Faith - Lesley Pearse [99]
Much, much later, after they were married, she came to see that he’d been equally cold-blooded in choosing her as his wife. He once told her he’d watched her from a distance in Harrods while she was demonstrating some of his toys, and he said her smile, her sleek appearance and the graceful way she moved made him realize she was the perfect wife for him.
Unfortunately for Greg, he had selected her as if she were a car in a showroom, bought without a test drive. She might have looked like quality, but in fact she was bargain-basement with a great many faults, and when they were revealed Greg wanted to trade her in.
But that February day when she was weak and sad, and he was being so kind and loving, she really wanted to put all that aside, for they had Barney to think of and she was anxious for him to have the kind of happy home she’d never had.
Greg had taken Barney to his mother’s because he didn’t think it was good for him to see Laura while she was so poorly, and in the subsequent days he waited on her hand and foot, only nipping out to his office for a couple of hours now and then.
She had been home a week when she asked for Barney to be brought home. She felt very much better, she was up and about and perfectly capable of making meals, vacuuming and washing up, and she saw no reason for Barney to stay away any longer as she was missing him badly.
‘You need a period of convalescence before that,’ Greg said, kissing her and smoothing back her hair. ‘Your problems didn’t start with the poison, you were overwrought for a long while before that and your body is exhausted. You won’t be able to cope with an active toddler just yet. I’m going to book you into a lovely hotel in the sun, so you can recover completely before you start being a mum again.’
It was of course what Greg had done so often in the past, turning her protests around and presenting his own scheme which appeared kindly and more logical. He argued that Barney was settled and happy with his mother, and if Laura had him back before she was really up to taking care of him, she might have a relapse and that would be bad for the little boy.
She was to go off to Madeira for a month, and the very next day Greg drove her to the airport.
Reid’s Hotel in Madeira was such a splendid place that it would have been impossible for anyone sent there by their husband to imagine that he hadn’t done it out of love. Set up on rocks above the harbour, it was the epitome of gracious, old-fashioned luxury and style. Laura had a beautiful room overlooking the sea, and the gardens around the hotel were stunning, for the mild all-year-round climate was perfect for the exotic plants.
At first she just revelled in the luxury of it all, for there was wonderful food and first-class service. She could spend her days lying by the pool on a padded lounger with a book, or walking around the small, pretty town. She soon began to feel really well again, the shine came back into her hair, her skin became golden-brown and she put on the weight she had lost. But although there were other people to talk to, and she took the occasional trip out with them, loneliness began to creep in during the second week.
Greg phoned her every other evening at half past six, but although he would tell her things Barney had done or said, it seemed to her that his calls were unnecessarily brief, and he brushed aside any question of her coming home early.
She had been at Reid’s for sixteen days, by which