Joanna Neil - His Summer Bride

She didn’t answer, still lost in that haze of delirious excitement. He’d kissed her…he cared about her… All at once the world was bright and new. Was this love?

Nick pulled in a deep breath, as though to steady himself. He held open the passenger door for her and she slid dazedly into the air-conditioned comfort of his car. Then he went around to the driver’s side, coming to sit beside her.

He turned the key in the ignition, starting up the car. ‘I need to get my head right,’ he said. ‘Perhaps we should talk about everyday kind of things for a while—like work, for instance.’

She blinked and closed her mouth, trying her utmost to bring her thoughts back down to a level plane, and he went on cautiously, ‘I thought you might like to know—I checked up on Darren Mayfield this afternoon.’

‘You did?’ She finally found her voice. ‘Oh, I’m glad of that. I haven’t had time to ring the unit yet today. How’s he doing? I know they were thinking of moving him from Intensive Care.’

He nodded. ‘That’s right. I know you’ve been keeping tabs on his condition over the last week or so. Anyway, he’s on the main ward now and he seems on course to make a full recovery. There’s some weakness in his limbs apparently, but the physiotherapist is going to be working with him and he looks set to be back to normal within a few weeks.’

Her face lit up. ‘Oh, that’s wonderful news… the best.’

He nodded. ‘I knew you’d be pleased.’ He set the car in motion and turned his attention to the road, leaving her to gaze out at the passing landscape.

‘You said you’d been to see your father’s vineyard,’ Nick remarked as he turned the car on to the valley road. ‘Of course, he doesn’t live on the property—his manager is the one who stays on the premises. I expect you’ll have met him when you went over there.’

Katie nodded. ‘Yes, I’ve been introduced to Toby. He seems a very friendly and approachable man. At least he was willing to answer all my naïve questions. Like I said, I’ve been fascinated with the whole process of growing vines and turning the fruit into wine ever since I came over here and learned what my father was doing.’

Nick frowned. ‘You could always ask me anything you want to know… anytime. I’d be only too glad to tell you. We could even combine it with dinner out or supper at one of the ocean view restaurants around here, if you like. Or a stroll along the beach if that takes your fancy more.’

Her mouth curved. ‘I’ll definitely think about it. They all sound good to me.’

He relaxed, a look of satisfaction crossing his face. ‘Wow! I think I’m actually winning for a change! Wake me up, I think I might be dreaming!’

‘I seriously hope not,’ she said with a laugh, ‘or any minute now you’ll be crashing the car into my father’s gatepost.’

They had reached her father’s property, a stone-built house set in a secluded area some short distance from the coastal stretch where Nick had his home. They approached it along a sweeping drive that cut through well-kept lawns, bordered in part by mature trees and flowering shrubs.

The house was a solid, rectangular building on two storeys, with the ground-floor windows placed symmetrically either side of a wide doorway.

Katie frowned as Nick drew the car to a halt. ‘It looks as though my father has a visitor,’ she said. ‘I don’t recognise that four by four, do you?’

‘It’s the doctor’s car. Dr Weissman—I’ve known him for some years now.’

‘Oh, yes.’ Katie collected her thoughts. ‘I think I’ve bumped into him once or twice.’ Her gaze was troubled. ‘I wonder if my father’s taken a turn for the worse?’

Nick was already sliding out of the car, and she hurried to join him on the gravelled forecourt. It was a fresh, warm summer’s day, but the sun went behind a cloud just then and a sudden sense of foreboding rippled through her. She walked quickly towards the oak front door and rang the bell.

Libby, the housekeeper, came to answer it, looking unusually flustered. ‘Oh, Katie, there you are.’ She pulled open the door and ushered them inside. ‘I was just about to call you,’ she said, pulling at a wayward strand of soft brown hair. ‘The doctor and Steve are with your father now. Jack’s been having a bad time of it all day. It’s his heart, I think. At least, that’s what the doctor said.’

‘I need to go and see him,’ Katie said, a thread of unease edging her words. The feeling of dread that clutched at her midriff since she’d arrived at the house was intensifying by the minute.

‘I understand how you must be feeling,’ Libby answered, worry lines creasing her brow, ‘but the doctor said he would come and let us know as soon as there was any news.’

Katie frowned. ‘But I’m his daughter. I want to be with him. I want to know what’s going on.’

The housekeeper’s face seemed to crumple, and she made a helpless, fluttering gesture with her hands, as though this was all getting too much for her, and Katie said quickly, ‘It will be all right, Libby, I promise. We made up our differences a while ago, my father and I… he’ll want me to be there with him. I know he will.’

Libby was still fraught with indecision. ‘I should have rung you earlier, I know I should, but I had to ring for an ambulance and try to contact the others and that took up so much time. It’s been such an awful day, one way and another. And the ambulance still hasn’t arrived.’

Katie frowned. What others? What was Libby talking about? But perhaps she had tried to phone Jack’s friends, the people who knew him best… along with the doctor, of course. Katie might be his daughter, but she had only been in town for a couple of months at most.

Nick took hold of her arm, as though to add a helping hand, and she turned to him in gratitude. ‘Thanks for bringing me here. It looks as though things are much more serious than I thought. Otherwise why would Dr Weissman have wanted an ambulance?’

‘It does sound as though he’s concerned,’ Nick admitted, ‘but let’s wait and hear what he has to say.’

‘I must go to my father,’ she said again. She knew the way to Jack’s room from the first time she had been there, when her father had shown her around, and despite Libby’s distressed expression she made an instant decision and began to head in that direction.

Nick went with her, but as they came to the first floor and walked along the corridor, the door of her father’s room opened and Steve walked out.

He stopped as soon as he saw them and pulled in a deep, calming breath. ‘Katie,’ he greeted her. ‘I don’t think you should go in there just yet. Let me talk to you for a while. Shall we find somewhere to sitdown?’ He glanced at Nick, and an odd look passed between them. Katie didn’t understand it. Hadn’t that same mysterious kind of glance occurred when she and her father had had dinner together and she’d met Nick for the first time?

She allowed Nick to lead her away, following Steve along the corridor and back down the stairs to the sitting room.

‘Please, sit down, Katie.’ Steve indicated a comfortable sofa and then turned to Nick. ‘You, too, Nick,’ he said.

Katie did as he suggested, feeling for the settee with the back of her legs and not once taking her gaze off Steve. Nick sat down beside her, and the nurse took the armchair opposite.

She was more bewildered than ever. Something was going on here and she had no idea what it could be. Right now, though, she wanted more than anything to know what was happening with her father.

‘Katie,’ Steve began quietly, ‘I’m really sorry to be the one to tell you this… but I’m afraid your father passed away a few minutes ago. In the end his heart simply gave out.’