Free Willow by V. C. Andrews Page B

I wouldn't say 'border.' I would say flatly that's what it was, and if the physician was under me, he would have been fired on the spot. but.. ."
But what, Dr. Price?"
"But I do believe your father made every effort for it not to happen the way it did. He even tried moving her to my patient load, but she began to regress badly, and we made the medical decision to shift her back to him. I might add they were both equally unhappy. anyway. The doctor was taking on the symptoms of the patient."
"What were her symptoms. Dr Price?"
He raised his eyebrows. "Now. Willow, you know what patient-doctor confidentiality means."
"But this is different. We're talking about the woman who was my real mother," I pointed out.
"Only biologically. You had no relationship with her, and it was a long time ago. She has a new life. It wouldn't be right to dig up her past, now, would it?"
I stared at him and then turned away. "I don't know if you knew much about my childhood here, Dr. Price." I said, looking out at the sprawling lawn and woods in the distance. "My adoptive mother didn't know I was really my father's child, but she knew I was born in the clinic and that my biological mother, as you call her, was a patient in that clinic. I grew up with her waiting for me to act out, have a breakdown, dance naked in the streets. whatever. Every child has imaginary friends, but she interpreted it as the beginning of schizophrenia. If I cried. I was paranoid; if I was shy, I was depressed; on and on until..."
"Until what?"
"Until I began to wonder about myself. I know that there are some forms of mental illness that can be inherited. I have a right to know why my biological mother was in the clinic. What was her diagnosis, her prognosis? How is she doing now? Is she in a clinic somewhere else, for example?"
He leaned forward and stared at the ground. "I haven't looked at her file for years," he said.
"Is the day after tomorrow too soon for you to look again?" I asked. Tomorrow was Daddy's funeral.
He looked up sharply. "Are you returning to college immediately?"
"I expect to, yes," I said.
"Good. Perhaps we should go back inside," he suggested, rising.
I stood up, and he held out his arm. We started toward the house.
"Well?" I asked before we stepped back inside.
He nodded. "I'll look at her file the day after tomorrow," "I'll stop by the clinic then," I said.
He shook his head and looked at me with a small smile playing on his lips. "There's no doubt in my mind you are the daughter of Claude De Beers. You have his grit and determination, that's for sure." he said.
"I think deep in my heart I knew. All these years. I knew, He told me in the way he gazed at me from time to time, the way he watched me at work and at play. I think he was afraid to tell me while my adoptive mother was alive, and afterward. I think he was afraid for exactly the reasons I'm asking you to look into my mother's files. He was afraid that once I found out what her problems were. I would live my whole life waiting for the second shoe to drop, expecting something similar to be wrong with myself and, perhaps because of that, never having a real relationship with anyone.'
"Then maybe you are better off leaving well enough alone, Willow." he said.
"It's not well enough, Doctor," I said.
He nodded and then smiled. "Okay," he said. "Okay."
.
It was another exhausting day for me. Margaret Selby, on the other hand, seemed energized. According to her, everyone was excited about her upcoming wedding and grateful they had been invited. It was all she could talk about after everyone had left, Even Aunt Agnes looked embarrassed and finally told her to go to bed.
"Tomorrow will be a terrible day for us all. Margaret Selby. It will take strength."
"Yes." she said, and then brightened with the thought of calling Ashley and telling him about all the relatives who would attend their wedding.
I excused myself and headed back toward Daddy's office. Aunt Agnes followed.
"Just a minute. Willow," she