Reluctant Relation (4 page)

“It was my fault.” Pearl gave a contrite sniff. Meg could find no words at all. She stood there, dumb from the unspeakable, agonizing relief of discovering that Pearl was not dead after all.

If Leigh Sontigan’s words were unjust, she simply did not care. For the first time, someone had registered intense, almost passionate concern for Pearl. And, of all people, it was the abrupt, casual, unlikeable brother of the stepmother she detested.

CHAPTER THREE

W
ithin a few minutes of Pearl’s accident, a crowd had gathered, and a policeman shouldered his way through to inquire, “Is the bairn hurt?”

“I think her arm’s broken,” Meg explained huskily.

“I couldn’t avoid her!” the distressed driver broke in eagerly. “She ran right in front of me.”

“My car’s just around the corner.” Leigh Sontigan spoke almost simultaneously with the other two. “I’ll take her to the hospital.”

“The ambulance is on its way. Are you the bairn’s parents?” He looked from Leigh to Meg.

“I’m a friend of her mother.” Leigh spoke curtly, but with an air of responsibility not lost on the policeman. “The child was in this lady’s charge when the accident happened.”

“You should have kept a closer watch on her, ma’am.”

“It wasn’t Meg’s fault at all,” piped up the victim, with a display of energy which gave everyone some relief. “I just rushed across the road without thinking.”

“Lassie, you should never do that.” The policeman shook his head at her and smiled. “Well, we’ll soon have you in hospital and they’ll fix you up. Here comes the ambulance.”

And sure enough, an urgent siren announced that an ambulance had arrived, with almost miraculous speed.

The interested spectators reluctantly allowed themselves to be pushed aside, the ambulance hacked up to the pavement, and a couple of kindly and efficient men descended.

“Shall we take the little girl?” one asked.

But Pearl clutched Leigh with her unhurt hand and he said, “No, I’ll lift her in.”

“Meg must come too,” Pearl insisted eagerly.

“Yes, of course,” Leigh said. But he did not even glance Meg’s way as he lifted Pearl into the ambulance and laid her on the stretcher.

Meg, aware now that she was shaking, climbed in after him. Then, when the ambulance attendants had rapidly satisfied themselves that the little girl needed no immediate attention, they both got back in front. The policeman looked in and said, “I’ll get the details at the hospital,” the door was slammed, and they drove away from the scene of the accident.

For a moment, in the sudden intimacy of the confined space, Meg felt unable to summon any words. Then she saw that Pearl was blinking back tears with some difficulty and, leaning forward, she asked tenderly, “How are you feeling, darling?”

“It hurts a bit.” Pearl spoke with courageous understatement.

“I expect it does. But they’ll soon make you feel better at the hospital.”

“Are you angry with me?”

“No, certainly not! You shouldn’t have run across the road without looking. But we all do silly things without thinking sometimes. And you’ve certainly been punished.”

“I couldn’t let Leigh go without speaking to him,” Pearl explained, with a sigh.

“No?” said Meg. This time it was she who did not glance at him, and the faint query in her voice suggested that she accepted, though did not understand, the explanation for Pearl’s impulse.

At the hospital, Meg and Leigh Sontigan were told to wait, while Pearl was whisked away into the emergency department.

Other anxious people were waiting around, but Meg felt as though there were only one person there besides herself: the tall, restless, overbearing man who had told her she should have taken better care of Pearl.

She knew the remark was unjust, and yet she could not escape a vague, guilty feeling that she should have managed to prevent this accident. And on a more immediately practical plane, she wondered unhappily what Pearl’s mother would have to say about it. For, as casually as Felicity might act toward her daughter, she probably believed herself to be a devoted mother and would have no patience for anyone who let Pearl come to any real harm.

Presently the policeman appeared again, and Meg had to give him further details.

“Will you be making any charge against the driver of the car?” he inquired, writing busily.

“Oh no, I don’t think so. It simply wasn’t his fault,” Meg admitted. “She ran across, against the lights, and the car couldn’t stop in time.”

“In your opinion, was the car traveling at an unreasonable speed?”

“I don’t ...
know.” Meg pushed back her hair from a damp forehead and, without even knowing it, glanced round distractedly. “I couldn’t see the car. It was hidden by the bus, so far as I was concerned.”

“It was traveling at a perfectly reasonable pace,” Leigh said beside her, and she was vaguely thankful for support, even from him. “The driver did the best he could, but there was no chance of avoiding her. We’re lucky that he struck her only a glancing blow.”

“Very good, sir.” The policeman turned back to Meg. “You say the little girl lives with her mother in Purworth. Would you like us to telephone the news of the accident or—”

“Oh no!” Meg could not imagine what Cecile would say to her if she allowed Felicity to have such a shock without preparation. “As soon as I know how Pearl is, I’ll either take her home, if I’m allowed to, or ... or go back and explain to her mother myself.”

At this point, a nurse appeared and, under the impression that Meg was Pearl’s mother, she said, “Your little girl isn’t very seriously hurt, I’m glad to say. She’s fractured her left arm and got one or two nasty bruises, but there doesn’t seem to be anything else wrong. However, we’d like to keep her in for the night, just in case of shock. I think you’ll be able to take her home tomorrow. Would you like to come and see her now?”

“Yes, please.” Meg spoke in a whisper, suddenly almost voiceless from relief and desire to burst into tears.

The nurse patted her arm kindly and asked, “Is this your husband?”

“Oh no!” Meg rejected the suggestion with such emphasis that Leigh’s eyebrows went up quizzically, and for the first time since the accident she saw a hint of that mocking little smile.

“I’m just a friend,” he explained gravely to the nurse. And then, to Meg, “Have you got a car here in town?”

“Why, no. No, we came by bus. I’ll go home the same way.”

“Go and see Pearl now,” he said, with an air of taking over. “I’ll fetch my car and be back here in a quarter of an hour to take you to Purworth.”

“You don’t need—” she began. But he had already turned to go and either did not hear or chose to ignore her protest.

She found Pearl sitting up in bed, her face pale and her arm in a sling, but with an air of cheerful expectancy that was most reassuring.

“Where’s Leigh?” she demanded immediately.

“He’s gone to get his car, so that he can drive me home.”

“ Oh, I’m glad! Now he’ll explain to Mommy and she won’t be able to blame you.” Pearl declared artlessly. “How kind of him. But then he is kind, isn’t he?”

Agreement stuck in Meg’s throat. But in front of Pearl’s earnest gaze it was impossible to add any qualification, so she said that Leigh was indeed kind and asked Pearl how she was feeling.

“Not too bad. And anyway, Nurse says I’m lucky to be alive.” Pearl smiled roguishly at the nurse, with whom she was evidently already on excellent terms.

“Well, darling, it certainly ended better than we could have hoped.” Meg ruffled the child’s hair tenderly. “All you have to do now is keep quiet and get well. I don’t think you’ll have to stay long in the hospital—” she guessed she had better not be more specific than that, in case of disappointment “—and of course I’ll come and see you tomorrow.”

“Will Leigh come too?” Pearl wanted to know.

“I can’t answer for him, my dear. I expect he’s a very busy person.”

“Yes, he’s very busy.” Pearl seemed rather proud of him on this account. “But he’ll probably come if he can. Please ask him to come, Meg.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Meg promised. And she decided then and there that one thing she was going to make clear with her feckless employer in future was what consistent line she was to take with regard to Pearl and Leigh Sontigan.

She stayed only a few minutes, as it was obvious that Pearl needed rest. After repeating her promise to return on the morrow, she kissed the little girl and took her leave. She was relieved to see that, far from being alarmed by unfamiliar surroundings, Pearl seemed to be welcoming the extra attention and companionship which her accident had secured for her.

In the driveway in front of the emergency department, Meg found Leigh Sontigan waiting for her, in what she could not help thinking was an appropriate black Jaguar. Like its owner, it was big and dark, with a powerful elegance about it. And as she slipped into the seat beside Leigh, she could not deny that, at the moment, physical comfort outweighed any question of antagonism.

Apart from a brief query as to how she had found Pearl, he said little until they had threaded their way through the city traffic and were out on the Great North Road. Then, to her considerable astonishment, what he said was, “I’m sorry I blamed you. It wasn’t really your fault, of course.”

“Why, that’s all right.” She spoke a little stiffly, because she could not immediately accept the abruptly offered olive branch. “I expect you were as scared as I was, and felt ready to blame anyone.”

He made a slight face, but did not entirely rebut her charge. “I’ve never felt more frightened in all my life,” was the way he put it. “And I suppose my reaction was to blame someone. Did you feel like blaming me?”

“Well, hardly. Why should I?”

“I was the nearest person, as far as you were concerned.”

“I suppose you were.” She gave a small, pale smile. “And now I do remember thinking, “Why did he have to turn up just at that minute?”

“I was practically at the door of my office.”

“Oh, you don’t need to offer excuses for your presen
c
e now.” Her smile deepened a trifle. “I’m only too glad that you were there. And I’m extremely grateful for this ride.”

“Well, you certainly weren’t fit to struggle in a bus line up,” he told her briefly. “I don’t think you know how washed out you looked.”

There is no subtle flattery about the term “washed out,” and Meg felt no pleasure on having it applied to her. But she supposed he was offering her a rough form of sympathy, so she swallowed her chagrin and said nothing.

He seemed to think she would probably prefer to remain undisturbed, and for some time there was no further conversation, Then, as they passed through Morpeth, he said,

“How did you come to be in charge of Pearl? It’s quite a recent appointment, isn’t it?”

“As recent as yesterday,” Meg, told him. And then, since he seemed to be waiting for more, she gave him a brief outline of the events which had so unexpectedly put Pearl in her care.

“How like Felicity,” was his sole, dry comment. And she was not quite sure if he meant that it was like Felicity to leave her child in the charge of an unsatisfactory nanny, or to pass on the little girl, with equal irresponsibility, to someone she had only just met.

“I feel I failed badly, since I let this happen to her the very first day,” said Meg, speaking her unhappy thoughts aloud.

“It was not your fault,” he repeated. And, in an odd way, she felt comforted by the unequivocal bluntness of his manner, so that for a moment she glimpsed what it was about him that reassured and attracted the rather rootless little girl who loved him.

Ten minutes later they arrived in Purworth and, as they got out of the car, he said curtly, “Leave it to me. I’ll explain.”

Part of her wanted to say coldly that she was able to tackle her own problem. But the other part of her, frightened and now very tired, was unashamedly glad that someone was going to take on the task of explanations.

He opened the door of the house and walked in as though he had every right to be there. Although Cecile was in the hall, he brushed past her lightly.

So much for Cecile’s own capacity for halting him, she thought, and followed Leigh Sontigan into the drawing room, where they found Felicity sipping tea and obviously relaxing.

“Why, Leigh!” Her tone was a subtle blend of indignation and pleasurable curiosity. “What on earth are you doing here?” Then her glance went beyond him to Meg, and she added, a trifle sharply, “And where is Pearl?”

“That’s why we’re here together.” Leigh Sontigan came straight to the point. “I brought
Meg ...
Miss Greenway ... home from Newcastle because Pearl had an accident. Not a very serious one, but the child has to stay in hospital overnight.”

“In hospital? Pearl?” Felicity rose to her feet, genuinely moved and frightened for once, and evidently astonished that such a thing could happen. “What sort of an accident?”

“She
—
”

“Why didn’t you take better care of her?” Felicity turned with unexpected fierceness on Meg.

“She took every care of the child.” Leigh Sontigan spoke firmly, and in spite of everything, Meg gave him a dazed and grateful glance. “It was something no one could have guarded against. Pearl just shot away from her side and dashed across the street, against the lights.”

“But why should she? She’s a sensible child. What made her do such a thing?” Felicity spoke resentfully.

“I’m afraid I was on the other side of the road.”

“Did you call her or something?”

“No, of course not. She just saw me ... and came.”

“How ridiculous!”

“Yes, wasn’t it?” he said. But he smiled at her, in a way that showed his strong, white teeth, and Meg saw her angry glance waver uncertainly.