Page 106 of The Sapphire Child
During the time that Stella was feeding the baby, she carried on living in the annex. Esmie stayed close to home too, making sure that both mother and baby were feeding and resting. Meanwhile Tom and Bijal began opening up the hotel for the new season, fixing up the gutters and repainting the verandas. They had a telephone installed – something Stella had been suggesting they do for years but Tom had resisted – as now they wanted Andrew to be able to contact them more easily.
As the spring came and wild flowers pushed up from the warming soil, Esmie and Tom would take Belle out in a makeshift pram – a box on wheels that Tom had made – and push her down the garden path and across the deserted golf course. It was too early for any visitors to the chalets or hotels, but Stella knew it was only a matter of time before word spread that there was a baby in the Lomax household up at the remote hotel.
Stella existed in a strange state of limbo – of living purely in the present. She focused on the job in hand: feeding Belle. She was glad they had chosen a name that would never have occurred to Stella; it made the baby seem less like hers. Her milk had come in strongly now, and the baby was thriving on it. Already Belle was changing shape, her crinkled face filling out into soft plump cheeks and her budlike mouth latching on eagerly to Stella’s breasts.
Most startling of all were her eyes: round dark-blue eyes that fixed on her trustingly. Eyes like sapphires: the one trait that betrayed that Hugh was the father.
Stella would stroke the baby’s soft brown hair as she fed and for a moment indulge in a fantasy of being Belle’s mother in a home that Hugh had created for them. It was the way it should have been – but now never would. Even if Hugh reappeared, Belle’s future had been determined. She would grow up as a Lomax.
One afternoon, while the Lomaxes were out with Belle, Stella was sewing on the veranda and heard the telephone ringing in the hotel. Bijal came onto the front steps and waved across.
‘Telephone call, Stella-Mem’! Sahib on the line!’
Stella jumped. Could it be Hugh? Had he made it back safely to India? Perhaps he had been trying to get in touch with her all this time...Dropping her sewing, she raced inside.
She grabbed at the receiver on the office desk.
‘Hello! Hugh, is that you?’
There was a pause at the other end and then a man’s deep voice answered. ‘No, sorry. It’s Andrew. Is that you, Stella?’
Stella’s first reaction was huge disappointment. Even after all that had happened, for a few dizzying moments she had dared to hope that it was Hugh trying to reach her.
She swallowed hard. ‘Yes, it’s me. Andrew...goodness! How are you?’
‘I’m well, thanks. How are you?’
‘Fine,’ she lied. ‘You sound so different. It’s like hearing your father. I mean, you have a man’s voice.’
She heard him give a huff of amusement. ‘Well, I suppose that’s what I am.’
She cringed. ‘Of course you are. What a stupid thing to say! I’m just caught by surprise at your call. But it’s lovely...’
‘I didn’t think you’d be up at Gulmarg this early in the year – or at all – now you’re engaged. Sorry if you were expecting it to be Hugh. How is he?’
Stella gripped the receiver. ‘I...I’m not sure. He’s been in Singapore – I don’t know if he’s safe – I’ve had no news...’
‘Oh, Stella! How awful for you! I’m so sorry.’
‘Don’t worry,’ she said hastily. ‘Knowing Hugh, he’ll have escaped any trouble. Might even be back in Calcutta by now. It’sjust we’ve been cut off up here. But tell me about yourself. Where are you?’
‘Still in Delhi – we’ve been training here since January, but—’ The line crackled and Stella missed some of his words. ‘... up to Taha so I’m hoping to get a night or so in Pindi.’
‘Oh, Andy, that would be wonderful. Your dad and Esmie are longing to see you.’
‘Is Dad there?’ he asked.
‘No, sorry, he’s out with Esmie.’ Just in time, Stella stopped herself mentioning the baby. ‘He’ll be so disappointed that he’s missed your call. Can you ring back later?’
The line crackled again and she missed his reply. She strained to hear. ‘What did you say?’
‘... give my love—’
Abruptly, the line went dead.
Shaking, Stella sat down. She felt suddenly winded. It had been so long since she’d heard Andrew’s voice and yet, although older, he sounded just as friendly and affectionate as ever. She blushed to think of her flustered greeting about him having a man’s voice. What must he think of her? And to mistake him for Hugh...
Unable to settle to her sewing again, Stella went in search of the Lomaxes. Spotting them meandering back across the golf course, she ran to meet them, gabbling breathlessly about Andrew’s telephone call.
