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THE DOCTOR - A TALL man with thick-framed glasses and a moustache - put his stethoscope to Noonie’s chest and ‘mm’-ed. He picked up her chart.
“Don’t overdo it once you’re out,” he said.
“She’ll be sleeping in my spare room once she’s discharged,” Edward said. “I’ll be bringing her food and drinks and only letting her up to go to the bathroom. She has to build her energy. We’re going to Thailand soon for a memorial service.”
“My mother and brothers died in the Tsunami,” Noonie said.
“I’m sorry,” the doctor replied. He paused. “Be careful on the flight over too. Lots to drink.”
“We’re going first class,” Edward said. “I don’t usually like travelling with the Sunday Times Rich List but I’m happy to make an exception this time.”
“Don’t go first class for my sake,” Noonie said indignantly.
Edward clicked his tongue. “I just want you to get better. Trust me, I can swallow my inverted snobbery. As a price worth paying, it falls into the no-brainer category. Mind you, everything does.”
She squeezed his hand and smiled.
“I’ll leave you alone then,” the doctor said. “If you could check out before three? The nurse will be along about then to make up the bed.”
Edward got up and shook his hand. Noonie Wai-ed him.
“Bit of a contrast to You Know Who,” Edward said when he’d gone.
“Doctor Appleton was definitely on our side.”
“Hmm.”
“He said you’d thrive on a hard task. The last thing I remember was me telling him not to make it too hard. But I could see he was determined. And I’d come to trust him. And I was so – I don’t know ... relieved that you were who I thought you were.”
“He didn’t have to put you to sleep.”
“I needed it. Edward, I’d just lost my mother, my brothers, my ... husband. He knew you’d come back.”
“Well, however you choose to look at it, he was right. Noonie, I still can’t believe I’ve found you. I want to put my arms round you and just never let you out of my sight. It’s the most amazing feeling.”
She kissed his hand then held it to her cheek. “There’s nothing you can tell me about it I don’t already know. Does George really look so much like you, by the way?”
“No.”
“I might have worked everything out for myself if I’d known you had a brother.”
“If only he hadn’t been wearing those bloody sunglasses all through the christening. Mind you, he had just been smashed in the face by a man’s fist, I suppose.”
“Why didn’t you mention him?”
“Because he’s my brother, Noonie. We try not to think about each other. I like George a lot, but if I sit thinking about him for long periods I feel inadequate.”
“You don’t think I’ll fall in love with him, do you?”
“You’ll have your work cut out prising him away from Susan.”
She laughed. “Who’d have imagined she’d end up in teaching?”
“The stuff of nightmares.”
“Don’t be like that.”
“It’s not what I mean, and you know it.”
“I expect she’s very good at it.”
“Under no circumstances tell her that, Noonie. Seriously, I want them both out of there. A mission school in Zimbabwe, for crying out loud. It’s not like no one knows Mugabe’s a megalomaniac. I thought the bloody Refuge was bad enough.”
“So I’ve got to tell her she’s a dreadful teacher and all the kids hate her?”
“And act like you know that for a fact.”
“When are they getting in?”
“Six tonight. Assuming Robert bloody Mugabe lets the plane take off.”
“And Mark and Lek?”
“About now. They’ve probably been delayed. It’s how aeroplanes work.”
“They must be very dedicated to keep coming and seeing you in Britain. It’s a full day.”
“Lek doesn’t care. Remember, we’re her project. We only exist in her mind.”
“I don’t think we should take her for granted.”
“Come on, Noonie. We’re having the wedding in Phuket. I’ve booked the hotel and everything. You’d think she’d be satisfied but no, she’s badgered me every step of the way for ‘something to do’. She thinks we should be reading poems to each other, for goodness sake.”
“It sounds like a nice idea.”
“All because when I was in prison they called me Robert Browning. Now you’re convalescing, she’s decided you’re Elizabeth Barrett.”
“I see.”
“You’ve got to understand, that’s actually quite funny in her world. If she calls you ‘Lizzie’ during the next few days, be careful to laugh.”
“What was it like in prison? It must have been horrible.”
“Not at all,” he said. “Everyone was scared of me. I was easily the hardest man in there.”
“Are we going to eat out tonight? Won’t everyone be jet-lagged?”
“They’ve got to eat.”
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Do Susan and George know?”
“They might.”
“Do Lek and Mark?”
“Maybe.”
“Everyone except me.”
“Yep.”
“I like surprises. I don’t care where it is so long as it’s not The Golden Wave ... I mean, not that you’re going to do that to me.”
He looked at the ground. “Ah ... Yes ...”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Tell me, Edward. We said we wouldn’t have any more secrets.”
“It’s not a secret. It’s just ... I just haven’t got round to telling you yet. There’s a lot for you to catch up on. You’ve been asleep for a year and awake for a week and most of that week you’ve been too feeble for an extended conversation.”
“There’s no need to snap.”
“I wasn’t,” he said. “I was just saying.”
“Anyway, I said ‘what’ and you said ‘nothing’.”
“Well, you know Thanongsak went back to Thailand?”
“He’s back in England now?”
“Not exactly.”
“What do you mean, ‘not exactly’?”
“I mean, no, he’s not back. I’ve written to tell him you’re okay. But I don’t expect a reply.”
“So what’s going on?”
He looked down at the hands he was wringing. He was surprised to find they were just a pair. They felt like four or five. “Okay look, Noonie: yes we are. Yes, we’re going to The Golden Wave.”
“Oh.”
“It’s like this. During the time you were asleep, Thanongsak taught me to speak Thai and he coached me in Thai cuisine then, when he left, he gave me the restaurant as a way of saying sorry. He helped me build up a strong client base of elderly women who knew all about you and how I was determined to find you and who helped me cope with losing you. Not to put to fine a point on it, since I’ve been in charge of the restaurant, it’s been wildly successful. That’s no reflection on Thanongsak. He was a much better chef than I’ll ever be but he didn’t have the unconditional loyalty of forty or fifty pensioners. Before I found you I was going to open a branch in Nagasaki. The old women were going to help me. I thought if I got my name in the Japanese papers – ‘restaurant owner seeks lost love’ – you might see it, wherever you were, and you might remember me. The Nagasaki Golden Wave, it was going to be called. Anyway, tonight I want you to meet those pensioners. They’re really looking forward to it, especially now they’ve read all about you in the papers. I haven’t told them you’re coming in case you don’t feel up to it. Anyway, that’s the surprise ... Or it was.”
She was silent for a moment. A spot of water fell off her eyelash and exhausted its rill just before it reached the corner of her mouth.
He smiled. “I love you. But you’re going to have to learn to distinguish between secrets and surprises.”
“But I thought it was Lek who taught you Thai.”
“It was. Partly. She helped me by mercilessly ridiculing my mistakes.”
“Edward?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t want to sleep in the spare room tonight. Or ever.”
Noonie wore a calico blouse with a tiered skirt, Edward a bespoke suit. He resolved his Best Man dilemma by giving the office to Mark and putting George in charge of the ceremony. Then George could sneak God and Jesus in, in his usual none-too-subtle way.
Noonie recited ‘How Do I Love Thee’ to Edward, then he recited ‘Love in a Life’ to her. She clapped her hands and hugged him. Afterwards, they made vows and George sneaked God and Jesus in.
Everyone was there. Adirake – now Imam Adirake, having made peace with himself after doing Hajj – and Solada, the forty-three stalwarts of The Golden Wave, Prakong Yanphaisarn and his wife, Lek and Mark and George and Susan. The wedding was followed by a meal provided by the hotel.
After the speeches, and as the day was ending, the party spilt onto the beach. Shoes and socks piled up where the car-park met the sand. The sun closed on the horizon and made a stream of orange in the sea.
Despite their determination to mingle separately, Noonie and Edward bumped into each other on the edge of the surf on their way from adjacent guests.
“Hi, Noo,” Edward said.
“Hi, Ed.”
“What did you think of the meal?”
“Their Tom Gung wasn’t anything like as good as yours. I think you should have cooked for everyone.”
“Yes, that would have made my day.”
“Your Gaeng Karee’s still giving me goose bumps.”
“It wasn’t that good, but thank you.”
They locked fingers and stood looking at the sunset. Edward leaned over to her and smiled. “I think we’ve lost our guests.”
“So we have.”
“So what are we going to do now?”
She drew closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder. The sea washed over their feet. A shoal of fish flashed silver then vanished.
“Something astonishing,” she said.
