Page 7 of New Dreams for the Village Nurse
‘So what’s she doing today?’ Ottilie asked, her gaze going to a playpen where two toddlers looked as if they might start to fight over one of the toys. She was wondering whether she might have to go and break it up when their mothers noticed and did the job for her. She didn’t know why she’d even worried. Everyone here was perfectly capable of handling their offspring.
The notion made her a little melancholy. She’d have liked being a mum, but at almost thirty-six, she was afraid that ship was about to sail. Would her grief have been either easier or harder to bear if she and Josh had done the family thing before he’d died? She’d have the child she felt she was missing out on now, but she’d be raising that child alone, having to heal not just her own soul but theirs as well. It would be a big responsibility. As it was, she’d only had herself to worry about, and that had been hard enough.
‘She’s taken a bus into Bowness to meet…someone.’
Ottilie looked up at the stress on the word. ‘Someone as in…someone? Someone significant?’
‘It’s hard to tell. She can be a bit secretive. But if it’s a lad, then she’s not likely to tell me about him at this stage. And I suppose it’s good for her. I think she felt as if her life was going to end when she had Mackenzie – there’d be no dating or going out or anything – and even though she understands Mackenzie has to come first, I don’t feel it’s right to deny her those things at herage. I mean, what were we doing at eighteen? We were having fun. You’re still a kid, aren’t you?’
‘I suppose so.’
‘I know I was wet behind the ears; I don’t know about you. That’s why I fell in with Chloe’s useless git of a dad. If I’d been a bit older, had more about me, I might have saved myself all that heartache.’
‘But you got Chloe, so it can’t all have been bad.’
‘I did, and of course she means the world to me. But what he put us through…’ Stacey shook her head. ‘I’d never wish that on anyone.’
‘Was he…’ Ottilie glanced around the room. There were five other women there with their children. It was a quiet session at the recently reinstated parent and baby group. Stacey had taken it on for Ottilie, who mostly had other work to do, and kept saying how much she was enjoying it. Even so, Ottilie had wanted to pop in during her lunch break to see how she was. She’d noticed Stacey seemed keen to do this and to take the lion’s share of the childcare for Mackenzie so that Chloe could have that normal life, but Ottilie wondered whether she was doing too much.
She lowered her voice, uncertain whether this was an inappropriate question considering the timing. ‘Was he…?’
‘You mean did he hit me?’
Ottilie gave a tiny nod.
‘No. He might as well have, though, because he couldn’t have hurt me any more if he had. He did just about everything else. Abusive, hurtful, drinking, messing around with other women, and you’ve seen the size of this place – that’s quite a feat.’
Ottilie looked around the room again and silently wondered if it was anyone she knew.
‘She left the village, in case you’re wondering,’ Stacey said. ‘In fact, she left with him.’
‘Ah.’ That explained it.
‘So at least I don’t have to see them every day playing happy families.’
‘Has he got any other children? Did he have any with her?’
‘Not that I know of, but I haven’t heard from him in about seven or eight years, so he might have done.’
‘He doesn’t stay in contact for Chloe’s sake?’
‘She won’t have him. To be fair to him, he tried, but she told him to sling his hook. Even at that age she could see what he was and what he’d done. You’d have to get up early in the morning to get anything past our Chloe.’
‘I suppose I can see why she was so upset when Mackenzie’s dad left her.’
‘Literally holding the baby. Yes. Me too – which is why I never gave her a hard time about it. Who was I to lecture when I’d screwed up myself.’
‘It wasn’t your fault.’
‘You say that, but sometimes I think it was. I could have been stronger, stood up to him. He got away with too much, and he thought he was untouchable. He made our lives a misery because I let him. Never again.’ She shook herself and looked up with a vague smile. ‘It’s not like I’ll need to worry about that anyway the way my love life is going – or the way it isn’t going…’
‘Would you have another man? I know you’ve said before you’d like a bit of romance, but would you have someone properly in your life again?’
‘Did you think you would before Heath came along?’
‘Not really. I suppose you can’t answer that until you meet the right man, can you?’
Stacey nodded. ‘I haven’t met anyone yet who makes me feel that way, but right now I’d settle for being treated well and having a bit of fun, you know?’
