The Cornish Midwife by Jo Bartlett

Author:Jo Bartlett [Bartlett, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Published: 2021-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

‘Ella!’ Dan called out from the upstairs window at the far end of the terrace as she walked past after checking Sophie over. Thankfully there’d been no sign she was suffering from anything more than nerves. ‘Hang on a sec and I’ll come down.’

‘Okay, I need to talk to you anyway.’ Ella ran a hand through her hair, as she waited for him to open the front door.

‘Is Sophie okay? She got herself in a bit of state last night after her mother left and I told her to give you a call.’

‘She’s fine and it sounds like you were quite the hit with her mum for letting her live in the cottage rent-free.’

‘Do you want to come in?’ If Dan didn’t want to have the conversation on the doorstep, he must have realised how it might look to others.

‘I haven’t got long…’ But even as she started to protest, Ella found herself crossing the threshold of the cottage. The inside was minimalist to say the least, but she could already imagine how good it was going to look when it was finished. Dan was halfway through ripping up a layer of laminate flooring – the same sort of shade as Donald Trump’s fake tan – exposing more beautiful flagstones underneath. There was an open sofa bed squeezed up into one corner of the room and not much else.

‘Sorry, I needed to do some prep work upstairs before the plumbers get here and I haven’t got round to making my bed.’

‘So you’re living like a squatter and you’ve got a nineteen-year-old sleeping in your bed at the other end of the terrace?’

‘You make it sound really dodgy! I know things haven’t always been great between us, but I hope you know me a bit better than that.’

‘I do, Dan, but you know what it’s like round here. There are people who’ll be only too willing to think the worst of you.’

‘Including your dad?’ Dan didn’t wait for her to answer. ‘If I cared about what people thought I’d have left Port Agnes years ago. I’ll always be an outsider to some of them and most of the others seem convinced that all I want to do is ruin the town and drive all the locals out.’

‘If people knew you’d applied to make Mercer’s Row a protected building and that you’re helping Sophie, and having to live like this as a result, maybe they’d realise you’re not who they think you are.’

‘I’m not doing any of it to impress anyone else. I do the things I do because they matter to me.’ Dan met her gaze and something in his face softened. ‘Anyway, the cottage at this end has always had a special place in my heart.’

‘And mine.’ The words had come out before she’d been able to stop them and she had to drop her gaze. The cottage had been where they’d shared something they’d never be able to share with anyone else and the fact that it had apparently meant as much to him as it had to her mattered more than she’d ever have believed.

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