Previews A Poisonous Echo by Mai Griffin | Page 9

Mai Griffin spending a dull evening, at home, with her and the television... there were friends close by, if she went into labour, she had reminded him. She had teased his horrified reaction – they had three more boring weeks to wait before he really needed to worry about her! She had even insisted he should stay in town rather than drive home afterwards, so that she could enjoy an early night… if she woke in the early hours, she wouldn’t have to worry about his possible non- appearance. He stared at the telephone, remembering how sweet his wife had been when he eventually spoke to her. Knowing how much he had enjoyed the New Year celebrations the previous year, when she had been the designated driver, she’d been amazed that he was up before midday! If only she’d been present to look after him again! He had tried to tell her what had happened several times during the following week; it wasn’t his fault; his lapse into promiscuity hadn’t been intentional – but how could he risk upsetting her in her condition? The words had choked him, unsayable. At the office, his secretary had adopted a conspiratorial self-satisfied air that he was sure had not gone unobserved by the gossipmongers! In private, she had seemed to regard it as the beginning of a grand passion, saying she had always known, from the way he looked at her, that they were ‘destined to mean so much to each other’! All those years ago he had thought naively that, if he kept coolly aloof, Joyce would get the message, but she had thought he was merely being discreet. Two weeks later, to his great relief, she seemed more normal and he felt safe reverting to his earlier, easy manner when, as a raw eighteen-year-old, she was first assigned to him. His previous secretary, starchy, in late middle age, had made him feel like a wayward boy in need of a keeper! The freshness of pretty little Joyce and her wide-eyed need for 8