JADE STAR by Catherine Coulter

She’s lovely, Jules thought. Jane Branigan, tall, voluptuous, glossy black hair. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Please call me Jules. Come in, ma’am. Saint is awake. A lot of friends have been here.’

Jane had managed to quash the jealousy in her worry about Saint. But now, faced by this vibrant girl, she felt herself grow cold. She told herself yet again that it was over, had been over for quite some time. She was now a friend, no more, no less.

‘If I could see him for just a few minutes,’ she said.

‘Certainly,’ Jules said, stepping back.

A n2

She wanted to dog Mrs. Branigan’s heels, but held herself back. No, the woman wanted to see her husband alone. So be it.

Saint felt a cool, soft hand on his forehead. ‘Jules?’

‘No, Saint, me, Jane Branigan. Your … wife is downstairs. The boys send their love, of course. I just wanted to assure myself that you would be all right.’

Because it was Jane, because he’d forced himself to provide optimism to all his friends during the day, because he was scared and angry and trusted her, he said bluntly, ‘I don’t know, Jane. My poor wife just might find herself saddled with a damned cripple. God, I could become some sort of institution. People could say, ‘Yes, there’s poor old Saint, blind as a bat, you know, but tells great stories. Give him a few pennies and he’ll talk as long as you want.’ Shit!’

Jane understood, but she refused to pity him, at least not now. She said, her voice laced with humor, ‘Don’t forget that those people could also demand medical advice. I can just hear old Limpin’Willie saying, ‘Saint, bless him! Told me to lance the boil on my leg, and I did, and my leg rotted offl

‘Damn you, Jane!’

Jane felt tears sting her eyes, and leaned over without thought and hugged him close.

A ()A

‘You’ll be all right, my dear, you’ll see. I mean that literally.’

Jules stood in the doorway, a surge of evil jealousy washing through her. Slowly she backed up, and returned downstairs to the kitchen.

Saint hugged Jane, a reluctant laugh emerging from his throat. ‘As I said, damn you, Jane. You don’t let a fellow bitch at all, do you?’

‘You complain all you like, but you know very well that pity is the last thing you need.’ ‘Jane, be kind to Jules. I think she’s very

afraid, but of course she’s a chattering, optimistic little bird around me.’

Jane was silent for a long moment. In truth, though, it was a brief war. She said, ‘I suggest you give her a bit more credit, Saint. She is your wife. Now I must go. I will come back, tomorrow perhaps.’

‘Jane?’ ‘Yes?’ ‘Thanks.’

Jane was relieved that he couldn’t see the tears in her eyes. She met Jules in the downstairs entrance-way. ‘Thank you, my dear.,’ she said. ‘I’ll leave you now. You must be exhausted.’

‘Yes,’ Jules said in a rush, unable to hate this woman, ‘it has been mad all day, and

A r) z

Michael needs to rest. I don’t know what to do!’

‘You give the orders, that’s what you do,’ said Jane. ‘Let him complain and snap, but you do know what’s best for him. Good luck.’

And she was gone, leaving Jules to stare thoughtfully at the closed front door. She’s right, Jules thought, perfectly right!

‘Lydia!’ she called, her shoulders back, her chin up.

Saint heard her light footfall on the stairs. ‘Jules,’ he said. ‘Wasn’t that the front door? Who’s here?’

‘Who was here. It was Horace and Agatha Newton. They’ll return tomorrow.’

‘Why?’ ‘I told them you needed rest. They understood and send their love.’

‘I’m the doctor,’ he said, stiffening. ‘I think I’m well able to decide when I need rest and when I don’tV

‘I brought you some tea and fresh sponge cake Lydia just baked,’ Jules said, her voice calm, soothing.

He wanted to strike out. ‘Dammit, Jules! Don’t you dare treat me like a mewling child!’

‘Here, love. Drink this.’

He did, with ill grace. Jules sat on the side of the bed, studying his face. ‘I’ll shave you, if

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *