A Nurse to Trust Page 15

  There was a jumble of things at that end of the stall—books, china and glass ornaments, several pairs of candleholders, pictures framed and unframed.

  They found the book in much the same way that they had discovered the ring, and both pounced on it. It was a small, beautifully leatherbound book in almost mint condition, with gilt-tipped pages, elegantly illustrated. It was entitled Monastic Wines and Herbals of the Sixteenth Century.

  It was fairly expensive but not overpriced for what it was—in fact, it was something of a bargain.

  Miss Purple Eyes wrapped it carefully. ‘If it hadn’t gone today,’ she said, ‘I was going to take it to a book dealer and do myself a favour. But I’m glad you two have got it.’ She handed the wrapped package to Clare. ‘Better put something nice and loving in it,’ she advised.

  ‘I know exactly what I’m going to put in it,’ she said, slipping the book into her shoulder-bag.

  The jazz concert that night was stunning and Daniel and Clare were in the right mood to enjoy it to the full, still on a high since their incredible shopping expedition. The star performer might have been a younger Louis Armstrong, singing some of the songs that he’d made famous as well as a whole new repertoire.

  It was another beautiful, warm night, with a sky full of summer stars and a rising moon. There were some gorse bushes in bloom at the side of the road over the moors, and their soft scent wafted in to them as they drove back home with the car windows open wide.

  Clare rested her head on Daniel’s shoulder. ‘That’s nice,’ he said. ‘It’s where you belong. I like to feel you close.’

  She kissed his neck which was the nearest available piece of him that she could reach.

  ‘That’s what the last song was about,’ she replied, ‘lovers touching and kissing under a moonlit sky.’ She hummed a few bars. It had been soft rather than hard jazz and had suited their dreamy mood perfectly. They hummed along together as they sped homewards.

  Just as they had started the day, they ended it in the homely little kitchen. The door was wide open to the warm night with the pale moonlight silvering the water on the pond. But this time they drank wine instead of coffee.

  Clare pushed the gilt edged book across the table. ‘I managed to write in it,’ she said, ‘when we came back to change before the concert.’

  Daniel opened it carefully and read, ‘To D.D., my lover, partner and friend. Thank you for the happiest day of my life. Yours for ever, C.S.’

  They went to bed soon after that.

  ‘Has it really been the happiest day of your life?’ Daniel asked, holding her tightly in his arms.

  ‘It has,’ Clare said softly. ‘Mind you, it’s hard to imagine, but I think that there may be even happier days to come.’

  ‘Like getting married and having babies,’ said Daniel, folding her to him as naturally as if he had been doing it for years.

  ‘Something like that,’ she murmured.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  IT WAS Sunday, and they set out early for their visit to the Isle of Wight.

  It was warm and sunny again. The sky was a cloudless blue and the sea glinted in the sunshine as they crossed on a ferry from the mainland. It was still the holiday season and the ferry was packed with holidaymakers.

  They didn’t bother to go down below for refreshments, but found seats by the rails on the top deck. Clare, knowing that the boat would be full, had brought breakfast with them.

  ‘Good Lord, woman,’ Daniel exclaimed, as she unpacked the container on the seat between them, ‘there’s enough here to feed half the town.’

  Clare chuckled. ‘I always get hungry when I’m crossing the water. It’s the sea air, I think.’

  Daniel roared with laughter. ‘You’re always hungry full stop, my love. Just as your grandfather said, you’re a good trencherman.’

  She looked surprised. ‘Fancy you remember me telling you that. It must have been weeks ago, soon after I moved in.’

  He bit into a cheese and tomato sandwich, his white teeth, which she so admired, gleaming against his tan. His tan had recently darkened on account of the almost continuous summer sunshine. It made him look more rugged than ever.

  He raised his eyebrows. ‘Love, I think I remember virtually every conversation that I’ve had with you. They’re indelibly imprinted on my brain. Or perhaps…’ he laid a hand on the left side of his broad chest theatrically ‘…on my heart.’

  ‘But I thought that you deliberately steered away from getting close to anybody at that time, just like I did.’

  Daniel shrugged. ‘That’s what I told myself. But clearly my heart didn’t listen, and am I glad of it. Now, what else have you got in this box of goodies? You’re absolutely right, my love, this sea air is a great appetiser.’

  They talked about anything and everything for the rest of the crossing, including shop, which was never far from their minds, even though they had said that it was going to be taboo for the day.

  ‘I wonder how our lovebirds are doing?’ said Daniel.

  ‘Meaning Phylippa and Teddy? I’m sure that their story is going to have a happy ending. I’ve got a feeling that falling in love is going to help her recover from her Cushing’s.’ Clare saw the quizzical expression on his face. ‘I know we’re not talking clinical improvement here. She’ll still have to have surgery and follow-up treatment. But surely if she’s happy, she’ll make a better, quicker recovery.’

  He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. ‘There’s no doubt that a happy patient is a more positive patient,’ he agreed. ‘And being positive plays a huge part in recovery. With Teddy to steer her through the next few months, she should do well.’

  ‘And there speaks the cautious doctor.’ said Clare with a laugh.

  They were nearly at the Island now and the ferry was being manoeuvred ready to dock.

  ‘We’d better get down to the car deck,’ said Clare, ‘and be ready to drive off.’

  Daniel and Clare’s parents hit it off from the moment that they shook hands.

  ‘Don’t think of calling me Mrs Summers,’ said Clare’s mother with the wide welcoming smile for Daniel that she usually reserved for family. ‘It’s Dilley.’

  Clare’s heart did a little flip of pleasure and relief. That smile was a good sign.

  ‘And I’m Patrick,’ said her father with an equally warm smile.

  Within half an hour, over a pre-lunch sherry, the conversation was unflagging. Dan and her parents rapidly discovered plenty of common interests. In fact, the rapport between them was building so strongly that Clare, who had taken off her ring, intending to wait for the right moment to announce their engagement, realised that the moment wasn’t going to get any better than this.

  She took the ring out of her bag and put it on with a flourish. ‘I didn’t want to tell you over the phone, but we got engaged yesterday,’ she announced happily.

  To Clare’s joy, her parents’ delight was unreserved once they had got over the surprise of her sudden announcement. There were handshakes and kisses all round. The ring was much admired and the inscription read in awe.

  ‘This is definitely a champagne occasion,’ said Patrick. ‘Like to come down to the cellar, Daniel, to help me choose something?’

  ‘Wouldn’t I just,’ replied Daniel, leaping to his feet.

  Dilley smiled at Clare. ‘Well, it’s good job I’ve fixed to have a late lunch. They’ll be gone for ages.’ She clasped Clare’s hand. ‘Now, tell me more about this lovely man of yours, and when you plan to get married. Or am I jumping the gun a bit? Is marriage some way in the future?’

  Clare shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. Neither of us want to wait. We’ve both been on our own too long and we want to start a family before it’s too late. Oh, Mum, do you really think that he’s a lovely man?’

  ‘I do. He’s got a kind face and wise eyes. He won’t ever let you down. And though he’s not conventionally handsome, he has enormous charisma.’

  Clare gave her mother a hug.
‘I can’t tell you how much that means to me. I know that it’s not necessary, but your approval and Dad’s is so important. I know that I’ve said this before, but this time it really is the real thing. Daniel is different to the other men I thought I was in love with. Compared to them he’s…’ She struggled to find the right words. ‘He’s pure gold. I know he had a bad divorce, but I also know for certain that it wasn’t his fault. Otherwise his background is much like mine, stable and happy. And his parents are like you and Dad, they’ve been together since for ever.’

  They didn’t lunch until half past three. What with drinking toasts and making plans for the wedding, the meal lasted for two hours. Up till then, because everything had happened in a rush, they hadn’t even begun to talk dates, but suddenly it all came together.

  Dilley asked, somewhat tentatively, where they thought they would get married.

  Daniel and Clare exchanged a quick glance. Although they had hardly had time to think it through, they had discussed it on the ferry that morning and the answer had seemed obvious.

  ‘Well, here, of course, Mum, if you and Dad agree,’ said Clare.

  Dilley and Patrick were overjoyed. Since they had recently started holding wedding ceremonies in the hotel, as well as receptions, it had been their dearest wish to host a wedding for one of their daughters.

  A date about two months ahead was mooted.

  ‘Some time in October will be good for us,’ said Patrick. ‘We won’t be quite so full and can use rooms for accommodating friends and relatives. But we’ll have to sound out Fran Shepherd—she’s our vicar,’ he explained to Daniel. ‘She does a lot of weddings in all sorts of places nowadays. She’s no stick-in-the-mud is Fran. She’ll pull out all the stops to fit us in. Would you like us to have a word with her just to get a rough idea when she might be free?’

  ‘Thanks, if you could put out some feelers,’ Daniel said. ‘I know that I’m old fashioned, but I want Clare to meet my parents first, before fixing a date.’ He nodded toward Dilley and Patrick. ‘And it would be great if you two and they could meet before the wedding, so that you can all get to know each other.’

  He dropped a kiss on Clare’s cheek. ‘We both want this to be a family thing, don’t we, love?’ he asked Clare.

  Dan’s parents came up from Devon to stay at the hotel a fortnight later, when Daniel and Clare spent another day on the island.

  Celia and Philip Davis were rather like older versions of her own parents in their manner, Clare thought. Easy and friendly, so that an hour or two in their company made her feel that they had known each other for ages. As for Philip, he was as Daniel would be in thirty years’ time. There were more touches of grey in his chestnut hair than in Daniel’s but, like Daniel, he was sturdy and fit. Another rugby man, she guessed.

  They were happy with the tentative arrangements that had already been discussed, and agreed that there was no sense in Daniel and Clare waiting around.

  Celia was very forthright. ‘If you’re sure about each other, then get on with it,’ she advised simply. ‘Life’s too short to muck around, especially if you want to start a family.’ Then she went a little pink and laid her hand on Clare’s knee. ‘Sorry about that, none of my business. I do tend to put my foot in my mouth sometimes.’

  Clare laughed. ‘I’ve had that problem myself,’ she said dryly. ‘As a matter of fact, we do want to start a family as soon as possible, and I’m not in the least bothered who knows it.’

  ‘I’m glad that Daniel has had the good sense to fall in love with you,’ said his mother. ‘After his divorce we had our doubts that he’d risk trying again. He made a point of keeping his private and professional lives quite separate. It rather cut us out of his work at Trewellyn, though we still remained close and he visited regularly. I don’t think he wanted to risk us getting hurt in any way.’

  ‘I did notice he wouldn’t talk about his family,’ Clare said.

  ‘And I suppose you began to imagine he was hiding all sorts of sinister secrets,’ Celia said with a chuckle. She looked at Clare intently. ‘But I think this time will be different, especially if you’re going to have children. I can’t promise to knit bootees or whatever it is that babies have to have these days. I’m not what you might call domesticated. Knitting and needlework are just not my thing.’ She saw that Clare was smiling again. ‘I suppose my son has told you about my lack of domestic skills?’

  ‘Yes, but he also said that you were the world’s best teller and writer of fairy stories and an adventurous gardener, and that when he and his brother and sisters were little, they each had their own plot. Like me, he had a very happy childhood.’

  Celia’s face glowed with pleasure, and Clare realised that she had the same kind eyes as Daniel. They exchanged glances of mutual understanding and refocused on the general conversation.

  ‘The middle of October would be fine for us. We’re going on a climbing holiday at the end of October,’ Philip was saying. ‘And eight to ten weeks’ time will give the rest of the family the opportunity to sort themselves out.’ He grinned at his son. ‘They won’t want to miss their big brother’s nuptials.’

  ‘Same here,’ said Dilley. ‘All the family will want to come.’

  After a busy exchange of messages during the following week, 16 October was the date finally fixed for the wedding.

  Willingly, Clare and Daniel handed over the details of sending out invitations and deciding on the cake and the wedding breakfast menu to Dilley and Celia. The wines, of course, were Patrick’s province. Though because Dr Philip Davis was as eager a wine buff as his son, a lot of discussion ensued until the perfect menu was agreed.

  Meanwhile, back in Trewellyn, work went on as usual.

  The mobile surgery continued to ply between the remote villages on the routes carefully worked out by George. And each surgery seemed to be busier than the last.

  As the weather remained fine, there were endless minor injuries amongst the children to be attended to as a result of outdoor accidents. And as it was coming toward the end of the holidays, many youngsters were getting bored and fractious, which made them sometimes too adventurous and more prone to get into trouble.

  No matter how often it was explained to patients that the mobile surgery wasn’t a casualty unit, some people would wait a day or even two for treatment, rather than go into town or phone the health centre.

  ‘I know it’s a sort of compliment to our success, but we need more ambulances,’ fumed Daniel one afternoon when they finished a particularly busy session. ‘That kid with otitis media should have been seen yesterday. An ear infection as severe as that is damned painful. And, untreated, could lead to complications. But his mum said that she had difficulty getting hold of an ambulance so she fed him junior paracetamol and decided to wait for us today.’

  ‘Darling, don’t get so steamed up.’ Clare laid a hand on his arm and gave it a squeeze. ‘That’s why we’re here. Things are improving slowly. And Jane is going to send out another batch of letters informing everyone that they must ring the centre if they’ve got serious problems while we’re away.’

  George, who was closing up the surgery, grinned hugely. ‘Wedding nerves getting to you, Doc?’ He chuckled.

  ‘It’s not the wedding that I’m worried about, George, I can’t wait for that.’ In passing, Dan kissed Clare, who was finishing tidying up the treatment room, and she kissed him back. ‘But I’m worrying about the time we’ll be off the road. I’d hoped that someone might have stood in for us, but apparently it can’t be done.’

  ‘Well, stop worrying about it, Doc,’ George advised. ‘She needs a rest and a good overhaul.’

  ‘Rest maybe,’ Dan said, keeping his face straight as he gazed thoughtfully at Clare, ‘but I don’t think she’s due for an overhaul quite yet.’

  ‘He means the surgery, not me, you idiot.’ Clare laughed as George patted the side of the van affectionately.

  ‘You two just worry about having a good time,’ George continued, un
perturbed. ‘After all, the patients are no worse off than they used to be. And you’ll be even more appreciated when you get back.’

  Clare made a couple of lengthy phone calls to her sister Dorcas, who ran a trendy boutique in London, discussing what might be suitable as a wedding dress.

  ‘Plain and simple and definitely not white,’ instructed Clare. It was eventually decided that Dorcas should bring a selection down to Somerset, so a few days later she arrived with a pile of wedding dresses for Clare to try on.

  Much to his chagrin, Daniel was sent packing for the evening.

  ‘This is a girls-only affair,’ Dorcas said firmly, propelling him out of the door.

  ‘What a huggable hunk, he’s lovely,’ she cooed when he’d gone. ‘No wonder you’ve fallen for him, and no wonder the parents are totally won over. He’s certainly a change from your previous possibles.’

  Clare went pink with pleasure at her sister’s expression of admiration for Daniel. ‘Yes, they get on like a house on fire, and with his parents, too.’

  ‘Are you sure that you don’t want to have bridesmaids? Our nieces would love to be in on the act.’

  ‘And so would Daniel’s nieces, and that would make five in all. We’re just not geared for that. It’s not as if we’re in the first flush of youth or this is a real white wedding.’

  Dorcas held up her hands. ‘OK, point taken. Let’s get on with the most important choice.’

  There were six dresses to choose from, but the third, a smoky grey-blue made from heavy silk, immediately caught Clare’s eye. It had a mandarin collar and long slim sleeves with a scattering of tiny blue flowers. It was mid-calf length with slits up the sides. There was a little velvet cap to match with a tiny veil.

  It fitted perfectly and did wonderful things for Clare’s blue eyes and slender but full-busted figure.

  The weeks slipped past and suddenly the great day was nearly upon them.

  On the morning of the day before the wedding, Clare was in number three Church Cottages, packing her cases. She and Daniel were leaving for the Island just before lunch.