Free The Carousel by Belva Plain

to himself. She knew that well. And, like a very amateur psychologist, knew, too, that in doing so, he was denying the existence of the trouble.
    “Has Ian said anything since Oliver’s birthday?” she asked.
    “No, nor have I. We care about each other too much, you know that, to want to become enemies, so we’re both avoiding the subject. We’re putting it off as long as we can. But when the interminable paperwork is finished and the time arrives when we sign on the dotted line, or we refuse to sign there, then we’ll have to talk. And it won’t be pleasant,” he concluded grimly. “I don’t look forward to it at all, Sally.”
    Yes, it was an ugly conflict that loomed before them all. For even if the foreign investors were to withdraw their offer, there would still be Amanda Grey. Where was the money to come from that would pacify her? A strange woman, contradictory and eccentric …
    On the day of their wedding, she had been waiting on the steps of the country church for the bride and groom to come out. They had not expectedher; she had sent them a wonderful set of English dinnerware, along with an excuse for not attending.
    “Bless you both,” she had said. “I suddenly decided to come after all. I’m glad you’ve married my brother, Sally. I looked up your work when Dan wrote to me, and I can tell by your photographs what you are. You have compassion.”
    “But where are you running to, Amanda? Aren’t you coming to the reception?”
    “No, no, I have to catch a plane. I’m going straight home. I only wanted to see you.”
    How very odd …
    “If it’s not one problem, it’s another,” she said now, bitter that Dan should be so afflicted.
    He stood over her, raising her face up by the chin. “No it’s not, Sally. You solve one thing and go on to the next. That’s what life’s all about. We’re almost over the worry about Tina, aren’t we? Think about it. Why, when I told Clive that she—”
    “You what? You told Clive about Tina?”
    “Just that we’ve been having some problems with her—”
    In one second, compassion turned to anger. “You discussed our child with Clive? I don’t believe it.”
    “Hey, wait a minute. I only—”
    “You spilled out our most private business. I thought we agreed it wasn’t going past our four walls.” She was furious.
    “Hell, Sally, Happy sees the kid in school. She’sbeen reporting to you. And everybody else has seen Tina acting up now and then. Where’s the secret? It’s all in the family, anyway.”
    “Family or not. I think the world of Happy, yet even to her I haven’t confided the whole thing. But Clive—my God, you didn’t tell him what that first doctor, the woman, said, did you?”
    “Well, not exactly, but—”
    “What does that mean, ‘exactly’? Yes, you did, didn’t you? I can tell you did.”
    “I didn’t, but if I had, it wouldn’t matter. He’d never repeat anything told in confidence. Clive’s an honorable man.”
    “He’s sad. He’s a strange, pathetic misfit.”
    It was Dan’s turn to be angry. “That’s an exaggeration, and it’s grossly unfair. I never knew you disliked Clive.”
    “I don’t dislike him. But that doesn’t mean I want to make a confidant of him.” She paused, seeking words to define a vaporous, vague feeling, perhaps impossible to define, that had not even begun to take shape until a moment ago. “He’s odd, he’s lonely, he’s got problems—”
    Dan interrupted. “I hope you don’t think you’re making any sense, because you’re not. You’re talking like an idiot. ‘He’s odd, he’s lonely, he’s got problems,’ ” he mocked. “So we shun him. We only like tall, good-looking, happy people. Right?”
    “That’s not what I meant and you know it perfectly well, Dan Grey. I’m just terribly upsetthat you told him about Tina. He knows nothing about children, he—”
    “Seems to be getting on very well with this child, anyway,” Dan said sharply. “Here they