Chapter 17

Entering the kitchen Louisa saw that Joan had left the promised vegetables. She set about putting her purchases in the appropriate places and put the kettle on for her tea. Not long later Martin came in to make his espresso, quickly followed by Pauline a few minutes later for her instant coffee. Louisa smiled at them both. "Busy morning?" she queried.

"Yeah, Louisa. Quite a few actually." Pauline lounged against the countertop drinking her coffee. "Me an' Al are going into Wadebridge this afternoon. There's a new film on, I'd like to see." Martin just grunted and left for his office.

"Martin isn't one for films and to be honest I can catch them up when they come onto the tele. The film has to be something really special for me to see it at the cinema." Louisa then went on to say that she preferred to read.

Pauline swiftly finished her drink and then clip-clopped her way back to her desk in reception.

Louisa gathered together a load of dirty clothes and popped them in the washer. She then went upstairs to get the bedding. Picking up the cleaning materials she headed to the bathroom. She also checked under the bed to see that none of her dirty clothes were lurking there. (A tendency to just kick them off, often led to her finding missing socks, or underwear!)

Returning downstairs, she noted the time and set about making the lunch time sandwiches and drinks. Pauline yelled out "Bye Doc, Louisa," and was gone with a slam of the door. Ten minutes later Martin came in for his lunch.

"I'm going over to the hospital this afternoon to see my patients. Do you want to come with me at all?"

"No thanks Martin. I'm sure you'll be in there for a while and anyway, Joan's coming for a cuppa and a slice of cake."

Martin harrumphed and mumbled about empty calories and non-nutritional foods.

Louisa looked at him irately. "For Heaven's sake, Martin it's once a week! I'm not having anything untoward at any other time. Give me a break, why don't you?"

Martin's head shot up at this unexpected outburst. "Louisa, I'm a doctor and I know that excess consumption of calories leads to excess weight and therefore more stresses and strains on the body. I'm only looking out for your welfare!"

"Thank you, Martin, I appreciate your concern. Now may I express a few concerns of my own? As you are a doctor of some repute, I assume you are familiar with the studies which have shown that social isolation can have a negative effect on mental health wellbeing? So why, when I ask you to take me out socially to say, the pub or an event at my school or out with friends do you hide yourself away? Hmm, Martin? Surely this is a legitimate concern of any wife about her husband?"

Martin was astonished by this perceived attack. He blustered about flaky USA studies and other dubious papers.

"No Martin, these studies are listed on UK Government websites and Public Health England. What say I quote you – 'studies have shown that….' every time you refuse to go out socially. How long will it take for you to become really annoyed and shout at me?" Louisa looked at him squarely in the eye and dared him to disagree.

Having finished his lunch he looked at his watch and muttered that it was time to go to visit his patients.

Louisa looked at him, smiled and said "I love you, Martin." His relief was evident and she hoped that he would think a little before he opened his mouth the next time. She was certain that there would be a next time.

Louisa washed the crockery and prepared the table for Joan's imminent arrival. She still had time and so ran the vacuum cleaner around the lounge and made sure everything was tidy for the visit.

As Martin drove along to Truro, he gave some thought to what Louisa had said. Surely, she could appreciate that he was only trying to look after her to the best of his ability? He acknowledged that ordinarily she ate a very good diet and actually rarely had negative calories. (Except for those dratted chocolate digestives.) He felt his vigilance was purely his attempt to care for her, adequately. Then he thought back to how he said it every time she deviated from his set ideas on satisfactory nutrition. Her comparison to what he would feel if she started mentioning mental health every time, he baulked at going out, was he felt, somewhat justified. He wouldn't like it either.

He then came to two resolutions. 1) Stop saying anything about poor diets on every occasion and 2) buy some flowers for her on the way home. That would say "I love you too, Louisa and apologise!"

Joan's "Only me," echoed through the house as she entered by the kitchen door. Louisa appeared from upstairs where she had been making the bed.

"Hi Joan, how's things? Thank you for the vegetables you left this morning. They looked great."

Joan smiled and said that she was well. "My veg sold well today and so I'm pleased about it. How are you two getting along?" She waved towards Louisa's midsection to indicate the growing baby.

Louisa smiled and cradled her abdomen. "No problems, touch wood. Even the morning sickness is abating, thankfully. I've still managed to keep it quiet in the village and hope to continue to do so, at least until after Christmas."

"Yes, no-one has said anything to me either. Possibly going to the Wadebridge surgery has helped in that regard."

Louisa poured out the tea and got the slices of gateau out of the fridge. Joan's eyes lit up at the sight of the tasty food. "Not as good as the cakes you bake Joan, but hopefully something a little out of the ordinary. I need the variety to deflect from the "optimally nutritious" food Martin urges me to eat."

Joan raised an enquiring eyebrow.

"Oh, I know he's showing his concern for me and the baby, but does he have to mention it at every opportunity? Couldn't he let me just decide for myself what I fancy? After all, I read of one woman who ate coal during her pregnancy! What do you think he'd say to that?" Louisa was still annoyed at Martin's strictures on her eating habits.

"I'm not getting involved in disputes between the two of you," replied Joan. "You'll have to sort it out between yourselves. More than my life's worth," she added.

They continued to chat about the build up to Christmas and what pantomime the schoolchildren were performing this year. The school would be closing for the holidays at the end of the next week and Louisa still had to get a lot of things sorted out.