Want to Know a Secret? by Sue Moorcroft

put forward. Which left her free to do her hand sewing in the evenings while the best television programmes were on, enjoying having custody of the TV remote.
    She even became accustomed to ‘going private’. The hotel-like hospital had a pleasant serenity. It was the task of the nurses and doctors to keep a close eye on Gareth’s head trauma and the things that pinned him together; Diane’s was to interact with him. As he wasn’t exactly up to games of cards or even keeping up his end of a conversation, she sat beside his bed and updated him on life as it went on without him.
    ‘Only bills in today’s post – I’m opening all your letters now. The lady in your wages office says that you’re entitled to three months’ on full pay before the company reviews the situation. That’s generous, isn’t it? After it stops, we’ll have to claim statutory sick pay, I suppose, because you won’t be fit to return to work in three months. You’ve always refused to claim benefit, but the bills must be paid, and the mortgage.’ She flicked a glance his way in the hopes of reaction but was disappointed.
    With Gareth unable to prevent her investigations she was beginning to get to grips with the tricks he’d exerted to maintain control in their marriage. ‘I’m enjoying the novelty of being in charge of the bank account. Money’s a little less tight than before. You’re spending nothing, of course, and shopping for one is cheaper than for two. And Ivan and Melvyn aren’t likely to approach me for a sub with you in hospital, are they? Also, somehow, your salary is quite a bit higher than I understood.’
    Gareth regarded her through the slit eyes in his lurid head. His expression, on that bloated face, was impossible to read.
    She could have added: ‘Isn’t that funny, Gareth? Especially as you’ve only been working a three-day week. Your hourly rate must be nearly double what you told me.’ But he needed quiet and calm; the doctors and nurses said so. So she just smiled sweetly at him to let him know: I’m on to you, mate.
    At the end of the hour she patted his chest, an area that was free of plaster. ‘I’ll leave you to rest.’ And breezed from the room that he was stuck in, knowing that she’d irritated him with her cheery reports of ferreting into areas that he’d hitherto guarded from her eyes. Out in the corridor, phones rang, nurses raised reassuring voices, cheerful porters piloted gurneys and she strolled through them feeling pleasantly revenged by her liberty.
    Sometimes she came across Harold and his veined face would brighten. ‘I’ll duck in and see Gareth after Valerie, my dear!’ There was no sign of the pinched pallor of the night of the accident; he was hearty and energetic.
    Occasionally she’d catch sight of James’s dark figure striding in to see his wife and he’d grin at her as if enjoying a private joke, but he visited mainly in the evenings. No doubt he had a job to do on weekdays. Once she saw Tamzin with two young women so like her – except rounded and robust – she knew even before Tamzin introduced them that they must be James’s other daughters, Alice and Natalia.
    ‘Poor Uncle Gareth!’ they chorused, corn-coloured hair swept up with bright ornaments behind their heads. ‘Bless him! His poor face!’
    ‘Yes, bless him,’ agreed Diane, wondering if she’d look as insouciant if she wore her hair so carelessly whisked.
    Her visits became more interesting as Gareth improved. His facial swelling began to deflate, sinking his eyes into violet rings. Teeth began to twinkle through his gums and he began to form recognisable words. He was just like a giant baby.
    Diane measured his progress as carefully as any nurse.
    On the day when she judged him to be adequately responsive, able to carry on a conversation and suck up liquidised food, she sat back in the visitor’s chair, cupped her knee in her linked hands and stared straight into his blackened eyes. ‘Why didn’t you