A Baby for Eve

‘You’re not married, then?’ she said, glancing across at him.

‘Nope,’ he replied, braking slightly to avoid the rabbit that had dashed out in front of them. ‘Never found anyone prepared to put up with the kind of erratic work patterns my job demands. At least, not for any length of time.’ His green eyes met hers. ‘What about you?’

She shifted her gaze back at the trees.

‘No, I’m not married.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Tom, are you planning on coming back to Penhally to stay, or…?’

‘I’m only here until Monday. I have things to do—sort out—then I’ll be off again.’

A surge of relief engulfed her. Monday. This was Saturday. She could cope with that. If she should accidentally meet him again tomorrow, she’d be pleasant and friendly, talk about everything and nothing. She’d managed to keep silent for all these years so she could keep quiet for one more day because what good would it do to tell him? Telling him wouldn’t change anything, alter anything, make it less painful.

‘Eve?’

He was staring curiously at her, and she managed to smile.

‘I read in a magazine a while back that you’d been made head of rescue operations at Deltaron,’ she said. ‘You must be very pleased.’

‘Yeah, well, it’s certainly a whole different ball game when your desk is the one the buck stops on. What about you?’ he asked. ‘Still nursing?’

She nodded.

‘I actually just started work in Penhally last month,’ she said. ‘Before that I worked in Truro and Newquay, but Alison—the girl you don’t know whose wedding you were just at,’ she added, and saw Tom smile, ‘is pregnant so I’ve temporarily taken over her position as practice nurse in the Penhally surgery.’

‘Which means if she comes back after her maternity leave, you’ll be out of a job,’ Tom observed.

‘Not for long,’ she said briskly. ‘There’s a big shortage of nurses in the UK so I’ll get something else pretty fast.’

‘But you’d rather work here, in your home village.’

It was a statement, not a question, and her lips curved wryly.

‘Well, you always did say I had no imagination.’

‘Did I say that?’ He shook his head. ‘God, I had a big mouth when I was twenty-four, didn’t I?’

‘Uh-huh,’ she replied, and he laughed. ‘Actually, although you don’t know Alison or Jack,’ she continued, ‘you do know Jack’s father. It’s Nick Tremayne.’

‘Nick Tremayne, the doctor?’ Tom declared.

‘The very same,’ Eve answered. ‘He’s the senior partner in the Penhally surgery now, and my boss.’

‘Are you telling me I’ve just been to the wedding of the son of somebody I went to med school with?’ Tom groaned. ‘God, but now you’ve made me feel old.’

Eve chuckled. ‘Do you remember when we thought anyone older than forty was decrepit?’

‘And anyone over fifty might just as well be dead.’ He nodded. ‘Shows how little we knew, doesn’t it?’ His eyes met hers again. ‘Eve—’

‘Are we almost there yet?’ Tassie chipped in from the back of the car. ‘I’m starving.’

‘In other words, quit with the talking,’ Tom said ruefully, ‘and drive faster.’

‘Something like that.’ The little girl giggled and, as Tom grinned across at Eve, and her own lips curved in response, her heart contracted.

No, she told herself. No. The past is past, nobody can ever go back, and if you allow yourself to be sucked back into his world he’ll only hurt you again, and this time you might not survive.

‘What’s wrong?’ Tom asked, his green eyes suddenly puzzled, and Eve shook her head.

‘Just hungry, like Tassie.’

‘Eve—’

‘We’re here!’ Tassie interrupted with a shriek as the grey-stoned façade of The Smugglers’ Inn suddenly came into view. ‘And look at all the cars. I hope there’s room inside for us.’

And I hope it’s standing room only, Eve thought, so I can hide myself in the crush, but Tom must have read her mind because as she got out of the car he took her arm firmly in his.

‘Now we eat, and socialise, right?’ he declared.

‘You go ahead,’ Eve replied. ‘I just need…’

She waved vaguely in the direction of the door leading to the ladies’ cloakroom, but it didn’t do her any good.

‘We’ll wait for you, won’t we, Tassie?’ Tom said, and Tassie beamed, leaving Eve with nothing to do but obediently disappear into the ladies’ cloakroom.

At least it was empty, she thought with relief as she walked in. Company was the last thing she wanted right now, and quickly she washed her hands then pulled her hairbrush out of her handbag. Lord, but she looked awful. White face, panic-stricken brown eyes, her shoulder-length brown hair slightly windswept, and…

Forty-two, she thought bleakly as she gazed at her reflection in the mirror over the sink. I look forty-two. OK, so that wasn’t old, but nothing could alter the fact that she was heavier than she’d been at twenty-two, that there were faint lines at the corner of her eyes, and her hair wouldn’t be brown if Vicki at the hairdresser’s didn’t tint it every six weeks.

Impatiently, she dragged her hairbrush through her hair. What did it matter if she didn’t look twenty-two any more?

Because I would like to have looked as I did when he last saw me, her heart sighed as her eyes met those in the mirror. Because it would have shown him what he lost when he walked away from me, and it was stupid to feel that way. Stupid.

‘Feeling any better now?’

Eve whirled round to see Kate Althorp standing behind her, and forced a smile.

‘Much,’ she lied, and Kate shot her a shrewd glance as she ran some water into a sink and began washing her hands.

‘It must have been quite a shock to see Tom again.’

‘A surprise,’ Eve said firmly. ‘It was a surprise, that’s all, seeing him back in Penhally.’

‘Yes, but you and he were quite close before he went to the States, weren’t you?’

Close. What an, oh, so very British, euphemistic way of saying ‘lovers’, Eve thought wryly, and of course Kate would remember she and Tom had spent that summer together. Kate was in her forties, too, and nothing stayed a secret for long in Penhally unless you really worked at it, and Tom hadn’t given a damn about what people thought.

‘Kate, I was twenty-two, he was twenty-four,’ Eve declared, injecting as much careless indifference into her voice as she could. ‘We shared a short summer romance, that’s all.’

‘Which wouldn’t make it any the less painful when it ended,’ Kate Althorp said gently.

The midwife saw too much—way too much—and Eve picked up her hairbrush again.

‘Water under the bridge years ago,’ she said. ‘We’ve both gone our separate ways since then, led very different lives.’

Or at least Tom had, Eve thought as Kate looked for a moment as though she’d like to say something, then dried her hands on a paper towel and left the cloakroom. Tom had gone off to the States, full of determination to succeed, and he had, whereas she…

She squeezed her eyes shut. He was not going to do this to her. She had spent all these years rebuilding her life into something to be proud of, something that mattered, and she was not going to let his presence tear it all down, make it seem worthless.

‘Enough, Eve,’ she said as she opened her eyes and gazed at her reflection again. ‘The past is past. Don’t resurrect it.’

Except it wasn’t that easy, she realised as she walked out of the cloakroom, and found Tom and Tassie waiting for her, grinning like a pair of conspirators.

‘Tassie was convinced you’d slipped down the toilet,’ Tom declared. ‘I told her we’d give you another five minutes, then I’d go over the top in my capacity as head of rescue operations at Deltaron.’

‘Promises, promises,’ Eve said lightly, and Tom’s grin widened.

‘You think I wouldn’t—or couldn’t?’ he replied.

‘I think we should eat,’ she said firmly, refusing to be drawn, but he knew what she was doing.

She could see it in the glint in his eyes. The familiar half daring, half challenging glint which had appeared in the past whenever he’d been about to do, or say, something completely outrageous, and a faint unease stirred in her. An unease which must have shown on her face because he smiled.

‘I’m a mature man now, Eve,’ he declared. ‘No fights, no arguments, I promise.’

And he was as good as his word.

For the next hour Tom charmed his way round the crowded room as only he could when he wanted to. Of course it helped that most of the people at the reception were newcomers to the village, but even when some of the older villagers cut him dead he didn’t rise to the bait. He simply moved away with a wry smile to gently reassure Lauren about his car, then make Chloe Mackinnon, the village’s other midwife, laugh as her fiancé, Dr Fawkner, stood by, watching protectively.

‘He’s changed, hasn’t he?’ Kate observed, nodding towards Tom who was now engaged in an animated discussion about fund-holding practices with Dr Lovak.

‘Tom always could string more than two words together, you know,’ Eve said more caustically than she’d intended, and Kate’s eyebrows rose.

‘I never thought he couldn’t,’ the midwife replied. ‘Just as you also know I never thought he got a fair deal in Penhally.’

‘Still won’t, judging by the reaction of some people,’ Eve said, nodding across to a small group of villagers who were throwing deep frowns in Tom’s direction.

‘People have long memories and old prejudices. I’m not saying they’re right,’ Kate continued as Eve opened her mouth to interrupt. ‘In fact, the longer I’ve lived, the less inclined I’ve become to judge anyone, but don’t forget Tom has friends here, too, as well as detractors.’

Name one, apart from yourself, Eve was tempted to say, but she didn’t.

‘I must get Tassie home,’ she said instead. ‘She’s beginning to look tired.’

Tom clearly wasn’t because the minute Eve began to make her way through the throng he was instantly at her side.

‘Trying to run out on me, are you?’ he said, and she shook her head at him.

‘It’s time I took Tassie home,’ she replied, sidestepping quickly as Freddie and Sam dashed past them, slipping and sliding on the polished wooden floor, whooping at the top of their lungs.

‘Regular little bundles of fun, aren’t they?’ Tom said with amusement as the youngsters scampered off.

‘You used to hate kids,’ Eve reminded him. ‘Said they should all be kept indoors by their parents until they were teenagers.’

‘Yeah, well…’ Tom glanced back at the two boys. ‘Do you ever find yourself wishing you’d had children?’

Eve stared fixedly at the wedding cake sitting on the table by the window.

‘No point in wishing, Tom,’ she said. ‘It’s better to deal with the here and now.’

‘I guess so,’ he said, then smiled and waved to Tassie. ‘But I still think I’d like to have kids.’

‘And I think it’s way past time Tassie went home,’ Eve said through a throat so tight it hurt.

‘Eve—’

‘Well, well, well. If it isn’t Tom Cornish. And what brings Penhally’s local-boy-made-good back to Cornwall?’

Eve glanced over her shoulder to see Nick Tremayne standing behind them, and smiled.

‘Tom,’ she began, ‘this is—’

‘Nick Tremayne.’ Tom grinned. ‘No need for an introduction, Eve. I would have recognised this old reprobate anywhere. Good to see you again, Nick, and still doctoring, I hear.’

‘And you’re still globetrotting with Deltaron if all I’ve read about you is true,’ Nick replied with no smile at all.

‘You’ve been following my career?’ Tom said lightly, but Eve could see a slightly puzzled look in his eyes. ‘I’m flattered.’

‘Oh, even in a sleepy little backwater like Penhally, we have the internet and satellite television now,’ Nick replied, ‘which means I’m all too aware of your exploits.’

‘Tom is just back for a short visit,’ Eve said, glancing from Tom to Nick, then back again uncertainly. Lord, but the animosity emanating from Nick was so patent it could have flash-frozen fish. ‘He’s leaving on Monday.’

‘Back to singlehandedly, heroically saving the world, I presume?’ Nick declared, and what little smile there had been left on Tom’s face disappeared completely.

‘If you want heroes, Nick, then it’s the people who live in the countries my team and I go into to help who deserve that title,’ he said tersely. ‘They’re the ones who have to tackle the long-term effects of any disaster.’

‘I couldn’t agree more,’ Nick observed, ‘but they don’t get the credit, do they? Because they get left with the boring, tedious stuff, like rebuilding their country, while you swan off on yet another photo opportunity.’

‘Now, just a minute,’ Tom began, his face darkening, and Eve caught hold of his sleeve quickly.

‘Tom, we really do have to get Tassie home,’ she said. ‘She’s very tired, and I told Amanda we’d make sure she wouldn’t be too late back.’

For a moment she didn’t think he was going to come with her. He certainly didn’t look as though he wanted to as he glared at Nick, and Nick glared back, then he nodded reluctantly.

‘Right,’ he said, then added, ‘See you around, Nick,’ before he strode out of the room, leaving Eve and Tassie with nothing to do but hurry after him.

‘I thought you said you and Nick Tremayne were friends?’ Eve protested when she caught up with him in the car park.

‘I thought we were, too,’ Tom replied, ‘but I’ve clearly done something to rattle his cage. Any idea what?’

‘None at all,’ Eve said. ‘He can certainly be a bit brusque at times, but he’s not normally so…so…’

‘In your face?’ Tom shook his head as he helped Tassie clamber into his Range Rover. ‘Kate Althorp sure had a lucky escape.’

‘From what?’ Eve asked in confusion.

‘From marrying him. Don’t you remember how close Kate and Nick were at school?’ he continued as Eve looked at him in surprise. ‘Everyone was certain they’d get married.’

‘Well, they didn’t,’ Eve replied. ‘Kate married James Althorp.’

‘So I gathered.’ Tom frowned as he switched on his ignition. ‘Which I have to say I find surprising. Don’t get me wrong,’ he added. ‘James was a nice enough bloke, but I’d have thought he was a bit too laid back for Kate, which only goes to show you never can tell. Nick married that girl he met at med school, didn’t he? Anne…Isabel…’

‘Annabel.’

‘Yeah, that was her name. Nice girl, she was, too, as I recall.’

‘She died nearly three years ago now,’ Eve replied. ‘Her appendix ruptured and because she’d taken aspirin she bled out and there was nothing anyone could do.’

‘I’m sorry about that,’ Tom declared, ‘but I still reckon Kate had a lucky escape.’

But Nick isn’t normally like that, Eve thought with a frown, as Tom drove them down the winding road back into the village. The senior partner could certainly be sharp and cutting if he felt people weren’t pulling their weight, but she’d never seen him verbally attack somebody for no reason, and yet that was exactly what he’d done this afternoon.

‘Where does Tassie live?’ Tom asked as they drove down Harbour Road.

‘Just off Morwenna Road, but if you drop us at the post office we can walk from there,’ Eve replied.

‘But that will still leave you quite a distance to walk,’ Tom protested.

‘All to the good,’ Eve said calmly. ‘I need some exercise after what I’ve eaten.’

‘But—’

‘Drop us at the post office, Tom.’

He sighed but, after he’d crossed the Harbour Bridge, he obediently pulled up at the post office.

‘Thanks for the ride, mister,’ Tassie said when she and Eve got out of his car, and he smiled and ruffled her hair.

‘Could you make yourself scarce for a couple of minutes, half-pint?’ he said. ‘I need to talk to Eve.’

‘Tom, Tassie really does have to go home,’ Eve began as the girl obediently skipped down the road for a few yards, then waited. ‘The wind’s getting up, and she’s not dressed for the weather—’

‘I was wondering whether you’d like to come out with me tomorrow?’ he interrupted. ‘We could have lunch, and you could show me the sights of Penhally.’

‘Tom, you were born here, you know what the sights are,’ she protested.

‘There’s bound to have been some changes—new developments—since I was last here,’ he argued back, ‘and I thought—perhaps for old times’ sake?’

She didn’t want to do anything for old times’ sake. Two postcards, that’s all he’d sent her after he’d left for America. One from New York, saying he was homesick and lonely, and another one from California six months later, saying he’d applied for a job with Deltaron. After that, there’d been nothing. Not a card, or a letter, or a phone call, for the past twenty years during which she’d got on with her life, and if it hadn’t been the life she’d planned, dreamed of, it had been a satisfying life, and now he was back, and she didn’t want him to be back.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said firmly. ‘I have things to do tomorrow.’

‘Please.’

If he had been smiling at her with that old gotta-love-me smile she would never have wavered, but he wasn’t smiling. In fact, he looked uncharacteristically unsure, uncertain, and Tom Cornish had never been unsure of anything in his life.

‘I can’t do lunch,’ she said hesitantly. Won’t, more like. ‘As I said, I have things to do tomorrow.’

‘Half a day is better than none,’ he said. ‘Do you still live in Polkerris Road with your parents? I’ll pick you up at two o’clock—’

‘Three o’clock,’ she interrupted. ‘And I’ll meet you outside your hotel.’

He looked disappointed, then he nodded.

‘OK, three o’clock it is,’ he said, then to her surprise he added quickly, ‘You will come, won’t you?’

The uncertainty was back in his eyes, big time, and a slight frown creased her forehead.

‘I said I’d come,’ she pointed out, ‘and I will.’

Though God knows why, she thought as she joined Tassie and the two of them began walking down the road together.

‘He’s nice,’ Tassie observed, hopping from one paving stone to the next in some sort of elaborate game only she understood.

‘Tom can be very nice when he wants to be,’ Eve replied noncommittally.

‘He told me you and he were best friends when you were younger,’ Tassie continued with her usual directness, and Eve manufactured a smile.

‘It was a long time ago, Tassie.’

‘He still likes you. I can tell. In fact,’ the girl added, ‘I bet if we turn round right now he’ll be watching you from outside the post office.’

‘Tassie,’ Eve began in consternation, but the girl had already stopped and was looking over her shoulder.

‘Told you so,’ Tassie said.

‘He’s watching us?’ Eve said faintly.

‘See for yourself if you don’t believe me,’ Tassie declared, and Eve shook her head, feeling her cheeks prickle with heat.

‘I’ve got to get you home.’

‘Chicken.’ Tassie laughed.

Self-preservation, more like, Eve thought, walking on determinedly. I don’t owe him anything, not after all these years.

But you’ve still agreed to meet him tomorrow afternoon, haven’t you? a little voice mocked at the back of her mind, and she groaned inwardly.

She must have been out of her mind.

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