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a temporary arrangement.

      He was approaching the surgery where Miriam was moaning and patients were waiting to be seen, so she was going to have to sort herself out until his working day was over.

      ‘So is Kate all right?’ Jenny asked the moment he appeared.

      ‘No. Not really,’ he told her. ‘I would say that it’s some sort of virus she’s got, and as we all know it is usually a case of keeping the temperature down and letting it run its course.’

      ‘Does Ruth know she’s poorly?’ Jenny asked, not letting go until she had the full story.

      ‘She’s at her mother’s in Newcastle-on-Tyne. The old lady has been taken ill, too. So I’m in charge at this end.’

      As she passed over the notes of those who had come to consult him, Jenny said, ‘Is there anything I can do to help with Ruth being away?’

      He smiled, admiring how the villagers were always ready to rally round when needed. No one would be left to suffer alone in this place. He was amazed at the community spirit, but he had a feeling that on this occasion the patient would want to be left alone.

      ‘Er…no, not at the moment. Thanks just the same,’ he told her. ‘Kate just seems to want to sleep.’ With that, he went into his room and buzzed for his first patient before Miriam had a chance to cast her frowns upon him.

      As he waited, he recalled how the local people had been wary of him at first. Peter had been their doctor for as long as some of them could remember. But they’d had time to get to know him and now they had his measure, knew him to be competent and briskly kind.

      If any of the women patients wondered why such a presentable member of the opposite sex had arrived in their midst with no obvious family ties, they were left to ponder. Daniel was like his landlady. He kept his own counsel in matters close to his heart.

      Patients came and went, some only mildly suffering, and others in dire distress. Now Millie from the chemist’s was sitting opposite him. She was fighting breast cancer and needed a mastectomy because it had come back in a more serious form after a long remission.

      ‘Would I have a better chance if I had them both removed?’ she asked anxiously.

      ‘Only the oncologist can advise you on that, Millie,’ he told her gently, ‘and remember there is a chance that having the one mastectomy might be sufficient to give you a clean bill of health for a long time, maybe even permanently.’

      ‘And it might not,’ she reminded him. ‘I’d rather go the whole way now, instead of wishing I had.’

      ‘Have they given you a date?’ Daniel asked.

      ‘No. Not yet, but they’ve told me it will be soon. I wanted a word with you first before I approached them about a double mastectomy.’

      ‘It is a difficult decision for you to make.’

      She shook her head. ‘Not really. If it gives me a few more years, it will be worth it.’ She gave a watery smile. ‘At least I won’t feel lopsided.’

      ‘So what does your husband say, Millie?’

      ‘All he cares about is that I get better.’

      ‘So have a word with the oncologist and see what he says.’ Daniel advised patiently.

      ‘It’s a she,’ Millie explained.

      ‘Fine. You may find it easier to explain your feelings to another woman.’

      As the numbers in the waiting room dwindled and the clock ticked on, Daniel wondered how his patient at Jasmine Cottage was feeling. She was far from well and somewhat disgruntled, but he sensed that her disappointment at finding her mother missing was mostly to blame for her lack of cordiality, as well as discovering that she hadn’t got the house to herself.

      But she couldn’t have it both ways. At least he’d been there to look after her when she’d fainted and afterwards. And if she wasn’t happy about him staying at Jasmine Cottage, he would have to keep a low profile while she was there and hope that it wouldn’t be for long.

      ‘I’m sorry I was delayed earlier,’ he said to Miriam as they were clearing up at the end of the day. ‘Ruth’s daughter arrived home unexpectedly and she wasn’t at all well. She fainted and I couldn’t leave her until I was sure she would be all right.’

      ‘I see,’ she said distantly. ‘It was just that we were rather busy.’

      ‘Yes, I know. We need another doctor and I’m going to sort it the first chance I get.’

      He didn’t know how at that precise moment, but there were always young graduates keen to go into general practice, or more experienced doctors needing to relocate for family or other personal reasons.

      It had been hectic since he’d taken over, but now everything was settling down and with another doctor in the practice he might find time to explore the Cheshire countryside.

      One of the best things to happen to him since he’d become part of the rural community had been staying at Ruth Barrington’s. He’d bought a piece of land down by the river and was having a detached house built on it. But it was going to be a matter of months before it was ready, and while that was going on he was happy and grateful to be based at Jasmine Cottage, or at least he had been until today.

      It was half past six when he pulled up on the drive and as he let himself in there was no sound coming from anywhere in the house, so it seemed as if Kate might be asleep once more.

      He knocked gently on her bedroom door and when there was no reply he pushed it open slowly. The bed was empty and he could hear the shower running in the en suite, so it seemed as if she was feeling better. But what had he advised? He’d told her to stay where she was. If she’d fainted in the shower it could have had serious consequences.

      However, it appeared that she hadn’t as at that moment she appeared draped in a towel, with feet bare and hair flat and damp against her head.

      When she saw him standing there she clutched the towel more tightly around her and said defensively, ‘I know what you said, but I felt so hot and sticky, and I’m not feeling so bad now. Whatever I’ve picked up must have reached its peak when I fainted.’

      He shrugged. ‘If you say so, and as we are both in the same line of business, I’m sure you know what’s best for you, so I’ll leave you to it.’

      ‘Don’t go,’ she said quickly.

      ‘Why? I’m hungry. Your mother told me to help myself to whatever I found in the fridge or the freezer. So I’m about to investigate. You can join me if you like, but don’t feel you have to.’

      ‘Would you just let me get a word in?’ she protested, and he became silent.

      ‘I want to apologise for my rudeness when you found me asleep in front of the heater, and also to say thanks for looking after me when I fainted. I don’t usually behave in such a manner.’ She sighed. ‘My excuse is that I’ve just had to cancel my wedding. Over the last few weeks I’ve been going through the process of calling it off and it has been a distressing nightmare. But it is done now and I’ve come home to live for the time being.’

      ‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ he said quietly, and wondered what she would say if he told her he knew the feeling. But there were lots of different reasons for calling weddings off, and he could bet that his wasn’t the same as hers. ‘Was it to take place here in the village?’

      She shook her wet blonde head. ‘No. My fiancé wanted us to be married abroad in St Lucia.’

      ‘So a lot of your friends here would have been disappointed.’

      ‘Yes. It wasn’t my idea. But I was in love and…’ She tailed off.

      ‘Quite so,’ he said, and turned to go. The conversation was bringing back painful memories that he could only cope with when he was alone.

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