A Suitor for the Princess - Chapter 71

               She gathered all her note-pads and loose sheets which had been meticulously numbered and dated and arranged them in serial order. She had roughly 200 pages of manuscript written in her neat hand-writing (a typist’s delight!). She’d ask the Doctor to recommend a good typist for doing the needful. She didn’t want Norman’s typist to type her manuscript as she wanted her story to be under wraps before publication. She’d be putting the typist under contract to keep the story confidential.

              Tired but elated, she tiptoed to the Doctor’s room, carefully picking her way in the dark apartment, as it was way past midnight then. She wanted him to be the first to get the good news. “I’ve finished the novel, Benny? How’s that?” she had planned to ask him and surprise him. She had finished the novel in two days flat. She still had some days to rest in his apartment. She had to even ask Benny for an appointment to call John and fix their meeting. To her disappointment, his door was closed. Maybe he was fast asleep and she didn’t want to disturb him at that unearthly hour.

                She returned to her bedroom and decided to phone John and Norman. John sounded dazed and sleepy when he picked up the phone on the second ring. “Uh, Martha? Are you all right? What’s the matter, dear?” he said. She excitedly told him, “John, guess what? I’ve just finished writing my novel. Now only the typing part remains and voilà, I can publish my book!”

                 “Very good, darling! Congrats! You’re sure you don’t want to run it through me before sending it for publication?” he asked, knowing very well that her answer would be a determined “No”. She was one confident dame, in the area of her expertise. “Yes, I want to give all of you a surprise. If the book is read and dissected now itself, there’ll no fun left. Though I assure you that I value your opinion, this once you’ll have to excuse me and trust my judgment,” she said politely, but with laughter in her sweet voice. He started missing her immediately. “Martha, I want to see you and talk to you. Have you talked to Dr. Hussey about our appointment, as yet?” he implored.

                 “Tomorrow, first thing that’ll be my target. In fact, I wanted to brief him tonight, but I’m afraid it’s too late and I cannot disturb him. In fact, I’m sorry that I disturbed you and woke you up from your sleep. Good night, then. And yes, I miss you too. Love you. Bye.”

                   Then she called up Norman. She knew that she could take the liberty of waking him up at that unearthly hour as they were quite close to each other. She knew that he was always ready to help her. “Hello, Norman?” A very sleepy voice saying “Hello” reached her. She froze when another voice interjected his “Hello” and said crossly, “Who the hell is that?” It was that of a female. The snooty secretary’s voice! Martha knew better than to disturb their cozy rendezvous. She however couldn’t help the tears that rushed to her eyes. Norman was supposed to be engaged to her, wasn’t he? What was she doing in his room then? Obviously, Norman wasn’t missing her at all!

                  Her mood was thoroughly spoilt by that thought. It was just as well that she had seen his true colors before any further commitment and she thanked God that she wasn’t married to him. He obviously didn’t lose time in moving on from one lady to the other. Maybe he could make do with any one who was ready and available! Disgusted and disillusioned, she decided to catch up on some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be an important day.

                 For a long time, sleep eluded her as she kept going over Norman’s infidelity. When she finally reached a conclusion that he couldn’t be really blamed and couldn’t be expected to remain celibate, till she became fully all right; she stopped thinking about him and fell asleep with a profound realization. He was not a patient suitor. Cancelled.

                 The next day, she woke up at 7 a.m. and was pleased to see the Doctor watering the potted plants in his balcony. “Good morning, Benny. I’ve good news for you. I finished my novel last night. Since it was way past midnight, I didn’t dare disturb you.”

                 Surprised and genuinely pleased for her, the doctor exclaimed, “Wow, that’s surely great news. “Hearty congratulations, dear! We must celebrate today in the evening. I’ll take you out for dinner tonight. So today, you can just laze around and do whatever takes your fancy. At last you’ll be able to afford that much-needed break!”

                “Benny, can you give me and John an appointment to meet at your clinic tomorrow? It’s very urgent!” The doctor’s sensors were on red alert. He’d have to very careful if he didn’t want to displease Martha. Of course, he had to buck up and plot his plan of action to get Martha immediately. He was dangerously close to losing her, now that her novel was over! He felt desperate. Slowly, he told her, “Um, my diary is chock-a-block with appointments till the next week. Why don’t we wait till next Monday? Now I don’t foresee any trouble for you. So just relax and enjoy.”

                She was disappointed but knew that she couldn’t force the busy doctor to reschedule his itinerary just for her sake! She even felt foolish and unreasonable. Just because he was bending over backwards to help her, she couldn’t take him for granted! She sighed and agreed. Then she went to the kitchen to make French toast and coffee, while he went off to have a shower. She didn’t know that he had tiptoed into her room and seen the neatly kept folder containing her precious novel, on her desk. He knew that she’d later keep it either in her suitcase or the closet. His mind was racing furiously.

To be continued...

The copyright of this novel is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.