Every few days he would remove the bandages and examine her.
“Let me have a mirror,” Eve pleaded.
But his answer was always the same: “Not yet.”
He was the only company Eve had, and she began to look forward to his visits. He was an unprepossessing man, small and thin, with sandy, sparse hair and myopic brown eyes that constantly blinked. He was shy in Eve’s presence, and it amused her.
“Have you ever been married?” she asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I—I don’t know. I guess I wouldn’t make a very good husband. I’m on emergency call a lot.”
“But you must have a girl friend.”
He was actually blushing. “Well, you know…”
“Tell me,” Eve teased him.
“I don’t have a regular girl friend.”
“I’ll bet all the nurses are crazy about you.”
“No. I’m afraid I’m not a very romantic kind of person.”
To say the least, Eve thought. And yet, when she discussed Keith Webster with the nurses and interns who came in to perform various indignities on her body, they spoke of him as though he were some kind of god.
“The man is a miracle worker,” one intern said. “There’s nothing he can’t do with a human face.”
They told her about his work with deformed children and criminals, but when Eve asked Keith Webster about it, he dismissed the subject with, “Unfortunately, the world judges people by their looks. I try to help those who were born with physical deficiencies. It can make a big difference in their lives.”
Eve was puzzled by him. He was not doing it for the money or the glory. He was totally selfless. She had never met anyone like him, and she wondered what motivated him. But it was an idle curiosity. She had no interest in Keith Webster, except for what he could do for her.
Fifteen days after Eve checked into the hospital, she was moved to a private clinic in upstate New York.
“You’ll be more comfortable here,” Dr. Webster assured her.
Eve knew it was much farther for him to travel to see her, and yet he still appeared every day.
“Don’t you have any other patients?” Eve asked.
“Not like you.”
Five weeks after Eve entered the clinic, Keith Webster removed the bandages. He turned her head from side to side. “Do you feel any pain?” he asked.
“No.”
“Any tightness?”
“No.”
Dr. Webster looked up at the nurse. “Bring Miss Blackwell a mirror.”
Eve was filled with a sudden fear. For weeks she had been longing to look at herself in a mirror. Now that the moment was here, she was terrified. She wanted her own face, not the face of some stranger.
When Dr. Webster handed her the mirror, she said faintly, “I’m afraid—”
“Look at yourself,” he said gently.
She raised the mirror slowly. It was a miracle! There was no change at all; it was her face. She searched for the signs of scars. There were none. Her eyes filled with tears.
She looked up and said, “Thank you,” and reached out to give Keith Webster a kiss. It was meant to be a brief thank-you kiss, but she could feel his lips hungry on hers.
He pulled away, suddenly embarrassed. “I’m—I’m glad you’re pleased,” he said.
Pleased! “Everyone was right. You are a miracle worker.”
He said shyly, “Look what I had to work with.”
31
George Mellis had been badly shaken by what had happened. He had come perilously close to destroying everything he wanted. George had not been fully aware before of how much the control of Kruger-Brent, Ltd., meant to him. He had been satisfied to live on gifts from lonely ladies, but he was married to a Blackwell now, and within his reach was a company larger than anything his father had ever conceived of. Look at me, Papa. I’m alive again. I own a company bigger than yours. It was no longer a game. He knew he would kill to get what he wanted.
George devoted himself to creating the image of the perfect husband. He spent every possible moment with Alexandra. They breakfasted together, he took her out to lunch and he made it a point to be home early every evening. On weekends they went to the beach house Kate Blackwell owned in East Hampton, on Long Island, or flew to Dark Harbor in the company Cessna 620. Dark Harbor was George’s favorite. He loved the rambling old house, with its beautiful antiques and priceless paintings. He wandered through the vast rooms. Soon all this will be mine, he thought. It was a heady feeling.