Northern Spirit by Lindsey J Carden Page A

feel like I’ve had a
great weight lifted off my shoulders - tragic though it’s been. I feel I can
look forward to some kind of future.’
    ‘I wish more people could feel the same as you, and then my surgery
wouldn’t be half as full. So whichever way you’re coping, keep doing it - it’s
obviously working.’
    The doctor dropped his pen down on his desk, sat back in his chair and
folded his arms. ‘So what can I do for you today?’
    ‘It’s David. . . . ’ Kathy hesitated. ‘I don’t know if you can discuss
his health with me, he being an adult. But I’m worried about him – he’s acting
strange, almost suspiciously, like he’s hiding something from me.’
    The doctor sat forward in his chair and tried not to appear alarmed, as
the familiar subject he’d discussed in the past about George, seemed to be
resuming about David.
    ‘He’s not sleeping, he’s jumpy, bad tempered, and he’s shutting himself
away most of the time. David interrupted Alan Marsh and me doing some
book-keeping yesterday, and I felt his eyes glare at me, just like a jealous
husband. Yes, just like George. I was waiting for the accusations to start all
over again.’ She rubbed her hand across her forehead, relieved she had unloaded
this anxiety from her mind.
    ‘Maybe it’s you that’s over-reacting now?’
    ‘Well, maybe so. I don’t know anymore. I was so used to the cold
feelings between George and me, but now with David. I don’t think I can bear it
again.’
    ‘What are you hinting at, like father - like son? ’
    Kathy was alarmed at his inference. ‘I know that’s what it sounds like,
but no . . . I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry if it sounded like that. It’s just
his nerves, I’m sure. If he could only get a good night’s sleep, then I know -
I just know, he’ll be better.’
    ‘I can’t prescribe anything for David unless I see him, and I would
like to see him. Could you persuade him to come in?’
    ‘He’ll never come, and what’s more, I daren’t tell him I’ve come here
today.’
    ‘Then perhaps I could call at the farm sometime on a routine visit.
It’s a while since I’ve been, so maybe he won’t be too suspicious. But Kathy,’
the doctor hesitated, ‘you must understand that David will have some trauma.
And he’s lived with George’s influence – what, twenty years or more? He could
be affected - all the children could be.’
    ‘Do you mean they could all turn out as evil as George?’ Kathy began to
fidget in the chair and, much like her visit to the school weeks earlier,
wished she hadn’t come.
    ‘I’m sorry, Kathy. I didn’t mean to alarm you; I can say this now as
things are out of my hands, but I always found George to be awkward. I don’t
even know if he could help himself.’
    Kathy interrupted: ‘ Awkward, is an understatement, Michael.
There’s always been a dark side to this family. George could turn on the charm
when he wanted, and then be downright wicked. Sometimes there was a fine line
between the two!’
    ‘Well, whatever he did, Kathy, whether he intended it or not, you must
understand that David, Linzi, Tom and Sarah could be badly affected by it in
one way or another.’
    Kathy was disappointed. ‘No, Michael. . . . None of my children have
ever shown a hint of George’s behaviour.’
    The doctor was now bemused. What did she want him to say? She had just
accused her eldest son of imitating his father and then, in almost the same
breath, denied all knowledge. He was perplexed. ‘So how can I help you?’
    Kathy realised she’d unwittingly contradicted herself. ‘Please,
Michael. Please come and see him. Try and talk to him. I couldn’t bear anything
to happen to David.’ And she looked completely helpless.
    ‘I will come to Keld Head, and soon. But I can’t make any promises of
whether I can help. Some of that will have to come from David.’
    Kathy looked at this young man, his sympathetic voice and kindness had
helped her once again, and yet the