Free Yesterday's Sins by Shirley Wine

to extract a promise from Luke that he would go before Kate was well enough to leave her bed.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Chapter Six
 
T he sun peeping through the branches of the pepper tree outside the window, made a pattern of dappled light and shadow on the white ceiling. Kate lay watching the movement, weak but aware of the room's haunting familiarity.
Hazy memories crystallized. She'd returned to Narrabeen and found Luke Harder ensconced in her old home. Other memories were blurred. Had Alex been here? Or had she imagined it?
"So you've woken up at last." A dainty, dark haired woman with bright blue eyes came into the room. Her soft, musical voice struck a chord in Kate's memory. "I'm Luke's mother, Emily."
"You've been looking after me?"
Emily assisted her to sit up, positioning pillows behind Kate. "With help, this is Joan. Cathy will come later."
Kate nodded at the smiling redhead. "Was Luke here?"
"He was here when you arrived, but has returned to his apartment near the hospital."
"I remember. He told me he was a doctor."
"And a brilliant one at that." The nurse handed Kate a flannel to wipe her hands. "Later we'll get you up and out of bed."
The thought made Kate weak at the knees. "Was Alex here? I seem to remember him."
She frowned watching Emily but the serene expression on the other woman's face never changed. "I haven't seen Alex for a while. As far as I know he's still in New Zealand."
The subtle tension gripping Kate eased. She finished her drink before subsiding back against the pillows, too weak to fight against overwhelming tiredness. She sank into the healing cocoon of sleep.
"So you've decided to fight back, Catriona?"
The familiar gruff voice penetrated her sleep and she opened her eyes to a craggy, well-remembered face.
"Dr Hart." She was delighted to see their old family physician.
"You're looking so much better." He picked up her wrist and checked her pulse, giving a satisfied nod. "Now, you can tell me why you've allowed yourself to get so run down?"
Kate dropped her eyes, her hand toying with the bed cover. How much did he know of the past?
"You can trust me, Kate." He pulled a chair close to the edge of the bed. "I know the details preceding your flight from Australia."
Suddenly very wary, she looked at him. "How?"
"Fraser." Jeff Hart drew his pipe out and went through the ritual of lighting it. "He wasn't well before he died in that car crash. We had a lot of time to talk."
"What did my father tell you?"
The old doctor hesitated, and she sensed he was choosing his words carefully. "I know about Alex Korda and Sarah. And the part your cousin played in it all."
Her tension eased. There wouldn't be very little he didn't understand. She slumped back against the pillows, closing her eyes.
"Fraser suffered agonies of guilt over his lack of faith in you." Jeff Hart took a couple of slow draws on his pipe. "He knew he'd failed you at the very time you needed him most. Had he believed you, would you have gone alone to see Korda?"
Kate looked into his shrewd, old eyes and shrugged, not comfortable with discussing the past. "Probably not, but I did go. And the rest, as they say, is history."
"And no one possesses the ability to change history." He picked up the thin hand lying on the counterpane. "Don't you think it's time you stopped punishing yourself?"
Did he, like Alex, think she was punishing herself?
Remembering how safe, how cherished she'd felt, being held in his strong, gentle arms, burned at her psyche. Time had not cauterized her response to him. Denied of all sustenance, the need had merely remained dormant, rising up, as strong as ever, the moment he reappeared in her life.
Her body knew no shame in Alex's presence.
It was her soul that struggled with the shame of her physical response to the man who had merely been using her.
"Has Alex been here?"
The doctor lifted his bushy brows, his shrewd grey eyes giving away nothing. "No. What reason is there for him to come here?"
Disappointment vied