The Stars Shine Down

Philip said unhappily, "Darling, I'm afraid I'm going to have to miss that, too."

Lara froze. "What do you mean?"

"Ellerbee's booked me for another tour. I leave for Germany in three weeks."

"You can't!" Lara said.

"The contracts have already been signed. There's nothing I can do about it."

"You just got back. How can you go away again so soon?"

"It's an important tour, darling."

"And our marriage isn't important?"

"Lara..."

"You don't have to go," Lara said angrily. "I want a husband, not a part-time..."

Marian Bell came into the room carrying some letters. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I have these letters ready for you to sign."

"Thank you," Lara said stiffly. "I'll call you when I need you."

"Yes, Miss Cameron."

They watched Marian retreat to her office.

"I know you have to give concerts," Lara said, "but you don't have to give them this often. It's not as though you were some kind of traveling salesman."

"No, it isn't, is it?" His tone was cool.

"Why don't you stay here for the ceremony and then go on your tour?"

"Lara, I know that it's important to you, but you must understand that my concert tours are important to me. I'm very proud of you and what you're doing, but I want you to be proud of me."

"I am," Lara said. "Forgive me, Philip, I just..." She was trying hard not to cry.

"I know, darling." He took her in his arms. "We'll work it out. When I come back, we'll take a long vacation together."

A vacation's impossible, Lara thought. There are too many projects in the works.

"Where are you going this time, Philip?"

"I'll be going to Germany, Norway, Denmark, England, and then back here."

Lara took a deep breath. "I see."

"I wish you could come with me, Lara. It's very lonely out there without you."

She thought of the laughing lady. "Is it?" She shook herself out of her mood and managed to smile. "I'll tell you what. Why don't you take the jet? It will make it more comfortable for you."

"Are you sure you're...?"

"Absolutely. I'll manage without it until you're back."

"There's no one in the world like you," Philip said.

Lara rubbed a finger slowly along his cheek. "Remember that."

Philip's tour was a huge success. In Berlin the audiences went wild and the reviews were ecstatic.

Afterward the greenrooms were always crowded with eager fans, most of them female:

"I've traveled three hundred miles to hear you play..."

"I have a little castle not far from here, and I was wondering..."

"I've prepared a midnight supper just for the two of us..."

Some of them were rich and beautiful, and most of them were very willing. But Philip was in love. He called Lara after the concert in Denmark. "I miss you."

"I miss you, too, Philip. How did the concert go?"

"Well, no one walked out while I was playing."

Lara laughed. "That's a good sign. I'm right in the middle of a meeting now, darling. I'll call you at your hotel in an hour."

Philip said, "I won't be going right to the hotel, Lara. The manager of the concert hall is giving a dinner party for me and..."

"Oh? Really? Does he have a beautiful daughter?" She regretted it the moment the words were out.

"What?"

"Nothing. I have to go now. I'll talk to you later."

She hung up and turned to the men in the office. Keller was watching her. "Is everything all right?"

"Fine," Lara said lightly. She found it difficult to concentrate on the meeting. She visualized Philip at the party, beautiful women handing him their hotel keys. She was consumed with jealousy, and she hated herself for it.

The mayor's ceremony honoring Lara was a standing-room-only event. The press was out in force.

"Could we get a shot of you and your husband together?"

And Lara was forced to say, "He wanted so much to be here..."

Paul Martin was there.

"He's gone again, huh?"

"He really wanted to be here, Paul."

"Bullshit! This is a big honor for you. He should be at your side. What the hell kind of husband is he? Someone should have a talk with him!"

That night she lay in bed alone, unable to sleep. Philip was ten thousand miles away. The conversation with Paul Martin ran through Lara's mind. "What the hell kind of husband is he? Someone should have a talk with him!"

When Philip returned from Europe, he seemed happy to be home. He brought Lara an armload of gifts. There was an exquisite porcelain figurine from Denmark, lovely dolls from Germany, silk blouses, and a gold purse from England. In the purse was a diamond bracelet.

"It's lovely," Lara said. "Thank you, darling."

The next morning Lara said to Marian Bell, "I'm going to work at home all day."

Lara sat in her office dictating to Marian, and from the drawing room she could hear the sounds of Philip at the piano. Our life is so perfect like this, Lara thought. Why does Philip want to spoil it?

William Ellerbee telephoned Philip. "Congratulations," he said. "I hear the tour went wonderfully."

"It did. The Europeans are great audiences."

"I got a call from the management at Carnegie Hall. They have an unexpected opening a week from Friday, on the seventeenth. They would like to book you for a recital. Are you interested?"