A Cure for Love by Emily Murdoch

Author:Emily Murdoch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emily Murdoch

CHAPTER SIX

Gerald had not noticed the sun had set several hours hence. He was still sitting in his surgery, staring at the door, willing it to open.

Of course, it was not going to. Why should Mariana even consider walking over to see him? It would be a rather strange thing for a young lady to do in the best of situations, but to see a man, unmarried, who lives alone?

The door was still unmoving.

He sighed. What had he thought was going to happen after their intoxicating walk the day before? That she was going to turn up, swear her undying love, and fall gently into his arms? Ridiculous. He was being ridiculous.

Gerald turned instead to a more unpleasant topic: the letter in his hands. It was crude, as he had expected. It was dirty and slightly torn at the edges. But what was most troubling was its contents.

dOCtor andErson

you killt hiM. yOU Deserve to dIe

The words, higgledy piggledy on the page, had been created by cutting out letters from a newspaper. There was no signature at the end, no reference to the sender at all. It could have been from anyone.

Gerald’s blood turned cold the longer he looked at it. Seeing such a threat in black and white; it was not to be born.

There was no fire in the grate. He had not needed one in the blistering Texas sun, so he simply scrunched the letter and its envelope, and placed them as far back in the fireplace as he could reach.

Out of sight, out of mind?

With a wry smile, he thought once more on Mariana, and knew exactly what he had to do.

It did not take him long to gather his waistcoat, fumble with the buttons, and grab a cravat to tie around his neck. It did, however, take him more than five minutes of loitering outside Pastor Thomas Bryant’s house before he had the confidence to take the few steps up the verandah and knock on the door.

It was neither Thomas, nor his wife Katherine, who opened the door.

“Good evening, Doctor Anderson,” smiled Phoebe Bryant, her red hair slightly loose and wiry after the heat of the day. “And what brings you to this fine house?” Then a look of barely compressed panic flittered across her face. “No one is unwell?”

It was the fate of every doctor, mused Gerald silently, that few people were ever overjoyed at your arrival. “No one is unwell that I am aware of,” he said aloud, with a forced smile. “I actually came here to speak with Pastor Bryant.”

Her eyes glazed over slightly, and then she laughed. “Thomas! Yes, of course, Doctor Anderson – please do step this way.”

Gerald bowed and entered the hallway and was then almost knocked over by a flurry of ginger hair.

“Sophia Maria Vazquez!” Her mother scolded the flash that had already disappeared. “Slowly, please!”

“Is that daughter of yours causing trouble?” Aaron Bryant smiled as he stepped out a room Gerald supposed must be the kitchen, as he was wiping a plate dry with a cotton towel.

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