She folded her arms and looked at him belligerently. ‘I hope I haven’t come all this way on a fool’s errand—I was looking forward to working with my mother,’ she said pointedly. ‘I’d like an explanation as soon as possible.’
‘So would I,’ he agreed drily. ‘They’re both out on home visits now but I hope they’ll be here soon to sort this out. I thought I’d be taking over from my father and then, when your mother retired, getting a junior partner in.’
There was the slightest emphasis on the word ‘junior’ as if to make it clear that he was ultimately going to be the senior partner, whoever he was working with. Victoria looked stonily at Connor—he might find that she had changed a lot since the days of Braithwaite Sixth Form College. What had happened to her in Australia had been horrible, made her doubt that she could trust any man again or feel that she could indeed be attractive to any other man. But it had also toughened her in many ways, and she wasn’t about to be pushed around by anybody. She sat down by the desk and drummed her fingers impatiently on the surface.
‘I suppose we’ll have to wait until they come, then, for things to be clarified,’ she said.
Connor flicked a look at her. Annoyance had made her cheeks quite pink, and her tawny eyes that had once been hidden behind spectacles seemed to reflect the colour of her glossy auburn hair. Victoria Sorensen had become quite a beauty since her school days—the unsophisticated teenager with the gauche manner had blossomed into a confident no-nonsense woman now, he thought with surprise. She’d been a bright girl at school—there’d been quite a lot of competition between them, and he remembered that he’d rather enjoyed stretching himself, always trying to outdo her in exams.
He had to admit he was quite shaken to meet her again. Perhaps deep down he still felt guilty about the way he’d treated her at that school dance—a picture of her stricken face as he’d refused to dance with her floated into his mind, and he recalled the inane laughter of the lads around him on the dance floor. He’d known he’d been cruel even as he’d done it, but he’d been an arrogant twerp then, enjoying the admiration of his mates at his rejection of Victoria, imagining what an alpha male it had made him seem. He felt contempt now for the youth he’d been and hoped against hope that Victoria would have forgotten all about it, although he suspected that she still remembered the incident. Perhaps that was why she so obviously didn’t relish the idea of working with him.
Victoria was oblivious to his inspection as she pondered how unlike her mother it was not to mention that John’s son was coming to work at The Cedars as well. If Victoria had known that, she wouldn’t have come all these thousands of miles to work alongside a man she’d vowed never to speak to again! If only her travel arrangements hadn’t gone so awry she’d have seen her mother the day before and perhaps all this could have been explained.
The sound of voices floated down the corridor, and then the door opened and Betty Sorensen and John Saunders came in. Betty ran over to Victoria and threw her arms round her daughter, hugging her tightly, then held her at arm’s length as she looked lovingly at her.
‘Vicky, darling! I’m so sorry I wasn’t here to meet you. It’s been such a hell of a week with one thing and another—and John and I have been run off our feet, dealing with the consequences of a gastrointestinal virus among the old folk.’ She appraised her daughter beamingly. ‘You look wonderful! I can’t believe you’re finally back in Yorkshire after five years…’
Victoria hugged her mother back—she had missed her so much over the past awful year when having her near to talk to would have been such a comfort.
‘It’s so good to see you, too, Mum. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here last night, but with the plane so delayed I had to stay in London for the night and then get a train up here.’
‘You must be absolutely jet-lagged, but never mind. You’re here now…’
John Saunders stepped forward and took her hand. ‘Welcome back, Victoria,’ he said. ‘I’m sure you’ve made a good move, coming back here.’
He was thinner than she remembered but nevertheless quite distinguished with a head of thick white hair and that air of slight self-satisfaction that she’d always found so irritating.
‘Why don’t we all sit down and have some coffee,’ said Betty. She looked around at the others and smiled. ‘We’ve so much to discuss…’
Victoria and Connor’s eyes met for a second. ‘So it would seem,’ said Victoria lightly. ‘I didn’t realise that Connor would be working here as well.’
Betty gave a slightly embarrassed laugh. ‘Well, things have been moving pretty fast here in the last week, haven’t they, John?’
‘They certainly have.’ He smiled—rather smugly, Victoria thought. ‘But now we can relax, knowing that you and Connor will be holding the fort!’
Connor looked from his father to Betty. ‘I wish you’d tell us what you mean,’ he said impatiently. ‘Have both of us been offered jobs? And what’s this about holding the fort?”
John gave a short chuckle and turned to Victoria’s mother. ‘Forget the coffee, Betty—lets get the bubbly out. We ought to toast Victoria’s return—and we’ve got a little announcement to make ourselves.’
This is extraordinary, thought Victoria as her mother produced a bottle of champagne from a chiller bag. The pompous John Saunders seemed to be turning quite mellow in his old age—she never remembered him being so affable—and what on earth was he going to announce? She flicked a glance at Connor and wondered if he felt the sudden premonition of foreboding she was experiencing.
Betty handed round the glasses and John looked round at them all, raising his glass. ‘I’m not going to beat about the bush,’ he began ‘The fact is, Betty and I have been working together for thirty years now and suddenly we’ve realised there’s more to life than medicine…it’s about time we had some fun.’ He smiled broadly. ‘We want to make up for lost time—and both being single and both realising that we’ve grown rather fond of each other, we’ve decided to get married and take off round the world when we’ve tied the knot!’
There was a stunned silence, the younger couple looking at their respective parents as incredulously as if they’d both divulged they were going to do a bungee-jump in tandem. At last Victoria managed to get out, ‘You’re getting married—after all this time?’
‘And why not? Better late than never—the big day is this Friday. The practice—surely set in the most beautiful part of the country—is there for you two to take over immediately, with no strings attached! And we’re starting on our cruise next week!’
‘Next week?’ squeaked Victoria. ‘You can’t throw us in at the deep end like that!’
‘For heaven’s sake, why the rush?’ asked Connor, folding his arms and looking furiously at his father.
Betty stepped forward and took John’s arm. ‘I know this has come as a great shock to you both…’
‘You can say that again,’ muttered Connor.
‘To be honest, at our age we may not have time on our side—that’s why we want to get going. I know John didn’t want me to mention this, but I feel you ought to know that he’s been having treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma…’
A shocked silence followed and then Connor gave a sharp intake of breath, looking stricken and concerned. ‘Oh, Dad… why didn’t you tell me?’
His father shook his head dismissively. ‘I’m in remission now—and I feel fine, so we’re seizing the moment, aren’t we, Betty?’
‘You should have let me know,’ said Connor reproachfully. ‘I could have helped you out—taken time out from the job in Glasgow…’
John shook his head impatiently and put his arm round Betty. ‘You’ve had your own problems,