Chapter Fifteen
SHE JUST WANTED Jaye to hold her. To tell her what to do. Harry had turned everything upside down, and she didn’t know whether to hate him for it or run to his aid.
‘Come here...’ Jaye gently drew her close, and hugged her. She clung to his shirt, not sure how to respond, but his actions said everything. He was as steady as a rock and she could trust him.
‘I don’t know what to do, Jaye. I can’t turn him away, he’s in trouble. But he’s up to something, he always is.’
‘We can’t turn him away at all now.’ Jaye puffed out a breath. ‘I saw the car turning in the compound and went out to speak to the driver. His instructions were to go as soon as Harry waved to him.’
Megan caught her breath. Harry had turned and waved to the driver as soon as she’d started to walk towards Jaye’s office. ‘He’s gone?’
‘Yes. It seems that Harry’s intending to stay the night. Look, he’s obviously got his own agenda here, and we don’t know what that is. So I suggest you decide what you want to do and stick to it...’
‘I don’t know, Jaye. If this is just one of Harry’s schemes to get what he wants, I won’t give in to him. But suppose he really is in trouble. Suppose he’s ill and needs my help. I can’t turn him away.’
‘Okay...okay. Let’s think about this and take it one step at a time.’ He drew back a little, motioning towards the two chairs that sat beside Ranjini’s desk. Megan sat in one and Jaye in the other, leaning forward towards her.
‘Harry says that he’s not well. What’s the matter with him?’
‘He had a pacemaker fitted eight months ago. He says he’s having palpitations. His pulse is normal, but that’s no real indication....’ Megan shrugged.
‘All right. Think like a nurse. What’s our guiding principle?’
Suddenly she knew. ‘We treat everyone who comes to us, no fear and no favour.’
‘And...?’ He grinned suddenly.
‘If someone says they have something wrong with them, we take that seriously and investigate. Even if we’re not sure.’ Megan couldn’t help but smile back and Jaye nodded, brushing his fingers against her cheek.
‘That’s much better. So I’m going to insist on giving Harry the once-over. And before you tell me to back off and let you handle it, you’re his daughter.’
‘Biological daughter...’ Megan wasn’t sure she even knew how to be a daughter to Harry.
‘Hey. It’s okay to feel something, you know. And whatever you do feel is okay as well.’
It felt as if an enormous weight had been lifted from her chest. ‘Thanks, Jaye.’
He got to his feet. ‘It’s what friends are for.’
* * *
It felt almost dizzying. Harry had always seemed so big, an irresistible force that she’d fought for so many years but had never quite got the better of. But with Jaye in the room he seemed smaller and much more compliant.
Jaye’s charm persuaded Harry that a tour of the clinic was what he most wanted to do next, and Megan plucked up the courage to mention that Harry should ask Jaye about the symptoms he’d been having. Harry brushed them off as nothing, and Jaye insisted. And then somehow Harry was walking towards Jaye’s consulting room without any apparent protest.
When they reappeared they seemed to be sharing a joke together, and as Megan walked with them to the canteen, Harry asked questions about the clinic, which Jaye answered readily. Harry made no apology for dismissing his driver and effectively stranding himself here, and none was asked for. As darkness fell, she gave in to the inevitable and offered Harry her bungalow for the night.
As soon as the two men had shaken hands and Jaye had disappeared, Harry started to loom larger again. As she put freshly laundered sheets onto the bed, clearing her own things away into a drawer, he looked around the bungalow, shaking his head.
‘You can do better than this, Megan.’
She felt fourteen years old again. ‘It’s good enough for me.’
‘You don’t need to settle for good enough. You don’t have to give up your good works, it’s something I respect you for. My company has a charity arm, for tax purposes. It would be a great deal more comfortable if you came with me and ran that.’
Megan sighed. Harry wasn’t going to give up without a fight, and she just didn’t have it in her tonight. ‘We’ll talk about it tomorrow, Harry. I’ve got some work to do.’
‘At this time of night?’