Doctor's Delight(73)
“Everything all right?” His hand rested reassuringly at the small of her back
“Absolutely,” she replied, meaning it. After her irreverent thought, she was able to look around at the elegant people with new eyes. Nothing like the thought of suppositories to put things into perspective.
Relaxing, she joined in the smaller conversations with some of the wives she was introduced to, sharing inane gossip about celebrities mentioned, the latest fashions, and general chitchat that didn’t require much brainwork.
“Hello, Rick,” a cool voice said from behind them.
Rick turned and Cherry followed him, since his hand was still at her waist, and she nearly swallowed her tongue.
Annabelle Forbes stood before them, tall, blonde, beautiful, and elegantly dressed in the exact same gown as Cherry’s. Only Annabelle looked gorgeous, her hair upswept faultlessly, her make-up flawless, her jewellery stylish and tasteful, and the dress fit her like a second skin, framing her slender curves, cupping her breasts, the lace throw trailing down to touch her narrow waist. Gold stilettos showed her red nail-polished toes to perfection. She looked exactly what she was – a beautiful, slim woman who made many male heads turn in her wake.
In that second, Cherry felt very small. Very small and very fat, a poor imitation in a gown that couldn’t hide her voluptuous curves and now made her feel a pathetic copycat of Annabelle. She could feel many eyes on them, and fancied she heard whispers. Her cheeks flamed.
“Annabelle,” Rick said pleasantly, though an edge of steel threaded through his deep voice.
“And this is…Cherry, isn’t it? The little nurse from the hospital?” Annabelle’s smile was condescending. “My, what a lovely dress. It’s the same as mine.” She looked down at herself, then back to Cherry, sweeping her gaze over Cherry’s form. “You look…nice.”
Cherry wasn’t even aware that she’d taken a step back until she felt Rick shift slightly, a calculated move that placed him partially behind her, thwarting her retreat while giving silent support.
“You look lovely, Annabelle,” Cherry said quietly, fighting to maintain her composure, so conscious of how different they looked even though they were dressed the same.
“Thank you.” Annabelle’s gaze lifted to Rick. “This gown does require a certain, how shall we say, figure? Doesn’t Cherry look nice, Rick?”
If a hole had opened up right then, Cherry would have crawled into it and pulled it closed over her head. Humiliated by Annabelle’s nastiness in pointing out the obvious difference in their figures, part of her wanted to run and hide,
Rick looked down at Cherry, his eyes flaring with anger, but softening as he met her gaze. “Cherry looks breath-taking. Absolutely breath-taking.”
Though grateful to Rick, she wanted the attention off herself, so she cast around for something – anything – to say, settling on, “I don’t see your date, Annabelle?”
“Oh, he’s coming.” Annabelle shrugged elegantly. “He’s just a friend of the family.” She smiled at Rick, cutting Cherry out of the conversation by simply ignoring her. “How are you settling in, Rick?”
“Very well, thank you.” Wrapping an arm around Cherry’s waist, Rick drew her against his side in open proclamation of their togetherness. “Cherry and I have been spending time checking out the sights of the city, and work is going well. Do excuse us, Annabelle, I see Tim heading this way.”
Annabelle smiled and moved away with a murmured “See you later, then, Rick”. But her gaze when it slashed to Cherry was hard and filled with dislike.
He stiffened, but Cherry leaned up to whisper, “Don’t. Please don’t say anything.”
Looking down at her, he ran his hand soothingly up and down her back. “I won’t have anyone hurt you, Cherry. I’ll have a word to her and—”
“Don’t. If you really care for me, don’t,” she pleaded. “Please, Rick. Please.”
It was obvious that he fought an inner war with himself, but finally he nodded. “Very well. But don’t take any notice of that bitch. She’s a vindictive woman and nasty to boot. She’s no comparison to you.”
Cherry smiled, though her heart remained heavy. “Okay.”
Leaning down, he placed his mouth to her ear and said softly, “Okay nothing. You let her get to you, Cherry, and I swear I’ll paddle your backside.”
That really jolted her and her eyes widened, but more than aware that they were in a public place, she managed to keep a smile on her face even as she whispered back, “You wouldn’t dare.”