Warning at Eagle's Watch (20 page)

Hillary spoke up.

"Please, Mr. Browning, I can assure you that none of us knew anything of Miss Scott's plans. She must have made them rather suddenly. Could you perhaps postpone your meeting for a few moments? It's imperative that we have a doctor here, if Miss Scott is going to take part in anything that could be as emotionally unsettling as this meeting could very well be."

"A very good thought, Nurse Holt. If you would care to call the doctor, I'd be delighted to await his arrival before going to Miss Scott. Perhaps a cup of hot tea?" Mrs. Raymond scurried off, and the family ushered him into the living room.

Hillary lifted the receiver and found the telephone line had gone dead, not an unusual occurrence so far out in the country during a storm. Trust the elements to act up at the most inopportune time.

She climbed into the yellow mackintosh that she had worn before, and tied a brightly colored scarf around her head. She would have to drive to get the doctor, and although she didn't relish the trip in such a storm, she was not going to allow Scotty to be submitted to the trauma of this meeting, without medical support. Why on earth had she changed her mind at such a time?

"Well, take your time, Nurse Holt," offered the lawyer, now sitting comfortably, tea in hand, in the living room, where a fire had been lit to warm him up. It's a terrible night outside. "We will wait for your return."

She stumbled along outside in the wind and rain, and made her way to the garage behind the house. She climbed into Scotty's long black car, usually driven by Mr. Raymond, and pulled it carefully out of its parking place. In no time at all she was driving down the road.

She decided to try to find Kent at the lighthouse, as Mrs. Hobart had said he was expected home tonight. It was much closer than Dr. Newburg's home, and she hoped to have Kent's support during the proceedings. She arrived very shortly and parked beneath the bright lighthouse beam, casting its life-saving light far out into the ocean.

She banged on the door of the lighthouse, but her knock went unanswered.

She tied her scarf more tightly around her head, and pushed through the wind to the Hobarts' door. Mr. Hobart opened it almost immediately, dressed from head to toe in his glistening rain gear.

"I'm just on my way out," he explained hurriedly. "I have to get down to town. They're having quite a time at the dock with the storm blowing so violently."

"Come in, come in," called Mrs. Hobart's voice. "You must be Hillary."

Mr. Hobart made his hurried departure, and Hillary entered the cheery house to meet his wife. She looked exactly as Hillary had imagined her after hearing her voice on the phone. Her face was round and creased in smiles, the few wrinkles of middle age only complementing the good-naturedness that was apparent in her features. Her hair was short and dark, and worn very simply, and she propelled her wheelchair across the floor with the ease of one who is very self-sufficient. Hillary admired her on the spot.

"Let me take a look at this girl that Kent has been talking about." She didn't seem to mind a bit that Hillary was standing in her very wet rain gear, dripping on the floor.

"Kent hasn't returned," she explained, when Hillary outlined briefly her need for a doctor. "I guess you'll have to go for Dr. Newburg. It's such a pity about the phone line, but I have to admit it does happen often out here."

She pointed to a nearby chair. "But first, young lady, take off that uncomfortable coat and let me make you a cup of tea. The world won't come to an end if you warm up for a few more moments before facing that brutal weather again." She wheeled into the tiny kitchen and bustled about happily.

Hillary took the wet things off thankfully, and curled up in a big soft chair near the roaring fireplace. She was very wet, despite the raincoat, and the coldness in the air outside had chilled her to the bone. She sat happily before the flames, taking in its wonderful warmth and enjoying the friendly atmosphere of the little house. Here was love and fullness in life. Someday, she hoped to herself, Kent and I may have a place like this. The longing made her heart ache.

Mrs. Hobart returned quickly with a tray across her knees, cups full of steaming tea and homemade crumpets.

"Where did Kent go today?" Hillary asked her.

Pat Hobart frowned for a minute and looked at her pensively and then spoke. "I think I shall be a busybody and tell you, Hillary, though Kent would bop me if he knew. He went into the city to speak to a few people, the most important being a very special doctor who could tell him the verdict that he has been waiting for many months to hear."

"Verdict?" Hillary echoed helplessly.

Pat took a deep breath and went on. "I think I will tell you the whole story. Over a year ago, Kent was a very promising young surgeon at a very prestigious hospital, some distance from here. He was engaged to a young socialite, a girl who meant everything to him at the time, though he's since realized how much deeper his feelings can be." She looked at Hillary meaningfully, and a blush rose in the girl's freckled face.

"Anyway, at the time, he felt quite a lot for this girl. He was popular and talked about and had very high hopes of becoming one of the greatest surgeons in the country. But then one night, on the way home from a party, they came upon an automobile accident along the side of the road. A car had plunged partly over a ragged cliff, and the driver had been instantly killed. However, he had a passenger with him, a young boy who had crawled out of the wreckage and was clinging desperately to the rocky face of the cliff. Gasoline had leaked horribly from the wreck, and there was a great danger of the whole thing going up in an explosion.

"Kent, true to his nature, climbed over the cliff to save the boy, a difficult feat in any circumstances, but even harder in the dark. He reached the child and moved him along the cliff, away from the debris. It exploded. They were safe from the flames, but the vibrations crumbled the part of the ledge that they stood on, and the two fell quite some distance to the ground below. The young lad was uninjured, but Kent..." Her voice broke. "Kent's arm was badly injured, perhaps permanently."

"Oh, my God." The tears were filling Hillary's eyes and running down her checks.

"I'm not telling you this to shock you, Hillary, or to hurt you. I just want you to understand about Kent, about why he acts the way he sometimes does."

"But how could that be? How could I not tell?"

"The damage that was done has healed enough so that it's not easily noticeable. But for Kent, for the skill that he needs in his surgery, it makes all of the difference in the world. You see, all he's ever wanted to be in life was a surgeon, and this ended his dream, at least for a while. Maybe forever. But worst of all, the girl bolted as soon as she heard his career was in jeopardy. She broke up the engagement and stripped him of the emotional support he so badly needed for facing the crisis.

"Believe me." She tapped her wheelchair. "Love can help you face these things. Anyway, his arm slowly healed a bit, and he came up here to work with his father's old associate, hoping to get some perspective in his life, and hoping that time would further heal his arm."

"And the doctor today?"

"He wanted to check Kent's recovery, to see whether the problem was a temporary one, or if the damage is permanent. By now Kent may know whether he will be able to wield a scalpel again."

Hillary's heart was hammering in her chest. "And to think that night he rescued me from the cliff... facing the same situation, risking his arm again." Her voice was choked.

"Because he loves you, Hillary. But he's not been able to tell you, for fear that you would not stay by his side."

"But I would. I would."

Pat smiled. "It is easy for me to see that, but it's hard for a man when he's been through all that he's been through. It seems he found out that you had planned a surgical career yourself, before coming here, and he didn't want to hold you from it."

Hillary rung her hands. "I could kill him for keeping all this to himself. Pat, I would love him and follow him to the end of the earth, no matter what condition he was in."

Pat smiled. "People like you and my husband are few and far between. But there is a great hope that he has recovered, so let us pray that that is his news."

She put her hands on her legs and smiled at Hillary. "You see, I've been stuck in this chair for three long years. After my car accident, at first the doctors thought my case was a hopeless one, and I had accepted that fact. But last year, shortly before his own accident, Kent had been perfecting a new procedure that would make surgery on my own spine now possible. The day may come, Hillary, when I can join my husband for a walk on the shore again."

Hillary crossed over to her and put her arms around her. "Then we both have much to hope for, Pat." Her throat felt very tight.

She remembered the errand she had started off for, forgotten for a short while when she had been engrossed in Pat's story. Now she donned her wet things once more, and prepared to fetch Dr. Newburg.

"Tell Kent to come to me, Pat, as soon as he comes home. No matter what."

Pat smiled understandingly. "You get Dr. Newburg, and I'll send Kent along to Eagle's Watch to join you."

Hillary left her new friend and went forward into the bitterness of the stormy night.

* * *

The doctor's house was ablaze with light, a welcoming sight to Hillary's eyes. She was eager to let him know what was going on at Eagle's Watch, to bring him there with her, and to await for Kent's return. Her mind was alive with thoughts as she slowly understood the deepness of the fears and emotions that had held the man she loved. She would stay by his side, she would love him day after day, forever, no matter what the verdict today would be. She would have to show him, to make him realize that her love for him was far deeper than the love given by his former fiancée.

She parked the car across the street from the doctor's house and hurried to the porch. It seemed like a long time before he answered her knock. He was very surprised to see her standing there.

"Hillary? My goodness, what brings you out on a night like this? You'll catch your death of cold, and we'll have to find a nurse for you, too." She followed him into the house.

"Come back to my lab, Hillary. I was in the middle of something when you arrived. And tell me, what's the problem? You haven't had any more mishaps since I talked to you this afternoon?"

She reassured him that all had been well.

"But I thought over your advice, Doctor."

"Yes?" They had arrived at the laboratory door.

"I decided that you were very right about my presence at Eagle's Watch. Going away was the only solution I could come up with, the only way to save Scotty from becoming upset and remove myself from danger."

"Very smart, young lady," He opened the laboratory door, and the smell of chemicals assailed her nose. The lights were bright here, the whiteness of the walls reflecting the glare. She could see the test tubes and medical equipment on the shiny counters, the books and papers strewn on a big old desk. She had indeed interrupted him in his work.

It was a small laboratory but had the aura of a place where frantic and dedicated work took place.

The doctor resumed his place at one of the gleaming tables, his fingers busied themselves with his equipment as he talked.

"I suppose you'll be leaving then as soon as possible?"

She noticed the perspiration on his brow, standing out profusely despite the cool temperature in the room.

"Well, I was, but then Scotty changed my mind temporarily."

"What!" he exclaimed. "Talked you out of it?"

"No, no, not in so many words. But she changed her own plans, so to speak. She's called the lawyer. That's why I came to get you. She is going to announce her plans tonight. The family's in a tizzy, and I thought you'd better be there."

The doctor's jaw was very tight. His eyes had a peculiar shine to them. "That's very, very unfortunate," he said quietly.

"But, no," she said. "Don't you see? Once she announces to them all that I'm not the one to inherit, the danger will be over. If there is no reason to get me out of the way, then I won't have to go away."

"Hillary, what makes you so sure that she hasn't named you in the will? She's been acting a little strange lately. A little reserved. What if it is you that she's planning to leave it all to? What if it's known, once and for all, that you're to be the heiress of Eagle's Watch?" He was pacing around the room now, wringing his hands. He passed the open door that they had come through and closed it quietly. For some reason, a little knot was beginning to grow in her stomach.

"There's no knowing what Priscilla Scott will say tonight. It could ruin everything." The doctor was walking slowly toward her now, his face very grave, the lines on it standing out harshly in the bright light. His eyes didn't look quite right, and quite impulsively Hillary found herself moving away from him.

"Ruin everything?" she asked quietly. But the truth was beginning to dawn on her. It made her feel very sick inside.

"I'm sorry, Hillary, that I have to do this. But it's a worthwhile sacrifice, you know. You can be proud, in a way."

"Sacrifice?"

He held out the hypodermic needle. "It won't hurt a bit. You'll just go to sleep easily, and then it'll be all over."

She couldn't believe the words she was hearing.

"You!" she cried. "You were responsible for all the things that have happened to me!"

"I'm sorry, Hillary. At first I just wanted you to go away, but now—"

"Why? Oh, why?"

"Because of the money. I have to have some of the money. You see. Priscilla has always promised me that she would leave me a nice chunk of money. Enough that I could give up my practice and have enough to devote the rest of my life to the kind of research that means so much to me. The kind that will mean so much to the world."

"But if she said so, then she will," she said evenly. Change his mind, she thought, say anything! Just let me out of here!