Doctor's Orders Box Set (Babies in the Bargain, Right Name, Wrong Man, No More Lies)

by Risk, Mona

  “She’ll be here any minute. She went to see Christine, the girl who’s going to France with her. But—” Mama narrowed her eyes, scanning and assessing Olivia’s face. “What’s wrong with you, bambina? You look sick.” She reached out and touched her forehead.

  “No, Mom. I’m not sick. Just apprehensive. I’ve decided to talk to Melissa tonight.”

  “To talk...you mean about her... Oh God.” Mama touched her left breast, rubbing her heart. “Tonight?”

  “Isn’t that what you’ve wanted me to do for a long time?”

  “Yeah, yeah, just wait until after dinner. I made the duck à l’orange. I don’t want it to go to waste if...if things don’t work well.”

  “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Thanks for the encouragement. Honestly, Mom.”

  “I’m sorry, bambina. You just took me by surprise.” Mama reached for the bowl of chocolates, popped one in her mouth and handed another to Olivia. “Take one. It’ll help you calm down.”

  “Give me another while you’re at it. Luc, a chocolate?”

  “No, thanks. I’ll wait for the duck and the cannelloni. By the way, Marianna, what’s that delicious smell coming from your kitchen?” He sniffed and sighed dramatically as he rubbed his stomach. “Garlic and orange and—?”

  “Ah, my recipe is a secret. I will only tell you I added a liqueur, Grand Marnier, and some sherry.”

  Luc inhaled with a flourish. “Divine.”

  Olivia shook her head and snorted. “French flattery by an expert.”

  “I’m home. Hi Mom, Luc,” Melissa called as she banged the front door behind her and came to hug Olivia. When Melissa turned and kissed Luc three times on his cheeks, Olivia’s heart fell to her toes. Her daughter already behaved like a French teenager greeting a loving papa.

  “Well let’s eat right away since you’re back, sweetheart,” Mama said, with a meaningful nod to Olivia. “Come to the kitchen and help. Here, Luc, you take the duck platter and, Olivia, take the cannelloni. I’ll bring the salad. Melissa, don’t forget the garlic bread.”

  When they all settled around the table, Mama said grace, but her voice broke when she asked the Lord to give wisdom and happiness to everyone.

  Please, let things work out well.

  Olivia murmured amen and met Luc’s intense gaze.

  While Mama served everyone, Luc poured the wine for the adults and a Coke for Melissa.

  “I had a fantastic afternoon,” Melissa chimed.

  Olivia hardly heard the stories her daughter related or Luc’s questions and comments. She sliced her meat into small pieces and then smaller ones. The first bite she swallowed lodged in her throat. It took a whole glass of wine to force it down.

  For a change, Mama was silent and didn’t urge Olivia to eat, but her intermittent sighs grew louder by the minute. As soon as Luc cleared his plate, she ordered, “Olivia dear, can you bring the tiramisu from the fridge?”

  “Nana, it was really delicious.”

  Melissa and Luc had honored the dinner with a healthy appetite, but Marianna hardly smiled.

  Either Mama’s theory about the soothing effect of chocolate had failed for once, or maybe she hadn’t loaded her cake with enough chocolate. By the time Melissa finished her dessert, Olivia was a wretched mass of nerves.

  “Can we adjourn to the living room?” Luc asked, his question sounding the gong. Her heart beating erratically, Olivia lurched forward. Their gazes collided, and he gently smiled.

  “Yes, let’s sit and talk for a moment.” That was it. No backing out now. She walked to the living room and dropped into an armchair, quickly rehearsing her opening sentences.

  “Good,” Melissa said. “Luc, we can talk some more about my trip.”

  Marianna retreated to the kitchen. Luc filled two after-dinner drinks and handed one to Olivia. She sipped the burning liquor, set her glass on the cocktail table and laced her fingers in her lap.

  Olivia threw a look at Luc and then turned to face her daughter. “Melissa, there’s something I want to tell you.”

  Melissa glanced at Luc and then at her mother, and giggled. “Gee, I bet I know what it is, Mom. No wonder you’re so nervous. Don’t worry, you have my blessing.”

  “What?” Olivia frowned at the joyful and ironical expression on her daughter’s face. Oh dear, Melissa thought that she and Luc were going to announce—

  “No, that’s not what I want to say.” Olivia lost the track of her thoughts.

  “Really, Mom?” Her daughter laughed, mouth puckered in disbelief. “Come on.”

  “No, Melissa, no. I have to tell you about your birth.” God, that’s not what she was supposed to say. She closed her eyes trying to remember her speech. Only jumbled words came to her lips. “Your natural father... I mean I got pregnant when I was eighteen. We weren’t married and he didn’t...he couldn’t...I mean I couldn’t...”

  “Couldn’t what, Mom?” Melissa nudged with a smile while visibly at a loss on making sense of her mother’s words.

  “I wanted you very much, darling. But...” Olivia slapped her fingers across her lips.

  God, it wasn’t coming out the right way at all. Guilt flooded her.

  “But what, Mom? You wanted to have an abortion, because you were eighteen and not married?” The laughter had disappeared from her daughter’s voice, replaced by a cold, metallic hiss.

  The room seemed to rotate around Olivia. She gripped the arms of her chair. “No, no, that’s not right. He didn’t want a child. I had to leave him. Your grandparents helped me raise you.”

  Wrong words. What was she supposed to say?

  Her mind blanked. Her breath escaped her lungs, rushing out over her lips.

  “You left him when he had to go to war? How could you?” Melissa’s eyes filled with anger and disbelief.

  “He never went to war. He never saved anybody.”

  Melissa gasped and raised both hands, palm up. “What are you trying to tell me? He didn’t die at war?”

  “No, no.” Olivia gulped, seizing the twist she hadn’t anticipated and trying to come up with answers that wouldn’t sound damning. Where was her speech and the motherly words she’d prepared to soothe Melissa?

  “Then how did he die?” Melissa leaned forward, squinting like a prosecution lawyer.

  Olivia lowered her lashes, her throat tightened by the implacable rope of her memories. “He didn’t die, but listen—”

  Melissa bolted out of the sofa. “My father didn’t die? He’s alive. Alive,” she screamed in a hysterical fit. “You let me believe he died? You deprived me of my dad for my whole life? How could you, Mom?” She strode to Olivia’s chair and bent toward her, smacking her hands on both arms of the chair. “How could you lie to me all that time?” She groaned, her face a few inches from Olivia’s.

  Luc came beside Olivia’s chair and touched her shoulder. “Olivia, tell her the whole truth about him.” She heard Luc’s voice through a haze.

  “There are more lies?” Melissa snarled, her glare flicking from Olivia to Luc.

  Lord, how did her explanation degenerate into such a damning imbroglio? “Darling, calm down. Let me explain.”

  “I don’t want to hear more of your lies. I hate you.” The look Melissa gave her broke her heart. Her baby was suffering. Because of her.

  “Tell her what kind of a man he was,” Luc urged, squeezing her shoulder.

  But she couldn’t. She’d done enough damage for one night. Her daughter shook with anger, obviously determined to disregard any justification coming from Olivia.

  “I don’t want to see you again.” Melissa spat the words as she straightened and backed up from Olivia’s chair, her lips pursed into a thin line “I want to find my father. I have to meet him.” She sobbed and hiccupped. “I have a father. A real father.” She marched toward the hallway.

  Olivia staggered behind her, arms stretched in supplication. “Darling, wait, please.”

  “Melissa, give your mother the chance to tell you th
e whole story as it happened,” Luc said in the soothing voice he used with his patients.

  How on earth could he remain calm at a moment like this?

  Melissa stopped, made a complete volte-face, and her features hardened. “You, stay out of it. You’re no better than her.” She turned to Olivia. “What’s my dad’s real name? I assume Joe Madden is a lie too. Who’s my father?”

  Olivia shook her head. If she told Melissa her father’s name, now, her daughter might run away to him and she’d lose her forever.

  “I’ll find out,” Melissa screamed, big tears rolling down her cheeks, as she ran toward her room. “And when I find out, I’ll go to him, and you’ll never see me again, you liar.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “Melissa, my darling, please come back.” Olivia’s cry broke Luc’s heart.

  “Olivia,” he said, coming toward her.

  She ignored him and remained frozen in the middle of the living room, arms outstretched and chin tipped toward the second floor landing where Melissa had disappeared. A moment later a door banged.

  Olivia lowered her head and dropped her arms to her sides. Staring at the Oriental rug, she remained rooted in place. “I’ve lost her. I’ve lost my daughter.”

  “Chérie, why didn’t you tell her the whole story? Why didn’t you explain that Jeremy threw you out and didn’t want her?”

  She slowly raised her head, a heartrending expression on her face. “I couldn’t. Everything went too fast. The wrong way. She was too shocked, too disappointed. I couldn’t add to it.”

  Luc stepped forward and took her hands in his, trying to impart his strength to her. “There is still time to fix the damage. Go to her room. Tell her about his abusive streak.”

  “No, Luc.” Olivia snatched her hands from his and clutched the front of her shirt. “I have to give her space,” she said, her voice controlled.

  Though she was wounded and hurting with a pain sharper than a physical blow, she’d calmed down. “Melissa needs time to assimilate what she’s just heard.”

  He’d never seen so much suffering on a woman’s face. His beautiful Olivia seemed to have aged in a matter of minutes. Because of his advice to reveal the truth. A strange way to practice his Hippocratic Oath. Do no harm. He’d just harmed both the woman he loved and her daughter.

  “I’m sorry, Olivia. I shouldn’t have interfered. You were right. I was arrogant in my inflexible search for the truth.” And yet, he would continue to advocate his principles. He’d never change his mind about the need to reveal the truth.

  “I’m not blaming you, Luc.” Her gaze rose to meet his. Tears and desolation shimmered in her aqua eyes. “I took the wrong approach from the beginning. I walked into quicksand and kept going. With every passing day, I dug my own grave deeper and deeper.”

  She slumped onto the sofa, leaned against the back as if she’d been drained of every ounce of energy, and closed her eyes. Luc filled two glasses of Cognac. “Have a drink. It will help.”

  Without opening her eyes, she shook her head. He swirled the liquor in his glass, inhaled the alcohol’s sweet fragrance and chugged it down.

  He put the glass on the cocktail table and sat beside her.

  “I pushed you to talk to her.”

  “But it was my decision to do it.”

  He could feel her pain, the headache hammering the side of her face all the way to her skull. With gentle strokes, he rubbed her temples and forehead and raked his fingers through her hair.

  “Let her cool off tonight, and tomorrow tell her about her father’s character.”

  “She’s already decided I’m the worst mother on earth. She won’t believe a word I say.”

  “Would you allow me to talk to her?” He cupped her face between his hands. “I can be convincing in explaining what a wonderful woman you are.”

  “Thank you, Luc.” She looked at him, sadness and regret shadowing her beautiful eyes. “I blew it all, years ago. Unfortunately, it’s too late now.”

  “What are you talking about? Nothing is too late.” He’d never seen her like this. Anxious and perturbed, even defeated. He wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her against him. “Chérie, you’re a strong woman, a good psychiatrist. It’s only a crisis, and we will solve it together.” He smiled at her and caressed her cheek. “Olivia, I am here for you.”

  “You don’t know much about adolescents.” She snorted, a hysterical noise that saddened him more than cries. “Besides, there’s no together anymore.”

  “Excuse me?” He pulled back in shock. “Do you realize what you are saying?”

  “Please, Luc, don’t insist.”

  “I can’t let you face this alone. Are you pushing me away?”

  “Can’t you understand? I don’t want this,” she said, her voice rising. “But with you around, I’ll be distracted, unable to concentrate on Melissa. I have to take care of my daughter. On my own.”

  “You have to?” He scowled and gripped her shoulders. “Olivia, enough with your false sense of duty.”

  She shook her head, a frown of despair marring her forehead. “Please, Luc, leave.” He hardly heard the inaudible murmur.

  “Pardon?” Her words torpedoed his feelings and dreams. He scooted away.

  “Give me space.” She looked at him, silent appeal in her eyes. “I messed up again and I need to fix this mess before it’s too late.” She was back in control, her face devoid of expression.

  His stomach clenched at the magnitude of her request. To go back to their earlier strained relationship. Like two strangers, with him tiptoeing around her feelings, after she had claimed only a few hours ago she loved him.

  Unable to sit still, he paced the living room, filled his glass and drained it, paused and turned toward her, his fingers fisted against his sides. “You will destroy our hopes of happiness because of Melissa? Again?”

  “I don’t expect you to understand a mother’s feelings.” Her gaze flicked toward the hallway where her daughter had flown. “Melissa is all I have. I don’t want to be sidetracked by your presence and lose her.”

  His blood boiling, Luc contemplated Olivia as if he’d never seen her before. How could he have been so wrong about her? He’d been treading carefully this time. Yet he’d made the same mistake. Twice.

  She claimed she cared about him. Obviously not enough. Not the way he wanted her to love him.

  “Do you want me to leave forever?” he asked, his scowl deepening.

  “Yes.” She kept her eyes fixed on the hallway.

  If he left this house, it would be forever. He’d suffer a hundred deaths, but he’d erase her from his heart eventually. He wanted to walk away, but couldn’t get himself to move one inch. Get out. Go. But first...

  “Are you sure, Olivia?”

  “Yes.”

  But he couldn’t let her handle the crisis alone. “Look me in the eyes then, and tell me you don’t love me.”

  She lowered her head.

  “Tell me our lovemaking was a sham. Lust with no feelings.”

  Her fingers trembled. She laced them together and buried them in her lap.

  “Well, tell me.”

  “I can’t. Last night was the most beautiful night of my life.” She raised her head.

  Love blurred with fear in the aqua eyes he treasured.

  “Thank you,” he said, exhaling with relief.

  She blinked and averted her gaze. “But I need to be alone with Melissa from now on to make up for hurting her so much.”

  “You can’t think rationally now. I will leave you. But I will be back tomorrow.” He strode to the hall and turned around. “Olivia, just remember I love you. And I love Melissa as if she were my own.”

  She groaned as he yanked his raincoat from the guest closet and opened the front door.

  Outside, the weather matched his stormy mood. As he stomped out in the night, lightning ripped through the sky. A mix of hail and icy rain pelted his face and slithered down his neck. He ran to his car
. Cursing the long drive ahead of him in the foul weather, he turned on the ignition. In spite of the windshield wipers flicking at top speed, he could hardly see a thing.

  As he started backing out of the driveway, floodlights illuminated the area. The garage door opened. Marianna ran out, and Olivia slid into her van. Luc slammed on the brakes, climbed out of the car and sprinted to the garage while thunder clapped in the distance.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He strained to hear Marianna’s shout. “Melissa’s missing. She took my old Cadillac. Olivia is going to look for her.”

  “Olivia, come with me. I will drive. You call her friends.”

  Olivia didn’t hesitate or argue when Luc ordered her out of her van. Her mother handed Luc an umbrella. He held it above her while they ran to his car.

  As soon as she sat in the passenger seat, she pulled out her cell phone. “Luc, turn left, then go straight.” She pushed a speed dial button. “Stephanie, did you talk to Melissa in the last hour?” On the negative answer, she tried a few more numbers.

  “There is a Y in the road, shall I go left or right?”

  “Try right. I’m calling her friend Christine who lives off this road.” Olivia punched another number. “Christine, is Melissa at your place?” She didn’t like the girl’s hesitation. “I’m worried about her. Is she with you?”

  “I’m sorry, Dr. Crane. She was here before dinner. Later on, she called me from her cell phone. She was crying and said she was on her way to Jennifer’s.”

  “Thank you.” Olivia tried another number. “Jennifer, this is Dr. Crane. Is Melissa here?”

  “No. Dr. Crane, she...she said she was coming. But...she hasn’t arrived yet.” Olivia shivered at the girl’s stuttering.

  “When did she call you?”

  “A half hour ago.”

  “Oh God.” Olivia snapped the phone shut. “Luc, make a U-turn. Go back to the Y and take a left. Melissa should have been at Jennifer’s house long ago. Oh my God.” Olivia’s stomach somersaulted. Was her baby lost and hurt, alone in the bleak night?

  Luc swerved and reversed direction. At the intersection, he turned left, decreased his speed and switched on the high beam. The headlights sliced through the shimmering curtain of icy rain, and the car crawled under a gloomy arch of naked branches. Olivia flicked her gaze right and left, trying to pierce the blackness of the night beyond the beam of light.