Lucy Gordon - The Pregnancy Bond

‘May you be forgiven! I walked out.’

‘Seconds ahead of getting my toe in your rear.’

‘End of Round One,’ Dr Ainsley declared. ‘Kelly gets it on points.’

‘She can have Round Two as well, since she came up with the perfect answer,’ Jake said.

‘So tell me how I was brilliant.’

‘You said you’d take a paying lodger.’

‘So?’

‘Meet your first lodger. I’ll need somewhere to crash when I get out of here, and with my rent you’ll be able to leave that crummy job and-don’t shake your head like that. It makes sense.’

‘Nothing you’ve ever said has made sense, and the idea of us stuck under the same roof again when we’ve only just escaped each other-get real!’

‘I think the two of you are overlooking something,’ Dr Ainsley ventured.

They both turned to him. ‘What?’

‘Henry VIII.’

‘Ignore him,’ Jake advised, seeing Kelly’s expression. ‘He’s been breathing in too much anaesthetic.’

‘Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves,’ Dr Ainsley went on. ‘She was his fourth wife. They had an amicable divorce and stayed the best of buddies. She had the semi-official title of “The King’s Dear Sister”. You two have eight years behind you. I’m not talking about love, I’m talking about understanding, knowing how each other’s minds work. Whether you like it or not, you’re intertwined, connected-as in “three o’clock in the afternoon”. What’s funny?’ Kelly was choking with laughter.

‘I’m sorry, it’s just the thought of him as Henry VIII. Mind you, he may not have the figure but he’s sure got the attitude.’

‘I’ll be the perfect lodger,’ he vowed.

‘I’m sure you will, but not for me. Listen, you two, it’s a lovely idea, but no.’

‘Kelly!’ They said it together.

‘You’ve got windmills in your head. Both of you. And now I really am going before I get them too.’

That night her stint at the café seemed harder than ever. The afternoon had left her unsettled and now the smell of greasy food made her feel ill. An unwritten essay loomed before her like a barrier, and when she sat down to it the blank page danced before her eyes. She knew now that she must give up that job. She’d been right about taking a lodger. But not Jake. Anyone but Jake.

It was several days before she returned to the hospital, meaning this to be the last visit. She would confirm her refusal, say goodbye, and that would be that. She recalled another time, only recently, when she’d planned much the same thing and it hadn’t gone that way. But this time it would be different.

Dr Ainsley intercepted her and took her to his room.

‘There’s something you should know,’ he said hurriedly. ‘The day before yesterday Jake discharged himself. He was so determined to get out that he just upped sticks and went.’

‘And you let him?’

‘I couldn’t stop him. This isn’t a gaol.’

‘But why didn’t you call me?’

‘Because I don’t have your number. You’re not down as his next of kin. Nobody is. He went back to wherever he calls home, and that night one of his neighbours heard him groaning and called an ambulance. It wasn’t very bad, and he’s OK now. But if he’s that determined to get out of here, he may do it again.’

‘But surely he still needs nursing?’

‘Yes, but not intensive nursing. Just rest and feeding, with a nurse calling in every day to see to the medical side. If he had anyone living with him I’d send him home to them like a shot, but he hasn’t. And he has no family, as you told me. Oddly, for such a popular man, he’s very much alone.’

Jake was back in bed, looking as though his escape and return to captivity had exhausted him. Kelly didn’t speak at first, but went and sat beside him, his hand in hers.

After a while he said, ‘I’ve been an idiot.’

‘No change there, then,’ she said, trying to keep her voice steady. The sight of him looking pale and defeated made her heart ache. ‘Whatever possessed you to do such a daft thing?’

He shrugged. ‘I was going stir crazy. You know me better than anyone. Can you imagine me settling in here? I know you want to see the back of me, and I don’t blame you. It’s just that all that brother and sister stuff the doc was handing out sounded pretty good for a while. But you were right to say no. If it doesn’t work for you, it doesn’t work.’

She could feel herself teetering on the edge of giving in, and made a last desperate attempt to fend off disaster. ‘Olympia’s really the right person to be looking after you, Jake.’

‘She’s out networking from dawn to dusk. Besides, I haven’t got enough energy for Olympia just now.’

‘Well, I don’t suppose she’ll be expecting you to- I mean, for a while-’

‘Oddly enough, I didn’t mean that. I meant the whole romantic thing. It makes me feel tired just to think of it.’

‘Jake Lindley, whose appearance on the box is enough to make strong women swoon?’ she teased.

‘Yeah, right,’ he agreed without enthusiasm.

‘Oh Jake,’ she sighed, ‘what am I going to do?’

‘Whatever you want. It’s your call.’

She gave a snort of indignation. ‘Oh, please! You must think I have a short memory. That was what you always said when you’d just tricked me into giving you your own way.’

‘No change there, then,’ he said, echoing her.

‘But it doesn’t work any more. Besides, you saw my spare room. It isn’t even furnished.’

‘I’ve thought of that.’ He reached into his bedside cabinet and pulled out a slip of paper, which he put into her hand. ‘This should cover furniture and paying workmen to install everything for you. You mustn’t try to do any of it yourself.’

The amount of the cheque shocked her. ‘But this is far more than it’ll take to-’

‘Put it to the first month’s rent, then.’ He made a sudden grimace, as if in pain. ‘Let me do something for you, Kelly. Let me give as well as take.’ When she was still silent he said huskily, ‘Please.’

It wasn’t Jake’s way to say please. Whatever he wanted he charmed people into offering. She told herself it was a trick to fool her. But, looking into his eyes, she saw an anxiety that she’d never seen before, and heard again Dr Ainsley saying, ‘For such a popular man, he’s very much alone.’

‘All right,’ she said slowly. ‘Just until you get back on your feet.’

‘You mean, get back on my feet without falling straight off them?’ he quipped.

‘Until you’re better, you can be my lodger.’

‘No, I’ll be your brother. Now, let’s be practical. Have you given in your notice at that café?’

‘No, but-’

He lifted the phone. ‘Do it now.’

It took precisely five minutes to free her from the café, partly because the boss was glad to be rid of her. She was a good employee, but his niece needed a job. He let this fact slip, making Kelly wonder just how long she would have been employed there anyway. It was almost enough to make a person believe in fate.

But she couldn’t see Jake as fate. Jake was Henry VIII.

On second thoughts, forget Henry VIII. He was the devil. But the devil with charm.

IT WAS another week before Jake had recovered from his escape sufficiently to be allowed out of the hospital. In that time Kelly had his room furnished and redecorated by experts. It made quite a hole in the cheque, but still left her enough to ease her money concerns. When she tried to thank him he changed the subject.

‘All right, let’s be practical,’ she said. ‘You’ll need some more clothes. If you’ll give me your key I’ll collect some for you.’

‘Thanks, but there’s no need,’ he said quickly.

‘I don’t mind.’ After their separation they had both vacated their old home, and secretly she was curious to see Jake’s new apartment. ‘Give me the key.’

‘You don’t have to bother,’ he said stiffly. ‘I’ve arranged all that.’

She suddenly felt very foolish. Of course Olympia would have done it for him. She probably had the key anyway. How could she have forgotten the real situation?

She made an excuse to leave, and bid him a bright, edgy goodbye.

The evening before he was due she concentrated hard on the chapter of a book she’d been set to read, knowing that her time would be much taken up next day. When her doorbell rang she didn’t hear it the first time. At last she answered it and found Olympia standing outside. As always she looked glorious, her mane of blonde hair tousled to perfection. Her gracious smile widened when she saw Kelly, and she enveloped her in a scented embrace that almost made her gag.

‘Kelly, dear, you don’t mind my dropping in, do you?’

‘Not at all,’ Kelly lied.

‘I was so glad to hear that you’d been helping Jake. It’s so wonderful the way all his old friends have remembered him. I suppose we should call you an old friend now, shouldn’t we?’

‘Not as old as some,’ Kelly observed with a touch of pardonable malice. Olympia had a good five years over her.

She would have liked to throw this smiling woman out, but somehow Olympia was inside the apartment, looking it over as though she owned it, and throwing open the door to the room that was to be Jake’s.

‘Very nice,’ she said in a neutral voice. ‘Although I must say I’m a little surprised-well, no matter.’

‘You mean you’re surprised that Jake wanted to stay with me?’ Kelly asked coolly.

‘If you like to put it that way. I don’t think anything about the present position is exactly what Jake would have chosen, but let’s not split hairs. We know how he hates to hurt people’s feelings.’

‘He does if he thinks about it,’ Kelly observed with gentle irony. ‘Jake’s kind-hearted and he means well, but mostly people’s feelings are things he stubs his toe on, and says sorry without really understanding what the fuss was about. You’ll find that out eventually.’