Well, tonight, perhaps, Ruth could make her mother and her father just a little bit proud. Or maybe she was hoping for too much. As they rounded the double archway and entered the vast room, Ruth saw that Bernard and Helen were seated at the farthest seating area, near the rear fireplace, sipping cocktails in silence. The canapés sat on the table untouched.
“Ruth, darling, fashionably late as usual, I see.” Helen smiled as she turned to greet her daughter.
“Mother, Father, I’d like you to meet Dr. Robert Apter. Robert, my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Emeraldine.”
“Dr. Apter.” Helen Emeraldine reached for Robert’s hand and shook it limply.
“Such a pleasure to meet you, madam.” Robert made a little theatrical bow as he kissed Helen’s hand, and Ruth saw a small smile escape her mother’s lips. “You have a breathtaking home, thank you so much for welcoming me here this evening. And, Mr. Emeraldine,” Robert addressed Bernard directly as he crossed the room to stand in front of his chair, “I have been looking forward to meeting you for quite some time.”
“Doctor.” Bernard did not stand and hardly even put out his hand to meet Robert’s vigorous shake. He quickly broke the contact and turned to his daughter. “Ruth”—he paused, eyeing her up and down—“you look nice this evening.”
“Hello, Father, thank you,” Ruth responded softly, wishing what she looked like didn’t matter so much, and then walked to her father’s side to give him a forced kiss on the cheek.
“Well, I’m hungry, let’s head into the dining room.”
“Bernard, give them a moment to settle in, have a drink. They haven’t even lost the chill from their clothes! I’ll just go let Chef know that we will be ready shortly, but you three settle in for a cocktail.”
Ruth saw her father shoot her mother a frustrated glance before he stood up and headed to the bar cart. “Dr. Apter, how do you take your martini?”
Ruth never stopped being surprised at the power her mother seemed to have over her otherwise domineering father. Helen and Harry were the only two people in Bernard’s life who could soften him that way. Ruth wished she had the same skill.
“Dry with two olives, if you have them,” Robert replied confidently. Ruth warmed inside, proud to see that her father couldn’t easily intimidate her husband-to-be. “Mr. Emeraldine, I am anxious to know your thoughts on the direction we are moving in the hospital. Are you pleased with the development of the research lab?”
“I find it interesting,” Bernard answered in a flat and dismissive tone as he walked back to the seating area with two cocktails. Ruth could see him working to remain indifferent and began to worry about the path the evening might take.
“Well, it is interesting! We Americans have become so fixated on analysis over the past few decades that we have lost track of the fact that mental health is part of the medical field. We need the discipline of deconstructive research. Dissection, imaging, biological exploration. Talking isn’t going to move inmates out of asylums and into society again. We need medical action.”
Bernard sat quietly, his lips tight, his eyes seemingly unblinking as he stared at Robert, almost daring him to continue. A clammy sweat began to form on Ruth’s lower back, and she worried that her father would launch into one of his infamous tirades. She had never seen Robert challenged, and she feared he might be a fiery and defensive adversary.
Instead, her father said, “I couldn’t agree with you more.” Ruth was so stunned she nearly choked on her cocktail. “While I think Dr. Freud’s little theories are lovely for people with minor malaise, we are running a hospital. We need to think more medically. That’s why I was so pleased when Ruth told me they had hired you.” Ruth began to fume—if her father was happy about Robert’s hire, he certainly hadn’t said a word to her. In fact, she could hardly remember him registering the conversation, let alone having a positive opinion about it. “You might not be aware, but while I myself have no formal training in medicine, I have made an examination of the trade my second career. Would you like to see my study, Dr. Apter?” Bernard rose and Robert followed.