Christmas Magic In Heatherdale

She supposed it would have been sensible to rent herself a small apartment in Manchester and bring the shattered remnants of her life together again somehow. But with her father now resting with her mother in a nearby cemetery, and an ex-fiancé who had cast her aside living not far away, she had been intent on moving to some place where she wasn’t known.

Having left the hospital where she’d been employed, she’d headed for the small market town of Heatherdale, where her paternal grandmother had lived and where her house, which had been empty for a long time, was there for her if she wanted it.

The old lady had willed it to her and, though grateful for the thought, it was the last place she would ever have contemplated moving to in the past, but the present was proving to be a different matter. Alone and lost, she’d needed somewhere to hide from the pitying looks she’d received from her father’s friends and acquaintances when the news had got around that she was penniless. She’d wanted somewhere to avoid the mocking smiles of those who had witnessed the plight of the ‘golden girl’ and thought it would do her good to see how the other half lived. But the thing that had hurt most had been the speed with which her ex had found another woman to replace her.

She had found the keys to her grandmother’s house in a chest of drawers in her father’s bedroom, and as she’d gazed down at the heavy ornate bunch of them it had been as if a means of escape was being offered to her.

There had been receipts with them for payments that her father had made to the local authorities on her behalf over the years to comply with the law regarding the ownership of unoccupied housing, and she’d decided that the paperwork and the keys were heaven sent.

She’d felt as if she never wanted to see the city that she’d loved so much, with its familiar shops, smart restaurants and green parks, ever again. She’d decided to make a fresh start in a place that she’d never cared for much on the rare occasions she’d been there.

With no job, no money, and no family, she had to hope that she could find a future for herself in Heatherdale. First she had to get the house straight. Next on her agenda was finding a job. The obvious choice would be its famous hospital, but if there were no vacancies there for a newly qualified paediatrician then she’d simply have to find something to tide her over.

The internet had come up with the name and address of a firm of domestic cleaners in the Heatherdale area and she’d hired them to give the house a thorough cleaning from top to bottom before she arrived.

Apart from ordering a bed to be delivered later in the day, when she would be there to accept it, the rest of her belongings would arrive the following afternoon, when she was satisfied that the house was ready to take delivery of them.

It wasn’t the best time of year to be moving into a strange house in a strange place, she’d thought achingly as the miles had flashed past. The last leaves of autumn had been scattered at the roadside or hanging limply on trees, and a cold wind had been nipping at her while she’d been taking a last walk around the gardens of what had been her home.

During her early childhood she and her parents had visited her grandmother occasionally, but there hadn’t been any real closeness between them because the old lady had disapproved of her son’s attitude to life in general. She hadn’t liked the way he’d been such a spendthrift, although at that time he hadn’t reached retirement and had been making big money in the stock markets.

‘When I die I’m leaving the house to the child,’ she’d told him. ‘There might come a day when she’ll need a roof over her head.’ As the lights of Heatherdale had appeared on the horizon, Melissa had reflected that the grandmother she’d rarely seen had turned out to be her only friend.

Martha’s innocent question about the stranger who had joined them for breakfast was uppermost in Ryan’s mind as he drove the short distance to the hospital. It had brought painful memories with it that he only allowed himself to think about when he was alone, but in that moment in the kitchen they had been starkly clear and he’d been extra-loving with the children while they’d waited for Mollie to arrive.

His youngest daughter had described them as being without a mother because theirs had been hurt by a tree. It wouldn’t have been the easiest description of her death for Melissa Redmond to understand, but did that matter? She was just a stranger who had joined them for breakfast.

He and Beth had attended the same school in Heatherdale, had both chosen medicine as a career, he in paediatrics and she in midwifery. It had always been there, the love that had blossomed in their late teens and taken them to the altar of a church in the small market town where they lived.

Heatherdale boasted a famous spa that people came from far and wide to take advantage of, and beautiful Victorian architecture built from local stone that he never wearied of. There were spacious parks and elegant shops and restaurants. Everything that he loved was here except for the wife he had adored.

When she’d died he had wanted to die too as life had lost its meaning, but there had been two small children, unhappy and confused because their mother hadn’t been there any more, so he’d pulled himself together for their sakes. In the last three years his life had been entirely taken up with his children and the health problems of those belonging to others.

If it meant that he never had time to do his own thing, at least there was the comfort of knowing that his young daughters were safe and happy, and that he was serving a vital purpose in the Heatherdale Children’s Hospital where he was a senior paediatric consultant.

He knew that folks found him irritating at times because he never socialised, was always too busy when asked out to dine, even though he had Mollie, who would always take on the role of childminder if needed and who checked out every available woman she met as a possible new wife for him, without actually saying so openly.

As Melissa looked around her house in the cold light of day she was hoping that today would not be quite as horrendous as yesterday. However, every day since she’d lost her father and discovered what he had been involved in had been dreadful.

For the past few weeks she’d felt lost and alone, like some sort of outcast. Ryan’s kindness had been a brief relief from what had been a nightmare for her, but at the same time getting involved with anyone at the moment was the last thing she wanted to do. Especially with the man who lived next door.

All she craved for was solitude, somewhere to hide while her hurts healed, but the die was cast. She wasn’t going to get the chance to be just a stranger who nodded briefly during her comings and goings job-seeking and then went in and closed the door.

But, as if to balance the scales, there were those two lovely children and it would be a pleasure to babysit them if ever Ryan felt he could trust her.

She’d also contacted the electricity people. She was informed that they were on their way with a new meter and were going to check all the primitive services and appliances in the house while they were there.

They arrived within minutes and as light began to appear in her darkness, in more ways than one, Melissa rolled up her sleeves and looked around her for what had to be her first task of the day. The guy who had just fixed the electricity meter decided it for her by pointing to an ancient but solid-looking gas fire and asking if she’d contacted the gas services yet as both the fire and an ancient cooker were gas powered.

She needed no second telling as having the fire working meant warmth and the cooker hot food, when she’d cleaned the grime off it and had the chance to shop.

The most pressing mission for Ryan, on his arrival at the hospital, was to start the search in earnest for the new registrar for their department.

The procedure with staff vacancies at the hospital was to advertise them internally first, but so far there had been no joy for the two consultants and the vacancy would soon be advertised locally

Today he had two clinics arranged for consultations, plus a slot in Theatre in the late afternoon. With all of that ahead of him he hadn’t had time to check on how his new neighbour was coping at her house.

There’d been an electricity van outside and a plumber’s vehicle pulling up alongside it as he’d driven past. He decided he owed her one more visit to check she was managing okay then he would step back and let her get on with her life while he got on with his.

The surgery he was committed to in the afternoon was minor compared to some of the operations he performed on unfortunate little ones and hopefully he would be home in time to have a quick word with Melissa before his special time with his children began.

As Ryan was preparing to put in an appearance at his first clinic of the day his assistant, Julian, appeared and commented breezily, ‘Still no sign of a saviour in terms of over-booking, I see. Personnel need to pull their finger out and get us another doctor. I’ve got a list as long as my arm for today and I’m not used to it.’

Julian Tindall, with his dark attractiveness, was every woman’s dream man, until they got to know him better!

Inclined to be lazy, but on the ball in an emergency, Julian was a paediatric consultant like himself and could go places if he stopped fooling around with every attractive woman he met and got his act together.

Ryan held the paediatric unit together with the kind of steadfastness that he applied to every aspect of his daily life, and if the nights spent without Beth by his side were long and lonely, only he knew that.

CHAPTER TWO

MELISSA’S SECOND DAY in Heatherdale was progressing and she was beginning to feel calmer. The neglected house was starting to come out of its murky cocoon, though not enough for her to rejoice totally. There was going to be mammoth amount of decorating and refurbishing to be done.

But the electricity was on, the plumber she’d asked to come had switched on the water and checked for leaks, and, joy of joys, the cleaners were hard at work, getting rid of the grime and mustiness of years.

Her clothes and the few belongings she had salvaged from the sale of the Cheshire house had arrived in the late afternoon. They included a couple of carpets, an expensive wardrobe and dressing table, a dining table and two easy chairs, but there was no kitchen equipment, which meant that for the time being she was going to have to manage with a solid-looking but unattractive gas cooker that was so old it would qualify as an antique.

Yet it had lit at the first attempt and as soon as the cleaners had finished for the day with a promise to come back in the morning, she began to clean it, and was on her knees in front of it when a knock came on the door. She raised herself slowly upright.

With hair held back with a shoelace and dressed in an old pair of jeans and a much-washed jumper that the Cheshire set would never associate her with, she went slowly to answer the knock. He was there again, the Viking from next door, observing her with a reluctant sort of neighbourliness.

‘I’ve called to see how you’ve fared today,’ he said. ‘I see that you’ve got lighting, but have you got heat and water?’

‘Yes,’ she replied, stepping back reluctantly for him to enter.

‘I have light, and heat in the form of an old gas fire. A plumber has been to turn on the water. The cleaners have removed most of the dust and grime and are coming back in the morning to finish the job.’

‘And I see that your belongings have arrived,’ he said easily, as if she now had a house full of furniture instead of a few oddments. Unable to resist, he went on to ask, ‘Do you have family who will be coming to join you?’

‘No. Nothing like that,’ she said in a low voice, without meeting his glance. She wished that he would go and leave her in peace. She’d seen the inside of his house and it was delightful, with décor and furniture that was just right for the age and design of the property, all obviously chosen with great care.

No doubt he was thinking that hers was going to lower the tone of the neighbourhood and for the first time since she’d arrived in Heatherdale the grim pride and determination that had helped her to stagger through recent months surfaced.

As if he sensed that she wanted him gone, Ryan moved towards the door but paused with his hand on the handle and said, ‘I’m sure that you will like it here once you have made the house look how you want it to be.’ He would have to be blind not to realise that she wasn’t happy about coming to live in Heatherdale.

He almost asked if she would like to eat with them again but sensed the same reluctance as the night before. He bade her goodbye and, determined to put Melissa Redmond to the back of his mind, he went to join his daughters and the faithful Mollie, without whom he would be harassed full time.

‘I saw you call at the house next door,’ she said when he appeared. ‘Is she all right? It has been all systems go in there today.’

‘Yes, it would seem so,’ he told her. ‘I felt she was relieved that I didn’t linger. I get a distinct feeling that Melissa Redmond wants to be left alone.’

‘Give her time,’ she said. ‘The lass looked totally traumatised when we saw her last night. Something isn’t right in her life. It stands out a mile, or she wouldn’t have come here to live in a house that hasn’t been touched for years. Don’t forget the couple of times that you’ve seen her she won’t have been at her best.’

‘Yes, I suppose you’re right,’ he said absently, as Rhianna and Martha came running down the stairs at that moment, and as he hugged them to him the stranger next door was forgotten in the pleasure of the moment.

When Ryan had gone, Melissa sank down onto the bottom step of the stairs. The cooker and its requirements temporarily forgotten, she gazed into space.

She wondered what Ryan did for a living. When she’d joined them for breakfast it had been plain to see that he was a loving father in the absence of a mother who wasn’t around any more, yet he would have to earn a living somehow or other.

There was an air of authority about him that was noticeable and, much as she was not eager to be involved in the lives of those around her, she couldn’t help wondering about him.

Still, there were more important priorities than getting to know the neighbours in this town, which would fit in a corner of Manchester. Such as turning her grandmother’s house into a home and finding a job. Dared she intrude on the man next door once again by asking him for information about the famous hospital that she would love to be part of, and the local job centre in that order, so that tomorrow she would have a head start on the employment scene? No sooner had the thought occurred to her than she was acting on it.

Changing her working clothes for a stylish cashmere top, which belonged to happier days, and skinny jeans, Melissa was pressing his doorbell seconds later. When the door opened and he was framed there, looking not the least surprised, she said awkwardly, ‘I wondered if you might be able to tell me anything about Heatherdale Hospital? Also, can you let me know where the job centre is? I’m going to go looking for employment tomorrow.’

‘In that case, hadn’t you better come in?’

She nodded awkwardly and stepped past him into the hall with its beautiful staircase, aware from the surprise in his glance that it was the first time he had seen her looking even the least bit attractive. As she waited for him to say something she felt herself reddening.

‘Are you aware that Heatherdale Hospital is for children only?’ he asked, breaking into the moment. ‘If you feel that you need some sort of hospital treatment, you will have to go to Manchester.’

She was smiling. ‘I need the information about the hospital because I would just die for the chance to work there.’

‘Doing what?’ he asked, with raised brows.

‘I’ve got a degree in paediatrics. When I qualified in the summer I was offered a position at a big Manchester hospital and loved it, but that came to an end when my life fell apart. I had to resign because I intended to leave the area due to my family circumstances.’

So that was what she’d meant when she’d said she had a job making sick children well again. At the time Ryan had wondered if she was employed by some sort of charity, but it seemed she was much more hands on than that, and incredibly he and Julian needed someone like her. Melissa Redmond might be heaven sent!

Obviously he’d never seen her in action. The offer he was going to make her at this moment would be a temporary one until he had her measure, and aware that they were still standing in the hall as she had meant it to be just a brief call on her part, he said, ‘Come through to the sitting room, while I make my contribution to this night of surprises.’

When they were seated with her eyes fixed on him questioningly he said, ‘How would you like to work with me at Heatherdale Children’s Hospital?’

‘What?’ she gasped. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘I’m the paediatric consultant for the neurology wards there and my assistant and I need another registrar to help with the workload. It would be on probationary terms at first but with the opportunity of permanency for the right person. What do you say? Do you want to give it a try?’

‘Of course I do!’ she breathed, her eyes shining. ‘I had no idea that was what you did for a living.’

‘I don’t mean to pry, Melissa, but can you tell me something about what brought you to Heatherdale? I need to know if it would have any effect on your work and position at the hospital.’

She nodded mutely, took a deep breath. ‘My father died six months ago as a result of a road accident when he’d had quite a lot of alcohol. From having a life of luxury and pampering I became penniless because, unbeknown to me, he’d accumulated huge gambling debts over the last couple of years.

‘I was engaged to be married at the time and fully expected that my future husband would be there to support me as I dealt with bailiffs and demands for payment from those that my father owed money to, but I was mistaken.

‘My fiancé couldn’t break off the engagement fast enough, and once I’d paid all my father’s debts, which meant selling the fabulous house we’d lived in, all I could think of was leaving the area and finding a bolt hole, somewhere to lick my wounds. The only answer to that was my grandmother’s house, which is a far cry from the property I’d lived in before but is mine and isn’t tainted. So there you have it, a sorry story worthy of a reality TV show.’

‘Thanks for telling me,’ Ryan said. ‘We all have our nightmares to face at one time or another and you have certainly faced up to yours. Can you come to the hospital some time tomorrow and I’ll show you round and introduce you to people, including Personnel, who will need you to fill out endless forms.’

‘Yes, of course,’ she breathed. ‘Thank you for giving me the opportunity to get back into paediatrics. I love working with children and hope to have some of my own one day.’

He nodded as the memory of Rhianna and Martha’s approval of their breakfast guest resurfaced. The stranger who had come to Heatherdale in the dark of a winter night would make some child a loving mother one day in every sense of the word, he imagined, just as Beth had been to their children.

‘What time do you want me to come to the hospital?’ she asked.

‘Some time in the afternoon when my clinics are over and I’m not in Theatre, around three—unless you have something else planned at that time?’

‘No, I haven’t,’ she told him firmly.

She’d intended spending the afternoon looking for a washing machine that would fit in with her budget but that could wait, everything could wait. He was offering her the chance to be back where she wanted to be, and if Ryan Ferguson was willing to take a chance on her she was not going to disappoint him.

Later that night, for the first time in months sleep came like a healing balm.

A wintry sun was shining overhead as Melissa drove to the famous children’s hospital the next afternoon, and although her mind was full of what lay ahead she couldn’t help but notice the beautiful architecture of some of the buildings she was passing.

Maybe the market town of Heatherdale wasn’t going to be as dreary as she had expected it to be. Life was beginning to feel worth living again.

Walking away from her parked car, she looked around her. The hospital was another apparently ageless building, built from the beautiful local stone that seemed to be everywhere she looked. She hoped that its interior would not lack the trappings of the latest in modern medicine for the sake of its young patients.

There was no cause to be concerned about that. The inside was bright, cheerful and immaculate, with sunshine colours on the walls and lots of pictures of things that children would like.

As she followed the directions to the neuro wards Melissa’s heart was beating faster. She was on home ground, within reach of being back on the job she loved once again.

She found Ryan at the bedside of a small girl, who had been brought in by an ambulance with sirens wailing, with what might be meningitis. It was a road he’d been down more times than he could count and it was never any less horrendous to have to tell a family that one of their little ones had succumbed to the dreadful illness.

There was a fellow doctor standing beside him, but his presence barely registered. Melissa’s glance was fixed on the man who in a short space of time had brought some zest into her life. Not only had Ryan taken her in out of the cold that first night but he was going to be the means of finding her employment in the very place where she wanted to be.

He glanced up then, saw her standing in the doorway, and sent his assistant over to suggest that she join them as an observer of the emergency. With her adrenaline quickening, she was beside him in a flash.

‘It seemed that the child had become very drowsy during the lunch hour. It had been then that her parents had noticed the tell-tale rash and it had become panic stations. While the ambulance had been speeding to the hospital the little girl had lapsed into unconsciousness.’

Ryan turned to the anxious couple at the other side of the bed and began to explain what would happen to their daughter next—blood tests and a lumbar puncture to test for bacterial meningitis.

When the parents and their sick little one had been taken with all speed for the tests, Ryan’s colleague asked. ‘So, are you going to introduce me, Ryan?’

‘Yes, of course,’ he said. ‘Julian, meet my new neighbour, Melissa Redmond, recently employed in paediatrics in the Manchester area and now about to join us here on a probationary basis with a view to a permanent position. Melissa, this is Julian Tindall.’

Ryan noticed that she was looking a different person altogether today, dressed in smart clothes and with her hair and make-up perfect. She was quite beautiful in a restrained sort of way.

As Melissa shook hands with Julian she was aware of him sizing her up and immediately had him pegged as an attractive, dark-eyed flirt.

‘So when do you want to start?’ Ryan asked, ‘Tomorrow perhaps?’

‘Er, yes, if that’s all right with you.’

‘Certainly, if you’re available,’ he replied.

She had never felt more ‘available’ in her life. He knew she was out on a limb here in Heatherdale, that apart from getting her house in order there was no one who cared a jot about her. Why wait to begin this job of a lifetime?

Melissa wished that there was someone to share her good news with, but the days were gone when she’d had a loving father, an attentive fiancé, and lots of friends to communicate with.

Her glance rested briefly on the house next door where she’d been welcomed into the home of a stranger and had been reluctant to accept his hospitality on a dark and lonely night. Ryan Ferguson must have thought her some sort of ungracious oddball.