Christmas in Bluebell Cove (14 page)

Ethan nodded mutely. They were in the middle of a ghastly nightmare he thought as he looked down at Francine's pale face. There was fear in the beautiful green eyes looking up into his, but her voice was calm as she said, ‘Take care of our children, Ethan, if anything happens to me.'

He took her hand in his and, kissing her soft palm, said, ‘That goes without saying, my darling, but they're going to sort this out. Nothing is going to happen to you. It can't be allowed to. I won't let it.'

Before she could reply her bed was being wheeled towards the corridor and speechless with anxiety he walked beside it for as far as he could then stood back helplessly as they took her into the theatre.

 

When he arrived back on the maternity unit, Kirstie and Ben were gazing in wonder at the baby. Lucas had brought them, having seen their parents' hurried departure and gone to investigate, and they were wanting to know whether it was a boy or a girl as there were no visible signs to indicate its sex. He managed a smile and told them, ‘You have a little brother.'

‘Wow!' Ben cried, while Kirstie beamed her delight. She wasn't bothered either way as long as it was a baby
to cuddle. But Kirstie being Kirstie, she wanted to know, ‘So, where is Mum?'

‘She's with the doctor and won't be long,' he told her, not meeting his daughter's clear gaze.

‘What's wrong?' Lucas asked in a low voice when she'd turned away. ‘You look like death.'

‘Francine is haemorrhaging,' he told him raggedly. ‘They've taken her down to Theatre to try and find the cause.'

His friend observed him sombrely. ‘That's not good. When the children have had their fill of gazing at the baby I'll take them home to our place for as long as need be.'

‘Thanks,' he choked, and wondered how long ‘need be' might turn out to be.

 

Lucas and the children had gone, reluctantly on Ben and Kirstie's part, but there was no way Ethan wanted them to be there when Francine came out of Theatre. He didn't know how she would be, what state she would be in, and Kirstie in particular would be heart-broken to see her seriously ill.

When they'd departed he settled himself to wait, seated beside the baby's cot in a small side ward. As he looked down at his newborn son he thought achingly that the little red faced scrap lying there had no idea what his unexpected arrival had caused.

The minutes ticked by, each one like an hour, and it was as if everything else in his life was far away. Bluebell Cove, the practice, Paris and the elegant house that they'd been hoping to move into soon were all minor matters compared to what was happening to Francine.

It was incredible that having been without a single problem all the time she'd been pregnant, this should happen, he thought grimly. Yet postpartum haemorrhage
was
known to occur after a birth. It was always serious. Before improved methods of treatment had been introduced it had often resulted in the death of the mother.

The waiting came to an end in the early afternoon when the consultant obstetrician appeared and informed him that Francine was out of Theatre and in the high-dependency unit.

‘And the bleeding?' Ethan asked.

‘Hopefully sorted,' he said. ‘There was a tear where the placenta had been attached to the uterus, and when that had been dealt with under general anaesthetic, the haemorrhaging stopped. Your wife has lost a lot of blood but the transfusions we've given her will replace that. You can go to see her whenever you like.'

He looked down at the baby and said, ‘So this is the little guy who is the cause of all the trouble? Still, I bet if I asked his mother how she felt about it she would say it was all worth it as long as he's arrived safely.'

‘You are right about that,' Ethan told him as his nerves began to feel not quite so knotted, and they went down to the high-dependency unit together, leaving a nurse in charge of little Henri.

 

Francine was still under the anaesthetic when they got there and as he gazed down at the woman he loved, who had been more concerned about her children than herself when in dire distress, tears choked him.

Thankfully the skills of people like themselves who cared about the well-being of others had brought her
back from the brink of something too unbearable to contemplate. Soon she would be coming out of the an-aesthetic with the bleeding controlled and her life saved because she'd been in the right place at the right time.

In keeping with that sentiment, the obstetrician was saying, ‘We will be keeping both mother and baby in until I'm satisfied that your wife is recovering without any further complications. There shouldn't be any as the tear from where the placenta separated from the uterus has been repaired, along with a smaller tear of the cervix, and if the baby is here with her, it will be convenient for her to breastfeed him if she feels well enough once she moves to the maternity ward.'

His buzzer was bleeping. ‘I have to go, I'm afraid, Dr Lomax, but rest assured I'll be keeping an eye on them both.' And before Ethan could express his heartfelt thanks, he was striding off to whatever awaited him next.

 

‘The baby, Ethan, is he all right?' were Francine's first slurred words as she tried to focus on him when she came round after the anaesthetic.

‘He's fine,' he told her gently. ‘They're going to bring him to you in a little while.'

‘Have the children seen him yet?'

‘Yes, Lucas brought them and now he's taken them home with him. I've kept what was happening in Theatre from them. They've stopped the bleeding. It
was
caused by a tear when the placenta came away.'

‘So what happens now?' she wanted to know. ‘Will they let me go home?'

‘Not just yet. They will be keeping you in for a few days until they're satisfied you're back to normal and
that there will be no risk of any further bleeding, which is unlikely now that the problem has been dealt with. And Henri will be with you soon.

‘Bringing him into the world in the back of the car was a nightmare, but seeing him appear whole and healthy was fantastic. What a Christmas present! He might have been a day late with it—after all gifts had been given—but we can forgive him that, can't we?'

‘We can forgive him anything, anything at all,' she said weakly, and as another doctor appeared at that moment and the screens were pulled around the bed, Ethan held her hand while the medic examined her.

When he'd finished he gave a satisfied nod and told them that soon she would be moved to the ward and in a few days' time another scan would be done to make sure that all was well before she was sent home.

Lucas came back with the children shortly after she'd been moved to the ward and when he saw her lying there with the baby in a basinet beside her he said, ‘Thank God, Francine! This poor guy has been going out of his mind with anxiety, and I've never seen my mother-in-law so distraught before.'

‘Barbara might have engineered it so you could all move to France, Ethan, but you are still her blue-eyed boy, and I think everyone in Bluebell Cove must have been on the phone after I got home from here this morning, wanting to know how Francine was.'

She flashed Ethan a tired smile. ‘I had to come through it. I couldn't leave you free to marry Phoebe.' And as Lucas observed them questioningly they laughed at what he decided must be a private joke.

 

It was evening, the children had gone home with Lucas once more as the nurses on the ward had said that their
patient needed rest and quiet for twenty-four hours, and only Ethan remained beside the bed.

Francine was sleeping normally and one of the night nurses came up and said, ‘Why don't you go home for a few hours, Dr. Lomax? It is what your wife would want you to do, get some rest.' After being given a promise that they would be in touch immediately if any problems should arise, he did what she'd suggested and went home.

 

When he arrived back in Bluebell Cove he didn't go to collect Ben and Kirstie straight away and didn't switch on any lights. He needed a few moments to himself and stood looking out of the window into the dark night, letting the quietness of the empty rooms calm his shattered nerves.

He could see the lights twinkling on the big Christmas tree in the square and it seemed incredible that it was still there, that the season wasn't over and New Year had yet to come. It was as if he'd been on another planet ever since Francine had felt that first contraction.

The last twenty-four hours had shown him beyond doubt that happiness was not to be taken for granted, no matter how hard it had been to come by, and he sat down and wept at the thought of how nearly it had been lost to them.

Take care of our children
, Francine had begged when she hadn't been sure what lay ahead. He would care for them all with humble gratitude for the rest of his life, he thought. Nothing would ever change that, and with his composure returning and the nightmare of the last two days receding he switched on the lights, closed the curtains and decided that the three of them were going
to have an early night so that he could be at the hospital promptly the next morning. Satisfied that things were definitely on the up, he went to collect his two elder children from the house next door.

Before he called it a day he rang Leo at the guest house. The surgery was due to reopen the following morning after the Christmas break and Ethan just wanted a quick word to put him in the picture with what was happening in his life as at the moment the practice seemed far away.

After receiving Leo's assurances that he was all geared up for whatever the coming morning brought at the surgery, and answering his concerns regarding Francine, Ethan went slowly up the stairs to bed.

F
RANCINE
and the baby were home. Henri was thriving and she was gradually recovering from the biggest scare she'd ever had. Kirstie was displaying nursing skills far beyond her years. Ben hovered awkwardly and disappeared fast when it was time for the baby to be changed, but kept going to look at him when no one was around, while Ethan was in a constant state of thankfulness as he watched over them all.

It was that same thankfulness that made him tell Francine what had been in his mind ever since he'd brought her home from hospital with little Henri.

She was propped up against the pillows in the middle of the night, feeding him, and Ethan was beside her with his arm around her shoulders when he said, ‘There is something I'd like us to do before we leave here, Francine.'

‘What?' she asked, smiling across at him, and he thought tenderly that neither of them had stopped smiling since she'd opened her eyes that day at the hospital.

When he didn't reply she asked laughingly, ‘Do you want us to arrange to have a band playing ìLa Marseillaiseî when we board the plane, or request that
the French President to be there to greet us when we arrive at the other end?'

‘No,' he replied, laughing with her, ‘though I won't say that the occasion doesn't warrant it.' Serious now, he explained, ‘If you are agreeable, I'd like us to take our wedding vows again. You were always precious to me beyond compare and since I nearly lost you I feel as if I have to tell the world how much I love you. So what do you say, Francine?'

‘I say yes, of course,' she said softly, and wondered if anyone in the medical encyclopaedias had ever burst with happiness. ‘Suppose you ask the vicar if we can renew our vows during the last service of our time here?'

 

‘Will I be able to be a bridesmaid?' Kirstie wanted to know, and was disappointed to hear that it wasn't that sort of occasion but that they were asking everyone back to the house afterwards for a celebration.

That made the event sound more appealing to the would-be bridesmaid and as Kirstie's thoughts veered in another direction she decided that it would be a good opportunity to show everyone how good she was at looking after little Henri.

Typical of Ben, he saw it merely as an occasion where there would be lots of food to eat, while dodging being patted on the head by elderly ladies, and hoped that some of his friends would be there.

When consulted, the vicar had said he was delighted to agree to their request and in the discussion that had followed they'd arranged for Henri's christening to follow the renewal of their wedding vows on the Sunday
morning before they flew to France on the following day.

Jenna and Lucas had been asked to be his godparents, even though the two families would be separated by distance, but as they all agreed, France wasn't that far away and they would visit whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Harry had been in touch with Barbara again and also with Ethan. It seemed that there were some last-minute problems regarding the sale of his property that he didn't want to leave unsorted before leaving Australia and he wouldn't be arriving in Devon to take over the practice until a couple of days after they'd left.

It was a disappointment as Ethan had been looking forward to meeting him again and wanted to leave Bluebell Cove with the knowledge that the new doctor was already in place.

But at least Harry hadn't changed his mind—in fact, he seemed keener than ever—and once their French flight was airborne that would be it, the end of an era as far as he was concerned.

 

One evening when the children were out and they had the place to themselves, apart from Henri sleeping peacefully in his cot, Francine said, ‘I sometimes wake up and think us going to live in France is just a dream.'

‘It is no dream,' he told her softly. ‘It is meant to be. I never thought it could be until the day that Barbara told me that Harry was coming back and everything fell into place. I can be a doctor in France just as here, so that's no problem, and if your mum and dad are looking down on us, they'll be highly delighted to know that,
much as they liked Bluebell Cove, we are moving into their house, with me practising medicine French style, the children going to French schools, and the daughter they loved alive, well and content.'

‘I don't deserve you,' she choked.

‘Agreed. You deserve someone better,' he told her whimsically.

‘That could be difficult,' she told him from the circle of his arms, ‘because you are the best.'

 

The church was full on the January morning when they went to renew their marriage vows and have their child baptised. For Francine and Ethan the two ceremonies taking place at the end of their time in Bluebell Cove would create a bond that would never be broken, an occasion that would always have a special place in their hearts.

As they stepped forward to face the vicar, passing Henri to a proud Kirstie while they renewed their vows, there was total silence in the old village church for a few seconds then the bells began to ring out, as Ethan had arranged they should, and as they pealed joyfully up above in the bell tower the two of them, looking into each other's eyes, repeated the words they had said on their wedding day.

It had been a long time ago. They'd been head over heels in love then, and that same love was there still, stronger than before because it had been tested and tried more than they could ever have thought it would be, and it had triumphed.

Behind them Jenna was carefully relieving Kirstie of the baby in readiness for the christening, and Lucas was passing their beautiful little Lily to a proud Keith
while he fulfilled his role as godfather to Henri. And there was a surprise for Ethan's grumpy father, sitting in a pew near the front with his patient wife, when the baby was baptised Henri Lawrence Lomax.

 

Back at the house where a meal had been laid on the atmosphere was a mixture of happiness and sorrow. A lot of people were going to miss Ethan Lomax and his family, not least Barbara who had actually been seen to wipe a tear from her eye, and no matter how good a doctor her nephew Harry was, the general feeling was that his predecessor was going to be a hard act to follow.

They were flying to France the following day and various crates containing household articles would be following them, but the furniture and curtains would be staying in position as there was a fully furnished house awaiting them at the other end.

When all the people who had joined them after the church service had left, Francine and Ethan left the baby with his grandparents and went for a last walk along the seashore. There was a winter sunset on the horizon and the feel of snow in the air, and as they walked with arms entwined Barbara watched them from her sitting-room window and a smile replaced the tears of earlier in the day.

 

The next morning at the airport there was a crowd to wave them off, Jenna and Lucas with Lily, Barbara and Keith Balfour, all the staff from the surgery, the Enderbys, Charlotte the headmistress, Ronnie and his family. Meredith from the guest house was also there, and many more villagers who were feeling the same
as Ethan was, that it was the end of an era with a new beginning in view.

When they reached the top of the walkway that led to the inside of the plane, with Kirstie and Ben leading the way and Ethan bringing up the rear with Henri in his arms, Francine turned to him and said in a low voice, ‘This is it, Ethan. We'll be airborne very soon—are you sure you want this? There is still time to change your mind.'

‘Yes, I am sure,' he told her gently. ‘I'm sure that this is the way we were meant to go. What do I have to do to convince you, Francine? Shout it from the top of the Arc de Triomphe or wear a beret? Come here while I kiss you into believing me.'

And as he did just that there was a round of applause from the cabin crew and they took the first step into their new lives.