Read Online Goodbye, Janette by Harold Robbins - Free Book Online

stomach. Even after ten years, fear gripped him. He couldn’t speak.
    “Remember me?” The German accent was faint. “It’s been a long time.”
    “Yes,” Maurice answered. “It’s been a long time.”
    “I called Madame la Marquise but she was not in. They transferred me to you.”
    “Yes. She had a luncheon appointment.”
    “We should arrange a meeting,” Johann said.
    “Of course,” Maurice answered. “Where are you?”
    “I’m in Paris.”
    “Let me check with Tanya and I’ll get back to you,” Maurice said.
    “No, I’ll be moving around too much. Let me call you tomorrow morning about eleven o’clock.”
    “That will be fine,” Maurice said. The telephone went dead in his hand. He stared at it for a moment, then slowly returned it to the desk. He took a cigarette and tried to light it. It wasn’t easy. His hands were shaking.
    ***
    The doctor was silent as he helped her remove her legs from the stirrups on the examination table. He stepped back as she swung around sitting up, her white cotton examination gown falling shapelessly around her.
    “Get dressed,” he said as the nurse moved to help her. “I will see you in my private office in ten minutes.”
    He left the room before she could ask him a question. The nurse opened the small closet in which her clothing had been hung and moved around behind her to untie the strings that held the gown fastened behind her back.
    She was seated in the comfortable leather chair in front of his desk as he came into the small office. Carefully he closed the door behind him and sat down behind the desk, facing her.
    “You look very serious, Doctor Pierre,” she said.
    He nodded. “You’re pregnant.”
    She smiled. “That’s all? I was worried for a moment. We can take care of that.”
    He shook his head. “Not this time.”
    Her voice was shocked. “Why not? We’ve done it before.”
    “You’ve waited too long. The fetus is fully developed. It’s about fifteen weeks old.”
    “Damn,” she said.
    “Why didn’t you come earlier? As you did before? Four, five, six weeks, and there’s no problem.”
    “I was busy,” she said. “Besides I didn’t pay any attention. I skipped several periods many times and it came around.”
    “You were wrong,” he said.
    “I’ve heard of abortions when the fetus was this old,” she said.
    “Yes. But it is very dangerous. Besides, you have several factors militating against it. One, you have had three abortions in the last seven years that I have known you and they haven’t done you any good. Two, you’re not a kid anymore. Thirty-eight, and physiologically speaking, your body is not that strong, neither do your womb and ovaries have the elasticity to withstand a violent shock like that. You could very well rupture and bleed to death before we could even find out what it is we have to repair.”
    She took a deep breath. “Could I have a cigarette?”
    He pushed a pack across the desk and lit it for her. He waited a moment. “The marquis should be pleased.”
    She laughed shortly. “You know better than that, Doctor Pierre. The whole world knows better. They all know what he is. It will be the biggest joke in Paris.”
    “You don’t have any choice,” he said. “Unless you prefer dying.”
    She shook her head slowly.
    “You could go away for awhile,” he said. “Have the child and no one would know.”
    “For how long would I be gone?” she asked.
    He looked at her critically. “You’re not showing yet. With diet you can stay small, and with the right clothes no one would know. Maybe only the last three months.”
    She shook her head violently. “Impossible. I have too much to do. I can’t be away from the business that long. There would be too many problems.”
    “Then I suggest that you have a talk with the marquis and see what you can work out. I’m sure that the two of you can get together on a story that would pass public muster.”
    She laughed. “Maybe the public. But not the