The Doctor Returns. Stella MacLean

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СКАЧАТЬ tomorrow when you’re discharged, you can come and stay at the inn with me. It’s a lovely spot, and we can rent a sailboat and go out on the bay,” Lilly said, her smile encouraging as she tucked her daughter’s hand in hers.

      “Can you come, Daddy?”

      “Your dad’s pretty busy these days. He has so much to do now that you’ve moved to Eden Harbor,” Lilly said, smoothing Morgan’s auburn curls off her face, a face now clouded with sadness and disappointment.

      “I want Daddy to come with us. We could have a fun day together. I’ll help make the lunch. Mom, you and I can go shopping for a dessert to take with us.” Morgan swung her pleading eyes from one parent to the other. “Gram says there are eagles off Cranberry Point, and I have to see them,” she said.

      Neill wanted to say yes with every part of his being, if only to make up for refusing her the chance for a sleepover. But the last time he and Lilly had gone on an outing with Morgan back in Boston, she’d been very upset and tearful when her mother didn’t stay the night.

      As much as he wanted to indulge his daughter, he couldn’t risk getting her hopes up over something that would never be. With a leaden heart, he met Morgan’s eager face. “I can’t go tomorrow, sweetie. It wouldn’t be right.”

      “What do you mean?” Morgan asked, her eyes wide, her lips beginning their all too familiar quiver.

      Lilly edged closer to Morgan, her arm slipping around her daughter’s shoulders. “Morgan, your daddy and I are divorced, which means that we have separate lives.”

      “That doesn’t mean you can’t go on a picnic, does it?” Her glance flew to her father’s face. “Daddy, why can’t you come just this once?”

      Seeing the plea in her eyes, he wavered. What would it hurt to spend a few hours as a family to make life a little better for Morgan? But he had a day full of appointments tomorrow. “Tell you what I’ll do. You and Mommy go out on the sailboat tomorrow, enjoy your day together, and I’ll have dinner with you tomorrow evening.”

      “At our house?” Morgan bargained.

      “At our house,” he answered, hoping he hadn’t simply added to the problem.

      Lilly kissed her daughter’s cheek and hugged her close. “I’m going to walk out with your dad and arrange for the pizza and then I’ll be back, okay?”

      “Yeah, Mom.” Morgan turned to her father, her smile of joy twisting Neill’s heart. “See you later, alligator.”

      “In a while, crocodile,” he answered, playing the old word game he’d taught her as soon as she could talk. At times like this he wondered if he and Lilly should have tried harder to fix their marriage—for Morgan’s sake.

      Outside the room, Lilly said, “Neill, you shouldn’t be so unyielding with Morgan. She only wants to spend time with the two of us together. After all, she’s had a lot to deal with, considering the move and the changes in her life. She’s given up her friends and all her activities to come here to Eden Harbor. I understand your need for change in your life, but have you thought about the impact on her?”

      “I’ve thought of nothing else.” Morgan had been a happy little girl in Boston; her only complaint was she wanted more attention from her dad. He’d assumed she’d do well with the move. He’d planned for them to lead an idyllic life in the community that had provided him with such a happy childhood. She’d have new friends and the love and attention of his mother. They’d have more time together, since he wouldn’t be teaching medical students.

      “Well, we certainly don’t want a repeat of this,” Lilly admonished.

      “Morgan cannot be allowed to believe we’re getting back together. That would be cruel. We have to remain firm on this or she’ll continue to work on each of us,” he responded, frustrated by Lilly’s inability to understand that offering false hope to their daughter would only delay her acceptance of their divorce.

      He glanced back at the door to make sure Morgan hadn’t followed them out into the corridor. “She’s constantly searching for ways to get us together. She brings you into our conversations whenever she can. She’s always remarking on how you do something versus how I do it. What you tell her on the phone becomes her motto for the day.”

      “She obviously misses me.”

      “And she misses the life she had when we were married. And it’s left to me to explain why that can’t be.”

      She touched his arm. “I realize how hard this must be on you—to be the one who constantly has to remind her of the truth.”

      “I hate it.” He ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

      “Okay. Let me see what I can do. I’ll talk to her again when we’re out on the boat tomorrow.”

      “It would help if you’d see her more often. Whenever you cancel a visit, she goes into a funk.”

      “I’ll do better. I promise.”

      “Lilly, I’ve heard this all before. Why can’t you see what you’re doing to our daughter? Why don’t you at least try not to promise her something, then break that promise?” he asked, his voice rising.

      She gave him a faintly disapproving stare.

      Why did he bother trying to reason with her? Lilly would never change. Her parents had spoiled their only child to the point where she had no understanding of anyone else’s needs.

      But was he any different?

      CHAPTER THREE

      “ANOTHER WEEK OVER,” Sherri said to Gayle on their way out the staff door to the back parking lot of the hospital.

      “Yeah. TGIF. Tomorrow I’ll go back to worrying about paying my bills. Tonight’s my time-out,” Gayle offered ruefully, hitching her huge black-and-silver purse over her shoulder.

      They were going to a birthday party at the pub for Peggy Anderson, the phlebotomist at the clinic, and Sherri fully intended to put this particular week well behind her. She would not give Neill Brandon one thought. Not for a minute would she allow the past two days to ruin her evening. “I’ll go home, get changed and pick up my gift. I’ll meet you at your place in about an hour. We can walk to Rigby’s from there.”

      “You got it.”

      She drove home, fed her cat, got ready and drove back along Higgins Road, pleased to see that the repairs had been completed. When she and Gayle walked into Rigby’s, they were surrounded by blaring karaoke music and the smell of barbecued spareribs. Immediately drawn into the crowd of people who’d shown up for Peggy’s party, Sherri felt better than she had all day.

      Gayle led them through the crowd to the bar. “Where’s Henry?” she asked the new guy behind the bar after ordering an apple martini for each of them.

      “He’s sick, got the flu or something. I mean, like he’s really sick. There’ve been a couple of people in the past couple of days who’ve come down with this flu.” The bartender shook his head.

      “Sorry to hear that,” СКАЧАТЬ