth and Martin arrived at her cottage, she thanked him for dinner and the walk home.
"I asked you to walk me home so I could give you these." She handed him two business cards.
"These are two of the best I could find. I personally worked with one of them for a couple of years in London, and the other one is well known to all my colleagues. I want you to go see both of them and then decide which one is the best for you.
"Thank you." Martin took the cards and placed it in his jacket pocket. He was about to turn, when Ruth spoke again.
"I want you to stick with it this time. You have a nice family Martin. You have a beautiful loving wife, adorable little boy. You need to let go of whatever holds you back, and work on making a future for the 3 of you. You deserve it, you know…and they deserve it."
"Thank you Ruth. Good night."
"Good Night Martin."