DR HEATH ROLLINS momentarily looked away from the emails on his laptop computer, across the living room of the family home, to see his father sitting by the lace dressed bay window in his favourite armchair. With the mid-morning sunlight streaming into the room, he was intently reading the paper. Heath smiled a bittersweet smile as his gaze roamed to the old oversized chair, upholstered in green and blue tartan. It was a piece of furniture his mother had tried to have re-covered or removed from their home for many years but Ken Rollins had been adamant that it stayed. And stayed exactly as it was. It was a Clan Sutherland tartan, of the Highland Clans of Scotland, Heath would hear his father tell his mother, and it had direct links to the maternal side of his family. She would tell him that family connections or not, it was an extremely unattractive chair that looked out of place in their new French provincial decor. Frankly, it was hideous and it just didn’t belong.
His mother and father had argued about very little except that chair. But, unlike all those years ago, now his father was stuck in that now slightly worn chair for hours on end, his leg elevated and his knee freshly dressed after surgery. And there were no more arguments about the chair as Heath’s mother had passed away twenty years ago.
Heath then caught sight of his own suitcases, stacked against the hall wall, with the airline tags still intact. He would shortly be taking them to the room that would be his for the next month. His attention returned to the email he was drafting to the Washington-based podiatric surgeon travelling to Australia to work with his father. As he perused her résumé to find an email address, he couldn’t help but notice her impressive qualifications and certifications. A quizzical frown dressed his brow as he wondered why she had chosen to relocate to Adelaide and consult at his father’s practice. Then he dropped that line of thought. It was not his concern.
‘I hope you don’t mind the last-minute change in plans, Dr Phoebe Johnson,’ he muttered as he pressed ‘send’ on the keyboard, hoping that even if she had turned off her computer she would receive the notification via her mobile phone. ‘It looks like you’ll be working with me not my father. At least until he’s back on his feet again.’
Phoebe Johnson had switched off her cell phone an hour earlier. There was no point in having it on as there was only one person who would try to reach her and she would go to any lengths to avoid another conversation with her mother.
Unfortunately her mother had found her.
‘Why on earth are you leaving Washington? It’s been over three months since you postponed the wedding, Phoebe. It’s time you set a new date.’
‘I cancelled the wedding, Mother. I didn’t postpone it.’
Completely dumbfounded, and shaking her head, Phoebe stood on the steps of her rented brownstone apartment, her online printed boarding pass and her passport both gripped in one leather-gloved hand while the other searched for keys in her oversized handbag. The second of her matching tweed suitcases was balanced precariously by her feet, and her heavy woollen coat was buttoned up against the icy December wind that was howling down the narrow car-lined street.
She found her keys and, aware that the meter was running on the double-parked cab, hurriedly locked the front door. She was in no mood for another confrontation and frustrated that at the eleventh hour it was happening again. Her mind was made up. She was not looking back.
‘How can you work things out if you go rushing off to another country? Surely you’ve punished Giles enough for his indiscretion?’ her mother continued, not at all deterred by anything Phoebe had said, nor by her imminent travel plans. ‘I’m certain he’s learnt his lesson.’
Phoebe tugged down her knitted hat, at risk of blowing away in a chilly gust, then made her way down the snow-speckled steps with her last suitcase and handed it to the cab driver, who had been tapping his foot impatiently on the kerb.
‘It isn’t a punishment, Mother. I ended it. I gave the ring back, returned the wedding presents and told Giles that I never want to see him again. It’s about as final as it gets. And I’ve thought this through until I’ve gone almost mad. You don’t seem to understand—I no longer love Giles and I don’t want to see him again. Ever. To be honest, I’m surprised that after everything he’s put me through you’d want him to have any part in my life.’
She paused as she looked long and hard at her mother, completely bemused that they saw the situation so very differently.
‘He’s not the man for me. I don’t know if there even is a man for me, but right now I’m not looking. I want to put all my energy into my work and I refuse to waste another second on Giles.’
With that said, Phoebe headed to the waiting cab. The headlights of the oncoming traffic were reflected on the icy road as night began to fall.
‘That seems so harsh. He really does regret his behaviour. His mother told me so over our bridge game yesterday,’ her mother continued as she followed Phoebe, her pace picking up with each step. ‘Please see reason, Phoebe. Giles is committed to making it up to you. He’s apparently not at all his usual jovial, outgoing self at the moment. He’s taken the postponement very seriously. Esme said he’s quite sullen, and that’s not like him. She thinks he’s turned over a new, more responsible leaf. He’s sown his last wild oat.’
She placed her gloved hand over Phoebe’s as her daughter reached for the door handle of the cab. Stepping closer, she dropped her voice almost to a whisper.
‘Darling, you could do worse. Giles is so very handsome—and let’s not forget his family tree. His ancestors arrived on the Mayflower.’
Phoebe rolled her eyes in horror that her perfectly coiffed mother, dressed in her favourite New York designer’s latest winter collection, was pulling out both the looks and the ancestry cards. She watched the driver close the trunk, walk to his door and climb inside.
Pulling her hand free, she responded in an equally low voice. ‘Let me see … My sulking but extremely good-looking ex-fiancé, with his impeccable lineage, is apparently committed to me but isn’t averse to sleeping with other women. Please, Mother, let’s not try to paint him as something he isn’t. I don’t think he is capable of loving anyone but himself, and I don’t believe for a minute that he’s turned over a new leaf. And, frankly, I don’t care. He ruined any chance of us being husband and wife when he chose to cheat on me.’
She kissed her mother goodbye and climbed into the cab, then dropped the window to hear the last of her mother’s not so wise words.
‘Darling, as your grandmother always said, every man is entitled to one big mistake in life.’
‘He slept with both of my bridesmaids the weekend before our wedding—that’s not one big mistake … that’s two enormous, deal-breaking mistakes!’ Phoebe’s voice was no longer soft or controlled and she didn’t mind if the cab driver heard. Her frustration had limited her ability to care.
‘If you want to be technical, it’s two…. but couldn’t you see fit to consider it Giles’s one weekend of poor judgement and call it the same mistake?’
The cab pulled away and Phoebe slumped back into the cold leather seat. Over the rattling of the engine she heard her mother’s parting words.
‘Darling, don’t forget—Christmas is a time for forgiveness.’
Phoebe was abruptly stirred from her unpleasant recollection of the pointless argument that had occurred less than twenty-four hours previously. An impeccably groomed flight attendant was standing beside her seat, accompanied by a young girl in a lime-green sweater and matching pants, with a mass of golden curls, a red headband and a big smile. Everything about her was a little too bright for Phoebe at the end of a long-haul flight.
The little helper reached across to Phoebe with a basket of cellophane-wrapped candy. ‘If