Borrowed Wife by Patrícia Wilson Page A

think about Logan again. All this time, throughout all the fight,
she had held him at the back of her mind. When it was finally over she would be
free and she would just go away. She would probably take a job with Brian.
    Martha
caught up with her just before she got to her car
    ‘Let’s go
for a coffee.’ She planted herself beside Abigail and ignored any surprised
looks.
    ‘All
right.’ Abigail turned back. Why not? When she got home there would be the
usual questions and the usual recriminations. At the moment she preferred Martha’s
company. Being late back was no problem and although Martha’s attitude was
unexpected Abigail was grateful for the break in routine.
    ‘I never
expected all this, you know,’ Martha confided when they were settled at a
corner table of a little café nearby. Well, not after you married anyway.’
    ‘I can’t
think why,’ Abigail stated glumly. ‘I was nothing, after all. I still don’t
know what it’s all about really. Battles in business I can understand, but this
enmity, this bitterness! Daddy was furious about the wedding but this is all Logan’s doing. There was something going on before I even met Logan but he never would
tell me, neither would my father. In fact, after I married Logan I didn’t see
my father much. It was too traumatic. He just used to fire questions at motions
I couldn’t answer.’
    ‘Your
father ruined the firm that Logan’s father started up,’ Martha informed her quietly.
‘As far as I know, it was all straightforward business.’ She shrugged ruefully
‘Some survive, some go under. Logan’s father went under; in fact, he died.’
    ‘But that
wasn’t my father’s fault!’ Abigail protested ‘I’ve told you all I know.’ Martha
looked at her steadily. ‘If I knew any more, I would tell you. You’ the one who
is suffering and it was all before your time.’
    ‘I played
right into Logan’s hands,’ Abigail mused with a far-away look on her face.
    Martha
frowned grimly before saying, ‘He loved you.’
    ‘Oh,
please!’ Abigail gave a shaken laugh. ‘What Is this, Martha? I’m not a child
and I’m not an idiot Logan used me to get at my father. He wouldn’t even let me
have a baby because he knew it wasn’t going to last as a marriage. I was just a
means to an end.’
     
    ‘Suppose
you’re wrong?’ Martha asked softly.
    He needed
me as a weapon. You must have heard all the talk about Fenella Mitchell. She
was before my time, during my time and I expect she’s with Logan still.’
    Abigail’s
face tightened at the thought of the beautiful woman who had never really been
out of Logan’s life, was supposed to be his solicitor but she was much than
that. Everybody had known, and finally Abigail had known too. Logan had not
even bothered to deny it in the end. She had left him for a lot of reasons but
Fenella Mitchell had been the main reason. It was long now to look back coldly
and admit it. Logan had always been wealthy. His father’s firm might have been
ruined but Logan had money of his own, money that had come from his grandfather
and uncle in America. He had used that to rebuild the firm. He had also used it
to crush her father.
    I’ll have
to go.’ Abigail stood to leave and Martha sighed. Her attempt to mediate had
been useless. The whole thing was a tangle that would never unwind.
    ‘Not done
a lot of good, have I?’ she asked woefully, and Abigail managed to summon up a
smile.
    ‘It would
take a miracle.’ And there were no miracles. According to her father. Logan had the monopoly of those and he kept them for himself.
    When she got home, the
coldness of the house hit her afresh. It had always been like this, for as long
as she could remember. Her mother was just a hazy dream at the back of her mind
but she knew that even before her mother’s death her father had been totally
absorbed in his business interests and nothing else.
    I ’m back.
Rose.’ She popped her head round the kitchen door and found Rose