Free The Rebel and the Baby Doctor by Joanna Neil Page B

mind to go to medical school.’
    She lifted a brow. ‘I’m surprised by that. I thought your father knew all there was to know about running a successful business. I’d have thought he would be the first person you would turn to.’
    He made a wry face. ‘You know how my father is…ebullient at the best of times, and way too busy with sorting out his own problems to be bothered concerning himself with much of anything else. As for turning to him for help and advice, I gave up doing that a long time ago. My father believed you should make your own decisions and stand by them. As for me, I obviously made all the wrong choices and he clearly thought I’d never amount to anything.’
    He stopped and indicated a secondary path that led to a leafy arbour. ‘I think we need to go this way.’
    She followed him and frowned. ‘I know you were often at odds with your father as a boy, but perhaps back then he had good reason to be annoyed with you. You were always flouting the rules. He must see that you’re not the same nowadays. You’re doing a worthwhile job, and people respect you. Even I can see that you’re not the person you were.’
    He clutched a hand to his heart. ‘Am I hearing things right? You see something in me other than a rabble-rouser and troublemaker? Wonders will never cease. I’ve waited a long time for that one to happen.’
    She laughed. ‘Can you blame me for taking a whileto come round? If your own father had doubts about you, what do you expect?’
    They came across a clearing in the trees, where rough-hewn terraces had been laid out, and bench tables were set out at intervals on the grass. Further away, there was a pond, edged with reeds and aquatic plants.
    ‘Hmm. I suppose you may be right.’ He frowned. ‘I did give him a hard time, didn’t I?’ He went over to a table that was lit by a pool of warm sunlight. ‘Shall we sit here and eat? It looks as though we have the place to ourselves, and this seems to be the best spot.’
    She nodded, sliding onto a bench seat and laying the food out on the table. Connor placed the cold drinks on the wooden slats and slipped into place beside her so that they were both looking out over the pond. Lily pads floated on the surface of the water, their flowers opened up in shades of pink and white.
    She bit into her crusty roll. ‘I think the worst must have been when you took your father’s car from the garage and started racing with the boys from the village. Word got out that you were all racketing up and down the old disused airfield, and I was worried sick in case anyone ended up hurt. I kept thinking there was going to be the worst kind of trouble when your father found out.’
    He began to eat, demolishing the bread as though he was starving. ‘We were young and reckless.’
    She looked at him. ‘I was right, though, wasn’t I? I just knew that when your father came home there would be the row to end all rows.’
    ‘It’s true.’ An expression of guilt washed over his face. ‘I pranged the car because I took a bend too fast,and I ended up hitting one of the barricades. I smacked my head on the dashboard because I wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and I twisted the ligaments in my arm trying to wrench the car back on track.’
    He grimaced, remembering. ‘It was complete and utter madness. I was seventeen and I’d just passed my driving test. Somehow, even though I knew I deserved punishment because I took the car and made a mess of it, I wasn’t expecting my father’s furious reaction. I thought he would appreciate that I’d come off the worse for wear and realise that it might have taught me a lesson.’
    ‘That didn’t happen, though, did it?’ Her eyes were troubled as she studied him. What was it that possessed him to go against everyone and everything? Wasn’t he still doing the same, by setting himself up against the cardiac consultant?
    ‘No. He read me the Riot Act and promised all kinds of retribution that he would bring