Season of Shadows (5 page)

'And I'm her guardian,' he cut in smoothly.

She sucked her breath in sharply, her eyes widening in
incredulous disbelief. 'You're her
what
?'

'You heard me.'

'But that's absurd!'

'Is it?' he smiled, but the smile never touched those
cold, heavy-lidded eyes, and she shuddered at the thought of Sally
being placed in the care of a man who was so totally without the
necessary compassion and sensitivity.

'A man can't possibly see to all the needs of a girl
Sally's age,' she argued desperately, gripping her hands tightly in her
lap to hide the fact that they were shaking.

'She will enjoy the safety of my home, the best schools in
the country, and my entire staff here at Bellavista will be at her
disposal to pander to her needs when she's not at school.' Those
steel-grey eyes beneath the heavy brows seemed to be viewing her with a
calculating coldness filled with contempt. 'What can you offer Sally? A
small flat in Hillbrow where she'll spend most of her time alone and
without supervision while you're at work?'

'But I—'

'You have my permission to come and see her whenever you
wish, but, as her legally appointed guardian, I insist that she remains
here.'

There was a sinking feeling at the pit of Laura's stomach
when she heard that deadly finality in his voice, and what she hated
most was the knowledge that he had been right. Sally would have more
freedom here at Bellavista in comparison with children living in the
cosmopolitan flat-land of Johannesburg, and, financially, she was ill
equipped to offer Sally the kind of life she was accustomed to; the
kind of life Anton DeVere could offer her even without the considerable
amount Sally would eventually inherit from her father's estate.

Laura's mind darted this way and that, frantically seeking
a loophole in order to fulfil the promise she had made Sally, but she
knew in her heart that, legally, she did not stand a chance against
someone as wealthy and influential as Anton DeVere, and she reluctantly
had to admit defeat.

'Much as I would have wanted her with me, it seems as
though I have no choice but to leave her in your care,' she sighed at
length, biting down hard on her quivering lip, and avoiding those
probing eyes. 'If you're certain that my staying here won't
inconvenience you, then I'll make arrangements to return to
Johannesburg next Friday as planned.'

'My private aircraft will be at your disposal whenever you
wish to return.'

'No
no
, Aunty Laura! You
can't
leave me! You
promised
!' Laura leapt to her feet
at the sound of Sally's voice, almost losing her balance as the child
hurtled across the room directly into her arms to cling to her
desperately while she cried wildly and hysterically, 'Tell, her, Uncle
Anton! Tell her she has to stay. You
can't
leave
me. I won't let you. I
won't
let you go!'

Laura was vaguely aware that Anton had risen quickly from
his chair, but she was too alarmed by the sobbing, hysterical child in
her arms to hear what he was saying.

'Sally, don't!' she ordered sharply, stroking the dark
head soothingly. 'Stop it, do you hear me? Stop it! You'll
make yourself ill!'

A heavy hand came down on to Laura's shoulder and gripped
hard. 'Get her upstairs. I'll call the doctor.'

Slight of build and strength, Laura managed somehow to get
Sally up to her room, but the hysterical weeping did not cease even
when she sat on the bed with the child in her arms.

'Don't leave me, Aunty Laura,' Sally pleaded repeatedly,
her eyes wild in her damp, flushed face. 'Don't leave me. You
promised
!'

'Calm down, darling. Calm down,' Laura tried to pacify
her, but nothing she could do, or say, seemed to have the desired
effect on Sally. She could not repeat the foolish promise she had made,
knowing now that she could not fulfil it, and she was almost frantic
with concern and despair when Anton entered the room some minutes later
with a tall, thin, grey-haired man.

'Dr Abbot!' Sally almost screamed his name, releasing her
frantic grip on Laura for the first time and quite literally throwing
herself at the man who approached the bed.

'There now, young Sally,' he said lightly, lowering her on
to the bed, and placing the back of his fingers against the child's
burning cheeks. 'I think you and I should have a quiet little
chat… hm?'

'We'll wait downstairs,' Anton announced and, taking
Laura's arm, he marched her firmly from the room.

She tried to shake off his hand, but his fingers merely
tightened about her arm as he led her down the stairs and across the
hall into the living-room.

'Do you think she'll be all right?' she asked when they
were no longer able to hear Sally's weeping.

'Graham Abbot brought Sally into this world,' Anton
informed her in clipped tones. 'He's my neighbour, and he's an
excellent doctor.'

This explained his quick arrival at Bellavista, but as
time passed Laura's anxiety did not lessen. She accepted a cigarette
from Anton and smoked it in agitated silence, but long after she had
put it out there was still no sign of Dr Abbot.

'What's he doing up there that's taking up so much time?'
she demanded eventually, glancing at the clock above the mantelshelf.
'It's been forty-five minutes!'

'Stop worrying,' Anton ordered, lighting his third
cigarette. 'Sally's in good hands.'

'But what if—'

'Ah, here you are,' Dr Abbot's pleasant voice interrupted
her, and they both swung round to face him as he entered the
living-room.

'How is she?' Anton asked before Laura could formulate the
words, and she was surprised at the hint of anxiety in his voice.

'She's quite calm now,' the doctor explained, placing his
bag on the floor beside a chair and making himself comfortable. 'I've
given her a light sedative, but it won't necessarily make her sleep.'

Relief swept through Laura, and, following the doctor's
example, she lowered herself shakily into a chair.

'Graham, this is Sally's aunt, Laura Hoffmeyer,' Anton
introduced her.

'Glad to know you, Miss Hoffmeyer,' Graham Abbot said
absently. 'Most distressing business, the accident. Most distressing.'

'Gould I pour you a drink, Graham?' Anton offered, turning
towards the ornately carved oak cabinet in the corner.

Graham Abbot shook his grey head. 'No, thank you, but I
suggest you pour one for yourself and for Miss Hoffmeyer. You're both
going to need it before I'm finished with you.'

Laura's throat tightened in alarm, but it was Anton who
said: 'That doesn't sound very good at all.'

'Depends on how you look at it,' the doctor shrugged
thoughtfully.

A glass of wine was placed into Laura's hand, and Anton
swallowed down a mouthful of his whisky before he seated himself in the
vacant chair beside Laura's.

'Well, let's hear it,' he said abruptly.

Graham Abbot offered Anton a cigar, but Anton declined,
and Laura watched nervously as the doctor rolled the cigar
appreciatively between his fingers before he clipped off the end and
lit it. 'There's nothing physically wrong with Sally, but we had quite
a lengthy chat.'

'It lasted forty-five minutes,' Anton announced mockingly.
'Laura counted every second.'

Laura flashed him an angry glance, but the doctor
continued speaking as if there had been no interruption.

'I don't think either of you realise what a shock it's
been to Sally to lose both her parents at the same time,' he said,
filling the room with the heavy aroma of his cigar. 'Heaven knows she
didn't have much of a home life with Robert and Liz away most of the
time, but she was happy enough, and now the only world she has known
has been ripped from under her feet, so to speak. From her hysterical
ramblings I gathered that she needs
you
, Anton,
because you're familiar to the world she's known.' Graham Abbot paused
momentarily, his grey glance resting on Laura as if he were summing her
up for some or other reason. 'She needs you as well, Miss Hoffmeyer,
because you're the only blood link she has left with her mother.
There's no doubt in my mind that she's extremely fond of both you
and
Anton, and to part from either of you at this crucial time might
unbalance her completely, I'm afraid.'

There was a brief, strained silence while they digested
this news, then Anton asked, 'What do you suggest we do, Graham?'

Graham Abbot studied the ash on the tip of his cigar, and
frowned. 'What you do is entirely up to yourselves, but I would like to
add this last bit of advice.' He looked up then, and Laura felt an odd
tightening about her chest which she could not explain to herself even
if she tried. 'Sally is in desperate need of a stable home life, which
is something she's never really known. It's my opinion that she needs
the love and care of a mother
and
a father, and I
suggest you both think very seriously about that.'

Another frightening little silence prevailed, and as she
glanced quickly at Anton, Laura noticed that his eyes were narrowed to
angry slits in his taut face.

'Do you realise what you're suggesting, Graham?' he
demanded with a calmness that had an ominous ring to it, and Laura
somehow did not dare to analyse the conversation.

'There comes a time in most people's lives when they're
forced to consider someone else's interests instead of their own,'
Graham Abbot announced in that unperturbed fashion as he rose from his
chair and picked up his medical bag. 'I'll call in again tomorrow.'

Seated alone in the living-room while Anton saw Graham
Abbot to the door, Laura swallowed down a mouthful of her
half-forgotten wine, and, as she felt the steadying warmth of the
liquid surging into her veins, she drained her glass and placed it
carefully on the low table beside her chair. She had the oddest feeling
that something was about to happen; something which would affect her
personal life, and when Anton finally re-entered the living-room, she
was filled with an incredible wariness.

She refused his offer of another glass of wine, but she
rose to her feet and stood about restlessly while she watched him pour
a double whisky for himself.

'What are we going to do?' she asked with a feeling of
trepidation spiralling through her.

'There's only one thing we can do, it seems,' he replied
harshly, splashing soda into his glass. 'We shall have to provide her
with the home she needs.'

Laura digested this carefully, rejecting several thoughts
which leapt into her mind before she found the courage to ask, 'And how
do you suppose we'll manage that?'

Anton swallowed down almost half his drink before he
turned to face her, and there was a tightness about his ruthless mouth
that made her quiver inwardly with something close to fear. He did not
answer her at once, but his narrowed, piercing glance seemed to dissect
her from head to toe where she stood waiting tensely for him to speak.
She withstood his glance for what seemed an eternity, and then, when
she had almost reached the limit of her endurance, he said tersely:

'You'll have to marry me.'

Each
tick of the clock on the mantelshelf sounded like the reverberating
beat of a bass drum as Laura stared at Anton in stunned disbelief, but
it was not the ticking of the clock she was listening to, she
discovered at length, it was the thundering beat of her own frightened
heart.

'You must be out of your mind!' she cried hoarsely,
clutching at the back of a nearby chair when her trembling legs
threatened to cave in beneath her. 'You can't seriously be suggesting
marriage?'

His mouth twisted derisively. 'Can you think of a better
solution?'

'There must be some other way to satisfy Sally's needs,'
she argued in frantic desperation, refusing to accept the unthinkable
solution he had suggested.

'If there was, do you think I wouldn't jump at it?' he
demanded with a biting harshness that made her flinch, then he
swallowed down the remainder of his drink and set his glass aside with
a violence that nearly shattered it. 'Let's take the situation step by
step. Sally needs a home with a mother and father thrown in for good
measure. That immediately suggests placing her with foster-parents, but
she also happens to need both you and me to the extent where it might
unbalance her mentally to part from us.' He thrust his clenched fists
into his pockets and strode towards the fireplace to stare broodingly
down into the empty grate. 'Can you come up with a better solution than
the one I've suggested?'

'I…' She shook her head in helpless confusion.
'No— but marriage is so—so binding.'

'Naturally it's binding,' he stated with remarkable
tolerance as he turned to face her, but his eyes narrowed to slits of
anger when he saw her frightened blue gaze resting on him. 'Dammit,
Laura, do you think I want this any more than you do? I enjoy my life
the way it is without a wife to clutter up the place, but, as Graham
suggested, we should forget about ourselves and consider Sally's
happiness instead.'

'Do you mean to say that Dr Abbot was actually suggesting
marriage when he passed that remark?' Laura asked incredulously, unable
to believe that anyone in their right mind would suggest marriage
between two people who were almost complete strangers to each other.

'Indirectly, yes,' Anton replied tersely. 'When Robert
asked me to be Sally's guardian, I agreed, but I never imagined that I
would one day be needed in that capacity. I find it a nuisance, quite
frankly, but she's my responsibility now, and I intend to do the best I
can for her.'

'Even to the extent of marrying someone you
don't— don't care for?' she asked haltingly, his resolute
expression driving the remaining colour from her cheeks to leave her
white and shaken.