Chapter 50

They had kissed and made up, but there was still a certain tension between them that they were not able to overcome despite the desire both of them had to move past this terrible misunderstanding. Martin's countenance was dark, clearly troubled by the images that continued to play out in his mind and Louisa felt powerless to help. She reached for his hand as they settled into the taxi taking them to the bistro where they were to meet Ruth, and he gave it a gentle squeeze, then dropped it for the remainder of the short trip.

The inevitable fallout from Martin's confrontation with Dennis as they encountered friends and family began with Aunt Ruth. They had planned a late brunch with her shortly after one that Sunday. Neither was looking forward to Ruth's inevitable curiosity, and of course Ruth noticed Martin's black eye and bruised cheek immediately. Knowing they couldn't deny the black eye, they had decided to tell her exactly what had happened albeit in an abbreviated form, that Louisa's ex-husband and Martin had had words and that the ex had punched him. Ruth was all too familiar with Martin's acid tongue and asked point blank what he had said to provoke such a reaction. Martin just grunted, "It's over and done with. Time to move on."

Ruth was intrigued, "Martin?"

Watching them both dance around the topic, Louisa decided that it was time for her to explain, "Dennis, my ex-husband was at the wedding we attended yesterday. He made a disparaging remark about me and Martin called him a rat and then Dennis punched him."

"A noxious, malevolent little rat," Martin couldn't help but chime in.

Ruth chuckled, "Ah, defending her honour were you? I hope you hit him back"

"Aunt!" Martin exclaimed. "You know I don't believe in physical violence. My oath as a doctor is to heal people, not hurt them." He paused a moment and then almost as an afterthought, he delivered one additional detail. "Of course it's possible that he may have tripped over my foot afterwards and fallen face first onto the floor. Accidents do happen"

"You didn't tell me that Dennis was hurt as well!" Louisa blurted out as an expression of surprised admiration lit up her face. Martin noticed the look of approval and pulled himself up a little straighter in his chair, his ego feeling less bruised than it had in the previous 24 hours.

Nothing got past Aunt Ruth and she had noticed Martin's reaction to Louisa's comment and then gave him a wry little smile, "Ah yes, those types of accidents happen all the time. Pity."

"Despicable ambulance chaser" muttered Martin.

"Oh ... malpractice lawyer, is he? And previously married to Louisa." She looked to him for confirmation receiving only a curt nod. "I understand"

"He wasn't a lawyer when we were married." Louisa felt compelled to defend herself. "We grew up together in Portwenn and were childhood sweethearts. ... But sometimes people change."

"Yes, they do my dear." Aunt Ruth agreed as she glanced at her nephew. This meal was going to be interesting she thought to herself; it just might provide her with some nice tidbits to share with Joan when they spoke later that evening. Ruth didn't like to think of herself as a gossip, but she knew Joanie would want to know all about this latest chapter in the Martin and Louisa saga, and for once, she had the inside track.

As they continued their meal, Ruth could sense that there was more to the incident than they had shared. Despite her gentle probing, neither added much to the story, but their body language spoke volumes to her trained eye. She wisely held her tongue and let the subject drop, but peered at each of them more intently than was usual even for her, hoping to suss out what the problem was. Louisa was a little too spritely in her discussion of the wedding and Martin was even more taciturn than usual. Even as they moved on to other topics of conversation, the uneasy ambiance remained between them. However, as they were lingering over coffee and discussing the farmhouse renovations scheduled to start the following week,she noticed that Martin had taken Louisa's hand in his under the table, and that Louisa had slipped him a shy smile. Ruth was certain that they would resolve the problem, whatever it was, most likely in the bedroom that night.

Next there was Holly. Anxious to discuss the wedding and reception and especially Louisa's early departure, Holly had called Sunday evening inviting Louisa to join her for lunch in her office the next day. Louisa agreed only after Holly promised to give her a tour of her school. When she had taught in London right after university it had been in a rough part of town where the children were dealing with difficult home lives. She wanted to see how different it was when the children came from privileged homes. Hopefully she could give Holly a quick version of Martin's skirmish and get on to more interesting topics.

"How is Martin? I heard he suffered some pretty bad bruising from Dennis' punch." Always direct, Holly got to the most interesting topic first.

"He's fine, and yes he does have quite the shiner. I can't imagine how his day is going right now. You know Martin ... well, I guess you don't really ... but he's not one to talk about himself, especially in hospital where it's strictly business. Everyone will be wanting to know how he got hurt. He'll probably just bark that it's none of their business. I told him to just say it was an accident, walked into a pantry door that was open. It will be interesting to see what he has to say tonight when he gets home." Trying to change the subject, she asked, "So how was the rest of the reception? Did I miss anything else?"

Holly laughed, "No, Martin and Dennis' fistfight was the highlight. Dennis' story was that they were returning from the bar when he casually asked if you and Martin were having a good time. He said Martin started to call him names just because he had been married to you and when Martin threw the drinks in his face and started at him, he put up his fists to defend himself, warded off Martin's blows and managed to hit him in the face. That's when Martin kicked him and he fell, cutting his face on one of the table legs."

Louisa couldn't believe the story she was hearing, and she rushed to Martin's defence. "No. That's an outrageous story. Martin would never start a fight intentionally; he's not a violent man. He says as a doctor, he took an oath to heal people not harm them. That is so completely different from what Martin told me."

Holly was enjoying herself immensely. Louisa's reaction was just as she had expected and she was anxious to hear Louisa's, or rather Martin's, account of events. "Okay," Holly answered, "What's Martin's story?"

"He said that Dennis wanted to compare notes with him about our bedroom activities and that Dennis asserted that he and I had engaged in some fairly deviant behaviour when we were married. Evidently he started to describe it all in lurid detail."

"Really? Did he give you details?"

"No, Martin is too much the gentleman to repeat anything untoward."

"Too bad. That could have been interesting." Holly leaned across her desk hoping for some lascivious details. "So did you two engage in "deviant behaviour" back in the day?" She couldn't imagine Louisa participating in anything too outré, but Dennis? He certainly seemed the willing sort. And it was possible that he had prodded Louisa to participate, at least early on in their marriage.

Louisa pulled herself together primly and chided Holly, "Of course not. I can't even imagine what he could have said, but none of it could have been true. He probably just wanted to exact some revenge on me for our divorce now that I have found someone."

"So what happened after that?"

"Martin said he called him a noxious, malevolent little rat and then threw two drinks into his face. That's when Dennis punched him."

"Dennis ended up on the floor, so Martin couldn't have been entirely innocent."

"No. He said he managed to trip Dennis as he was walking away, and that Dennis happened to fall on the floor." She grinned as she remembered Martin's sly tone as he was telling them of Dennis' 'accident'. "I do think Martin was secretly pretty proud of himself for felling him ... despite his oath to heal and do no harm."

"Hmmm ...two different versions of the fight. What do you think really happened?"

Louisa was surprised that Holly would even consider Dennis' account. "I'm certain that Martin's version is accurate. One of the things that I love about him is his integrity. I'm not sure he could tell me a lie. He is very honourable. Plus I don't think he'd risk injuring his hands by starting a fist fight. He loves being a surgeon too much to damage his hands."

Louisa continued, "And think about Dennis; he cheated on me almost from day one of our marriage ... doesn't give me much confidence in his description of events."

Holly considered, "You're right about Dennis" She remembered one of their acquaintances describing a rendezvous with Dennis even before he and Louisa married. Holly was tempted to mention it now, but Louisa was a good friend so she held her tongue knowing it would hurt Louisa even now to learn just how faithless he had been. "After what he put you through, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. But how can you be so certain about Martin; you've only known him how long? Six months? I'm sure he's been on his best behaviour the whole time. Maybe he's not so special. All men are the same deep down."

"Oh no. I don't think that's true at all. Martin is different." Louisa defended Martin with conviction; he might be difficult and he had hurt her deeply this past weekend, but she was certain of his integrity.

"Maybe." Holly was not easily convinced. Her experience with men had not been good. Even at the wedding she had found Oscar flirting with one of the younger bridesmaids when she returned after a trip to the ladies. And she had been sure he was special too. No, all men were the same.