Free Beloved by Diana Palmer Page B

one. You know why," Simon
replied dryly.
    "I guess I do. He hasn't changed."
    "He never will," Simon agreed, referring to his
brother Leo pold, who was mischievous and sometimes outrageous in his
treatment of housekeepers. Unlike the other two of the three remaining Hart bachelor brothers, Callaghan and Reynard,
Leopold was a live wire.
    "How's Tira ?" Wallace
asked unexpectedly. "I hear her show ing was a huge success."
    The mention of it was uncomfortable. It reminded him all
too vividly of the mistakes he'd made with Tira . "I suppose she's fine," Simon said through his teeth.
    " Er , well, sorry, I forgot.
The publicity must have been hard on both of
you. Not that anybody takes it seriously. It certainly won't hurt your political chances, if that's why you're hesitating to
accept the position."
    "It wasn't. I'll talk to you soon, Wally, and thanks
for the offer."
    "I hope you'll accept. I could
use you." "I'll let you know."
    He said goodbye and hung up, glaring out the window as he recalled what: he'd learned about Tira so unexpectedly. It hurt him to talk about her now. It
would take a long time for her to forgive him, if she ever did.
    If only their was some way that he could talk to her,
persuade her to listen to him. He'd tried
phoning from home early this very morning. As
soon as she'd heard his voice, she'd hung up, and the answering machine had been turned on when he tried again. There was no point in leaving a message. She was
determined to wipe him right out of her life,
apparently. He felt so disheartened he didn't
know what to try next.
    And then he remembered Sherry Walker, a mutual friend of
his and Tira's in the
past who loved opera and had season tickets in the aisle right next to his, in the dress circle. He knew that Sherry had
broken a leg skiing just recently and had said that she wasn't leaving the house until it healed completely. Perhaps, he
told him self, there was a way to get Tira to talk to him after all.
    The letdown after the showing made Tira miserable. She had nothing to do just now, with the
holiday season in full swing, and she had no
one to buy a present for except Mrs. Lester and Charles. She went from store to colorfully decorated store and watched mothers and fathers with their children and
choked on her own pain. She wouldn't have
children or the big family she'd always craved.
She'd live and die alone.
    As she stood at a toy store window, watching the electric
train sets flashing around a display of papier mache mountains and small buildings, she wondered what it would be like to
have chil dren to buy those trains for.
    A lone, salty tear ran down her cold-flushed cheek and
even as she caught it on her knuckles, she felt a sudden pervasive warmth at her back.
    Her heart jumped even before she looked up. She always
knew when Simon was anywhere nearby. It was a sort
of unwanted radar and just lately it was more painful
than ever.

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    "Nice, aren't they?" he asked quietly.
"When I was a boy, my father bought my
brothers and me a set of 'O' scale Lionel trains. We used to sit and run them
by the hour in the dark, with all the little buildings lighted, and imagine
little people living there." He turned, resplendant in a charcoal gray cashmere overcoat over his
navy blue suit. His white shirt was spotless, like the patterned navy-and-white
tie he wore with it. He looked devastating. And he was still wearing the hated
prosthesis.
       "Isn't this a little out
of your way?" she asked tautly.
        "I like toy stores. Apparently so do you." He searched what he could see of her averted face. Her glorious hair was
in a long braid today and she was wearing a
green silk pantsuit several shades darker than her eyes under her
long black leather coat.
        "Toys
are for children," she said coldly. He frowned slightly.
        "Don't you like
children?"
        She clenched her
teeth and stared at the train. "What would be the point?" she asked. "I won't have any. If you'll