Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property ofBuffalo Pictures. I own nothing except my imagination.
Dreams Really do Come True - Chapter 28
Louisa stared at her reflection in the mirror in their hotel room where they were staying for the Charity Ball. She stood sideways, and smoothed her top down over her bump – where had this great lump suddenly appeared from? She was very happy to be pregnant, very happy to be having another baby with Martin, but the downside was, just like last time, she was getting pretty big, pretty early on, and it was affecting her confidence, making her feel unattractive. She didn't think there would be any need to worry from now on about Martin wanting to make love to her, no way was he going to find her sexy or attractive looking like this. It hadn't escaped her notice that Martin didn't try to initiate any lovemaking with her when they arrived at their hotel room, unlike last time when he'd been unable to keep his hands off her. It was only to be expected, Martin had hardly been able to look at her when she'd been heavily pregnant before, she knew that he found fat people repulsive. She remembered how he'd spoken to Alison Lane, telling her rudely that the most effective diet was 'to keep her mouth shut' and how he'd treated her with disdain because of her large size.
Martin stared at Louisa's reflection in the mirror - he thought that she'd never looked more beautiful, she was radiant, her skin was glowing, her hair was glossy and shiny, pregnancy really suited her he thought. But he didn't want to make any demands on her, it wasn't fair of him to expect her to want to make love as they had before, much as he might want to. No, he would have to wait and take his lead from her, go with what she felt comfortable with. He could feel his desire mounting as he looked at her curvaceous womanly figure, so he quickly looked away, and started fiddling with the air conditioning controls instead, muttering and complaining about it as usual.
"I said I'd meet Jenny downstairs for a swim and Jacuzzi before I go to the salon to have my hair done, so I'd better get a move on," Louisa told Martin.
She'd noticed him turn away from her reflection having stared in horror at it.
"Well don't overdo things, gentle exercise is fine, but…" Martin reminded her.
"You were the one who said it'll be harder to get my figure back this time, I'd have thought you'd be pleased that I'm going swimming, it's the perfect exercise in pregnancy," she reminded him, as she gathered up her things and disappeared out of the door.
Left to his own devices, Martin got out the paperwork he'd brought with him to catch up on, and was just settling down with it when there was a knock at the door.
He went over to open it, assuming that it would be Louisa and said,
"Did you forget your room key…"
He was speechless when he saw that in fact it was Edith standing there.
"Ellingham. I thought it was you I saw going into this room earlier, so I thought I'd just knock and say hello," Edith lied. In fact she'd spun some story to the hotel receptionist about them being colleagues and a mix up with the rooms to find out which one he was in.
"Hello. There, you can go now," Martin replied brusquely. Thank God Louisa wasn't here, he knew that she wouldn't be at all happy to see Edith of all people here in the same hotel.
"Oh don't be like that, we've been close friends for so many years, seems such a shame not to keep in touch," she said, pushing past him to enter the room and look around. She saw Louisa's red evening dress hanging up and turned her nose up – how vulgar, black was the only possible choice for an evening dress, no doubt Ellingham hated that ghastly red thing. Wait until he saw what she was going to be wearing tonight, that would show him what good taste really was, he would approve she knew, they'd always shared the same refined, classic choices for clothes.
"What do you want Edith? And what are you doing back here in Cornwall, I thought you hated it?" Martin asked, wanting her to go, but curious too.
"Oh I had a meeting I came down for, so I thought I'd spend a few days down here. Look I'm sorry we didn't part on very good terms last time, seems rather silly after all the years we've known each other, and all the ...experiences we've shared. We were so good together back then, at Medical School, weren't we?" she said, as she ran her hand along the edge of the bed, and looked at him in what she believed to be an enticing manner.
Memories of the double bed in the hotel room that Edith had booked for them to share forced their way into Martin's mind, and he remembered how he hadn't been able to even contemplate spending the night with her although he'd been single and technically a free agent. All he'd been able to think about then was how wonderful making love with Louisa had been, how beautiful she'd looked in bed and how he still loved her so very much, even if it was unrequited love as he'd believed then. Now his eye was caught by the box on the bedside cabinet which contained the diamond necklace that he'd given Louisa, and it conjured up vivid memories of how they'd made love with her wearing just the necklace. He could feel himself blushing at the fantastic, erotic memories.
He was brought back from his reverie by Edith reaching out and running her fingers up his arm and then touching his cheek. He recoiled from her touch, from her invasion of his personal space. He was still basically a very shy person and he only felt comfortable with Louisa touching him like that. Edith felt his reaction and thought to herself 'it's still there, the electricity between us, he's going to jump at my proposition tonight'.
"Well, I'll leave you for now, maybe we might just 'bump' into each other again before too long hmm?" she said with a raised eyebrow. She knew that Louisa was downstairs and had a hair appointment booked, again another easy lie to the salon about booking an appointment at around the same time as her 'friend' had gained her the information she needed. She didn't want to risk spooking Ellingham by having any kind of confrontation with Louisa now. No, she'd wait till later, she knew now that he was still under her spell. She'd been too subtle with him before, she intended to cut to the chase this evening, Ellingham needed firm guidance in these matters. As she swept out of the room, she left behind a trail of her heavy cloying perfume that she believed to be irresistible, Martin coughed and choked, and tried to open the window even further than he already had to get rid of it. This one might not smell of cheese, but it was still dreadful.
He really had no idea why she'd come to see him, but he certainly had no interest in seeing her again, that he knew for certain.
He'd just sat down again to continue with his reading, trying to put the whole 'Edith' incident out of his mind, when he heard the door open as Louisa let herself in. She was smiling ruefully, telling herself off for being so paranoid. Fancy thinking she'd just seen that red head turning at the end of the corridor. There were lots of other slim red headed women in the world after all.
"It's a bit tricky going for a swim without your swimsuit I've just found out. I'm getting so forgetful, but at least I had my room key, that's something I suppose," Louisa explained as she gathered up the missing item. Then she wrinkled her nose up in disgust and said,
"What's that awful smell in here, it's like a really nasty cheap toilet cleaner. I didn't notice it earlier, but it's dreadful."
Martin opened his mouth to tell her about Edith's visit. But Louisa looked so relaxed and happy, and he knew that she was really looking forward to the Ball, so for once he tactfully kept his mouth shut as he knew any mention of Edith's name would upset her and spoil her good mood. He'd tell her about it tomorrow, after the Ball, he quickly decided.
"Were you going to say something?" she looked at him curiously.
"Have a nice swim and don't overdo it," Martin reminded her, feeling rather proud of himself for finally learning to think before he opened his mouth.
xXx
"Can you help me to put this on please?" Louisa asked Martin, passing him her beautiful diamond necklace. She'd come back from her swim and then her trip to the hairdressers to have her hair put up, and had got changed into her red evening dress. As she looked in the mirror, she could see that it was a beautiful dress, Martin had been right to choose this one, but looking at her expanding figure she thought that about the only good thing with her appearance now was that her breasts had grown pretty big too, giving her a fantastic cleavage to show off in this low cut dress.
As he put the necklace round her neck and did it up for her, they both remembered the last Ball when she'd worn it and nothing else. As the necklace sparkled and drew his eye to her cleavage, Martin could feel himself quickly becoming aroused, and so moved away to fetch his jacket.
"You…ummm...might like to wear this as well," Martin said, as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a similar but smaller leather case to the one that had contained her necklace.
"Oh, Martin, you didn't need to do this!" Louisa said, completely surprised as she took the box from him. She opened it to find a beautiful diamond bracelet that matched her necklace.
"Well, I didn't do very well for your birthday I realise now, and it's our Wedding Anniversary shortly too, so I thought I might as well give it to you to wear tonight," Martin explained, rather embarrassed. He'd secretly measured Louisa's watch strap to get the correct size, and then he'd ordered it from the same jewellers that he'd bought the necklace from in London, and they had had it specially delivered to his surgery for him.
Louisa was speechless. She had wondered if he would remember their anniversary, as he was not one to make a fuss of birthdays or anything, so she was thrilled that he had indeed remembered. Of course he had his ever efficient spreadsheets to remind him.
"Martin, I'm going to be dripping in diamonds at this rate," she joked.
"You have a problem with that?" Martin quizzed her, raising his eyebrows.
He wanted the best for Louisa, and he was really looking forward to walking in with her this evening, looking stunning and beautiful and pregnant with his baby.
"No Martin, it's beautiful, thank you so much. My birthday was lovely, we spent it together, that's all I ever want from you. I don't need lots of expensive presents, you know that," Louisa told him, now holding out her wrist for him to do up the bracelet for her. It sparkled and glinted in the light, just as her necklace did.
"Are you saying you don't like it then?" Martin asked, unsure if she was displeased.
"No, Martin, I love it, of course I do, thank you so much for being so thoughtful," Louisa replied as she kissed him lingeringly on the lips, finding him so attractive in his evening dress suit. Although he wasn't a classically handsome type of man, he was always so well groomed, and tall, and manly with his craggy looks that she melted when she looked at him.
"Come on then, we'd better go down now. Do you want to knock for Chris and Jenny?" Martin suggested as he cleared his throat and pulled away from her while he could still do so.
"Sounds like a plan," Louisa agreed, noting his reaction with some disappointment. It was a few minutes earlier than had been agreed, but she didn't think that would matter.
They went along to Chris and Jenny's room and knocked on the door. There was no answer, so they knocked again. Finally there was a shouted reply from within.
"You're a bit early, umm… maybe we should meet you downstairs, we're…err… running a bit late," Chris called out, sounding rather distracted.
"Right, yes, of course, no problem," Martin called back, clearing his throat and ushering Louisa towards the lift. Clearly Chris and Jenny had been following their own agenda, and Martin had no wish to intrude.
xXx
Martin put Louisa's arm through his and walked into the ballroom with her. He felt such a lucky man to have Louisa by his side, as his wife, expecting his baby, and he knew that heads were turning to look at them. In the past he would have hated drawing any attention to himself, but now he didn't feel shy, just proud.
Louisa looked up at Martin. He looked so attractive in his dinner jacket and bow tie, and she felt so proud that he was her husband as she took his arm. She just hoped that he wasn't too embarrassed to be with her now with her obvious pregnancy.
After having their picture taken – another one to add to the growing collection in his surgery, some of which he'd had to move over to his mantle piece – they went over to the bar to get a drink.
A bit later, after they'd circulated for a while and chatted to various acquaintances, Louisa looked up to see Chris and Jenny entering the ballroom, and beckoned them to come over.
"Running a bit late were you?" Louisa asked her friend with a knowing look.
"I blame you actually Louisa, it's all your fault," Jenny told her with a smile.
"How come?" Louisa asked, puzzled.
"Well ever since Martin told Chris about how you 'persuaded' him to have Luke's Christening party, he's been dropping none too subtle hints about how I never try to 'persuade' him any more. As I pointed out to him, it's not easy with our two growing boys in the house after all. But with my mother staying over to mind the boys at home while we're here for the night, it was the perfect opportunity to refresh my skills," Jenny explained to Louisa with a wicked smile on her face.
Chris had been very appreciative of her beautiful lingerie - having been married for quite a few years, it was easy to get out of the habit of making an effort for each other.
Chris spoke quietly to Martin.
"Sorry about earlier, you know... when you knocked for us," Chris said.
"No, no, I'm sorry if we... umm interrupted anything," Martin replied.
"Well, as a matter of fact..." Chris said, raising his eyebrows and winking.
"Ah right. Was it, you know...?" Martin couldn't help asking his friend. Chris had been very helpful to him with some of his intimate relationship queries concerning Louisa, so now Martin felt able to ask such a question.
"Yes...Stockings...the works," Chris whispered back, with a happy, contented look on his face. Jenny had finally taken the hint after he'd told her how Louisa had persuaded Martin.
"I see. Glad it worked out for you," Martin told him.
xXx
It hadn't been difficult for Edith to get an update about Ellingham after her meeting at the hospital. People did love to gossip, so it was a pretty easy task for her to manipulate people round to the topic of conversation that she wanted. The meeting had been a complete waste of her time, as she had expected. So what if some people didn't agree with her findings, she had her evidence, if they couldn't follow her interpretation of the data that was their problem, not hers – idiots the lot of them.
She quickly established that Ellingham, the poor deluded fool, had actually gone and married his little schoolteacher, she had to give Louisa some credit for pulling that out of the bag, she supposed. What on earth they had in common she couldn't imagine, she must spend her days wiping snotty noses for all the disgusting little village brats. Edith didn't have a single maternal bone in her body, she was very similar in some ways to Martin's mother – a cold hearted bitch. That was why it had been such a shock to her to actually feel her heart lurch when she'd seen Ellingham, and why she had had to analysis the feeling to work out what it could be.
However, on further analysis she decided that the feeling of jealousy was more to do with the fact that clearly Louisa had managed to bed Ellingham, and she hadn't. Edith had always been competitive in the extreme. She didn't actually want a man in her life to clutter things up for her – her clinically sterile and organised life in London was perfect as far as she was concerned. No, what she wanted, what she needed to dispel these pangs of jealousy, was to get Ellingham into bed, to have sex with him. Miss Spikey was obviously pregnant, and with that big lump Ellingham couldn't possibly want to have sex with her so what better time to seduce him? What man could resist her offer of great uncomplicated sex with no strings attached?
Edith was very proud of the fact that she had never put any weight on over the years. If anything she had lost a little, making her even thinner than in her student days, and she knew how Ellingham hated overweight people, he thought it showed a lack of self discipline and weakness of character. She never thought of sexual intercourse as 'making love', it was always 'sex' to her, a bodily function. She had no compunction with regards to Louisa or their child, they were nothing to do with her in any way whatsoever, and didn't enter into the equation at all.
She'd seen the signs around the hospital advertising the hospital's Charity Ball, and by the price of the tickets it was obviously aimed at the higher ranking medical staff. Luckily Ellingham was pretty well known in hospital circles, so when she'd been subtly questioning some of the hospital managers after her meeting, having used the fact that Ellingham helped with her report to bring his name into the conversation, she found out to her surprise that he usually attended these Balls now. It also transpired that he had definitely got over his blood phobia because he was performing surgery again– albeit in his little practice at the surgery. Well, she could take the credit for that, it'd certainly been all down to her efforts with him, so he owed her for that.
By pretending to be desperate to support the charity that the Ball was fundraising for, she'd managed to procure a ticket for herself. The consultant's secretary who was in charge of the tickets had been a font of knowledge, explaining to her how most people stayed over at the hotel for the night, how they got there in the early afternoon, how most of the wives went for a swim and Jacuzzi before having their hair done etc etc, helpfully giving her the number of the Hotel's hair salon to see if they had any appointments left. Edith had managed to book a room at the hotel where the function was. Of course it would mean another trip to Cornwall, but she was due some leave, the admin people had been on at her several times to take it before the end of the year or she would lose it, so it was easily arranged.
This was going to be fun, she thought to herself, she always enjoyed a challenge. She just regretted that she had given up so easily on Ellingham before, she'd never really got him on his own long enough to employ any of her tried and tested seduction techniques after all. This time, she didn't intend to give up until she'd achieved her goal.
xXx
After they had had their meal, Martin and Louisa both wandered round and chatted to various acquaintances. Martin was now engrossed listening to one of the Dermatology Consultants explaining a new procedure that he'd been trying out for removing skin melanomas. He found it fascinating, it was a technique that he had been considering using in his surgery clinic. Louisa had disappeared off somewhere with Jenny a little while ago, so when he felt a gentle touch on his arm, he turned round smiling, thinking that Louisa had returned, and that she was probably going to scold him for talking shop so much.
The smile froze on his face as he saw that it was in fact Edith. She ran her hand along his jacket, and then slipped something into his pocket.
"For later. Make some excuse, say a patient needs you or something. I'm all yours, whatever you want," Edith whispered into his ear as she reached up to peck his cheek. She was wearing a skin tight black dress which had a very tight, fitted pencil skirt that showed off her very slight frame. She was wearing ridiculously high, impractical stiletto heels with very sharp pointed toes. There were no curves, nothing feminine about her all, Martin noticed in his glance. Not like Louisa, who was so soft, so curvy, and so womanly in her pregnant condition.
At that moment he glanced up to see Louisa on the far side of the room, looking over at him. She looked stunned and horrified to see Edith hanging on to him, kissing him and him smiling down at her. In an instant he saw her face crumple and look as if someone had slapped her, and then he saw her stumble and catch hold of a chair as if she might faint.
Martin threw off Edith's arm and impatiently pushed her away, as he moved to work his way through the crowds of people to reach Louisa. He lost sight of her, and by the time he got to the other side of the room, she'd disappeared. He looked round, trying to see where she'd gone.
"Where's Louisa, where did she go?" he demanded to know from Jenny, who had just come up to him.
"I don't know, she was ahead of me, what on earth's the matter, Martin?" Jenny asked puzzled.
"I...umm… think she might be feeling faint," Martin quickly explained, his eyes desperately scouring the room to find her.
"Maybe she went outside for a breath of fresh air?" Jenny suggested, pointing at the patio doors that were slightly ajar, and heading that way. "Yes, there she is, look."
Jenny pointed to a figure in a red dress out on the patio, leaning against a low brick wall for support. As they both made their way out to her, it became apparent that Louisa was very upset. By the look on Martin's face, Jenny guessed that it was something that had happened between them.
Jenny quickly decided that they needed some privacy, whatever had gone on. She left Martin to deal with things, and then went to find Chris – perhaps he knew what had on earth had happened between the two of them.
xXx
"Are you having an affair with Edith?" Louisa confronted Martin, her bottom lip quivering and her eyes brimming with tears.
"No...no! Absolutely not, you can't seriously think that I would ever..." Martin replied, horrified that Louisa could even think this. He couldn't bear to see the hurt in her eyes as she looked at him accusingly.
"But she was in our hotel room earlier, wasn't she?" Louisa stated. It made sense now, it hadbeen Edith she'd caught a glimpse of earlier on in the corridor, and it was herdisgusting perfume that had been hanging in the air in their room. She felt physically sick thinking of Martin... in bed...with her.
"Well…yes she was but..." Martin replied, not wanting to lie but knowing this looked really bad. "Look, it's freezing out here, come inside so that we can talk properly, it isn't what you think at all, surely you know me well enough by now to know that I would never...could never..." Martin took his jacket off and put it round Louisa, her teeth were chattering from the cold. It was a freezing December night, a frost was already forming, and their breath was making steam in the air as they spoke.
"I thoughtI knew you Martin, I really did, but maybe you are just like other men, maybe that's why you haven't been interested in me lately, because you've got her instead. I'm all fat and ugly, and she's so slim and elegant, not exactly a hard choice, is it?" Louisa suddenly felt that familiar feeling of distrust, of being let down, of being made a fool of, that she had experienced with every other man she'd ever known. She'd thought that Martin was her rock, but maybe he wasn't so different to other men after all.
"That's ridiculous, you've never looked more beautiful or desirable than you do now. Why on God's earth would I want to be with that stick insect, she's not a real woman at all. She disgusts me if you want the truth of the matter," Martin told her. "Please, come inside Louisa."
"I can't. I can't go in if she's in there. I just can't," Louisa replied vehemently, tears rolling down her cheeks. The unborn child she was carrying started kicking hard, as if it too was protesting, causing her to take a sharp intake of breath and rub her bump to try to calm it down.
"Then we'll go round to the other entrance, but please, come in, you'll get hypothermia at this rate," Martin insisted, desperate to get her inside into the warmth and then to sort out this horrendous mess and get her to understand.
Louisa let herself be led, she hadn't noticed the cold, she was just so shocked by what she'd seen. Her nightmare had come true in front of her very eyes, Edith possessively draping herself over Martin, and him looking at her adoringly.
xXx
As Jenny made her way back to find her husband, she noticed that there seemed to be some sort of altercation going on over on the far side of the room. She also spotted Chris over there, so made her way over to him. A very thin, pointy faced, red headed woman was lying very inelegantly on her back on the floor, shouting at everyone around her. She was wearing such a stupidly tight dress and ridiculously high heels that she just couldn't get up, so Chris and another man were trying to get her to her feet by taking an arm each and hauling her up, but she was shouting at them that they were doing it all wrong, and that they were idiots. There was liquid dripping down her face, and her hair was also wet and plastered to her face. The probable explanation for that was a tray and drinks scattered on the floor around her. A crowd had gathered to see what all the commotion was about.
"Is she drunk, got herself trollied and fallen over?" speculated one lady to another.
"She shouldn't drink if she can't hold it, it's disgraceful, we don't expect that kind of behaviour at this event for goodness sake," replied her friend, turning away in disgust.
Finally they were successful in their attempts to get Edith to her feet, and she hobbled off towards the exit. A heel had snapped off one her shoes, and her dress had ripped at the back. All she was wearing underneath was a tiny thong that wouldn't show under her tight dress, so now one of her bum cheeks was on show to the world. Edith didn't discover this revealing rip until she got back to her room, and was then mortified as she realised that everyone had had an eyeful of her posterior as she'd left the Ballroom.
Why on earth Ellingham had pushed her aside in such a rough manner she simply couldn't comprehend. He'd had a look on his face as if the world was going to end, just because his little wifey had come back into the room. Edith hadn't bothered to come down to the Ball until after dinner had been served, then she'd waited for her moment to slip him her room key with a little note. But he'd bottled it, panicked when he'd seen Louisa, he'd always been such a coward she recalled now. It was his fault she'd lost her balance and in reaching out to save herself she'd grabbed a passing waiter who'd tipped a whole tray of drinks over her, before she'd ended up on her backside on the floor. Then all the stupid morons had just stood fannying around instead of getting on with assisting her efficiently. That's what you got for being in such a remote county full of interbred half wits she supposed. Her initial assessment of Ellingham had been correct after all, he was still riddled with phobias. He was a lost cause, he wasn't worth any more of her time, she told herself to ease her wounded pride. He didn't have the guts to have an affair, he was just too spineless, too gutless. Of course it wasn't anything to do with him preferring his pathetic schoolteacher, that would just be too ridiculous, unthinkable. She decided that she would leave first thing in the morning. If it wasn't so icy and treacherous out there she would have driven back to London now, but with these stupid dark, narrow unlit, twisty country lanes it would be horrendous. No, she would leave to return to civilisation first thing in the morning, before breakfast.
xXx
As the warmth of the hotel hit Louisa when she walked in, she really did start to feel a little faint. Martin, noticing that she seemed to be stumbling a little, headed for the nearest seating area and sat her down, tucked away in a corner. She still had his jacket wrapped round her. Martin sat himself directly opposite her, took her by the shoulders and looked straight into her eyes.
"I am not having an affair with Edith. I would never do that. I couldnever do that," Martin told her, emphasising every word as he spoke.
"Then why was she in our room? Why didn't you tell me, why did you keep it a secret? I thought we agreed not to have secrets from each other," Louisa demanded to know, desperately wanting to believe him, but unable to ignore the facts.
"I've no idea why she came to our room, but I didn't tell you straight away because I knew that it would upset you and I didn't want to spoil your evening. I thought that I was being tactful and thoughtful for once. I was going to tell you tomorrow," Martin explained.
"I saw you smiling at her, you looked so happy to see her, and she was all over you, I saw Martin," Louisa said as a fresh tear rolled down her cheek at the memory.
Martin reached into his pocket for his hanky to wipe her tear away.
"I thought it was you when I felt a touch on my sleeve, I was smiling because I thought it was you Louisa. I had no idea Edith was even coming to the Ball," Martin explained.
"What's she doing down here anyway, and just what did she say when she came to our room, what did you talk about?" Louisa demanded to know.
"Err… she said something about having to come down for a meeting, she didn't say that much really, something about it being a shame to lose touch after we'd known each other so long I think," Martin tried to recall just what the woman had said, he hadn't really been listening, he'd just wanted her to leave.
"So how did she know what room you were in?" Louisa was still trying to work out how all this had been possible if Martin was telling the truth.
"I don't know. She said something about seeing me earlier and so coming to say hello. I don't know how or why Louisa, I've no idea why she should act the way she did. I've not even spoken to her since I decided to stay here in Cornwall with you instead of going to London."
Martin was at a loss to explain Edith's actions.
Just then Chris and Jenny spotted them tucked away in the corner, and made their way over. Chris had quickly filled Jenny in as to who exactly Edith was – that she was Martin's ex fiancée from way back.
"Are you alright?" Jenny asked Louisa anxiously as she sat next to her, and looked over at Martin to try to assess if they had sorted themselves out. Louisa just nodded, not feeling up to saying or explaining anything just yet – she still didn't know what to think, what to believe, so she just sat there quietly. Jenny was wise enough not to say any more, she just squeezed Louisa's hand.
"What on earth was Edith playing at Martin?" Chris asked him. He also knew Edith from Medical School. He'd never liked her, he'd always considered that she'd led Martin on and then dumped him to go to Canada. Mind you, at least he'd had a lucky escape was how he'd looked at it.
"I don't know, she just turned up out of the blue and acted rather oddly. Perhaps she's having some sort of mid life crisis?" Martin suggested, baffled.
"Well apparently she was down here last week for a meeting at the hospital. The managers are furious with her because the research she undertook at their clinic has been called into question, and they don't like the hospital's name being associated with it. They wanted her to issue a retraction statement, but she refused and called them retarded interbred simpletons. Didn't go down too well I can tell you," Chris explained.
"That does sound like Edith," Martin had to agree.
"Anyway, I gather from various sources that she was asking a lot of questions about you after the meeting, and then claimed to be very interested in supporting the charity that this Ball is in aid of, and was desperate to buy a ticket," Chris continued. As the charity concerned was a children's charity, and Edith had no interest in children or any kind of charity whatsoever, this seemed most unlikely.
"I still don't understand what she's playing at though," Martin said, none of this seeming to have any logic to him.
"Is…is she still in there?" Louisa quietly asked, not wanting to see her.
Chris and Jenny looked at each and smiled a little.
"Of course, you don't know what happened after you both went outside," Chris said, and then filled them in on what had happened to Edith, her very undignified fall and ignominious exit.
"So she's disappeared, gone back to her room to lick her wounds I imagine," Chris concluded.
Martin looked at Louisa, who was still shivering despite Martin's jacket round her.
"Look I think we should get you upstairs, you're still cold," Martin told her firmly.
"Yes, maybe you're right, I think I would like to go up to our room now Martin, but you two go back to the Ball, enjoy the rest of the evening, what's left of it now," Louisa urged Chris and Jenny as she stood up to go, still a little shaky on her feet. Martin put his arm around her and led her towards the lifts.
"If you need anything just call me, promise?" Jenny said to Louisa, hugging her and kissing her cheek.
"I will," Louisa promised as they got in the lift.
xXx
"You do believe me don't you Louisa?" Martin asked her, once they were alone again in their room. Louisa was sat on the bed, having slipped off her clothes and wrapped herself up in the big fluffy towelling dressing gown provided by the hotel. She was also nursing a steaming cup of tea that Martin had made her using the kettle provided in the room.
"I don't know what to believe any more, none of this makes any sense at all," Louisa told him. Martin sat next to her now.
"No, I agree, it doesn't. All I know is that I couldn't ever cheat on you, I couldn't sleep with anyone else. You must know that Louisa. From the very first moment that I saw you, I fell in love with you and I've loved you ever since, I couldn't help myself, however hard I tried to convince myself otherwise for years. There's only ever been you Louisa, since that day. Even when we broke off the Wedding, went our separate ways, I never stopped thinking about you, seeing you everywhere, dreaming about you every night. When you came back and made it clear that you didn't want me in your life, and I thought that I had to move on, I tried, I really did. But I couldn't, it was no use. Even when…," Martin stopped now, unsure whether to bring Edith's name up again.
"What Martin, even when what?" Louisa asked him, wanting him to continue with this very uncharacteristic and rare outpouring of his innermost feelings.
He decided to tell her everything, not doing so had made things so much worse this evening. His trying to be tactful had seriously backfired on him.
"I went to a conference with Edith last year, just before I was due to leave for London. It was the evening that you were going to that baby shower thing that was at Bert's I think, and I saw you and told you that we needed to meet up," Martin explained.
"Yes I remember," Louisa cast her mind back. That had been an embarrassing evening, everyone pitying her because Martin was 'abandoning' her to go to London in their opinion.
"Well when I got to the hotel, it turned out that Edith had booked us into a double room, she just assumed that we were going to spend the night together," Martin continued, knowing Louisa wouldn't like hearing this, but needing to explain things to her.
"Did she now, I bet that was a fun night for you." Louisa's feelings of jealousy took over.
"No Louisa, that's the whole point of why I'm telling you all this. I just couldn't. Initially I thought 'Sod it, I'm single and unattached, Louisa isn't interested, she doesn't want me, so why not, I can't spend the rest of my life hankering after someone I can't have, I need to move on'. But I was kidding myself. I simply couldn't even contemplate making love to any other woman. The thought of being with Edith…well…she repulsed me frankly. You are the only woman I ever want to share my bed with Louisa. So I walked out, left while she was giving her talk, and came back home," Martin explained.
"You just left, just stood her up? You didn't give her any explanation? Wow, she must have been really pissed off with you," Louisa exclaimed.
She rather liked the thought of that. And it did sound like the Martin of old, not turning up for dates, not ringing to apologise or explain. She'd had her own experience of that when Martin had stood her up at the pub when they'd been meant to meet up for a drink, but that was not nearly as bad as him sneaking off from the night of passion that Edith had obviously planned for them.
"No, she didn't take it too well as I expect you can imagine, so she decided that I had developed a new phobia, a fear of intimacy to explain my lack of interest in having sex with her," Martin told her. "She couldn't accept that I just didn't want to be with her."
Louisa sat quietly as she thought over everything Martin had told her. Suddenly everything made sense, as the pieces fell into place.
"Do you know what I think happened here this evening Martin?" Louisa asked him.
"Tell me please, because I haven't got a clue," Martin insisted.
"Surely you've heard the expression 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'?" Louisa asked him.
"Well yes, but what do you mean?" Martin still didn't understand what she was driving at.
"You scorned Edith by not spending the night with her, which I really love you for, by the way. Chris said she was at the hospital last week for a meeting. What if she saw us, saw me at the hospital, when we were there for the scan? I'm obviously pregnant, which is pretty strong evidence of an active sex life, wouldn't you say?" Louisa explained her theory.
"So you're saying that her behaviour was because she was jealous? Jealous because I wouldn't have sex with her, but you're pregnant proving that I have sex with you? Seems a bit far fetched to me," Martin scoffed.
"Well, you come up with another logical explanation then. I imagine she's the competitive type, always has to win, to come first, to get what she wants isn't she?" Louisa argued.
"Yes, that's her alright," Martin agreed. Then he suddenly remembered that he'd felt Edith slip something into his pocket, which he'd forgotten all about it till now. He reached over to his jacket which was hanging on the back of the chair, and reached into the pocket. He produced a room key, with a little note wrapped round it. Written on it was a room number, and a message which really shocked him.
'Be my F**k buddy. No strings attached. Just great sex'
That was what Edith had written. She'd found it worked pretty well recently in the London circles she moved in, at conferences, and meetings in hotels. Even doctors had their needs, and it was a clinical, practical arrangement. She felt that it would be a perfect arrangement for Ellingham, no messy emotions to complicate things, he could go home to his little pregnant wife if that was what he wanted, and she would have good sex. She felt the score would be even once she'd had sex with him, it would get rid of those horrid pangs of jealousy.
"That's outrageous!" Martin spluttered. "I'm going to see her, tell her to F**k off, never mind about being a F**k buddy."
"No Martin, don't bother, don't waste any more of our time on her, from what Chris told us it sounds like she had her comeuppance when you pushed her over in the Ballroom, and she ended up dripping wet and showing her arse off to the world." Louisa couldn't help it, the thought of it made her giggle. She wanted to hear all the gory details from Jenny tomorrow, that was for sure.
"I didn't push her over, although I may have removed her arm from me quite forcibly I suppose. I thought you were going to faint, and I wanted to get to you," Martin replied defensively.
Louisa realised that Martin really was clueless in these matters – thank God. Edith had made a pass at him, and he hadn't even realised.
"Oh Martin, enough talk of that woman. I can think of much better things to do than talk about her,"Louisa now insisted.
"What did you have in mind?" Martin asked.
"Make love to me Martin. Please. I need to know that you do still want me, that you do still find me desirable," Louisa whispered as she leant over to tenderly kiss him. He was still her Martin, he hadn't cheated on her, he was still her rock, and she loved him so very much. Edith would never have what she had with Martin whatever tricks she tried to pull, she knew for certain now. Her actions had made Martin confide his innermost deepest feelings to Louisa in a way that he'd never done before, and for that she was almost grateful to Edith.
"Of course I still want you, more than ever, but are you sure? I just thought you wouldn't want to now.. you know…so I've been holding back," Martin said as he tenderly put his hand on her belly and returned her kiss.
"Yes, I'm very sure Martin. We might have to start getting a bit more inventive as I get bigger, but that might be rather fun, don't you agree?" Louisa suggested as she now straddled his lap, undid his bow tie and then started on his shirt.
"Being inventive is my forte actually," Martin replied, pulling her to him as he slid his hands inside her dressing gown. She hadn't quite removed everything after all, she was still wearing just her diamond necklace and bracelet.
xXx
At breakfast the following morning, Jenny did better than fill her in with the details of Edith's downfall. The official photographer who had been wandering around taking informal pictures had been on hand to take pictures of it all – the fall, her being unable to get up, her limping off with the back of her dress ripped and exposing her backside. Jenny had spoken to him and persuaded him not to delete the most embarrassing ones of Edith as he'd originally planned to.
"Oh Edith's such a good sport, she won't mind them being displayed. She was so keen to support our charity and all proceeds from the sale of the photos go to our charity, so she'll be thrilled if we sell lots of copies of her pictures," Jenny had assured him wickedly. Edith had upset a lot of people at the hospital with her arrogant and rude manner, so the pictures did indeed prove to be very popular.