What Matters Most (27 page)

“No, I haven’t, and after he left your office last night, I went over it carefully in my mind. The night I’d planned to tell him was the night he bumped into me and I fell down. So, I never told him. He doesn’t know where I live, and my phone number is unlisted. I didn’t even give that information to the school, so I don’t know how he found us.”

“I do.” He separated them and sat up on the side of the bed. “Will you be hurt if I leave now? My father has some explaining to do.”

“He said your father put him up to it, Jack, but I’m not completely sold on that idea.”

“I am. My father probably hired a private eye to delve into your background. The rest is easy to figure out.”

After washing up in her bathroom and dressing, he sat beside her on her bed. “If you break your contract with me, I won’t sue you, because I would never do anything to hurt you. But I want you to know I’ve only once been as miserable as I was last night, and that is the day my mother died. I’m happy when I’m with you. When we’re together, working or just being with each other, life is more than I ever dreamed possible. Melanie, please don’t throw this away.”

Her fingers stroked the side of his face, drawing him to her as a magnet draws iron. He kissed her lips. “I’m leaving you because I intend to see my father before I sleep.”

“Jack, please don’t argue with him. I don’t want to cause a rift between the two of you.”

“He knows me, so he’s expecting me. Will you come to work tomorrow?”

“All right. I’ll be there.”

He hugged and kissed her until he was tempted to stay. “I’d better get out of here. Be sure and lock the door.”

“I knew it was you when the bell rang,” Montague said to Jack. “Everybody else knows that nine forty-five is too late to visit.”

Jack cut to the chase. “Why did you send Ralph Sparks to my office to embarrass me in the presence of my patients?”

“Embarrass
you?
”

“Yes,
me.
He made a scene. Do you dislike Melanie so much that you’d hurt your only son’s reputation?” He could see from his father’s demeanor that the man hadn’t thought of the effect on Jack. “Three of the male patients wanted to do a number on him, but I wouldn’t let them hurt him. Why did you sink to that?”

“A man in your position should have a woman who’s his equal in status and achievement. It’s the woman who determines the family’s social status, and who—”

“Dad, I don’t give a damn about social status. I’m sick of women who do nothing but marry a rich man. Love doesn’t occur to these women. It’s sex in exchange for diamonds, a big house, expensive car and other trappings.

“I want a companion, a help-mate, a woman who shares my dreams, goals and values, a mother for my children who’ll teach them what’s important in life, and I won’t settle for anything less. I love Melanie. Deeply. And I am proud that she loves me. Unless she figured it out from seeing my Porsche, she doesn’t even know that I’m rich, and she doesn’t care.

“Dad, please stop parading those empty-headed clotheshorses past me. They have about as much sex appeal as a paper bag. Do you really want your grandchildren to have one of those women for a mother? Can you imagine one of them as a mother?”

“Do you intend to marry your nurse?”

“Would I be the first doctor who did it? So far, she’s given me no indication that she’ll have me, and you are not helping one bit.”

“I suppose you’re displeased with me, and I guess I deserve it, but I meant well. It’s funny how history repeats itself. Until you told me just now how you feel about Melanie—and if I’m honest, I already sensed it—I had let myself forget how I battled my own father forty years ago about my choice of a wife and the medical specialty I chose. Right now, I see myself in my father.

“I’ve done my best for you Jack, and you’ve exceeded my greatest hopes. You’re a fine man, and I’m proud of you. I’m here to help you in any way that I can.”

“I know that, Dad. Open your heart to Melanie. She’s a warm, caring and loving woman. By the way, Alice Hawkins and her daughter, Midge, returned from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital today. Midge looks like a different girl, and I told her mother to expect a call from you.” He gave his father the phone number.

“You didn’t mention a seventy-thirty deal, did you?”

“No, I didn’t, but you know the standard for silent partners.”

“All right now. I’ll see you at lunch tomorrow. Give my regards to Melanie.”

He looked at his father, the first time he’d ever seen him give in gracefully, hugged him and said, “Thank you. I will. If I’m lucky, you’ll find out what it’s like to have a wonderful daughter.”

Chapter 12

A
s Jack embraced his father, he fought to contain his emotions. Knowing that his dad no longer held a grudge against Melanie made him feel as if a weight had been lifted. Melanie loved him, and his father at last respected his choice. Life was good. That night, he slept peacefully, and arose early the next morning feeling young and alive.

Later, in his Bolton Hill office, he thumbed through the mail, made a note to send two hundred dollars to each charity and was about to push the remainder aside when he saw a return address that caught his attention. He opened and read a letter from the chairman of the International Conference on Cardiovascular Disease in Children inviting him to lecture on a topic dear to him. He could hardly believe his good fortune, for an invitation to lecture to that august group of specialists from around the world confirmed that he had reached the pinnacle of his profession. He had worked hard, but he hadn’t dreamed that he’d attained that level of respect. He phoned his father.

“I can’t believe it, Dad. These guys are a generation ahead of me. I would expect to get an invitation like this when I turn seventy.”

‘You’ve earned it, son. I wish I could be there to hear you. I’m so proud of you, and I know your mother is smiling right now.”

“You’re going to accept it, aren’t you?” Melanie said when he told her about it that afternoon in his South Baltimore office.

“You bet I am. The conference is in Paris, and it’s been at least five years since I was there,” he said, smiling down at her, the one woman whose mere touch could make his heart flutter and his arms feel like wings capable of flight.

“I’ve never been to Europe,” she said. “Do you speak French?”

“I did the last time I was in France. Come with me, Melanie. We’d have a wonderful time together. Paris is nice at the end of September, and it’s a good time for a vacation. The kids have had their health examinations for school, and I can close for a week and give all of my employees a rest. What do you say?”

She’d give anything to see Paris, and especially with Jack. But she remembered her father’s accusations. Even if Jack didn’t expect her to share a room with him, she’d be in the same hotel, and…

“I’m happy for you, Jack. It’s recognition of your achievements, and you deserve this invitation. But as much as I’d like to see and hear you give that lecture, I…I think it best that I don’t go. It’s too easy to fall into a convenient affair, Jack, and I…I just don’t want that with you.”

She didn’t look at him, but she could feel the fire of his stare searing her. “You want to run that past me again? You’re afraid of this becoming a convenient affair? Is that what you said?” He sat on his desk and propped his right foot on the chair beside it.

“Let me tell you something. I can find a dozen women willing to be with me just like that.” He snapped his finger. “And they won’t give a damn whether I care two hoots about them. If that was what I wanted, I’d have it already. In spite of what we’ve been to each other, what we’ve experienced together, you can suggest that you’d be a convenience for me? I thought we were on the same page, but it seems we’re not.” He whirled around, took a seat at his desk and opened his computer.

Melanie gazed at Jack for a few seconds, realized that he didn’t plan to take his attention from the computer, shrugged her shoulders and walked out of Jack’s office. He had practically dismissed her. Her father had preached that if she gave a man everything, after a while he wouldn’t want anything from her. Why couldn’t the man understand that her only bargaining chip was herself, her pride and her dignity?

She braced herself against pains that were more excruciating than the point of a knife.
It won’t kill me, not after what I’ve been through in this life. He’d have to drop me off a cliff to make me feel worse than I did when my father walked in here and said those awful things to me. He stands on his principles, and I intend to stand on mine. If that means we separate, I can’t help it. If he wants assurances that I’m his, let him commit to me.

She opened the door for their first patient, and gazed at Midge. “Ms. Sparks, my mama sent these. She said she won’t be home to deliver them tomorrow morning, because she has an appointment with Dr. Ferguson’s father. They’re going into business together.”

“Thanks, Midge. That’s wonderful. How do you feel?”

“Real good. I’m going to be on the girls’ basketball team this year. Hug Dr. Ferguson for me.” The girl leaned over and kissed Melanie’s cheek. “Bye.” Melanie went back to Jack’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

She handed him the package and explained why Alice had sent them. “Midge sent you a hug, but I have a feeling you don’t want it, since I’m the person who has to deliver it.” Without awaiting his response, she closed his door and went back to work.

A minute later, he was standing at her desk. “How is Midge?”

Deciding to give him some of his own medicine, Melanie didn’t look up. “Fine. She’s playing on the girls’ basketball team this year.”

“That’s good news.” When a full minute elapsed and he hadn’t moved, she stopped typing at the computer and looked up at him. No one had to tell her that her impertinence annoyed him and that, as her employer, he was affronted.

Too bad, she thought, looked him in the face and shrugged her shoulders. If he didn’t like receiving it, he shouldn’t dish it out. Love didn’t cover everything.

He punctuated his perusal with a frown, left her and a second later called her through the intercom, nearly frightening her when she heard the static, for he had never used it before. He had always walked out to her desk if he wanted anything.

“Would you please get me a syringe?” he asked. “I’m in room A.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. If he was in room A, he needed only to open the top drawer, stick his hand in it and get a syringe. And why did he want a syringe, anyway? The only patients in the office were the three who were at that minute sitting in the waiting room. She took her time walking down the short corridor.

As a child, she’d learned that she stood a better chance of winning when she attacked than when she defended herself. “What’s this all about, Jack? Making sure that I earn my salary?” She opened the top cabinet drawer. “You want to stick your hand in there and get it, or will that syringe perform better if I hand it to you?”

“I dislike sarcasm, Melanie.”

“You probably like it as much as I like having people act out at my expense. I’ve been dismissed a few times by people who considered me a nobody, so when you did it a few minutes ago, it was a clear reminder of who I am. I suppose I ought to thank you.” She left the room without handing him a syringe.

He caught her before she reached the waiting room. “We’re both angry, and we’re both hurt. Please give it a rest, Melanie, before we hurt each other more. I didn’t need a syringe. I just wanted you to come in there to…Oh, forget it. Let’s just try to be civil to each other until we can get past this. I’m sorry if I upset you.”

The pain that she saw in his eyes moved her as deeply as any kiss he’d ever given her, but she couldn’t reach out to him, not when she needed all of her strength to avoid breaking down and crying. She had believed she could have a life with him and now she wouldn’t bet fifty cents on it.

That does it,
Jack said to himself as he headed back to his private office.
Why can’t she trust me?
He made it through one of the busiest evenings he’d had at his South Baltimore office, and Melanie’s conspicuously perfect professionalism didn’t ease his task. When she had to work beside him, she put as much distance between them as she could. And when she had to look directly at him, her facial expression was such that he could have been a statue undeserving of her admiration.

“May I drive you home or do you want me to phone the taxi company?” he asked her as they were closing the office. He didn’t want any more cold water dashed in his face.

“Whichever will inconvenience you the least.”

It wouldn’t help if he shook her, but his fingers itched to grab her shoulders and give them a real workout. “Neither will inconvenience me, so which will it be?”

“You listen to me,” she said, whirling around and grabbing his arm. “I’m not happy. I hurt, and you’re making it worse.”

He pried her fingers from his arms, stunned at her viselike grip until he remembered that emotional pain could generate energy. Unshed tears glistened in her eyes, and as she faced him, defiant and regal, he knew she wouldn’t shed them. He also knew why he loved her. He took a step closer and, when she didn’t move, he risked getting so close that their uniforms touched.

“You couldn’t have hurt me if I didn’t love you,” he said. “You hurt me because you don’t trust me. Maybe you don’t realize it, but you’re asking me to pay for things that I didn’t do and won’t do, for…your father’s selfishness and meanness, and for some guy who didn’t know how to cherish you.”

She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes so that her long, dark lashes shadowed her high cheekbones. “What about you, Jack? I’m always going to be honest with you, letting you know exactly how I feel about any issue facing us. I know you’re not used to that, and maybe it isn’t feminine for a woman to be candid, but what I feel for you is important to me, and I am not going to play games with it. I won’t tell you I’m sorry for what I said, because I am not. It’s what I feel. I only wish you could have accepted it for what it was, because I’d rather hurt myself than cause you pain.”