Chapter 87
As she walked down the hill, Bert Large was just coming up. "Hello Louiser! How are you?"
"Fine Bert, just fine."
"Did you have a good time on the Scilly's?"
"We had a great time, thank you Bert. Sorry, can't stay and chat – must get back to school."
"You an' the Doc should come down for a meal!" Bert was ever hopeful that if such a distinguished couple ate at his restaurant, then others would come as well.
"We'll see, Bert. Got to go!" She waved over her shoulder and carried on to school.
In school one or two of the children were playing up, but with her stern frown on her face and a few "Silly Behaviour, over here," rapped out she got them back into a semblance of order. Lessons meandered on until it was home time again.
Bert puffed his way into the reception area and asked Pauline, "How long is it to go in?"
"Only 10 minutes Bert. Take a seat and he'll be with you soon." Pauline directed him to a chair and Bert sank gratefully into it.
The door opened and Martin ushered out his patient, "You must take the full course, to be sure the tablets have done their work."
"Yes Doctor Ellingham." Mrs Archer was relieved to have some tablets, the blessed itching had driven her mad. She smiled at Bert as she passed him.
"Next patient," called Martin, and sighed when Bert stood up. "Come through." He retreated to his desk and waited for the portly man to waddle in.
"Now then Doc. I've just spoken to Louiser and she said you had a great time on your holiday?"
"Yes. What is your problem today, Bert?"
"Well, what were the islands like, then?"
"Bert, do you have a medical problem?" Martin became tetchy as he perceived that perhaps his time was being wasted by a well-known gossipmonger.
"Straight down to business, eh Doc?"
"Bert, less of your procrastination and tell me what your problem is!"
"Well it's like this Doc, what I mean is, me and Al are somewhat at loggerheads at the moment."
"What has that got to do with me? You can't expect me to referee your disputes!" Martin failed to see any justification for Bert's visit.
"Doc, Al's been asking to see his birth certificate." Bert gave this explanation as if all would be immediately clear to Martin.
Unfortunately, Martin was even more baffled by this seeming non-sequitur.
"Well give it to him, then."
Bert's head went down. "It all started when Al asked me why my eyes are brown, and his are blue. Mary's eyes were brown as well, so how come that happened, Doc? Why weren't Al's eyes brown like ours?"
"In some cases two blue-eyed parents can have brown-eyed children and vice versa. Doesn't often happen, but it can. I don't see the relevance of these questions, Bert. Why don't you get to the real problem?"
Bert looked upset and then "You see it was like this. Mary and me we had a falling out before Al was born. I went away for a while and then came back. Mary told me she'd been out with Dave Nash a few times, when I was away. Anyway when we got back together, Mary told me she were pregnant. Sure enough, Al arrived about seven months later. Now do you see?"
Martin fitted the pieces together and arrived at a supposition. "What does Al's birth certificate say?"
"I dunno Doc. Mary always did the official paperwork and it's in an envelope which I haven't opened. As far as I'm concerned, Al is my son." Bert looked very sad at this turn of events.
Martin suddenly understood why Bert was so downcast. "Bert," he began gently, "you must let Al see his birth certificate. You know he could always apply for a copy himself, if he wanted to. As you say you have looked after him for his entire life and by doing that you've proved that you are his parent. Surely it will be better coming from you, rather than anyone else?"
Bert sighed deeply. "I suppose you are right, Doc, but what if I'm not his father? What if he goes away? I'd be lost without him."
"Bert, as I said, you may not be his biological father, but in every way which counts, you have proved yourself over and over again. Show him the certificate, Bert. At least then you will both know."
Bert's eyes grew teary. "I guess you're right Doc, but I'm scared."
It was Martin's turn to sigh, "Surely, to know for definite one way or the other, has to be better than living with a possibility? You can do this Bert, and it will be better coming from you."
Bert got to his feet, "Thanks Doc. I'll do it, 't won't be easy, but as you say, I'll know." He turned and left, leaving Martin, for once, totally sympathetic.
The rest of the afternoon's patients were relatively straightforward and didn't really require any particular effort on Martin's behalf. He was glad when the day was over.
Louisa was fast asleep on the couch when he went into the kitchen. He smiled and set about making tea. The rattling of the pots woke her up, and when she'd gathered her scattered wits, "Thanks Martin. Guess I was tired. I'll go and wash up and be down shortly."
The table was set and they sat down to enjoy their meal.
"How was your day, Louisa?"
"So-so. The children were a bit fractious today. I had to tell several of them off, more than once, before they settled down. What about you?"
"Pretty humdrum. Nothing especially taxing." He resumed eating and soon was picking up the plates to wash up.
"I'll do that, Martin. You made it, so it's only fair. I've got some marking to do tonight which will take me about an hour. Are you going to disappear into your office and work on your clock?"
"No such luck, Louisa. I've got the accounts to do. That will take me a while."
"Right, see you later then." She got up and kissed him as he left the kitchen.
Having washed the pots she settled to do the marking. Thirty books to get through, and that was for two questions. She had to write a comment on each child's book, so it took a fair amount of time to work through the pile. Some of the children were obviously struggling and so she resolved to spend a bit more time with them, in class. Sadly there just wasn't enough time to spend with the brighter ones, and so they had to be content with the good comments.
Martin managed to get through the accounts and found that he owed money to Mrs Tishell for both of his tabs, there. He grimaced at the thought of paying her a visit. He decided to check his supplies to see if he could combine two purposes in the one go.
Having finished his work he tidied round and then left to join Louisa. She'd also finished her schoolwork and was cleaning the kitchen. "You ready for a drink then, Martin?"
"Er, yes. Tea please." He sat down and picked up the latest BMJ.
She sat down with their drinks and turned to look at him. "Seems to me that we missed out the other evening, Martin."
His concentration on the article he was reading meant that he wasn't really listening properly. "Hm."
Louisa decided to stay quiet and drink her tea. She felt sure that the question she had raised would permeate through and he would require an explanation.
Absentmindedly he continued to sup his tea and peruse the article.
Louisa drank her tea and as she was finishing it, she began to fiddle with the buttons of her blouse. She unfastened the top one and proceeded to the next one.
Martin had almost completely read the article when he became conscious of her fiddling. He turned his head and saw what she was doing. "It is warm in here, isn't it?" was his observation.
"Yes Martin." She snuggled closer to him and placed her hand on his thigh. Lightly she began to move her hand up and down.
As he was still engaged in the article, he didn't perceive what she was up to. Slowly she allowed her hand to move upwards.
He sat for a minute, ruminating on the article and then becoming aware of what she was doing. He turned to look properly at her, in time to see a third button on her blouse undone.
"Ah, what did we miss out on, Louisa?"
Her eyes looked up at him and a smile crossed her face. "What do you think, Martin?" She leaned closer to him and kissed his cheek, all the while allowing her hand to wander.
"Oh, I see. Come here, beauty." He put his arm around her and drew her onto his lap. "Scheming minx."
"I was beginning to think I'd have to strip completely to get your attention," she pouted. Her next words were muffled as he began to kiss her, properly.
His own hands began to wander to complete the unfastening of her blouse, even as she drew off his tie.
"Yes, we never did get our romantic evening, did we?"
Things became more passionate and eventually they decided to continue in the bedroom. Martin stayed down long enough to lock the doors and switch off the lights before taking the stairs two at a time.
On entering the bedroom he saw Louisa lighting the little tea tealights around the room. He raised an eyebrow, but she just smiled and moved towards him.
Reaching across he pulled the tie from her ponytail and watched as it cascaded down onto her shoulders. He ran his fingers through it, enjoying the sensation of the soft tresses as they slipped through his hands. She lifted her hands to his shoulders, pulling him down into another kiss. She began to strip the jacket from him, but he couldn't just drop it to the floor, so draped it around the chair.
He finished unfastening her blouse so that he could stroke her body, unimpeded. His shirt quickly followed and they slowly undressed before getting into bed.
As he prepared to hold her, she pushed him onto his back. "No, let me." Leaning over him she allowed her hair to trail over his chest as she both kissed him and allowed her hands to roam. They kissed passionately before Louisa straddled him. He looked up at her.
"I wanted you to see me showing you just how much I love you, and only you." She began to move and the age-old magic flowed through them both. They found their release and she carefully disengaged before laying down beside him. His hands moved carefully across the baby bump, "are you alright?"
Louisa smiled at him, "yes Martin, we're just dandy."
"Thank you, Louisa. I love you too."
They talked for a while and then she rolled to her side allowing him to cuddle in with his hand on the baby.
Early in the morning, Louisa woke first. She looked at him and moved closer. She ran her fingers through his hair until he woke up. "Didn't we just do that last night?"
"Are you moaning or complaining?"
With horrified eyes he said "No! No!"
"Well then, relax and we'll do it again!" suiting actions to words she set about raising his temperature, but it wasn't long before he was completely in tune with her.
They then slept until his alarm went off. Martin struggled to open his eyes, but thoughts of the night just gone made him smile. He quietly got up and moved to the bathroom. Standing in the shower his eyes sparkled at the memories.
Walking back into the bedroom he bent and kissed her, "Come on sleepyhead. Time to get going."
Her eyes fluttered open. "Morning handsome. Did you sleep well?"
"When I was allowed to, yes." Then jumped aside as a pillow flew across the room.
"Right, I'll go and make breakfast while you shower. Do you want egg and soldiers?"
"No, just cereal for me, please."
He nodded and went downstairs.
Eventually she came to the table and poured milk onto her cereal. She looked over to him and hoped she'd reassured him as to her complete devotion to him.
"I'll be back around two o'clock this afternoon. We should be in good time to go to Wadebridge."
"Yes, that will be fine. Good."
She went back upstairs to complete getting ready for school. Going into the surgery she kissed his cheek and said, "See you later, handsome."
"Yes. I love you," he whispered.
Walking down the hill she remembered the glow on his face as she made love to him. "Hm, I wonder if I can get him to realise that I need 'reassurance' on a regular basis?" A smile lit her face as she contemplated his reactions.