Chapter 23

Saturday morning saw Louisa out of bed not long after Martin. Showering then brushing her hair was soon completed. She looked in the full-length mirror at her figure and she could see the slight rounding of her abdomen. Martin, coming through the door into the bedroom looked too, and then blushed when she saw him. "I..I'm sorry, I thought you were dressed," he stuttered.

Louisa laughed and went to give him a hug. "Don't be silly, it's nothing you haven't seen before." He returned the hug and said "You smell nice. New shampoo?"

"No – just the usual." Louisa shivered slightly and he quickly let her go and went to his drawer for some different cufflinks.

"You'd better dress or you'll be frozen shortly. There's a frost on the tiles next door. Remind me in the New Year to get quotes for fixing the boiler."

"Ooh, that will be nice Martin. I've been feeling quite chilly lately even when I'm fully dressed."

"If you wore slippers and a thicker dressing gown or cardigan, you might not be so cold," he sniped.

Louisa just stuck her tongue out at him, and he went away shaking his head.

She made porridge for herself as he'd already eaten, and then waved vaguely in his direction as he told her he was off to work. She was busy making sure that she'd listed all the grocery items she wanted today. Shopping next week, just before Christmas, was always risky as people stocked up to make sure they had everything in case the shops stayed closed. This meant that there was often very little choice left in the stores.

She remembered a recipe for fish parcels using filo pastry instead of shortcrust, and thought that Martin might like those as an alternative to sausage rolls. Tangerines, melon, butter and varieties of cheese were added to the list. At last, she felt she had written down all she required.

Walking down the hill she saw Mrs Tishell approaching, with a card in her hand. "Cooee, Louisa. I'm just popping up to the surgery with your card. How are you and the Doc today?"

Louisa gritted her teeth and replied "We're both very well, Mrs Tishell. Let me take the card for you, save you the hike up that steep hill."

Mrs Tishell clutched the card closer and said "It's alright Louisa. I need to speak with him, myself. Thank you for offering." She turned and carried on walking up the hill.

Louisa shrugged. She could never quite figure the woman out. At times she seemed positively obsessed with Martin, but quite antagonistic towards herself.

Deciding that Eric's fish shop was first, she went in and joined the queue. When she got to the counter the choice of fillets had gone down and she was pleased she'd come early. Cod, tuna, shrimps, monkfish and smoked haddock were purchased and she was soon on her way again.

In the supermarket she took a small trolley and set about filling it. She was pleased to secure the last two packets of filo pastry. Perusing her list to make sure she'd not missed anything she was joined at the check-out by Roger Fenn. He was the teacher that Louisa had replaced at the school. He'd had throat cancer which Martin diagnosed early and an operation followed by chemotherapy meant that his recovery was nearly completed.

"Hello, Roger. How nice to see you. Is Maureen all right, and the twins?" Louisa smiled at him whilst enquiring about his family. Maureen was well known to her as she had been the school secretary before Mrs Draper. In fact, Maureen had been even older than Louisa when she discovered she was pregnant with twins! It had provided the village with plenty of gossip as Maureen and Roger weren't married at the time.

Louisa packed her shopping into bags and placed them back in the trolley. There were more bags than she'd anticipated. She was still debating what to do when Roger came out. "Do you want a lift back to the surgery? I'm going for my 6-monthly check-up and would be happy to drive you there."

Relief flooded through her as she gladly accepted his offer. They unloaded the car outside the front door and while Roger went off to park his car, she made several trips carrying the bags around to the kitchen. She put everything away, noting that several cupboards were almost bulging at the seams.

Martin came in for lunch, soup with crusty bread, and announced he was going into Wadebridge that afternoon for a haircut. "Would you like to come along, Louisa?"

"No thank you Martin. I'm feeling a bit tired and so I'll have a nap while you run your errands."

Concern appeared on his face and he held the back of his hand to her forehead. She didn't feel hot, but that was not necessarily a good thing as she could be coming down with a cold. "What have you been doing this morning?"

"I was up shortly after you, and having had breakfast I went grocery shopping. There were a lot of people doing the same and I stood in several queues. I was grateful for Roger's offer of a lift back here."

"Louisa, you must take it easy! You are still at an early stage of pregnancy and will feel tired more quickly than when you are not pregnant. Do you listen to anything I say?"

"Yes, I do Martin, but I'm not an invalid, only pregnant!" she snarled back at him.

He sighed and took hold of her hand. "Louisa you are not a 22-year-old first time Mum either. The baby makes quite a large demand upon your energy stores. I am not criticising you; I'm stating a fact. Please, for my sake and the baby's, slow down and let your body adjust?" He turned concerned eyes onto her face and she could see the love there also.

"I'm sorry Martin, I'll pay more attention in future. You go and get your haircut, I'll be fine." She kissed his cheek and went upstairs. When he looked in on her 20 minutes later, she was fast asleep. He tenderly covered her up and left for Wadebridge.

Returning some 90 minutes later he found her in the kitchen, supping a hot cup of tea. "Feeling better now?" he enquired.

She sheepishly admitted she did and told him there was enough tea left for him if he wanted it.

"No thanks, I'm going to do my paperwork. If I can get it done today, I thought you might like a drive out tomorrow, if the weather stays calm?"

The thought did appeal and she smiled her thanks to him. He nodded and left for his office.