Summer Seaside Wedding

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.

CHAPTER THREE

AMELIE’S first morning at the surgery was over and as she waited for Leo’s much longer list of patients to come and go before they set out on the home visits she was thinking how much she’d enjoyed her first taste of general practice.

She’d coped with the patients that had been passed to her by the other two doctors without having to consult either of them, and when Leo finally appeared and asked, ‘So how was it?’ she had a smile for him.

But there was uncertainty behind it and he thought she was unsure of him, still aware that he hadn’t liked being questioned as to whether he’d passed on details of her private life to Harry. But she was not to know that though some saw him as lightweight, he cherished his integrity and admired that of others.

‘I enjoyed it immensely,’ she told him. ‘I liked the one-to-oneness of it. In a hospital situation there are sometimes too many fingers in the pie.’

‘So, are you ready for an interesting couple of hours visiting the sick and seeing the sights of Bluebell Cove when we’ve had a coffee?’

‘Yes, of course,’ she said obediently, and it was there again, a withdrawal of the unaffected easiness that she’d displayed when in his company previously.

Yet as he pulled out onto the coast road she was the first to speak, and it was to ask if Dr Balfour had relations living in Bluebell Cove. She went on to explain that a patient had mentioned someone called Barbara Balfour.

‘Yes, he has indeed,’ he replied. ‘Harry was brought up in this place and when he got his degree came to work at the practice as a junior doctor like you. At that time his aunt, Barbara Balfour, was in charge of the practice and I’m told was a force to be reckoned with, but she had to retire due to ill health. She and her husband live in Four Winds, the large house on the headland.

‘Barbara was instrumental in persuading Harry to come back to Bluebell Cove after losing his wife in an accident, and also helped Ethan Lomax with his problems at the same time. The lady in question is a household name here and revered by all who know her, but she is also something of a tartar, even though she isn’t in charge any more.’

‘And it is her daughter who is married to the heart surgeon?’

‘Yes, she was Jenna Balfour before she married Lucas Devereux. So now you can place us all in our slots,’ he said whimsically.

‘All except you, Dr Fenchurch. You don’t seem to have one. All the others appear to have roots in Bluebell Cove but not you. Where do you come from?’

‘The north-west. I’m from Manchester.’

‘So you are a long way from home.’

‘Yes, but not as far from home as you are, though you seem contented enough.’

She shook her head. ‘Not always, I’m afraid. Yet I know I’m going to be happy here, I can feel it inside. Bluebell Cove is so beautiful, how could I not be?’

He gave her a quick sideways glance and thought how different she was from other women he’d known. She had no airs and graces. She was just herself, an enthusiastic young doctor with, from the sound of it, parents who had put their careers before their daughter. Had they been around when in the not so distant past she had suffered heartbreak at the hands of some two-timing upstart?

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