Staying at the Crab and Lobster was noisy, inconvenient and the rent was breaking her. Joan guessed it and offered to help. She knew of a small place with moderate rent and close to the school. An elderly man was moving to a care home and wanted to rent it out. It was dreadfully dirty and smelly. Cleaning it up counted as the deposit and, between the two of them, it was finally cleaned and sparsely furnished with odd pieces on loan from Joan. Al gave her a good price to do some needed repairs.
They had been hard at work since mid-morning with minimal breaks. If finally caught up with Louisa when she went to get the last chair from Joan's truck. She staggered back into the house feeling nauseated and dizzy and quickly sat down, trying to hold her head between her knees. That certainly wasn't an easy thing to do! Joan panicked and, against Louisa's wishes, called Martin. Afraid that she was seriously hurt and endangered the baby, he ran through the village, arriving breathless to find Louisa calmly sitting on the sofa, pulse just a little elevated, blood pressure regular and cheeks just a little flushed. Just why was he called? "This doesn't look like an emergency!"
Before his arrival, she had hurriedly splashed her face with cold water and pinched her cheeks to give them some color so was able to meet him with fake serenity. She said airily, "Well, I did ask Joan not to call. I certainly didn't want to bother you."
He gave a disgusted grunt and Joan said, "I was frightened. She got dizzy and almost fainted. It's surely no trouble for you to come check on her."
Louisa rebelled at that. "I didn't almost faint. I just felt dizzy. That's all."
That did it. He said furiously, "It was very inconvenient! I can't believe that you're stupid enough to move furniture. You're heavily pregnant Louisa! When will you…"
Now Louisa got angry and interrupted him, "I don't need you to tell me that I'm pregnant Mar-tin! Pregnant but not helpless! And certainly not stupid! I didn't want Joan to call you because I knew just how you'd act! Angry, critical and, and, and pompous!"
He was getting red in the face so Joan tried to mediate, "I'm sorry that I bothered you but I thought she needed help."
"Well she won't get it from me!" he bellowed.
"Marty! For heaven's sake!" cried Joan.
"She has repeatedly told me that I'm to have no involvement with her pregnancy or the child. And believe me, she won't have to tell me again!" And he stomped out, slamming the door behind him.
He raged all the way up Roscarrock Hill and into the surgery. Pauline took one look at his face, closed the surgery and left as quickly as she could, shaking her head at their irrational behavior.
He couldn't believe how stupid she was. And how reckless. Unbidden, the next thought was why wouldn't she let him…let him what? That was a question he wasn't ready to ask. He tried to make a cup of espresso but broke the machine with angry, jerky movements. Buggar! He burned his fish and generally made a mess in the kitchen. Did she have any food in the house? She needed proper nutrition. He knew what she normally prepared for herself. A greasy fry up or those god-awful beans on toast. At best, she boiled an egg. He should call Aunty Joan and ask her. No! He wasn't ready for another lecture. Besides, she wouldn't leave Louisa wanting for anything. He finally gave up. He couldn't eat anything anyway. It stuck in his throat. A shower and bed with the latest lancet. That would calm him down. It didn't work this time. The image of Louisa fainting stayed with him no matter what he did. He had a long night.
When he slammed the door, Louisa let go. She was trembling with rage and threw a can of furniture polish across the room. How dare he! She hated the word stupid and he had dared to call her that! She was done with him and his interfering, rude and obnoxious behavior.
Joan knew better than to apologize for Martin. Been there, done that and it never worked. She used the need for groceries to get out of Louisa's way. She needed to rage in private. When she returned, Louisa was still fuming, pacing up and down the small room, slamming cabinet doors, scrubbing the small kitchen table as if she was trying to remove the paint, scowling with traces of tears on her cheeks but not saying anything. She didn't trust herself to say what was on her mind about Joan's beloved nephew. Her remarks certainly wouldn't be pretty! Joan quietly prepared baked chicken breast, sprouts, broccoli and a pot of tea. "Your dinner's ready. If you need me for anything, anything at all, please call me. Ok?"
Louisa was ashamed of her churlishness. Joan deserved all the gratitude she could muster. Damn Martin! She embraced Joan, saying, "I'm sorry for my behavior. Thank you for all your help today. And loaning me all this furniture! I couldn't have done it without you. Are you sure you won't eat with me?"
"No thank you, I've work to do at the farm and don't be silly! You don't owe me thanks or an apology. Now eat your dinner and have an early night. You must be exhausted. Good night Louisa." They embraced again and she left. Louisa tried to force the food down but just couldn't manage it. She had a nutritious dinner of hot tea. And a long night. It looked like he was through with her. Well, that's what she wanted. Wasn't it?
A week later, there was an incident on the beach with Mr. Strange and the children. He was the Head Teacher and was convinced that Louisa wanted his job. He resented her presence, her easy relationship with the children and other teachers and watched her constantly. She and Martin managed to have a brief and, for once, civil conversation about him. He stopped her on the plat, mainly just to talk to her, to ask how she was fitting back in and she described Mr. Strange's behavior, in addition to other more alarming things, as weird. Martin cautioned her to tell him at once if his behavior became threatening toward her in any way. For once, she agreed without argument.
He had been consulting Martin about headaches and the feeling that he had been blacking out. The examination included a urine sample. Martin checked it and quickly realized that Mr. Strange had a serious condition that could bring on episodes of psychotic behavior and should receive immediate treatment. To add to his concern was that Louisa had described his behavior as 'not normal' and that he watched her all the time. Was he a threat to her safety? No one at the school knew where he was. Martin felt tightness growing in his chest. He tried calling Louisa to make sure she was ok but his calls went to voicemail. Where was she? Penhale was away on a call but promised to return to Port Wenn as quickly as he could and look for Mr. Strange.
She came back from an appointment with the bank to discover that Mr. Strange and some children were missing and no one knew where they were. The battery on her phone was low so she didn't waste the remaining minutes listening to messages and didn't hear Martin's warning her of Mr. Strange's possible behavior. By questioning different people in the village, she traced them to Roscarrock Cove. He was yelling bizarre and confusing orders like telling the children to take off their shoes and clean the rocks. She called Martin – the first person she always thought of when there was any kind of trouble – and, as always, he rushed to help her. They were so relieved to see each other that their anger was temporarily forgotten. He looked at her eagerly, assessing her condition. She looked well, not harmed, just concerned for the children. They were alright, just bewildered by the erratic behavior of the Head Teacher.
Mr. Strange's actions were dangerously unpredictable. She was kneeling in the sand comforting one of the children and he just walked up and shoved her over. She landed hard on her bottom and back. Martin exploded with rage and concern and helped her up, running his hands over her back and belly. Was she ok? The baby? No twinges or unusual pain?
He seemed to have no idea why Martin yelled at him. "How dare you touch her!" Martin roared.
Mr. Strange just let out an insane laugh and ran towards the water.
"Martin, Mr. Strange is running toward the water. Stop him!"
"Stop him? I'd like to let him drown!" Instead, he raced after the deranged man, splashing through the cold water, until he caught him. "Mr. Strange! You're suffering from a psychotic episode. Stop this and come back to shore with me. Come on you idiot!" And they both went under. Martin was trying to pull him back to shore, Mr. Strange laughing and yelling as he resisted. They heard the siren and Joe jumped out of the vehicle, immediately pulled off his equipment belt and ran to help drag the man back to safety. Mr. Strange looked like a puppet whose strings had been cut and had to be helped to the back of Joe's police vehicle. "Hey, Doc. The dynamic duo in action again." Joe congratulated them both as he touched his fist to Martin's unwilling one.
Needless to say, Martin was soaking wet with cold salt water, concerned about and irritable with Mr. Strange and beyond worried about Louisa. He hurried back to her and asked, "Are you sure you're alright? No pain or discomfort?"
She was busy trying to reassure the children, get them calmed down, put their shoes back on and return to the school. Yes, she was grateful but, based on his behavior of the last few weeks, expected him to say something horrible so she pushed him away again. "Yes, I'm ok for the tenth time! Right, children, let's go back to school." And she moved away from him, then turned back to say with the same courtesy that she would give a stranger who helped her pick up a spilled bag of groceries, "And thank you for your assistance."
And that's the thanks he got! She could've been seriously injured! Or the baby! Well, he knew better than to expect anything else from her. And once again, he raged all the way up Roscarrock Hill.
Working with Edith on her report and speech soothed his anxiety about Louisa. He enjoyed the mental exercise and learning things from a different area of medicine. They worked late a couple of nights so he invited her to eat with him. She kissed him on the cheek again one evening and then, another time, on the mouth. "That's appropriate, don't you think?" It surprised him but didn't affect him in any way so tolerated her attentions. Years ago, the sex between them had been, well, sexless. More by rote than anything else - no response from her, just waiting till he finished. Then she would push him off as if nothing had happened and start talking about their studies. He had been so surprised that a woman would actually want to have sex with him that, at first, he thought it thrilling. After she broke it off with him, other women had taught him that it could actually be passionate and that he could fulfill their needs while fulfilling his own.
Always before, he had insisted on brief, meaningless affairs. A dinner date with some woman who made him aware of her interest was the extent of his effort. But with Louisa, it had been different. She was the first woman he had ever wanted to wake up next to. Passion, yes, but there was tenderness and the desire to keep her close to him, to protect and care for her for the rest of his life. He needed her. That fact had terrified him before she left for London as much as being a father did now. He had taught himself to be self-reliant, to not need anybody. Louisa changed everything and she was pregnant with their child. He had to make things right between them and convince her to give him another chance.