His Perfect Bride? by Louisa Heaton Read Free Book Online

remember her. I’ve always felt something’s been missing.’
    ‘So you understand that I have to try? Because if I didn’t then I’d never forgive myself if it turned out my actual birth mother was living within a few miles of me and I never looked for her.’
    ‘And if she is here? If you do find her?’
    Lula smiled. ‘Then I’ll know where she is. And that will be enough. I’m not silly enough to expect that we’ll suddenly fall into each other’s arms and have a mother-daughter relationship.’
    ‘And if she rejects you?’
    ‘Then I can’t hurt any more then I already do. She already did that once. Remember?’
    Olly didn’t often find himself not knowing what to say. He was usually the person people went to with their problems and he always had some sort of advice to give. But this…this was different. ‘I think, Dr Lula Chance, that you are a very brave lady indeed.’
    She looked up at him through her purple fringe and her eyes twinkled with appreciation. ‘Thanks, Olly. I appreciate your help.’
    ‘My pleasure. Not that I actually helped much.’
    ‘You listened. And sometimes that’s all someone needs.’
    ‘For you, Lula, my ears are always open.’
    He passed her another piece of cake and they sat there in companionable silence.
    * * *
    Before afternoon surgery began Olly spoke to his father over the phone.
    ‘So she’s looking for her mother? Here in the village?’
    ‘Looks like it.’
    ‘Well! Can’t say I blame her…but I can’t imagine who it might be.’
    Olly nodded, doodling with his pen absentmindedly. ‘Neither can I. But I want to help her if I can.’
    ‘You like her, don’t you?’
    ‘Dad!’ he warned. ‘Don’t start.’
    ‘I’m not starting,’ he replied innocently. ‘Just encouraging you.’
    ‘Let me get this straight. You’d want to see me with a woman like Lula?’ He almost couldn’t believe his ears. His father was the most strait-laced man he knew!
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Well, because she’s…’
    ‘She’s what?’
    Olly wasn’t sure how to answer him. ‘Out there!’
    ‘She’s just what you need. After all that business with Rachel.’
    As if he needed reminding. That had been a really dark time. Rachel had barged into his life like a wrecking ball and left just as much devastation behind.
    Would Lula do the same?

CHAPTER THREE
    A FTER WORK , L ULA TOOK herself over to the village library. It wasn’t huge. In fact it was barely a library at all—just one small room, lined with books. Since the funding had been cut it was no longer staffed, and it relied on the goodwill of its customers to ensure it was looked after and that they signed out their own books.
    It was a strange set-up, and for a while Lula felt odd, standing there alone, looking around the small room. One side was fiction, in alphabetical order, and the other side non-fiction, all in the Dewey decimal system. In the centre were racks of children’s books and some old DVDs. In one corner, beneath a window, sat an ancient computer and a microfiche reader, alongside a filing cabinet. She headed over.
    It didn’t take her long to find the electoral roll for the area and, flicking through, she discovered that there were four families with a surname beginning with L in Atlee Wold—the Lomaxes, the Loves, the Lewises and the Louthams.
    Any of those people might know something about leaving a baby on a Portsmouth beach. But they also might know nothing at all. The informationshe had about EL could be completely wrong. Who knew?
    I won’t find out unless I investigate.
    She looked up and smiled at a little old lady who’d come in, holding her coat closed against her chest and wheeling a shopping basket behind her.
    ‘Hello, dear.’
    ‘Hi.’
    ‘You’re the new doctor, aren’t you?’
    Lula smiled and nodded. ‘How did you know?’
    The old lady let out a laboured breath, twinkled her eyes at her and smiled back. ‘Can’t be many young ladies with a rainbow in their hair.