‘But Mr Erskine left me in charge of the children. I’m sure he’d want me to stay.’
Noel lost her temper.
‘I’ve been married to Cory for ten years. I think I know him slightly better than you. The thing he’ll like best when he arrives is to find me here with Jonah.’
Harriet was beaten. She went next door and began to gather up her things. She heard Jonah waking up again and complaining that his head ached, and could he have some iced water. Noel poked her head through the door.
‘Could you just pop down and get me some ice,’ she said.
Running the tray under the tap to get out the ice cubes, Harriet suddenly thought she’d burst if she didn’t see Cory. I hate Noel, I hate her, I hate her.
Then soon she heard a quick step in the passage and there was Cory walking past. Her heart lurched. She tried to call out to him, but her voice stuck in her throat. She went out into the passage. It required the greatest control of her life not to run after him.
As it was, she reached the door in time to see Noel leaping to her feet. The next moment Cory had taken her in his arms and was comforting her as she sobbed with great restraint, but not enough to spoil her make-up. I can’t bear it, thought Harriet, her nails digging into her hands.
She saw Cory let Noel go, and move forward to speak to Jonah. She tiptoed forward trying to hear what he was saying.
But Sister Maddox was too quick for her. The faster Noel transferred her attentions to Cory and got her claws out of Dr Williams the better.
‘I think the family would all like a little time on their own,’ she said firmly. ‘The porter downstairs has just rung up to say the car’s waiting for you.’
Harriet went into the side room, and mindlessly put the rest of her things into the canvas bag Mrs Bottomley had brought.
Then she heard Jonah say, ‘Where’s Harriet?’ And Cory saying, ‘Yes, where is she?’
‘I’m here,’ said Harriet, pushing open the door.
Cory was sitting on the bed holding Jonah’s hand. Harriet expected him to be pale and drawn. But he was tanned dark brown by the Los Angeles sun. Never had he seemed more handsome — or more beyond her reach. He looked up quickly, full of concern. ‘My God, what you must have been through! I’m sorry I wasn’t here.’
‘I’m so glad you’ve come now,’ she muttered, fighting back the tears.
‘All I can say is thank you,’ he said. ‘Sit down. You look absolutely knackered. Are you up to telling me something about it?’
‘My driver’s waiting to take her home, Cory,’ said Noel in icy tones. ‘She’s been here for four days. She needs a break. And she’s going to collect Chattie and William. Elizabeth’s looking after them but we can’t leave them with her for ever.’
Cory didn’t turn round.
Jonah, still drowsy, suddenly said, ‘Where’s Mummy?’
‘Here darling,’ said Noel, going towards the bed.
‘Where’s Harriet?’ muttered Jonah.
‘She’s going home, darling.’
‘No,’ said Jonah, sitting bolt upright, suddenly hysterical, ‘I don’t want her to go home. I want her to stay. I want Harriet! I want Harriet!’
‘But I’m here,’ snapped Noel, her lips tightening.
‘But you won’t stay,’ he screamed in desperation. ‘You only say you’ll stay, then you go. Harriet stays all the time.’
He started to cry.
Cory took him by the shoulders, and gently eased him back on the pillow. ‘It’s all right, old boy. Harriet’s not going anywhere.’
He turned to Noel. ‘I took the precaution of getting Kit to find us a temporary nanny. She came up in the plane with me. She took the taxi home. She’s going to look after William and Chattie. I thought as you’d seen the whole thing through you’d probably want to stay with Jonah,’ he added to Harriet.
‘Oh, yes please,’ she whispered.
‘But Cory,’ began Noel. ‘Can we have a brief word?’
Harriet retreated into the side room shutting the door. She was shaking like a leaf. No doubt Noel was telling Cory what a disaster she’d been with all the nurses and doctors. She caught the word ‘hysterical’ several times, and then Noel was saying in acid tones, ‘She complained about Dr Williams, but honestly he couldn’t have been kinder, popping in every five minutes, solicitude and kindness itself. She’s obviously the sort of girl that gets people’s backs up.’
Harriet couldn’t hear Cory’s reply. She collapsed on the bed, holding her clenched fists against her forehead in a desperate attempt to gain control.
A minute later Cory came in, shut the door behind him and sat down on the bed. Her whole body was shaken with sobs.
‘It’s all right, little one,’ he said gently, stroking her hair. ‘I know what you’ve been through.’
‘And I know I’m bad for Jonah at the moment,’ she sobbed. ‘I’m overreacting, but I love him so much, and I thought he was going to die, and no-one would take any notice, and they wouldn’t give him any pain killers, and bloody Dr Williams was so bored with the whole case it wasn’t true. And then she, I mean Noel, turns up this morning, and suddenly everyone rolls up, and starts paying attention to the case, and giving Jonah VIP treatment, and he’s been getting better all day. I know I should be h-happy. I prayed to God, if he m-made Jonah better, I’d never be unhappy again. I c-can’t think why I’m so miserable.’
‘I can,’ said Cory, his hand over hers. ‘You’re absolutely played out. What I want you to do now, is not to argue, but to go and have a bath and wash your hair, have a little gentle supper, and then go to bed and have a decent night’s sleep. Then you’ll be fresh to look after him in the morning.’
‘But he gets such frightful nightmares. You think he’s better, and suddenly he gets worse. Will someone sit with him tonight?’
‘I will,’ said Cory.
He went back into Jonah’s room.
‘Well,’ said Noel icily. ‘Have you finished consoling her?’
‘For the time being,’ answered Cory in a level voice. ‘She must have been through hell and back. I’m absolutely appalled by her appearance.’
‘She’s obviously one of these people who go to pieces in a crisis,’ said Noel.
Cory was about to reply when Noel added quickly, ‘Where can one eat round here?’
‘There’s a good restaurant in Skipton,’ said Cory.
‘As soon as Jonah’s asleep, I thought we might go there. In fact I’ve asked Dr Williams to join us. He’s charming, and I thought he could give you the low-down on Jonah.’
‘No thanks,’ said Cory. ‘I didn’t come four thousand miles to go out to dinner.’
Jonah in fact made very good progress and was out in five days. Harriet hardly recognized the nursery and the children’s rooms when she got home, they were so tidy. All the playing cards and jigsaw puzzles had been sorted out, the children’s clothes lay in serried ranks, beautifully ironed in the drawers. William’s nappies were all fluffy and as white as snow, even the old table in the nursery coated with generations of poster paints, gripfix, pentel, and coca-cola, had been scrubbed and was now gleaming like a furniture polish ad. Miss Hanbury, the temporary nanny, was a miracle, and Noel took every opportunity to point out the fact.
Noel stayed at the Wilderness and only left at the end of a week because she had to be in London to go on the Parkinson Show. It was one of the worst weeks of Harriet’s life. William was teething and, like Cherubim and Seraphim, continually did cry, which gave Noel plenty of excuse for more bitchiness. Jonah, having had undivided attention for so long, displayed all the despotism and capriciousness of the convalescent. Chattie, from lack of attention, was very jealous and playing up. She was only just stopped from giving two of Noel’s minks to a woman collecting jumble, and one afternoon Harriet came into the kitchen and found her and Sevenoaks both looking sick and extremely sheepish. They had consumed a whole tin of Good Boy Dog Choc Drops between them.