“When?”
“In about six weeks. My schedule is full right—”
“I’m not one of your goddamned patients,” Eve snapped. “I’m your wife. I want you to do it now—tomorrow.”
“The clinic is closed on Saturdays.”
“Then open it!” He was so stupid God, she could not wait to get rid of him. And she would. One way or another. And soon.
“Come into the other room for a moment.” He took her into the dressing room.
She sat in a chair under a strong light while he carefully examined her face. In an instant he was transformed from a bumbling little milquetoast to a brilliant surgeon, and Eve could sense the transformation. She remembered the miraculous job he had done on her face. This operation might seem unnecessary to Keith, but he was wrong. It was vital. Eve could not bear the thought of losing Rory.
Keith turned off the light. “No problem,” he assured her. “I’ll do it in the morning.”
The following morning, the two of them went to the clinic. “I usually have a nurse assist me,” Keith told her, “but with something as minor as this, it won’t be necessary.”
“You might as well do something with this while you’re at it.” Eve tugged at a bit of skin at her throat.
“If you wish, dear. I’ll give you something to put you to sleep so you won’t feel any discomfort. I don’t want my darling to have any pain.”
Eve watched as he filled a hypodermic and skillfully gave her an injection. She would not have minded if there had been pain. She was doing this for Rory. Darling Rory. She thought of his rock-hard body and the look in his eyes when he was hungry for her… She drifted off to sleep.
She woke up in a bed in the back room of the clinic. Keith was seated in a chair next to the bed.
“How did it go?” Her voice was thick with sleep.
“Beautifully,” Keith smiled.
Eve nodded, and was asleep again.
Keith was there when she woke up later. “We’ll leave the bandages on for a few days. I’ll keep you here where you can be properly cared for.”
“All right.”
He checked her each day, examined her face, nodded. “Perfect.”
“When can I look?”
“It should be all healed by Friday,” he assured her.
She ordered the head nurse to have a private telephone installed by the bedside. The first call she made was to Rory.
“Hey, baby, where the hell are you?” he asked. “I’m horny.”
“So am I, darling. I’m still tied up with his damned medical convention in Florida, but I’ll be back next week.”
“You’d better be.”
“Have you missed me?”
“Like crazy.”
Eve heard whispering in the background. “Is there someone there with you?”
“Yeah. We’re havin’ a little orgy.” Rory loved to make jokes. “Gotta go.” The line went dead.
Eve telephoned Alexandra and listened, bored, to Alexandra’s excited talk about her pregnancy. “I can’t wait,” Eve told her. “I’ve always wanted to be an aunt.”
Eve seldom saw her grandmother. A coolness had developed that Eve did not understand. She’ll come around, Eve thought.
Kate never asked about Keith, and Eve did not blame her, for he was a nothing. Perhaps one day Eve would talk to Rory about helping her get rid of Keith. That would tie Rory to her forever. It was incredible to Eve that she could cuckold her husband every day and that he neither suspected nor cared. Well, thank God he had a talent for something. The bandages were coming off on Friday.
Eve awakened early on Friday and waited impatiently for Keith.
“It’s almost noon,” she complained. “Where the hell have you been?”
“I’m sorry, darling,” he apologized. “I’ve been in surgery all morning and—”
“I don’t give a damn about that. Take these bandages off. I want to see.”
“Very well.”
Eve sat up and was still, as he deftly cut the bandages away from her face. He stood back to study her, and she saw the satisfaction in his eyes. “Perfect.”
“Give me a mirror.”
He hurried out of the room and returned a moment later with a hand mirror. With a proud smile, he presented it to her.