Page 54 of One Last Smile

The doorbell rings, and I steel myself. Too late to turn back now.

Sebastian frowns. “Who’s that?”

“Eliza’s friends, perhaps?” Veronica says.

“Oh, yes. Anyway… where was I?”

The doorbell rings again, and Sebastian scowls. “Could you answer that, Veronica?”

She rolls her eyes but smiles affectionately and pats his shoulder. “Of course, dear.”

“I’ll go with you,” I say. “I need to stretch my legs. Lucas, why don’t you show your father some of your pictures until we return?”

“Oh yes!” Sebastian says. “Show me the starlings. Those are the white birds with the black wings, right?”

“No, they’re the black birds that shimmer blue and green in the sunlight.”

“Ah yes! They look like small peacocks, right?”

“Well… the color, I suppose.”

I leave the two of them grinning and follow Veronica downstairs. The doorbell rings a third time, and she rolls her eyes and calls out, “Yes, yes! I’m coming.” She looks at me and says in a quieter voice, “Young people have no patience.”

I smile at her, but my heart pounds too much for me to manage a reply.

She reaches the door and opens it. Rupert Chalmers rushes in, wraps his arms around her, and kisses her deeply.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Veronica stiffens and pushes him away, then slaps him full on the face. “Rupert! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

He blinks and lifts a hand to his face. “What? I… but you told me that you loved me. You said that you wanted me to come here so you and I could plan to run away together.”

“What?” she shrieks. “Rupert, what on Earth are you talking about? Have you gone utterly mad? How dare you come to my house?”

He takes a step back. His lips begin to tremble, though I believe it’s more from shock than because he’s actually about to weep. “But… you texted me. You said…”

His voice trails off, and he lifts his eyes to me, seeming to see me for the first time. “You…?” he asks, his brow furrowed in confusion. “But…”

Footsteps interrupt us, and Sebastian calls, “Veronica? Is everything all right?”

He descends the stairs, followed closely by his sons. When he sees Dr. Chalmers, his brow furrows. “Rupert! What a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?”

“I… I…” He looks around at us, his face white as a sheet.

“He was just leaving,” Veronica says. “He’s… he was here to see Eliza, but he’ll handle whatever the issue is at the office, won’t you, Rupert?”

“Nonsense,” Sebastian says. “The man came all this way, and we won’t turn him out. At the least, he must stay for tea. Eliza! Eliza, Dr. Chalmers is here to talk to you!”

“No!” he says quickly, putting his hands in front of him in a comical display of fear. “No, I…” He turns to Veronica. “You said you’d be alone.”

“Rupert!” Veronica hisses. “Stop this! You’re mad!”

“But…” He looks at me, and I smile at him. His eyes widen, and color begins to fill his cheeks. “I see,” he says, regaining his composure. “It appears that I’ve been had.”

“Had?” Sebastian says. His friendly smile is gone, replaced with a dark scowl. “Rupert, what the devil are you on about? What do you mean you’re here to meet my wife alone?”

“I apologize,” he says, looking up at the stairs. “I… I was mistaken. I will handle the, uh, the work thing with Eliza later.”

---