He alighted from the vehicle and stepped onto the frozen walk, felt the sharp winter chill on his cheeks, and ventured inside.
As he closed the door behind him, he noticed a distinctive smell. Some sort of antiseptic perhaps, which was both unfamiliar and strangely interesting. There were a few ladies seated in chairs in a small waiting area. He removed his hat and gloves, then approached the desk to speak to a clerk, a young man with mustache and spectacles.
“Is Dr. Thomas in this morning?”
The clerk glanced up. “Yes, sir, but only until noon as it’s Christmas Eve, and I am afraid he is fully booked. Would you like to make an appointment for another day?”
Garrett tapped his gloves against his thigh. “It is a personal matter, and rather urgent. I would be grateful if you could inform him that I am here.”
“Your name?”
“Lord Garrett Sinclair of Pembroke.”
The color drained from the young man’s face. He set down his pen. “Pembroke Palace?”
“Yes.”
The clerk leapt to his feet. The chair legs scraped across the floor. “I do beg your pardon, my lord. Please forgive me. I will let him know you are here.”
Garrett thanked the young man and turned to take a seat under a tall potted tree fern.
While he waited, he let his gaze peruse the waiting area. Across from him a woman held a young child on her lap. The child appeared sleepy. Feverish perhaps.
Another older woman was reading a book. He wondered what ailed her, for she looked perfectly healthy in every way.
He then noticed a painting on the wall and stood up to examine it more closely. It appeared to be an artistic rendering of the human anatomy. He found it quite fascinating and was still studying the details when a door opened in the back hall.
The clerk returned to the waiting room. “Dr. Thomas will see you now, my lord. If you will come this way.”
Garrett followed the young man down a narrow, red-carpeted corridor. He peered into two empty examination rooms as they passed by. At the end of the hall, the clerk opened a heavy oak door and gestured for Garrett to wait inside. “This is the doctor’s private office. He will be with you shortly.”
“Thank you.” Garrett entered the room and looked around at the dark green painted walls with tiger oak wainscoting, the piles of medical books in danger of toppling over on the sofa, and a set of tall bookcases on the far wall behind the large mahogany desk. Most notably, there was a life size skeleton on a stand by the window.
He strode to it immediately, reached out to touch the ribs, and discovered it was made of some sort of plaster.
Wildly curious, he couldn’t resist the urge to examine the joints. He squatted down and studied the knees, then the ankles and spine. What a fascinating reproduction of the human body. He was completely mesmerized.
Next, his gaze lifted to a framed painting on the wall. This one depicted a team of surgeons crowded around a body in a lecture hall, performing some sort of procedure while students looked on. He leaned close and squinted, trying to make out what the doctors were doing with their instruments when the door opened. Garrett turned around.
Dr. Thomas paused at the threshold and regarded him with a look of pleasure. “Lord Garrett. How nice to see you.”
Garrett stepped forward and held out his hand. “Nice to see you again, too, sir. I apologize for the interruption. I see you have patients waiting.”
“Only two more this morning. My nurse is with them now. What can I do for you?” He strode to the desk and set down the file he was carrying. “Please take a seat.”
Garrett sat in the leather chair in front of the desk while Dr. Thomas sat behind it.
Not quite sure how to begin, Garrett pointed at the skeleton. “That’s quite interesting,” he said. “You must find your profession very rewarding.”
“I do indeed,” Dr. Thomas replied. “What interests me most is that there never seems to be an end to the discoveries. I believe medical science is in its infancy. There are new diseases discovered and new theories formed every day. I am still a student in many ways. I suspect I always will be.”
“That is remarkable. I am very impressed.”
“And how is your father?” the doctor asked. “Is he recovering?”
“He’s doing well,” Garrett replied, “but I am here for a different reason, Dr. Thomas. It concerns something of a more...” He paused. “A more personal nature.”
Dr. Thomas leaned back in his chair and regarded Garrett uncertainly in the morning light streaming in through the paned window.
“I spoke to my mother yesterday,” Garrett continued. “It was an important discussion, one I wish we’d begun many years ago, but unfortunately that was not to be. Nevertheless, I now know the truth about my parentage and since I am to be married today, it was important that I see you. Surely you can guess why?”