Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property of Buffalo Pictures. I own nothing except my overactive imagination.

Beauty and The Beast – Happy Ever After?

Chapter 3

That evening, we returned together to Louisa's cottage. It made sense for us to go back to her place rather than mine, because all the baby equipment for James was there, and once she told me that her mother had left, flown off to warmer climes, I didn't mind going there at all.

While Louisa disappeared off to have a shower, I stood looking down at our precious little boy, now happily fast asleep in his cot. Thankfully, Louisa had not persisted with her quite frankly ludicrous idea of letting the baby co-sleep with her in bed, an idea she'd gained from that ridiculous child care book which I was certain could only have been written by an American. That lot were usually responsible for the latest hare-brained, ill thought out fads in my experience.

I couldn't help but smile to myself as I heard James Henry snoring a little as he slumbered, which was really rather endearing. He may have taken after me in his looks, poor little sod, but he had certainly inherited a few of his mother's traits too.

I looked up as Louisa now came back into the bedroom. She slowly walked over to stand in front of me. My breath caught in my throat as she ran her hands up my chest and then round to the back of my neck to pull me down for a kiss. It was a long, lingering, smouldering kiss that was full of promise.

"Make love to me Martin," she whispered in my ear, and I could feel my body responding instantly to her seductive overtures.

She was wrapped in just a flimsy little towel, and all I wanted to do was to rip it off her and comply with her command.

But somehow I managed to keep a reign on my feelings. I couldn't bear the thought of causing her any discomfort, not when she had been through the trauma of childbirth not so long ago, and had suffered soreness afterwards. She seemed such a small, delicate creature compared to a great big oaf like me, and I was prepared to wait, however long it took, whatever self control it took, until she was completely recovered before we could contemplate any resumption of our love life. I certainly didn't want her to feel in any way obliged, just because of my declaration of love. But Louisa she seemed very sure about what she wanted.

"Make love to me Martin," she whispered again, having assured me that she really was fine now. She unbuttoned my jacket, then slipped my tie off, all the while nuzzling and kissing my neck and my ears. I could feel my head swimming, my pulse racing, and my self control slipping. But I had to be sensible, I had to think of the practicalities….

"But Louisa, we haven't sorted out any protection," I managed to gasp, not wanting another unplanned pregnancy on my conscience.

In answer, she triumphantly produced a box of brand new, highest quality condoms. As I checked them out, I saw that they were large size ones, and noticed Louisa grinning up at me rather wickedly. Clearly she remembered some of the finer details from our previous liaisons.

Being a doctor naturally involved seeing other people naked, so I was well aware that I was a well built man of generous proportions. In the days when Mark Mylow had been the village policeman, I had tried to be tactful when he had sought my reassurance regarding the size of his 'equipment', knowing how important this was to most men. But the fact of the matter had been that he had been rather on the small size in that area. Not that that should in any way have been a hindrance to his love life. It just meant that he had to ensure that he used the most suitable techniques in his sexual relations.

Being a GP meant that I was required to give informative and accurate advice on any sexual matters that a patient consulted me about. So naturally I had fully researched the topic, just as I would for any other subject. I knew that skilful foreplay was essential for successful and satisfying intercourse for the female partner. So I had used my knowledge of the female anatomy to smooth things along for Louisa and I, to try and ensure that there were no problems for a petite woman like her.

Happily we had not encountered any problems at all - in fact we had seemed to be tailor made for one another. She had been so responsive to my touch, and I had never felt so aroused by any woman before – or since. Being together had been so intensely pleasurable, and I longed to share that intimacy with Louisa again. So now I found myself starting to relax, to let myself go…

"We can't, what if the baby wakes up?" I suddenly thought.

I realised that would soon put a stop to our amorous activities, and it did feel rather odd to have another being in the room with us while we were starting to make love.

"He won't know anything, he's just a baby. And he's actually a bit more settled, sleeps four hours at a time now at night. I think that should be long enough, don't you?" Louisa whispered as she unbuttoned my shirt and then removed it, before starting to undo my trousers.

"Oh Martin! What do we have here, hmm?"

Louisa had uncovered the very obvious evidence of my overwhelming need for her.

"Oh God Louisa, do you have any idea how much I've longed for this," I groaned, as I kissed her neck and her ears, breathing in her very essence as I did so.

"Make love to me Martin," she whispered for the third time, and the flimsy towel that had been struggling to cover her modesty somehow fell to the floor.

I gazed in awe at her. She was so beautiful, so very beautiful. And she wanted me.

So I finally let myself go, to live out my dreams, the endless dreams that I had night after night, of how wonderful it would be to experience once again the delights of making love to Louisa.

xXx

As we lay entwined together afterwards, I had to pinch myself to believe that this was real. We were still both naked – she had forbidden me to put my pyjamas on, declaring that they were 'hideous'. I didn't really mind, as it meant that she didn't put hers on either, and so I could touch and feel her gloriously soft silky skin. She seemed to be under some sort of misapprehension that I hadn't made any advances to her when we were living together because I didn't find her attractive any more. I hoped that she was now reassured that this could not be any further from the truth, even if I was not very good at communicating these things to her.

"Louisa, you know I'm not very good with words, never have been," I reminded her.

"Yes, I do know. But I have to say that you excelled yourself with your words this afternoon though, didn't you? I truly thought I would never hear you say that you loved me, and that made me so sad. Go on, say it again now, please? Finish what you were going to say when that imbecile Joe interrupted us."

"Really Louisa, it's all a fuss over nothing. And anyway, I didn't hear you say anything back, you didn't make any declaration of love to me as I recall."

"That is true I suppose. So I shall tell you now. I love you Martin Ellingham. I have always loved you, and I will always love you."

"And I will always love you Louisa. That's what I was going to say. I will always love you, there will never be anyone else for me. There, was that alright?"

"Perfect Martin, that was just perfect. And from now on, I shall expect you to tell me that you love me every day, so that you get more used to vocalising your feelings."

I was horrified - Louisa wanted me to say those words to her every day? It was as if she was setting me some sort of homework, like learning my times tables. As I grimaced, she told me that it only had to be in private, and I supposed that as I'd managed to say it out loud in public, maybe I could manage to whisper something in her ear at bedtime, if that was what it took to keep her happy.

As I relaxed and let myself think about what had just passed between us, I had a silly little smile on my face, much as I'd had the morning after the very first time we had made love. I recalled how on that occasion I'd had a spring in my step and the same smile as I'd left her cottage to walk back to mine, and how that stupid postman had given me a thumbs up sign having caught us together that morning as he'd delivered the post.

Louisa gave a happy little sigh as she snuggled up in my arms, having assured me that she had not experienced any discomfort or problems during our love making. She had certainly seemed to enjoy the process every bit as much as I had, clinging to me and digging her nails in my back, as she'd called out my name at the height of her passion. The thought that this was just the first of many such pleasurable experiences between us was thrilling and exciting to say the least. I thought of the young, newly married couple who had come to see me earlier. They had been so in love, unable to cut back on their kissing, finishing each others sentences, enjoying their honeymoon to the full by trying out new positions in the bedroom.

At the time, it had painfully reminded me that I had no one to experience such pleasures with. But now, hopefully things were different, and in time, maybe we could do some positional experimenting of our own. Over the years, however hard I had tried to control my thoughts, I had been unable to control my dreams, dreams where Louisa sat astride me, her head thrown back in pleasurable abandonment, her dark glossy hair tumbling down over her shoulders, as I caressed her pert breasts…but I was getting ahead of myself.

I had to come back down to earth. There were still quite a few things that we had to face and sort out together. Yes, we had just proved that we were undoubtedly satisfyingly sexually compatible, but there were quite a few other matters that we had to get straight if we were to stand a realistic chance of making a go of things between us. The fairy tale ending could soon come crashing down around us otherwise.

I glanced over at the cot, where James Henry was still sleeping, although for how much longer I wasn't sure. But I was quite looking forward to picking him up when he woke. I had actually missed the disturbed nights, when Louisa and I had worked together to try to comfort our wailing son. When she moved out, taking James with her, the nights had seemed too long, the house too quiet, the place too tidy. I had missed picking up random items of Louisa's underwear scattered over the floor, along with James' little socks and toys.

"After today's debacle, we have to ensure that proper child care arrangements are put in place for James Henry," I ventured.

"Yes, I agree, I don't know what I would have done if anything had happened to him," Louisa said. She shuddered and then cuddled up closer to me, as I held her tight. At least she didn't seem to be holding me to blame for leaving him with Mrs Tishell.

"I'll help out when I can, but I can't look after him when I'm holding surgery. Patients have a right to expect my undivided attention during their consultation, and anyway, a lot of them have such disgusting germs and viruses that I'd rather he wasn't in close proximity to them," I tried to explain. When I had James, I wanted to be able to concentrate on him.

"So are you saying that you are definitely going to stay on as GP here in the village? You're really sure? You won't regret not going to London, and meeting up with…you know…" Louisa asked.

"Yes I am sure about staying on here, if Chris agrees that is. And no, I have no wish to meet up with Edith, if that is who you are referring to. She was just a colleague, an old friend, nothing more. You jumped to the wrong conclusion about her," I stated.

It had been good to see Edith again, she had been someone that I could hold a decent conversation and discussion with. This had been very welcome to me at a time when I'd been at an all time low following Louisa's departure from the village after we had called off our wedding. But there had never been anything more between us - well as far as I was concerned anyway. I remembered how I had contemplated spending the night with Edith when she had booked a double room for us at the conference in Exeter, with the clear intention of us having sex. But I had been unable to go through with it. I just couldn't get Louisa out of my mind, and everywhere I looked there had seemed to be reminders of her. It had been bloody annoying actually. A lot of men would have just taken what was on offer and enjoyed a night of sex, but I found I couldn't, even though technically I was free to do so, because at the time I was single, and Louisa had wanted nothing to do with me.

"Hmm, well you can't really blame me when you and Edith looked so cosy sitting together in your kitchen, and you both had so much in common," Louisa argued, but I think even she realised by now that I really was not interested in that woman. "And I'm sure Chris will jump at the chance of keeping you on as our GP. But as far as looking after James is concerned, since I rescinded my notice and am continuing as Head Teacher, I can't be expected to take him into school with me either, and there are a lot of germs at school too."

"No, I didn't say that you should. But that's why we need to get something sorted - that is if you really are still as determined to continue working?"

It really wasn't what I wanted at all, but I reluctantly accepted that I was going to have to compromise on the issue. I would still much prefer that she didn't work and instead concentrated on looking after the baby for now. I'd tried my best to convince her that it was better for the child, and I'd quoted several studies to support my argument, but Louisa had not been swayed it seemed. She had just thrown back at me the findings of other reports that supported her argument. She really didn't need to work, it wasn't as if we needed the money. I was more than capable of supporting us financially, but Louisa seemed to have an issue with being a 'kept woman', as she termed it.

I found Louisa to be a bit of a contradiction really. She had been so determined to go ahead and have this baby, and was so fiercely protective of him, that I was surprised that she was then happy to hand him over to unsuitable minders so that she could work. At least now she seemed happy for me to look after him, and for that I was grateful. James Henry may have been unplanned, conceived thanks to a faulty condom, hastily used in the heat of the moment without either of us thinking to checking the 'use by' date, but he was without a doubt the best mistake that we had ever made. If Louisa hadn't got pregnant, she would probably never have returned to the village and then we would never have got back together. Realistically, I think it unlikely that I would ever have actually chosen to have a child, so now I was eternally grateful that our slip up had made the choice for me.

"I love my job, and I've worked so hard to get my position, I can't just give it up now. And anyway, I'd be bored out of my brain to be a full time, stay at home mum," Louisa insisted.

"It's just that…well I happen to think that you are the best person to look after him, especially while he is so young, not some stranger who happens to be available. And I'm afraid that I for one am not sorry that your mother has buggered off again, she was so unreliable."

"Ok Martin, I know you and she didn't exactly hit it off together."

"That's an understatement," I muttered. For the life of me, I simply couldn't understand why Louisa had accepted her mother back, considering the way she seemed to think she could waltz in and out of her daughter's life as she pleased, causing mayhem and upset.

"Well, we could start by investigating all the officially registered child minders in the village. And maybe I could cut back my hours a bit so that we wouldn't need a child minder every day."

"Hmm, maybe I could do the same," I offered by way of compromise.

"Oh Martin, that would be really good. You know, I'm quite surprised by how much of a 'Daddy's Boy' James is already, so I'm sure he would love it if you spent more time with him."

Louisa hugged me, and I felt quite proud that she had noticed the bond that was developing between my baby son and me. So it really was no hardship for me to look after James sometimes, because I actually enjoyed it anyway. And after all, what was the point of me turning down the London position if I didn't make time to be with my family?

"Just a couple of other things that I wanted to bring up," I continued, deciding that I might as well go for it.

"Yes, Martin?"

"You said that I'm a difficult man, and you were right, I am. Which inevitably will mean that things are not always going to be plain sailing between us. So there are two things that I ask of you."

"Go on, I'm listening."

"Just tell me, straight out, exactly what it is you expect from me, what you want me to do. I don't do hints, and I don't do subtle. I much prefer dealing with clear instructions given to me in a factual and logical manner. So if you can inform me of your expectations and requirements in that way, then hopefully there will be fewer misunderstandings between us."

"OK Martin, I get the picture, and I promise that I will do my best. What's the second thing?"

"However hard we try, realistically we are bound to experience some ups and downs in our relationship. But please, don't ever walk out on me again, don't just run away. Explain things to me, tell me what it is that I've done wrong, or what it is that I've not done that has upset you. Give me a chance to put things right, please?"

"Oh Martin, you make me sound like a teenager who flounces off every time things get tough!"

"All I'm saying is that we both have to act like adults, because we have our child to consider now. I will try to communicate with you more effectively, but I really need you to help me. And if you leave each time things get a bit difficult, you can't teach me how to get better at this 'couple' business, can you? Don't forget, I have been a crusty old bachelor living on my own for a very long time."

For the longest time I had found all these 'love' feelings very difficult to handle. I had found them to be rather inconvenient and quite frankly a blessed nuisance as they had irritatingly disrupted my calm orderly life, and the best option had seemed to be to try to ignore them. So inevitably now I was going to struggle to cope with all the finer nuances of being in a relationship without some help from Louisa, who always seemed to take offence so easily to my honest reactions and thoughts. But that was just my way - I had never believed in telling convenient lies, preferring the truth, even if it wasn't always what people wanted to hear.

"No Martin, you're right. I will try, honestly, and I am sorry for how I've acted at times, making unfair assumptions about you. It's just…" Her voice trailed away, and I could see the hurt in her eyes. I could just picture her as the vulnerable little girl whose mother had deserted her, who had grown into the teenager, the young woman who had had to build up a defensive wall to protect herself from her mother's selfish behaviour and abandonment, and her father's petty criminal behaviour. It had made her become fiercely independent , never allowing herself to become too dependent or reliant on anyone else. It explained a lot about her behaviour towards me, I began to realise.

"Having met both your parents, and seen how they've treated you, I can maybe comprehend your feelings of insecurity," I said, as I gently stroked her cheek. I wasn't the only one who had been affected by my ghastly childhood, nor was I the only one who had been in denial of how the past had affected me, I now realised.

"Turning into one of those psychoanalyst types that you always profess to hate, are you Martin?" Louisa tried to joke with me, but I knew that I had hit the nail on the head. I certainly hoped that Eleanor never returned, but like a bad penny, no doubt at some point she would. I couldn't understand how Louisa had ever considered her a suitable minder for James, but I did realise that it was extremely complicated between the two women. Eleanor was manipulative, and knew how to play Louisa perfectly. I would have to be on my guard if she did return. I would certainly do my best to ensure that she did not hurt Louisa – or our son – again.

"Anyway, I've got something to get straight with you too, Martin."

"Yes?" I asked, all attention.

"Don't you ever hide my chocolate digestives ever again."

"But Louisa, I was only trying to help…"

"Martin! Just shut up, alright?"

I realised that in this instance, I just had to accept what she was saying, even if she was being illogical and made no sense at all. Some things, it seemed, would never make sense to me, however long I lived.

"Yes, Louisa." I meekly replied, and was rewarded by her gently kissing my cheek. I knew that I had a lot to learn, but as long as I had Louisa as my teacher, I would be a very conscientious student.

The End

Now continued in 'Happy Ever After – The Real World'