‘Would you like me to come with you, sir?’ Barnaby volunteered but his mother-in-law shook her head.
‘That won’t be necessary,’ she told him imperiously as she led the doctor from the room.
For almost an hour Barnaby paced up and down the drawing room. His father-in-law had gone out riding so all he could do was wait to see what the doctor said.
He heard him descending the stairs with Margaret when he was done with his examination and one glance at his face told Barnaby that it was not good news.
‘Well?’ Barnaby greeted him as he entered the drawing room and the doctor looked at him gravely. ‘Do you have any idea what might be wrong with her?’
‘I’m afraid I do.’ The doctor clasped his hands behind his back and walked to the window. He always found this part of the job, where he had to impart bad news to the family of his patients, very difficult.
‘I’m sorry to tell you this,’ he said eventually. ‘But I fear your wife has a tumour growing in her stomach.’
Barnaby was shocked; he hadn’t expected this. ‘I see. And what can be done for her?’
The doctor shook his head. ‘I’m afraid there is nothing that can be done with a tumour that size,’ he said regretfully. ‘I believe it could already have been forming before she became with child and now I gauge it to be the size of a small football. Should I attempt to remove it I doubt she would even wake up from the operation.’
‘So what you’re saying is?.?.?.’ Barnaby couldn’t even bring himself to say the words.
‘I’m afraid so. I’m so sorry, my man.’
‘And?.?.?. and how long has she got?’
The doctor shrugged. ‘That I cannot tell you. It could be a few years or it could be a few months. It all depends on how quickly it grows. I’ve prescribed something to ease the pain but I’m afraid apart from keeping her as comfortable as possible there’s nothing more I can do. You can seek a second opinion, of course, if you’re not happy with what I’ve told you.’
‘No.’ Barnaby shook his head and flopped down onto the nearest chair like a rag doll as he tried to take in what he’d been told. ‘I trust you, Doctor, and I’m grateful to you for coming all this way to see her.’
Margaret appeared, sobbing, and Barnaby vaguely realised he should be comforting her – she was Louisa’s mother after all – but somehow, he couldn’t seem to make his legs work.
Suddenly Margaret turned on him, her face livid. ‘This isallyour fault.’ She pointed a wavering finger at him. ‘All you ever cared about was having a son and heir, even though you knew my darling was of a delicate constitution.’
Greatly embarrassed by her outburst the doctor tried to calm her. ‘As I pointed out, Margaret, the tumour could well have started to form before the pregnancy,’ he said, hoping to calm the situation, but now she turned on him.
‘And you can be quite certain of that, can you?’
The doctor stepped back from the fury in her eyes, before slowly shaking his head. ‘Well no?.?.?. I can’t say for sure but—’
‘Then I suggest you don’t have any idea what my poor girl has had to go through married to this monster! She has suffered one miscarriage after another, plus two stillbirths. Don’t you think most men would have thought that was enough without putting her through it all again? And forwhat?’ She snorted as she cocked her head towards the ceiling. ‘He might have a son but the chances are he’ll never raise him! He’s a weakling. Why couldn’t it have been the girl instead?’
‘I really don’t think I wish to be involved in this conversation,’ the doctor informed her coldly. ‘So if you will excuse me.’ Nodding at them both, he left the room.
Margaret glared at Barnaby. ‘And what will happen now?’
He shook his head as he passed his hands wearily across his eyes. ‘I don’t know?.?.?. I haven’t had time to think! I suppose all I can do is make the time she has left as comfortable as possible. I’m so sorry, Mother-in-Law—’
‘And so you should be!’ She turned in a swirl of taffeta skirts and stormed from the room, banging the door behind her so hard that it bounced off the wall, leaving Barnaby still reeling from the shock of what he had just learnt. He finally had children but now he was about to lose his wife and guilt flooded through him as he looked at the bleak future that lay ahead.
Chapter Twenty-Two
‘So what do you think o’ your uncle’s idea, lass?’ Alice asked early the next morning as she and Amber sat at the table enjoying an early morning cup of tea together. Jeremiah wasn’t up yet and she was keen they should have time to talk.
Amber had lain awake half the night thinking about it, and now she answered honestly. ‘I think it’s a brilliant idea for you. You’ve always got on well with Mrs Carter and Uncle Jeremiah and Will and Ted could still come and see you when they had time off work, so I’m sure you’d love living there, especially if Uncle and his wife are going to be away a lot – you’d have Fancy and Biddy to keep you company and the shop to keep you busy. But?.?.?.’ – she chewed on her lip for a moment before going on in a rush – ‘but it wouldn’t be for me. I think I’d like to go my own way and there would be too many memories of?.?.?.’
Alice knew she was thinking of her baby and she gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘But how could I go an’ leave you to manage all by yourself wi’ a clear conscience, lass?’ she said worriedly.
Amber chuckled. ‘Oh, you’ve no need to worry about me,’ she assured her. ‘I can go back to work at Greenacres any time I like.’ When she saw the frown appear on her mother’s face, she hurried to assure her. ‘And don’t worry, Mr Greenwood won’t be layin’ another finger on me. I’d be quite safe there.’
Seeing that her mother still looked undecided, she went on, ‘Just think of it, Mam, no money worries, no more wet washin’ strung all about the place an’ no more havin’ to watch every penny. This place is full o’ ghosts now an’ it would do you good to go somewhere for a fresh start. An’ I’d come an’ see you every chance I got, you can be sure o’ that.’
