Louisa and James were lost in thought as they took the narrow roads back to the village. "Mum, why did Dad abandon us?

"What?" Louisa snapped back to the present. She had been wondering what to make of Martin's singing. Were they dreamers? Could it be that they were dreaming about the same thing? "Abandon? It's a long story."

"You can start now. I leave on Sunday."

"It won't take that long."

"Were you together while you were pregnant with me and then he upped and left?" James pressed.

For the next hour, hidden by the darkness in the car, Louisa shamefacedly explained her role in Martin's return to London. After they had succumbed to their fears and did not turn up for their wedding, she fled to London without telling him. When she discovered that she was pregnant, she only told him when she returned to the village six months pregnant.

"Mum, how could you? That wasn't fair to Dad."

"I'm sorry James, so sorry."

She told James about her own childhood, of being abandoned first by her mother, and then, de facto, her father. This had forced her to look after herself from an early age. As a result, it was hard for her to trust anyone. After James was born, she had wanted to reach out to his father but stubborn pride and fear of rejection held her back. When Joan was ill and Martin came to visit, she invented excuses as to why he couldn't see James because she had the irrational fear that he would take him from her. When he came for Joan's funeral and held his son for the first time, she hardened her heart not to see the love and longing in his eyes. Then there was Nathan. She ran into his arms, not out of love at first, but to give her son a father and some semblance of a family life that she never had. Nathan knew she still loved Martin, yet he loved her enough to want to build a family with her and enough that on his deathbed, had asked her to make peace with Martin.

She shared more that night with her son than she had ever shared with anyone. She never trusted anyone with this secret, not even Nathan. Joan knew a lot, but they never talked about it. Tonight, with all its emotional upheavals, she felt she owed it to James.

When they got home, James hugged her. "I'm sorry you suffered for so long. I used to think that you and Dad had nothing in common, but you both were carrying so much baggage neither of you could see beyond that to make a go of your relationship."

"James, I want you to know that I grew to love Nathan. Please believe me."

Taking her by the arm, he led her upstairs. "I know you loved dad. You don't have to try to convince me, I grew up in this family. It's been a long day. Let's go to bed." Louisa slept well that night, the first in a long time.

Back at the Parsons's, Martin and Chris discussed the project to which Martin had agreed to lend his considerable skills. After years as head of the PCT, and the respect he had earned as a medical administrator, they had asked Chis to break his retirement temporarily to lead a well-funded research project for surgical residents in Cornwall. Martin had agreed to help him and would come down to Truro for bi-monthly lectures, practicals and reviews.

Then they drifted into the subject that was uppermost in their minds.

"It was good to see you and Louisa in the same room and getting along. I didn't know what to expect," Chris began tentatively, not wishing to pry into his friend's very private life.

"Neither did I. I didn't know she would have been here," Martin said.

Reaching for his glass of brandy, he looked over at Chris, "Do you think it has been too long?"

"Too long for what? You're not planning to marry her are you?

"Chris! What I mean is, would she ever be on cordial terms with me after all I have done her."

"You have done each other some silly things, so I don't see why not. And you have been on cordial terms with her all these years, the last time I checked."

Feeling a little bolder, Martin put it on the table. "And what if I wanted to marry her? I have never stopped loving her."

"Don't I know."

"Would she give me a chance again?"

"Only you can answer that Mart. You know her best. She hasn't changed all that much, you know."

Martin wanted to believe that but he wasn't sure.

"Look at you, your social skills have improved and in many ways you're not the tortured soul you once were. You don't rant as much as you used to from what people at Imperial tell me and you have been very calm all evening. But you will always be the reserved, introverted, goal-driven person I met at uni."

Martin's mind flashed back to the day he was standing in his kitchen with Joan, some twenty-two years ago, and she told him he could not change. He had been livid and smarting from Louisa's rejection and had angrily told her that if he wanted to change he could. And he had.

"We have lived so many lives, gone in so many directions away from each other. Would us coming together, if she agreed, even work?"

His incredible chance meeting with Louisa had affected him in ways he had never imagined it would. His natural reserve had not stopped his heart from leaping - Christ, he should know that the heart doesn't leap - nor his hands from wanting to reach out and touch her to reassure himself that this was not all a dream. He who had stopped life from slipping away from royalty, the high, the mighty and the humble felt hopelessness sweeping over him.

"This is such a mess."

"No, you haven't been away from each other. James always held you both together. As for making a go of it, that's up to you and Louisa. You're healthy, still very active and ALONE. I'm a man of science but as a husband and father, I have learned that in these matters, let your heart take you where it needs to go."

They sat lost in thought for a while. Chris broke the silence. "Mart, Louisa has never stopped loving you. The village, and even her late husband, knew that. I saw him the week before he died and he asked me to watch over her. She has had a hard time of it, but she's not one to sit around and feel sorry for herself. I hate to impose, I'm just asking if you would try to at least be there for her as she faces the future. If you do, I would consider my promise kept."

"Who's the man she has never stopped loving? We both have changed. I'm not the bumbling GP doing purgatory in Portwenn that she knew. Our worlds are so different."

"Your worlds may be different, but you and Louisa are essentially the same persons who fell in love with each other and, for reasons I will never understand, walked away from each other. As a man of science, why don't you do the research, analyze the findings and let that guide Project Louisa and Mart."

Martin grinned. "Damn Chris, when did you get so philosophical? Project Louisa and Mart. It's time to go. I need to figure out how I'm going to handle tomorrow with Louisa. "

"She has agreed to see you? You had the courage to ask?" This was another turn in the evening that Chris never saw coming.

Ignoring the last question, Martin mumbled to himself, "What are the odds that we would meet tonight? I owe her an explanation."

The two friends made to shake hands, then hugged each other.

Driving to the hotel, Martin couldn't help wondering if he was going where angels feared to thread. He consoled himself that fate had brought them together and he was willing to go wherever it took him.

Before retiring for bed, he texted instructions to Mrs. Green, his assistant, who had been with him since his return to Imperial. He hadn't seen her since his trip as he had left the airport and gone straight to see James at his flat and had only stopped at his home on the way to Cornwall to get fresh clothing. If only she knew that Visit with Dr. Parsons which she had put in his calendar had turned out to be Visit with Dr. Parsons & Mrs. Tiggle.

He knew that Louisa was coming to London for the graduation as he and James had discussed the ins and out of her visit. She would stay with James. The only time they would meet would be at the graduation and the graduation lunch he was hosting for James. This was for the best since they had not seen each other in such a long time. They had spoken on the phone on and off, but nothing more as he did not want to intrude in any way in her marriage. After tonight, he decided to invite Chris and Jenny. If his meeting with her didn't go well, at least she would have friends there. Suddenly, things were different. Seeing her had opened up a wound that had never healed. He had managed to co-exist with it, but for how much longer? He wanted desperately to see if tonight's meet-up with Louisa could lead anywhere. He felt he owed it to himself to take that chance. She was a beautiful and desirable woman. Who wouldn't want to pursue her?

While performing his nightly ablutions, he gave himself a good look in the mirror. Even he saw the change in his facial expression. How could she ever have loved him? Yet she had and he had blown it. It had been a long day but he decided to meditate before going to bed. It would help to put the events of the evening in perspective.

Sleep didn't come quickly, so he searched his playlist, found Etta James's At Last, and fell asleep to:

At last, My love has come along

My lonely days are over

And life is like a song.

Before turning off her bedside lamp, Jenny leaned over to her husband and asked, "Do you think Louisa and Martin can get back together?"

"I don't know."

"But they love each other."

"Jenny, love isn't always enough. Making a life together is challenging."

"Louisa and Nathan had a good marriage. They had their difficulties, which marriage hasn't?"

"Your memory is highly selective. After James left, issues which had been there for some time spilled out into the open. How he chose to deal with his illness didn't help. If you remember, as much as I was afraid to, I had to do an intervention. It's late. Those two are fully grown, let them work it out." And with that the Parsons drifted off to sleep, each wishing a good outcome for their dear friends.

To be continued ...