The sister hesitated. ‘Not just yet,’ she said in a low, cautious voice, ‘but you must understand, he is very ill.’
Milly made a small sound.
‘Now, now, my dear,’ said the sister. ‘Pull yourself together. We don’t want to frighten your father, do we?’
Taking a deep breath, Milly managed a brave smile and walked towards her father’s bed. ‘Hello, Father,’ she said brightly as she pushed her glasses up her nose, ‘I was just passing and thought I’d pop in to see you.’
Milly’s first visit was short. Her father wasn’t up to talking, and the sister pointedly reminded her again that official visiting was from two until four and six until seven. She kissed Charles on his forehead, promising to come back in the afternoon, and left the ward in tears. She would have called her mother straight away, had the ward sister not mentioned that she had telephoned her just before Milly had arrived.
Milly glanced at her watch. It was almost noon. She had to let Lena know, although with her mother about, it would be tricky getting her half-sister to his bedside. Fifteen minutes later, Milly was on a bus heading for Findon.
She arrived at the fairground to find Lena and Rainbow George having a row. It appeared that Lena was late getting started on her stall, and Rainbow George didn’t like it. He was even more grumpy when he discovered that Milly was there to take Lena to the hospital.
‘We have to get the bus there straight away,’ Milly told her. ‘I don’t know how long he’ll last.’
Lena was immediately thrown into a blind panic.
Under the circumstances, Rainbow George wasn’t hard-hearted enough to refuse to let her go, especially as he liked Charles, but they could tell he wasn’t happy about the stall being left unmanned. Once again, Vera was called upon to take over the hoopla.
‘Bus be hanged,’ Lena said suddenly. ‘Seebold, Seebold.’
He came from behind the carousel with a spanner in his hand. ‘What’s up?’
‘My father is dangerously ill,’ Lena said. ‘Can I borrow your lorry to drive us to the hospital?’
Milly’s eyes grew wide. She had no idea Lena could drive.
‘If he’s that bad,’ said Seebold, ‘you be in no fit state to drive. Give me two seconds and I’ll take you.’
He wasn’t gone long, but Milly was so anxious that it seemed like a lifetime. Once they had set off, Milly couldn’t stop herself glancing at him as he drove the lorry. She loved his dark curly hair. He was like a big kid. One tendril fell across his forehead in an attractive way and his face was sun-kissed . . . He had turned his head slightly and now he was looking at her. Milly looked away quickly, but a moment later she was stealing another glance at him. She watched him as they went around corners, his strong arms turning the wheel, his muscular chest straining his shirt, the smell of him warm and manly. Part of her felt ashamed. She shouldn’t be thinking this way about someone else when her father was so ill, but being in such close proximity with Seebold was . . . intoxicating.
‘There you are, duchess,’ he said as he helped her down from the lorry. ‘I ’ope it’s not as bad as you think.’
Milly felt her face heating up. She turned to go and it was then that she spotted Dixon sitting in the car near the hospital lawns. She tugged at her sister’s arm.
‘My mother is already here,’ she whispered. ‘You’d better not let her know who you are.’
Lena looked stricken. ‘What are you saying?’ she challenged. ‘He’s my father too.’
‘I know, I know,’ Milly said desperately, ‘but you don’t understand. My mother can be vindictive, and I feel sure that if she finds out who you are, she’ll tell the hospital authorities not to let you in.’
‘But she’s got no right . . .’ Lena protested.
‘I know, but I promise you, that’s exactly the sort of thing she will do.’
‘We’ll see about that!’ Lena retorted angrily.
‘She might be right,’ said Seebold, chipping in.
Lena was furious. ‘Who asked for your opinion?’
Seebold held his hands up in mock surrender. ‘You’re not thinking straight, girl,’ he said. ‘If she does what Milly says she will, you won’t never see your father, will you. Hang on for a bit until the old lady’s gone and then you can stay as long as you like.’
Frustrated as she was, Lena saw the sense of it. Milly could have kissed him.
When they arrived outside Charles’s room, they could hear Agatha’s angry voice. ‘No, Charles, absolutely not!’
There was a sound of a scraping chair, so Milly nudged Lena towards a small recess in the corridor.
‘We need the house for Pearl’s engagement party,’ Agatha was saying. ‘This is to be a happy occasion. I can’t have ambulances and nurses littering up the place. You must understand that.’
Charles made a reply, but Milly couldn’t hear what he was saying.
‘But we need the east wing for the guests, Charles.’ Milly heard the click of her mother’s heels on the tiled floor. ‘I’m sorry, but it’s just not possible. You must see that.’
Charles began coughing again.
‘Anyway,’ said Agatha, ‘must dash. Get well soon. Bye.’
A second later, she almost bumped into Milly in the doorway. ‘Talk some sense into your father, will you?’ she said confidentially as she pulled on her white gloves. ‘The man’s an idiot.’ And with that she swept away.
As soon as her mother had gone, Milly beckoned Lena. When the two girls entered his room, Charles was very distressed. ‘Please don’t leave me to die here,’ he gasped. ‘I want to go home.’
Chapter 15
Agatha and Pearl were in the throes of packing. Most of Pearl’s best dresses were in the London flat, but there were quite a few things she wanted with her – like her pale blue Jeanne Lanvin cotton and silk evening dress, and her Schiaparelli jacket with the metallic decoration down the front and on the waistline.
The Coco Chanel dress she had worn at the party last night was damaged. It had ripped at the hem when she and Freddie had been walking in the rose garden. They hadn’t been doing anything wrong but, when she’d heard Lady Verity calling, she’d panicked, and somehow or other her dress had got caught on a particularly thorny rose bush. It was a shame, but she consoled herself that she had already worn it twice.