Minding Frankie - Maeve Binchy [70]
And she turned and left the apartment.
· · ·
Noel sat and stared ahead of him. That woman was bound to bring in some reinforcements and get Frankie taken away from him. His eyes filled with tears. He and Lisa had been planning her first Christmas, but now Noel wasn’t certain that Frankie would still be with them by next week.
Noel picked up his phone and called Dingo. “Mate, can you do me a great favor and come and hold the fort for a couple of hours?”
Dingo was always agreeable.
“Sure, Noel. Can I bring a DVD or is the child asleep?”
“She’ll sleep through it if it’s not too loud.”
Noel waited until Dingo was installed. “I’m off now,” he said briefly.
Dingo looked at him. “Are you okay, Noel? You look a bit, I don’t know, a bit funny.”
“I’m fine,” Noel said.
“And will you have your phone on?”
“Maybe not, Dingo, but the emergency numbers are all in the kitchen, you know: Lisa, my parents, Emily, the hospital or anything. They’re all there on the wall.” And then he was gone. He took a bus to the other side of Dublin, and in the anonymity of a cavernous bar Noel Lynch drank pints for the first time in months.
They felt great … bloody great.…
Chapter Seven
It was Declan who had to pick up the pieces. Dingo phoned him a half an hour after midnight, sounding very upset.
“I’m sorry for waking you, Declan, but I didn’t know what to do—she’s roaring like a bull.”
“Who is roaring like a bull?” Declan was struggling to wake up.
“Frankie. Can’t you hear her?”
“Is she all right? When did you last feed her? Does she need changing?”
“I don’t do changing and feeding. I was just holding the fort. That’s what he asked me to do.”
“And where is he? Where’s Noel?”
“Well, I don’t know, do I? Fine bloody fort-holding it turned out to be. I’ve been here six hours now!”
“His phone?”
“Turned off. God, Declan, what am I to do? She’s bright red in the face.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” Declan said, getting out of bed.
“No, Declan, you don’t have to go out. You’re not on call!” Fiona protested.
“Noel’s gone off somewhere,” Declan told her. “He left the baby with Dingo. I have to go over there.”
“God, Noel would never do that!” Fiona was shocked.
“I know, that’s why I’m going over there.”
“And where’s Lisa?”
“Not there, obviously. Go back to sleep, Fiona. No use the whole family being unable to go to work tomorrow.”
He was dressed and out of the house in minutes.
He was worried about Noel—very worried indeed.
“God bless you, Declan,” Dingo said with huge relief when Declan came into Chestnut Court. He watched, mystified, as Declan expertly changed a nappy, washed and powdered the baby’s bottom, made up the formula and heated the milk, all in seamless movements.
“I’d never be able to do that,” Dingo said admiringly.
“Of course you would. You will when you have one of your own.”
“I was going to leave it all to the woman, whoever she might be …,” Dingo admitted.
“I wouldn’t rely on it, Dingo, me old mate. Not these days. It’s shared everything, believe me. And quite right too.”
Frankie was perfectly peaceful. All they had to do now was to find her father.
“He didn’t say where he was going, but I sort of thought it was for an hour or two. I thought he was going home to his parents for something.”
“Was he upset about anything before he went out?”
“I thought he was a bit distracted. He showed me all the numbers on the wall.…”
“As if he were planning to stay out, do you think?”
“God, I don’t know, Declan. Maybe the poor lad was hit by a bus and we’re all misjudging him. He could be in an A&E somewhere with his phone broken.”
“He could.” Declan didn’t know why he felt so certain that Noel had gone back on the drink. The man had been heroic for months. What could have changed him? And, more important, how would they ever find him?
“Go home, Dingo,” Declan sighed. “You’ve held the fort for long enough. I’ll do it until Noel gets back.”
“Should we ring anyone on this list, do you think?” Dingo didn’t want to abandon everything.
“It’s one in the morning. No point in