Next Door to Romance (24 page)

After a moment's hesitation, she went into the office. Celia was sitting at her desk, her head buried in her arms. She stirred instantly at the sound of Lisa's footsteps and jumped up.

'How long have you been here?' she demanded.

'A few minutes,' Lisa was forced to confess.

'In which case, I suppose you heard the row Robin and I were having?' She laughed harshly and shrugged. 'Oh well, it doesn't matter. It's about time someone gave that young man a telling off! He's still got far too good an opinion of himself. What did you come for?'

The somewhat blunt question rather surprised Lisa, and she cordially wished that she hadn't come.

'To see if I could lend you a hand for an hour or so.'

'No, I don't think so,' Celia said indifferently. 'But you might take a message to Tom for me.'

'Yes?' Lisa asked, wondering why she felt reluctant to do such a simple thing.

Celia considered.

'No, after all, I'll telephone him,' she decided. 'I can make things clearer.'

'Then if I can't be of any use, I'll go,' Lisa said, glad to make her escape from the still overcharged air of the office. Celia didn't reply. She was standing staring out of the window, and Lisa was not at all sure that she had heard her speak.

Janet, the Bellairs' oldest daughter, had expected that her new baby would arrive about the middle of November. Instead of that, the new little Miss Vernon elected to put in an appearance in the last week of October. As a result, all Janet's plans for having someone in to run the house and look after the family were useless. Miss Laidlaw, the retired nurse who had been going to take over, was elsewhere on a similar engagement and couldn't, of course, leave her present charge.

There was really only one thing for it. Lisa must step into the breach, which she did willingly not only because she was glad to help Janet out, but also because it would be a relief to get away from Addingly for a time. Of course Janet knew all about Mark, but Lisa could reasonably hope that she would be concerned with her own affairs that her sister's wouldn't seem of paramount importance.

So Lisa drove up to Oxfordshire with no other anxieties than having to leave her mother to cope with the household duties which she herself usually undertook.

'But she has promised to be sensible,' Lisa reassured herself as the miles ticked steadily away. 'And Mrs Thacker will keep an eye on her. And it will be a relief not to have people looking at me to see how I'm making out! It's like the way we used to dig seeds up to see if they were sprouting, and so often, killed them doing it!' she sighed. 'If only, when I come back, all that was forgotten! If only there was no one left to remind people—the Cosgraves and, yes, Robin Enderby—'

But at least, once she reached Janet's home, she herself forgot all about everything except the immediate needs of the situation. When John had rushed Janet off to the hospital early that morning a neighbour had taken charge of the two older children, Jenny, aged five and Roger, coming up for three. They hurled themselves into Lisa's arms, bursting with the news that they had a baby sister, and demanding to be taken to see her at once.

It took a considerable amount of both patience and tact to convince them that they'd have to wait just a little while before they could do that, and the neighbour laughed sympathetically.

'You're going to have your hands full!' she prophesied.

And Lisa did! The house to run, unfamiliar shops to deal at, one child to take to school and collect and the other to keep entertained—Lisa wasn't at all sure that she had time to breathe, but she contrived to plan her days with a rhythm which enabled her to take on the additional duties entailed when Janet and her baby came home in her stride.

Janet was apologetic.

'It's putting such an awful lot on you!'

'Don't you worry,' Lisa insisted. 'For the first time in my life I feel really indispensable! As a matter of fact, I'm getting a swelled head on that account! Besides, I'm thoroughly enjoying myself, aren't I, my angel?' she crooned.

And if there was an ache in her heart as she kissed Miss Vernon's soft, newly minted cheek, not even Janet should guess it.

When, in due course, Miss Laidlaw was free to come and take charge, Lisa was, in fact, reluctant to leave. Janet's was such a
young
home, full of laughter and bustle and with such a sense of looking forward. There was nothing of that in her own home, and the feeling was exaggerated when she reached there because both her father and mother were out, and though she had known they would be, the silence had a chilling effect on her.

Still, it was no good bothering about that! She must get herself something to eat—

She had just gone into the kitchen when she heard a door bang and went out to the hall just as Tom came out from his quarters.

'Lisa, how nice!' he said, taking both her hands in his. 'How long have you been back?'

'Not more than a quarter of an hour,' she told him. 'But, Tom, I am glad to see you! After Janet's house, I felt like the last pea rattling about in the pod here, particularly with Mother and Father out.'

'Yes, they were sorry about that, but I promised I'd get back early. I say, Lisa,' he added coaxingly, 'I suppose you couldn't knock up a bit of a meal for me? I missed lunch—'

'So did I,' Lisa replied. 'At least, I had a sandwich, but that seems to have vanished! Bacon and eggs?'

'Heaven!' Tom applauded. 'Just wait until I've washed and I'll be with you!'

He went off whistling cheerfully and it seemed quite suddenly to Lisa that the clock had been turned back to those days before Mark had come into her life. She remembered especially that glorious May morning when she had got up early and Tom hadn't been to bed at all. They'd had bacon and eggs then and had been completely at their ease with one another as they had never been since—until now.

She heard Tom returning and bustled energetically about her preparations, uneasy lest he should somehow read her thoughts and be able to interpret them more coherently than she herself could.

To her relief, however, Tom immediately began to make enquiries about Janet and the new arrival, and when that topic of conversation was exhausted, Lisa had regained her poise sufficiently to introduce another.

'And what's been happening in Addingly since I went away?' she asked as she put two well filled plates on the table.

'This looks good!' Tom commented approvingly, and then, casually, as he sat down: 'Oh—Addingly! Well, this and that, you know. Mrs Blewett came to see me almost in tears. Her sailor brother who gave her the parrot paid her a visit and he evidently found time hanging on his hands, because he taught the creature some really shocking words! So bad that most of the time Mrs Blewett keeps a cover over the cage, particularly if there are callers. Only unfortunately when the Rector called, the cover somehow slipped off and—'

Lisa dissolved into helpless laughter and Tom grinned.

'Yes, that's just what Mr Thacker did—laughed! And that shocked Mrs Blewett even worse than the parrot had!'

'I do like Addingly,' Lisa said appreciatively. 'Things happen that wouldn't anywhere else. Anything else, Tom?'

'Well, the Cosgraves are leaving the Manor,' Tom replied, and Lisa was quite sure that he was carefully avoiding her eyes. 'Going back to a cottage in the village they both lived in at the time they got married. Mrs Cosgrave's idea, I think, but she can't do anything wrong in his eyes these days, so that's all right.'

Lisa nodded. There really didn't seem anything to say to that.

'Anything else?'

'You're absolutely insatiable,' Tom grumbled. 'But —well, yes, there is one other thing, if it interests you. I'm going abroad for three months or so.'

'You're
what
!' Lisa exclaimed, her knife and fork clattering on to her plate.

'Going abroad,' Tom repeated in rather a blurred way because his mouth was full.

'But your practice!' Lisa protested. 'Whatever will happen to that?'

'Oh, my partner will look after that,' Tom explained, helping himself to more toast.

'Your
partner
!' Lisa echoed blankly.

'Oh, didn't I tell you?' Tom asked casually. 'Yes, I've decided it's time I had one.' He paused as he chased an elusive piece of bacon round his plate. 'Particularly as I had a chance to get a really good chap. Robin Enderby, as a matter of fact!'

'Robin Enderby!' Lisa repeated incredulously.

Tom grinned at her.

'You know, Lisa, if you're not careful, you'll get like Mrs Blewett's parrot! You've simply repeated everything I've said.'

'Well, you've surprised me so much,' Lisa defended herself. 'I mean, Robin Enderby, of all people, when you know perfectly well why he came here! How can you possibly trust him, particularly if you're going to be away for months?'

'Quite easily, my dear—as you will when I've told you what he told me,' Tom told her. 'You remember, not so very long ago, that we wondered, you and I, if he did know what was at the bottom of Cosgrave's generosity?'

'Well?' Lisa said rather shortly. She was feeling rather put out. The Cosgraves were leaving the district, just as she had wished they would. But Robin Enderby was not only staying on. As Tom's partner it was inevitable that he and Lisa would see more of each other than had been the case until now, particularly in Tom's absence.

'He didn't know. And when Celia made it very clear to him, it shook him badly,' Tom explained soberly. 'But, as he pointed out to me, he'd got to work for his living and he couldn't just chuck up the job like that. Besides, he had a verbal agreement with Cosgrave that if he stayed a year here, Cosgrave would pay him a thousand pounds, in monthly instalments. That seems to make it pretty clear to me that if it suited him, he could terminate the agreement at any time without loss to himself—a typical attitude! On the other hand, Robin regarded it as a gentleman's agreement that was, in a way, more binding than a written contract.'

'Because, legally, he couldn't be held to it,' Lisa nodded. 'So it just depended on his integrity. Yes, I see. Go on, Tom.'

'Well, he makes no bones about it, he didn't
want
to believe Celia, and no wonder, poor chap! It looked like the chance of a lifetime to him, and naturally he didn't want to throw it away. Then that Chicot case came up. I can't say I saw him in court. Did you? No? Well, apparently he was there, and as far as he was concerned, that finished it. He wrote to Cosgrave and told him that he couldn't carry on and why. That was about the time that Cosgrave crocked up, and as a result, Robin got no answer to his letter until a few days ago. Then he had a letter from the solicitor who said that Cosgrave's affairs were now being handled by—' he hesitated.

'By Mark,' Lisa said steadily. 'Yes, Tom?'

'Yes, by Saville, who instructed the solicitor to say that he had no idea to what agreement Robin was referring and that most certainly there was no question of any payment being made to him. What's more, he would either, in future, have to rent the house he's in or buy it.'

'Oh no!' Lisa protested indignantly.

'Oh yes,' Tom retorted grimly. 'So there it was— out on his neck and not a thing he could do about it. True, he was relieved of any responsibility to Cosgrave, but on the other hand—d'you know, Lisa, when I asked him if he'd consider becoming my partner, he nearly broke down!'

'I'm not surprised,' Lisa said soberly. 'It must have seemed like a gift from the gods. So exactly what's going to happen, Tom?'

'Naturally, I've talked it over with your parents. They're willing to have Robin living here in my absence —and, of course, using my surgery. Then when I get back, we'll thrash things out.'

'I see,' Lisa said slowly. 'When did you say you'd be back?'

'Oh, three months or so,' he said casually.

'And when do you start?'

'Next week. Flying to New York on Thursday,' he said briefly.

'Oh—' Lisa considered the statement. 'That means you won't be here for Christmas.'

'No, that's so,' Tom agreed. 'A pity, but there it is. And after all, it is Christmas all over the world, isn't it? So I'll probably do all right.'