Disclaimer: Doc Martin is the property ofBuffalo Pictures. I own nothing except my imagination.
This Chapter is a 'Christmas Special' which covers both Christmas last year, and Christmas this year. I hope it's not too confusing.
'Tis the Season to be Grumpy - Chapter 31
Louisa sighed as she looked at the rather small Christmas tree that she'd put up high on a table this year – hopefully out of Luke's reach. Just in case he somehow did manage to reach it – he could be a very determined little boy at times – she'd decorated it with soft, safe knitted Christmas decorations that she'd bought from the craft stall at her school's Christmas Fayre. She shuddered to think of him getting hold of a glass bauble that could shatter – he still put everything in his mouth. It was nowhere near as impressive as the big tree that she'd put up last year, their first Christmas together when Luke had been a five month old baby who simply stayed where you put him. She thought back with happy memories to that very special time.
The First Christmas
Things were going pretty well, Luke was a happy, contented baby, and they had just got married, but had kept it a secret. Louisa had been determined that their first Christmas was going to be special. She remembered many unhappy times at Christmas, especially as a child, and then last Christmas when she had been pregnant and on her own in London, not knowing how she was going to manage when the baby came, had to have been the worst Christmas ever for her.
But Louisa had very happy memories of spending Christmas with her friend Carol's family here in this house that was now their home, and that's what she wanted to recreate. Martin couldn't understand what all the fuss about Christmas was, he usually worked through it, although since he had been down in Cornwall he did usually see Joan at some point.
"A vastly over commercialised, opportunistic, materialistic day in the calendar that has no special meaning as far as I'm concerned" was how Martin described it to Louisa.
"Well, it doesn't have to be like that for us, I think we should make it a special family day, especially as this is Luke's first Christmas," Louisa had replied.
"He's just a baby, and like me, will think it no different from any other day," Martin argued.
"Look, all I want is that we spend the day together, invite Joan to join us, enjoy a lovely meal, give a small present to each other…"
"What do you mean about giving presents?" Martin asked, looking worried. "I don't really do presents, you know that."
"That's not true, you gave me a birthday present this year didn't you?" Louisa reminded him.
Louisa had been very surprised that he had remembered her birthday this year. It was on August 14th, when Luke was exactly one month old – he had been born on July 14th. Martin had given her a book on Victorian house architecture – a very thoughtful present actually because he knew that she was very interested in the history of their Victorian house. There had been a card too, just signed 'Martin'. The card was of an old master painting, similar to a previous card that he had given her the year he'd tried to apologize for accusing her of stalking him, the last time she'd seen her father before his latest trip to prison. Both were rather ugly pictures in Louisa's opinion, but they were technically brilliant, which is what Martin admired. She'd assumed that Joan had reminded him about her birthday, but she now discovered that he had a spread sheet of important dates, and he had included her birthday on this. Martin had a spreadsheet for most things, she had since found out
"Well that was different, we're both interested in the history of our house," Martin tried to explain.
"It was thoughtful, so it shows that you can be when you try Martin. Look I'm not talking about big expensive gifts, it's not about money, it can be something homemade. That's what I'm telling Joan, she can't afford to buy expensive gifts, and I wouldn't want her to. All I would like you to do is give three small, thoughtful gifts – one to Joan, one to Luke and one to me. Joan and I will do the same. That's not a lot to ask, is it?" Louisa told Martin. She was determined that Martin should participate in their Christmas, not just hide away and pretend it wasn't happening. She had instructed him that for just this one day, he was not allowed to disappear into his study.
Well actually he thought it was a lot to ask of him. He normally gave Joan some vouchers for Christmas, which she always seemed happy with because it meant that she could treat herself to some new clothes. But what on earth was he supposed to give Louisa and Luke?
He did realise that this was important to Louisa. He knew what an unsettled childhood she had had, and some of the hard times she had been through since, so he supposed that it was natural that she wanted to make a fuss about this Christmas. He decided that he would try his best to make her happy.
xXx
In the lead up to Christmas, privately Martin had to admit that he rather liked returning home in the evening after work to see their house looking so festive and welcoming in the gloomy winter evenings. Louisa had put a small Christmas tree outside the front door with lights on it. There was an arched Advent light in his study window. Inside the big bay window at the front of the house was the main Christmas tree, also lit up and decorated. Louisa hadn't gone overboard with the decorations, she didn't like too many. But she remembered her friend's family having a large, real Christmas tree in the front bay window, and always thinking that it was beautiful, so that's what she had wanted to recreate. Next year would be a lot more difficult as Luke would be a toddler, so she thought that she would make the most of it this year.
It worked out that Martin was off on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but on call Boxing Day and the day after. Louisa was fine about that, Martin was a doctor, and that's what he had to do. Joan was more than happy to come and spend Christmas Day with them; she understood that Louisa wanted to have their first Christmas in their own house.
Louisa had told Martin how she was organising Christmas.
"We put our presents, which must be properly wrapped up so that you can't see what it is, under the tree on Christmas Eve, but we don't open them until after we've had our Christmas Lunch, then we have something to look forward to in the afternoon," she explained.
"Hmmm," grunted Martin "I wouldn't hold your breath about the presents from me being something to look forward to."
"Oh bah humbug to you, don't be such a misery," Louisa said, rather fed up with Martin's attitude.
However, on Christmas Eve, there were three wrapped presents from Martin under the tree, as she had instructed him, along with the other presents, so Louisa was happy.
xXx
Louisa was woken up on Christmas morning by the sound of Luke happily babbling to himself in his cot in his room opposite theirs – Martin only slept in his bedroom now when he was on call. She knew the babbling would turn to crying shortly because Luke would be hungry and need his nappy changing. Martin often went to him in the mornings because he was usually awake first, and it meant that he could see Luke before he went to work. So Louisa pretended to still be asleep, and sure enough Martin got up and went to Luke.
"I suppose you think it's your breakfast time do you?" Martin said as he walked in.
Luke turned to Martin, laughing and babbling in his delight at seeing his Daddy.
Martin picked him up and took him to the changing unit – he'd got used to changing nappies - and quickly sorted Luke out. Luke 'chatted' to him the whole time, making lots of babbling sounds. Martin talked back to him, not in baby talk, which he just couldn't do, but factually, telling him what he was doing.
"Let's change this disgusting nappy, then we'd better get your bottle or else you'll only start complaining I suppose," Martin told him.
Luke took after Louisa in that he was a very sociable baby, and he chatted and babbled back to Martin.
Once sorted, Martin got Luke's bottle, and then went with him back into their bedroom to Louisa.
"Happy Christmas," said Louisa, sitting up in bed.
"Happy Christmas too. Umm….. here, these are for you," Martin said, rather shyly handing Louisa two wrapped up presents, as he sat on the bed and started giving Luke his bottle.
"Oh but Martin, I thought you'd already put your presents under the tree?"
"Mmm well, I think it best that these are opened in err.. private," Martin explained, not really looking at her.
"Oh, I see," said an intrigued Louisa, as she started opening them.
The first was a large flat box, which when she opened it, she saw had come from 'Exclusive Elegance'. Inside, amongst the tissue paper, was a beautiful underwear set in a gorgeous shade of midnight blue, and it included stockings and suspenders – Martin's favourite. The second present was a tall square box, which contained a bottle of expensive Champagne – Louisa's favourite.
"I thought… hoped….for later, like the night of the Ball …." Martin explained, squirming a little and concentrating hard on Luke. He'd never bought anything like this before and was feeling rather embarrassed.
"Martin! You actually bought me….. Wow." Louisa was lost for words in amazement that Martin had actually chosen and bought such a personal and intimate gift. Of course he hadn't actually gone to 'Exclusive Elegance', he'd checked out their website, having found it on the card that had been with Louisa's lingerie at the Ball, and had corresponded his requirements by email. They'd been extremely helpful, they already had Louisa's measurements and soon ascertained just what Martin wanted and had arranged for it to be delivered, gift wrapped, to his surgery so that Louisa wouldn't see it. Pauline had assumed the parcel contained medical supplies, it was marked 'Private and Confidential, for the personal attention of Doctor Ellingham only', so she had simply left it on his desk for him, not suspecting in any way the nature of the contents.
"Thank you. I shall try them out later, then you can see what you think of your choice," Louisa told him, reaching over to kiss his cheek, which was now rather flushed.
xXx
Joan arrived at their house mid morning, bringing with her various delicious items including her own special recipe Christmas Pudding, and then proceeded to help with the rest of the catering while Luke was having his morning nap. It became a joint effort between the three of them to produce the meal, working together happily in the kitchen.
There was some mellow music playing in the background that even Martin rather liked. Louisa set the table using her special Christmas plates as she liked to use something other than their everyday tableware. Martin had quite a collection of his own china, but she left it up to him to decide whether or not it should actually be used or just kept as ornaments. Looking at what Louisa was using, he produced two serving dishes that fitted in rather well with her theme, saying to her,
"These were my grandmother's, you might like to use them to serve the vegetables in if you wish."
"That's lovely Martin, they're beautiful, I'd love to use them," Louisa replied happily.
Martin then also produced some beautiful cut glass champagne flutes and wine glasses, and polished them before he put them on the table too. Louisa was thrilled to see him finally getting into the spirit of things. He could have water in his glass if that's what he wanted, but at least he was joining in.
Next he produced a very nice set of cutlery and polished that too before setting the table with it.
In the centre of the table was an arrangement that Louisa had put together herself, using foliage from their garden, including some holly with red berries – she had also made a wreath for their front door from the same foliage. Martin didn't make much comment, nevertheless he did notice all these little touches and found he rather liked them. Louisa was very good at making their home welcoming and personal. He'd felt that way about White Rose Cottage, it had so much character and colour and well….life about it. Even the house that Louisa had rented from Mr Routledge, disgusting as it had been when she'd moved in, she'd soon changed and made into as lovely a place as she'd been able to. Louisa just seemed to have the knack, the gift, of turning a house into a home, and he loved that about her. Other people spent a fortune on tasteless Christmas plastic decorations but never achieved the same affect as Louisa did with her home made items.
Once everything was cooked, Martin put his surgeons' skills to very good use as he carved the turkey. While he was doing this, Louisa went and got Luke who had woken from his nap. She changed him and put him into the little suit that she had got him specially to wear today – it was bright red with 'My First Christmas' on the front. He looked so cute and adorable in it, even Martin couldn't help but smile as she brought him in and sat him in his high chair with them.
Martin had to admit that the meal was one of the best he'd ever had. Apart from the wonderful food, the relaxed, loving and happy atmosphere made him begin to realise what he had been missing out on all the previous years, the years when he had buried himself in work instead, to fill the gap that he hadn't allowed himself to acknowledge was there in his life.
By mid afternoon, when all the food had been eaten and the plates cleared away, it was time to look under the Christmas Tree and give out the presents.
"I think Luke should have his presents first," Louisa suggested, aware that he would be getting tired and grizzly soon and need a nap.
There were three presents for Luke. Louisa 'helped' him to unwrap the first one.
"Oh look, it's from Grannie, it's a train, that's lovely, thank you." Joan had found some of Martin's things in her attic from when he was a boy, and this was a wooden train that he had loved to play with. Louisa thought it would look rather good on the shelf in Luke's room for now.
"And this is from Mummy, Luke." Louisa had given him a whole range of board books. Young as he was, Luke loved to cuddle up with his Mummy while she read simple colourful books to him – it was never too early to instill a love of books in her opinion.
"This one's from Daddy." Louisa was very curious herself to see what Martin had come up with.
"I hope it's appropriate, I wasn't sure…." Martin said.
Louisa helped Luke to discard the paper to reveal a box. On opening the box, the contents turned out to be a beautiful traditional teddy bear, made from the softest plush fur. It growled when it was turned over. Luke's face lit up when he saw it and he smiled and giggled at it.
"It err…meets all the necessary safety standards," Martin explained to hide his awkwardness. He remembered having a favourite teddy bear as a child that he'd loved and had always taken to bed with him, but he had no idea what had happened to it. His mother had probably thrown it away when he'd been sent off to boarding school, she'd never liked to have any of his things cluttering up her house.
"Martin it's perfect, he loves it, look you can see that he does." Louisa was delighted that Martin had chosen a gift that Luke so obviously liked, it would make him feel more confident about buying gifts in the future she hoped.
He could see that Luke had grabbed hold of the teddy and kept looking at it and feeling it. It was also obvious that he was ready for a sleep, he was yawning and rubbing his eyes, so Joan took him up, along with his new teddy once they had made sure that any labels had been removed.
Louisa went over and kissed Martin on his cheek.
"Well done. See, you can be very thoughtful, you knew exactly what Luke would like."
"Hmm. Just luck he seems to like it, anyway it's a traditional gift, a teddy bear, nothing unusual," Martin tried to explain his gift away, but he was pleased that he seemed to have hit the mark with Luke in any case. He just hoped his other gifts would go down as well.
Once Joan returned, they carried on with the present opening.
Louisa had wrapped up three presents to be from Luke, which were framed photos taken by the photographer who had come into school to take all the children's pictures before the holidays.
"Oh what a lovely picture, he's so adorable, he is just the most beautiful baby," Joan exclaimed on opening hers, thrilled to have a photo to show off to her friends.
Martin didn't say anything on opening his one, but he agreed that he could have it on his desk when Louisa suggested it. His was a double frame, one side had a Wedding photo of theirs in, and the other side had the photo of Luke.
Joan gave Martin and Louisa a set of her home made pickles, each with a beautifully hand decorated special label.
"Thank you, we can have some of these with the cold meats later," Louisa said happily. Joan made the very best home produced pickles, chutneys and jams, they were always delicious.
Now Joan unwrapped her present from Louisa to find a lovely blouse that she had spotted on her last shopping trip to Truro.
"I saw this and thought of you at once, but if it doesn't fit or you don't like it, you can change it and I won't be offended," Louisa told her.
"I love it, I'll try it on later, but it certainly it looks the right size to me" Joan said, thrilled as she rarely bought new clothes for herself, and it made such a nice change to have another female in the family to actually choose something personal for her.
Martin unwrapped his present from Louisa to find some new pyjamas and dressing gown. They were exactly the same style that he usually wore, but were not the boring grey colour that he always chose. They were a lovely shade of blue that she hoped he could accept as not being too controversial.
"Thank you. They look as if they will be suitable," Martin said. He'd never even thought about buying any other colour nightwear before, but he supposed that if Louisa liked blue ones, and not many other people would see them any way, he could comfortably wear them.
Louisa leant over to kiss him, and whispered in his ear
"The rest of your presents come later this evening."
Joan pretend not to hear anything as she happily looked again at her blouse.
Martin cleared his throat and felt a blush creep over his face. To hide his embarrassment, he handed Joan her present from him. He'd stuck to his usual present of vouchers for her, and she was genuinely happy with this, especially as now she thought maybe Louisa would come and help her choose something new this time.
Finally, it was Louisa's turn to open her present from Martin. She was intrigued, but wasn't expecting too much, although he had surprised her with his 'private' gifts earlier. Once she removed the wrapping paper, there was a cardboard box to open. Inside this was a small Victorian wooden box. It had an inlaid mother of pearl pattern on the top, and when she opened it, it had various compartments, some with little lids that lifted out. It was beautiful.
"I thought that maybe it could sit on your dressing table," Martin suggested, hoping that she liked it. He'd collected quite a few boxes himself in the past, mostly of oriental origin, and had a reliable contact with a trusted antique dealer in London. He'd spoken to them and asked them to let him know if any Victorian boxes came up. As luck would have it, this one had turned up, and after being emailed detailed photos of it, Martin had agreed to buy it. It had been another item that had been delivered to the surgery.
"It's….it's gorgeous, Martin, wherever did you find such a lovely thing, certainly not in the village," Louisa asked him, somewhat in a state of shock.
"Well, I have my contacts, and as you are keen on Victorian artefacts, I thought you might appreciate it – I hope so anyway," Martin explained. He was gratified that she seemed to like it anyway.
"I love it, so thank you," Louisa leant over to give him another kiss.
xXx
Much later that evening, when they were finally alone, Louisa sampled her champagne and demonstrated to her new husband just how much she loved all of her presents. Martin discovered that his new wife really liked them very much indeed, making him extremely glad that he had made the effort to give her gifts that she found so acceptable.
The Second Christmas
Louisa sent a Christmas card to her Father in prison, and included a letter updating him with all the latest happenings in their lives, and a selection of photos of Luke, herself and Martin too, which she hoped would be proof to him of their happy family life. She showed Martin what she was sending, and although he said very little after reading her letter, at least he didn't raise any objections. He was just happy that no secrets were being kept now.
Louisa decided to follow a very similar plan for Christmas this year as she had the previous year, because it had worked so well. She just had to adapt everything to account for a very active and curious little toddler. She could still have her little Christmas tree lit up outside by the front door, but she had to change the main Christmas tree for something smaller and safer. She realised that it would have to be this way for the next few years, with the new baby coming too, so she was glad that she'd made the most of the previous year with the big Christmas tree.
xXx
On Christmas Eve Martin sighed as he ran his hand over the cold empty space next to him in bed. Louisa had gone to the Christmas Midnight Eucharist service at St Roger's church. A whole crowd of staff and Governors from school had gone together, invited by Felicity Paterson, the vicar. She had replaced Martin as the Community Governor on the school committee, and had become a very active and popular member.
Louisa had tried without success to persuade Martin to come along to the service as well.
"It's such a beautiful service Martin, you never know, you might actually enjoy it. I've always found it to be a very spiritual start to the Christmas celebrations, it begins with the choir entering in a candle lit procession, and the music is just wonderful. I really missed going to it last year, when I still felt uncomfortable going back to the church where we were meant to have got married. Surely you remember what a great service Felicity did for Luke's Christening, so I'm sure this one will be very good too," Louisa explained to Martin.
"Good for you. Not my kind of thing, never has been. I'm happy to stay and look after Luke while you attend, save getting Joan out to babysit on a cold winter's night."
Martin wasn't on call, so he couldn't use that excuse. This year he'd volunteered to be on call over the New Year period so that he would be off for Christmas, as he knew it was the more important celebration as far as Louisa was concerned.
"Well I think it's a shame that you aren't prepared to be a bit more open minded and come along, but that's your choice I suppose. There's a whole group of us going from school anyhow, maybe I'll get a lift with one of the others, silly us all taking our cars along," Louisa said.
"Right, umm…who do you think you will go with then?" Martin enquired, suddenly remembering that Paul Blake would probably be going as he was one of the Governors, and he was always very attentive to Louisa. Martin had a very jealous nature at times, even when he knew that he was being irrational – he just couldn't help it. Louisa was such a beautiful, talented woman and he still found it hard to believe that she was hiswife, carrying his baby, that he was the lucky man she had married. Mind you, when he thought about Louisa's extreme reaction to seeing him with Edith, he recognised a similar jealous trait in her personality too.
"I'm not sure yet, but probably Emma and Joe Penhale," Louisa replied. Joe had become very involved in a lot of the school activities. As part of cutting down on her work commitments as she had promised Martin she would, Louisa had handed over the running of the School Christmas Fayre to Emma, and Joe had worked very hard helping her.
Whatever his faults, he always wholeheartedly joined in community activities, and Louisa had felt a little envious to see them both so involved at the Fayre. Martin would never join in that way. But then she told herself firmly that he had many other good qualities, and nobody was perfect after all. Joe Penhale certainly wasn't, but his heart was in the right place. Most of the community still doubted that Martin had a heart at all, right place or not, because they didn't see the side of Martin that she did – he still kept it well hidden from the rest of the world.
"Ah right, well, you go and have a nice time with the God Squad," Martin had told her.
xXx
So now he was waiting for her to get back. The service didn't start until 11.30pm, so before she was picked up they had spent a companionable evening together, getting things ready for Christmas day, once they had completed Luke's usual bath and bedtime routine. Louisa was a stickler for keeping Luke to his normal routine whenever possible, Luke didn't take well to changes, so it made for an easier life, and Martin fully supported this – he'd never liked change either.
This year Martin didn't need any prompting to get out all their best and favourite glasses, plates and dishes – they regularly used them now when Chris and Jenny came over for dinner.
When Joe and Emma came to collect Louisa, they were using Emma's car and not Joe's police Land Rover. Martin was relieved, he'd been told off by Louisa when he'd voiced concerns over her going in the back of the police Land Rover without a proper seat belt.
"Don't worry so much Martin, we're only popping up to the church, it's just up the road, it'll be fine," she'd told him.
"Can't expect a lady in your condition to travel in the police vehicle like a perp, can we?" Joe explained as he fussed around Louisa, opening the door for her, and then making sure the seat belt went round her bump properly. He was planning to propose to Emma this Christmas, and he was very keen to start a family with her, so was trying to show his caring side by looking after Louisa in such a way.
Although Martin had gone to bed soon after Louisa had left for the service, he couldn't sleep, not until she was back. He hated being in bed on his own now. He also worried about her, it was cold and icy out, so he would be a lot happier when she was back safely.
Eventually he heard the car pull up on their drive, doors opening, muffled voices and then her key opening the front door.
Louisa came upstairs, first going into Luke's room to check on him as she always did, smiling as she saw Luke clutching his favourite teddy bear that Martin had given him, and then slipping into their room quietly, not wanting to wake Martin if he was asleep.
He turned over in bed and grunted "How was it?" at her.
"Sorry, didn't meant to wake you, it was good, thanks. I'll just be a minute," she said as she disappeared into their en suite bathroom and quickly completed her ablutions.
Now wearing her loose pyjamas that accommodated her bump, Louisa climbed into their bed.
"Brrr, it's freezing out there, but the frost makes everything look very sparkly and pretty, very Christmassy," she told him.
"Come here, you need warming up," he said, as he pulled her to him and put his hand on her belly to feel their baby, as he did every night.
Louisa moved his hand over to the right place so that he could feel the baby kicking.
"Maybe next year you'll come too Martin, I'm sure you'd enjoy the music if nothing else. The baby certainly did, it's been really active and kicking all through the service. Maybe next year Joan could come and sleep over on Christmas Eve to babysit if she didn't mind, then she'd be here for Christmas morning," Louisa suggested.
"Hmm. Maybe. We'll see." Martin wasn't convinced. He hated going to bed on his own though, and he didn't like Louisa being out, especially with all her work colleagues, but he knew that he wouldn't have fitted in or felt comfortable with them. He was happiest when they were on their own, with Luke or with Joan, but best of all he loved it when they were in bed together, cuddled up as they were now.
Louisa had put some of the beautiful flowers that he had sent her in their bedroom, and looking over at them now, Louisa asked Martin,
"You do remember then, our first time…you know…. together in bed, at White Rose Cottage? I take it that's what you were referring to on the card with my flowers."
"Of course I do," Martin replied, relaxing now and settling down to sleep.
"I was slim and reasonably attractive back then, not huge and pregnant for the second time with stretch marks and saggy boobs," Louisa sighed. Back then she'd always felt that she had the power to seduce Martin. She knew that he was attracted to her even if he never said anything, she just sensed it by the way that he looked at her. But now, just as when she'd returned to the village at this same stage of pregnancy, she couldn't possibly see how Martin could find her in any way physically attractive.
"Mmm," Martin agreed, not really listening, all warm and sleepy now that Louisa was safely back and in bed with him.
"So you do think I'm fat and ugly then?" Louisa prodded him, horrified that he wasn't at least attempting to reassure her that he still found her attractive.
"What? I never said that, don't go putting words in my mouth Louisa! You're pregnant, not fat. Now it's late, you need your rest so let's get some sleep, you know how early Luke always wakes up," Martin told her as he settled down again.
"Happy Christmas Martin," Louisa sighed and kissed him gently on his cheek, realising that he wasn't listening properly because he was drifting off to sleep.
"Mmm. Happy Christmas," he mumbled, before starting to gently snore.
xXx
After enjoying another wonderful Christmas lunch, they turned their attentions to opening presents. Of course Luke was far more interested in all the discarded wrapping paper and boxes than any of his presents which included some Duplo bricks, and some lift out puzzles amongst other things. Louisa had compromised this year and they had bought joint presents from them for Luke and Joan, she felt that he had proved himself last year by giving gifts on his own. Joan was adamant that they weren't to buy her any expensive gifts, she felt that now she had agreed to let Martin replace her truck for her, that was present enough. They were due to go and look at some cars for her the week after Christmas. However she was delighted with the new cardigan and vouchers that she received from them.
As Luke had great fun creating chaos with all the paper and boxes, happily assisted by Joan, Martin and Louisa opened their presents to each other.
"Martin, where on earth….how did you…." Louisa said as she looked at her present from Martin. He could be so surprising at times. Where had he found such a beautiful antique brooch for her? It was a little silver rose with a small red ruby in the centre.
"I thought it would be a reminder of the red roses we both wore on our wedding day," Martin explained rather bashfully. He'd been pretty pleased when he'd spotted it in the antique shop in Truro that he'd been looking round while Louisa went to the lingerie shop.
"I just love it. It's perfect. Thank you," Louisa said as she kissed him.
Martin was pleased with her response, and turned his attention to opening his present from her. He found a book of Love Poems.
"Now I know that you're probably going to say that you don't like poetry Martin, but I just want you to keep an open mind, and read them, some of them are my favourites, so at least read the ones that I've marked hmm?"
Louisa had a gut feeling that deep down, very deep down maybe, Martin had a very sensitive soul that might appreciate poetry if he would only let it out. Of course she had no idea that he had once written poetry for Edith, and of course Martin was never going to admit that to her. She was gradually finding out that he had excelled at all subjects at school, not just the sciences. She'd discovered recently that he could converse reasonably well in French, German and Spanish, useful when dealing with the tourists that visited the village and then fell ill or had an accident.
"Well, I suppose if you really want me to, I'll try to read some of them," Martin said, not very enthusiastically. He hadn't looked at any poetry for years. He considered reading fiction to be a waste of time. The books and journals that he read were always medically related enabling him to add to his already encyclopaedic knowledge in all things medical.
"There is another present for you as well Martin, in case you absolutely hate the poetry book," Louisa said as she passed him another present.
This one was a new fountain pen. She knew that the one he was using at the moment had been leaking, and that he always preferred to use a proper fountain pen.
"It's the same make as your current one, so I hope that you'll get on with it alright," Louisa told him.
"Thank you. I shall try it out, but it certainly looks to be suitable," Martin replied, much happier with this present.
xXx
Later on in the evening, Martin went out to the kitchen to start preparing the evening buffet that they had planned. He found Louisa sitting with a jar of pickled red cabbage, eating it straight from the jar with a look of bliss on her face.
"What on earth are you doing? That's an accompaniment, it's not meant to be eaten on its own by the spoonful as you seem to be doing," he said, horrified.
"I just had a craving for it Martin. It's Joan's home made pickled red cabbage, it's so much nicer than shop bought," Louisa told him as she took another mouthful.
"Stop it! You shouldn't be eating it like that," he said, as he snatched the jar away from her.
"Why not Martin? You can't say it's full of empty calories, it's just cabbage and vinegar, don't be so mean," Louisa replied as she tried to snatch the jar back.
"It also has a lot of salt in it too, and high levels of sodium can lead to water retention and high blood pressure, not a good idea in your condition Louisa" Martin said, as he kept hold of the jar and firmly put the lid back on.
Joan had followed Martin into the kitchen, bringing Luke to put him in his high chair to have his tea. She overhead the conversation and said to Martin,
"Oh for goodness sake, let the poor girl indulge her craving, surely you've heard the expression 'A little of what you fancy does you good'."
"A little of what you fancy maybe, but not a whole jar full at a time," he replied rather pompously, before disappearing into the other room still carrying the jar.
"Don't worry Louisa, I've got another jar you can have," Joan told her with a smile when Martin was out of earshot.
"Thanks. Honestly, the way he's acting you'd think I was taking prohibited drugs or something. Sometimes having a doctor as your husband is a right pain, he always thinks he knows best," Louisa grumbled, looking round for something else to satisfy her craving.
"It's funny, when I was pregnant with Luke, I craved jelly babies, I had a really sweet tooth. This time I can't get enough of anything sharp, sour, or vinegary," she said, happily starting to eat a pickled onion.
"They say that cravings are just your body telling you what it needs when you're pregnant, I'm sure I've read that somewhere. No doubt Martin will say that it's just an old wives tale, and that it's rubbish, but I reckon those old wives knew a thing or to, so you eat a little of whatever you fancy my dear and don't listen to him," Joan told her.
"Well he won't want to come anywhere near me now I'm eating onions – serves him right, he'll just have to put up with my smelly breath, at least he'll be justified when he complains about my oral hygiene this time," Louisa said to Joan, and they chuckled together as Martin came back into the kitchen.
"What are you two up to – aren't you supposed to be giving Luke his tea," he pointed out. The women had been so busy chatting that they hadn't noticed that Luke had managed to reach over from his high chair and get hold of a bowl of trifle that Joan had made, and had been feeding himself by grabbing handfuls of it. He was now plastered in custard, jelly and sponge fingers. Never happier than when he had food, Luke now saw everyone looking at him, and gave a big happy grin.
"Mmm…nice…mine…." he told them, holding on to the bowl possessively in case they were going to take it away from him.
Louisa saw Martin eyeing up the jar of pickled onions she'd been eating from.
"Mmm….nice….mine…." she told him, also holding on to the jar possessively.
"I give up. Just don't come complaining to me when your blood pressure goes through the roof, or you've got fat fingers and ankles because of water retention," he lectured her.
"Don't worry, I won't," Louisa told him, going up to kiss him with a pickled onion in her mouth.
"That's disgusting Louisa!" Martin told her, wrinkling up his nose.
"Should've just let me have the pickled cabbage then, shouldn't you," Louisa joked back.
That night Louisa gave her teeth an extra thorough clean, and rinsed out several times with an extra strong mouthwash – she couldn't be that mean to Martin when he had after all tried very hard to make it a lovely Christmas for them. She cuddled up to him in bed as she knew he liked her to do.
"Sorry if I'm still smelly from the onions. But you have no idea how strong these cravings can be Martin, pregnancy does some very peculiar things to you that you can't control. Like getting all emotional and tearful during the church service, it was so embarrassing, but I just couldn't help it. Like becoming forgetful, not being able to remember where I'd parked my car, for goodness sake," Louisa explained to him.
"I'm only trying to look after you, it's my responsibility to help you to avoid any potential problems during your pregnancy, and ensure that our baby is born fit and healthy. At least you'll soon be going on your maternity leave. When you can rest more you'll find things a lot easier, that's what your body is telling you to do you know, to rest more," Martin replied. He still wished that Louisa had agreed to start her maternity leave now rather than at the end of February half term.
"Trouble is it's also telling me to eat pickled red cabbage, but you tell me I shouldn't listen to that, but that I should listen when it's telling me to rest. It's all a bit confusing," Louisa pointed out, resisting the urge to tell him to stop fussing yet again.
"Well then just listen to what I tell you, I'm your husband, your doctor and your voice of reason and logic. That's the simple answer, don't you agree?" Martin told her.
"Whatever you say Martin. Of course you always know best," Louisa decided that it was easier let him believe that, while she simply carried on in her normal way.
Martin wasn't fooled for a minute, he knew that Louisa would never actually agree to just 'do as she was told' and that he would have to be as vigilant as ever in monitoring her health.
"You have enjoyed our Christmas Day haven't you? I know you always maintain that it's just an over rated commercialised day, but it's not like that here for us in our house is it?" Louisa asked him.
"No. I have to agree that we do have a very enjoyable, pleasant time, but I still believe that most of the trappings that a lot of people deem necessary for Christmas are simply tacky, commercial rubbish. You know that Pauline wanted to put up some tasteless flashing Santa monstrosity in the surgery, which of course I forbade her from doing, it was completely inappropriate," Martin told her.
"You don't know the meaning of 'Season of Goodwill', I think you must be a very close relative of Scrooge," Pauline had told him when he'd ordered her to take it down.
"This is a Medical Practice, not some cheap party supply shop," Martin had replied.
"Don't you think it would cheer up your patients to have some decorations around the place?" Pauline had retorted.
"They don't come here to be 'cheered up', they come here to see me for a medical consultation," Martin told her firmly as he strode into his surgery.
"Still don't see why we can't brighten the place up a bit, but you're right, seeing you certainly wouldn't cheer anybody up," Pauline had muttered as she reluctantly put the flashing Santa away.
"What did you say?" Martin demanded as he looked up from his desk.
"I just said that you were right and I'm clearing up," Pauline shouted back from her desk, shooting a look that could kill towards him that he couldn't see from his desk. Miserable old bugger, heaven help Louisa having to spend Christmas with him. Maybe she slips something into his drink to lighten him up a bit, make him more bearable, she thought to herself.
"Well I've had a wonderful day, thank you for my brooch, I love it, you really are getting the hang of present giving now aren't you?" Louisa told him as she kissed his cheek, hoping that the onion smell wasn't too strong now.
"Glad you think so, I am trying anyway, don't suppose I'll always get it right though," Martin said.
"No, well, I'm not sure that I got it right with the poetry book I gave you, but promise me that you will read at least one or two of them before you throw it out Martin," Louisa asked him. She'd seen the look on his face when he'd opened that present, and thought that she'd gone a step too far with him on that one. 'Oh well, can't win them all', she thought to herself.
"I promised I would, so I will," Martin assured her. 'Don't know when I'll actually get round to it though, can't see the point of any poetry, never mind love poems'he thought to himself.
With that they both settled down to sleep, looking forward to enjoying the rest of the Christmas holidays together.