The Doctor Returns. Stella MacLeanЧитать онлайн книгу.
to look forward to,” he said, his tone charming and intimate.
Wrong pronoun! She wasn’t looking forward to dinner with him. He must never learn that even now he could influence her so easily. She eased closer to the door. “Then let’s get back to work. There are patients waiting.”
Determined to maintain her distance from the one man who, it seemed, could turn her life upside down and back again, she walked out of the dictation room to the waiting patients.
Someday before she left Eden Harbor for good, when she wasn’t feeling so mixed up, she’d have dinner with him and find the closure she needed. Nothing more.
* * *
HE’D NEARLY KISSED her—the second worst mistake he could’ve made. One dumb move after another...
He followed her out into the corridor, berating himself for doing everything wrong. Suddenly he focused on another possibility. Was there another man in her life? Had she not wanted to go out with him because she was seeing someone?
An even greater concern was the fact that she hadn’t shown any interest in their past, not even when he’d given her an opening. It had to be on her mind as much as it was on his.
As they proceeded to see the patients in the clinic, her lack of communication, except when it involved a patient, made it very difficult for him to concentrate on his work. Feeling dissatisfied and completely out of his element, he finished his clinic and took the elevator to Morgan’s room.
Whatever Lilly had to say would be thought-out and logical, because that was how Lilly dealt with problems. Thinking of her opened the door on his insecurities about his failed marriage.
Why hadn’t he been able to be the husband Lilly needed? His parents had made marriage look so easy, so natural. He’d assumed his would be like that, as well. He’d given what he had to the relationship, only to discover that they made better friends than lovers, better business partners than life partners.
Entering the room and seeing Morgan enjoying her mother’s company, he pushed aside all other concerns. “How’s it going, sweetie?” he asked, hugging his daughter tight. Morgan hugged him back; the scent of her strawberry shampoo filled his nostrils.
“Good. Mommy says she’s going to bring in a pizza for dinner tonight. Can you stay and have pizza with us?” she asked, her eyes intent on his face as she squirmed out of his arms.
Lilly’s arrival had obviously lifted Morgan’s spirits, for which he was grateful. “Absolutely.”
“Mommy says she’s staying for a few days, that you and her have things to talk about,” Morgan said, hope brimming in her eyes.
Neill gave Lilly a questioning look.
Neill knew that Morgan wanted her parents back together, and he couldn’t blame her. From Morgan’s perspective, there hadn’t been a problem. Her parents hadn’t fought about anything; there were no big differences of opinion expressed in her presence, no passionate arguments. Just two people who should never have married one another.
But explaining the complicated dynamics of a relationship to a child who missed her mother and who needed them both was out of the question. “We do have things to talk about, sweetie. But it’s much more important that you and Mommy have a great visit together.”
“Maybe tomorrow when you’re discharged, you can come and stay at the inn with me. It’s a lovely spot, and we can rent a sailboat and go out on the bay,” Lilly said, her smile encouraging as she tucked her daughter’s hand in hers.
“Can you come, Daddy?”
“Your dad’s pretty busy these days. He has so much to do now that you’ve moved to Eden Harbor,” Lilly said, smoothing Morgan’s auburn curls off her face, a face now clouded with sadness and disappointment.
“I want Daddy to come with us. We could have a fun day together. I’ll help make the lunch. Mom, you and I can go shopping for a dessert to take with us.” Morgan swung her pleading eyes from one parent to the other. “Gram says there are eagles off Cranberry Point, and I have to see them,” she said.
Neill wanted to say yes with every part of his being, if only to make up for refusing her the chance for a sleepover. But the last time he and Lilly had gone on an outing with Morgan back in Boston, she’d been very upset and tearful when her mother didn’t stay the night.
As much as he wanted to indulge his daughter, he couldn’t risk getting her hopes up over something that would never be. With a leaden heart, he met Morgan’s eager face. “I can’t go tomorrow, sweetie. It wouldn’t be right.”
“What do you mean?” Morgan asked, her eyes wide, her lips beginning their all too familiar quiver.
Lilly edged closer to Morgan, her arm slipping around her daughter’s shoulders. “Morgan, your daddy and I are divorced, which means that we have separate lives.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t go on a picnic, does it?” Her glance flew to her father’s face. “Daddy, why can’t you come just this once?”
Seeing the plea in her eyes, he wavered. What would it hurt to spend a few hours as a family to make life a little better for Morgan? But he had a day full of appointments tomorrow. “Tell you what I’ll do. You and Mommy go out on the sailboat tomorrow, enjoy your day together, and I’ll have dinner with you tomorrow evening.”
“At our house?” Morgan bargained.
“At our house,” he answered, hoping he hadn’t simply added to the problem.
Lilly kissed her daughter’s cheek and hugged her close. “I’m going to walk out with your dad and arrange for the pizza and then I’ll be back, okay?”
“Yeah, Mom.” Morgan turned to her father, her smile of joy twisting Neill’s heart. “See you later, alligator.”
“In a while, crocodile,” he answered, playing the old word game he’d taught her as soon as she could talk. At times like this he wondered if he and Lilly should have tried harder to fix their marriage—for Morgan’s sake.
Outside the room, Lilly said, “Neill, you shouldn’t be so unyielding with Morgan. She only wants to spend time with the two of us together. After all, she’s had a lot to deal with, considering the move and the changes in her life. She’s given up her friends and all her activities to come here to Eden Harbor. I understand your need for change in your life, but have you thought about the impact on her?”
“I’ve thought of nothing else.” Morgan had been a happy little girl in Boston; her only complaint was she wanted more attention from her dad. He’d assumed she’d do well with the move. He’d planned for them to lead an idyllic life in the community that had provided him with such a happy childhood. She’d have new friends and the love and attention of his mother. They’d have more time together, since he wouldn’t be teaching medical students.
“Well, we certainly don’t want a repeat of this,” Lilly admonished.
“Morgan cannot be allowed to believe we’re getting back together. That would be cruel. We have to remain firm on this or she’ll continue to work on each of us,” he responded, frustrated by Lilly’s inability to understand that offering false hope to their daughter would only delay her acceptance of their divorce.
He glanced back at the door to make sure Morgan hadn’t followed them out into the corridor. “She’s constantly searching for ways to get us together. She brings you into our conversations whenever she can. She’s always remarking on how you do something versus how I do it. What you tell her on the phone becomes her motto for the day.”
“She obviously misses me.”
“And she misses the life she had when we were married. And it’s left to me to explain why that can’t be.”
She touched his arm. “I realize how hard this must be on you—to be the one who constantly has to remind her