Finders and Keepers by Catrin Collier Read Free Book Online

thought for a moment. ‘There is a sanatorium that offers specialized treatment. I believe it offers the best care not only in Wales, but the whole of Britain, although I’m not sure they’ll take a patient in your father’s advanced condition. It is called Craig-y-Nos, in the Swansea Valley.’
    â€˜Will you at least ask if he can go there?’ Victor looked up when Lloyd and Sali returned. Both were dry-eyed but their eyes were dark with misery.
    Dr Williams turned from Sali and Lloyd back to Victor. ‘I’ll telephone the sanatorium, and talk to the doctor in charge there. I’ll let you know what he says.’
    â€˜Packing for France?’ Sali asked Harry the next morning when she walked into his bedroom to find his trunk open and his clothes strewn over his bed.
    â€˜Unpacking to stay.’
    She sat on his bed. ‘Darling, Lloyd and I have discussed this. We can’t do anything for Edyth except pray, follow Doctor Williams’s advice, and allow him and the nurses to care for her until she regains consciousness. Hopefully, we will find somewhere that can offer your granddad better treatment than the isolation ward of the Graig, but even if we do, we won’t be allowed to visit him very often and possibly not at all. Whether we like it or not, we have to get on with our lives as best we can.’
    Harry shook his head. ‘I’m not going to Paris while Granddad and Edyth remain in hospital.’
    â€˜That could be months in both cases.’ Lloyd was in the doorway. ‘I’ve just talked to Victor on the telephone. Doctor Williams has asked us to call into his surgery at four o’clock this afternoon.’
    â€˜Can I come with you?’ Harry asked.
    Lloyd recalled how Harry had sat with his father the day before, and how close they were. ‘I’m sure he won’t mind one more.’
    Sali rose from Harry’s bed. ‘I’ll stay here with the girls, and invite Megan and Rhian and their children over for tea. They’re bound to be feeling as wretched as we are.’
    Dr Williams sent his receptionist to fetch an extra chair when Harry walked in with his father and uncles. He waited until she closed the door before speaking. ‘
    I have spoken to the doctor in charge of the sanatorium I told you about.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Perhaps it would be better if I started at the beginning. The Welsh Memorial Trust bought Craig-y-Nos Castle after its owner, Madame Patti, died seven years ago. She was wealthy enough to live anywhere in the world but she chose Craig-y-Nos because she was very particular about her health, especially her throat and lungs. The air there is supposed to be especially beneficial and healthy, so they’ve turned the castle into a sanatorium for patients suffering from chest ailments, principally tuberculosis. An old colleague of mine, Doctor George Adams, has been running it for the past five years. He’s the foremost expert on lung disease in Britain. But it’s expensive …’
    â€˜Money’s no object when it comes to Dad’s care,’ Joey interrupted. ‘Not if there’s a chance of curing him.’
    â€˜No one can cure your father, Joey. All Doctor Adams will be able to offer your father, that’s if he can offer him anything,’ Dr Williams qualified, ‘is a more comfortable end to his days.’
    Victor swallowed hard. ‘But he will take Dad as a patient?’
    â€˜He’s agreed to look at his clinical notes. I’ll put them in the post today.’
    â€˜I’ll drive there tomorrow and hand them to him,’ Harry volunteered. He looked at his father and uncles. ‘It makes sense. One of us should look at the place and talk to the doctor. Dad and Mam can’t go, not with Edyth in hospital, and you two won’t want to go far from Pontypridd while Granddad is here. If Doctor Adams agrees to take Granddad, all I have