Chapter 21

Sustenance

I was holding her chilled hands gently yet firmly, while Louisa stared up at me with guarded eyes.

"Martin? What are you doing?" she asked.

"No Louisa, what are we doing?"

She tried to draw away but I pulled on her hands so we stayed in close contact. "What… what you mean we?"

I peered around and saw no one, but I lowered my voice anyway. "You, me, uhm… us."

She scoffed, "Martin there is no us." He lip sprang between her teeth the way she did when she acted unsure. "Not… not anymore."

The child she was carrying was a firm and tangible presence between us for her belly was pressed against me. "When's… your due date?"

"What?"

"Please."

"Oh," she exhaled heavily. "July 25 or there about."

"Ah."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I stared at the crashing waves below. "So… the… uhm… day of the…" I could feel the tension in her arms so I slackened the grip on her.

Her head went down then she looked shyly at me. "End of October."

That was three weeks before we were to be married last Autumn. My mind started calculating.

"Martin I'm pretty sure it was the day after you had that late night emergency. We'd finished dinner and things were… well, then your mobile rang." **

I get so many calls like that. "Doesn't ring a bell."

"A walker? Bodmin Moor."

Then I remembered. "Yes a trekker, lost on the Moor. Stewart James the Ranger claimed his imaginary squirrel friend mentioned that someone was lost. Mad. But there was an injured man out there."

That's when she grinned. "You came back to my house awfully late, wet and cold."

Then I recalled the whole thing. I felt the faintest of smiles grow on my lips. "Hot tea on a cold day you said, the next morning."

Louisa dipped her head. "That… that was… I mean I'm not actually sure."

Human gestation was around forty weeks from the date of the last menses, so roughly ten lunar months. "Ah." Now I remembered that night and the next morning. She had been especially, no, we had been especially carnal that night and in the morning as well. I looked hard at her while my mind went back. Twice was it or three times?

"Yeah, ah." She nodded almost ruefully. "The dates are right. That was when we… " She glanced down at her rounded abdomen. "You know."

"I see." Three times I was sure of it.

"As I said I didn't mean to get pregnant. Not like I tried to trap you or anything."

"Don't be absurd! Has someone said that?

She wrinkled her nose and shrugged. "Oh, people have said things to me as well as behind my back. You know; village gossips."

"Those people should shut it!" I sneered and dropped her hands. "What is wrong with this village?"

She backed up a step and took a very deep breath. "So…"

"How dare they!"

She shrugged. Her lip got that nervous bite again and she cocked her head. "What do you mean us?"

I observed how she was rubbing her arms. "That cardigan is rather thin Louisa. You need a warmer top if you're going to be out in the evening."

"Yeah, right," she snapped and turned to walk away. She took several steps then stopped and looked back. "You fit to get home? You did faint."

I slowly exhaled. "I ought to be."

She grinned. "Well good." Then she asked, "Us? Wot do you mean? Did you mean?"

I glanced at my watch and it was now nearly seven o'clock. I missed my dinner hour what with calling the hospital about Mrs. Tishell, taking a call from Penhale, and then trying to deal with my soaked suit and shoes. Plus I'd called Truro about a replacement mobile. Time had slipped away.

This was the moment Martin – don't muck it up I thought to myself so I took a deep breath and pivoted on my heel. "Have you eaten?"

"No, no I haven't."

The way she held herself with bulging belly thrust forward and shoulders thrown back in lordosis of pregnancy, counterbalancing the shift of pregnant uterus which altered her center of gravity, made her look vulnerable. She had no family to speak of, no siblings or cousins I knew of, no one at all. At least I had Joan. So I walked over to her and told her resolutely, "Come, Louisa, come to my house and I'll fix your supper."

"Oh?"

I nodded. "Yes you need sustenance. Joan brought me a chicken casserole today, plus I have salad greens and there's fruit for afters."

She froze for a minute. "What? Better say that again."

"Supper – my house?" I repeated softly.

"Oh," then she smiled and took my arm. "Yes Martin, I'd like that."

Author's notes

** See my Doc Martin story "Aloha".