She barely had time to nod before he left her alone.
Chapter 15
Bleak was the only way to describe Blair’s mood when she got home. She wasn’t sure what was wrong with Leander, nor did she understand why she was so upset.
Her mother was in the family parlor surrounded by hundreds of boxes. “What’s this?” Blair asked absently.
“They’re wedding gifts for you and Houston. Would you like to open some of yours now?”
Blair just glanced at the presents and shook her head. The last thing she wanted was to be reminded of the wedding that might or might not take place—not that Leander still wanted to marry her.
She called Alan’s hotel and left a message that they were to be at the hospital tomorrow morning at eight, then went upstairs to fill the bathtub.
When she came back downstairs an hour later, Houston was home, a rare thing for her since she always seemed to be out with Taggert, and she was in a flurry of activity as she opened presents and talked to Opal a mile a minute about the plans for the wedding. Houston exclaimed over the gifts from the East, things from Vanderbilts, the Astors, names that Blair had only heard of, and now Houston was marrying one of their exclusive society.
Listlessly, she sat on one of the sofas.
“Have you seen the dress, Blair?” Houston asked as she turned around, holding a big cut-glass bowl that must have cost someone the earth.
“What dress?”
“Our wedding dress, of course,” Houston said patiently. “I’m having yours made just like mine.”
Blair felt that she couldn’t stand to be in the room with so much enthusiasm. Maybe Houston could be put in a thrill of delight by a few presents, but she couldn’t. “Mother, I don’t feel too well. I think I’ll go to bed and read for a while.”
“All right, dear,” Opal said, as she dug into yet another box. “I’ll send Susan up with a tray. By the way, a young man called and said he wouldn’t be at the hospital tomorrow. A Mr. Hunter, I believe,” she said.
If anything, Blair began to feel worse. She’d neglected Alan shamefully in the last few days.
The morning came all too soon, and Blair’s mood wasn’t much improved. At least, the patients at the hospital kept her mind off her own problems—that is, until Leander came. His black mood made hers seem like a beam of sunshine. Within two hours, he managed to yell at her four times, telling her that if she wanted to be a doctor, she had to learn a few things. Blair wanted to yell back at him but, after one look at his face, she wisely said nothing except, “Yes, sir,” and tried to do what she could to obey his orders.
At eleven, she was bending over a little girl whose broken arm she’d just set, when Alan came up behind her.
“I thought I’d find you here—with him.”
Blair gave the little girl a smile. “Alan, I’m working.”
“We’re going to have a talk now, in front of the entire hospital or alone.”
“All right, then, come with me.” She led him down the corridor to Leander’s office. She didn’t know the hospital very well, and it was the only place she knew where they could be private. She just hoped that Lee wouldn’t come back and discover them in there.
“I should have guessed this is where you’d go. His office! You must feel comfortable in here. No doubt you’re in here often enough.” To his consternation, Blair collapsed in a chair, put her hands to her face and began to cry.
Alan was on his knees before her in an instant. “I didn’t mean to be cross with you.”
Blair tried to control her tears, but couldn’t. “Everyone is cross with me. I never seem to please anyone. Mr. Gates never leaves me alone. Houston hates me. Leander can barely speak to me, and now you…”
“What’s Westfield got to be angry about? He’s whining hands down.”
“Whining?” Blair pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and blew her nose. “He’s not even in the competition. He said he could see that I loved you, and so he was no longer going to compete.”
Alan stood and leaned against the desk. “Then why are you spending day after day with him? You haven’t been two feet from his side for a week.”
“He said that he’d like to work with me for the few days left of my stay. He said he’d never worked so well with anyone before. And he extended the invitation to both of us.”
“Of all the underhanded—,” Alan began, pacing the room. “He is lower than I thought. I never heard of such a sneaky, dirty trick.” He looked back at Blair. “He knows you’re infatuated with anything to do with medicine, so he uses that to get near you, and of course he’d invite me! The man’s had years of experience and training over mine, so he looks great while I look like an idiot.”
“That’s not true! Leander said he wanted to work with me, and we do work well together. It’s as if we, read each other’s minds.”