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‘Dr Bidley is taking a well-earned holiday,’ he replied, seeming in no way put out as he addressed Teddy, his professional eyes taking in more than she knew. ‘He’s gone to visit his son in Australia, so I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with me for three months.’ They made quite a crowd in the small consulting room. ‘I’m Paul Meadows, by the way—now which one of you is here to see me—I have quite a busy evening.’

‘It’s Sarah—she’s teething,’ Teddy told him, thrusting the baby at him, and in case he had any idea of asking Gerry and Emma to leave and so give him more space in the room, she said, ‘I’m a widow—my sister comes everywhere with me.’

‘Does she indeed—and does your sister ever go anywhere by herself?’ He had taken Sarah from her and was checking her over.

‘She doesn’t need to—we’re quite happy the way we are.’

Dr Meadows didn’t answer her, but continued to examine Sarah. ‘How old are the twins?’ he asked after a moment.

Gerry kept quiet, letting Teddy do all the talking. She felt her confidence growing in this man who gave Sarah back to Teddy and promptly lifted Emma out of her arms and proceeded to examine her the way he had done Sarah. She had a feeling he saw far more than any words she could have found to explain that Teddy needed his help.

She received the shock of her life, though, when he handed Emma back to her to find it was her he turned his attention to and not Teddy as she had been waiting for.

‘And what about you?’ he asked, and she turned her startled eyes to him. ^

‘I’m perfectly well,’ she began. ‘It’s T ...'

‘How much do you weigh?’

‘I haven’t weighed myself in ages,’ Gerry told him. 'But it’s not me ...’

‘How’s your appetite?’

By now Teddy was turning and taking notice, seeming to see for the first time that Gerry had lost weight, while her own weight after the children had been born had returned to normal.

Then Paul Meadows was pulling down Gerry’s lower eyelids and saying a course of iron tablets wouldn’t go amiss.

‘What’s wrong with her?’ That was Teddy, for the first time in an age coming the older sister—which she was by twenty minutes.

‘Without examining her completely I’d say she was on the way to becoming thoroughly worn out,’ he said, not making any bones about it.

Gerry started to say, ‘I’m all right,’ but Teddy seemed to be so completely shaken, she was answering the doctor’s questions like a lamb, and they seemed to have forgotten completely that the subject of their discussion was standing there with them. Even the twins seemed to be listening intently—they were quiet for the moment at any rate.

‘And Miss Barton is the breadwinner for all of you?’ he was asking.

Gerry’s astonishment at this turn of events was disappearing; she wanted to tell him not to ask Teddy these questions. Teddy wasn’t well—she needed protecting. Before, her father had always spoiled her, seen to it that no harm came to Teddy, then Mark had cosseted and loved her. Teddy needed to be looked after—yet here was this new doctor completely unaware of Teddy’s needs telling Teddy she would have to look after Miss Barton if she didn’t want her to be ill.

Teddy looked as stunned as Gerry felt, but Gerry was the first to recover as the doctor bade them good evening. In a flash she had handed Emma over to her sister, opened the door for her, and with an, ‘I’ll join you in a moment, Teddy,’ she closed the door behind her and turned back to Dr Meadows.

‘The twins are very healthy specimens,’ Paul Meadows said as if he thought that was what she wanted to talk to him about.

‘I know that,’ Gerry said. She was the one who brought them down regularly for Dr Bidley to check on. ‘It’s Teddy who isn’t well.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with that young woman that a healthy outside interest wouldn’t cure.'

‘But she’s been so tired lately—so tearful. Teddy’s had an awful time getting over the loss of her husband.’

‘She's bored,’ Paul Meadows came back, and Gerry had a feeling she wasn't getting through to him.

‘Bored?’ she echoed, feeling a tingle of guilt that their finances didn’t stretch to very exciting outings.

‘At a guess I’d say before her husband died she was never still for more than five minutes at a time.’ He looked enquiringly at her, his blue eyes solemn for the moment.

‘Well, yes, I suppose you’re right,’ Gerry admitted. Even Teddy’s pregnancy hadn’t stopped her from going to parties—all that had ceased when Mark had died.

‘It seems to me. Miss Barton, that since Mrs Wilson’s husband died, you’ve had a fair try at exhausting yourself in a mistaken attempt to make up to her all she has lost. While I can understand the close bond between you, it just won’t do, you know. I can appreciate that there must be times when the twins drive her up the wall, but that's fairly normal—most babies are trying from time to time. But if you’re to continue to support the family, I strongly advise you to start taking care of yourself. Take it from me, you're the one who needs looking after, not Mrs Wilson.’

The twins were howling when Gerry joined Teddy outside, and it wasn’t until Emma and Sarah were in bed and peace reigned once more that Gerry was able to talk to her sister about the visit to the doctor. She felt dreadfully guilty about the whole thing since her only reason for going had been in order that Teddy should have professional advice.

‘Of course Dr Meadows has get it all wrong,' she said as she peeled some potatoes. Teddy had joined her in the kitchen and was helping with the meal—that in itself was rare because at this time in the evening with the children in bed, Teddy usually flopped down on the settee declaring herself ‘frazzled’. Teddy pottering around the kitchen when she should be resting in no way lessened Gerry’s feeling of guilt.

‘I don’t know,' Teddy said thoughtfully. ‘I hadn’t noticed before—but you are a bit scraggy.’

Gerry’s guilt dissolved into laugher. ‘With that kind of sisterly remark, I reckon I can do without your help in the kitchen! ’

Teddy’s own laughter joined hers, and Gerry was arrested by it. Teddy hadn’t laughed very much lately— and she gave sufficient thought to wonder if Paul Meadows’ tonic hadn’t needed to come out of a medicine bottle.

Having
set her alarm to go off fifteen minutes earlier than usual, Gerry was in a deep sleep when the clamour of the alarm roused her the next morning. In view of Crawford Arrowsmith saying he would make it his affair if she arrived late at the office she couldn’t afford to risk arriving so much as one minute after nine. She hoped he’d be in a better mood this morning than he had been in yesterday. He
hadn’t been any too sweet before Teddy’s phone call—afterwards he had been positively impossible. Still, perhaps his visit ‘up to town’ last night had sweetened him; she had to smile as she poured some tea and wondered if there was sufficient sugar in the world to do that job!

Sarah, whom she had set down for a minute while she took a hurried sip of tea, crawled off on an investigatory recce, and with one eye on the clock Gerry went to fetch her back, only to be forestalled as Sarah’s head came into contact with something solid. She hadn’t really hurt herself but sent up a shriek of protest just the same and began to cry as Gerry went to pick her up.

‘Oh, my darling,’ she cooed, giving the damp bundle a hug, ‘what a nasty chair to hurt you! ’ She carried her back into
the kitchen to take another hasty
glance at the dock. Sarah had been whimpering for attention when she’d left ' the bathroom earlier, and Gerry had changed her only ten minutes ago, and already she was damp again. Did she have time to put a fresh nappy on the child? She couldn’t very well leave her like that. Wondering if she could slip in without the eagle eye of Crawford Arrowsmith spotting her and knowing she was on a loser, she was just about to go in search of a fresh nappy when Teddy emerged in her dressing gown, asking what the time was.

‘Bang goes the first of my good intentions,' Teddy told her, holding out her arms to receive Sarah, who had forgotten all about her tears on seeing her mother. ‘I fully intended being first up this morning,’ Teddy went on, seeming to be more cheerful than she had in months. 'You’re damp,’ she said abstractedly to Sarah, planting a kiss on top of her head before turning her attention back to Gerry. ‘And you’re going to be late if you don’t look sharp.'

Gerry’s mouth almost dropped open at that. Never before had Teddy shown the slightest concern whether she was late or not. ‘You’re right,’ she said, recovering fast. ‘Anything you want bringing home?’

‘I’ll give you a ring if I think of anything.' Gerry set the car in motion trying not to be too overjoyed at the difference in Teddy this morning. On other occasions she had left Teddy in a fairly cheerful frame of mind, only to find her in floods of tears when she arrived home.

Fatting herself on the back that for three mornings in a row she had made it to the office for nine, Gerry reached the door to her office, denned her cloak of cool unflappability, and went in. Her first glance showed her Crawford Arrowsmith had not come in yet, and when at nine-fifteen he still hadn’t appeared, she realised she needn’t have been so anxious to get there for nine after all. He had probably enjoyed himself so much in London he had overslept, she thought sourly, then forgot about him and got on with some work.

It was odd, though, the way her thoughts would go back to him again and again during the day. Probably because she was nowhere near as rushed today as she had been yesterday—and anyway, she consoled herself, since she had to go into the office he had used every time she wanted to check on something that was housed in that room, it was only natural that he should come to mind. When she found herself wondering what his companion of last evening looked like, though, she hurriedly blanked her mind off; she wasn’t remotely interested.

Basil Dyer came to see her during the afternoon. ‘I know the coast is clear,’ he said, which effectively told her he wouldn’t have come in for a chat if Crawford had been there. ‘Just had a phone call from our beloved leader about some figures—he rang from head office.’

So he was working in London today. It wouldn’t have crossed his mind, of course, to put through a call to her to say he wouldn’t be in. Not that she wanted to hear his voice—perish the thought! She wondered if he was still angry with her for being a ‘doormat’, then forgot about him as Basil went on to ask how she was getting on.

‘Still a little at sixes and sevens, I expect,’ Basil surmised. ‘Mr Arrowsmith’s cousin, William Hudson, is being tipped for the Company Secretary’s job. Nothing like keeping it in the family.’

‘He doesn’t work here, does he?’ She’d never heard the name before and was amazed how Basil managed to ferret out his information—in general it was usually pretty accurate.

‘No—been learning the business up at head office, I think. Still, we’ll have to wait and see.'

Gerry went home that night, glad Basil Dyer had been in to see her. His visit had successfully broken up her day since Teddy hadn’t telephoned.

Teddy seemed as bright that night as she had been in the morning, and Gerry went to bed that night with hope in her heart that her sister might at last be showing some signs of returning to the girl she used to be. Though she knew it was too early yet to dare to uncross her fingers.

She went to work the next morning glad that it was Friday. She had no way of knowing if Crawford Arrowsmith would be in, but if he was, and was the same unbearable brute he had been the last time she had seen him, then she had the whole of Saturday and Sunday in which to get over it. She was on time again today—only just, though, having been up half the night with Sarah and sleeping through her alarm. She shuddered to think how late she would have been if Emma hadn’t sent up a wail for attention, for Teddy hadn’t heard a sound.

Crawford Arrowsmith had returned, she saw as she went into her office. He was seated behind his desk the way he had been when she had left the night before last, and was as deeply immersed now as he had been then in whatever he was working on. Well, if he wasn’t going to raise his head to wish her good morning, she wasn’t going to intrude.

She felt a tenseness come over her as she sat before her typewriter. If he didn’t give her something to do soon, she would soon be out of work, and the last thing she wanted to do was ask him for something.

‘Will you come through, Miss Barton.'

His voice reached her when she was on the last of her jobs. She saw it would be idiotic to use the intercom when the door to the two offices stood open. She had thought he might get up and close it when she’d started typing, but he hadn’t. Full marks to you for concentration, she thought, as she picked up her notepad and pencil.

He gave her a hard look when she was seated before him. ‘What have you been doing with yourself—you look washed out?’ He was all aggression.

Thanks very much! she thought. What with Teddy saying she looked scraggy, and him telling her she looked washed out, it did her ego a power of good. He then seemed to regret having made a personal remark, for without further ado, not waiting for any reply she might have made, he proceeded to give her rapid dictation in an unbroken flow that made her feel if he didn’t stop soon, she would have to interrupt him while she got the cramp out of her fingers. She was saved the necessity of doing that when he came to the end of what he was saying. And since it looked as though that was all he had for her, she made to rise.

‘Don’t go for a moment—I haven’t finished with you yet.’

That sounded ominous. Gerry subsided back on to her chair. At least her fingers were having a rest while she waited for what else she was to take down. But it wasn’t dictation he had to give her, but information about her future.

‘From what I’ve seen of your work so far, you appear to be a fairly competent P.A.,’ he began. She knew without false modesty that she was good, but it didn’t appear he was ready to go that far—though, she supposed in fairness, the P.A.s he employed in London were pretty streamlined. ‘I told you at the beginning of the week that you would be redundant from this particular job,’ he went on. Gerry waited, trying not to let her anxiety show. It seemed she would learn any moment now to which department she would be assigned. ‘After seeing some of your work I’m inclined to believe I may have been somewhat hasty in my decision,’ he ended, to her astonishment.