Michael Palmer - Natural Causes

Sarah felt perilously close to tears. She had been wronged, clearly wronged by this man. Yet here he was, putting her on the defensive. Over her years at MCB, she had felt almost universal respect and acceptance from the staff, male and female. Many, like Alma Young, had gone out of their way to tell her so. Her performance evaluations were consistently among the highest of the residents. After two decades of solo practice, Randall Snyder was considering her for a partnership. Why was she letting this, this clone of Peter Ettinger, get to her so?

She bit at the inside of her lip until she felt certain her tears were contained. Then she snatched up the Herald and turned toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Truscott demanded.

"I'm going back to work."

"What are you going to do about all this?"

"If you mean am I going to Glenn, the answer is I don't know yet."

"They won't fire me. Not without hard proof."

"Andrew," she said without turning back, "right now, thanks to what you've done, I have more important things to worry about than whether or not they fire you."

July 7

The exercise room, an expansive solarium at the rear of the Great House, was as well equipped as most health clubs. Annalee Ettinger, while not nearly as fanatical about exercise as her father, did work out most days. There was a Universal, free weights, a StairMaster, treadmill, and Nordic-Track, as well as a continuous-current lap pool, ballet bar, tumbling mats, and a sauna. Today Peter had just finished a session with his trainer and was putting in some extra time with the weights. Annalee was feigning a workout on the Universal, waiting for the right moment for conversation.

Although she was no longer in as much awe and fear of the man as she had been for so many years, neither was she particularly comfortable around him. And although she understood him well enough to predict his reaction to most situations, she was completely in the dark as to how he would respond to what she was about to disclose.

She glanced over at him and couldn't help but be impressed. At forty-eight, he had the body of a thirty-year-old. He worked obsessively on his strength and flexibility and did forty minutes of Tai Chi a day for balance and centering. In his professional and personal life, he was unaccustomed to weakness or failure. How would he view the decisions his daughter had made?

Annalee was not yet two when he brought her home from Mali. In his accounts of the adoption, Peter left no doubt that he had saved her life. Her mother had died from dysentery, and the chances for her own survival were poor.

"I wanted to bring every orphaned child in the village home with me," he had told her more than once. "But that wasn't possible. So I carefully evaluated dozens of factors in dozens of children, and I finally picked you because you wouldn't let go of my leg."

From the beginning, the standards of achievement and success he set for himself were those he set for her. It might not have been fair, but it was the only way he knew. Throughout her school years, her persistent weight problems and ennui were a source of constant concern for him. Still, though she always felt judged, and often inadequate, she never doubted that he cared.

Over their twenty years together he had dated many women, lived with two, and married one. But he had never made her feel secondary to any of them. And now, despite her years of rebellion and insensitivity toward him, he had welcomed her home, provided for her, and made her a part of Xanadu-a part of his dream.

The Xanadu Holistic Health Community was being constructed on 150 acres of mixed farmland and forest, crisscrossed by centuries-old fieldstone walls. The Great House, a rambling, thirteen-room structure, had been built in 1837. At the time Peter purchased the property, the house had decayed to the point that several architects felt there was no possibility of restoring it. He had proven them wrong. And now the house, complete with nine-foot ceilings and reconstruction that was true to the original, was a showplace-the centerpiece of Xanadu. Peter had given Annalee a small office on the ground floor and made her the assistant director of marketing and public relations. It was their decision-his, really-that she would switch her major to business when she resumed full-time studies in January. Eighteen months later, she would be ready to go for an MBA. Meanwhile, summers and vacations, she would continue to expand her role at Xanadu.

Now, one way or the other, those carefully designed plans were about to change.

"Hey, Dad, lookin' good. Lookin' good," she said.

Peter was doing situps with a five-pound dumbbell in each hand. His forehead and razor-cut, silver hair glistened with what seemed to Annalee to be just the right amount of sweat. Perfect perspiration, she thought. That's it. That's Peter Ettinger in a nutshell.

"Enjoy your youth while you have it," he responded without slowing. "This gets harder and harder. You quitting?"

"Yeah, I–I'm not feeling so hot today."

The comment put an abrupt end to Peter's workout.

"Now that you mention it, I've been noticing that you haven't looked well the last couple of days," he said, toweling off.

Nonsense, she thought. It was doubtful that they had seen each other for five minutes over the preceding week. You don't have to impress me, Peter. Believe me, I'm already impressed.

"A little peaked, huh?" she said.

"Yes, yes. Exactly." He glanced over at her fine, ebony face. "Oh, very funny."

Annalee reminded herself that her father's sense of humor was far less developed than most of his other attributes. She would do well during this session to keep hers in check. She stretched her long, slender body to the maximum and wondered if he noticed the smooth, low mound beneath her leotard.

"I've been feeling a little sick to my stomach," she said.

"Perhaps some ginseng tea."

He stared out at a backhoe, rumbling down the hill toward the lakeside amphitheater construction site.

"And a little bloated."

"In that case, perhaps we should brew it with a bit of apple bark and saffron."

"And-and I haven't had a period in five months."

Peter tensed visibly and turned to her slowly. "How long?"

"Five months."

His eyes narrowed. "Am I to assume, then, that you are pregnant?"

Annalee managed a thin smile.

"That would be a safe assumption," she said.

"West? The musician?"

"Yes. His first name's Taylor, Dad, in case you forgot."

"You're certain?"

"About it being Taylor?"

"No, about the pregnancy."

Annalee searched her father's face and voice for clues as to what he was thinking and feeling. At first reading, the signs weren't encouraging.

"I'm certain. I had the test. And, Peter, before you ask the next obvious question, I want you to know that I'm very happy and excited about the whole thing."

"That's nice."

"Please, don't be flippant."

Peter pulled on a loose, terry-cloth T-shirt. Annalee could see him processing the implications of her news. His displeasure was clear. But that was no surprise. Little pleased him that he did not initiate or control.

"And Taylor?" he asked.

"He'll still be on the road a lot with the band. But sooner or later we'll be getting married."

Peter snatched up a ten-pound dumbbell and absently did half a dozen curls, first with one arm, then the other.

"You love him?" he asked suddenly.

The question startled Annalee-especially coming, as it had, before any inquiries about Taylor's income or earning potential.

"Yes… yes, I love him very much."

"And he's serious about his music?"

"He is. Very serious."

Annalee could barely believe what she was hearing. This was a side of her father that for years she had thought was reserved for paying customers only.