“She’s with the bride this morning and will be busy until they get to the church. But she’ll be there before twelve.” She gave him a very sweet smile before rushing off and leaving him with a curious unidentified feeling in the pit of his stomach.
* * *
The dining room was busy. Twenty or so men Adam didn’t know talked and joked loudly while tucking into a bewildering variety of breakfast dishes. Friends and relatives of George no doubt because they all seemed to know one another. He spotted Emmett at the buffet. The young man was also in casual clothes still, and he had a wide envelope under one arm.
Adam grabbed an empty plate and selected pancakes and syrup with a generous helping of crispy bacon. Emmett, who had a plateful of scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, said a quiet “Good morning,” and tried to stifle a yawn.
“I take it Ella Fitzgerald woke you up too.”
Emmett scoffed, “Like a slap in the face with a wet fish.”
They found two vacant chairs, and someone serving hot drinks placed cups in front of them as soon as they sat down.
Adam took a grateful sip of the excellent coffee. “It’s not my chosen music, but it grows on you after a while, doesn’t it?” And indeed, there was a festive feel to the morning. Some of the men at the table tapped their feet along with Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock,” while others whistled.
“I owe you an apology.”
Adam, in the act of taking another sip of coffee, raised his eyebrows with a wordless question at Emmett.
“For what Nicole did and…” He gave Adam a difficult smile. “What she said about you.”
Emmett and Pierre both seemed to have a talent for discombobulating him with unexpected comments that went right behind his polite mask into his churning gut.
“She’s not a bad person, but she’s not been herself lately and what she did was inexcusable.”
What could he say?
To give himself an excuse not to answer, he put something into his mouth and tried to chew – no idea what food it was, hopefully, it wasn’t the napkin.
Yes, the vile woman had ruined his relationship before it even started. But he wasn’t exactly innocent. He had hidden the truth from Laura.
“It’s not for you to apologise; you didn’t do anything wrong,” he finally managed to say.
“Anyway,” Emmett put his knife and fork down. “I have something for you.” And he reached for the envelope he’d placed on the table earlier and gave it to Adam.
It was an A3 padded envelope of the kind used to post important documents. Inside he found several large photographs.
The first showed a green field with wild daffodils. A wide path ran down the middle to the large house which would become Adam’s clinic.
The next picture was a close-up of the building with workmen hammering a sign above the door.
Adam had gone there yesterday to see the progress of the alterations.
The huge house had once been a small hotel but has failed to make a profit and the business was closed down. The building itself belonged to the island and George lost no time in organizing builders to make the necessary alterations.
Downstairs would be a day-clinic for ordinary patients, along with an x-ray and MRI room. Upstairs would be devoted to a mother and baby unit: delivery rooms with birthing pools, a small ward, a neonatal clinic and of course a sexual health surgery. They would not be operational for a while yet, not until the money started to come through but at least, the space would be ready.
The sign hadn’t been there when Adam had gone, but in Emmett’s photograph it said in large letteringMarigold Medical Centre.
Adam had chosen the name because of the marigold gloves Laura had given him the night of Tirana’s baby.
“It’s a wonderful place,” Emmett said. “There’s quite a buzz around the island, already. I don’t think many people liked the old doctor. Too expensive, apparently.”
“This will be heavily subsidized and, in some cases ,free,” Adam said automatically. He’d been answering questions about the clinic for several days now while canvassing support from his old colleagues in London.
“Who’s paying for the work?” Emmett asked.
“Until the funding comes through, George and Lord M are paying for the set-up.”
