The Hasty Marriage

by Betty Neels

  He bent to fondle the dogs. ‘Yes—if you’re not busy doing anything special, I should like to show you something.’

  She cast her books on one side. ‘Grammar,’ she told him, ‘and I’m sick of it—it’s a frightful language. Of course I’ll come.’

  They went round the side of the house where the garages were; a converted coach-house with a broad sweep before it. All three garage doors were open. The Rolls and the Aston Martin were snugly stowed away, and outside the third was a small Fiat, new and shining and bright blue. ‘Yours,’ said Reilof.

  ‘Mine?’ Laura choked a little with excitement. ‘Reilof, what an absolutely super present! Thank you…’

  He glanced at her briefly. ‘Hardly a present, more a necessity, I should have said.’

  All her lovely excitement faded, and if it had been physically possible she would have picked up the little car and flung it at him. Instead she contented herself with an airy, ‘How kind—I shall enjoy going around on my own.’ She almost added, ‘As usual.’ but thought better of it. She was wandering round the bonnet as she spoke and didn’t see the look of faint surprise on his face as he suggested:

  ‘Why not try her out now?’

  ‘Now? But the traffic’s on the wrong side of the road…I shall have to get used to it.’

  ‘So you will,’ he agreed mildly, although there was a glimmer of laughter in his eyes. ‘Why not run her down to the gate and get the feel of her?’

  He was holding the door open for her to get in and it seemed a good idea. With him beside her, she started the engine and rather gingerly drove to the gate, and when she reached it he said in a no-nonsense voice: ‘We might as well go to Hilversum—take your time and get across to the other lane.’

  She was speechless; a little scared and cross at the trick he had played on her, but she did as she was told because pride wouldn’t let her do anything else. His, ‘Good girl, nicely done,’ mollified her a little, but as he followed it with: ‘Don’t strangle the wheel, let it run through your hands, otherwise when you get to a corner you won’t have a hand left,’ a criticism which made her say tartly, ‘I can drive, you know,’ and then because it was rather fun driving her very own car with Reilof beside her, she laughed. ‘It’s super!’

  ‘That’s better—you’re doing very well. We’ll call on Father, he thinks you’re a girl in a million and here’s your chance to prove it.’

  She changed gear with a clash. What was the use of her father-in-law prizing her so highly when his son did not? She put her foot down and the car shot forward too fast, and Reilof said on an unperturbed chuckle, ‘He’d like to see you in one piece, though.’

  She drove the rest of the way with exaggerated care and no further comments from Reilof, and the old gentleman’s delighted welcome should have soothed her ruffled feelings, but Reilof, charming as ever, remained aloof from the small jokes and congratulations, just as though it didn’t matter to him whether she could drive or not. When they got home his, ‘You did quite well, Laura, but don’t go out on your own yet,’ did nothing to make her feel better.

  ‘You’re almost never home,’ she pointed out waspishly, ‘and when you are you’re too busy to bother…’

  He stared at her for a long moment. ‘Ah—I neglect you, Laura?’ he asked silkily.

  ‘I didn’t say that. I’m stating a fact, that’s all—you told me you’d have very little time for me,’ she reminded him.

  They were standing outside the front door and she felt at a disadvantage because she had to look up at him. She said quickly, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter, you know, I’m not throwing it in your teeth or anything like that.’

  His smile enchanted her, for it was unexpected and just for a moment he looked different, almost as though he liked her very much. She said breathlessly to fill the silence between them, ‘I’m sorry if I was beastly.’

  His arm caught her round the waist and clamped her tight. ‘Never that,’ he said softly, ‘long-suffering, patient, understanding, but never beastly.’ He kissed her suddenly and hard and then released her, opened the door, ushered her inside, then said: ‘I’ve a patient to see—I’ll see you at dinner.’

  But at dinner there was a message to say that he had been called to the hospital and she wasn’t to wait. Laura went to bed early and lay awake for a long time thinking about his kiss; it hadn’t been like the routine peck he occasionally gave her. Perhaps there was the very beginnings of a chance…

  It was going to be a remote one, she realised the next morning, for Reilof wished her a good day with his usual cool pleasantness and told her at once that he would be away lecturing in Brussels, for three days this time. The salute he bestowed on her cheek as he went was as impersonal and brief as the conventional salute one would give an aunt whom one disliked, so that when he said curtly, ‘Don’t go out in the Fiat alone, Laura,’ her mood was ripe to ask him huffily why not.

  ‘Because I ask you not to,’ he said, making it worse. He had closed the door behind him before she had an answer ready.

  She went about her quiet life as usual after he had gone while she allowed the idea that he had no right to order her about to fester in the back of her mind. She was, after all, a fairly good driver and no headstrong teenager. By the third day she had convinced herself that he had told her not to drive the Fiat because he was bossy and arrogant, and by the time lunch was finished she was so convinced of this that she went to the garage, took the car out and drove it out of the gate and on to the main road. She was a little vague as to where she would go; she was in the lane to Hilversum, so she might as well go shopping. She still had almost all of the allowance Reilof had given her and some new clothes might make her feel better, she told herself, and put her foot down hard on the accelerator.

  Plans for this buoyed her up through the intricacies of getting herself to the heart of the town, and she was almost there when her eye caught a sign to Amsterdam—and why not? she asked herself, turning the Fiat into the side street it indicated. It was quieter here and led to a still quieter street, with narrow houses and a canal running through its centre; she guessed that it would bring her sooner or later to the main Amsterdam road and slackened her pace, ignoring the faint feeling of guilt she hadn’t quite got rid of, pleased with herself and almost happy.

  Reilof, just back unexpectedly a day early from his lectures and standing idly at the window of his consulting room, was watching the street below while he waited for the first patient of the afternoon, and seeing the Fiat going past he felt neither of these sensations, however. He stared at the little blue car, with Laura’s profile and mousy head of hair just visible, and then exploded into forceful Dutch as he strode from the room. His secretary was alone in the reception room and gaped in surprise when he told her harshly that he was called away urgently.

  ‘The patients?’ she wanted to know.

  ‘Make new appointments—telephone, do anything you think fit—I leave them in your capable hands, Willa. I’ll telephone you later. Go home as usual if I’m not back.’

  Willa, middle-aged, cosy and highly efficient, persisted doggedly, ‘But where are you going, doctor?’

  He was halfway through the door. ‘I haven’t the faintest idea.’

  Laura was on the motorway, Hilversum behind her, heading for Amsterdam, and by now she rather regretted her impulse. The traffic was heavy and very fast; she crept to the slow lane and stayed in it while huge juggernauts, speed fiends and long-distance transports sped past her. But she kept a steady pace, not allowing them to upset her, so that when there was a splintering crash a hundred yards ahead of her and a car somersaulted across the fast lane and cannoned across it to the shoulder of the motorway, she had ample time to drive on to the shoulder too, and stop. Miraculously, there didn’t seem to be any other car involved, indeed the traffic was streaming ahead as though nothing had happened, so that she was the only person to reach the upside-down car. There was only occupant, suspended upside down too from his seat by his sa
fety belt, and fully conscious.

  She couldn’t understand a word he said, of course. She made haste to say in her careful, slow Dutch, ‘I’m English—speak slowly, I don’t understand Dutch very well.’ It was a great relief when he said in tolerable English: ‘My legs are held…’

  They were indeed, and it would take more than her strength to help him. She looked over her shoulder in some desperation and saw that several cars had stopped now and men were running towards the wreck. Nice, strong men, she saw with relief; they would need all their strength to roll the car back on to its wheels without hurting the man trapped inside. ‘For heaven’s sake, take care,’ she begged them, heedless of the fact that they might not understand what she was saying, and peered in once at the unfortunate driver. ‘Hold on to the seat,’ she warned him. ‘They’ll be as careful as they can, but you’re bound to bounce a bit.’

  He bounced a lot before they were finished, and was unconscious as the men hauled him carefully out on to the grass verge. Laura looked at his pale, sweaty face and felt a feeble pulse before asking for a penknife from her willing helpers and slitting a trouser leg, urging someone to do the same with the second one. She did it slowly and with great patience, presently exposing a badly crushed limb, so engrossed in her task that she neither saw nor heard the Rolls pull up silently within yards of her.

  ‘My God, I’ll talk to you later,’ said Reilof with soft fury in her ear, adding in an impersonal, professional voice: ‘Hold that foot steady and I’ll do what I can,’ and after one look at his white, set face, she did as she was told without a word. He had his bag with him and began to work on the leg, giving brief orders to the other men as he did so, and ignoring Laura except to give her even briefer instructions from time to time. The ambulance and police had arrived by the time both legs had been dealt with and Laura, no longer needed, stood on one side watching them load the victim into the ambulance and drive away while the police went from one to the other of the men, taking statements. They knew Reilof, something she was thankful for when it came to her turn, for she told her part in the episode to him and he repeated it in his own language. When she had finished he took her arm and said, ‘Will you get into the car? I’ll be with you in a moment, I must get someone to drive the Fiat back.’

  ‘I can…’ she began, caught his dark gaze and got meekly into the Rolls. His expression had been inscrutable, but that cold stare had warned her that he was in a very nasty temper. She braced herself for a forceful outburst—quite unnecessarily, for he drove all the way home without saying a word. Only as they went into the house he said at his silkiest: ‘A moment of your time, Laura.’

  She went past him into the study and took the bull by the horns.

  ‘You came back a day early…’

  He ignored this obvious remark. ‘I asked you not to drive the Fiat on your own, Laura.’ He drew a chair forward. ‘Will you not sit down?’

  ‘No,’ said Laura, ‘I’d rather stand, and you didn’t ask me, you know, you ordered me in the most arrogant way.’

  ‘My apologies. Is that why you did it?’

  She said honestly, ‘Yes, I think it was. You see, I’m not a bad driver and I’m not a silly young girl.’

  ‘No, just a silly one,’ he observed icily. ‘When I saw you drive past my consulting rooms just now, I…’ He paused. ‘Well, never mind that now—perhaps you can imagine my feelings when I saw the Fiat on the shoulder and you nowhere in sight.’

  Laura was still recovering from being called a silly girl so scathingly. She said furiously, ‘No, I can’t imagine your feelings—you haven’t any for me, anyway. And now if you’ve quite finished lecturing me, I’ll go to my room. I have a headache.’

  He took a step towards her. ‘Laura, you weren’t hurt?’

  She turned her back and made for the door, longing to have a nice long cry in peace and quiet. ‘No, but it would have served me right if I had been, wouldn’t it?’ She slammed the door after her and raced upstairs and banged her bedroom door too, and when Els came to see if she would like a tray of tea she refused it and moreover told her to let the doctor know that she wouldn’t be coming down to dinner—a high-handed decision she regretted later when her normally healthy appetite made itself felt. There was a tin of biscuits beside her bed, so she ate the lot and washed them down with water from the bathroom while she thought with longing of the carefully-chosen menu she and Truus had decided upon that morning. She took a long time over her bath, washed her hair and experimented with her make-up, and it was still only a little after nine o’clock. Presently she got into bed, to lie awake listening for Reilof to go to his room. He still hadn’t come when it struck midnight, and worn out with hunger and the reaction from the afternoon’s adventure, she fell asleep.

  Dressing the next morning, she had the vague idea of apologising over breakfast; she didn’t see why she should, but on the other hand, someone would have to offer the olive branch. But when she sat down opposite him to face his cold politeness and hard eyes, she quailed. They ate in silence and it was a relief when Reilof got to his feet with the remark that he would be in for lunch, and strode from the room. Laura did her small morning chores, gave only half her attention to Mijnheer de Wal and the subtleties of the past tense, and went into the garden with the dogs.

  It was here that Jan found her; he had called to leave a patient’s case notes for Reilof to advise on, and stayed to pass the time of day with her. It was almost lunchtime by now, but Piet brought more coffee and they sat together by the swimming pool, talking easily about nothing much until Jan said, ‘I haven’t liked to ask you before, Mevrouw van Meerum, but I think perhaps you could help me…’

  Laura turned to look at him. His face was earnest and worried and she said warmly, ‘Of course I will, but only if you call me Laura. What’s the matter?’

  ‘Well, I wish very much to marry and I would like to tell Reilof about it. You see, when he took me as his partner, he allowed me to live in a small flat he has in Baarn—just right for me, for the surgery is close by—and he told me that if I should want to marry, he would let me have a house which he owns, also in Baarn. Now that is splendid, is it not? But Ella, the girl I wish to marry, is refusing to do this. She says that I must buy a house of my own, not live in one which Reilof has given me. She will not marry me unless I have a home of my own, for she says that he will expect me to work harder and do more for him, and that he will take advantage of me. I know that this is nonsense; we are great friends although Reilof is so much older than I, but I cannot make her see…it would be between friends, you understand. I would do the same for him if I were in his place. I wonder if you would talk to her, make her see that he would never do a mean thing to anyone. And perhaps you could suggest to Reilof that I might buy the house from him—it would take me years, of course, and he will not like it, for he has a great deal of money and knows that I have only my income. You think that I should see him about this, but he is absorbed in his work, and besides, now he has you to absorb his thoughts and days.’

  Laura smiled wryly. ‘So he has. Of course I’ll help. Where does your Ella live?’

  ‘In Utrecht. I have to go there tomorrow and I wondered if you would come with me—and talk to her?’

  ‘A splendid idea. In the morning? I’ll go to work on her and then perhaps you could talk to Reilof. I know just how your Ella feels, but if you could persuade him to let you buy the house—and you’ll have years in which to do that, won’t you?—that should solve the problem. But first we have to make Ella see. Now, what time…?’

  They had their heads together as Reilof came across the garden towards them, so engrossed in times and meeting places that they didn’t know he was there until Hovis and Lucky came out of the shrubbery to rush barking towards him. They turned slightly guilty faces towards him in consequence, the effect made worse by Jan jumping up, declaring that he had to be off at once and that he had left his patient’s notes in Reilof’s study and would see his partner later on
in the day.

  Reilof saw him off the premises with his usual friendliness, and rather to Laura’s surprise didn’t mention him at all during lunch. Instead he kept up a steady flow of nothings, as though he was determined to be pleasant at all costs however difficult it might be, and presently left Laura to go back to his consulting rooms, leaving her puzzled; he had been annoyed when he had found her and Jan in the garden and even though he had been at his pleasantest during lunch, he had looked at her searchingly once or twice and the annoyance was still there, although well concealed.

  It was a hot and airless morning when Laura got up the next day, and over breakfast Reilof told her that he would certainly be late home, information which couldn’t have pleased her better, for she had agreed to meet Jan at ten o’clock in Baarn. She caught the local bus without hindrance, met him at the arranged spot and was soon being driven to Utrecht, sitting beside him in his Citroën as she listened with a sympathetic ear to the ups and downs of his courtship of Ella.

  That young lady proved to be quite charming; small and fair and blue-eyed and, Laura suspected, with an iron will of her own which Jan quite rightly didn’t intend to give in to. Now she could see why he had asked her help; he wanted to marry his Ella on his own terms and not on hers. He had left them together over coffee in one of the big cafés with the promise that he would return and take them out to lunch at half-past twelve, and the coffee pot empty, Laura suggested that they might go somewhere quiet where they could talk. It hadn’t occurred to her that Ella might not speak English, but now she thanked heaven that her knowledge of the language was so good, for it would make it much easier to explain about the house and Jan’s wishes.

  It made her feel rather old, giving advice about husbands to this pretty creature, especially as she knew so little about them herself, but she put the case clearly and in such a matter-of-fact way that before long Ella was at least prepared to rearrange her ideas. Over lunch, Laura was happy to see that Jan, if he was tactful and in no hurry, would get his own way. He seemed to think so too, for he was in great good spirits on their way back, and when he dropped her off outside her own front door, he got out of the car with her, and although he refused an invitation to come inside, he gave her a hug and kiss and told her she was a fairy godmother to them both.