Tales from the Finchbottom Vale – (93) Doctors in Love

 

The Finchbottom Vale nestles comfortably between the Ancient Dancingdean Forest to the south and the rolling Pepperstock Hills in the north and those who were lucky enough to live there think of it as the rose between two thorns and at the eastern end of the Vale were the Dulcets which were a collection of villages and hamlets comprising of Dulcet Meadow, Dulcet-on-Willow, Dulcet St Mary, Dulcet Green and Dulcet-on-Brooke, to name but a few.

 

Barry and Sarah Blake and Chris and Helen Blenkin were all Doctors of varying degrees, Barry was a GP while his wife Sarah was an ambition driven cardio thoracic surgeon.

Helen Blenkin was also a GP at the same practice as Barry and her husband Chris was an ENT specialist at the Royal Downshire, he was also a drunken womanizer.

 

So the two couple’s, one with a neglected husband due to an ambitious wife and the other with a lonely wife because of an alcoholic adulterer pushed Barry and Helen towards a forbidden love.

 

Barry and Helen worked at the Dulcets Health Centre in Dulcet-on-Brooke and the Blake’s lived in the village but the Blenkin’s lived in Brocklington.

Over the years because of their personal circumstances the two had spent increasingly more time together and slowly and inexorably fell in love, but despite that fact they did nothing but enjoy each other’s company for five years, before they succumbed to the inevitable.

 

However even after the genie was out the bottle they had to be discreet and quite inventive to protect their secret love.

One such subterfuge occurred at the end of a very busy week when the health center’s resources were stretched very thin.

One of Helen’s patients collapsed in the waiting room at the Health Centre and the woman was very scared so she offered to ride with her in the ambulance, which calmed her down but she died an hour after arriving at the hospital, Helen was sad about her death but happy in the knowledge that she passed peacefully.

With Helen stranded in Purplemere Barry volunteered to drive over and pick her up.

 

As they were driving back to Dulcet-on-Brooke in the bright evening sunshine to pick up her car, Helen suddenly asked

“Do you have any visitors at the moment?”

She was referring to his sister Brenda who was a frequent flyer in his spare room but she really wanted to know if Sarah was home.

“No just me on my lonesome” he replied

“What about Sarah?” she asked

“She’s gone to a conference in Amsterdam for a couple of days” he answered and then there was a long silence.

“Do you want some company?” Helen asked coyly

“Are you offering?” he asked her

“I am” she replied

Then after a few moments she continue

“It’s been such a beastly week and I know I’m very brazen, but once in a while it’s nice to feel like I’m part of a proper couple, and I feel that with you and…”

“And today you need that more than ever” he continued for her

“Yes” she replied

 

It was dark when they got back to the village and parked the car on the drive.

Although it was Helen’s desire to spend the night with him she was conscious of the risk to her reputation if she was seen going through his front door after dark by the village busybodies.

So Barry got out of the car and opened the door while Helen put on one of Sarah’s hats that she found in the door pocket, which disguised her sufficiently to the untrained eye while she dashed in through the door.

They would have to employ a similar subterfuge later on that evening but that was only after they had spent the evening together.

When he had safely smuggled her inside the hall she said

“Is this any kind of way for grownups to behave?” and they both burst out laughing.

But then inevitably they started kissing and began a kind of shuffle along the hall until he picked her up and carried her to the lounge when at the height of passion her stomach started gurgling and it got louder and louder until it culminated in foul tasting belch in his mouth.

“Oh God I’m so sorry” Helen said mortified by her unintentional gastric eruption.

“I haven’t really eaten for two days,” she said in her defense but all he could do was laugh, which in turn set her off, and once the giggles set in there was nothing to be done.

So Barry got the takeaway menus and ten minutes later he was ordering an Indian.

They still had the giggles so he opened a bottle of wine and poured two large glasses.

“I can’t have that much” she said when she saw the size of the glass “I’m driving remember”

“I thought you were staying the night,” he said

“Is that ok?” she asked

“Of course it is, so get that down your neck” he replied

While they waited for dinner to arrive Helen made some phone calls, in between the giggles, just to make sure everything was ok at the surgery.

But every time they thought about renewing their amorous intentions, they dissolved into giggles again.

By the time the food arrived they were a little bit pissed and after they’d eaten they were too stuffed for passion so they drank some more instead.

So by the time midnight came around they were quite merry and all of a sudden Helen sat upright and said

“I don’t have a change of clothes”        

“That’s ok we’re not going anywhere” he reassured her

“But I’ve got no spare knickers” she emphasized 

“You could borrow some of Sarah’s,” he suggested

“No that is wrong on so many levels” she chastised and Barry was just about to make another suggestion when Helen said

“And commando is not an option”

“Nothing could have been further from my mind,” he said innocently

“Nothing is precisely what was on your mind” she corrected him “and me wearing it” and she laughed.

After a few minutes of giggles Helen suddenly announced

“I have an overnight bag in my car for when I’m on call”

“Well lets go and get it then” I said

“But what if someone sees me come in here with my overnight bag” she said anxiously

“They won’t” he said and went out into the hall  

“Why not?” she asked

“Because we will be in disguise” he replied and handed her a hoody

Helen stood up and slipped it on and put the hood up.

“What do you think?” Helen asked as she did her catwalk strut and Barry looked her up and down from head to toe.

“You look like a professional woman wearing a hoody” he said frankly “Hold on”

And he went upstairs and went to the airing cupboard and then the spare room and returned downstairs.

“Change into these” he said and handed her a pair of joggers, a sweatshirt and a pair of trainers.

“Sarah’s?” she asked

“Brenda’s” he replied, Brenda was his younger sister who often stayed with him.

“That’s ok then” she said and began undressing but then stopped “Some privacy would be nice”

“I won’t look honest” he lied and Helen gave him a look so he got up and went into the hall, where he could have spied through the crack in the door, which he didn’t, well not much.

 

Ten minutes later they slipped out the back door into the darkness of the garden like they had just accepted a “Mission Impossible” and then ran giggling into the woods that separated the end of the garden from the 18th fairway where they skulked their way along the wooded path, like a couple of kids playing soldiers, all the way to the Church Lane where they hugged the shrubbery until they reached the Health Centre car park.

They gave a long furtive look to make sure there was no one around and then they approached Helen’s car.

She fished the keys from her pocket and unlocked it and it responded with a loud bleep made all the louder by the silence and a flash of the lights all the brighter in the darkness.

Startled by the sound of the immobilizer they quickly opened the tailgate and Helen grabbed her backpack, then she reset the alarm and they headed back to the lane.

“Oi you” a voice shouted, “What are you doing there?”

“Come on” he urged her and they ran laughing back into the woods periodically looking over their shoulders to see if they were being pursued.

Once they were in the woods they ran on and on until they crashed in a heap in the undergrowth laughing.

“Shhh” she said, “Someone will hear”

But Barry couldn’t stop giggling so she decided the only way to shut him up was to kiss him, but what began as a means of suppressing his giggles ended with her tongue darting in and out of his mouth like a viper so he returned the kiss to her hot panting mouth.

“This is very nice,” she panted as he began to rummage inside her hoody and was making great progress but then to his surprise she suddenly leapt up and said

“Oh no you don’t” and ran off down the path and he scramble to his feet as quickly as possible and ran after her and although she had a good head start it didn’t take long for him to close the ground on her and he grabbed hold of her back pack and pulled her backwards.

But her progress was only halted momentarily as she wriggled free of the straps and he ended up sitting on his backside holding the bag and to add insult onto injury she lifted her hoody and flashed him and then ran off laughing.

“That’s dirty fighting” he called after her and quickly got back to his feet, but she managed to show him a clean pair of heels all the way back to the house.

“Well that was quite an adventure wasn’t it?” she said as she kicked off her shoes.

“It’s a shame you couldn’t keep up”

“You cheeky cow” he said affronted as she turned on her heels and ran out of the kitchen giggling like a schoolgirl heading for the stairs  and he sprinted after her and he caught her halfway across the landing and she screamed as he grabbed her by the waist.

“Got yer,” he said and scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom.

 

On Saturday Morning he was lying in bed, while Helen was in the shower, waiting for her to finish so he could get in, he didn’t have to wait too long.

 

Showered and shaved he went back into the bedroom where he found Helen sitting on the bed loosely wearing a dressing gown while she was talking on her mobile.

“Really?” she said but he couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation.

“Yes of course I will” Helen said and again he couldn’t hear anything in response

“Yes I’ll let you know” she said “Good bye”

“You’ll never guess what that was about” she said

“You’ll have to tell me then” he replied

“When we were seen by my car last night it was reported to the police” Helen said
“It’s a good job we were in disguise then” Barry said as he knelt on the bed behind her and began kissing her neck which was the prelude to a wonderful start to the day.

 

Barry would have happily spent the whole day making love to Helen but alas she had to go.

However the problem was how to get her out of his house in broad daylight without being seen.

So they decided to have a coffee while they made a plan, and two mugs of coffee later as if in answer to a prayer it started to rain, but not just rain, it was an absolute deluge.

“Oh shitty bloody weather” Helen cursed

“Excellent” he said

“What?” she asked, “but it’s horrible”

“It’s perfect, is what it is” he said and went into the utility and came out with a set of waterproofs and a Golfing umbrella.

“If anyone sees you in the woods in these they’ll just think you’re a Golfer” Barry said “Ditto when you emerge into the lane”

“Perfect” she said “but what if I’m seen getting in the car?”

“Then you say you’re going to the club,” he said

“You’re a very devious man,” Helen said

“I know but the rewards are well worth it” he stated and Helen blushed crimson red.

 

But having provided Helen with the appropriate clothing they immediately hit upon a snag, the trousers didn’t fit over her skirt, it bunched up under the waterproofs and made it look like she had a bustle.

So she removed the trouser and then had to take her skirt off.

“Don’t get any ideas,” she said when she noticed him looking at her in her knickers and tights.

“Well you could stay a bit longer,” he suggested lustily

“Don’t temp me,” she said quickly pulling on the waterproof trousers which were a little on the large side and the waistband sat just below her bust line.

Then she pulled on the top over her head before slipping on her shoes.

“That’s not going to work,” he said

“Why?” she asked with concern

“No one would wear footwear like that on a golf course,” he told her

“They are a bit of a giveaway, aren’t they?” she admitted

“Indeed” he agreed

“What can I wear then?” she asked

“Brenda’s trainers” he said

“What about all my stuff?” she queried

“I’ll bring it to the surgery on Monday, I’ll tell Karen that you left them in my car yesterday” he said

“God, you’re good at this stuff,” Helen said and she kissed him

 

After he had kissed her goodbye he let her out into the rain.

“Text me when you reach your car” he said

“Will do” she responded and off she went

“I love you” he called after her

 

Meanwhile he gathered her stuff together and put it in her backpack and put it and her overcoat by the front door.

Which was when he got a text

“Made it,” it read “I love you too”