‘I feel better,’ said Jonah, ‘but my head’s still sore,’ and, sighing, he drifted back to sleep. Noel bent and kissed him on the forehead, aware that she made a most touching sight. Hardly a dry eye in the room, thought Harriet. Everyone was gaping in admiration.
Noel stood up and looked round. Pulling off her fur hat and running a careless hand through her blonde hair, so that it fell perfectly into shape, she smiled with dazzling wistfulness at the nurses, then turned her headlamp stare on Dr Williams who was blushing like a schoolgirl.
She held out a hand. ‘My name’s Noel Balfour,’ she said, as if everyone didn’t know it.
‘We didn’t know you were his mother,’ said Sister Maddox, looking rather shaken.
‘I don’t expect Harriet thought it important,’ said Noel. ‘Not when Jonah’s life was at stake. How is my son, Doctor?’
‘Well it’s been touch and go, but it looks as though he’ll pull through now.’
‘How long has he been here?’
‘Four days now.’
‘Four days! Why wasn’t I told before?’ Noel collapsed on a chair, and got out a cigarette with a trembling hand, letting her fur coat fall open to display her magnificent bosom.
Dr Williams leapt forward with a lighter.
‘We tried to find you,’ protested Harriet. ‘They said you were in Paris, but they didn’t know where.’
‘It was the studio trying to protect me,’ said Noel. ‘I escaped to Paris to learn a part. And you’ve been all by yourself, poor Harriet. What you must have been through! I’m sure she’s been wonderful.’
Dr Williams gave a chilly smile. ‘Miss Poole takes her responsibility as a nanny very seriously.’
Noel, instantly detecting tension, looked from one to the other.
‘Where’s Cory?’ she asked Harriet.
‘He’s on his way back from the States,’ said Harriet.
‘He rang to say he’d be here this afternoon,’ added Sister Maddox.
‘Oh thank God,’ said Noel, ‘thank God we can give him good news. Let me sit with him for a bit, Harriet,’ she went on. ‘Go and have a cup of tea and get some rest. You look so tired.’
Dropping with fatigue, black-ringed beneath the eyes, greasy-haired, and wearing the wrong length skirt, Harriet was only too well aware of the contrast she must make to Noel.
As she went listlessly down to the canteen she knew she’d been outmanoeuvred. No doubt at this moment Dr Williams was telling Noel how stroppy she’d been with the nurses, and what a bad influence she was on Jonah. And this afternoon Cory would be back, and the first thing he’d find was Noel looking stunning by the bedside. Suddenly she felt twitchy and threatened.
Chapter Twenty-two
Noel, like all charming people, was totally dependent on the approval and admiration of others. When she sensed disapproval, she merely moved on to fresh conquests. She only liked to live in the sunshine. Her effect on the hospital was dramatic. Suddenly every doctor and nurse in the building seemed to find an excuse to pop in and check Jonah’s condition. The passage outside was like Paddington Station.
‘The poor little lad took a turn for the better the moment his mother arrived,’ Harriet heard one nurse saying to another as they added ice-cream scoops of potato to the roast lamb on the supper trays.
‘Isn’t she lovely, and so natural?’ said the other. ‘“Nurse you must be so tired,” she said, “Thank you for saving my baby’s life.” Which is more than the complaints we got from that. .’ They stopped abruptly when they saw Harriet.
‘Did you see her shoes?’ said one.
‘Weren’t they lovely? And her hair. And did you see the way her face lit up when she heard her husband was coming? Such a shame they’re splitting up. She’s obviously still in love with him. Perhaps this’ll bring them together again.’
The most dramatic change was in Dr Williams’s behaviour. Usually one couldn’t see him for dust the moment he’d done his rounds, but now Noel was ensconced, he was looking in every five minutes. Harriet knew he was off duty that day at three o’clock, but he was still hanging around at five. The compelling, cold, surgical grey eyes were quite moony now, the bored voice husky and caressing. Harriet even caught a waft of aftershave.
He was very concerned that Noel hadn’t had any lunch. But there was no suggestion that she might go down to the canteen for a cup of tea, Irish stew and carrots. A quarter of an hour later, smoked salmon sandwiches and iced white wine appeared.
‘Isn’t he wonderful?’ Noel said to Harriet. ‘So considerate and so concerned about Jonah.’
‘It’s only since you’ve been here,’ said Harriet sulkily. ‘He’s been a pig up till now.’
One of the day nurses popped her head round the door.
‘I was just going off duty, Miss Balfour. I wondered if I could have your autograph.’
‘Tell me your name,’ said Noel, taking the piece of paper.
‘Nurse Rankin,’ said the nurse.
‘No. I know you’re Nurse Rankin. I mean your christian name.’
Nurse Rankin giggled. ‘Actually it’s Dorothy. But everyone calls me Dotty.’
‘To Dotty with great pleasure, love and gratitude,’ wrote Noel in her huge scrawl. ‘I think Dotty’s a lovely name. Imagine what it was like being christened Noel. People were always making jokes about the first Noel.’
‘I’ve seen all your pictures,’ said Nurse Rankin, a slave to sudden passion. ‘I think you’re absolutely wonderful.’
‘And I can never thank you enough for what you’ve done for my little boy.’
Lay it on with a trowel, thought Harriet in disgust.
‘Everything all right?’ It was Dr Williams popping in again.
‘Absolutely marvellous,’ said Noel, turning her startling tawny eyes on him. ‘You are a saint, David.’
David now, thought Harriet. He was looking exactly like Sevenoaks when Mytton’s bitch was on heat.
‘I haven’t managed all the sandwiches,’ said Noel, ‘I’m feeling too upset to eat, but the wine is delicious. Won’t you have some?’
‘Not when I’m on duty,’ he said, ‘but I’d love one later.’
Harriet’s only comfort was that Sister Maddox was looking absolutely furious.
When Noel heard that Chattie and William were staying at the Pembertons’, she went off and had a long telephone conversation with Elizabeth.
When she returned her attitude was distinctly less friendly towards Harriet. Oh God, I bet Elizabeth mentioned something about my being wrapped round Cory at the Hunt Ball, thought Harriet.
Noel’s main preoccupation now seemed to be to get her out of the hospital before Cory came back.
‘I really don’t feel we can dump William and Chattie on Elizabeth any longer,’ she said, ‘particularly when William’s teething and keeping them up every night. I think you should go and collect them, and take them home.’
‘Sammy really doesn’t mind looking after them,’ said Harriet. ‘I would like to stay here with Jonah, just another night.’
‘Are you quite sure you’re the best person?’ said Noel gently. ‘People here seem to think you’re rather — well — overemotional.’
‘I l-love him,’ stammered Harriet. ‘I was worried.’
‘I quite realize that, but you must remember you’re well, only. .’
‘The nanny.’ Harriet felt herself going very red in the face.
‘Exactly,’ said Noel, pouring herself another glass of wine. ‘And it’s your duty to go home and look after Chattie and William, so I’d like you to pack your things at once, and my driver will take you home, and you can collect the children on the way.’