Queen of Harte's Read online

  ‘Red, orange, black…black…’

  Julian’s mother called out to his father between angry, gritty coughs. But his father didn’t answer. Julian knew now that he must have passed out from the smoke. He was already gone.

  Black, black…blackness all around. The cloud of darkness was racing down the stairs. It was coming to get him. Julian screamed and shouted. Begging his mother to answer him. But she’d gone quiet. The only noises coming from upstairs were crackling flames and timber as the fire consumed it. The baby wasn’t crying, his mother wasn’t shouting, and his father was silent.

  Julian opened his eyes and took one last look upstairs. His lungs tightened like all the air was being sucked out of the room and his lungs were desperate to refill. He charged back through the front door and raced halfway down the driveway before he came to a sudden stop, bent forward with his hands just above his knees, struggling to catch his breath.

  He hit the ground in what felt like slow motion. His legs gave way first then his shoulder collided with the cold tarmac, and then his weary head. His eyes stayed open just long enough to see Anthony rush out of the limo and race towards him. Black, black…blackness all around.

  Chapter 25

  Eva read over and over the email on her phone. She was trying to decide if she was mad or relieved.

  ______________

  From: Pamelawinters@HTK&associates.com

  To: [email protected]

  Subject: Resignation

  Date: Sun 6th Jan 21.16

  Dear Eva,

  Happy New Year! It was great to hear from you, but I have to admit, I’d prefer if you’d chosen a different way to start the year. You totally shocked me with your resignation. DON’T LEAVE ME LOL.

  Mr. Thompson has suggested that under the current, exceptional circumstance, maybe a sabbatical would be an alternative to leaving us. Mr. Thompson is happy to offer six months’ paid personal leave. How do you feel about that?

  He’s also asked me to pass on his very best wishes to Mr. Harte.

  Have a think about it, Eva. I’d personally hate to see you go. And I know Mr. Thompson would be very disappointed, too.

  Hope to hear from you soon,

  Pam xx

  ______________

  From: [email protected]

  To: Pamelawinters@HTK&associates.com

  Subject: Resignation

  Date: Sun 6th Jan 23.39

  Dear Pam,

  Thanks for getting back to me, especially over the weekend. Mr. Thompson is working you too hard.

  I thought you could only apply for sabbatical after two years with the company? But if that has changed, I’d be happy to apply. HTK is very kind. I appreciate the gesture. Please pass on my thanks to Mr. Thompson. And I will pass your best on to Julian. After I have a word with him about his interfering.

  Eva x

  __________________

  From: Pamelawinters@HTK&associates.com

  To: [email protected]

  Subject: Resignation

  Date: Sun 6th Jan 23.42

  Dear Eva,

  Why do I get the feeling you’re going to get me in trouble here lol. It was actually the strangest thing. An email from Mr. Harte came through, literally minutes before yours, highlighting a long paragraph from company policy, explaining that the two-year probation period before an employee is entitled to apply for sabbatical can be waived in exceptional circumstances. It didn’t make any sense until I read your email.

  Anyway, glad you’ve decided to go with this option. I’d miss you too much if you quit.

  I’ll get all the paperwork sorted out and on its way to you ASAP. I’ll send it with the other files. There’s a mountain of paperwork here so it’s probably best to send it all to you snail mail. I don’t have an address for you in Dublin. I can send it care of Ignite Technologies, if that makes it all easier? I’ll be sending copies there anyway for Julian’s lawyers in Ireland to look over. It’s all very exciting. I’m sure you must be over the moon about it all. Congratulations, Eva. You’re the best lady for the job. You’ll make a fabulous head of the charity.

  Give me a call soon. I’d love to chat.

  Pam xx

  __________________

  From: [email protected]

  To: Pamelawinters@HTK&associates.com

  Subject: Resignation

  Date: Sun 6th Jan 23.48

  Mountain of paperwork? Charity? Pam, what in the hell is Julian up to?

  Eva x

  Eva paced the floor, glancing at the screen of her phone every few seconds, waiting for Pam’s reply. She waited and waited. Nothing. She dialled Pam’s office line, but it rang out. She called her personal mobile, but it went straight through to voicemail. She couldn’t believe Pam was ignoring her. So Pam had put her foot in it and obviously spilled the beans on some deal Julian wanted to be kept hush, hush, but ignoring Eva now was just rude. She imagined Pam was frantically trying to initiate damage limitation. Eva quickly typed out another email.

  _____________________

  From: [email protected]

  To: Pamelawinters@HTK&associates.com

  Subject: Resignation

  Date: Sun 6th Jan 23.55

  Pam.

  I won’t say anything to Julian. Stop freaking out and answer my call.

  Eva x

  Eva’s phone vibrated in her hand. She was expecting to see Pam’s number flash on the screen, but it was Anthony. Eva’s mind hurried to the tape recorder she’d given Julian. He must have listened to it. Maybe Anthony was calling to come pick her up. Maybe Julian was ready to talk. Tiny bubbles popped in her tummy like someone had shaken a can of soda and opened it inside her.

  ‘Hey,’ Eva said trying to sound as breezy as possible.

  ‘Hi, Miss Andrews. Did I wake you?’

  ‘No. Not at all. Is everything okay, Anthony? You sound funny.’

  ‘Can you be ready in ten minutes if I come pick you up?’

  Ready for what? Anthony was usually so clear and concise, but his voice was so twitchy he sounded like someone was standing behind him using a Taser on him.

  ‘Has Julian asked you to call me?’

  ‘Eva, I’d prefer not to discuss this over the phone. I don’t want to upset you. Can you be in reception in ten minutes, please?’

  ‘Upset me? Okay now you’re freaking me out. Where’s Julian?’

  ‘He’s in the hospital. He’s had a turn for the worse.’

  Was this it? Anthony’s words ripped through Eva like a sharp knife. And it took her a moment to get her breath back enough to be able to speak into the phone. ‘I’m on the way down to reception now. I’ll be waiting there. Hurry. Please.’

  Eva thumped her fist against the elevator, but it was taking forever. She raced down the stairs instead, almost breaking her neck as she fidgeted with her phone as she ran.

  ‘Hello.’

  ‘Hi, Mia,’ Eva was panting and close to out of breath as she rounded the turn on the stairway at the third floor.

  ‘Eva?’

  ‘Where are you?’ Eva panted.

  ‘Excuse me?’

  ‘Mia. It’s important.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s any of your business, Eva,’ Mia said sternly.

  ‘It’s Julian. He’s back in hospital.’

  Mia gasped and Eva could tell straight away that she was freaking out a little bit.

  ‘I’m in New York on business. I’m just about to leave my hotel for the airport to come home,’ Mia stuttered.

  Eva rolled her eyes, unsurprised that whatever Pam was talking about obviously had something to do with Mia, too. It was work stuff and Mia was Julian’s most senior employee. It must have been what Julian was discussing on the phone in the car. It made good business sense that Mia would have her hand in whatever the deal was. Eva knew better and wanted to be more professional than to let it hurt, but it stung nonetheless. But only for the briefest of seconds before Eva was pulled back into the panic and fear of the moment.
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br />   ‘Okay,’ Eva said, sounding far calmer than she actually was. ‘Call me when you land.’

  Eva was about to hang up when Mia called her name.

  ‘Is he going to make it?’ Mia said, her voice noticeably breaking.

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Eva, please, you have to take Daniel to see him. I don’t want anything to happen and Daniel not get a chance to say goodbye. Please.’

  Eva swallowed hard. She didn’t want any delay getting to the hospital, and she didn’t know the child. How would he feel with a strange lady suddenly dropping all this on him? But she knew she had no choice. She had to do the right thing by the boy. The right thing by Julian. Julian never got the chance to say good-bye to his family. She couldn’t deprive his son of his chance. ‘Okay. Text me the address of where to pick him up.’

  ‘Thank you, Eva. Thank you.’

  ‘I’m doing it for Julian and his son, Mia.’

  ‘I know. But I’m still grateful. I’ll call you the second I land. Bye.’

  Chapter 26

  Daniel lay stretched out on the backseat of the car. His ankles reached the door on his side and his head rested on Eva’s knee. He was tall for his age, or at least Eva thought he was. She’d never really measured up a ten-year-old before. He looked so innocent and sweet in his dinosaur flannel pyjamas. His coat covered him like a blanket, and he slept soundly as they drove.

  ‘I’ll wait in the car with him if you want to go inside on your own first?’ Anthony suggested as they reached the hospital car park.

  Eva nodded and smile as she opened the door and slid her legs out of the car. She was past words.

  She stopped walking halfway across the car park, rushing to the curb to throw up in a lavender bush. Her stomach was in bits the last few days. Every time she stood up too quickly or walked a little too fast, her tummy objected and wanted to be sick. She’d never had problems with her stomach before; the stress must really be getting to her. She rummaged in her bag for some tissue, wiped her mouth, and stood up. She felt faint, and she was certain she smelt like vomit, but she marched towards and through the main hospital door and straight to reception without hesitation.

  ‘I’m looking for Julian Harte, please?’ Eva said through the glass around the reception desk.

  ‘Mrs…?

  ‘Harte,’ Eva replied without some much as blinking. But her heart was racing like fuck.

  ‘Straight through these doors,’ the receptionist’s arm stretched to one side, ‘and around to your left. Will you fill these in when you get a chance, please?’

  The receptionist slid a clipboard with a page and pen attached through a gap in the glass. Eva grabbed the clipboard and hurried through the doors to Accident and Emergency. The place was thronged. Patients were spilling out in the hall, lying on trolleys. Some looked like they’d had a few sherries too many and others looked like they might not live to see tomorrow. There was an overwhelming smell of piss, poorly diluted by the antibacterial cleaner. Eva’s stomach heaved again and she scanned the corridor, desperate to locate a bin. The moment passed and she caught her breath again. This was becoming ridiculous.

  Someone passed by in dark blue scrubs and Eva gently tapped his arm. The doctor turned around.

  ‘I’m looking for Julian Harte,’ Eva stuttered.

  ‘Mrs. Harte?’ the doctor said.

  ‘Yes.’ Eva smiled, becoming quite accustomed to the false identity.

  ‘Follow me, please. We’ve been expecting you.’

  The doctor exchanged some words with a porter who took over the leading and walked towards an elevator. Eva followed. There was no talking. They went up three floors and navigated more corridors and turns. It was like a maze and Eva wondered how in the hell she would remember her way back out. They finally stopped outside double doors and Eva read the overhead sign. Renal Unit.

  Eva took a deep breath as the porter pulled the curtain back on a small cubicle at the end of the corridor. But her breath quickly escaped and her head shook when she saw Julian sitting in an armchair, his phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. A machine that looked like the hospital had taken a computer straight off the set of Star Wars was behind him and some very uncomfortable looking tubes stretched from the arm Julian held his phone in up behind him and into the machine. So this is what dialysis looks like, Eva thought, surprised that it was all so calm and peaceful. Not at all like in the movies. Julian was getting treatment. Thank fuck.

  Eva didn’t notice the porter leave as she stood with her arms folded and her foot tapping the ground.

  ‘Miss Andrews,’ Julian said, looking up at her smiling.

  ‘It’s Mrs Harte, actually.’ Eva sniggered.

  ‘Oh.’ Julian pulled a face. ‘Seems all the women in my life have taken to borrowing my name lately.’

  ‘Sorry. I wasn’t sure if they’d have let me in otherwise, and I didn’t want a repeat of last time.’

  ‘I like it. You should keep it. It suits you,’ Julian said, and Eva suspected he was only half joking. God, she did not want to talk about that now.

  ‘You’re getting treatment, Julian,’ Eva said, elated.

  ‘Observant as ever, Evangeline.’

  ‘Oh, don’t pull that smartass shit with me, mister. You’re in serious trouble. I nearly had a heart attack when Anthony called me. I didn’t know what kind of state I was going to find you in.’

  ‘You have my number, Eva. You could have called me to find out.’

  Eva blushed. That made sense. But she was too panicked at the time to even think about it. She’d just assumed he’d be too sick to answer.

  ‘So what kind of picture did Anthony paint you?’

  ‘I thought you were half dead. Fully dead even…’

  Julian laughed. It was very annoying.

  ‘You really need to stop listening to other people and trust what you know. Trust me.’

  ‘What I know? All I know is you’re really sick, and up until ten minutes ago, I thought you were refusing treatment.’

  ‘Yes. You did. But you didn’t actually ask me what I was doing. You just added up all the clues and came to your own verdict. A completely wrong verdict, I might add.’

  ‘Well, you certainly don’t ever make it easy. You’re almost impossible to figure out. I asked you about all this and you never told me that you were going to have dialysis.’

  ‘No. You asked Mia, and then told me what you knew. I just didn’t correct you. There’s a difference.’

  ‘What? That’s ridiculous. Why didn’t you set me straight? I’ve been out of my mind with worry. Is this another one of your tests? ‘Oh, will stupid Eva ever figure it out?’ It’s driving me crazy.’ Eva’s voice had a flippant tone, but she was quite serious.

  Julian put his coffee cup down on the low table beside him and pulled a face. ‘Christ, that stuff tastes like horse piss.’

  ‘Julian,’ Eva said, demanding his attention.

  Julian’s chestnut eyes meet Eva’s and it was almost impossible to stay angry.

  ‘It’s not a test, Eva. Look at me; I’m hooked up to a machine that’s washing my blood, for God’s sake. Do I look like I have time for games?’

  ‘Well, what then, Julian?’ Eva shrugged.

  ‘Habit. I’ve never trusted anyone. Ever. I’ve always dug deep to find out exactly what I need to know. Everyone has layers and you have to get past so many layers of bullshit to get to the real person underneath. But you’re different. I could see the real you straight away.’

  Eva smiled. ‘Is that a compliment?’

  ‘Yes and no. You’re beautiful and intelligent but you let other people shape your opinion way too much.’

  ‘What are you talking about? From the day we met, you’ve been shaping me.’

  Julian shook his head. ‘Never. I’ve been in love with you since the day you walked into my office…’

  Eva cut across him. ‘But you pushed me away…’

  ‘No. I pushed you. Pushed y
ou to breaking point because you needed to snap. You snapped, Eva, and now you’re putting yourself back together. You can leave out the piece where the past is hurting you. And you can decide if you want to put in the piece that is me in your life.’

  ‘That sounds a lot like a test to me.’

  ‘Call it what you want.’ Julian stroked his chin with his fingers.

  ‘I will,’ Eva grumbled.

  ‘So? What’s your decision?’

  ‘On what?

  ‘On the last piece?’ Julian smiled and his nose twitched. Oh, my God, was he nervous?

  ‘I don’t think I would be here if I didn’t want you. I would have walked when your game dragged me up on the stage at the ball, or when the Da Lucas tried to kill me, or when I found out the bitch from hell is your ex-wife.’

  ‘When you put it like that, I’m one hell of catch.’ Julian winked.

  Eva laughed. ‘Okay, first things first. How long are you going to be hooked up to that thing?’ Eva pointed to the machine behind Julian.

  ‘Three to four hours, I think. Maybe the first time takes longer…I don’t know.’

  ‘Does it hurt?’

  Julian shook his head. ‘It’s a pain in the hole, does that count?’

  ‘Right. We’re going to need some decent coffee. I can smell that horrible stuff from here.’ Eva tossed her head towards Julian’s cup on the table. ‘It’s gross. I’ll see what I can do. And when I get back, we have a lot to talk about.’

  Julian suddenly looked like he was in pain.

  ‘I have a lot of questions and now that I know you’re, erm, tied up for a few hours, I’m asking them.’

  Chapter 27

  Eva looked at her watch. It was almost one am. Where in the hell was she supposed to get decent coffee at this hour? She opened the passenger door of the limo and sat in.