every version of the story started with the fact that his fiancée’s brother was the reason Richard had become a Viking in the first place.
Bella’s phone rang all the time. It felt as if the thing was vibrating with rage. Richard was inclined to shrug it off.
‘It’s bad luck about the sponsorship. But as long as Morgan’s don’t try to cash in – which would be very silly of them – I don’t think anyone will care, for long. The proceeds go to Sailing for the Disabled, after all. And I had a bloody good time. End of.’
Only then his Father heard about it.
By midnight the King was in hospital with a suspected heart attack.
Richard suddenly went very quiet. A helicopter was scrambled to take him to London.
‘I’ll come with you,’ said Bella.
But Richard shook his head. He looked pale and drawn but he was his usual calm self, contained, in control. Bella had never felt so far away from him, not even when they fought.
‘Better not,’ he said, as politely as if she were a stranger. ‘Someone has to drive the car back to London.’
‘You want me to do that?’
‘If you wouldn’t mind?’
‘Oh, my love.’ She went to put her arms round him but he evaded her embrace without really seeming to see it.
‘I’ll call you.’
He doesn’t want me, Bella thought. He blames me. And he’s right. It’s my fault. Neill would never have agreed to let him in the boat if it weren’t for that silly game, rowing on the carpet at home, before Christmas.
She swallowed. ‘Yes, do. Please. Call me as late as you like. I won’t go to sleep until you do.’
‘Yes. OK,’ he said, only half with her. ‘Got to go.’
A kiss – barely a kiss at all, really – and he was gone.
21
‘When One Thing Goes Wrong …!’ – Tube Talk
Bella drove back very carefully the next day. She hadn’t slept much.
Richard had rung to say that his father was in the King George IV Memorial Hospital for Officers and seemed to be stable. The doctors weren’t really sure what was going on. They’d done a blood test and results suggested a minor heart attack.
‘According to his valet he fell asleep over the television last night and then woke up and suddenly started talking scribble. That could have been because he was still half asleep. But it just might have been a small stroke, which is what’s worrying them. Madoc said he’s been short of breath a lot lately. And also there were a couple of odd episodes this week, when my father seemed very anxious about something. But Madoc didn’t press him and it seemed to pass. Classic symptoms of a mild heart attack, apparently. He’s being monitored round the clock at the moment. Anyway, the quacks say it isn’t life-threatening, though he needs to be careful.’
‘How are you?’
‘Me?’ Richard sounded drained but impeccably polite, as always. ‘I’m fine. The emergency was all over, pretty much, by the time I got here. My mother is shaken, though.’
Bella just longed to be with him, to hold him. Somehow she couldn’t quite bring herself to say it. She did say, ‘What can I do?’
He puffed out his breath as if he were trying to think of something for her to do, to make her feel better. ‘Bring the car back to Camelford House. I’ll make sure the Guard House are expecting you and don’t play any of their stupid tricks.’
She knew he would too. Even when he was so tired he couldn’t see straight, even when he was desperately worried about his father, he would make sure that she did not have to lock horns with some jobsworth who wanted to show her she didn’t belong there. She thought her heart would break.
‘I’ll see you tomorrow then.’
‘What? Oh, yes. Tomorrow. Thank you.’ He was obviously about to put the phone down and added conscientiously, ‘Good night. Thank you for waiting up.’
She did not know how long she sat there with tears falling silently. She loved him with all her heart but in his distress she could not get near him. It was like walking into a wall.
Bella did not know Richard’s big car very well. Had only driven it a couple of times before, to move it in car parks and so on. But she was a good driver, steady and unflappable, and the tears had dried towards dawn. She delivered it safely to Camelford House by mid-afternoon.