Chapter 3

Joan looked squarely straight into his eyes- which had always made him feel like a young teenager being told off.

'What?' she snapped.

Martin stood ever so awkwardly. Before he could even take a breath, Pippa let herself in through the back door without a second thought. 'Ah Doctor Ellingham. A little birdie told me that you told Louisa where to go'. In for the kill- that was Pippa.

'What?' Martin exclaimed.

'What?' Joan repeated equally as horrified as the first.

'Oh yeah. And I'm here to tell you that it's not right, Martin'. Again, Pippa meant no harm really, she was just concerned and trying to help Louisa, but she was going completely the wrong way about it. In fact, she was probably making things a thousand times worse.

Martin was baffled 'What? Who are you?'

Joan didn't take her eyes off him 'Is this true?'

'Oh yeah.' Pippa butted in. Right before his eyes, these two women began discussing about the who? What? Where? How? Why? Ins & outs, and Martin had absolutely no idea what was going on. This red-haired women who he vaguely recognised appeared in his kitchen with some nonsensical tale of him telling Louisa 'where to go' and that he 'didn't want to see the baby' with Joan in apparent agreement and listening to every word she said. It felt as though these two had strolled into his kitchen to tell him his fate and what he should do for the best (!).

'Well I'm sorry, Martin. It's not about what you want anymore. It's what your baby needs.' Joan stated passionately.

' I haven't, I… I …., What are you both talking about?' This was insane. Martin took a deep breath- he couldn't get a word in, and just as he glanced out of his kitchen window, he caught a glimpse of the Navy-blue uniform before its owner also, casually let himself in. He was holding a piece of paper.

'Evening Doc. Ha ha, what's going on here then? Tea Party, Doc? I heard Louisa's back.' Joe said excitedly.

That was it! The final straw. 'Ok get out! Everybody out!' Martin began clapping his hands in the air as if he was trying to herd an army of cattle. He was having no more of this absolute nonsense. They all looked at him as if he were from another planet. 'Auntie Joan, please leave! Penhale, Get out! And Lola, eer who are you? No. No just get out.' Martin marched over to his back door to prop it open for them all. 'Goodbye'.

XXX

Louisa was so delighted to be back, even if it was just part-time hours for now. Things were still a bit up in the air; she was still upset about everything and London hadn't been a great experience for her. She still had lots to get for the baby and of course there was Martin. But for the first time in a long while, she felt settled and safe. Maybe she had already began the nesting phase everybody told her about? She smiled. She was home and back working in her small haven with lots of little people. What could be better?

She tried to squeeze in a bit of marking before heading home for the evening. Her hours were contracted to only teach art and some history but she wanted to get stuck right in, so she offered to do some marking for the other teachers, as well as organise extra teaching training throughout the upcoming summer holidays. Oh, and she offered to keep an eye on Year 1's allotment in the school's garden. She sat at her desk and felt so tired. She hadn't really suffered with tiredness too much up until now, but then she reminded herself that she was over 7 months gone now; she had to expect to slow down a little at some point as much as she'd hate to admit it. Time to wrap up, she thought. All that was on her mind now was a nice, hot bubble bath with the 'Cornish Cove' lavender soak she'd bought.

Just as she dumped her bag and keys on her kitchen worktop and headed for the stairs, somebody knocked her front door quietly. She sighed. She knew it would be a visitor; somebody that knew her, knew what time she'd be back from school. She absolutely loved visitors and her door was always open to everybody and anybody, but she really did want that bath. Anyway, she opened the door to the all-familiar quilted jacket and thick white hair.

'Oh Louisa. Oh. You're back.' Joan said emotionally as a tear crept upon her.

Louisa also had a lump in her throat. 'Oh, Joan.'

They immediately held each other in a tight embrace on Louisa's doorstep for a few seconds; they hadn't even made it into the house. Louisa held her arms tightly around the woman that meant so much to her. The woman she feared, at one point, she may not see again. Her mother-figure. Joan held on to Louisa equally as tight. She too, wondered if she would ever see Louisa again, and now that she was back, Joan did not want to let her go.

'Please come in. Shall we have a cup of tea on the terrace?' Louisa said. They both just beamed at each other. It really was like an honest mother-daughter relationship. And they were both very glad to see each other.

Louisa brought through two cups of tea and an abundance of ginger biscuits; they were the only ones she had at the moment, under the advice that they ease nausea.

'Oooh Look at you! Don't you look beautiful!?' Joan Chuckled.

'Hhhmmm, I'm not sure beautiful is the right word' Louisa laughed also.

'So how are you, my darling? How is everything?'

'Yes. Fine, thank you. I was able to move back in here straight away, luckily. The tenants moved out about 6 weeks ago. And I'm back at the school now.' She beamed.

Louisa knew what she was really asking but was being fairly vague with her answers. Mainly because she didn't know where to begin. Joan did.

'How's the baby? Is everything ok? When are you due? Oh sorry. I don't mean to be like this'

'No, no it's fine, honestly. It is going to be a part of your family, after all.' Louisa smiled and tickled the top of her tummy which was bigger now than ever.

'Yes, everything's fine. Very wiggly now of course. And we're due on July 30th.'

Joan looked at Louisa as she said this and she just glowed. Joan could see from her dark eyes that of course, she was worried and apprehensive and probably a bit stressed; but she was just so excited at the prospect of being a new mum, and Joan could already feel the love oozing from every angle. Joan worried about Martin; she honestly had no idea how he would fair with a baby, did he have the patience? Or even the love to give? But one thing, she was absolutely certain Louisa would be outstanding and that baby would have nothing but the best.

Joan then decided to dive straight in 'What's Martin said? Have you actually spoken to him?'

This was the difficult bit.

'Well, we have spoken. Sort of..' Louisa looked immediately sad and stared down at the floor.

'…He doesn't want this baby, Joan. Which was what I expected anyway, so..'

'Did he actually say that to you?' Joan was playing detective. She had to sometimes. Martin and Louisa obviously couldn't be relied upon to sort things out.

'Well before he'd even said hello, he mentioned about….you know….abortion….' just speaking about it, pulled on her fiercely protective mothering cord again.

'…..And I'm sorry, but he's just so out of order. You know, I didn't plan any of this. I never set out to trap him or make him feel pressured in any way, Joan. I was just as shocked as he is. My baby is the only thing that matters to me now whether he likes it or not.'

Joan smiled cheekily as she could see that Louisa was all-consumed by her hormones at this moment in time. She was all over the place, emotionally, and Joan could see that all she really wanted was a hug. So Joan pulled her chair closer to hers and put her arm around her. Louisa relaxed slightly.

'There, there. Don't worry, Louisa. Everything's going to be fine. You're going to be fine and this baby will be going nowhere. Even if it's father does have to travel the country to realise it.'

Louisa looked up at her. 'Travel the Country?'

'Yes. Edinburgh.' Joan replied in a matter-of-fact way.

Louisa's heart lurched 'Edinburgh?'

Joan felt her blood run cold as she realised what she had just done. Louisa obviously didn't know.

'Yes. He's mentioned it, hasn't he? He's got a job in Edinburgh.'