‘Can I help ye wi’something, lassie?’
The young woman swings round as Duncan appears from one of the storage sheds in the small block next to the annexe and ambles towards the front door.
‘Who are you?’ she looks at him curiously.
Still honing the tines of a garden fork with emery cloth, he lifts his chin in a backward nod. ‘I’m frae yon hoose. If ye’ve come fae the census, hen, ye’ve had a wasted trip. We took it tae the post.’
‘I haven’t come about any census,’ she snaps. ‘Where are the people who used to live here?’
Duncan eyes her coolly. ‘I’ve a mind if ye knew them well, ye’d ken where they wis noo.’ He carries on rubbing at the fork.
She wrinkles her nose at the smell of the paraffin on the cloth. ‘Do you or don’t you know where they are?’
‘Mebbe, mebbe not.’
‘Oh, for goodness sake. When did they go?’
‘Och, wis a while back,’ he says unhelpfully and without making any additional allowance for her presence, turns his back on her and props the fork inside the narrow porch. He pulls at the chain fastened to the belt around his waist until the key to the front door emerges from his trouser pocket. He seems surprised to catch sight of the toe of her shoe out of the corner of his eye as he bends to untie his bootlaces. ‘You still here, lassie?’ he says, standing creakily and turning to face her. He decides to try to be more accommodating. ‘Did ye need tae see them fae something important?’
Thinking she has probably been lied to, she looks over his shoulder as the door swings open and peers into the hall, craning her neck and readying her smile. Disappointed, she lowers her heels and glares at him. ‘I don’t see why that should be any business of yours.’
‘Noo...’ Duncan pushes back his cap and scratches his head. ‘But if ye mebbe wrote a letter, it’d get tae them.’
‘And where do you propose I send it?’ she asks sarcastically.
‘Tae here,’ he says and repositions his cap.
‘I thought you said they’d left!’
‘Aye.’
‘Then there’d be no point, would there?’
‘There wud if the laddie has his post redirected.’ Duncan smiles as he scores a point of his own.
‘Oh, this is ridiculous!’ Her exasperation with him begins to show.
‘I cud mebbe ask the missus, she’s across the way there.’
‘You needn’t bother!’ She picks up the bag at her feet and swings it over her shoulder.
Duncan calmly turns his boot upside down and bangs it with his hand as he watches her stomp back to her car. ‘It’s nae bother, hen,’ he mutters as dusty soil drops from his boot and blows away.
Tawny House, Manor Road
The Annexe
Chapter Forty-seven
Woodbury General Hospital
The Cafeteria
Stephanie creases with laughter and sits with her hands held over her nose and mouth.
‘Straight up!’ Nathan drops his chin to his chest and comes up grinning. ‘I call the man a silly old fart and he walks me into the biggest bloody contract we’ve ever had.’
‘Good job you didn’t call him anything ww-orse!’
‘Jeeze, I’m glad I didn’t.’ He spoons the froth from his coffee and offers it to her. ‘You know how I get,’ he says as she licks the spoon clean. ‘All I could think about was me being late and him making me even later and when Carl blocked me in... Shit, it was all I could do to stop from dragging him out of that bloody car and breaking his fucking neck, I was that mad.’
‘But you didn’t’ Steph reaches across the table to hold his hand and she smiles. ‘You’re getting bb-etter.’
‘I’m turning into a right wuss.’
‘But ww-usses get big contracts.’ She accepts another offer of froth.
‘I’d got no idea Ken Peverell was his son-in-law or that old man Hicks was on the board, he’s not on the letter heading otherwise it might’ve clicked. No wonder he was so sure I wouldn’t be late.’ All the froth gone, Nathan lays the spoon in his saucer. ‘And when he got out of that car and said he was coming in with me,’ he shakes his head, a smile lingering on his lips. ‘I thought he was barking.’
‘See? I did you a ff-avour. I choose the bb-est people to get run over by.’
‘I’d rather be without the work.’ He lifts her hand to kiss its palm and holds it to his cheek. ‘No amount of contracts is worth what you’ve had to go through.’
‘I know,’ she says quietly. ‘Bb-ut I’m glad some good’s come out of it.’
‘What if I hadn’t gone to see Steve Millins?’ His mouth gapes at the thought of it. ‘Mad, just that one thing’s led to all this. I wasn’t going to go.’
‘I know you ww-eren’t.’
‘I don’t even remember deciding I would; it was like teleporting and turning up on his doorstep...next thing you know, I’m in there giving him forgiveness like I was some bloody priest. Absolutely sodding mad, the whole thing.’
‘I’m glad you went, though.’
‘Well I am, now!’ he laughs.
‘I was glad you went before all this happened. I think it helped you as mm-uch as it helped him. You’ve not bb-een so ww-ound up all the time.’
‘I wasn’t wound up.’
‘Yes you ww-ere.’ Stephanie disagrees and changes the subject before it turns into a debate. ‘Did you bring any photos? I’m getting so excited.’
‘Nope, I’m not allowed to.’ He takes a bite of his sandwich. ‘Are you sure you don’t want anything?’ he asks, looking over at the counter. ‘Not even a cake?’
‘I’m fine, not long had dinner and I’ve got some bananas if I get hungry later on. Why aren’t I allowed to?’
‘Helen says everything’s got to be a surprise. Not that we’ve got much further than the basic building work, but it’s taking shape. She says if you see it beforehand, there won’t be anything to get excited about. We have taken some; it’s just that I can’t let you see them. It’s a ‘on pain of death’ situation. You don’t mess with Helen.’ He makes terrified eyes over his second bite and murmurs his enjoyment. ‘I’m bloody starving.’
‘That’s really, really mean! I’ll have a go at her next time she comes in.’
‘She is going to print the best ones off to put in an album so you can see how things went. You’ll crack up! Ever seen your Dad with a builder’s bum? Not that those two things are connected.’ Nathan laughs. He wipes tuna mayonnaise from the corner of his mouth and licks his finger. ‘It’s going to be the dog’s bollocks, that’s all you need to know for now.’
Stephanie smiles happily. ‘I can’t wait! Auntie Pam says we could rent it out as a self-contained flat once I can do stairs, and she says to tell you she wants first refusal!’
‘I could live with that. She’s a great laugh. I reckon.....’ he says, pausing to draw a piece of cress from between his teeth and draping it over the rim of his plate ‘I think her and Wyndham really hit it off. If things were different I could see them making a go of it, I really could.’
‘Wouldn’t that be lovely?’ She tilts her head to one side as she gives the idea some thought. ‘I love them both.’ She takes a sip of her cooling coffee and sets the cup back on its saucer with a sigh. ‘But it ww-on’t happen, will it. Apart from him not ww-anting to give up the life he leads now, for all we know he’s got a wife and family already. That’s quite sad, really.’
Nathan glances at the clock behind her on the far wall of the cafeteria. ‘We’d better start thinking about getting you back to the ward soon. You were looking a bit washed out before but you’ve gone even paler now. You tired?’
‘No...Just,’ she rubs her stomach and grimaces lightly. ‘You know....that sort of tummy ache. I always feel rough for the first couple of days.’
He nods and looks down at the few pieces of salad that have escaped from his sandwich. ‘You do....yes.’ He lapses into silence.
‘What are you thinking?’ Stephanie asks, waving a hand in front of his face to snap him out of what seems to be a trance.
Avoiding her eyes and blushing, he looks up only very briefly. ‘Nothing, it’s okay.’
‘No...Go on.’
His shoulders slump, a groan implied as he looks anywhere but at her. ‘That...’ he indicates with a nod in her direction. ‘The stomach thing...women’s stuff,’
‘Pp-eriod pains, yes.’ Stephanie rests her chin on her hand and drums her fingers against her cheek, trying not to laugh before he gets to his point.
Fiery red to the roots of his hair, he leans forward to whisper. ‘Can you sort all that out for yourself?’
‘Oh, Nathan!’ Her howl of laughter makes other customers turn round. ‘Yes I can.’
‘Thank God for that!’ He rocks back on his chair with a smile of relief and then leans forward again, his eyes going from side to side as he confides: ‘I had visions of having to ring your Mum every time you wanted...you know...I was up for the washing and dressing and getting you on and off the loo if you needed it...but I never gave that a thought...And it’s....well... a bit more personal, isn’t it. Right...Glad we’ve got that out of the way.’ He draws both hands down his face and blows a noisy breath. ‘Stop laughing.’
‘I can’t help it. You’ve gone so red! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so embarrassed. Ww-hat if I’d said I couldn’t?’
‘I’d’ve done it,’ he says with a shrug. ‘It was you I was thinking about.’
‘Nathan...I don’t think I’ve got any dignity left, not after everything I’ve had to have done for me.’
‘That’s different, that was nurses and doctors and people.’
‘It still mm-attered to me to start with!’ she disputes with a mirthless laugh. ‘It got so my head would have to be somewhere else, it was the only way I could deal with it. I don’t give a damn now. The idea that you’d have to do anything for me doesn’t faze me at all, where it might’ve done before.’ She grows more solemn. ‘I can see it’d be pretty grim for you to have to do stuff though.’
‘I would’ve done the lot.’
‘I know.’ Stephanie reaches out to take both his hands and with her elbows resting on the table, draws them together. ‘They told me. And I’ve had so mm-any people say that their boyfriends or even their husbands wouldn’t have stuck around. They’re sort of proud of you for that...And Auntie Pp-am, Auntie Pam could eat you.’
‘Well...’ Nathan lowers his lips to their clasped hands and looks up from under raised brows. ‘I know I like her and everything but I don’t think I’d let her go that far.’
‘Stoppit.’ She gurgles with laughter and lets their arms drop to the table.
His thumbs brush over the tops of her hands. ‘What happened with her?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘She closes up every time I mention anything about her not being married and me not understanding why she isn’t. She’s not...’ The hand massage goes on while he forms the question. ‘She doesn’t bat for the other side or anything, does she?’
‘Nooo, don’t be silly,’ Stephanie rejects the suggestion with another grin. ‘You’ve seen her flirting, she’s terrible.’ For a few moments, she watches his thumbs move over her hands in silence. ‘No...’ she says with a catch in her voice. ‘She was engaged but he got killed...in a car accident...like I nearly did.’
‘Right...’ He nods. ‘That makes sense of some of the things I overheard. Poor woman.’
‘On leave from the army and he gets killed ww-hen he was out on a training run. She‘s never really got over it or been with anyone since, didn’t want to. If she needs a partner for a do or something, she takes Dad.’
‘I can understand that,’ Nathan mumbles quietly, his eyes lowered and concentrating on their joined hands, the difference in their size and shape becoming suddenly apparent and somehow more endearing. ‘Her not wanting anyone else.’
‘I wouldn’t’ve ww-anted you to be the same.’
‘Think I would’ve been.’
Her hands turn over and she grips his hard to shake some sense into him. ‘Don’t say that. I feel so sorry for her sometimes. She’s mm-ade for being married and looking after someone, loving them and having them love her. I don’t even want to think about the same thing happening to you, it wouldn’t be right.’
‘But you know what I was like before I met you!’ Nathan laughs. ‘Commitment wasn’t even in my vocabulary...and as for getting married; the thought was enough to bring me out in a rash. No, I reckon I’d be like Pam.’ the flippancy of his remarks sound equally forced.
‘Promise mm-e you wouldn’t.’ Stephanie follows him with pleading eyes as he lets go of her hands gets up from the table. ‘If anything did happen, promise you’d find someone else.’
‘Can’t do that, babe,’ he says, stroking her cheek and crouching by her side to check that her feet are safely on the footrests of the wheelchair and flipping off the brake. ‘Sorry but you can’t make me love just anybody, can’t be done and I won’t promise.’ He looks her in the eyes. ‘I love you too much to lie,’ he whispers gravely, stroking her cheek again. After a brief kiss, he stands up and moves to the back of the chair. ‘Come on, time we went before they send out a search party. Jensen Button or Driving Miss Daisy?’
‘Miss Daisy,’ she says sadly. ‘The sooner we get back, the sooner you’ll have to go home.’
‘It won’t be long, sweet,’ Nathan bends to press his cheek against hers and kisses it as he draws back to her ear. ‘That I will promise.’
