Act Of Possession. Anne Mather

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ caught her breath. She should have realised that if Mrs Francis gossiped to her, she would gossip to her other tenants as well. ‘Oh—yes,’ she managed now. ‘I … was rather fortunate. A … a friend from work. He … he sent them.’

      Now why had she said that? she asked herself impatiently, as Celia nodded her head. Who at the institute was likely to send her flowers? And how could she be sure Reed hadn’t confided his generosity to his fiancée?

      ‘I love receiving flowers,’ Celia was saying now, her words justifying Antonia’s caution. ‘Reed sends me roses all the time. He knows I love them.’

      Antonia moistened her lips. ‘You’re very lucky.’

      ‘Yes, I am.’ Celia sighed contentedly, and Antonia felt the biggest bitch of all time. ‘Did you see my ring?’ She extended her hand. ‘Isn’t it gorgeous?’

      It was. A large square-cut sapphire, surrounded by a cluster of diamonds, it glowed, even in the subdued light of the hall, and Antonia did not have to affect her admiration. ‘It’s beautiful,’ she said, her smile warmly sincere. ‘When … when are you getting married? Or haven’t you decided yet?’

      ‘In December, I think,’ Celia replied, admiring the ring herself. ‘Reed’s pretty tied up until then, but I’m hoping we can have a Christmas honeymoon.’

      ‘How nice.’

      Antonia’s tone was a little forced now, but Celia didn’t seem to notice. ‘Yes, isn’t it?’ she responded, lifting her shoulders. ‘But now, enough about me, I’ve not seen you since the party: how did you enjoy it?’

      ‘Oh—–’ Antonia swallowed. ‘It was … very enjoyable. I’m sorry. I should have rung. But what with one thing and another—–’

      ‘Think nothing of it.’ Celia shook her head dismissively. ‘I just hoped you hadn’t taken offence over the way Liz acted. She can be pretty bloody sometimes, and that was one of them. She’s really quite charming, when you get to know her.’

      Antonia cleared her throat. ‘I—I’m sure she is. Really, it’s not important. It was your night, after all.’

      ‘What did you think of Reed?’ asked Celia suddenly, and Antonia had the suspicion she had been leading up to this all along. ‘You spoke with him, didn’t you? Isn’t he something?’

      The daffodils slipped abruptly from Antonia’s fingers, and in the confusion of bending to pick them up, Celia’s question was left unanswered. ‘I must go,’ she said, her mind obviously already on other things. She glanced at her watch. ‘I’m meeting Daddy in fifteen minutes, and he won’t be very happy if I’m late. By—eee.’

      ‘Goodbye.’

      Antonia summoned a farewell smile, but after Celia had disappeared out the door, she felt a wave of weariness sweep over her. It seemed more than five years since she had been as young and vital as Celia, she thought. Had she ever been that young? she wondered wistfully.

      Tuesday brought a spate of accidents at the institute. Heather Jakes stumbled up the steps that morning and sprained her wrist, thus preventing her from doing any typing that day; Mark Stephens, the caretaker, strained his back shifting boxes in the storeroom; and Mr Fenwick split his trousers on his way to work and in consequence, didn’t appear at all until eleven o’clock.

      ‘Probably due to all those marshmallows he keeps eating,’ remarked Heather uncharitably, coming into Antonia’s office to deliver the message. She held out her bandaged wrist for the other girl’s inspection. ‘It’s just as well really. I can’t do much with this.’

      ‘No.’ Antonia grimaced. ‘I just hope Mr Stephens is all right, too. He’s really too old to be lifting such heavy weights.’

      ‘Tell that to the governors,’ declared Heather airily, sauntering back to the door. ‘They’re all for keeping costs down, which in lay terms means employing fewer people. You don’t know how lucky you were, getting this job!’

      ‘Oh, I do.’ Antonia spoke fervently. ‘I have been looking for a job for a long time, Heather.’

      ‘Hmm.’ Heather shrugged. ‘Well, I think it’s a shame you had to leave your little girl in Newcastle. The powers that be should take things like that into consideration, when they offer a job to a woman.’

      ‘Maybe one day I’ll be able to afford to pay someone to take care of her, when she’s not at school,’ said Antonia, voicing her own private thoughts on the matter. ‘Or perhaps, when she’s older, and can take care of herself until I get home she can live with me.’

      ‘Men never have these problems, do they?’ Heather remarked drily. ‘If they did, they’d soon find a way to deal with it.’

      Antonia smiled. ‘You sound aggressive. Have you had another row with Peter?’

      ‘Not another row!’ Heather laughed. ‘Just the same one. He wants me to agree to give up my work if we have a baby.’

      ‘And is that likely?’

      ‘What? My giving up work? Not on your …’

      ‘No. I mean the baby,’ said Antonia gently. ‘How long have you been married?’

      ‘Two years,’ Heather grimaced. ‘And the answer is no, on both counts. Not so long as Peter insists on being such a chauvinist!’

      By lunchtime, Antonia felt as if she had done a full day’s work. There were certain letters that had to be attended to, and with Heather’s incapacity, Antonia took it upon herself to do the typing. It wasn’t easy. It was years since she had played about on an old typewriter of her father’s, and Heather’s sophisticated electric machine was unfamiliar to her. To begin with, she pressed too hard on the keys and had rows of letters appearing instead of just one, and when she did succeed in producing an acceptable copy, she discovered she had forgotten to put a carbon between the sheets.

      With shopping to do in her lunch hour, she decided to miss out on the salad in the dining hall. Instead, she put on the jacket of her dark grey suit, ran a hasty comb through her hair, and emerged into the pale sunshine flooding the Edgware Road.

      The sight of the black sports car, parked carelessly on the double yellow lines outside, would have alerted her, without the added identification of the man leaning casually against the bonnet. Reed Gallagher, for she had no difficulty in discerning his lean, sinuous frame, straightened abruptly at her appearance, and although she started swiftly away along the pavement, he had no problem in overtaking her.

      ‘Hey,’ he exclaimed, his hand on her sleeve barely slowing her progress. ‘I was waiting for you.’

      ‘Were you?’ Taking a deep breath, Antonia halted and turned to face him. ‘Why?’

      His dark features were surprisingly sombre. ‘Why do you think?’

      ‘I really can’t imagine.’ Antonia tried to quell her rapidly accelerating heart. ‘But I’d be glad if you could make it brief. I don’t have a lot of time.’

      ‘You do eat lunch, don’t you?’ he enquired tensely, the errant breeze lifting the collar of the black silk shirt he СКАЧАТЬ