Angel Kate (11 page)

On TV Diana always wore the same outfit: narrow white trousers, white dentist-style jacket with a Nehru collar, and jazzy size three shoes with the highest of heels to boost her height and show off her tiny feet. This unvarying style had clearly been designed to be time- saving for the presenter, yet suitably professional. At the close of each programme she would perch on a stool and like the best of teachers sum up for her audience the essence of what had gone before, emphasising points with her hands, one spikey heel hooked over the rung of her stool, beautifully-cut hair tinted bonfire red and her face the face of a Star.

With an effort Kate pulled herself out of her reverie. It was uncomfortable to be eavesdropping, but how else was she to know when it came, her chance to escape. She
must
stay on the alert, however drowsymaking the bathroom's heat.

Something was different. The voices were quieter, more intimate … murmurings and rustling silences. Sister had gone at last, leaving Tom and Diana alone together. And it didn't take too much imagination to picture what was going on now as the two of them made up for lost time.

'I'll lock the door,' she heard Diana say.

Oh no, oh please no. Now I'm doubly shut in!
Kate hugged herself with embarrassment. Tom knew his 'first-rate nurse' was only few feet away. He'd be killing himself laughing, knowing her predicament. He had a very warped sense of humour, in Kate's opinion.

'I'm not going to listen, I'm not, I'm not.'

In her mind, Kate talked busily to herself, rapidly listing in her head all the tasks she must get through as soon she escaped from the hot little bathroom.

'Pity you wrecked the Lamborghini. I was fond of that car – I suppose it's a total write-off?'

'Total.'

'Got anything in mind for the replacement?'

'No.' He sounded impatient. There was a long pause which had Kate biting  her lips as she tried not to move a muscle or make the smallest sound. She heard Tom cough and Diana say, 'Hope you're not giving me this virus thing you've got. I shouldn't be on your bed with my shoes on, should I. Too late now anyway!' she added with a short laugh.

'You'll stay at the flat tonight.' That was Tom, his voice intimate and caressing.'

'If it's okay with you. Anything you want me to bring over? Books, music CDs, clean pyjamas? That's a thought, have  you got any, I've never seen you wear them!'

'I keep them for special occasions,' he teased.

Another pause, a brief one. Kate heard the doctor ask how he was getting his washing done. Tom sounded surprised. As well he might, because Kate had two pairs of his washed and ironed pyjamas in her airing cupboard. 'Hadn't given it a thought. Seems to be doing itself.'

A tentative knock interrupted the discussion. Diana's voice muttered,
'Damn!
' Then, 'Hold on a minute.'

She must be unlocking the door again.

'Ooh sorry!' apologised a delighted-looking nurse, goggling at Dr Diamond. 'I was wondering, Mr Galvan, if you could tell me where I can find Kate.'

'Well as you can see, she's not here.' There was a teasing gleam in Galvan's eye as he guessed the true purpose of the interruption. 'Anything else we can help you with, Nurse? Don't be afraid to ask.'

'It's a frightful cheek, I know, Mr Galvan, but I was wondering if Dr Diamond would give me her autograph.'

'Dr Diamond's autograph? Don't you want mine?'

The nurse giggled and blushingly admitted, 'Well, Mr Galvan, you are pretty famous around these parts, but—er—'

Diana put a stop to Tom's teasing. 'I'd be delighted. Now what am I to write on? Oh,  you've got my new book, how sweet of you. I generally put, “Wishing you the Best of Health”—what's your name? … Tanya. There you are, Tanya.'

'Wow! Cool! Thanks, Dr Diamond!'

Kate heard the door close, and the sound of Tom's amused voice. 'Come here and give me a cuddle, my little pocket Venus.'

Kate put her hands over her ears, blocking out the small intimate noises. Then she heard Diana say something about putting her roses in water. 'Isn't the colour glorious? Reminds me of the evening sun in Provence and that wonderful time we had  last August. I'll see if there's a vase in your bathroom.'

The voice that unflinchingly revealed to the nation the most intimate workings of the human body was now inches away from Kate's startled ear. She could see the door handle move!

'Funny, it seems to be locked.'

'Darling, do leave those for the nurse. Give the girl something to do, for heaven's sake – there's little enough to keep her busy as it is.'

'I hope she's fair, fat and forty. I know what you are, Tom Galvan.'

Kate exhaled in relief as Diana moved away from the door. She grabbed her clothes and put them on fast.  Again there was a creak of bedsprings as Diana sat down. She was checking Tom's recent surgery, examining the plastered arm, asking questions, taking his pulse—very much the professional doctor. When did he think he would be back in business? He must have been terribly depressed? Was there any loss of feeling in the hand or fingers? Then apparently having satisfied herself that no lasting damage had been sustained, Diana reverted to a sexually teasing intimacy. 'How much have you missed me?' Her voice was muffled and beguiling, and Kate squirmed and bit her lips as Tom joined in with totally inconsiderate gusto, teasing Diana about her exploits in the USA.

'We're both adults, aren't we?' murmured Diana provocatively. 'What the eye doesn't see the heart doesn't grieve over … we've never pretended to be saints. Ouch, Tom Galvan, you know how easily I bruise! Look, when is this nurse of yours coming back? I want to have a word with her about you. In private. Stop it… and mind those roses!'

Tom had a brainwave. 'Why don't you look in the sluice? Isn't that where vases are kept?'

As soon as she heard 27's door open Kate was out in a flash. She glared at Tom who was lying  there grinning and looking mighty pleased with himself, and fled down to the office to report herself late on duty.

'Mr Galvan has a visitor,' beamed Sister Carter, 'his lady friend, Dr Diana Diamond. Now Kate, I've told her what a splendid job you've been doing. Perhaps you've already seen her?'

'No, Sister,' said Kate truthfully.

'Then I'm sure you would like to go and introduce yourself. Oh and by the way, you left  your cardigan in Mr Galvan's room. You really mustn't. It looks careless and sloppy.'

'Yes, Sister. Sorry Sister.''

Better get it over with, thought Kate resignedly. She'd got cramp in her legs and her head throbbed. This was turning into the most difficult day. At least she could escape and help with the other patients, now Tom had his own private doctor with him.

It had hit home, what he'd said to Dr Diamond – that there was little in his care and treatment to occupy a full-time nurse. Soon he'd be discharged, and she would  leave the Maynard Wing, be moved yet again, a stopgap nurse on the achingly busy hospital wards. But you never knew. Perhaps this time with a permanent contract under her staff nurse's belt.

Conscious that her heart was thumping quite ridiculously at the prospect of coming face to face with Tom Galvan's woman, Kate slipped into the cloakroom and did a few deep-breathing exercises.

The face in the mirror looked back at her gravely, ivory- pale, with that tranquil mouth and those melting dark eyes. Why did she feel so different on the inside to how she looked on the outside? She pinched her cheeks to give herself a bit of colour. Next to Diana she resembled a washed-out shadow.

Thank goodness her clothes were dry. Her dress even felt a better fit, as if it had shrunk a bit on the radiator. She knocked and went in.

There was Tom, enthroned among his pillows like a sultan in  his boudoir awaiting homage. A vase of golden roses had been placed on the cupboard by the television set. In his chair sat a small vivid figure in a cleavage-flashing cerise-pink silk shirt and short black Lycra skirt, black tights setting off toned muscular legs which when in town pounded Hyde Park three times a week in the company of a personal trainer. Size three pink suede Louboutins were resting on the bed. Kate could see their red soles were almost brand new.

This was awkward. She ought to tell the visitor to get her feet off the patient's bed.

'Back at last, Gertie. We thought you'd got lost.' Tom winked and raised an amused eyebrow as he saw his nurse's shoulders give a huffy little wiggle in response. 'Diana—this is Staff Nurse Wisdom. Gertie, I call her. But Kate is her real name. Gertie, meet Diana Diamond.'

Diana had been eyeing her with a peculiar intensity from the moment she walked through the door. Kate was very aware of that. But now the other woman whipped her legs off the bed and got up. She came over to Kate,  right hand outstretched and her grip was firm and friendly as they shook hands.

'I hear you've been marvellous, Kate,' she said warmly.

'That's quite an exaggeration, Dr Diamond.'

'Doctors make terrible patients.' The voice was the same as on television, but Diana in the flesh was … different. And on her, Olwen's favourite perfume was heady and disturbing.

Kate smiled and replied that they said the same about nurses. Tom watched closely as the two women conversed. They made such a contrasting pair. Even her ill-fitting uniform couldn't disguise Kate's pale slender elegance and natural manner. She didn't appear to be overawed at walking into his room and finding herself face to face with
the
Diana Diamond. She didn't gush or stammer, or in any way seem anything but the same old Gertie.

Pretty cool of her, applauded Tom, considering she's been locked in my bathroom chewing her fingernails to the quick.

Diana was adept at setting others at their ease. She chatted easily to Nurse Wisdom, who was clearly as competent and thorough as Frank and the others had insisted. Nothing to look at, but a good professional nurse with an interesting streak of firmness that was surely in Tom's best interests.

Diana was asking questions about the night of the accident and praising the part Kate had played. Oh yes, she'd heard about it from Professor Davy.

From his vantage point at the apex of a triangle Tom could watch and listen, contrast and compare. Two women who were closely involved with him: the one emotionally, the other professionally.

He concentrated on Diana – who hadn't always been this highly sophisticated woman, creation of her media success. Come a long, long way, hadn't she, he mused, from the nineteen year-old he fell in love with at med school, puppy- fat and all, with her hooting, infectious laugh and effervescent personality.

When Di at first declared she was going in for surgery there'd been the usual jokes about standing her on an orange box so she could see over the edge of the operating table. But she attacked work like a Trojan and she'd been just as driven by ambition; if a woman could make it in surgery it would be Diana Diamond. What no one could have forecast was that inside the extrovert medical student lurked a TV sensation: the most famous woman doctor in the British Isles.

Kate was bowled over by the reality of the woman. She hadn't expected to like her very much, had expected her to be too grand to talk to ordinary RGNs. Diana's
amazing!
She told herself. Razor-sharp and formidable. About as different from the likes of me as you could hope to find. Perfect for Mr Galvan.

Meeting Diana has been an eye-opener for me. Maybe I'm going about my life the wrong way, being too puritanical about enjoying myself. Maybe I should let a bit of lightheartedness back in, a bit of glamour and fun. Was my life before Dad died so wrong? Wasn't I just
young
?

With a lump in her throat Kate left Tom's room and walked along corridor B, alert for the next buzzer to be pressed.

It would be a relief to spend some time with the other patients. Oh but she'd be glad when this assignment finished—it was dangerously claustrophobic to be so wrapped up in the welfare of one extremely attractive man. You'd have to be a professed nun, she mused wryly, not to get led into foolish fantasies. Fantasies finally revealed for what they were, with the reality of Diana Diamond.

A light was on in the linen cupboard and a trolley stood just inside the doorway. Kate poked her head in to find Tanya Bird struggling to reach down pillowcases from the top rack. Kate lifted a pile down for her. 'I've come to make myself useful. My patient's got a VIP visitor.'

Tanya looked relieved. 'I've had two patients in for day surgery. They're going home any minute so we can get the rooms ready for tomorrow's admissions.' She dumped a pile of sheets on the trolley and confided with a delighted grin, 'To tell the truth, I'm a bit behind because I've been getting Diana Diamond's autograph. I knew she'd rock up at Maynard sooner or later. I got that book of hers and hid it in here under the towels.'

Kate smiled to herself.

'She is like so stunning! Wonder if she does botox?' Tanya switched off the light and shut the door, and the two nurses set off down the corridor, Kate wheeling the linen skip and following the linen trolley to the first vacated room.

'Offer to show her round Maynard. Go on, Kate. She might like to do a documentary about us. I've never been on telly, have you?' Taking the no for granted, she rattled away about this and that and was like a breath of fresh air after Kate's bathroom drama.

 Together they changed beds and swabbed down lockers—it still had to be done even though they had scarcely been touched.

'Mr Hadfield next—haemorrhoidectomy. Oral lubricant prescribed and daily saline baths. We'll just check he's comfortable.' They knocked and a man's cheerful voice bade them enter.

'Hello, lovely nurses,' said the patient, peering at them over a pink
Financial Times.
'Do you know, this op's not half as bad as they made out at the golf club. My surgeon says I'll be completely over it within a fortnight.'

Tanya had whipped the metal cap off a bottle of Guinness and was expertly pouring the drink into a tall glass. 'That's right, Mr Hadfield. And in the meantime we want you to drink plenty of these to build you up!'