CHAPTER 5

Suzanne was making big progress. She was now walking with her prosthesis on with the help of the crutches. But she was using them less and less often. The therapy had been very hard but with the help of Professor Macgregor, she had managed to get over it. She was more cheerful than she had ever been for a long time. But there was still a dark cloud on her head. She still did not have any news of Terry and she was wondering if he would come back one day. What if he had left forever? She would have done all this for nothing at the end. Because she did it for him, so that he would be proud of her, proud of his future wife. She got these bad ideas out of her mind. He will come back when he will be ready. She was sure of it.

Today Mr Hathaway had proposed her to come to the theatre to meet with the new members of the Stratford Company. A coach came to pick her up.

Once it stopped in front of the theatre, she felt weird; her hands were wet and shaking. It was the first time since the accident she was coming back to the theatre. The driver helped her out and took her to the front door as the ground was very slippery with the recent snow that has covered New York. Mr Hathaway went out to welcome her.

"Suzanne" he said with a large smile "Welcome back"

"Well, I am not back yet, I still have to go through the audition before" she said.

"I am sure you will get the role. You should be confident about your talent. I trust you Suzanne" he said with a paternalistic tone.

"Let me introduce you to the new members of the troupe who have recently join us" he continued.

Suzanne was not sure of herself at all. Everybody was staring at her and she was feeling uncomfortable. She was shaking hands and answering to questions like a robot, her head was spinning. It was too much stress for her and she had over judge her capacities.

Suddenly, her glance crossed two green eyes that were looking at her deeply. She felt something strange in her stomach.

"And this gentleman is our very new member. He joined us two months ago and he is doing very well. Let me introduce you to Jason Lamport"

"Nice to meet you, Miss Marlowe" he said kissing her hand.

Suzanne felt some electricity running in her body when Jason's lips touched her hand. She took her hand off him quickly.

"Nice to meet you too" she answered.

"So you are planning to come back in the troupe" he said with a mocking tone as if he had perfectly realised how she had reacted at his contact.

"Well nothing is done yet" she said.

"I hope to have soon the pleasure to perform on stage with you" He said charming.

Suzanne blushed a bit and went to see the next actor.

A little while after, she was sitting in Mr Hathaway's office. He was talking about the forthcoming audition for Othello but she was not listening. She was still very confused about what had happened earlier with this young actor. She was ashamed of her reaction. She had reacted like child and was very angry with herself. This man had woken up some sensations she had never felt before even for Terry. What was going on? She decided to see that actor as less as possible until Terry comes back. It was Terry's fault after all, if he had not left her she wouldn't be so uncertain of her feelings at all. But was she uncertain? She loved Terry, no? Of course she loved him, she even lost a leg for him. She shook her head and came back to what Mr Hathaway was saying.

"…and finally I hope we will be ready for the premier just the day before Christmas" was saying Robert Hathaway.

"It sounds good» replied Suzanne who had not listened to a word he had said.

That night she had a very nice dream. But this time the hero had deep green eyes.

The days after she woke up in a very good mood. She was feeling full of energy and hope. Immediately after breakfast, she went into the living room to make her rehabilitation exercises. She was doing really well and was able to cross the room twice without the help of her crutches. After one hour, she felt exhausted and sat on an armchair to read Othello's lines for the audition, which would be in a few days now.

Terry arrived in New York that same morning. He went to his apartment and found it clean and tidy. The housekeeper had continued to take care of it while he was away. He had a lot of letters waiting for him. One of them was from the Stratford Theatre informing him that the audition for Othello would take place early November, which was already in 10 days.

"Othello" he thought "That would be a good opportunity to get my career on track. If I get the role, I will be able to get Candy come here and marry her this time. He had an impression of déjà vu and felt uncomfortable about it. No this time nothing will prevent him from being with the woman he loved. But he needed to speak to Suzanne as well. He could not wait to get his freedom back and went out immediately to talk to her.

On the way to the Marlowe's house, he tried to think about what he would tell her. She needed to understand that although he owed her his life, he did not love her and would never be happy away from Candy. Why would she have saved his life for if it were to make him miserable? If she cared for him, she should understand where his happiness was and leave him to go back to Candy.

When he arrived in front of the house, his hands were wet and shaking, and his heart was running very fast. He felt like his whole life will be depending on what will happen in the next few hours in this house. He was not sure how his visit would be taken after so many weeks away. He never wrote her since he left.

He took a big inspiration and knocked on the door. The butler came to open the door.

"Mr Grandchester" he said surprised "Miss Marlowe is going to be so happy to see you» he continued.

"Once I will have tell her why I came for, I am not sure she will be anymore" thought Terry for himself.

"Miss Marlowe, you have a visit" said the butler coming in the living room

"Yes" Suzanne answered raising her head from her book.

Terry did not let the butler answer and came in the room. He found her sitting on an armchair near by the fireplace reading a theatre play.

Her face lightened up when she saw him.

"Terry ! I am so happy to see you. You have decided to come back finally!" she said with joy in her voice.

"Good morning, Suzanne. As you see I am here. How are you?» said Terry with a motionless face. He did not know really how to start.

"Where have you been all this time? I was so worried for you. You never wrote me. Nobody knew where you were. Some day I was thinking that anything could have happened to you, nobody would have known ABOUT it." she reproached.

"I needed time alone to figure out what I will do with my life. Things had happened so fast that I did not know where I was standing anymore" he replied prudently.

"Oh, being engaged to me was not making you happy enough I suppose. I love you Terry. I always did. I would give my life for you and I will do anything to make you happy. You should have come and talk to me"

"No nobody could help me. It was something I needed to decide alone"

"Well, I guess you have now reach to a decision if you are back. I am sure I will be happy with it" She said unsure of what he would say.

"Yes I did. First I realised that I can not help performing on stage and I want to get my career back on track if it is not too late"

"Oh Terry, you are so talented. Of course you can. There will be some auditions for Othello at the Stratford Theatre in less than two weeks. You should try, I am sure you will get Othello's role" She replied enthusiastically.

"Yes, I had a letter about that at my place" he replied trying to smile.

"That would be marvellous. I am also planning to go to the audition to get Desdemona role." she said watching his reaction.

"You ! But how…" he replied surprised.

Then he realised her wheelchair was not in the room. Only the crutches.

Suzanne stood up, took one crutch and walked slowly to him. Terry was staring at her his eyes wide opened.

"Suzanne, you are walking… this is wonderful" he said astonished. He was really happy for her.

"As you see I did not waste my time while you were away. I wanted to make you the surprise when you come back. I felt so useless for the last months. In a few days, I will be able to walk without any help. I have followed a therapy and put a prosthesis on. This way, we will be able to perform on stage together again and soon I hope we will perform as wife and husband. That would be so great. Imagine, Othello starring Grandchester couple."

Terry was speechless. A voice inside him was shouting, "tell her, tell her you want to break your engagement with her, you saw Candy, you still love her and you want to marry her, not Suzanne".

But he could not say a word. Suzanne was radiating a new light he had never seen since that accident. She was so full of hope, she had made so many efforts, and he did not want to ruin all her efforts now. It would have been too selfish. What if she try to suicide again because of despair. He had affection and recognition for her and he wanted her to be happy but without him. And he hope that she will soon understand that there was no way she could be happy by staying with him. He loved another girl and she deserved better than that. For the moment, he decided not to say anything until the audition. If she managed to get the role, she will have a life for herself again and will not be depending on him anymore. He will always offer her his support and affection but nothing else. But whether they get a role or not, he will not marry her and will go back with Candy. That was the promise he made to himself at that moment.