The Doctor Makes a Dollhouse Call by Robin Hathaway

Author:Robin Hathaway
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2011-04-13T04:00:00+00:00

Roses are red.

Violets are blue.

Paris is dead—

Without you.

He glanced at his watch. Only noon. If he hurried he could take care of his hospital patients and still make Seacrest in time for tea.

CHAPTER 22

After her talk with Fenimore, Mrs. Doyle went in search of Susanne or Adam. She found Susanne first—in the kitchen—helping the aunts make tea sandwiches.

“Of course,” she responded to Mrs. Doyle’s request. “We’re almost finished here. I’ll get my purse.”

As soon as they were settled in the car, Susanne began to talk. She told the nurse how recent events were playing havoc with the family’s nerves.

“Not just Mildred’s,” she said. “Adam’s been terribly irritable, which is very unlike him. He snaps at the children and me. Yesterday he sent Tad to his room for next to nothing and when I tried to intervene, he walked out.”

Mrs. Doyle clucked sympathetically. She was used to people confiding in her. They often told her the most intimate details of their personal lives on buses and trolleys. They had been doing this since she was in high school. She finally decided she had the kind of homely face that people thought they could trust. When she was younger, she would have gladly traded her face for a more beautiful one and put up with a little mistrust. But at fifty-eight, she had accepted it and tried to live up to the faith people placed in her.

“Adam’s having trouble at school too—” Susanne took a turn a little too sharply. Mrs. Doyle grabbed the door handle.

“What sort of trouble?”

“Oh … the headmaster wants him to be easier on the boys. Not demand so much from them. Give them better grades for less work. It would make the school look better. But Adam has very high standards. He believes strongly in academic excellence. He thinks we’re too soft as a country academically and that we’re falling behind in the science race.”

“Has he ever thought of teaching at a university?”

“Oh no. He feels that it’s crucial to teach science at an early age—especially physics. If you wait too long—until they’re in college—you’ll lose some of the best minds.”

“Hmm.”

“He’s very concerned that America is falling behind other countries—like Germany and Japan—in the sciences. Those countries have much stiffer science requirements. Teaching physics is almost a religion to Adam. A sort of—mission.”

Mrs. Doyle was amazed to learn how much was seething beneath the surface of such a seemingly casual and relaxed young man. “Perhaps a vacation—” she suggested. “Does he have a spring break?”

“Yes. The boys get off for ten days in March. But Adam always spends his vacations on his boat.”

“Boat?” Mrs. Doyle noticed they had left the town of Seacrest and were driving along the beach.

“Yes. He has a Lightning. A small craft. He stores it in the aunts’ carriage house in winter. The boat has room for only two people and I’m rarely free to go with him because of the children. Here’s Mildred’s house.” She drew to a stop in front of a spacious ranch house overlooking the beach.

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