Free A Wedding in the Village by Abigail Gordon Page A

the phone business this evening. So on your way, Owen.’
    ‘I’ve got a spare phone,’ Megan said quickly, touched by the boy’s distress. ‘I’ve never used it, so it hasn’t got anything private in it. You can borrow it until yours turns up if you like.’
    Owen’s expression indicated that the sun had just come out from behind a cloud. ‘Yes, please, Dr Marshall. I’ll take great care of it.’
    ‘You’d better,’ Luke told him.
    ‘I’ll get it. It’s in my desk drawer,’ she told him, and within minutes Owen had gone with a lighter step than when he’d come in.
    ‘You didn’t have to do that, Megan,’ Luke said when he’d gone. ‘It would have taught him to be more careful with his things if he’d had to do without.’
    ‘He’s already doing without,’ she reminded him. ‘He’s without a father and his mother is far away. I said I would do all I could to help, and compared to what you’re doing for the boys it was a drop in the ocean.’
    He nodded. ‘Yes. You’re right. Finding the right level between love and discipline isn’t easy.’
    ‘You’ll make a great father some day,’ she said impulsively, and saw his face close up.
    ‘Chance would have been a fine thing,’ he commented levelly, and wondered what the child that Alexis had aborted would have been like. Maybe she’d done them a favour. For children to be born into an unhappy marriage was not a good thing. It was a fallacy that their arrival brought peace to a warring couple.
    Megan turned away. She wasn’t going to ask what he’d meant. The tone of his voice told her not to. So instead she smiled and said, ‘There’s no rush to get the phone back. We can’t have Owen upset and fretting. And by the way, have you been mothing of late? Any more journeys into the dark country night?’
    Back to his usual equable self, he said, ‘A couple of times, as I did make young Oliver a promise, you know.’
    ‘Yes. I know you did and I know that you keep your promises,’ she told him, with the memory crystal clear of when she’d questioned his keeping of his marriage vows.
    ‘And how do you know that when you’ve no proof of it?’
    ‘I’m not sure, but I do.’
    ‘Mmm. I see.’ He was glancing at the clock, and as if what they’d been discussing was of no merit he said, ‘Shall we see how many people are waiting to see us? Hopefully with problems less dreadful than Tom Meredith’s.’

CHAPTER FIVE
    S EPTEMBER had gone, taking with it mellow days and cooler nights, and now October had arrived with a mixture of weather that was giving frequent reminders that winter was on its way.
    The practice was running well. Megan’s concerns regarding Luke’s responsibilities seemed to have been unfounded as he was coping brilliantly, with his elderly housekeeper and not so elderly cleaner there to assist. There were times when he looked frayed around the edges but it didn’t affect his good humour.
    Any further trips to the city had been put on hold because he was spending any spare time in the garden centre, helping out and supervising generally.
    His two nephews seemed more settled as the weeks went by, and now the only problem was their mother, who was showing no signs of coming back to face up to life in the village with a family to care for and a business to run.
    When Megan asked Luke about it he said sombrely, ‘I think that Sue is afraid of having to cope without Gareth when she comes back, and keeps putting it off.’
    ‘And so what does she intend doing?’ Megan asked levelly. ‘Has she forgotten that there are two fatherless boys here who aren’t seeing much of their mother either? She’s not being fair to them…or you.’
    ‘Sue can’t stay away for ever, Megan.’
    ‘Oh, no? She’s my friend but I do feel she’s taking advantage of you, Luke.’
    ‘Shall I be the judge of that?’ he said coolly, even though he knew she was right. He wanted to tell her that when Sue came home there would be time for