A Marriage To Remember. Carole Mortimer

just that there were commitments three years ago, commitments you weren’t able to meet—’

      ‘You know damn well why she wasn’t able to meet them!’ Mark exploded. ‘Good God, man, she—’

      ‘That’s all old ground, Mark,’ she interrupted firmly, her voice a little shriller than she would have wished. But to talk of the past was still hurtful for her; she couldn’t deal with it objectively. ‘It certainly has no relevance to here and now. It must be all too obvious that we have completely separate lives now, Adam. And I want it to continue that way,’ she added hardly. Knowing Adam in the past had ultimately brought her only pain; she had no illusions left where he was concerned. She certainly didn’t want her life involved with his again—not in any way!

      ‘Musically—’

      ‘Musically too,’ she cut in. ‘It’s late, Adam,’ she continued. ‘It’s been a long day, and I would like to get some sleep.’

      He made no move to leave. ‘You do realise there are bound to be repercussions from our being on stage together tonight?’

      She wasn’t so naive that she didn’t realise their joint performance this evening would give rise to speculation about a new merging of talents; she just didn’t want to deal with it now. Certainly not when Adam was present!

      ‘I think the only repercussion that is likely to occur as a result of tonight’s one-off performance,’ Mark cut in dismissively, ‘is that the general public will see that Maggi Fennell and Adam Carmichael are—publicly, at least—friends again, despite all the media speculation.’ His mouth twisted. ‘Privately, of course, it’s a completely different story!’ He turned to comfort Maggi. ‘I don’t think too much harm will come out of this evening, love,’ he assured her gently.

      ‘You’re a fool, Mark,’ the older man told him coldly. ‘But then, you always were. Magdalena—’

      ‘Get out of here, Adam,’ Mark bit out shortly.

      ‘I—’

      ‘Can’t you see Maggi has had enough?’ the younger man interjected forcefully.

      She could feel Adam’s gaze on her now, didn’t need to look at him to know he was looking at her. And she knew what he would see, knew that her face was pale, ethereally so, her eyes made to look even darker because of the shadows beneath them. She had never been particularly robust before her illness, but now her health was delicate to say the least. Tonight had been a strain she could well have done without.

      ‘You’re right,’ Adam finally, grudgingly conceded. ‘I’ll come back in the morning, for breakfast, and we can talk about this then—’

      ‘No!’ Mark was right; she had had enough. By rights Adam shouldn’t even be here, let alone be dictating what they would and wouldn’t do. Her eyes flashed. ‘I’ve told you, Adam.’ She looked at him unblinkingly. ‘We have nothing left to say to each other. About anything,’ she added to save his protests. ‘I don’t want you to come back here, tomorrow or any other time. Now, if you’ll both excuse me, I’m tired and I’m going to bed.’ She didn’t wait for a response from either man, turning sharply on her heel and going back to her bedroom.

      It was only as she closed the door thankfully behind her that she realised she must have stopped breathing during that short walk to the bedroom; she gasped air into her starved lungs as she leant back against the door.

      Seeing Adam up on the stage had been one thing but having him here in her hotel suite was something else entirely, his proximity bringing back memories she had deliberately buried in the back of her mind. She’d had to. For her own sanity. To think of the better times, the happier times with Adam, when she’d been so ill and desperate for him, would have driven her completely insane!

      She sat on the bed as she heard the murmur of male voices again outside, then the firm closing of the suite door seconds later. Adam had gone...!

      ‘Come in,’ she called as a soft knock on her bedroom door followed his exit from the suite. She smiled wanly at Mark as he came concernedly into the room. ‘He’s gone?’

      ‘Yes,’ Mark rasped.

      She nodded. ‘Let’s not have an inquest about it, hmm, and just hope we’ve seen the last of him?’ That would perhaps be too much to hope for; Adam no doubt had other ideas on the subject. But there was always the possibility that he would one day do something completely unselfish and surprise her!

      ‘I don’t understand what he’s doing here; my mother said he was in America,’ Mark muttered irritatedly.

      Maggi raised startled brows. ‘Your mother keeps you informed of Adam’s movements?’ She had never realised that, had simply believed Mark showed no interest in Adam, as she didn’t.

      Mark was still scowling. ‘As you know, we’re the only family he has, and with someone like Adam it’s best to know exactly what he’s up to!’ He gave a rueful smile. ‘A lot of good it did me this time,’ he acknowledged in self-disgust. ‘Look, like you’ve already said, it’s been a long evening for you,’ he said, before coming over and kissing her lightly on the cheek. ‘The best thing is probably for us both to get that good night’s sleep, and think about this again in the morning.’

      Maggi didn’t want to think about Adam at all; if she did she would never get to sleep! But she knew what Mark meant. Emotions were just running too high at the moment for any logic to be applied to the situation.

      She smiled up at Mark gratefully. ‘Don’t forget to call Andrea,’ she reminded him indulgently as he went to leave the room.

      He paused to grin at her. ‘Not unless I’ve ceased to value certain parts of my anatomy!’ he conceded lightly, chuckling softly to himself as he left the bedroom.

      Adam was so wrong about her own relationship with Mark; far from the two of them being lovers, Mark had developed a deep relationship with the woman who had been her physiotherapist for three years. Maggi was so pleased for them both; she liked Andrea enormously, and Mark more than deserved to find happiness.

      Andrea was working in France at the moment, with a young child who had been involved in an accident, but she would be back in a few weeks, and in the meantime Mark was helping Maggi, taking care of all the details which she still found it something of a strain to deal with.

      Three years... That was how long it had taken her to learn to walk again after the accident...

      She and Adam had been coming back from a gig one night, both of them tired. Adam had been driving the powerful white Mercedes with his usual skill, but had been given no chance to avoid the other vehicle that had suddenly veered across the motorway onto their side of the road and hit them almost head-on. What had been so miraculous about it was that Adam had escaped almost unhurt, with just a few cuts and bruises, whereas Maggi had had a serious pelvic injury and had broken both her legs, giving the doctors serious doubts about her ability to ever walk again.

      She had been in hospital for weeks, barely aware of her surroundings, let alone what was going on in the outside world. When she had left the hospital almost three months after the accident, it had been in a wheelchair.

      But if she had thought there had been pain while she was in hospital it was as nothing compared to the misery she had suffered once she was at home. Life, as they said, had to go on, and what no one had told her, during those months when she was in hospital, was that Adam’s life had certainly gone on—without her!

      Such had been their popularity in those days that the two of them had been engaged to sing for months in advance, having bookings as far as eighteen months away. The performances they were to have fulfilled directly after the accident had been cancelled, but the ones following that hadn’t been—and Adam had gone on to make them with someone else!

      Maggi had met Sue Castle in the past, she and Adam having appeared together on the same bill as Sue a couple of times, but it had come as a complete shock to her to find that Adam was singing with the other woman,