Questions of Trust A Medical Romance - By Sam Archer Page 0,48

town. Tom’s reputation would linger, perhaps even after he was dead and gone. He’d be forever known as that doctor who there was all the fuss about.

So Rebecca’s plan was a masterful one. It didn’t matter whether Tom was innocent or guilty. He assumed that she’d file for custody while the scandal was breaking. Now, his previously unblemished record as a parent would count for very little. Now, the court would see a young mother fighting to wrest back custody of her little girl from a doctor accused of sexual misconduct with a patient. Tom wouldn’t stand a chance. And even if he invested every penny of his money, every second of his time, in appeal after appeal, the resulting legal wrangle, played out against the backdrop of the investigation into his professional conduct that would be featured regularly in the local media, would put him but most of all Kelly through unimaginable stress for weeks, possibly months. It would shatter the girl’s innocence, warp her fragile, developing emotional self. And, most devastatingly of all, ruin forever the trust a child was supposed to have in her parents and in the idea that they were kind, loving people in whom she could always rely.

No. Rebecca had clearly thought this through from every angle. She’d won. Tom had to recognise that. Rebecca would have to have custody of the girl. The best Tom could do now was limit the damage the whole affair was going to cause, and to continue to play as big a part in his daughter’s life as he possibly could.

Which meant leaving Pemberham and following Kelly wherever her mother took her. If Rebecca had been serious when she’d talked about moving to France, Tom would have to go there too. He spoke schoolboy French, nothing more. He had little knowledge of the Gallic system of medicine, though he supposed it couldn’t be vastly different from Britain’s. But all of that was immaterial. Wherever Kelly ended up, he, Tom, had to be nearby. For his daughter’s sake; but, Tom had to admit, for his own as well. Because worse than anything he could imagine, worse than losing his job or even his licence to practise medicine, was the idea of being separated from Kelly.

He’d miss the surgery here in Pemberham. He had in his eight months at the practice developed fond attachments to his colleagues, most of all Ben Okoro, his fellow GP. He had a genuine liking for the vast majority of his patients and their families, for the range of personalities that made up his population. He’d miss the often frantic but workable way of life he’d set up for his little family unit.

And he’d miss Chloe. God, how he would. The thought stabbed through him, white hot, searing. Suddenly all the guilt he’d felt after their kiss last week, all the reasons he’d told himself as to why their getting together would be a bad idea, evaporated in the heat of his desire for her. He realised all at once that he’d looked forward to catching a glimpse of her every day over the last month or two, that a smile and a wave from her could delight him unduly and sustain his mood through the day, that a full-on conversation with her was as cherishable as gold dust.

She didn’t share his feelings, that was clear, even if there was a degree of simple animal attraction there. So leaving Pemberham had, in a perverse way, its advantages, at least as far as his love for her was concerned. To remain would be forever to be wounded by her presence, so near and yet so out of reach. And one day Chloe would find a man of her own, perhaps a local fellow. To see her with this hypothetical man, however decent he was - and Tom was sure she’d choose a decent one - would be too much for him to bear.

Tom went into Kelly’s room and sat by her bedside, watching the rise and fall of her chest as she slept, so peaceful, so utterly without guile. His throat constricted so that he thought for a moment he’d have to flee before his choking woke her.

Oh, Kelly, he thought. What are we doing to you?

He knew that he, too needed sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, perhaps one of the longest of his life.

Chapter Ten

Sabrina Jones’s address was easy enough to find. Chloe started by searching a few online directories as