Friends for Life by Carol Smith

Author:Carol Smith [SMITH, CAROL]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC000000
ISBN: 9780759520752
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2001-02-07T05:00:00+00:00

• • •

“You know something, I think he does fancy you,” said Sally later, sitting at Catherine’s bedside after the doctor had withdrawn, stroking her hand as she tried to get some sleep. “You should have seen his eyes while he was examining you, full of compassion and concern—really caring.”

The examination was over and Eleanor had summoned Addison Harvey in her usual imperious manner and was now incarcerated alone with him in her womblike drawing room. Sally, who was getting to know the old lady well, half expected to hear the notes of the piano at any moment and the diva begin to warble. She had absolutely no compassion, that terrible old woman. It was something with which Sally empathized entirely.

The confrontation in the drawing room was, however, not at all as Sally imagined. When Addison Harvey, flushed and concerned, walked in and found himself facing the old lady, done up like a Japanese geisha and waiting for him enthroned in a high-backed chair, all they could do was stare at each other and gasp.

“You!”

“Great heavens! I never imagined such a thing! Wherever did you come from?”

“From Harley Street. I’m your daughter’s gynecologist, or weren’t you aware of that?”

Even after all these years, the mutual dislike was as fresh as ever, as tangible as a sexual frisson.

“But your name? You’ve changed it?”

“My mother’s. It seemed more . . . fitting.”

Eleanor gave a vulgar chuckle, relaxing her guard for the first time.

“Trying to be posh—eh? I must say you’ve improved a little, without the pit village accent.” She waved one hand vaguely in the direction of the sideboard. “Go over there and pour us both a port. I feel we need it after all this. My goodness, whoever would have thought it.”

She sat and clucked and shook her head as Addison, like an automaton, did as he was bid. He selected from the cupboard a pair of fine embossed glasses which he dusted off and half filled with port. His head was reeling with shock. The truth was, until this moment he had not recognized his patient, and it was all proving too much for him. He was not as young as he once had been; his heart was working overtime and he felt an attack of asthma threatening. He needed, more than anything, to regain his self-control, time on his own to think before he had to answer any questions.

“Well, you seem to have done all right for yourself,” she pronounced, once the glass was in her hand and he was seated. “Better than I would have expected.”

With an experienced eye, she noted the cut of his suit and handmade shirt; the designer haircut and heavy gold signet ring. She might be old now and fairly infirm but her connoisseur’s eye was as sharp as ever and her standards hadn’t slipped.

“I’ve been lucky.” He stared into his glass. Modesty did not sit well on him but he was still severely shaken by this confrontation; running his mental eye rapidly over Catherine’s notes, shocked by what he now knew, shaken to the core by the implications.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.