Finders and Keepers (30 page)

‘Harry, how's Granddad?'

‘He wasn't too bad when I saw him yesterday.' He looked at his uncles.

‘She insisted on coming, and nagged and nagged until your father and mother gave in for the sake of peace.' Joey dropped the bag he was carrying and buttoned his jacket.

‘How are you, Harry?' Victor shook his hand when Bella finally released him.

‘Fine, Uncle Victor.' He looked around for Toby and saw him hanging back, staring at Bella.

‘This place is in the middle of nowhere, isn't it?' Bella had knocked her hat when she had hugged Harry, and she took a few moments to straighten it. ‘Everyone sends their love and is missing you like mad. Dad says Edyth's already demanding the doctor send her home, so she must be feeling better, and Susie …' Bella fell silent when she saw Toby looking at her.

‘Bella, may I introduce the artist I told you about, Mr Toby Ross? Toby – my sister, Bella, and my uncles, Mr Victor and Mr Joey Evans.'

Bella shook Toby's hand enthusiastically. ‘Are you the one who is illustrating
Le Morte d'Arthur?'

‘Yes, but it's my uncle's commission. He's Frank Ross, the painter.'

‘Harry said you've been giving him advice on painting. Good, isn't he? I wish I could draw half as well as him but -'

Harry noticed that Toby continued to stare at Bella while she carried on prattling embarrassingly about his talent. And he hadn't released her hand.

‘Miss Evans,' Toby said, when Bella finally finished talking. ‘I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, especially as you would make the absolutely perfect Morgan le Fay.'

‘Do you always begin conversations this way, Mr Ross?'

‘Careful, Bella, he'll be asking to see your arm next,' Harry warned in amusement.

Toby grabbed Bella's hand and pushed up her sleeve when she tried to pull it away. ‘Thank you for that, Harry. It's perfect. So as well as Morgan le Fay, you can be my Lady of the Lake, Miss Evans.'

‘Really?' Bella finally managed to extricate her hand.

‘I have no doubt he'll explain later.' Harry looked to his uncles. ‘They're expecting you at Craig-y-Nos, but Doctor Adams will decide if you can see Granddad or not. And afterwards we'll go back to the inn for lunch. I've warned the landlady there'll be two extra but I'm sure she'll find a meal for Bella. When you have stopped studying Bella from an artist's viewpoint, perhaps we can go, Toby?'

Toby shook Victor and Joey's hands. ‘I hope you don't mind me asking on such a short acquaintance, but as your niece would make the perfect model for Morgan le Fay, would you please allow me to paint her?'

‘I suggest you ask her, Mr Ross.' Joey picked up his bag again.

‘I'll think about it,' Bella took Harry's arm, ‘but first I'm hoping that they'll let me visit my grandfather to see if he really has settled into the sanatorium as well as Harry says he has. You are lunching with us at the inn, Mr Ross?'

‘I am now, Miss Evans.'

‘I don't recall inviting you, Toby.' Harry led the way out of the station.

‘An omission your sister kindly rectified.' Toby also held out his arm to Bella.

She looked from her brother to Toby, and linked her arms into both of theirs. ‘Tell me everything, and I mean
everything
that you and Granddad talked about when you saw him yesterday, Harry.'

Harry saw Diana talking to the hunchback in the covered yard to the right of the castle when he drove through the gates of Craig-y-Nos. ‘That's Miss Adams; her father is the doctor in charge of the sanatorium. He agreed that Granddad can have two visitors this morning if he's well enough, but I don't know what he'll say about you being here, Bella.'

Toby rushed to open the door for Bella as soon as Harry stopped the car. ‘You can ask Miss Adams to intercede on your sister's behalf, Harry, while I show Miss Evans and your uncles the gardens.'

‘I thought Joey was a fast worker with girls when he was young, but your friend puts him in the shade,' Victor commented when Toby led Bella around the side of the castle.

‘He's overwhelming when he's after a model,' Harry replied.

‘Going by the looks he's giving Bella I'd say he's after a lot more than that,' Joey warned.

‘But she's only sixteen,' Harry protested. ‘And although I never thought about it until Toby said, Belle is dark, striking and pretty enough to make a wonderful Morgan le Fay, but don't tell her I said that.'

‘We won't.' Joey looked at Harry's car. ‘What have you been doing with this? The upholstery and paintwork are scratched to hell.'

‘I'll tell you when we have an hour or two to spare after lunch.'

Victor looked keenly at Harry. ‘How is Dad, really?'

‘As I said on the telephone to Mam last night, in himself surprisingly good. He has settled in well, and he enjoys reading and talking to the other patients when they give him permission to walk around, which he has done every day since he's been here.'

‘Do you think he's well enough for Bella to see him?' Joey asked.

‘That's for Doctor Adams to say. He's very protective of his patients. I thought he was too strict at first, but I've noticed if they allow me to see Granddad for ten minutes, he's always tired nine minutes after I've walked in. I'll go and see Miss Adams, and ask her how he is.'

‘Pretty girl.' Joey winked.

‘She's going back to London to do her final year in medicine this autumn.'

‘You're kidding!'

‘No, I'm not.' Harry smiled. ‘I'll be back in a minute. Just keep an eye on Toby and Bella.'

Harry waited until the hunchback tipped his cap to Diana and disappeared into his workshop. She turned to face him, and he paled at the expression on her face.

‘We had a bad night on the children's ward. I've just ordered three small coffins.'

‘I'm sorry, Diana.'

‘So am I,' she answered in a brisker, less emotive tone. ‘Your grandfather is much the same as he was yesterday so your uncles can go on up and see him.'

‘My sister's also here. She would like to see him as well,' Harry said, as Toby and Bella walked back towards his car.

Diana frowned. ‘She looks young.'

‘Sixteen.'

‘I'll ask my father. He won't allow her into his room. But if your grandfather is well enough and wants to see her, we can wheel him to the visitors' room, which separates patient and visitor by a glass panel. Mr Ross can take your uncles up to your grandfather while you wait in the room by the porch with your sister. I'll come and see you after I've spoken to my father. Make sure your uncles and sister are gowned and masked.'

‘I will.' Harry drew closer to her. ‘I'm returning to Pontypridd with my uncles this afternoon, but I'll be back next week. Perhaps we can go out together? Take in a show or go dancing in Swansea?' he suggested hopefully.

She returned his smile. ‘I'd like that.'

They walked across the yard.

‘Miss Diana Adams – my uncles, Victor and Joey Evans, and my sister, Bella. Don't offer anyone here your hand,' Harry warned when Joey held out his. ‘Doctor Adams insists that all the staff keep physical contact to a minimum so germs aren't passed on to patients.'

‘Or passed back to relatives.' Diana smiled. ‘I'm pleased to meet all of you. Harry and Toby can show you where we keep the masks and gowns. I'm sorry, Miss Evans, you'll have to stay in the waiting room until I've spoken to my father about you, but I promise I'll do all I can to persuade him to let you see your grandfather.'

‘She's nice, Harry,' Bella said, as Diana went ahead of them into the castle.

‘She is,' Harry agreed.

‘Oh – oh,' Joey muttered.

‘Oh – oh, what?' Harry demanded irritably.

‘Victor,' Joey nudged his brother in the ribs, ‘I think our nephew is in love.'

‘There's no “think” about it, he is,' Toby chipped in to Harry's annoyance.

‘I am not,' Harry refuted irritably.

‘Then why do you go walking together?'

‘Toby, you are an ass.' Harry held the front door open. ‘Bella, wait for me in there, I'll be back as soon as I've shown Uncle Victor and Uncle Joey where they keep the gowns and masks, and I'll bring one back for you, just in case.'

To Harry's surprise, Diana was waiting with Bella when he returned to the cubicle by the front door.

‘My father has agreed that your grandfather can see Bella in the visitors' room. You can go on up, Harry, and help him into the wheelchair; the nurse will show you where the room is. I'll take your sister there in a few minutes.' Diana took the gown and mask from Harry and turned to Bella. ‘You do understand what I told you, Miss Evans? You'll only be able to see your grandfather. You won't be able to talk to him.'

Bella nodded, and Harry could see she was fighting emotion. He caught her hand.

‘You don't have to see him, Belle.'

‘Yes, I do, Harry,' she said fiercely.

Harry ran up the stairs to the ward. Dr Adams was talking to the sister who was standing behind her desk.

‘My daughter has pleaded your family's case, Mr Evans. But I stress visits like this will only be allowed while your grandfather is strong enough to receive them. And if he had been at all reluctant to see your sister, she wouldn't get any further than the front door.'

‘I understand, sir.'

‘The porter will bring you a wheelchair in a few minutes.'

Harry went to the door of his grandfather's room. Reluctant to break in on his uncles' visit, he stood back and waited, but Billy saw him and beckoned him into the room.

‘Did Doctor Adams tell you that I can see Bella?'

‘Yes.' Harry smiled. ‘They're bringing a wheelchair for you so you can go to the visitors' room.'

‘I'd rather walk,' Billy retorted.

‘I don't envy the nurses who look after you, Dad,' Victor said feelingly.

‘Thank you for your sympathy, Mr Evans.' The sister accompanied a porter into the room. ‘We've had more troublesome patients than your father in here, but not many.'

Billy sat up and swung his legs out of the bed.

‘Wait for us to help you, Dad.' Joey picked up the dressing gown Sali had sent and draped it around his father's shoulders.

‘My slippers are in the locker,' Billy said gruffly, his voice suddenly hoarse.

Harry exchanged a worried look with the nurse but he fetched the slippers and put them on his grandfather's feet. Billy left the bed and rose unsteadily to his feet. Victor scooped him up and deposited him in the wheelchair.

‘You'll get shot for that. Visitors aren't supposed to touch patients. Besides, I could have managed,' Billy said irritably.

‘Wasn't it better you didn't have to?' Victor said. The sister tucked a blanket around Billy. ‘Just don't touch your father again, Mr Evans. And wash your hands before you leave.'

‘I don't need fussing over,' Billy protested.

Joey gave Harry a conspiratorial smile above Billy's head. The porter wheeled the chair into the corridor, and they followed.

‘Perhaps you'd like to go into the other half of the family room with your sister, Mr Evans?' the sister suggested tactfully when they reached two doors set side by side in the corridor wall.

She opened both doors. The porter wheeled Billy through the one on the left; Harry walked through the one on the right. Although Diana had warned them about the glass partition, he hadn't been prepared for the reality.

The room would have made an average-sized drawing room if it hadn't been divided into two by a three-foot wall topped by a sheet of glass. Bella was standing in front of it, staring at Billy on the other side of the glass.

‘He won't be able to hear you, Miss Evans, but you can wave,' Diana Adams hinted, sensing that Bella wasn't sure what to do.

Bella dutifully waved but Harry could see that her smile was forced and brittle. Billy waved back, turned and said something to Joey and Victor; they both laughed. Then he started to cough. Harry gripped Bella's shoulders hard as bright-red blood began to flow from their grandfather's mouth.

Diana ran out of the door and into the other room. She snapped a command at the porter who wheeled Billy out.

‘Come on, sis.' Harry pulled Bella back towards the door.

‘I shouldn't have asked to see him. If I hadn't, Granddad could have stayed in bed.'

‘He's insisted on getting up every day since he's been here, Belle. You didn't do anything.' Harry looked through the glass at his uncles' grief-stricken faces. ‘Come on, Belle,' he repeated quietly. ‘There's no point in staying here, let's go downstairs.'

Chapter Thirteen

Joey, Victor and Harry were grim-faced and Bella tearful, as they waited for the train to arrive at Penwyllt station.

‘I really think I should stay -' Victor began.

‘We've been over this a dozen times, Victor. You can't leave your farm for any length of time. And even if you could, there's nothing for you to do here except hang around the inn and wait for a telephone call that hopefully won't come,' Joey said impatiently. They had spent the entire afternoon discussing his father's condition before deciding to take the sensible course. But like Victor, Joey would have preferred to let his heart rule his head, forget his responsibilities to his wife, children and the store, and stay close to his father in the valley. ‘You heard the doctor. Dad's taken a turn for the worse, but he could recover.'

‘And he might not.' Bella sobbed and hid her face in her handkerchief.

‘Please, don't upset yourself, Belle.' Wishing Lloyd hadn't allowed her to accompany them, Victor slipped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her.