A Sister’s Gift Read Online Free PDF

promised, just don’t expect any more from me than that.’
    When she said those words, the child in the basket let out a great cry, a noise that seemed to me far too loud to come from such a small being. It was as if the little thing knew what I was feeling and she felt the same way. As if it were this great big lament from inside her for something she’d lost and she couldn’t get back.
    Were we both in the same boat after all? When I relented and leaned over at last to pick her up, her little body, hiccupping and shuddering against my shoulder, felt warm as toast. Her head fell against mine and I realised she was so floppy she couldn’t even hold it up. I had to help her with everything. Instinctively I folded my arm about her neck so she wouldn’t fall forward and she became quiet. She moulded into my arms as easily as if she belonged there and in that instant she filled…she filled a space in my heart.
    I turn from the bay window now, my eyes lighting on all the cards that still need to be written and hand-delivered, the Christmas decorations I bought yesterday that still need to be hung up on the tree. The room is somehow suddenly and inexplicably
not ready
for something as important as Scarlett coming home. Especially now that I have something I want to ask her.
    Will she even be prepared to help me? I daren’t begin to hope that it might be so. Oh, but she’s coming home, though.
    It’s the first part of the puzzle.

Scarlett
    ‘Scarlett, this is marvellous. Really.’ Eve pats the sheaf of notes that she’s just been flicking through and pulls up a chair on the opposite side of her worktable. ‘Some of these plants are brand new to us. We’re finding out exciting new stuff all the time and your work here has been incredibly useful…’
    Has
been. I lean forward on the canvas deck chair – standard issue at PlanetLove base camp – with my head in my hands and wait for the axe to fall.
    ‘So, has Barry relayed anything to you about our current position with Chiquitin-Almeira?’
    ‘I came back with Guillermo in the end, so Barry wasn’t with us.’
    ‘Guillermo Almeira?’
    I nod and my boss brightens visibly. ‘How are you two getting along, Scarlett?’
    I laugh. ‘I think he may have just asked me to marry him.’
    ‘Well, well. Marvellous! Congratulations.’
    ‘Actually, I don’t think he…’
    ‘Yes.’ She taps her short fingernails on her knees, suddenly businesslike. ‘As you know, Chiquitin-Almeira have had interests in our work from the outset, both financial and humanitarian. Without them, we as an operation would cease to exist.’ She pauses. ‘I imagine Guillermo has already told you they’re now scheduled to pull out of the Amazon?’
    My eyes open wide. Gui never said a word about
that
. Mind you, I reflect, I have only myself to blame because I always steer him away from business talk.
    ‘They are?’
    ‘Worldwide recession and all that. They’ve got to stick with the money spinners – stomach upset pills, sexual performance enhancers – it’s what people want.’ She pauses. ‘Scarlett, I know you’ve been a little homesick recently. I was with you when you sent that postcard to your sister recently, remember? The thought of going home has been on your mind, I know.’
    I stare at her, surprised. ‘Oh.’ It comes back to me suddenly, the monkey postcard with the Santa Claus hat on. I thought it was funny and I haven’t been in contact with Hol all that much since I left. When I scribbled that message on it, I’d only meant it as a kind of half-joke. I had a vague idea I might spend some of my holidays doing some travelling in Europe, so why shouldn’t I spend a day or so with Hol? When I said I’d be ‘coming home for Christmas’ I didn’t mean the whole of it.
    ‘When money’s tight, research is always the first thing to go, and don’t we know it!’ Eve continues. ‘The fact is, PlanetLove are having to cut back too.’
    I look at her tensely.