Summer Seaside

Wedding

Abigail Gordon

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

About the Author

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Epilogue

Copyright

Abigail Gordon welcomes you back to the idyllic coastal village of Bluebell Cove

Is there enough romance fluttering on the Devonshire sea breeze for one more happy-ever-after? Find out in:

SUMMER SEASIDE WEDDING

and

REUNITED:
A MIRACLE MARRIAGE

by Judy Campbell brings a longed-for second chance at a fairytale ending

Dear Reader

Here we have Amelie and Leo’s story—the last of my quartet of books set in Bluebell Cove, a beautiful coastal village in ‘glorious’ Devon.

If you have read WEDDING BELLS FOR THE VILLAGE NURSE, the first of my four books about this village by the sea, you will have already met Jenna and Lucas. In CHRISTMAS IN BLUEBELL COVE we had Francine and Ethan’s story, followed by THE VILLAGE NURSE’S HAPPY-EVER-AFTER, which told of Phoebe and Harry’s search for happiness. Now, between the pages of SUMMER SEASIDE WEDDING, we are once again sharing the lives and loves of the folk who live in Bluebell Cove.

Until we meet again, I do wish you happy reading.

With best wishes

Abigail Gordon

About the Author

ABIGAIL GORDON loves to write about the fascinating combination of medicine and romance from her home in a Cheshire village. She is active in local affairs, and is even called upon to write the script for the annual village pantomime! Her eldest son is a hospital manager, and helps with all her medical research. As part of a close-knit family, she treasures having two of her sons living close by, and the third one not too far away. This also gives her the added pleasure of being able to watch her delightful grandchildren growing up.

CHAPTER ONE

IT WAS June and the hot summer sun above made the confines of the car feel restricting as Leo Fenchurch drove along the road at the top of the cliffs in Bluebell Cove, a coastal village in the Devonshire countryside.

It had been a long morning. The first surgery of the day had been followed by home visits to the patients of the Tides Practice, where he was employed as one of the two doctors there, and now every time he glanced down at the sea, blue and dazzling as it danced onto the sandy beach, his collar felt tighter, his smart suit more a burden than an asset, and the yearning to pull into a deserted lay-by and change into the swimming trunks he always carried in the car was strong.

But needless to say he couldn’t give in to the temptation. After a hasty lunch there would be the second surgery of the day to cope with and by the time that was over it would be half past six, so any sun-worshipping and bathing would have to wait until a summer evening unfolded.

The practice was on the road he was driving along, past the headland overlooking the sea, and situated in the centre of the village. As he drove onto the forecourt the red car belonging to Harry Balfour, the senior partner, pulled up alongside.

As the two men walked towards the main entrance to the surgery Harry said, ‘There is something I need to discuss with you, Leo, before we grab a bite of lunch, so let’s go to my room, shall we?’

‘Yes, sure.’ The fair-haired six-footer, who was top of the list of Bluebell Cove’s most eligible men, had no problems with that.

The two of them worked well together, especially since Harry had recently married Phoebe and now seemed in a permanent state of bliss. He was a changed man from the brusque widower who’d returned from Australia to take over the practice. And the change in him was all due to meeting the love of his life after a marriage that had not been the most satisfying of relationships.

Phoebe Morgan had been the district nurse attached to the practice but was now no longer employed there because she was expecting their first baby, a brother or sister for Marcus, her son from her own disastrous previous marriage and a child that Harry loved as if he was his own.

A carefree playboy himself when he wasn’t at the surgery, Leo had thought a few times when observing his partner’s contentment that maybe he was missing out by never committing himself to any of the opposite sex who were ever ready to be in his company given the chance.

But the woman had yet to appear who could make the most attractive man in Bluebell Cove want to settle down. Once long ago he’d thought he’d found her, but a force stronger than either of them had decreed that it was not to be.

‘I had a phone call from Ethan while I was out on my rounds,’ Harry explained once they were seated in his office.

Leo observed him questioningly. It had only been a few weeks since Ethan Lomax, who had been in charge of the practice before Harry had come and now lived in France, had brought his family over for the wedding of the man sitting opposite, so what was it now?

He was soon to find out. ‘As you know, Ethan is working in a French hospital,’ Harry explained, ‘and has been approached by a junior doctor who is keen to get some experience of general practice, British style. Willing to assist if possible, he rang to ask if we could fit this person into the practice here for a few months. I told him I couldn’t just say yes on the spur of the moment without discussing it with you, and would get back to him. So, what do you think?’

‘An extra pair of hands would come in useful,’ Leo said slowly, ‘but how experienced is this guy?’

Harry was smiling. ‘What makes you think it’s a man?’

‘So it’s a woman?’

‘Yes. Her name is Amelie Benoir. She’s twenty-six years old and was top of her course at medical school, so I feel that an extra doctor in the practice for a while and one of such promise is too good an opportunity to miss, but first I want your opinion, Leo.’

‘I feel the same as you,’ Leo told him, ‘and if this Benoir woman is what Ethan says with regard to ability and is as chic as his French wife, Francine, it will be a double bonus.’

‘You never change, do you?’ Harry commented with wry amusement, but Leo didn’t rise to the bait. His mind was on the practicalities of the idea.

‘So where would this French doctor stay?’ he questioned, and then reverting back to form, went on, ‘How about the apartment next to mine above the surgery? It worked for you and Phoebe when the two of you lived up there, didn’t it?’

‘I thought you weren’t the marrying kind,’ was Harry’s reply to that.

‘Who said anything about marrying? But I have to admit I envy you sometimes.’

‘That is because I’ve found the right one,’ he was told, ‘and, having said that, going home to Phoebe and Marcus is the highlight of my day, so if this Amelie Benoir does come to join us here, I’d be obliged if you would go to the airport to meet her if she arrives in the evening. If it’s during the day I’ll do the honours, though evening would be better all round, I feel.

‘Besides, with only the two of us as GPs, it’s tough when one of us is missing, so I’ll mention that to Ethan when I return his call and suggest she flies in after the surgeries, unless she’s already found herself a niche over here by the time he speaks to her again. If she hasn’t, and does come to join us for a while, I’m afraid she won’t be living in the apartment across from yours. Ethan has offered to let her rent his house in the village at a nominal sum for however long she stays.’

The following morning Harry announced that he and his predecessor had spoken the night before and arrangements were already in hand for the temporary addition to the practice to join them the following week.

She was to arrive next Friday evening, which would allow her time to get used to her new surroundings before presenting herself at the surgery on Monday morning.

Leo would meet her at the airport and give her the keys to Ethan’s house, and Harry and Phoebe would make sure that a bed was made up and there was food in the fridge.

Having taken note of the arrangements, Leo put the new arrival out of his mind until such time as it had been arranged he should be at the airport to meet her. He carried on with his leisure pursuits as normal, which included swimming at every opportunity, tennis, and taking part in the village’s social life in the form of dining out and attending local entertainment.

When Lucy, the elderly practice nurse who had worked at the surgery for as long as anyone could remember, asked him one morning if the trainee doctor was married or single, coming alone or accompanied, Leo had to tell her that he didn’t know, hadn’t thought to ask. Neither, it seemed, had Harry.

He appeared at that moment and when consulted merely said, ‘Ethan’s house is big enough to accommodate eight to ten people comfortably, so there won’t be a problem regarding anyone she brings with her.’

‘Especially if she’s got lots of attractive sisters,’ Leo joked, and Lucy smiled. She liked Leo Fenchurch, liked his easy manner, which some people misread. In reality he was a caring and experienced doctor who often concealed his feelings behind a casual bonhomie, which could be the reason why so many of the local female population sought his company.

Leo set off for the airport the moment the surgeries of the day were over on the Friday of the following week. It was a lengthy drive and he had no wish for the new arrival to be without someone to greet her when the aircraft touched down, which meant that he was still wearing the suit he wore for the practice, having had no time to change, and was hungry into the bargain, again because of the time factor.

Amelie Benoir’s name was printed in large capitals on a piece of cardboard beside him on the passenger seat of the car and he was hoping that she would be one of the first off the plane so that he could take her for something to eat to appease his hunger.

The traffic wasn’t good, but Friday nights never were, he thought as he watched the minutes ticking by. He strode into the arrivals lounge holding his piece of cardboard aloft with only seconds to spare as the first passengers from the French flight began to filter through.

His eyes widened. It looked as if his wishes were going to be granted. This had to be her, he thought as a tall, elegant woman with a sweep of shining blonde hair appeared amongst the first of the arrivals.

He reached out over the barrier as she drew level and held the card out for her to see, but there was no reaction, just a rather surprised smile and then she was gone, moving in the direction of the taxi rank. So much for that, he thought wryly. He’d been too quick off the mark there.

Passengers kept coming and no one stepped out of line and claimed to be Amelie Benoir. Eventually he was the only one there with his piece of card. As the last two, a rather nondescript couple, appeared, he was on the point of turning away when the woman called, ‘Wait, please. I am she. I am Amelie Benoir.’ As he observed her in dismayed surprise, the man that he’d thought she was with proceeded to the nearest exit.

He almost groaned out loud at the idea of mistaking the other woman for this untidy creature, but pulling himself together he said smoothly, ‘Welcome to Devon, Dr Benoir. I am Leo Fenchurch, one of the doctors in the practice. If you will walk to the end of the barrier, I will take charge of your luggage, and then perhaps you would like some refreshment before we embark on what is quite a long drive to Bluebell Cove.’

It had been a shift like most of the shifts for junior doctors at the busy hospital where Amelie had first met the friendly Ethan Lomax. Who had set her imagination on fire when he’d spoken of the beautiful village on the coast of Devon where he’d lived before moving to France.

She had been allotted to Women’s Surgical and had been nearing the end of what should have been a twelve-hour shift, but as sometimes happened it had been twice as long for various reasons, and for the last couple of hours Amelie had cast frequent glances at the clock because she hadn’t wanted to miss her flight to the UK. If its relentless hands hadn’t messed up her arrangements, there had always been the chance that exhaustion would.

But release had come at last and hurrying to her flat, which fortunately had been in the staff accommodation part of the hospital complex, she’d thrown off her hospital garb, showered, and replaced the clothes she’d taken off with the only jacket and trousers she possessed for travelling in.

Picking up her case, which fortunately she’d packed previously, she’d hailed a taxi from the rank outside the hospital gates and the last thing she remembered after settling into her seat on the plane had been wishing that it wasn’t going to be such a short flight as the exhaustion that she’d had to fight to get there on time had taken over and even before take-off she’d been asleep.

It was why she was one of the last off the aircraft, drowsy and disorientated. She saw the card in the hand of a man who looked like the angel Gabriel in a suit and wished that she’d managed to find time to brush her hair properly instead of just rubbing it dry with the towel after she’d showered.

She was discovering that his likeness to an angel wasn’t just in the golden fairness of him. He was offering her food and as it had been hours since she’d eaten, she would have kissed his feet if he’d asked her to. Yet there was nothing angelic about the hand that he’d extended to shake her ringless one. The contact was brief, but she felt a firmness and sense of purpose in its clasp.

‘Yes, please,’ she said in reply to his offer of food. ‘I’m famished. I came straight off my shift with only a short time to spare before my flight was due to leave, and have slept all the way.’

He nodded. At that moment she looked like what she was, an overworked, underpaid junior doctor with the white mask of exhaustion that most of them wore.

The rest of her was made up of hair that was black as raven’s wings in a short cut that would have looked stylish if she’d taken the trouble to run a comb through it, and there was a snub nose in the centre of a face with a wide mouth that looked as if it might smile a lot under other circumstances.

She was of average height, average weight, everything about her was average, except for her eyes. They made up for it, blue as the bluebells that the village got its name from, and as their glances met, his keen and perceptive and hers still verging on sleep, he thought that maybe she wouldn’t be such a disappointment after all. If nothing else, she would be an extra pair of hands.

He took her to eat in a restaurant on the airport concourse and as she enjoyed the food he reflected it was only the smell and sight of it that was keeping her awake.

A visit to the powder room followed the meal and Amelie sighed at the vision she presented in the mirror there. A quick flick of a comb through her hair improved it slightly, but the overall effect was far from how she would have wanted to appear on arriving in the UK for the first time to be met by a man who on closer inspection was more like a Greek god than an angel, but so what? She was off men, had been ever since she’d given Antoine his ring back.

The hurt and humiliation of what he’d done to her had made her feel unlovely and unloved when it had happened, but she felt she was over that now, had risen above those sort of feelings, and been grateful in a crazy sort of way for the long hours and other demands made of a junior doctor, which had left her with little time to brood. Yet it would be an eternity before she put her trust in or gave her heart to another of his sex.

Leo was waiting for her by the reception desk with her cases beside him when she reappeared, and didn’t miss the fact that the black bob of her hair now hung smooth and shining around her face.

That’s better, he thought, and almost laughed at the workings of his mind.

Amelie Benoir hadn’t crossed the Channel to enter a beauty competition. She’d come to gain some experience in general practice and hopefully give assistance to Harry and himself at the same time.

‘Thanks for the food,’ she said gratefully. ‘I feel much better now.’

‘Good. I was a junior doctor myself once and remember the trials and tribulations just as much as the rewards. So if you want to nod off again feel free because it will be some time before we arrive in Bluebell Cove.’

‘What is the house like where I shall be living?’ she asked after they’d travelled the first few miles in silence, each not sure if the other wanted to talk.

‘It was built for Ethan and his family a couple of years ago and is very spacious and attractive. It is opposite the surgery so you won’t have to travel to get there. With regard to visiting our patients, Dr. Balfour is sorting out a hire car for you, though you will be with one of us until you know the district and have got the hang of the surgery routine.’

‘And where do you live?’ was her next question.

‘Nowhere as sumptuous as where you will be living in Ethan’s modern detached, or Harry Balfour’s manor house,’ he said laughingly. ‘I live in an apartment above the surgery that supplies my needs.’

‘So you do not have family?’

‘My mother is alive. She lives in Spain with my sister and her husband. I’m not married myself, neither do I have any children. Families are the ties that bind, I feel. What about you? Have you left family behind in France?’

She shook her head and he thought there was something sad about the gesture. ‘No. I have not left anyone behind. Both my parents are in the diplomatic service and spend most of their time abroad. I rarely see them.’

He nodded, ‘I only asked because Ethan’s house is big. If you’d wanted to bring anyone with you, he wouldn’t have minded.’

‘I might have done at one time,’ she replied, ‘but not now.’ Silence fell between them once more.

It was gone midnight when Leo pulled up across the way from the surgery in front of the big detached house that was to be her home for the next six months.

Amelie had been half-asleep on the last leg of the journey but had woken up when he’d turned onto the coast road and been tuned in when he’d explained that the sea and the beach were below and that a house standing on a headland overlooking them called Four Winds because of its exposed position was occupied by a frail elderly woman who had once been in charge of the medical practice that they were heading for.

‘I have lived in many places,’ she told him, ‘and the ones I have liked best were always beside the ocean. So this is a great adventure for me.’

‘That’s good, then,’ he commented as he took her cases out of the boot and carried them to the front door of the house. While he was unlocking it he said, ‘Ethan and his family were here just a few weeks ago for Harry and Phoebe’s wedding, so all should be in order.’ And with her close behind, he led the way inside.

Amelie looked around her, wide eyed at the spacious rooms and attractive, modern furniture, and Leo thought that this place made the apartment above the surgery look like a henhouse, yet did it matter? It was enough for his needs at the present time.

‘If you would like to take a look upstairs, you should find that Phoebe has made up one of the beds for you, and there will be fresh food in the cupboards and the refrigerator,’ he explained. ‘If you need anything over the weekend, you know where to find me, above the surgery.’

‘You will see a separate staircase leading to the apartment and there is a buzzer by the door. Now I shall leave you to settle in.’ With a glance at her tired face, he added, ‘Sleep well. Harry and Phoebe will be calling in to introduce themselves some time over the weekend and, as I’ve said, I won’t be far away, so I’ll say goodnight until eight-thirty on Monday morning.’

‘Thank you for bringing me here, Dr Fenchurch,’ she said, and he sensed the melancholy in her tone again.

Yet she was smiling as she went to the door to see him off and nodded obediently when he said, ‘Be sure to lock and bolt the doors after I’ve gone.’

It was only when she was alone in the strange house that she’d escaped to that she allowed herself to think that with midnight already past, today should have been her wedding day.

Had Antoine even remembered, she wondered, or was he so engrossed in his new love that he’d shut the past out of his mind? Whatever the answer to that was, she was here in this beautiful English village and was going to make the most of the time by helping the sick and enjoying the change of surroundings, and along with that was hoping to find some kind of permanent healing for her own hurts.

She awoke the next morning to the sound of shrill cries in the distance and when she went to the window Amelie saw gulls circling around the headland.

There was a clear blue sky and already the sun was out, warm and tempting overhead, even though it was only six o’clock. So tempting that instead of going back to bed and allowing herself the treat of a lie-in, the urge to explore her new surroundings was strong.

Within a very short time she’d breakfasted on some of the wholesome-looking food that had been left for her, had had a shower, and was striding along towards the beach in shorts and a cotton top to conceal a bikini, with a towel over her arm.

It wasn’t just curiosity that was taking her there. It was a day that Amelie intended to fill with everything except thoughts of what might have been. Exploring Bluebell Cove was top of the list, and wallowing in hurtful memories at the bottom.

When she passed the house called Four Winds an elderly man was pottering around the garden and he gave a friendly wave when she appeared. The strip of golden sand below was deserted and as the sea pounded against the rocks and the gulls continued to screech above, she was out of the shorts and top and walking barefoot towards the water’s edge in a matter of seconds, as if the wide expanse of ocean was a huge blue magnet pulling her towards it.

Leo had seen her go by from his vantage point above the surgery and had watched her walking towards the beach in amazement. Where was the exhausted young doctor of the previous night? he thought, never having dreamt that she would be up and about so early.

Getting her to Bluebell Cove and dropping her at Ethan’s house had been enough to be going on with after a busy day in the surgery with journeys to and from the airport added on, so issuing warnings about dangerous currents and rip tides hadn’t been in his mind at gone midnight the night before.

For one thing, he hadn’t been expecting her to surface before midday and there she was, moving towards the delights of the cove with a spring in her step, which was more than he could say for himself.

He would have mentioned the tides if he’d had time to think the night before, but having not done so he couldn’t let her go down there with no such thoughts in her mind. Within seconds he was following her, dressed in a similar manner in shorts and a T-shirt with swimwear underneath, and feeling less than chirpy at not having fulfilled his function as welcome party to Amelie Benoir.

She was in the water when he got there, swimming effortlessly quite a way out, and he groaned. He could murder a coffee and some toast, followed by a leisurely read of the morning paper, but first he was going to have to swim out to her, explain the dangers, and suggest that she swim nearer to the shore as Ronnie, the lifeguard, didn’t appear on the beach until eight o’clock. The treacherous tides only surfaced rarely but strangers and locals alike needed to be aware of them.

When he bobbed up beside her in the water he gestured for her to swim back to the beach with him, and when they were on the sand she exclaimed, ‘Dr Fenchurch! Do you also like to swim at this time of day?’

‘Not unless I have to,’ he told her dryly. ‘I saw you walking past my place and came to warn you that there are dangerous tides on rare occasions that you need to be aware of. I should have mentioned it last night, but wasn’t expecting you to be out and about so early after your exhaustion of yesterday.’

‘Yes, I know,’ she said apologetically, ‘but my room was full of sunlight and I could hear the gulls. I just had to explore down here.’

She wasn’t going to tell him that today she didn’t want time to think, that she needed to be occupied every moment so that her thoughts wouldn’t be of a wedding dress taken back to the shop, a bridal cake that had to be cancelled, and on a larger scale a honeymoon that hadn’t materialised.

‘So can I expect you to be watchful?’ he asked, about to depart.

‘Yes, of course. I will take note of everything that you say.’

‘Good, and now I’m going back for some breakfast. Enjoy your weekend, Amelie.’ And off he went with the thought going round in his mind that there was a solitariness about her that was worrying.

As he settled down to a belated breakfast and the morning paper, Leo was hoping the new addition to the practice would find her own niche socially and workwise, and that his part in the proceedings would now be completed.

He could understand her eagerness to go down to the beach and having seen her swim understood why. She moved like a dream in the water, and now he supposed she would be exploring the rest of Bluebell Cove if she hadn’t gone back to bed. He hoped that Harry and Phoebe would take up where he’d left off and make her feel welcome.

For his own day he’d arranged to spend time on the tennis courts later in the morning with Naomi, an aspiring fashion model. On Saturday afternoons he always drove into town, and tonight was joining Georgina, the attractive owner of the local boutique, and her friends for a meal. So his day was planned.

Amelie hadn’t gone back to bed. She’d considered it, but knew that alone in the stillness of the bedroom the thoughts she was trying to keep in check would come sweeping over her and she would be lost.

Instead, she was going to explore the shops in the main street of the village, then walk as far as she could see on the road that ran along the top of the cliffs. And somewhere in the midst of her exploring she would eat.

The ‘Angel Gabriel’ hadn’t seemed too cheerful when he’d found her already in the sea at just gone six o’clock in the morning, but she was afraid he would have to get used to that because she loved to swim; and if life at the village practice was as demanding as the job she’d just left, it might be her only chance at that early hour.

So far she hadn’t met the senior partner but there was plenty of time for that. She’d met Leo, that was enough to be going on with, and for the rest of the weekend she wasn’t going to butt into his life again.

The shops were to her liking. They reminded her of those in the French village where she’d lived as a child. Amongst them was a grocer’s selling butter straight from the tub, a fishmonger’s with the morning’s fresh catch on display, and a combined village store and post office where people were good-humouredly passing the time of day without seeming to be in any hurry.

There was the feeling of life lived at a slower pace, she thought as she set off in the direction of the cliffs and the road that ran along the top of them. As she breathed in the fresh sea air and felt the sun on her face Amelie knew she’d done the right thing in accepting Ethan’s suggestion that she come to Bluebell Cove and she was here today of all days.

She could see the sea in the distance as she walked along. The tide had gone out and there were more people down on the sand now than there had been earlier. She was in love with the place already, she thought wonderingly. What must it be like to live here all the time?

When she looked over her shoulder she was surprised to see how far she’d walked. The village was almost out of sight and having no wish to make her arrival in Bluebell Cove brought to the notice of others by getting lost, she began to retrace her steps.

Eventually she came to tennis courts that had been empty when she’d passed earlier but were now occupied by an attractive blonde with long legs. Partnering her, resplendent in tennis shorts and a short-sleeved white shirt, was the man she’d been hoping to avoid for the rest of the weekend.

Fortunately he was serving with his back to her and with a few fast steps she was past before he’d had the chance to see her.

She was smiling as she neared the edge of the village. It made sense that a man like him would want someone as attractive as himself to have around him, she was thinking when suddenly the church bells began to ring out and as she drew nearer the reason was revealed.

A June bride, resplendent in a beautiful white dress and train, was being helped out of a wedding car that had stopped at the lychgate of the church, and Amelie felt as if a cloud had covered the sun.

So much for upbeat thinking and keeping occupied on this particular day. Who was she kidding? The hurt hadn’t gone away. She’d learned to live with it, but it was still there.

Turning away blindly, she hurried past the shops until she came to a café and seated herself at a table farthest from the window.

CHAPTER TWO

THE tennis had been good, his companion pleasant to be with, and as the two of them walked along the main street of the village, seeking refreshment after the exercise, Leo was aware that the bells were ringing at the church and a wedding was taking place.

Not an unusual event on a Saturday in June, by any means, but it was attracting a lot of attention, as weddings always did, and when his tennis partner wanted to linger outside the church they separated, him to the café farther along the street and her to join those who were waiting for the bride and her groom to appear.

The place was almost empty when he got there, even cream teas were being overshadowed by what was happening at the church, but there was one customer sitting at a table at the back, staring into space, and he forced a smile.

Hot and sticky, he just wanted to relax but she was here again, the young French doctor looking so forlorn he just had to go across and say hello.

‘So how’s it going?’ he asked easily, towering above her with racket in hand.

‘Fine,’ she said with a pale smile.

‘You must be the only one not watching what is going on at the church. I thought that most women love a wedding.’

He was making conversation and knew it, out of his depth because she looked so glum, and he was dumbstruck when she said tonelessly, ‘Not those who have been betrayed. Today should have been my wedding day too. I should have been a bride, but as you can see it has not happened.’

‘Oh!’ he exclaimed, and lowered himself onto the chair beside her. ‘I am so sorry. I would never have brought up the subject of marriage if I’d known. It is not surprising that you aren’t amongst the observers and well-wishers. Do you want to talk about it?’

She shook her head. ‘No, I don’t, Dr Fenchurch. I was managing to get through the day reasonably well until I saw the wedding and came in here to get away from it.’ The pale smile was back. ‘But I’m all right now.’ Steering the conversation into less upsetting channels, she said, ‘What has happened to your tennis partner?’

‘Naomi? She’s outside the church with everyone else, but we were about to separate in any case. We only meet once weekly for tennis. So why don’t you let me take you back to the house before the bridal couple appear?’

‘But you came in here for some refreshment,’ she protested.

‘I’ll have a bite when I’ve seen you safely away from all of this,’ he replied. ‘If we take the long way round we’ll miss the church. But, Amelie, I have to warn you there will be other weddings. June is the most popular month in the year so…’

‘I’m not going to have a panic attack every time I see one,’ she told him.

‘It was because it was today of all days that it upset me so much, and I’m butting into your weekend again, aren’t I? I am so sorry.’

‘Don’t be. You are alone in a strange place and I am happy to help in any way I can,’ he assured her, and was surprised how much he meant it. ‘So let’s go, shall we?’ And with a smile for the girl behind the counter as Amelie paid for what she’d had, he shepherded her outside and they set off in the opposite direction from the wedding.

Harry had rung him after breakfast, wanting to know if the previous night’s arrangements had gone smoothly, and he’d been able to tell him that they had.

‘So what’s she like?’ he’d wanted to know, and Leo had described her briefly.

‘Something in your tone tells me that Amelie is not another chic Francine Lomax,’ the senior partner had said laughingly.

Leo hadn’t taken him up on that comment. Instead, he’d told him, ‘She was down in the cove swimming at some godless hour this morning after seeming to be completely exhausted last night.’

‘How do you know that?’

‘I saw her go past with a towel over her arm and realised I hadn’t told her about the rip tides, so went after her to be on the safe side.’

‘And where is she now?’

‘I don’t know, but if her rapture on seeing Bluebell Cove is anything to go by, she’ll be out seeing the sights.’

‘We’ll be calling round soon,’ Harry had informed him, ‘and if she isn’t there we can stop by again later.’

It would seem that she hadn’t been there because she was here with him, Leo was thinking when the surgery and the house opposite came into view. When she opened the door there was a note behind it.

He was observing her hesitantly as she bent to pick it up, undecided whether he should go and leave her to her private thoughts or offer to stay and keep her company for a while until he was sure she was all right to be left on her own.

Unaware of what was going through his mind, Amelie read the note and exclaimed, ‘Oh, dear! Dr Balfour and his family have been while I was out.’

‘Don’t concern yourself,’ he advised. ‘I spoke to him this morning and he said he’ll call again if he misses you, but for now, Amelie, would you like me to stay for a while or would you prefer me to leave?’

For the first time he saw the sparkle of tears in the blue eyes looking into his, but her voice was steady enough as she replied, ‘I will be all right, thank you. You helped me through a bad moment and I am grateful, but I am sure that you have other things to do.’

As relief washed over him at being let off the hook he said, ‘All right, if that is what you would prefer, but I’ll leave you my mobile number just in case.’

‘There is no need,’ she protested. ‘I will be fine once this day is over,’ and wished she hadn’t been so quick to tell him the reason for her distress. She’d kept the hurt under wraps ever since the break-up with Antoine and would still have been doing so if she hadn’t come across a village wedding.

Leo’s relief at her insistence that she would be all right was short-lived. While he was out dining with Georgina from the boutique and other friends that evening he was on edge, knowing that he shouldn’t have been so quick to latch onto Amelie’s reassurances.

The day she’d been dreading wasn’t over yet and the hurts that life was prone to hand out always seemed to multiply with the coming of the night.

It was as he’d said. She was alone in a foreign land and although he hardly knew her, he did have some degree of responsibility towards her because she was joining the practice on Monday morning and they would be meeting again. On a different level.

The folks he was with were aware of his wandering thoughts and Georgina asked, ‘What’s the matter, Leo? Aren’t we entertaining enough for you tonight?’

He smiled and there wasn’t a woman there who didn’t wish he belonged to her, including Georgina, but she was aware that Leo was not the marrying kind, not where she was concerned anyway.

‘I have got something on my mind,’ he confessed. ‘I’m sorry if I’m poor company.’ He sent an apologetic glance in Georgina’s direction. ‘I need to pop out for a while. If I’m not back when you’re ready to order, you know what I like to eat, Georgina.’ And before anyone could comment he’d gone, striding out of the restaurant with a haste that didn’t go unnoticed.

Ten minutes and once again he was outside the house where Amelie was staying, and when he saw that it was in darkness he was about to turn away when her voice came from behind him.

‘Dr Fenchurch!’ she exclaimed. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you again today.’

‘I just came to check that you’re all right,’ he said smoothly, as if he hadn’t been fidgeting on her behalf for the last hour. ‘I’m dining with friends in a restaurant not far from here so thought I’d call to make sure.’

‘That is very kind of you and makes me even more sorry that I unloaded my troubles on to you,’ she told him. ‘But concern yourself no longer. I am fine. I beg you go back to your friends and remember you did give me your mobile number.’ Which I am not going to use, no matter what.

‘I shall have an early night to make up for my exhaustion of yesterday,’ and as he made no move to take the hint, she said, ‘Goodnight to you, Dr Fenchurch.’

He nodded. ‘Goodnight to you too, Amelie.’ At which she opened the door and disappeared from sight and he drove back to where Georgina and the others were waiting.

‘So who was the woman?’ someone asked jok ingly.

He sighed and surprised them by saying, ‘Her name is Amelie Benoir. She’s the French doctor who is joining the practice for a few months. I only met her yesterday and I’m concerned that she is on her own in a strange place where she knows no one except me because Harry asked me to go to the airport to meet her last night. Does that satisfy your curiosity?’ he questioned mildly.

‘Yes,’ the joker said laughingly, ‘and we’ll all be sure to ask for Dr Benoir when we’re sick.’

As he listened to the friendly banter Amelie’s face came to mind, framed by a glossy black bob, with a snub nose and wide mouth. So anyone who wanted glamour and the trappings that went with it would need to look in Georgina’s direction.

It was hard to imagine anyone not being keen to marry the boutique owner except himself, and if anyone should ever ask him why, the answer would be that he couldn’t see her as the mother of any children he might have.

In what seemed like another life he’d wanted Delphine, sweet and bubbly, to give him young ones when the time came, but it hadn’t worked out that way.

They’d met at college, where so many romances began, and had known from the start they’d wanted to be together for always, but his love for her had been rent with an anguish that had ended in despair when she’d been rushed into hospital with a serious undetected heart problem and it had been too late to save her.

The pain he’d felt then had set the pattern for the years to come. It had been something that he never wanted to have to go through again. He was pursued all the time by women and laughed and joked with them, sometimes had the odd fling, but that was it. None of them could bring the kind of joy to his life that Delphine had.

When Amelie had told him that she was all right, it had been partly to reassure him and also because his kindness and concern on her behalf had helped to turn what could have been a ghastly day into a bearable one, and now she was determined that she wasn’t going to lie sleepless and fretting about what might have been.

Antoine Lamont had been a junior doctor at the same hospital as herself. When he’d started paying attention to her she’d thought that the quiet, low-key guy, who had often been on the same shift as herself, had seen her as the right kind for him because she was as average as he was.

Gradually they’d drifted into an engagement with the promise of a white wedding on the very day she’d arrived in Devon with her heart set on a new life far away from the hurts of the previous one.

Her surmise that Antoine had chosen her because she had been the least demanding and overpowering of some of the women he’d known had been shattered when she’d called at his apartment unexpectedly one night in the hospital grounds and found him in bed with one of the nurses, a brassy, auburn-haired creature who was anything but average when it came to looks and curves.

It had been the end of her dream of contentment with a man she could love and trust and the beginning of pain and loneliness because of the deceit of it.

He’d tried to make amends, pleading that it had just been a one-off with the nurse, but she hadn’t wanted to hear his pleas and subsequently Antoine and the girl he’d been in bed with had left the hospital together, leaving her to face the pitying looks of others as best she could.

Yet deep down Amelie thought she might have had a lucky escape and accepted that maybe she’d been more in love with the idea of getting married than with the man in question. But as she lay beneath the covers in the master bedroom of the big house that she was going to be rattling around in, she knew that the hurt of rejection had still been there when she’d seen the bride arriving at the church for her wedding that day, and it had been the same man who had met her at the airport who’d helped her to cope with it.

So far Leo had only seen her at her worst. On Monday morning she intended that he was going to see her at her best, with the ups and downs of her arrival in Bluebell cove blotted out.

If there was one thing that she never wanted to appear as, it was needy. With her parents always at the other side of the world, she’d had to fend for herself since her early teens and maybe that was why Antoine had seemed like a calm oasis in her often chaotic life, but he’d turned out to be just the opposite, and with that thought in mind she turned her head into the pillow and slept.

Sunday was uneventful except for a visit from the Balfours, Harry and Phoebe, with their toddler, Marcus. The senior partner asked if she was happy with her living arrangements and said to let him know if she had any problems with regard to that or anything else.

‘I’m aware that you’ve already met Leo,’ he said, ‘and the rest of the staff will be looking forward to meeting you on Monday morning, Amelie.’

‘Yes, I’ve met Dr Fenchurch,’ she replied. ‘I feel I may have interrupted his weekend as I seemed to be everywhere he was.’ She wondered if the man in question had told his partner at the practice about her unsuccessful attempt at matrimony.

She hoped not, though she hadn’t asked him to keep it to himself, but if he had respected her privacy it would be a stick to measure him by and she was already intrigued by him.

The Balfours didn’t stay long, but it was time enough for her to discover a couple of things about them: one, that they were deeply in love and both adored the child; and, two, that she liked them and hoped that Dr Balfour would be as pleasant to work for at the practice as he was outside it.

Monday morning saw Amelie poised and ready for action, dressed in a smart white blouse, short black skirt, and with her smooth ebony hair straight and shining around a face that was alight with anticipation.

She’d made up carefully, paying special attention to her eyes, which she felt were the best feature of a nondescript face, and when she stood in front of the mirror in the bedroom she felt that she’d done her best with what nature had given her because there was nothing wrong with her bone structure and the flesh on it, yet when she thought about a certain brassy red-headed nurse with breasts like balloons she did have her doubts.

Leo was emerging out of the private entrance to the apartments as she appeared on the practice forecourt and strode purposefully towards him, carrying a leather briefcase. She looked different again, dressed smartly as she was, from the dishevelled woman at the airport and the bikini-clad swimmer on the beach.

‘Good morning, Dr Fenchurch,’ she said as he fell into step beside her. ‘It has come. The day I am to be part of your medical centre.’

‘Yes, indeed,’ he replied as he held open the main door of the surgery for her to go through. ‘I hope you won’t be disappointed in us.’

She smiled up at him. ‘It is more that it should be me who does not disappoint you and Dr Balfour. When you met me at the airport it was what I saw in your expression…disappointment.’

Surely it hadn’t been so obvious? he thought. It had been because he’d picked out the wrong woman to be her that the difference had seemed so great.

He didn’t deny it. Instead, he said, ‘It was very rude of me if that was how I appeared, and you are certainly proving me wrong so far. I hope that your first day is a good one, Amelie. Harry is already here and waiting to see you in his consulting room.’

‘They came to see me yesterday. Dr Balfour and his family were most kind. I wondered if perhaps you had told them about my cancelled wedding.’

For the first time since she’d met him she saw Leo’s pleasant manner chill as he told her, ‘Certainly not! If Harry and Phoebe were kind, it’s only because that is what they’re like. I wouldn’t dream of discussing what you told me on Saturday with anyone. Your private life is yours alone.’ And with the coolness still there he pointed to the door nearest to them, said, ‘That’s Harry’s room,’ and disappeared down the corridor in front of them where all the activity seemed to be taking place.

She’d unintentionally insulted him, Amelie thought as she tapped on the door of the senior partner’s room. Suddenly the morning wasn’t so exciting and challenging. She was just a temp from across the Channel, a bride-to-be who’d ended up on the outside of things.

Somehow she managed to put on a good face for the head of the practice and smiled her pleasure when he told her that she was being provided with a hire car that would be available the next day.

‘You’ll be in the room next to Leo at the other end of the passage,’ he told her, ‘and for a time will do the home visits with him until you are familiar with the area.’ He shook her hand. ‘Welcome aboard, Dr Benoir. I hope you enjoy your time with us.’ And that was that.

His phone was ringing so she left him to it and went to introduce herself to the receptionist at the desk opposite, who in turn took her to meet the rest of the staff, who were gathered in the kitchen for what she was to discover was a daily ritual—a mug of tea before surgery commenced.

The first thing she saw was that Leo wasn’t there and wondered if he was still smarting from what she’d said earlier. On her part it had just been innocent curiosity, yet she could understand his annoyance at the inference that he might have repeated what she’d told him to others.

But there was no more time to dwell on that. There were hands to shake, names to remember, and by the time the introductions were over she was feeling more comfortable.

Amongst those present were the two practice nurses, Lucy the elderly one, and Maria, young, pretty and the daughter of the beach lifeguard.

The district nurse, Bethany, only recently appointed, was there too, as well as the cleaner, a pleasant woman who came early and finished early in time to get her children off to school.

As she drank the tea Amelie was still wondering where Leo was and when she moved nearer to the open kitchen door she could hear his voice coming from Dr Balfour’s room and he didn’t sound happy.

He’d gone outside to get something out of his car and on returning had found that the senior partner had left Amelie to introduce herself to the staff, instead of doing it himself, and his frown had deepened when Harry had said laughingly, ‘She wandered off while I was on the phone. Don’t fuss. I’ve told her she’s getting the cherry on the cake.’

‘And what might that be?’ he’d gritted.

‘Doing the house calls with you, of course.’

‘Really. And how exciting is that not going to be… for her?’

She’d heard everything that was being said except the last two words because Leo had lowered his voice. If she’d felt she’d upset him before, it was twice as bad now. He obviously had no desire to be lumbered with her on his house calls.

He joined them all in the kitchen seconds later and her glance raked his face for signs of how he was feeling now. She was surprised when he had a smile for her and asked, ‘Are you all right, Amelie?’

‘Yes. I’m fine,’ she told him, relieved to see that he was back to his normal manner. ‘I have met all the staff, except the manager of the practice, and someone said she will be along shortly.’

‘That’s Janet. She doesn’t start until nine o’clock, but often works later than we do in the evenings. Bethany, the new district nurse, is her daughter.

‘They’re a good lot. Don’t hesitate to ask any of them if you have any problems. Surgery will be starting in a few moments so let me show you where you will be providing health care for the folk in Bluebell Cove.’

‘Are you still angry with me?’ she asked in a low voice as he opened the door of the smallest consulting room in the practice.

‘No, of course not. It was just you thinking I might have discussed your private life with Harry or anyone else that threw me off balance for a moment.’

He was beginning to wish they weren’t having this conversation, didn’t want to get any closer to this young French doctor who had butted into his weekend and now wanted to see into his thoughts. He’d actually fallen out with Harry over her and that was a first. They usually got on well.

A change of subject was called for and as the surgery was due to open its doors in a matter of minutes, what better way than to explain to her what was going to be required of her on her first morning?

‘Harry and I have picked out a few appointments from today’s list for you to deal with,’ he explained. ‘They are mostly women and children. Since Francine left to go back to her homeland we haven’t had a woman doctor on the staff, so you can see the advantages of having you here for our female patients, young and old.

‘If anything occurs that you haven’t dealt with before, Harry and I are here for help and advice. So good luck on your first morning. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I must prepare to meet my own patients. After surgery is finished we’ll have a coffee and then it will be time for the home visits. You will be able to see a lot more of Bluebell Cove while we’re out in the district as the area that the practice covers is both coast and country.’

With that he disappeared into the room next to hers and Amelie was left with the feeling that he was putting up with her on sufferance. What he’d said to Dr Balfour with regard to there being no pleasure in taking her with him on his rounds indicated that, and also there’d been the darkening of his brow when she’d asked him if he’d told the other man about her non-wedding.

He’d been all right about it afterwards, but there were signs that Leo was finding her heavy going, so a low profile was called for.

Her first patients were a harassed mother with a tearful four-year-old who was protesting loudly that she didn’t want to see the doctor man. Both were surprised to see that the ‘doctor man’ was a smiling young member of their own sex who had a way with children, having worked in the paediatric wards of a French hospital.

Within seconds the child had stopped crying and the mother was calming down as she explained why they were there. ‘Tiffany has an inflamed throat,’ she said, ‘and is very fretful. She won’t eat and had a raised temperature during the night. It seems normal enough now, but I still felt she should see a doctor.’

‘Yes, of course,’ Amelie agreed. ‘First I must look down the throat to check the degree of the inflammation.’ Turning to the small patient, she said gently, ‘Will you open your mouth for me, Tiffany, so that I can shine a light inside it?’

Not too keen on the idea, Tiffany clung to her mother and at her most persuasive Amelie said, ‘Just one little peep, that is all. Can you do that for me?’

Reassured, the child nodded and opened her mouth and when, as promised, Amelie did a quick examination of her throat she saw there was infection around the tonsils.

‘Has Tiffany had an inflamed throat before?’ she asked.

Her mother shook her head. ‘No, never.’

‘Then let us see what a few days’ rest and some paracetemol will do. They will help to relieve the soreness and then Tiffany will be more likely to want to eat. Ice cream is good for an inflamed throat too. If you should see pus on the tonsils, send for one of us immediately.

‘Her temperature is normal at present,’ she announced when she’d checked it, ‘but may rise again in the night so be prepared.’ She turned to the child. ‘You have been a very brave little girl, Tiffany, and you can have some ice cream when you get home.’

‘Thank you, Doctor,’ her mother said as they were leaving. ‘Are you new here? I haven’t seen you before.’

Amelie’s wide smile embraced them both. ‘Yes, I am here from France for a while and am already in love with your village.’

‘I have a woman’s problem that I’ve wanted to discuss with someone of my own sex, so you might be seeing me again,’ Tiffany’s mother said.

‘That will be fine whenever you are ready,’ Amelie told her, ‘and be sure to bring Tiffany back to the surgery if the inflammation persists.’

An expensively dressed elderly woman with an irregular heartbeat came next and was immediately dubious when she saw a fresh face behind the desk and a young one at that.

‘I was expecting to see Dr Balfour,’ she said haughtily. ‘Are you fully qualified?’

‘Yes, I am,’ Amelie told her pleasantly. ‘I have a degree and have been employed in a French hospital for the last two years. I am here to see how general practice works in the UK. So would you oblige me by unbuttoning your cardigan, Mrs…er…’ a quick glance at her notes ‘…Arbuthnot, as any kind of change in the heartbeat needs immediate attention.’

‘Yes, it is a little fast this morning,’ she told the patient when she’d listened to it intently. ‘Has it happened before?’

‘On and off, but not as severe as this,’ was the reply.

‘And you have seen Dr Balfour on those occasions? There is no mention of it in your records.’

‘No. When it has happened before I’ve ignored it and it has gradually gone away.’

‘But not today?’

‘No. Not today.’

‘Then an ECG is called for. If you will accompany me to the nurses’ room it will be done, and whatever the feedback we will find out what, if anything, is wrong with your heart.’

As Esther Arbuthnot got slowly to her feet she said grudgingly, ‘They say that a new broom sweeps clean, so maybe being passed to you for my consultation isn’t such a bad idea after all. What is your name?’

‘Amelie Benoir,’ she said as she led the elderly woman towards the ECG facility, where Lucy would perform the test.

The speed with which the results came through had Esther Arbuthnot in a state of amazement that turned to alarm when she was told that there could be a problem with one of the valves of her heart and that there had been evidence of a minor heart attack some time in the past.

‘We need to refer you to a cardiologist for further tests,’ Amelie told her gently as she observed how the patient’s bumptiousness was disappearing fast, yet not so fast that she wasn’t already planning ahead.

‘There is a top heart surgeon in Bluebell Cove,’ Esther informed Amelie. ‘His name is Lucas Devereux and he has a private clinic that he runs from his home.’

‘He’s the consultant I want to see. I can well afford it. He is married to Barbara Balfour’s daughter Jenna, who was a practice nurse here until they had their first child. So if you would arrange for me to see him as quickly as possible, I would be obliged.’

‘Yes, of course,’ she assured her, ‘and in the meantime no excessive exertion. Just take it quietly and rest whenever possible. I will be in touch as soon as I have an appointment for you.’

When she’d gone Amelie wondered how many Balfours there were in Bluebell Cove. They had to be related to Harry Balfour, the head of the practice, in some way. At the first opportunity that arose she would ask Leo who this Barbara Balfour was.

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