‘I see,’ he said thoughtfully, obviously not ‘seeing’ at all.
‘I’ll want to go into a nursing home,’ she told him briskly. ‘Perhaps you could recommend one?’
‘I could…’
‘Then do so,’ she encouraged.
‘Very well,’ he accepted with a shrug, ‘I could arrange it all for you from here if you would prefer it?’
‘Yes, perhaps that might be more suitable.’ She stood up in conclusion of the meeting. ‘I’ll telephone later today and confirm any arrangements you may have made.’
‘Maybe it would be better if I called you—’
‘No! No,’ she repeated more calmly. ‘I may not be there, and I—I want to take the call myself. You’re my doctor, and as you’re my doctor all of this meeting today is privileged information?’
‘Yes,’ he acknowledged slowly.
‘And if someone were to ask about me, anything at all, you wouldn’t tell them?’
‘Not if I were asked not to.’
‘Then I’m asking you,’ Kelly said calmly.
‘Does this request include the husband you’re now parted from?’ he guessed shrewdly.
‘Especially him,’ she confirmed shakily.
‘Are you sure that’s wise?’ the doctor asked gently. ‘Surely this is exactly the time you’re going to need him the most?’
‘Our marriage is over,’ she insisted. ‘I’ll telephone you later today, Dr Anderson.’
She left his office in a daze. She needed someone to talk to, someone who knew the whole story about the past and would understand. Only one person presented herself—Maggie.
Her friend looked surprised to see her when she rang the doorbell a few minutes later. ‘Hello, stranger.’ She opened the door further for Kelly to enter. ‘What brings you here?’
Kelly burst into tears, deep racking sobs that shook her slender body. ‘Oh, Maggie!’ she cried, burying her face in her friend’s shoulder.
‘Hey!’ the other girl chided. ‘I didn’t mean you weren’t welcome.’
‘I know,’ Kelly sniffed, gradually growing calmer.
‘What’s happened?’ Maggie smoothed Kelly’s dark hair, drying her tears with a tissue. ‘Has that brute been bullying you again?’
‘You mean Jordan?’ she gave a watery smile.
‘Well, what other bully do we both know?’ Maggie said dryly.
‘He isn’t a brute,’ Kelly sniffed again, taking the tissue and blowing her nose. ‘He can be quite gentle at times.’
‘I don’t—’ Maggie broke off as the flat door was opened by someone with a key. A man entered the room, very casually dressed in denims and a tee-shirt, his fair hair long and untidy. ‘What are you doing here?’ Maggie demanded of him.
‘I forgot my notebook.’ He reached across the desk in the corner of the room, picking up the pad. ‘Aren’t you going to introduce us?’ he eyed Kelly pointedly.
Kelly supposed this must be the boy-friend, although he wasn’t exactly what she had been expecting. She had somehow imagined him to be suave and sophisticated. Not that he wasn’t good-looking, he was, just not what Kelly had thought he would be.
She looked at Maggie questioningly. It wasn’t like her to forget her manners in this way. ‘I’m Kelly Lord,’ she introduced herself when it appeared Maggie had been struck dumb.
His eyes widened. ‘The Kelly Lord?’