Authors: Margaret Tanner
“Don’t worry.” He patted her arm. “Give my name as a reference. I’ll be glad to tell any prospective employer what a gem of a secretary he’s going to get.”
“You’ve been kind. I enjoyed working for you.” She smiled wistfully and walked out the door of Harrington Constructions, never to return.
***
Bryce stormed into Geoff Davies’ office. “Where’s Caroline?”
“She’s gone. I ran into her a couple of minutes ago.”
“Did she tell you she walked out on me?” Bryce raged.
“No. She told me you wouldn’t accept her resignation, asked her to withdraw it or leave.”
“Damn it! She was the best secretary I ever had.”
“Serves you right,” Geoff said unsympathetically. “You’ve given that poor girl hell for months. I’m surprised she stood it this long.”
“All right, I admit I’m hot-tempered and fly off the handle, but she knew that. Caroline understood me.”
“Did she? You’re a fool, Bryce, a blind fool. Surely you knew she was in love with you. You could see it in her eyes. You can’t be that obtuse.”
“I didn’t notice anything. Hell, she’s my secretary.”
“Yes, your secretary, and I bet you let her know it, too. The girl was in love with you, and you got her to order flowers and arrange restaurant dates for your other female companions. What do you think that did to her? I’d guarantee it would have ripped her apart.”
“I didn’t realize. I swear it.” Caroline loved him? No, it was impossible. Geoff carried on like an old woman sometimes. She had whispered “I love you” that night at his apartment, but women always said things they didn’t mean in the throes of passion. But what if she really did love him? Oh, God. He thrust trembling fingers through his hair. She did stare intently at him sometimes, but he thought she was admiring his tie.
“You broke that poor girl’s heart. I suppose she decided she couldn’t take any more. She’s been unwell over the last week or two. I sent her home one day because she fainted in the elevator.”
“Sick?” Bryce asked frantically.
“Probably gastric flu, it’s been going around. I got a dose of it myself, very nasty. Yet, I don’t know. Up close to her, you know, those huge eyes of hers seemed, well, somehow haunted.”
“Imagination. Do you think she’ll come back?” Bryce lit a cigarette.
“I doubt it. She said you refused to give her a reference, so I told her I would.”
“You can’t. Don’t you see?” Bryce drew viciously on his cigarette. “If she can’t get a job anywhere else, and she won’t without a reference, she’ll come back to me.”
“Don’t bet on it. Did you have anything else you wanted to discuss?”
“No, damn it.” Bryce stalked out of the room.
***
It took Caroline a week to find a suitable position as secretary in a lawyer’s office. Her elderly boss hadn’t been happy about employing someone as young as she was, but the glowing reference from Geoff Davies had convinced him to at least give her a try.
What a dull job, typing up wills, affidavits and various other dry legal documents. Pity he wasn’t a criminal lawyer. Then she would have been typing up heaps of interesting cases. Another part of her job entailed going to the Registrar of Land Titles, searching out titles for clients buying real estate. This was her favorite duty, as it got her out of the office and into the fresh air for a time.
About three weeks after she left Harringtons, a check for five hundred dollars arrived in the mail. It had been signed by Bryce.
“The golden handshake for services rendered,” she commented bitterly to Kerry. “I feel like tearing it up.”
“Don’t be stupid,” her friend remonstrated with her. “You’ll need every cent you can get your hands on. You won’t be able to work forever, you know, and what about after the baby is born?”
“I’ll cope. Others have done it. Once Andy gets a permanent posting, he’ll help me.” Caroline tried to sound confident. In reality, terror overwhelmed her.
“You won’t consider adoption, I suppose?”
“Never.” Not her baby, Bryce’s baby. She would fight to the death to protect it. She’d sell herself in the street if necessary.
***
Andy met Kerry in a cafe near Flinders Street railway station and they shared a plate of sandwiches.
“Tell me now, what’s wrong?” He took his cap off and rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead. “I haven’t had a minute’s peace since you rang me.”
“I don’t know of any other way to tell you this, so I’ll be blunt. Caroline is pregnant.”
“What!” His loud exclamation caused several heads to swivel in their direction.
Kerry told him the whole story.
“Rotten bastard! I ought to kill him!”
“Keep your voice down, or you’ll get us arrested. Caroline didn’t want to tell you yet, but I had to do something. She’s got me worried. I wanted her
to con
front Harrington, even volunteered to go with her or see him myself, but she refused. Begged me to keep away from him.”
“I’ll see him. Where’s that office again?” Andy pushed his sandwiches to one side.
“You might as well finish your lunch first.” Kerry smiled at him to lighten the moment.
“I’ll choke if I eat them. I’d like to ram them down Harrington’s throat.”
“I have to get back to work now. My boss, miserable old goat, wasn’t too happy about giving me the time off. Let me know what happens, won’t you?”
“Yes, I will. Thanks for telling me. I appreciate it.”
Andy arrived at the Harrington building just before three o’clock. “Excuse me, could you direct me to Bryce Harrington’s office please?” he asked the receptionist.
Standing in the elevator she had directed him to, he clenched his hands into fists. How could a man do this to his softhearted, gullible sister? Hate and fury climbed to boiling point. It took all his army training to keep it under control.
As the elevator door opened he charged out and marched into Caroline’s office. A woman of about forty sat there typing. “I want to see Bryce Harrington?” He didn’t know where he dredged the strength from to speak civilly.
“I’m sorry. Mr. Harrington is holding an important meeting in his office and can’t be disturbed. I’ll make an appointment for you to see him later on.”
“To hell with his meeting. That’s his door isn’t it?” Andy strode across the room, snatching off his cap as he did so.
“You can’t go in there.”
“Yeah? Try stopping me.”
Without knocking, he flung the door open and started across the room. So, this was the inner sanctum.
“Harrington, I want to speak to you.”
Six sets of eyes swiveled towards him.
“What the hell are you doing, bursting into my office like this? I told my secretary I wasn’t to be disturbed.”
“Too bad, I’ve got something to say to you. Frankly, I don’t give a damn whether I say it in public or private.”
He watched Harrington get to his feet and take up a threatening stance. “I’m asking you to leave, or I’ll have you thrown out by security.”
“I’m not leaving. I’ve traveled over a hundred miles to get here, and neither you nor any of your paid henchmen can stop me saying my piece. It’s about Caroline and the firm’s Christmas party.”
A guilty flush crept up Harrington’s cheeks.
“Go and have a coffee break. We’ll recommence the meeting in fifteen minutes or so.”
“What I’ve got to say won’t take fifteen minutes, more like five. I couldn’t stand being in the same room with you for any longer, Harrington.”
There was a shocked silence.
“Fifteen minutes,” Bryce snapped the words out, and the men left. He lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply.
“What do you want, Andy, isn’t it?”
“I’ve come because of what you did to Caroline.”
“Jealous soldier boy, that she preferred me to you,” Bryce sneered.
“You filthy bastard! I ought to kill you! Caroline’s my sister.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have made that remark anyway.”
“No, you shouldn’t have. There are lots of things you shouldn’t have done.” Andy spat the words out. “You seduced my sister. Got her pregnant. Then fired her.”
“What did you say?”
“You heard me the first time,” Andy retorted furiously, “You seduced my sister and got her pregnant.”
“Pregnant!”
Harrington looked as if he’d been knifed in the guts.
“What the hell are you raving about?”
“Yeah, pregnant, and I want to know what you’re going to do about it? You’re not getting my sister into trouble and leaving her to struggle on alone.”
“Sit down. For God’s sake! I didn’t know she was pregnant. I never gave it a thought.”
“No, I’ll bet you didn’t,” Andy replied scathingly.
“Did Caroline ask you to come and see me?”
“No. She hasn’t even told me. Kerry rang me up at the base. She’s worried sick. I haven’t seen Caroline since Christmas.” He thumped the desk with a clenched fist.
Bryce glared at him. “For God’s sake, can’t you be reasonable about this? How did an immature, hot-headed kid like you get selected for officer training?”
“The old school tie, dear boy.” Andy affected an upper class English accent. “If you go to the right school, anything is possible. If your father was a decorated officer it helps also, but we’re digressing. I came to see you about Caroline, not to discuss my military career.”
“All right, I give you my word I’ll go and see her. We’ll work something out.”
“How can I trust your word after what you did?” Andy retorted.
“For God’s sake, I’m not proud of what happened, and naturally I’ll make myself responsible for her expenses.”
“Big of you, I’m sure. If you think you can wipe the slate clean by paying her to dump the kid off at some orphanage, forget it. Kerry said Caroline is adamant, she wants to keep it.”
“Young fool. I’ll go and see her.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Persuade her to get rid of the kid and you’re off the hook.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Bryce snarled. “Give me a chance to think this through. I’ll go and see her tonight. We can discuss everything civilly and work out what’s best to do.”
“How can I trust you?”
Andy watched Bryce’s face darken in temper. “I’ve given you my word. I’ll see her tonight.”
“I have to get back to camp. You’d better work something out, because I’m warning you. I’ll drag your name through the gutter press if I have to. I won’t stand by and let my sister be hurt any more.” Andy strode towards the door and wrenched it open.
“Just a minute,” Bryce called him back. “What school did you go to?”
“Melbourne Grammar,” Andy flung the words over his shoulder, “if it is any of your business.”
“That’s the school I went to. You just about have to be the son of an old boy to get in.”
“I know.” Who the hell did Harrington think he was? Bloody snob. “I am the son of an old boy. My father and grandfather both attended there, Caroline went to the girl’s college. I have to get back to base. Can’t say it’s been a pleasure.” Andy slammed the door behind him, hoping it would fall off its hinges.
Bryce slumped at his desk feeling as if a serrated knife was paring away his insides. Andy’s explanation explained a lot of things about Caroline. The way she spoke, the swimming coach, even the way she walked. No wonder his father knew the name. He must have gone to school with their father. I’ve got her pregnant. He held his head in his hands. How the hell was he going to sit through this bloody meeting? His father would be mortified. Thank God he wasn’t here. Only decent break he’d had all day.
Caroline pregnant, he’d never given a thought to such a thing. No wonder she’d been sick, explained her hurried departure.
What an idiot. He slammed his fist on the desk. One night. One bloody night. He always used a condom, even though the women he associated with knew how to take care of themselves. He hadn’t known Caroline was a virgin. He tried to excuse himself, but was honest enough to admit. Fueled by alcohol he’d wanted her so badly he hadn’t thought about protection. What a mess. He groaned out loud.
The men returned. “Who was that?” Geoff Davies asked.
“Caroline’s brother.”
“I didn’t know she had a brother.”
“I knew she had a brother,” Bryce replied savagely, “but I didn’t know he was a hot-headed, pretty-looking soldier boy.”
“What did he want?”
“It’s a private matter,” Bryce snapped.
Geoff was curious. No way would he be satisfying the older man’s curiosity, the fewer people who knew about this debacle the better.
With an effort, he pulled himself together and carried on with the meeting. Sheer will-power kept him glued to his chair when he felt like going to the nearest bar and getting blind rotten drunk. As soon as the meeting finished, he vowed to himself, he’d go over to his club for a few drinks while he worked out the best course of action.