Part 17

As Carter and Abby entered the spacious hallway of the Carter Mansion they were greeted by the weekend butler who took their coats from them. Carter thanked him and asked where his grandmother was, and on being told she was in the study he and Abby turned to walk towards that room. As if he had a sudden thought Carter turned and called out to the retreating figure of the butler:

"Oh, wait a second Abby, I forgot to check my messages. Albert?" he called over to the butler, "has anybody called for me?"

"As a matter of fact Master John they have." He made a move to the hall table and picked up a pile of papers that had been lying on a silver salver, then proceeded to read them out. "A Dr Weaver called to remind you that you have Chart review next week; Dr Chen phoned on Saturday to inquire about details of an incident involving you and Miss Lockhart on Friday; and Dr Lewis has been phoning repeatedly for the last few days trying to locate you. I stopped taking the messages in the end but she did seem most insistent," he finished, handing over the slips of paper to Carter, who dismissed him and then looked sheepishly at Abby.

"Guess we did leave things a little up in the air! Wonder why they didn't try phoning your place?"

"They probably did." It was Abby's turn to look sheepish. She looked around to see if anybody was listening and lowered her voice; she couldn't help it but sometimes, not always, when she visited Carter's house she felt like she was in a museum and that she should whisper. "I didn't want to spend our wedding night answering questions from those gossips at work so I unplugged the phone. I must have forgotten to plug it back in."

"This just gets better and better," Carter laughed, "they're probably going crazy trying to figure out what happened!" Abby joined in his laughter and linked her arm with his as they continued towards the study where Millicent Carter sat behind a desk reading the morning papers. She smiled and rose as they entered the room and made a move to approach them, but Carter instantly left Abby's side and went to take his grandmother's arm.

"Now Gamma, take it easy, you're still recovering," he said as he started to lead her towards one of the two couches which occupied the centre of the room.

"You mean I'm OLD, and whilst that may be I am not in my grave just yet so I am more than capable of walking by myself!"

"Yes, Gamma." Carter knew when not to argue so he gently released his grip on her arm.

"That's better…now come here and give your grandmother a kiss!" Carter bent down and kissed her on the cheek, and straightened to receive the admonitions of his grandmother, looking as he had when she used to tell him off for playing with her Faberge eggs when he was a child. "You're becoming quite the stranger around here, John," she said. "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten all about us here…but I can see you've had better places to be. How lovely to see you again Abby." She gave Abby a warm smile and walked over to her. "I don't know but I've missed you more than this errant grandson of mine!" She embraced Abby who returned the hug happily.

"I've missed you too Millicent. I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

"Well I never was as bad as everybody said, I'm just a little old and cranky. And how many times have I told you to call me 'Gamma'?" she added, giving Abby a playful slap on the hand."

"OK 'Gamma'!" Abby laughed.

"Shall we sit down, Gamma? Abby and I have something we want to talk to you about." Carter was excited and couldn't wait to tell his grandmother everything. He practically herded her onto one couch and took Abby's hand to sit beside him on the couch opposite. John put his arm around Abby's waist and pulled her close to him; she just smiled and looked down at her hands as she folded and unfolded them in her lap. After a brief pause she looked up to see that John was looking down at her, grinning like an idiot. He jerked his head slightly towards his grandmother in indication that he wanted to tell her their news, Abby nodded and waited for him to start…but he didn't say anything. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out! Abby raised her eyebrows and nudged him with her shoulder:

"Go on," she murmured, "tell her."

"You tell her!" he nudged her back.

"Nooo" she stressed, with another nudge of the shoulder, "You tell her!"

"You" *Nudge*

"You" *Nudge*

"Would somebody like to tell her? Only I have the impression that I don't really need to be here for this argument," Gamma said good-naturedly. She enjoyed seeing John happy, and seeing him playfully banter with Abby like this was the happiest she had seen him in a long time.

Carter and Abby both laughed at the picture they must have presented, arguing like a couple of schoolchildren, and tried to become serious with varying degrees of success. Carter immediately put on a straight face and sat upright, as did Abby, but within seconds Abby was giggling which made Carter smile.

"You were the one who was so excited a minute ago." she nudged him on last time.

"You were the one who…I can't think of anything!" he laughed and nudged her back, leaning his forehead against hers.

"Well that's just great," she joined in his laughter, "I've married a man who can't make comebacks! How are we supposed to have proper arguments if you can't make a comeback?"

They both continued laughing for a few seconds until they realised what Abby had just said. Abby slapped her hand over her mouth and widened her eyes in horror, then turned towards Millicent who was smiling at their expressions. Carter, unable to gauge his grandmother's reaction to the news, was trying to explain.

"Gamma, we didn't want to tell you like that. It's not that we didn't want you there. It was just …you see we…"

"It's alright John," she said, "you don't have to worry. I already know and I'm perfectly happy for you. I only wanted to see how long it would be before you managed to tell me yourselves!"

Carter and Abby breathed a collective sigh of relief. Abby relaxed against Carter's shoulder and closed her eyes as he kissed her hair. She was so glad that Millicent wasn't angry; she didn't like to admit it but this was what had worried her most. John loved his grandmother, and although Gamma had been happy with their relationship if she hadn't approved of the marriage Abby didn't know what that would do to John.

"You have no idea how relieved I am 'Gamma'!" Abby smiled. "I was worried you'd set the dogs on me or something to get me off the estate and away from your grandson!"

"And why would I do that, you silly creature?" Gamma replied. "I'd be a fool if I stood in the way of two people so obviously in love and, besides, anybody can see that you are the best thing that has ever happened to John!"

"I won't argue with that!" said Carter, looking down lovingly into Abby's eyes before leaning down to give her a soft kiss on the lips. "Thanks, Gamma," he said, raising his head to look at his grandmother. "It means a lot to me to know that you're happy about us, because I was so worried that when you found out about the wedding you'd feel cheated out of the grand society affair and all the…hang on a second!" he said, removing his arm from around Abby's waist and leaning forward on the couch to get a better look at Gamma. He cocked his head to one side slightly and raised an eyebrow: "How did you find out about the wedding?"