Forgotten Fiancee
Page 20
“Mr. Hallwood, do you really take everything Marguerite says as gospel?”
Despite himself Greg couldn’t repress a slight smile. “If you put it that way, no. But Justin’s been very ill with pneumonia. He nearly died. I can’t take any risks.” He ran his hand through his hair. Like the security men, he was coming under the effect of Sarah’s personality, with its calm force that would accept no refusal.
“Couldn’t you go away and come back tomorrow?” he asked. “If you need money—”
“I’m staying here until I see him. Mr. Hallwood, you’re not going to throw me out.”
“Aren’t I?”
“You’re not even going to try.”
Her assurance was disconcerting. “I see. You think you know me?”
“Only what Justin’s told me about you. The night you came he was upset because you were growing too much like him, but he said there was still time for you to change back.”
“Justin told you that?” he asked, slightly aghast. Subconsciously he was relaxing. Whatever the truth about this, Justin knew her well enough to confide in her.
He looked at the child. Nicky stared back from eyes of the deepest blue Greg had ever seen, except in one other face. Nicky waved a friendly hand, and Greg took it absently into his. Through the infant pudginess it was already clear how long the fingers were going to be—as long as Justin’s one day. He made up his mind.
“Up that flight of stairs, at the end of the corridor,” he said, pointing.
Sarah flashed him a smile of gratitude and ran up the stairs. At the top she found herself at the end of a long passage lined with doors, but she kept her eyes fixed on the one facing her at the very end.
And as she watched, the door opened and a man appeared, walking very slowly, as if with a huge effort.
“Justin!” she cried.
He stopped. It had taken all his strength to dress and get as far as the door, but he’d forced himself on, driven by the fear of losing her and Nicky again. Now he wondered if he was hallucinating. The woman who was calling to him down the length of the corridor had an unreal quality, like the woman who’d called him in the feverish dreams of the last few days. He waited as she grew close and her outlines became firmer. The child in her arms gave a shout of joy at the sight of him.
She stopped a few feet away, as though hardly daring to believe it was him. “You’ve remembered, haven’t you?” she asked breathlessly.
He nodded, smiling his recognition and relief. He hadn’t the strength to do more, but no words were needed. Each read the truth in the other’s eyes.
Then Sarah knew what she must do. Setting Nicky gently on the floor, she took something from her bag and pressed it into his hands. It was the tug-of-war medal. “Take this,” she said. “Give it to Daddy.”
Justin never took his eyes from his little son as the child sturdily toddled the few steps toward him and held the medal up. The next moment Sarah ran forward, and the two of them were folded into Justin’s arms, never to leave them again.
Neither of them noticed Uncle Nick appear at the far end of the corridor. He stood watching, smiling contentedly. At long last he’d found something of true beauty, as he’d always known he would.
eISBN 978-14592-7360-3
FORGOTTEN FIANCEE
Copyright © 1997 by Lucy Gordon
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