As always, thanks to those who've been reviewing. It means the world to me to hear from anyone who's actually enjoying this AU fic. A special thank you to the PM messages (you know who you are), they bring a smile to my face. Yes, I'm talking to you, waniariffin, TheaMama, and ke0212. Your feedback is the only reward I receive for my efforts, so it's greatly appreciated… A special thanks to the special three that are always there for me (Anita, Chelsietx, and Sprintz).

Chapter 16

Homeward Bound

The wind is coming up strong and fast and the moon is smiling on me,

Miles from nowhere, so small a craft in between the sky and the sea,

I'm bound for the island, the tide is with me, I think I can make it by dawn,

It's night on the ocean, and I'm going home, and it feels like I've never been gone.

Seagulls cry and the hills are green and my friends are waiting for me,

Great ambition is all a dream, let me drown my pride in the sea,

I'm bound for the island, the tide is with me, I think I can make it by dawn,

It's night on the ocean, and I'm going home, and it feels like I've never, I've never been gone.

Carly Simon – 'Never Been Gone'

ME/LE

Over lunch, we discussed the itinerary for the following day with our departure. "Excuse me everyone I …" Louisa exclaims as she quickly leaves the table, supporting her lower back with a hand as she rushes away.

"Joan, please go with her, I believe it's morning sickness."

Joan hurriedly follows Louisa through the restaurant, entering the restroom a few moments after. Upon which she can hear Louisa being sick in one of the stalls. She quietly waits to help her and decides to wet a few towels that could help. "Louisa," she calls out as she hands over the towels, "Here thought these could help."

"Thank you Joan and yes these will be very helpful," she says. A few minutes later the toilet flushes and she opens the stall door and looks at Joan saying,

"It started very early this morning. I hated it the last time but as Martin says, 'it's the hormones', meaning in layman terms it's a strong pregnancy and I will be sick for a few weeks."

"What can I do?"

"Go back to the table; I need to clean up a bit. Assure Martin I am fine and see if the restaurant has some herbal tea. Thanks again, Joan."

Joan returns to the table to see Martin has ordered a pot of tea and seems worried. Looking at her sister and her crooked smile on her face she knows Martin is upset. "Louisa is fine now, cleaning up a bit. Is that herbal tea for Louisa?"

"How is she? She was sick several times last night and this morning. I mean her pregnancy is healthy, good hormone levels," I say converting into doctor mode to cover my anxiety. I didn't know about Phillip at this stage of her pregnancy and am overwhelmed by my emotions. "Is she okay, she was holding her back when she hurried away she didn't reinjure herself?"

"No, she is fine, told me herself."

"I'll just go and help her back to the table," I respond rising and leaving the table.

"This should be interesting to watch," Ruth mumbles.

"Louisa was well past this stage with Phillip when she returned to Portwenn. I hope Marty can get through this phase of her pregnancy without Louisa yelling at him for his constant worry."

"He is a doctor and understands the medical issues with this pregnancy and her injury. This pregnancy isn't just any pregnancy concerning her age and carrying twins. He knows the medical risks and is scared."

"What medical risks?"

"To start she can still miscarry, then from complications during labor to her healed injury or death from complicated labor and delivery. For the babies there are several ranging from death, breathing issues, the most likely is premature delivery, too many weeks early before their lungs develop fully. Pregnancies of women over thirty-five statistically do not get to forty weeks with many going into labor starting at twenty. If I know Martin those statistics are constantly fresh in his mind and he will be vigilant with her. I watched him these few past days, he seems normal but his eyes never stray far from Louisa. He was noticeably upset when she left the table. Now that we are done here, he can get his family back to Portwenn where he can watch and care for her properly."

"Maybe I should return home before them by train with Poppy tomorrow morning. Get everything ready for their return. I'll talk privately to Martin later. If I go early can you delay your departure one extra day to watch Phillip and Louisa when he takes us to Paddington?"

"Yes, it will be good to learn a few more things about Martin's family."

Louisa and I return to the table a short time later, I pour Louisa her tea and suggest she order a plain biscuit to help settle her stomach. Mentally I add a few more items to my list to be delivered in the morning. Once Louisa drank some tea and ate some of the biscuits she seems fine. When I am sure she is over her sickness episode I suggest she and I return to the hotel without a further incident.

ME/LE

I take Joan and Poppy by taxi to Paddington station the next morning ensuring they are safely on and watching the train depart. Walking past the famous statue of the character Phillip has in his books, I continue out the door walking along the pavement of Praed Street soon finding myself opposite St. Mary Hospital Churchill wing. The past few days my mind was occupied with the death of my father, his funeral with his burial at sea, and my mother's demands. This morning when I was downstairs of the hotel paying Poppy's room bill, I heard about the incident with Margaret and the MET. With a small frown, I was satisfied it was handled without incident.

My mind wanders to a more pleasant memory with Louisa. The night of the massage with the soft cellos playing in the background, as I trail kisses beginning along the area where her shoulder meets her neck as I massage each muscle group, eliciting moans as I flick my tongue occasionally. The thoughts of their weekend away move through me as her incoherent sounds register in my brain, remembering those sounds nightly until she left for London and the loneliness that followed. Now I am with her again but must hold myself back till she is healed. Provide her with love in other ways. The massage was a good start, it gave her pleasure but I enjoyed it also. The next few months will be difficult but nothing else matters, only Louisa's health and my love for her.

Returning my mind to the present I continue walking and without thinking of why I end up in front of the Alexander Fleming Museum*. I walk in looking around to see if anything is new since my last visit. As I walk from room to room, to each exhibit, I suddenly realize I have been here for an hour and Louisa has no idea where I am. Frantically searching my pocket I remove my phone from my pocket and see I missed a couple of text messages from Louisa and Ruth.

I speed-dial Louisa and she answers with a frightened voice, "Martin, are you alright?"

"Yes, fine," I answer with my usual one-word reply. "Louisa, I am sorry. I saw Joan and Poppy off at Paddington and decided to walk for a while to clear my head. I ended up at the Alexander Fleming Museum and went in but didn't realize I was here for so long. I am sorry I worried you."

"Why didn't you answer our texts," she asks, "We were about to call the MET."

"I was enjoying the exhibits and didn't realize I received any texts. Why didn't you call?"

"Husband, don't you think your wife knows you? I sent you a text when you hadn't returned. Did you read my text?"

"No, I thought I should call and talk, so I could apologize."

"Martin when you have lots on your mind nothing else matters. Your stress level since the phone call about my accident hasn't decreased. I'm pregnant with twins, you discover a half-brother, your father is injured with your wife and dies from his injuries, you learn our children inherit your father's estate, and discover another half-brother. Then to make everything more difficult Margaret shows up and makes demands. Please finish your tour, enjoy the exhibits and then come back when your mind is clear. Remember you will need to nap or do you prefer I drive us back to Portwenn," She said in a joking tone.

"I will return shortly Louisa. Phillip and I will shower together later so he'll sleep the entire trip. I know our trip will take longer with the extra stops that you will need, and of course, I will make sure I nap before we leave. See you in less than a quarter-hour if traffic isn't bad." I hang up and walk quickly out to the pavement to hail a taxi.

ME/LE

The final hours with Ruth have been enlightening, to say the least. It is obvious she has never been around children and without Joan to supervise Phillip's interest in everything around him Ruth is affected with every moment he makes to touch or taste everything around him. It dawns on me, I will have trouble keeping up with him with this injury but most important as my pregnancy progresses making bending or moving around more difficult. Together we manage Phillip for a time, but when Martin hadn't returned I start to get concerned, deciding to voice my worry,

"Ruth, have you noticed Martin's agitation the past few days?"

"Yes but not all have been noticeable," she says looking intently at me. "He has a lot on his mind."

"Yes, and he is worried about my health, especially with the pregnancy. I brought some unnecessary worry to him."

"Are you asking about your injury or the pregnancy? Frankly, I never envisioned him a father, let alone married. Don't get me wrong, his therapy has helped him measurable."

"You're right. Doctor Hayes work with Martin is most likely why we are together. He helped Martin open his heart and lower the shields he kept around him."

"Martin was always caring, but rude if pushed out of his comfort zone. Like most of the family, he says it like it is. That is an Ellingham trait, while Joan adds her easy-going personality to it, Christopher his male charm, and me well that is why I became a Psychiatrist," she states with that crooked smile on her face.

I better send Martin a text to find out where he is," I say, "Can you mind Phillip alone?"

"Of course my dear, Ruth says with a watchful expression towards Phillip. "Now Master Phillip show your Aunt Ruth what you are playing with."

Phillip hearing his name quickly looks at Ruth and grins. Slowly he stands and wobbly walks over to Ruth and points to his purple dinosaur lying next to his blocks, he babbles some vowel sounds with a few consonant sounds and grunts out an explanation; at least Ruth believes that is what she is hearing. How Joan understands him is beyond her.

Louisa returns shortly from her room, "Are you showing your Aunt Ruth your tower, Phillip?" Phillip nods his head and points again to his blocks on the floor. "Ruth he would like you to help build his tower, unfortunately, it means sitting on the floor…"

Ruth looks at the floor stunned. Louisa smiles and decides to give the older woman a way out.

"But I think he will be happy with a book. Do you want to read to him or shall I?"

"No, I'll read to him. Martin's BMJ is over on the table, Phillip will enjoy the pictures," she states as she gets up to retrieve the journal. "Come on Phillip let me help you up."

Phillip starts to climb up and with Ruth's help settles up next to her. "Let's see what interesting pictures we can find to go with the article," she voices in her usual no-nonsense tone.

Louisa is reading over her course material that she missed, wanting to prepare herself for the skype meeting the following Monday when she looks over to the sofa where Ruth and Phillip are seated side by side. Ruth is narrating the article on Plasmodium malariae while Phillip babbles along excitingly pointing at the picture. 'That doesn't sound like anything I want to catch', Louisa mumbles to herself.

"Look Phillip this parasite produces large numbers of infective sporozoites…"

Phillip interrupts Ruth with a squeal with his excitement, "Ott's, Ott's."

"Yes, Phillip I see the picture with the circle of dots." Ruth finishes her description. "That is why we are careful to control mosquitos. We stop the mosquito from drawing your blood so it doesn't eject its saliva when it bites you. I know you like the picture but this can be nasty to your health. We will tell your daddy you are interested to know more on this subject."

When Phillip hears Ruth say 'Daddy', he begins calling out "Dadda", and as if by magic I open the door to our suite.

"Dadda," yells Phillip as he wiggles around to slide off the sofa. He gains his footing with Ruth's help and walks towards me.

"Hello Phillip, were you having storytime with your Aunt Ruth?" I pick up my son and we share our usual greeting.

'Thank goodness he doesn't say hello to me that way', Ruth thinks as she watches fascinated as Phillip initiates the greeting by taking hold of her nephew's ears and leans in to touch his forehead and Martin's response is always the same, he greets him by name. An analyzing thought comes to her mind; many of my patients' lives would be so different if just one person took the time to interact with them. In just one year Martin has gone from a rude, socially inept loner to a loving father and husband - more than likely it saved his life. 'A thank you note to Doctor Hayes is in order'.

Louisa listens to her son's interaction with his father and his aunt. She thought this morning she would learn more about them and she did. Ruth and Martin interact with Phillip the same way - adult to adult, neither do baby talk. Learning another interesting facet about Martin, as these two Ellingham's believe the best way to communicate with Phillip is in complete sentences without the condescending baby-sounding voice, as Martin would say. Now that Phillip is learning words at a very high rate it won't be long before he strings more words together, as usual, Martin the ever teacher. I wonder if it is their medical background that is why they interact with Phillip this way because Joan is an Ellingham, but always engages Phillip with some kind of baby talk and seems to understand his responses very quickly. I wonder what Christopher was like in his youth? It seems he was a bully even at a young age according to the stories told this past week by his sisters. Children in large families seem to display different personalities depending on the others' behavior towards them, now that we will have several children it will be of interest watching them interact. Phillip is very much like me personality-wise, outgoing, and always smiling, he seems to be intelligent, and mastering the educational toys easily is Martin's contribution, will his siblings be the same. Always the teacher this will be a fascinating time for us. I never thought all this would happen twenty months ago when we called our wedding off. Looking at her husband and son talking with Ruth about the article and the excitement in Phillip's eyes brings a tear to roll down her cheek, quickly wiping it away before Martin notices and worries why his wife is crying again, hopefully, he will put it down to my hormones flooding my body right now with this pregnancy.

"I didn't order lunch Martin as I wasn't sure your estimation of a quarter of an hour would be correct; if you're ready maybe soup and salad or maybe the chicken salad?"

"Ruth, will you be staying for lunch, or do you need to get back?"

"No, I am on bereavement leave for two more days. I thought one last meal with your lovely family and then I will head home."

"Good, then which do you wish to eat?"

"Let's have chicken salad. I just love that they use yoghurt and please order extra grapes in mine," she says.

"Then I'll phone room service."

"Louisa before you order, I would like to greet you properly."

I walk over meeting Louisa in just a few steps, wrap my free arm around her, and lightly kiss her lips, "Hello my beautiful wife."

"Hello my luv," she responds looking me in the eyes.

A very surprised look crosses the older woman and then her sly smirk replaces it when she notices Louisa's eyes.

"Phillip, you and your father decide on my last book I will read to you before I leave but I'll let your father finish the article on the mosquitos with you, as a GP he will know more about those sporozoites than I."

"Phillip what book should Aunt Ruth read," I ask as I carry him over to the stack on the table, finally he decides on the train book and we deliver it to Ruth and I set him down on the sofa next to her. "Ruth, remember to make the 'woo-woo' sound as you read," I say with my little smile.

"Woo-woo," she questions and to her answer, Phillip mimics her sounds and points to the train on the cover of the book.

"You can thank your sister for that," I say as I walk over to the cabinet to pull food items for Phillip.

While we waited for lunch to arrive, Ruth reads to Phillip, Louisa and I start our packing the rest of our clothing, leaving a clean set of clothes and our toiletries out for our final shower before we leave. With our bags packed I start on Phillip's and Louisa returns to the table to clear her course papers and computer back into her bag. I am almost done when I hear a soulful moan from Louisa. I quickly come to her side and see tears rolling down her cheeks. I don't understand and rush to evaluate her health assuming pain from her injury is causing the tears. "Louisa, where does it hurt?"

Ruth notices Phillip's frightened face with the concern of his mother's emotional outburst and quietly talks to him and helps him off the sofa, taking his hand, walking him to her room. Phillip looks back towards his mother as the door closes behind them. Ruth turns towards his toy trying to deflect his attention from the door, "Phillip, show me how this shape sorter works, where would put this?" she asks as she holds up the round piece. Phillip is quickly distracted, "Ott here," he points to the round hole, takes the round shape from her hand, and places it into the hole with his chubby fingers, clapping when he completes the job.

In the main room, I wipe Louisa's tears from her cheek, with a questioning look on my face.

"Martin, it is beautiful," she says.

I don't know what she is talking about. I look around the table covered with coursework and other papers along with her computer. I look back into her eyes with a confused expression. She now understands I have no idea what she means and picks up one of the printouts that Morweena made and I remember attaching my special note to her.

"It is how I felt knowing you were not with Phillip and me."

"I promise I won't be going away again for a while," she says, "Martin please read it to me in your tender voice you use when we are alone in bed, it makes me feel so special and Ruth closed her door so she can't hear." She hands me the note but I don't need to read it, it is how I feel. I put the paper down, look over to the closed door again and lean down near Louisa's shoulder close to her ear and start my poem from my heart to my wife,

I miss the hours we would spend talking, being open, honest and free

I miss how my heart would breathe a sigh of relief because you brought me peace.

I miss the feeling of hope and happiness and how with you I always feel content

I miss you my luv

I miss the hours I would spend lying by your side tracing the lines upon your skin

I miss the way you held me close enough to hear your heartbeat; I wish I could hear it again

I miss you my luv

I miss you every minute of every day; it's an ache, sadness, and emptiness that doesn't ever go away

I miss you, my luv

I finish and touch her cheek, snuggle my face closer to the nape of her neck, letting all that is Louisa penetrate my senses; lost in the emotions coming out for the woman I love.

The special ring tone for Joan sounds disturbing our moment. I slowly move to pull my phone out from my pocket, but Louisa stops me, "Just a moment longer, I am enjoying this alone time with you."

After some time Louisa releases me and I read my text, "It says Joan and Poppy have arrived. Al drove Joan to the farm and is driving Poppy into the village. She will see us at our house mid-morning bearing gifts tomorrow."

"How nice, she didn't need to do that," Louisa says.

"What gifts will she bear," I ask.

"I take it as provisions. There won't be much in food in our fridge."

We are interrupted once again with a knock at the door, "Speaking of provisions, our lunch has arrived," I say as I open the door to room service. Louisa finishes removing her things from the table placing the last in her bag. Before she picks it up I rush to take it, "It is heavy and you shouldn't lift it," As I place it near my luggage. I tip the server when he finishes setting our food on the banquet chest and closes the door behind him. I make my way to rescue Ruth from my very active son.

When I return to the table with Phillip, Louisa is putting chicken covered in yoghurt into Phillip's dish along with a sliced banana and his diced cooked carrots. I slip him into his seat and put on his bib as he grabs his sippy cup to drink. Phillip's happy face as he watches Louisa place the food in front of him, with his pincer-like fingers working at grabbing a carrot slice as he swings his cup in his other hand. I take my seat next to him grasping his cup before he pours it over the table in his hurry to eat. Ruth sits across from me grinning at the scene of my family organizing a meal with a toddler. "Ruth, are you planning to visit us for Christmas," Louisa asks after we have settled into our meal.

Ruth looks over to me and I avoid eye contact, finding the food on my plate very interesting. Ruth and I have never spent Christmas together even when I became an adult working and living in London, we spoke over the phone so I'm not sure she would want to be in a house that will surely be loud and busy with newborn twins added to Phillip's enthusiasm. Finally, I look up with my decision, "Ruth it would be nice to have all my family together to celebrate, please come. More than likely, you will find the farm a quieter place to sleep during your stay but we do have room in our house."

"I don't know about that, have you heard Joan's chickens squawking before that crack of dawn," she says sarcastically. Louisa, I would be happy to visit for Christmas. I think a newborn baby will be quiet long enough for me to hold then I can have never-ending conversations with Phillip." She looks over towards her great-nephew and I can see that she enjoys her time with him.

Louisa notices the look from Ruth to Phillip and a question occurs to her, "Ruth, I understand you spent time with Martin at this age and now with Phillip, my question is, was Martin anything like his son? The reason I'm asking, Martin is very intelligent and Phillip presents at times high intelligence. I worry I won't be able to keep his mind occupied."

Ruth looks at both Ellingham men, "Phillip is Martin's clone when he was young. He was interested in everything around him and the many questions he would ask but his parents ignored him. It was the many nannies that had to deal with him and I feel they sadly didn't fill his needs. Martin was reading on his own before he was four and would sneak into his father's study looking for any book he could get his hands on. Well until his father caught and whacked him with his belt for being in the room unsupervised. My father loved Martin's enthusiasm and talked medicine with him very early on. Did Martin tell you about the frog he dissected at the age of five? Father explained how to use a scalpel, the anatomy lesson of each organ, and the purpose, and I think Martin enjoyed it very much and would ask for another lesson each Sunday when they visited. Don't worry too much about Phillip, between you two he will excel in his possibilities."

As if to approve of Ruth's comment, Phillip provides his never-ending grin and an enthusiastic, "Roo" and claps.

"I will be very interested in seeing this little fellow in seven months, it should be an interesting visit in December," she expresses.

Louisa and Phillip have finished their good-byes with Ruth ensuring Louisa of her plan to visit in December. I carry Ruth's luggage escorting her down to the waiting taxi, "Ruth, thank you for all your help these past weeks."

"Martin, you are family, and believe it or not, family is important to me. Take care of your wife and son and I will see you soon. If Alistair needs anything let me know," she says and steps into the back of her taxi. "Send me a text when you arrive back to the West Country and I'm looking forward to my Christmas this year."

ME/LE

It is almost midnight and we are about halfway home, with this trip taking longer for our hourly stops for Louisa to walk a bit and use the facilities. It took longer than planned to get out of London when we hit a snag in traffic on the merge onto the M25 south, but once passed it, we made good time on the M3, it was clear driving to my first planned stop near Basingstoke. I found the moto and Louisa walked around close by while I stood near the car watching her and listening for Phillip to wake. We were successful so far with Louisa walking a bit and the heat packs strategically placed on her lower back when she was back in the car. After merging back onto the roadway heading for our next stopping point near Amesbury, I checked on Phillip in the rearview mirror and it brings back the memory of his excitement when I asked him after dinner if he wanted to take a shower. Louisa was in our room pulling out his pajamas, nappy and had turned on the towel warmer as Phillip and I walked in hand in hand with Phillip announcing "Baff Dadda Baff". I picked him up and laid him on the bed stripping him down to his nappy, then lifting him and carrying him to Louisa, who was running the water getting it to the right temperature. I set him down on the mat and remind him to wait as the water could be too hot, Louisa takes his hand to ensure he doesn't run into the shower as I quickly remove my trousers and shirt and hand them to Louisa to put into the laundry bag. I pull my pants off and release the nappy tabs and the two naked Ellingham men walk into the shower. I let the water cascade down onto Phillip until Louisa returned with a soapy flannel for me to use on him, running the flannel quickly over his body. Louisa and I exchange flannels and I use this on myself and just like last time by the time I reach my legs to wash Phillip has his accident. I pick him up and rinse both of us off and then carry him out to the bath mat where Louisa is waiting with a warm towel to dry him off. I wrap his towel around him while he is in my arms and Louisa uses the other towel to dry my body. We dress Phillip and while Louisa showers I fed Phillip his night bottle and was correct the combination of the two put him to sleep. I made sure our dirty clothes are packed along with our toiletries and take the last bags along with the cold bag with our extra food and drink down to the car while Louisa checks the room again for any hidden toys, books with her only finding one tiny sock under the sofa, how it got there we will never know. I return to pick up a sleeping Phillip and take my beautiful wife's hand leading us down to the carpark for the long drive home.

My satnav announcing our next stop brings my mind to the present and I find a suitable lay-by to pull off and we repeat our last stop. Somewhere between Exeter and Launceston, Louisa asks to stop to go to the loo. I forgot to figure these stops in my calculations and we now will be later returning to Portwenn. I soon find a moto and Louisa runs in while I check on Phillip sleeping soundly in his seat. Louisa returns and we blend into the light traffic of Cornwall. Louisa suggests stopping in Delabole instead of Launceston since she moved around less than an hour ago and I agree. At half two in the morning, we make our final stop; like the other stops, Louisa walks away from the car and back again a few times, always in my sight as I watch over our sleeping son. After her ten-minute walk, I help her into her seat along with her chemical heating pad placed on her lower back, the fifth one we used tonight. Louisa is finally sitting comfortably and I get in ready to drive the final part of our trip home. I put on some soft jazz for the final music of the trip. I look over towards Louisa and see she is asleep again. As my family sleeps I am content with my music and my thoughts.

Just before we turn onto B3267 I stop for animals in the road, sheep have escaped onto the road. I slowly move my vehicle through the herd of bleeping, germ-ridden nuisance and get up to speed just before Back Hill and slow to drive through the village down towards the Platt, around onto our road and finally pull up next to Louisa's SUV. I turn off the motor and unbuckle, get out and open the boot and carry most of our luggage to the back door. I unlock the door, turn on the lights and bring them in, stacking them against the wall before going out and retrieving the rest, and returning to the house. On my third trip I open Louisa's side and gently wake her,

"Louisa, we are home," I say as her eyes open she looks around. I unbuckle her and help her to stand, side by side we listen to the crashing surf on the cliffs both feeling relief to be home. I have missed this sound the last weeks. I open the back door, unbuckle Phillip from his seat, and lay him against my chest hoping I don't wake him. Louisa and I walk together to the house, once inside I close and lock the door behind us.

"Louisa, I'm taking Phillip up to his bed, I'll be back to help you, don't climb the stairs alone."

I put Phillip in his cot, he stirs a bit, but snuggles his purple dinosaur closer and continued sleeping. I almost run down the stairs, relieved to find Louisa coming out of the toilet. "Louisa, do you want to go up now to bed or wait a few minutes while I empty the cold bag."

"No, I'll wait and while you empty the cold bag, I will walk around the house. I've been away for over a month, but it seems longer."

I watch as Martin places items from the cold bag onto the counter and sorts them. After five-plus hours of driving across this country and caring for me at each stop along the way ensuring I was not in pain, 'my luv looks so dashing, if only I was not in this condition I would make love to him on the kitchen table.' Then with a wicked smile at her thought, 'would Martin have sex on the table?' I walk from the room into the dining room slowly stretching the muscles out from our long travel. I feel better than I thought when we first discussed the long trip home, but Martin logically thought everything out and planned it well, now I need to get to bed and sleep with my gorgeous husband and father of my three children. What a thought, the expressions on my friend's faces when they hear along with the villagers that think I live in an indifferent marriage discover our secret. Some believe we have a roommate marriage or just a marriage for his wealth. I wonder how many of the women from the gossip circle will be seen in the A&E for heart attacks, and I can picture one, a blond cervical braced minx.

As Louisa makes her second time around I drink down my water from my glass, "Are you ready," I ask as she enters the kitchen while I search for another hot pad among the items in the box on the table.

"Yes husband, I am ready to go to bed," she says while taking my arm and together we climb the stairs. Some thirty minutes later, changed into our night clothes, Louisa in bed with her hot pad. I finish my nightly ablutions and come out to find my wife sleeping and the hot pad now cool. I take it and put it in the trash, turn off the lights, crawl into bed and cuddle up close to Louisa's back and instantly fall asleep with the faint sound of crashing waves as a lullaby to my soul.

ME/LE

End of Chapter

*Just a three-minute walk from Paddington Station is this often overlooked little gem, which is the actual laboratory where Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. You'll be able to walk around a replicated version of his workspace and take a look at the history of his exciting development, which changed the face of modern medicine and has been saving countless lives ever since. I thought looking at a map of the area that this would be a place where Martin could lose himself in the world of medicine and clear his mind.

Plasmodium malariae is a parasitic protozoan that causes malaria in humans. It is one of several species of Plasmodium parasites that infect other organisms as pathogens, also including plasmodium falciparum and plasmodium vivax, responsible for most malarial infections. Each year, approximately 500 million people will be infected with malaria worldwide. Of those infected, roughly 2 million will die from the disease.

I looked through a medical dictionary with a glossary of pictures trying to figure out what would pull the interest of a toddler. I found the microscopic slide of pale circles and one with bright dots within the circle of interest and chose it for Phillip's enjoyment with Ruth.

I googled the trip back to Portwenn, using satellite pictures to find the stops and time required by road travel for this story.